Plant help!

[DannyK]

Hi,

We've moved into a house that has a brick retaining wall to form a flower bed at the front of our house. This bed doesn't appear to have any drainage and therefore can be quite soggy in the rainy season - any suggestions as to what I can grow in there to make it look nice?

If anyone also has any suggestions with regards to draininage of it I'd be delighted to receive them!

[andyjevs]

There's a few things you could considder doing to improve the drainage. Firstly is to drill holes in the wall every couple of feet. This will allow any water to get out.
Secondly, Add grit, peat and organic matter to the existing soil to improve it's quality and drainage capacity.

Once you've taken care of that, you can plant what you like providing it suits your soil.

If you can't do any of the above, i'd suggest bog plants. Hostas, astilbes, lobelia cardinalis, sweet flag, marsh marigold, bog arum, iris pseudochorus, purple loostrife, peltophyllum, carex sp plus quite a few more.

Hope this helps a bit

[logman]

Hi,

Sounds ti to me like a design fault, by who ever constructed the raised bed,as it seeme a strange location, to have a bog garden, it cuold also subside sometime in the future, so i would be inclined to dig out the bed and discard it if it has become stale and sour, this would give you a good opportunity to examin if drainage had been considered in the construction.

If no drainage is or is'nt in place nows the time to install or improve it options are pipes air bricks or gaps between the mortar,then add a layer of coarse hard-core with another finer layer of gravel over the top, fill in with fresh soil if nessessary and you can now decide on your planting scheme ie alpines look good in a raised bed or you could choose spring and summer bedding, low shrubery. A rockery with dwarf conifers and heathers may loog nice if you have the width.

If the lower side of the wall is on the street take care to avoid the possibility of water draining out and freezing on the pavement, you dont want to get a law-suite now

Best of luck..