Bark Chip and Shady Plants Suggestions
 

Anything to watch out if I'm putting this down on a bed? I've got a narrow
raised bed that runs round our back garden (about 2 feet wide), that I'm
slowly filling with perennials. Thought of putting some bark down to
suppress weeds, retain moisture and to fill the gaps till the plants mature.
Wondered if there were any major minuses.

One of the beds has 2 mature fir trees and a lilac in it. I'm keeping the
lilac as a bush rather than letting to go tree like (it's about a metre
high). I still have a gap there that I'd like to fill with something, but
it's obviously got tough competition and is in quite a shady area - any
thoughts? The soil dries out quickly due to the other plants and only gets
sunlight in the morning and evening in the summer. I'd prefer something
with a bit of height - approx 1-2m - as it would provide some screening from
next door. The space is about 1m wide.

I'd also quite like to put in some ground cover in that bed, but the same
issues arise - lack of light and big tough things fighting it.

I've found that in shady areas bark chips can be a good hiding place for slugs, so I use composted bark instead. It gets incorporated into the soil fairly quickly so it needs to be topped more often than bark chips, but it's a good soil conditioner. It should also help the soil to retain moisture.

"Ornata" wrote in message
...

I've found that in shady areas bark chips can be a good hiding place
for slugs, so I use composted bark instead. It gets incorporated into
the soil fairly quickly so it needs to be topped more often than bark
chips, but it's a good soil conditioner. It should also help the soil
to retain moisture.

I'd forgotten about slugs :( Sometimes I think I live on a slug farm - and
now that I'm feeding the birds I don't want to use my trusty blue pellets
any more. I really must order some nematodes up. Anyone want to buy some
slugs?

Thanks for reminding me about our slimy friends. Composted bark sounds like
it might be a better bet. I don't mind having to top it up more if I'm
improving the soil at the same time.