What shall I plant?
 

Hi all, I've just moved into my first house and har a east facing garden. On
The left of it I've built a raised bed, but having never owned a garden before I'm unsure what to plant in my south facing bed, that has sunlight from around 8am-midday.

Any tips?

Thanks a lot

What shall I plant?
 

On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:07:12 +0000, Greedo
wrote:

Hi all, I've just moved into my first house and har a east facing
garden.

As a rule, in the Northern hemisphere, you want "South facing" for
maximum sun exposure across the seasons, but this still has to do with
where obstacles are - basically, you don't want anything such as a
structure, fence, or treeline too close on the south side of your
growing area.

But, that applies to East and West as well - if your garden is on the
East side of your house, or there's a tree on the West side of it,
that could block nearly half of your sun, depending upon how far away
from the obstacles the garden is.

On the left of it

Which is, ah, what compass direction? Are you facing East when making
this positional reference?

I've built a raised bed, but having never owned a garden
before I'm unsure what to plant in my south facing bed, that has
sunlight from around 8am-midday.

Morning light without afternoon light is good for partial sun plants,
because the ambient temperatures aren't as high as they'd be in the
afternoon (after the ground and air have thoroughly warmed). I have
wallflowers and fuschias (but am in a warmer climate than I suspect
you are in). Fuschias respond well to having _some_ light, but not an
abundance - too much light actually stunts them.

Are you looking to plant vegetables or ornamentals? You're posting in
rec.gardens, not rec.gardens.edible. Afternoon shade would be
excellent for lettuce.

What shall I plant?
 

Greedo wrote:
Hi all, I've just moved into my first house and har a east facing
garden. On
The left of it I've built a raised bed, but having never owned a
garden before I'm unsure what to plant in my south facing bed, that
has sunlight from around 8am-midday.

Any tips?

Thanks a lot

What is your climate and soil? It matters.

What do you want out of your garden and what are you prepared to put into
it? Nobody can guess that from half a world away. You might want to eat,
to play , to admire or just to sit, or some combination. You might be
prepare to work 4 hours a day or 4 hours a month. It matters.

David

I'm afraid this is all new to me, so you'll have to bear with. The garden is east facing, and I have a raised bed that faces the south. The sun shines onto the bed from (I've re-adjusted my times here) 8am - 2pm.

I'm not looking to grow veg or fruit (I have a different bed for that), nor am I interested in bedding plants (dislike having to replace them every year). I'm after plants that I can plant, and will last a long time.

Along the back of the bed, I have planted some sweet peas, to grow up Trellis' on my fence. I planted these mainly because I read they attract bee's to pollinate my runner beans.

I live in Nottingham (midlands), UK. I'm afraid I have no idea about what type of soil I have, although I have dug in 2 bags of compost into the top foot of the raised bed. (the bed itself is about 2feet tall)

to add to this; I'm interested in having colour as much of the year as possible, and am looking to plant up infront of the sweet peas.

I'm interested in having colour as much of the year as possible

Sorry wasn't clear. I'd like numerous plants, with 1 or more flowering all year round preferably

What shall I plant?
 

Greedo wrote:
'David Hare-Scott[_2_ Wrote:
;961730']Greedo wrote:-
Hi all, I've just moved into my first house and har a east facing
garden. On
The left of it I've built a raised bed, but having never owned a
garden before I'm unsure what to plant in my south facing bed, that
has sunlight from around 8am-midday.

Any tips?

Thanks a lot-

What is your climate and soil? It matters.

What do you want out of your garden and what are you prepared to put
into
it? Nobody can guess that from half a world away. You might want to
eat,
to play , to admire or just to sit, or some combination. You might
be prepare to work 4 hours a day or 4 hours a month. It matters.

David

I'm afraid this is all new to me, so you'll have to bear with. The
garden is east facing, and I have a raised bed that faces the south.
The sun shines onto the bed from (I've re-adjusted my times here) 8am
- 2pm.

I'm not looking to grow veg or fruit (I have a different bed for
that), nor am I interested in bedding plants (dislike having to
replace them every year). I'm after plants that I can plant, and will
last a long time.


You want perennial shrubs and ground covers then. Go to the local library
where you are likely to find several books that catalog common garden plants
describing their requirements, size, habit etc, often with pictures. The
same library may have other useful stuff, eg garden design and layout.

Along the back of the bed, I have planted some sweet peas, to grow up
Trellis' on my fence. I planted these mainly because I read they
attract bee's to pollinate my runner beans.

I live in Nottingham (midlands), UK. I'm afraid I have no idea about
what type of soil I have, although I have dug in 2 bags of compost
into the top foot of the raised bed. (the bed itself is about 2feet
tall)

I don't know what the climate is like in Nottingham so knowing you live
there isn't a great help and since you don't know about the soil it is hard
to make specific recommendations. You need to get some local knowledge from
a neighbour, gardening club or competent nursery. Look around the district
and see what does well. If you just gamble or take the word of the teenager
at the local retail outlet (same thing really) you may waste your time and
money as often the wrong plant will do very poorly or die.

D

What shall I plant?
 

Greedo wrote:
....raised bed perennials...

figure that because of the raised bed that
the soil will be warmer and dryer than "normal"
for your area, so certain plants will not do
as well as you might expect. the larger the
raised bed the better in terms of keeping
temperatures more even, but the plants near
the edges have to be more hardy for temperature
and moisture changes.


songbird

What shall I plant?
 

Greedo wrote:
Hi all, I've just moved into my first house and har a east facing
garden. On
The left of it I've built a raised bed, but having never owned a garden
before I'm unsure what to plant in my south facing bed, that has
sunlight from around 8am-midday.

OK, your email address indicates you're in the UK and you indicate
you have a raised bed that faces south and east.

1. Whatever you plant, plant in N-S rows with at least .6 meter
E-W intervals. If you have enough space, use 1 meter intervals.

2. Plant based on height from east to west with the tallest plants
on the west.

I don't know what you should plant - only what I would plant.
You should read up on companion plants.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

Use containers for herbs and spices as they can winter indoors.

Dick