Originally Posted by beccabunga

We took out five conifers in a bed, and had the stumps ground out. Afterwards I dug over the whole bed [18 x 8 feet] with homemade compost and ericaceous compost - we wanted to grow some acid lovers. It was allowed to settle over the winter before planting anything new, which gave plenty of time to plan new plants.

You don't say what direction your fence faces. If you are planning clematis, remember that they always grow and flower into the sun, so no good if your fence faces a northerly or westerly direction - your neighbours will benefit!

Work out how the wind affect the plot and start planning windbreaks - small hardy shrubs or small trellises to interrupt the flow. Otherwise your clematis will be blown off the fence.