New Border in my garden

That is very impressive what direction does the border face my guess would be S/W,well done you.

Yes roughly south west

That looks amazing Anchorman:)

Well done Anchorman - looking good!

How wonderful that such a new border looks like it's at least 2 seasons old. You must be very pleased.

Isn't it terrific the way that grew up...awesome! Beautiful job, Anchorman!

Excellent, you must be very pleased with that.

Incredible!

Well done. I was wondering how it was going. In spite of all the rain or maybe drought in your case the plants seem to be overcoming every obstacle and doing us proud. You have created a lovely palette of colour and texture. Congratulations on finding new customers to replace the ones who dropped out.

That's lovely, I'm amazed at how quickly it has matured. You did really well supplying it yourself.

Yes we had a 10-11 week drought so I did LOTS of watering. Although I've planted quite a fewe new borders in my time this one seems to have established more rapidly than I believed possible.

Thanks everyone for your kind comments :^)

What a great result, Am, positively inspiring!

That has come on so well Anchorman, I am really impressed even more so as you say it had to contend with the drought in its early stages, any gardener would be pleased with a result like that...

You are at a great disadvantage with that field behind you Anchorman. Have you put down some sort of barrier to stop invading weeds. The tree there do give you privacy and added height and shelter but it is very hard to keep out weeds in that situation. How do you cope?

Inspirational to us all, what a difference.

It all looks fabulous. Hard to believe it's so new. Well done.

The weeds coming from the field is a problem but I have a very light soil so hoeing is easy. I do a great deal of hoeing in my job and can hoe this whole border in less than 10 minutes.

Usually I just carry a hoe when I go to look at it and a few stabbing hoes a week keeps the weed at bay.

My main problem is that one of the weeds is horsetail/mares tail and that really is very difficult to eradicate. All other weeds will die with regular hoeing. Marestail won't!

The only weedkiller that works is Kibosh which is very expensive and available only via the internet.( Google Kibosh weed killer)

This border was very heavily infested with marestail last year. I've used kibosh and now it is under control but not entirely as some of it is amongst the plants and I can use the weed killer on it there

Have added to favourites to give me inspiration! Amazing how quickly you got this result.

Good idea Frybo . . . I've now done the same. The list of plants will come in useful!

your garden really filled out well, looks really good

Ooh. I know what you mean about mares tail. My garden was infested with the damned stuff when we moved here. I got rid of most of mine through true grit and determination - digging down about a meter to get most of the large root out. As the years have gone by, I find occasional bits coming through but rub Round Up onto it after I've squished it a bit and that seems to work. (I always protect the surrounding plants even doing it this way).

I need to learn to use my hoe. Is there a secret like keeping it sharp or something. I have lots of convolvulus this year something we have not had in the past and chickweed which we managed to get rid of when the sparrowhawk chased off the sparrows in the garden a few years ago. They have come back and so has the chickweed. I have not seen marestail here but I do look out for it if I buy plants from sales of work etc.

It's very impressive - well done you! I was pleased to hear that you've got new customers, too. :-)

Thanks Spritz and everyone else for your nice comments

Scotsgran..... I've recommended dutch hoes to a number of people and taught them how to use them.

Most people seem to use them incorrectly until shown how.

The main problem is they dig the hoe end into the ground at too steep an angle.

Try hoeing at about 30 -35 degrees from the horizontal. Aim to go down not much more than an inch and slide the head through the ground almost horizontally rather than digging in .

They key is to hoe ground weekly so it doesn't set hard between hoeing.

Admittedly I live in a light loam soil area but I could hoe most of my gardens holding the hoe between finger and thumb if I wanted to. It shouldn't be hard work at all after you've broken the soil up initially.

If the weeds are long enough that they don't just disappear into the ground as you hoe then you're leaving it too long between hoeing.

When I go out to look at my garden I often carry a hoe with me and the odd individual weed can be chopped off as I go.

Get as light weight a hoe as possible with an aluminium handle and fine cutting blade.

I never sharpen my hoe as it stays lovely and shiny with constant use in my customer's gardens.

Contrary to popular opinion almost all weeds including dandylions , ground elder and bind weed will die if you hoe every week. The key is to hoe ground that appears not to have any weeds in it to a depth of half an inch to an inch every week. That way any perennial weeds which are just below the surface are chopped off before they can get any light and they will give up the ghost soon enough.

Thank you for the explanation. I think maybe I plant a bit close to allow me to hoe some of it but I have mostly shrub borders with lots of bulbs under ground. I chose not to have herbaceous borders because the shrubs needed less attention but because of a change to the environment in my garden because of a new building I now feel that herbaceous perennials have more chance of surviving. I will space them better to allow me to hoe when I plant up the next lot. I will also need to look for a new hoe as the one I have is heavy and has quite a thick blunt blade.

You can buy narrow headed hoes for more fiddly bits.

Also buy the best quality hioe you can afford. Most of the ones I've seen lately in DIY sheds are far too heavy and the blades are thick making easy hoeing impossible.

The best hoe I ever owned was about 50 years old and belonged to my grand father who was a keen gardener. The hoe cutting edge was very fine and slid beautifully through the soil.

i've been researchinh hoes this last week as the hoe i'm using won't last much longer. I use it so much the blade has almost completely worn away.

The trouble is the best quality hoes cost about £25-30

I think it will be possible to get a good one for less than that if a shop around. I think my current one cost £14 3-4 years ago.

Yes my one came from a DIY store. Before that I was using an inherited one made by my OHs grandfather who was head blacksmith at Hopetoun House. It was probably made in the late 1800's and passed to us via an uncle. It too wore away. I might find one in a car boot sale I have seen them. I have also seen them in antique shops at twice the price of a new one. I'll have a look around. A narrow blade would be a better buy. I have seen handles with interchangeable heads I will look at those too.

I've just looked on ebay at " dutch hoe" and there are some very nice quality models there .

Yes i've seen them in the past at car boots. I wish I could see one again soon.

I'll let you know if I find a decent quality hoe at a good price

There is a shop near me Kens Yard in Grangemouth. They seem to do a good selection but it is difficult to know which to buy because prices are not necessarily an indication of quality.

The key is that it must be very light weight and the blade should be strong and thin.

Most of the cheap ones I see have heavy handles and thick blades.

I've just meaured the thickness of the blade on my hoe and it is a fraction over 1mm. The cheap blades are 2 to 3 times thicker.

Thank you it was not possible to get that information from looking at photographs.

All of the tips you gave us are very helpful. I have several kinds of hoes here in Vermont. The "carrot hoe" is my favorite. It is small, but no bending over and gets the little devils very quickly! I love the border, am actually doing the same myself. I hope mine turns out as well, nothing but shrubbery. Good idea with the pictures.