Garden Dilemma

[bramble]

I am thinking of changing my garden around but not sure if I'm doing the right thing.
I have a south westerly facing border which is about 30ft long by 3 or 4 ft wide. At the present time, and for the past 10 years it has been a herbacious border. The wall is completely covered by cotoneaster which I keep trimmed back.
I am thinking of taking the cotoneaster out and planting mixed fruit against the wall and using the border for veg instead of flowers.
Any advice or opinions would be very welcome.

[veggiechicken]

I'd do it, but then, nobody listens to me!
I don't know how easy it is to get rid of cotoneaster; never tried to dig one out but they do seem to be very persistent, how ever badly you treat them. I'd go for a mixed flowers and veg approach, nothing too formal.

[redser]

Maybe think of dual purpose plants (edible and pretty when flowering). Alpine strawberries for edging for example.

[Uber-Uncool]

I've an intense dislike for cottoneaster, it is a huge pain in the bottom to eradicate. every time i think i have got rid of it, a bit pops up somewhere else. Good luck!

[tamsin]

Does it have to be that drastic? Unless that's what you want. You could mix the two otherwise a lot of veg patches can look quite empty in winter.

I quite like the look of step over apples, or you could go for columner fruit trees - we added a cherry to our border two years ago, which is meant to be about 6' tall and 12-18" wide.

Swapping out some patches for veg but keeping some flowers in might give you a better year around look. I grow mine all over, I've a cherry, red current, strawberries all mixed in the 'flower' border, with annuals like a squash and runners climbing the fence at the back.

[Two_Sheds]

I've recently dug cotoneaster out of a 12ft x 3ft bed ~ it nearly killed me ! Seriously, it's tough stuff, take it a little at a time, digging, sawing and levering those roots out.

I chopped all the bit up into smaller pieces and piled them in the Wildlife area as beetle habitat

[chris]

If the wall is SW facing then I'd definitely grow some espalier fruit along it

If you could cover it a peach (or similar fruit in the same family) would be good against it, but uncovered, it'll more than likely get peach leaf curl... not sure on your local/micro climate though, is it warm?

What about a grapevine too? I picked up a 'Phoenix' green, seeded grape which grows well in north Germany apparently, it was bred to ripen outdoors in cool climates. It's very vigorous untrained mind. In a month mine has doubled in size, and it's still in a small pot.

Failing that, or as well I'd go for flower and veg mixed too.. perhaps just dot some veg in now, to see how it looks. Some veg can be very ornate. Leeks (Hardy types) in winter look great on a frosty morning, I love the look and texture of Globe Artichokes, but they do grow quite large.... probably 5-6' leave height, tall spikes for the flowers and just as wide if grown in good ground. The ones on my allotment site are huge. Edible flowers - have you thought about them?

Leafy crops, such as chard can look good and give some winter interest unless you'd want it all to die back over winter?

[bramble]

Thanks to all who gave me their advice.
At least nobody advised me against my garden makeover.
I'm going to go with it and will keep you all updated.