New Raised Flower Bed

[Deb-b]

Could I have a few suggestions as to what to put in a raised flower bed,6x2 ?. I am completely new to any sort of gardening, so keep it simple guys ! Easy to keep please! There seems to be good weed free soil.

[webbo3]

how deep is it, we have one this size in work for display purposes and we have cabbages and peas growing in it but you can grow pretty much anything, if its wooden rub a line of vaseline around the rim to stop slugs and snails.



Dave.

[Clanad]

Keep the border plants, nearest the edges small... here in the U.S., Impatiens is always a good choice... they bloom all summer long and are easy to raise... do need lotsa water though (alternate these with Alyssum for an interesting texture.

Try not to make it to formal and "stiff" looking but a nice medium size plant to follow behind the impatiens could be phlox... with just a few curly parsley plants intermixed adds a deffinite texture that's quite attractive... finish with one or two (this is a small garden after all) Zinnias and/or Marigolds.

This is fairly traditional, but attractive...

[Deb-b]

Thank you so much for yor helpful advise. I now know a few plants to find at the garden centre :)))))

[hammerman]

We just need to be a bit careful with impatiens in the UK Clanad....they're getting destroyed every year by Impatiens downy mildew....which is incurable and will take 10 years to breed a resistant variety.

Get yourself a good book Deb and choose what you like. You might want to go for shape and form...fatsia, phormiums and other archetechtural evergreen plants. Maybe you just want big, bold colours...in which case you can add seasonal bedding plants and bulbs or maybe something a bit more permenant such as the all summer flowering of herbaceous perennials such as Phlox paniculata, Heleniums, echinacea, rudbeckia and coreopsis.

Of course, there is the other option of a veg garden....you've got plenty of room to grow a few bits in there.

As you can see, there's so much more than "suggest a few plants" because what i love, may not be your idea of nice.

Good luck.