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Nearly 2 years ago we moved to a house which had just had its garden re-landscaped. It has tiers of raised beds around a lawn, thus we have a level lawn, where previously it was a slope (apparently). The top tier of the raised beds is the original ground level at the top of the slope. That seems to have exhausted the previous owners, as they didn't actually put anything into the raised beds - just left them empty.
Anyway, the first year I just stuck in a load of annual seeds while I thought about how on earth to plant such unusual 'borders'. I eventually came up with the plan of making them like flower waterfalls - echoing colour and plantings to look as if they were splashing down the different levels, using small weeping habit trees and trailing plants, etc. I have started on this, but it's slow (spare money tends to go into edibles on the allotments). It was all a very wonderful idea, I thought - until reality set in. The first reality check was the discovery that our hens LOVE to jump between the different tiers of raised beds and have a good old furtle in them all. Hmmm. Plants just about coping with it (most of them, at least). And then we got a puppy. Not just any puppy - a staffordshire bull puppy.
Yes, well .... I think that I can give up on the idea of any artistic garden. One that in some way survives would be nice!
I'm now considering a bit of an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach. The hens eat the plants. At least if they're herbs they should make the eggs (and eventually meat) taste good, and keep the hens healthy. An old friend of mine used to give her girls a herb salad every day - and the eggs tasted AMAZING. The dog, however, doesn't eat them. She just charges through them madly, giving them a good battering. She too enjoys the different levels!
So, trying to come up with a new design which is based around hardy plants, ideally herbs, which can cope with the total abuse being thrown at them. The soil quality is excellent, the treatment the plants are receiving isn't. The back 'border' is shady - only gets the late afternoon sun. The side border is fairly sunny.
Any ideas, anyone? Or do I just need to give up on the garden if the animals are to have a happy life?
Anyway, the first year I just stuck in a load of annual seeds while I thought about how on earth to plant such unusual 'borders'. I eventually came up with the plan of making them like flower waterfalls - echoing colour and plantings to look as if they were splashing down the different levels, using small weeping habit trees and trailing plants, etc. I have started on this, but it's slow (spare money tends to go into edibles on the allotments). It was all a very wonderful idea, I thought - until reality set in. The first reality check was the discovery that our hens LOVE to jump between the different tiers of raised beds and have a good old furtle in them all. Hmmm. Plants just about coping with it (most of them, at least). And then we got a puppy. Not just any puppy - a staffordshire bull puppy.
Yes, well .... I think that I can give up on the idea of any artistic garden. One that in some way survives would be nice!
I'm now considering a bit of an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach. The hens eat the plants. At least if they're herbs they should make the eggs (and eventually meat) taste good, and keep the hens healthy. An old friend of mine used to give her girls a herb salad every day - and the eggs tasted AMAZING. The dog, however, doesn't eat them. She just charges through them madly, giving them a good battering. She too enjoys the different levels!
So, trying to come up with a new design which is based around hardy plants, ideally herbs, which can cope with the total abuse being thrown at them. The soil quality is excellent, the treatment the plants are receiving isn't. The back 'border' is shady - only gets the late afternoon sun. The side border is fairly sunny.
Any ideas, anyone? Or do I just need to give up on the garden if the animals are to have a happy life?
? containers /hanging baskets for your herbs.
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