Carolyn - MyGardenTeam

Often after a number of years soil can become lean and thin, lacking in organic matter and nutrients in general. Later winter and early spring is the ideal time to correct this problem. Adding a layer of organic mater such as spent mushroom compost or well roted manure such as horse manure is ideal. If its an existing area such as a flower border or shrub border often there is no need to dig it in as the worms will do the work for you, dragging the organic mater back into the soil were it will be broken down by the soil micro organisums and bacteria.

Its important to add some addition garden feed to the soil before this takes place as the process of breaking down the organic matter in the soil to humis by the the soils micro organisums and bacteria can deplete the existing soil nutrients especially nitrogen. For this reason on a heavy soil such as a clay soil spent mushroom compost will often produce ideal results as it contains a high level of lime which supplies the required nutrients to the soils micro organisuims as well as having the effect of breaking up the clay particals into a much more friable and workable soil..

Often in a garden you require a barrier in the summer but not in the winter. Producing a more private garden in the summer and then allowing more light into the garden in the summer winter months.

One way of achieveing this is to use a combination of plants, one to provide the framework and the other to provide the cover in the summer months. One such combination is to use buddleia black knight and Humulus lupulus aureus the golden hop plant. The buddleia provides the structure and the hop uses this structure to achieve some height in the spring and summer months dieing back in the autumn and winter months..

The two plant attack to create a barrier can be used also to create a more all year around barrier with a combination of plants such as the fast growing Amelanchier lamarckii and clemitis armandii forming an evergreen barrier which will continue to increase in height over a number of years