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Living walls take shape
I came away from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with an idea for a new project which an increasing number of designers are using in their schemes - a living wall.
Instead of growing climbers up a wall, you can create a framework which will take low-growing plants to adorn a wall and make the most of what little urban space you have. This allows you to use a variety of plants which will take both dry and wet soils.
Designer Mark Gregory, brainchild behind the gold medal-winning Children's Society urban garden at Chelsea this year, set out to make the most of the small plot by using vertical features.
He says living walls could catch on in residential gardens.
The plants are set into what looks like a bookcase, but with vertical as well as horizontal dividers. He used western red cedar as it's from a sustainable source, the wood is very sappy and won't rot, but you could use plastic, metal or clay. You could even mount plants in CD/DVD racks or wine bottle racks.
The key is getting the planting right. You want dry-loving plants at the top and water-loving species at the bottom. You can put the in-betweeners in the middle.
"This is not a Chelsea fad," says Mark. "Go with a simple palette of plants which will grow vertically without much fuss. You could have aspleniums (Hart's Tongue fern) at the bottom, which grow in walls or any hedgerow, euonymus above it, which is a horizontal plant but if planted in a living wall will turn up. Heucheras and euphorbia will grow and sedums are good at the top."
Of course, success depends on a depth of compost, so give your frame enough depth to hold a good quantity of organic matter. Also, you need to put small plants in initially.
Professionals generally mix up a very free-draining material and build in some sort of irrigation, such as a drip line, into the compost and then plant tiny plugs, securing them behind a galvanised mesh, starting from the bottom, and keep stapling the mesh on in layers. The plant will make a root mass and then will grow through.
"All the shelves should have holes in so everything will drain down. If you have no built-in drip feeder you can water it gently from the top."
Don't plant up your living wall when it is flat on the ground, as it will be difficult to move afterwards. Plant it up in its final standing position, from the bottom upwards.
"You have a good choice of plants. Clearly, water gravitates to the bottom, so don't put dry plants at the bottom.
"Heuchera is semi-evergreen, so in a sheltered courtyard it wouldn't lose all its leaves. Asplenium, euonymus and sedum are evergreen, so in effect you can maintain them and you don't have to use a flowering plant," Mark says.
"A living wall gives a small space vertical accent. If people want to put a mural outside, what better than planting?"
If something fails or plants become tired, you can take them out if they've been segregated within the vertical and horizontal shelving you've created.
Gardeners who want flowers should place their living wall in a west or south-facing spot. If you want your living wall in the shade, you will have to use plants such as ferns, ivies and 'mind your own business' (Soleirolia soleirolii) but try not to use species which are going to become too invasive.
"And don't be too ambitious. Maybe that living wall would look great with just three species of plant," Mark advises.
"This is not maintenance-free gardening," he continues. "But it's not much more maintenance than a normal intensive kind of garden."
BEST OF THE BUNCH - Heuchera
These impressive low-growing semi-evergreens have come into their own in recent years, their impressive foliage and attractive summer flowers gracing many a border. For me, the burgundy varieties are the most stunning, creating fantastic contrast in a border with vibrant orange dahlias or against acid greens or silver foliage plants, and suppressing weeds at the same time. The flowers, on wiry stems above the foliage, add a graceful, flowing touch to plantings, and come in pink, red, white or green. Heucheras like well-drained but fertile soil in sun or light shade. Plant deeply, with only the crown above the ground and mulch well in spring. Good varieties include H. micrantha diversifolia 'Palace Purple' and H. micrantha 'Chocolate Ruffles', which has large brown and burgundy leaves.
GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT - Stop lettuces bolting
Lettuces are among the easiest salad crops to grow, but if you let them bolt (run to seed) they will often taste bitter.
Remember that lettuce is a quick-maturing annual. It is ready for harvesting in weeks and then bolts, producing a mass of foliage and flowers if left. The rapidity with which it goes to seed depends on the weather - if it's hot and dry it will bolt more quickly.
To discourage bolting, plant your lettuces where they will be slightly shaded during the hottest weather, mulch around plants and water them well in dry spells.
Choose "slow-to-bolt" varieties such as 'Sangria', 'Set' and 'Challenge', or make successive sowings, keep the plants cool and harvest early.
THREE WAYS TO... Create a wildlife haven
1. Oversow a corner of your lawn with wildflowers, including moon daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), meadow clary (Salvia pratensis) and red campion (Silene dioica).
2. Create a permanent log pile. Leaving dead wood in the garden is beneficial to beetles, hedgehogs and frogs, who will get rid of some of your slugs and snails.
3. Go for mixed plantings which attract beneficial insects. Marigolds, valerian, ivy, lavender, poached egg plants and poppies all attract beneficial insects to help keep pests under control.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
:: Look out for ants in containers. If you see hordes of them, tip out the contents, remove the nest chamber and repot the plants with new compost before it's too late.
:: Plant out hardened off annuals when all danger of frost is over.
:: Start to cut lawns with naturalised bulbs, making the first cut high.
:: Harden off aubergines, courgettes, marrows, peppers, pumpkins and tomatoes grown from seed before planting outside.
:: Prune deciduous spring-flowering shrubs over three years old as they finish flowering.
:: Tie in new growth on autumn-fruiting raspberries.
:: Move houseplants away from south-facing windows so they are not exposed to too much direct sun.
:: Plant leeks for mid-season use.
:: Sow alpine strawberries in a seed bed.
:: Take cuttings from fuchsias to provide a batch of young plants which should flower in autumn.
:: Cover your carrots with fine-mesh insect-proof netting to deter carrot fly.
:: Put new waterlilies in the pond up to the end of June, as they need warmer water to establish themselves.
:: Remove blanket weed by sticking a long cane into the middle of the mass and twisting it so that it looks like a blob of candyfloss before taking it out.
:: Divide clumps of polyanthus and primroses.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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