Digging again
By samjp
8 comments
I’ve been nibbling at the lawn again lol. Well it needs it – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it lol.
My borders have all sunk over the last couple of years, getting quite compacted (I’m on a fairly light gritty soil) and the distinction on the border edges has been lost. Plus some of them are a little untidy and need work. So my plan is to gradually work my way around the garden lifting the plants (not all of them), improve the soil and add the definition back to the border edges. It just so happens that lawn nibbling is a side effect lol
So last weekend I worked on the section of border after my shady bit. It’s about 1.1m wide and post nibble 60cm deep. Wow had the soil compacted in there. It’s so dry and dusty it’s incredible anything survives never mind thrives. Yet they seem to (well one did till the dog started peeing on it lol). I’ve mixed a load of muck in and will try to remember to mulch with more in the spring.
Here’s the before picture:
(I may have forgotten to take a proper before photo so have had to find a photo from last month for this. The bit I worked on is between the two posts)
And here’s the after:
All that’s in there at the moment is a salvia, a sad looking pulmonaria (the one mutley likes to pee on lately) and a plant my neighbour gave me. She doesn’t know the name but says it has purple flowers. On the left hand post is a Passion flower and on the right clematis freckles and clematis rouge cardinal.
I’m not sure what I’m going to plant in here yet. Being a narrower section makes it more of a challenge. Beyond wanting it to look great I’m a bit stumped. I thought it might be a bit of fun (and great inspiration for me lol) to see what you would do if it was your border.
To put the border in context here’s the little section alongside my shady border:
20 May, 2017
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Comments
Hi Sam, lawn nibbling is in the job title of being a gardener lol. Feel for you with dog peeing up plants, last year planted 4 violet under my apple tree, 2 survived, both on one side, other 2 have no chance as that seems to be Shadows favourite place :-(. Looks good. ( that's your garden, not my tree lol)
20 May, 2017
Lawns are there to be nibbled!
Your neighbour is nearly as bad a my ex-evacuee. She asks for advice for plants that " have green leaves"!!
20 May, 2017
Thanks honeysuckle, plants are much prettier than lawns aren't they. Still I think the dog would prefer the lawn to run round on lol.
lol Jen I love that (job title comment) really must remember that one. What we need to do is find a way of turning dog urine into fertiliser. Then again we'd end up with some randomly monster plants lol.
Haha Eirlys I get people at work asking me what plants are - the description it has blue flowers lol. Plant that has green leaves - absolutely brilliant lol.
I had another trip to trentham garden centre yesterday, after some hanging basket plants. Found a lovely coleus, lovely apricot tones and a frilly leaf. Thought I'd plant it in the gap for this year while I work out what to do. I also picked up a couple other coleus and a Japanese blood grass for a pot. Wonder if the grass would look good in that border? My other thought has been to plant something like euonymous emerald gold. See if I can find a smallish one with yellow tones leaves.
21 May, 2017
I am a great one for lawn nibbling but as I prefer large borders and beds nibbling is what I do lol. I also find smaller lawns are much easier to keep in good condition and the edges always look good. Also I prefer to buy plants than spend money on lawn treatments.
21 May, 2017
Plants are definately more fun aren't they. I love big deep borders but am trying to balance that against the amount of time I have to look after them. Especially with the dreaded horses tail.
21 May, 2017
I'm not a nibbler I take dirty great bites at least 6 -10" at a time.
its looking good. :o)
23 May, 2017
Hahaha SBG. It was tempting to go for more of a big healthy bit. Still tempted to go back for more of a chomp lol.
Thanks :-)
23 May, 2017
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Looks much better and lawn 'nibbling' is an improvement, you now have a much wider bed, better for the plants and easier to keep. Who needs a lawn when you can have plants?
20 May, 2017