Flower border

[Sue]

I have a border of about 1 foot wide (30 cms??)
It runs next to my path which, unless I want to be sued by the postie, I need to keep fairly clear so can't have anything too traily (hence cutting out the infamous pumpkin from the other side next year!)

I LOVE daffodils so want to plant those, does anyone else have any ideas of combinations to mix in?
The idea is to encourage as much life as possible - butterflies etc rather than slugs please
I think I need to include marigolds in the veg patch - so what can I put in the border - I would like to grow it upwards if poss but trellis etc is out of the question
Am I making any sense here?

Basically - 1 foot border - want some bushy stuff (love pottysporum? but its not productive and bees etc don't seem to like it much?)
Lavender may be too wide and not tall enough
Its about 10ft long by the way

[2steps]

what about some herbs? would smell loverly walking past

I'm putting a flower border in our front and am going to plant herbs out there to free some space in the veggy plot

[ina]

What's on the other side of the border - fence, wall, neighbour's lawn?

Herbs are definitely a good idea - my herb patch is a riot of flowers this year (not necessarily intended !) I have a lovely flowering sage, blue and pink flowers, and various thymes. Lavender comes in all sorts of sizes and heights, so you might well find one that suits. You can prune them to size, too. Depends on the soil as well - found a beautiful blue flowering plant at the garden centre last week, lots of bees and hoverflies on it - unfortunately "does best in calcareous soils" - well, not in Scotland, then! No idea why they even sell that here.

And don't do what I generally do - plant the shrubs and perennials after the bulbs... I keep digging up bulbs, because I've forgotten where they are! By the way, you could just go for lots of bulbs that flower throughout the year - I've just bought some alliums that grow quite tall, and all kinds of summer and spring flowering things, in different heights.

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Pittosporum, I think you mean!

Hmmmmm thinking about what I have that the bees and butterflies like that carry on flowering for ages tend to be rather sprawly plants, i.e. herbs such as Marjorum and Oregano, or tall and/or floppy like Verbena Bonariensis (would smack the postie in the face!) or Perovskia.

However cone flowers could be the answer - they are fabulous for butterflies and bees etc and don't sprawl or flop and will flower for months. And garlic chives - mine have been flowering continuously with white chive like flowers for 2 months and they are just covered in buzzy things. I tend to keep this plant as a flowering plant rather than a herb although of course you can cut and use the leaves.

[ina]

Just remembered seeing some cone-like climbing frames at the garden centre - they are not too wide at the bottom, and you could train some climbers (nasturtiums, sweet peas) up them.

The problem with bushy stuff is, if it gets to any height, it also need a lot of room on the ground. So a one foot wide border doesn't give you a lot of options. Or, if you plant anything biggish, it'll spread out above the border and trip up your postie...

Depends on how much you really want to stay on good terms with him or her?

You could just buy a packet of those "butterfly garden" seeds and wait to see what comes up! That would probably be the cheapest option.

Ina

[Sue]

Fantastic - thanks for so many ideas!
I am hoping to do the RHS course next year (wanted to spend this coming year getting more practical experience before signing up to swot over the books) Looking through the reading list gave me inspiration and I've just bought a fabulous book - only £8.99 so alot cheaper than some.
Its the RHS "growing vegetables" it has really clear diagrams and info from the very basic to the quite technical - well worth a glance or 3
Guess what my bedtime reading is this weekend! Yes I am that sad on a Friday night!
It even includes how to grow (and cook) Kohlrabi - would never have known who to ask about that one!
Next months investment will be "growing fruit" - I don't need the "borders" book even if there is one as you guys are complete stars and help me out with my dim questions - always appreciated!!!!

[Millymollymandy]

Hey Sue, sounds like the RHS Fruit book I have in front of me that I just advised Ina from. You know why I have it? I signed up for that course but never got further than the 1st homework assignment!! It did teach me about soil and NPK and stuff like that though. I think I may have the same veg book too - very Percy Thrower and talks about all sorts of chemicals that don't exist now, but is a real 'bible'.

[Wombat]

If they don't exist now M3 that's probably a good thing - there were some pretty persistant nasties years ago - like Chlordane that took forever to break dorn but are banned now.

In the border have you thought of ornamental kale or plain old basil, Sue?

Or maybe some bamboo if you can get some to grow in your climate?

Nev

[diver]

that rhs growing vegetables is my bible, but I didn't know there was a "growing fruit"....I shall have to get it now !!!
I've got chives in my border which is also only 1 foot wide, and last year I grew beetroot in between the flowers

[Millymollymandy]

The book I have is from what I imagine is a series of books entitled "The RHS's Encyclopaedia of Practical Gardening". This is Fruit by Harry Baker. First published 1980. Full of very good diagrams for training and pruning fruit trees - only problem is that things never grow quite like the 'ideal' specimens in the diagrams!