The traditional way of planting a herb garden is in a potager. This is a formal bed design, often edged with a low box hedge, with pathways for easy tending and harvesting. The paths of a potager both organise it and create a pleasing design. Gravel, cobbles, brick, crazy paving or bark can be used to good effect for the paths, and alternative edging plants such as chives, feverfew or decorative cabbages can be used for a less formal edging arrangement.
When planning your herb garden consider the position. Most herbs prefer an open sunny position, but will tolerate some shade. As with all new planting the herb garden will benefit from good soil preparation and the removal of stones. The plot can be as large or as small as you like, and can then be subdivided according to your chosen design. A cartwheel effect can be created in a circular bed. A semi circle could be subdivided by paving into segments or concentric bands. A rectangle could contain a pattern of squares and triangles.
Now for the planting. There are the usual kitchen staples of parsley, sage, rosemary, mint and thyme. Chives are useful to keep away garden pests, and are an invaluable food source for bees with their tall lilac flowers. Hyssop is a hardy evergreen shrub with blue, pink or white flowers, which are also a favourite of bees. Feverfew is easy to grow and has appealing white daisy flowers. Mint, bergamot, oregano and lemon balm are all very invasive, so should be planted in the bed in their pots.
Herbs that can create a carpeting effect offer the bonus of suppressing weeds. Planted along the edges of pathways they creep along naturally, softening the overall look and releasing their aromas as they are trodden on or brushed aginst. Useful examples of creepers are the thyme “snowdrift” which clings low to the ground and is covered in white flowers, and creeping pennyroyal, which has a strong pepermint scent, bright green foliage and mauve flowers (this has the added bonus of being an insect repellent). Creeping savory is ground hugging and highly aromatic, with white flowers.
Herbs are also good subjects for pots, as most of them thrive on the restriction and well drained growing medium that can be provided in a pot. Try using a large strawberry pot or just cluster a few pots of different herbs together for a mini herb garden. However much space you've got, make the most of it by having your own herb garden.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Wildlife Friendly Gardens
In the UK, our gardens comprise 12% of the cultivated land and they cover a larger area than all our nature reserves put together. If everyone made their gardens wildlife friendly it could make a huge difference.
If you have the space, you could create a woodland habitat, with small trees such as birch, rowan or hazel, underplanted with shrubs. Shade loving plants such as ferns, aquilegias, foxgloves, aconites and bluebells can be planted on the woodland floor, whilst honeysuckle can be encouraged to climb up the trees. Covering the soil with a layer of chopped bark helps to retain moisture in the soil and creates an instant woodland eco system. If there are any fallen trees or logs in the garden, keep them as part of the woodland area. The wood will soon be covered in fungi and lichens and will be home to countless insects.
Woodland environments, however small, can attract a wealth of wildlife. Trees provide habitats for caterpillars, which in turn attract bluetits and chaffinches. Many species of butterfly will breed and feed in the woodland garden. White admirals lay their eggs on honeysuckle leaves, and speckled wood butterflies feed on ferns and grasses. Small mammals are attracted to woodland areas and will rummage about in the leaf litter looking for insects, nuts, and seeds. Remember that a wildlife friendly garden cannot be too neat and tidy. Leaf litter and plant debris are home to a thriving community of insects and fungi.
Another habitat you may want to create is the wildflower meadow. To convert part of your lawn to meadow, first define the meadow area by continuing to mow closely the part of the lawn you want to retain, leaving the rest to grow longer. Less fertile areas are ideal. First rake the area well, water thoroughly and then sow a meadow flower seed mixture. Leave the area undisturbed until the following spring. Cut the grass down when it is over 4 inches high, removing all the cuttings, but don’t cut it shorter than two inches. Continue to do this through the first season, to allow the new plants to establish in the meadow area. In the second season it will only need to be cut twice.
The long grass provides hiding places for caterpillars, larvae and invertebrates, whilst the flowers provide nectar for adult butterflies, bees and moths. With the increased number of insects in the meadow, the bird population will use the area as a feeding ground. Swallows, swifts and woodpeckers may be attracted by the insects, and in late summer the seed heads of the meadow grasses will be a magnet to chaffinches, linnets and tits.
If you want some quick fiz wildlife friendly approaches, set aside an out of the way shady spot, make a small woodpile, plant foxgloves bluebells and a buddleia, and be tolerant of nettles and thistles, which are important fro butterflies and bees. In a sunny spot plant lavender, thyme and chives to provide food for bees.
Check out your garden and see if you can make it more wildlife friendly.
If you have the space, you could create a woodland habitat, with small trees such as birch, rowan or hazel, underplanted with shrubs. Shade loving plants such as ferns, aquilegias, foxgloves, aconites and bluebells can be planted on the woodland floor, whilst honeysuckle can be encouraged to climb up the trees. Covering the soil with a layer of chopped bark helps to retain moisture in the soil and creates an instant woodland eco system. If there are any fallen trees or logs in the garden, keep them as part of the woodland area. The wood will soon be covered in fungi and lichens and will be home to countless insects.
Woodland environments, however small, can attract a wealth of wildlife. Trees provide habitats for caterpillars, which in turn attract bluetits and chaffinches. Many species of butterfly will breed and feed in the woodland garden. White admirals lay their eggs on honeysuckle leaves, and speckled wood butterflies feed on ferns and grasses. Small mammals are attracted to woodland areas and will rummage about in the leaf litter looking for insects, nuts, and seeds. Remember that a wildlife friendly garden cannot be too neat and tidy. Leaf litter and plant debris are home to a thriving community of insects and fungi.
Another habitat you may want to create is the wildflower meadow. To convert part of your lawn to meadow, first define the meadow area by continuing to mow closely the part of the lawn you want to retain, leaving the rest to grow longer. Less fertile areas are ideal. First rake the area well, water thoroughly and then sow a meadow flower seed mixture. Leave the area undisturbed until the following spring. Cut the grass down when it is over 4 inches high, removing all the cuttings, but don’t cut it shorter than two inches. Continue to do this through the first season, to allow the new plants to establish in the meadow area. In the second season it will only need to be cut twice.
The long grass provides hiding places for caterpillars, larvae and invertebrates, whilst the flowers provide nectar for adult butterflies, bees and moths. With the increased number of insects in the meadow, the bird population will use the area as a feeding ground. Swallows, swifts and woodpeckers may be attracted by the insects, and in late summer the seed heads of the meadow grasses will be a magnet to chaffinches, linnets and tits.
If you want some quick fiz wildlife friendly approaches, set aside an out of the way shady spot, make a small woodpile, plant foxgloves bluebells and a buddleia, and be tolerant of nettles and thistles, which are important fro butterflies and bees. In a sunny spot plant lavender, thyme and chives to provide food for bees.
Check out your garden and see if you can make it more wildlife friendly.
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