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Sorry, spamming the boards a bit this morning!
We're trying to create a patio-like area at the back of our plot. Its going to be a space to chill, basically, either between gardening or while waiting politely for others to finish gardening ;-). There will be a table and chairs. Possibly paving slabs if I get lucky in a skip but more likely bark chippings. People using it will be my 3 young kids, their friends, grandparents, our friends-a variety of people, gardeners and non-gardeners.
The area is about 20m by 30 m (pretty big!), but is shaded on three sides by an avenue of huge old oaks, a shed and a thick, long row of blackberries. The shade is fairly constant throughout the year, the trees are big enough that whether or not they are in leaf does not make a huge amount of difference. I'd describe the shade as dappled shade. At the moment, it is bascially shaded to every direction bar north, and it slopes north. Soil is heavy clay, and because this is the first year of proper cultivation of this patch, will be riddled with bindweed, couch grass and brambles. (its been dug over a few times this year, but I know from experience it takes a while to get these weeds to manageable levels.
I do want it to be a productive patch-and even if I didn't want a productive patch, our ever tightening allotment rules mean that it probably would be prudent only to put in perennials which could be arguably seen as food in some way. But I want it to have a more decorative and relaxing feel than the rest of the plot. I also want it to be fairly low maintenance-I'd like it to be the place that looks nice even when the rest of the plot needs work. We do have a lot of non gardening or beginning gardening people come to visit our plot and I'd like to have somewhere they could relax.
We're in South Wales, and our plot takes a few extra weeks to warm up and get going.
I'd love any and all ideas.
We're trying to create a patio-like area at the back of our plot. Its going to be a space to chill, basically, either between gardening or while waiting politely for others to finish gardening ;-). There will be a table and chairs. Possibly paving slabs if I get lucky in a skip but more likely bark chippings. People using it will be my 3 young kids, their friends, grandparents, our friends-a variety of people, gardeners and non-gardeners.
The area is about 20m by 30 m (pretty big!), but is shaded on three sides by an avenue of huge old oaks, a shed and a thick, long row of blackberries. The shade is fairly constant throughout the year, the trees are big enough that whether or not they are in leaf does not make a huge amount of difference. I'd describe the shade as dappled shade. At the moment, it is bascially shaded to every direction bar north, and it slopes north. Soil is heavy clay, and because this is the first year of proper cultivation of this patch, will be riddled with bindweed, couch grass and brambles. (its been dug over a few times this year, but I know from experience it takes a while to get these weeds to manageable levels.
I do want it to be a productive patch-and even if I didn't want a productive patch, our ever tightening allotment rules mean that it probably would be prudent only to put in perennials which could be arguably seen as food in some way. But I want it to have a more decorative and relaxing feel than the rest of the plot. I also want it to be fairly low maintenance-I'd like it to be the place that looks nice even when the rest of the plot needs work. We do have a lot of non gardening or beginning gardening people come to visit our plot and I'd like to have somewhere they could relax.
We're in South Wales, and our plot takes a few extra weeks to warm up and get going.
I'd love any and all ideas.
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