The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: Creagan on January 23, 2016, 05:51:59 pm
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Having had some work done around the house and driveway, I'm left with a big steep banking which needs something planted on it. I don't want it to be grass as I'd rather not have the hassle of perching on the side of a hill with a strimmer several times a year.
I was thinking of some kind of spreading conifer that would hopefully shade out weeds and need minimal maintenance, but looking for suggestions on what to plant, spacings, etc. Must be hardy and idiot proof!
Thanks
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Junipers would do the job, but slowly - Horizontalis or Squamata. Could intersperse with ivy or vinca minor and maybe something that'll look after itself - aquilegia, Welsh poppies and Japanese anemone, perhaps?
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Why not get something like the Nepalese Raspberry which is a ground cover species and when you can be bothered to reach to pick them you can get some yummy fruit from them.
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camomile lawn? Heathers?
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Laying a good quality weed suppressing fabric, planting whatever you choose through it, then mulching with chopped bark (gravel may well just slide down the slope if it's very steep) should make the area maintenance free. More expensive to start with but worth it. Bulbs and so on would look lovely, but they make weeding very difficult.
I've no suggestions as to what to plant as I dislike conifers and heathers - unless ground cover roses?
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Heather could be a good call- would certainly look in keeping with the rest of the place.
I'm pretty sure gravel would slide down the bank, and I'm not convinced that bark wouldn't either do the same or just be blown away!
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camomile lawn? Heathers?
I spent quite a few bob on the supposedly non flowering dwarf max height 3 inches tall chamomile plants , grew them on in one of my high raised beds , took zillions of cuttings and ended up with over 15 sq mtr of them packed in better than sardines they looked & felt lovely to touch . The propagate via creepers & cuttings of the same .
Spent six or so days lifting them & planting them carefully at the suggested spacing of one plant per six inches apart in the front lawn , every one took well &, came up beautifully.
We came back off five weeks holiday to find a slight problem ..... They were now 14 inches tall and almost all had loads of flowers .
Round up solve the problem .
The suppliers ( IIRC.... Someone somewhere close to where it was supposed to have been discovered in the Lake District ? ) declined to replace thie plants even though I sent them several photos of the stages of growth . They said they lawn was not the original plants they'd supplied and in any case I could not prove it was the plants they had supplied . I was rather :rant: :rant: at the time .