Have you ever sat back at the end of your first year and looked at your garden, only to feel a little deflated and disappointed?
Can’t figure out why your plants look sick or awkward?
Wish that you’d been given a handy checklist before you’d started?
Well, check out my 10 mistakes and hopefully you will not make the same ones…
Part 1
- Not checking the eventual height of my plants.
- Pruning at the wrong time.
- Not checking the soil requirements of my plants.
- Not checking the eventual spread of my plants.
- Not checking the hardiness of my plants.
Lets get started..
Height of plants
All plants grow to a certain height, then stop. Be sure to check the height information on the plant labels, then use it to figure out whether your chosen plants need to be at the back of your border or nearer the front.
I’m guilty of merrily planting something at the front of the border, only for it to tower up and shade the surrounding plants, not to mention stand out like a sore thumb! Equally, I’ve placed beautiful plants too far back, and they’ve never been seen again!
Timely pruning
Some plants can be pruned whenever, but most plants that flower, require pruning at a certain time of the year. If this is ignored, then you’ll end up with no flowers and a looong wait until the next flowering period.
An example of this is the beautiful, early flowering Forsythia. In our garden, it provides the first colour of the year and each Easter it never disappoints. Before any leaves appear, hundreds of buds burst to reveal bright yellow blooms BUT not if you prune it too late in the previous year. This is because it flowers on new stem growth.
The best time to prune a Forsythia is just after it has flowered. This gives it time to put on fresh new growth (which will hold next years flowers). Prune too late in the year and it will not have enough growth before winter comes and will not produce any flowering buds, just leaves. Believe me, I know!
This kind of pruning is known as Group 2. More information on pruning groups can be found on the RHS website here
Soil requirements
Soil can be acidic, alkaline or anywhere in between and your plants wont thank you for being planted in the wrong kind of soil.
Before you start planting anything, it’s always a good idea to buy a soil testing kit. Knowing your soil can eliminate a lot of growing disasters later down the line.
You may have vague memories of the pH scale from your school days, but basically 1 is extremely acidic and 14 is extremely alkaline. 7 is neutral. The ideal range for plant growth is between 5.5 and 8.
Plants that prefer to be in acidic soils will be described as ericaceous-loving and plants that prefer the more alkaline soils are known as lime-lovers.
I couldn’t understanding why my Heather plants kept dying. I later learnt that Heathers thrive in acidic soil, not my chalky alkaline garden soil!
Spread of plants
When you take a plant home from the garden centre and plant it in your garden, not only will it grow taller but it will also grow WIDER. This is known as the spread of the plant. You need to consider this when working out the spacing.
Too closely spaced and they will become crowded and unruly. Too far apart and you could end up with sparce and empty looking borders (guilty!)
Hardiness
As much as I love a crisp winter and the excitement of snow, it can wreak havoc with your garden. This is due to something known as hardiness. The UK is divided up into zones, 7a-10a. As a general rule, the further north you go, the lower the number and the more protection your plants will need.
The further south and west you go, the higher the number and the less protection your plants will need and you may get away with growing plants from more temperate countries. For example, the southwestern tip of Ireland is know to be very mild as well as the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern coast of Cornwall. (Yes, I have been known to smugly grow a banana plant outside during one of our warmer summers only to wonder why it didn’t return the following spring!)
A map showing the UK Hardiness zones can be found here
When buying a plant you can find the hardiness information on the label. You need to choose according to where you live. This is really important if you aren’t in a position to offer any winter protection, such as a heated greenhouse. Hardy plants can be left outside in the ground all year round and will survive the lowest of our UK winter temperatures.
Plants which wont survive our damp and cold winters are called tender plants.
Part 2 coming soon!
Well, I hope that part 1 of My Top 10 Mistakes, has given you something to think about and will help you to successfully grow your dream garden.
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Bye for now
Girl Gardener 