Advice Please

[wavy davy]

I have a sheltered spot about 12m square which is largely in the shade of several well established trees.
The soil is quite dry. Nothing of any substance grows there at the moment, apart from nettles.
I would like to plant ferns and possibly some flowering perennials. I'm not sure a) what I should be planting b) whether this is the right time to do it. Any advice gratefully received. Cheers

[susie]

This isn't the best time to plant things although you could probably put in potted plants and keep them damp. What sort of trees do you have, do they cast dappled or complete shade, how deep into the soil can you get, are you near the sea?

My apologies for the Spanish Inquisition, I have a few suggestions for you but they depend on what your spot is like.

Cheerio.

[wavy davy]

Hi Susie,

I'm useless on trees - even with a tree book I can't figure out what they are. Dappled shade would be the best description. I'm going to have to dig the spot over, which I am not looking forward to, so I guess I'll go down 6 -9 inches. I'm 3 miles from the sea.

As I said, advice greatly appreciated, though from what you said perhaps I should leave planting anything until ?

Cheers

[susie]

Hello, I wouldn't dig, especially if you don't like it. Your trees will have feeding roots in the top soil and you will damage them. The nettles will also be a pain as their roots will be everywhere. I never dig under the tree canopies. There are some options though.

If you can afford that thick black woven stuff that folk use to suppress weeds then get some. It allows water through to the underlying soil and helps to keep those weeds down, they still appear in droves at the edges or any holes in the material though. If you get some material then you will need some good topsoil, compost, bark, anything you can get to start off your new layer of garden soil. Obviously you would have a clean slate and be able to plant tons of stuff that doesn't have deep roots. But........

If you are more circumspect, as I would be, this may be of some use.

Chop the nettles down and leave them to go back into the soil, leave some standing for the insects that like them. Nettles are full of good feed for other plants, look on them as being free fertiliser and they will take on a whole new beauty in your eyes. If you can get some compost, fine bark, leafmould, soil, anything at all then get it and spread it under the trees ( but don't bother near the bole of the trees ) you really need to add as much new material as you can at the outset and carry on adding to this every year, whenever you can. Of course you don't have to do the whole are in a oner, best to make a great job of one square metre than a poor job of all 12.

I should like to say that I would also decide on non-plant additions. Do you want a nice wandering path made from rough bark or pretty gravel? Do you want more bird feeding places? How about a lovely pond? ( you can make a great pond above ground out of any sized item that will hold water, I like a thick, strong,black plastic sheep footbath surrounded by big loose stones, tip it out when it gets disgusting, the birds love it, it looks lovely, you can have several!) Big stones or a pretend drystone dyke always look good and provide homes for insects which feed birds etc, etc. A pile of logs, but not pine types, look great and you may get some interesting fungi in time. I would fill up the most shaded areas with things like this and then concentrate my plants further away from the trees ensuring more success and contentment!

Decide what bulbs, plants, shrubs you like. Decide on colours, bearing in mind that flowers in shade are usually pinky, purpley, reddy, whitey.

My choice would be hundreds of snowdrops, you can use dry bulbs despite the experts saying that in-the-green are better. Daffodils and harebells. Ordinary yellow primroses. Greater and lesser periwinkle. Montbretia. Foxgloves. Hostas. Bracken. Comfrey. Yarrow, plantain, dandelions, daisies, clover, cow parsley, forget-me-not, ground elder and ground ivy. Ordinary ivy. I have gooseberries under sycamore trees, they don't have tons of fruit but I always get some if the blackbirds are late! I find flowering currants and escallonia do alright in shady spots. If you want to add to your trees I would always plant alder it grows and grows but not in a wild way.

You will have to resign yourself to doing watering in order to establish whatever you plant, but you can water from a deckchair while anjoying a cool drink, better than breaking your back at the digging.

You will be fed up of me now, but if I can help anymore then I will. I get long winded sometimes.

If you are wondering when to plant any bulbs you may fancy, the best time is when they are for sale in CLB, Souters or the garden centre. My list of wild flowers is included because they grow so well and belong here. You can ask people for them if you don't have any of your own, the best way to establish them is to get a thick section of turf so they don't know they've been moved. Lastly, ornamental grasses are splendid.

[wavy davy]

Hi Susie,

Can't thank you enough for the time and trouble you have taken. There's an awful lot for someone like me, a first time gardener, to take in. I'm so glad that someone like you came along otherwise I would now be doing all manner of stupid things with that spot. I'll keep you posted on progress. Thanks again.