Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Shmoe
Hi folks.
Im lucky enough that my new house has a 150ft garden. It wasn't tended for over 10 years and was totally overgrown with massive established brambles. I've cut them down and am hlaf-way though digging out the roots and turning over the top 6inches of soil as I go.
I think the soil is reasonable fertile as I've heard that Brambles and nettles only grow on fertile soil (is this true?) and I know that the previous gardener used to grow serious crops of vegetables before he got too old to tend the garden, so this must have been approx 20years at least. However, about 12inches down, the soil turns to clay.
Now the trouble is, I don’t know what to do with the garden once I have finished clearing out all the weeds and bramble roots.
I'm not really ready to do anything specific with the bottom 60ft or so, and am happy for it to just grow wild with wildflowers and tall grasses, but I don't want it to get back into a state where its filled with nettles and brambles and I'll have another hard job of clearing it again.
I had visions of a couple of newly planted fruit trees, with lots of nice tall whispy grasses all around etc, but not sure where to start as I am a complete beginner.
Does anyone have any ideas of what I should plant ?
|
Aren't you lucky! All that lovely new space to do what you want with!
As to the bottom 60 feet - a grove of trees with lovely barks, underplanted with lots of native bluebells for the spring, and foxgloves for summer, with woodland grasses that do not need much mowing.
Or Three good fruit trees, with meadow grasses and wildflowers underneath.
I suggest you find open gardens with similar plantings to assess what you want to do before you buy anything.
Don't rush into anything. If necessary, to keep the land in good heart, this year grow a catch crop [potatoes, which you can eat, or something like alfalfa which can be dug in as green compost]; and start planning for autumn planting.