The Poultry Keeper

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6736 Location: isle of lewis

it is lovely outside today i know it's lulling me into thinking it's spring but i don't care ,been digging into the patch were i have a couple of roses it's got about the best soil on the place ,thinking mixed flowers and swiss chard ect ,i must fence it off after i've finished digging the hens will be disappointed
my problem patch is at the front ,it's aggregate covered in soil
covered in grass ,and on a south facing slope ,with a wall behind it ,
the wind blows straight off the bay ,cannot put up a wind break ,i want something eye catching no rhodies(other people's sheep escape now and again ),behind it is the beginnings of a fruit garden

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6736 Location: isle of lewis

just any favorites will do

Woodburner · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject:

Thrift for starters, not sure about the sheep aspect though, it's not a common problem in the gardening books Wink

Tamarisk would normally be good too, but I'm not sure what you mean by aggregate. (Tamarisk doesn't like lime.) If you don't get more suggestions before tommorrow I will look out lists of appropriate plants in my books.

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6736 Location: isle of lewis

yep problems faced are sheep ,sea spray and wind Shocked

aggrigate is flint big pieces of as in there is a drainage ditch that cars kept falling into and the water board filled the ditch in before we moved here there is now a pipe under the road to carry away the water Wink

so that the flooding there isn't so much of a problem Wink

to be honest i'm more of a veg and fruit grower like flowers but don't know that much about them Wink

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2029 Location: North Cornwall

What about bog standard Gorse. I love it, it stands all weather and looks beautiful when in flower. I dont think there is a month in the year when you cant find some in flower Very Happy

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6736 Location: isle of lewis

good idea

i've got some in front of the polytunnel ,it seems to do ok .any other ideas

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 1495 Location: norfolk

Sea Buckthorn - I believe the berries might even be edible ???

Magpie · Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 541 Location: Norfolk

Sedum, Dianella, Phormium for starters Smile

All of the above sound good too. Just remember that sea buckthorn is dioecious (male and female bits on different plants) so you need at least two to get the berries, and they are edible but whether they are actually worth bothering with is another question Laughing

Tim

Eyren · Joined: 02 Mar 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Cambridge

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6736 Location: isle of lewis

runner beans are a no go here ,the wind burns
other ideas are great .i want to make it really eye catching

Sedgewort Bramble · Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 407

Would something like Globe Artichokes work???

As already said some herbs....

Not only would they look attractive, you could sell them as well.

Bob

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6736 Location: isle of lewis

i've got some seeds for them

Itsybitsy · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 1312 Location: Leicestershire

Hydrangeas . . . . I love them, they do very well in poor soil - everybody in terraces houses used to grow them in dolly tubs, there are loads in coastal towns so sea spray is okay. . . . not sure about sheep though as it is a medicinal plant - but not poisonous.

Itsybitsy

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6736 Location: isle of lewis

well some good ideas there ,the area is 20 by about 10 feet

Gilly C · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 2171 Location: South Cumbria

I have a limestone pavement so have planted allsorts in the gaps can't remember if clints or grikes don't tell OH he's a geographer lol, our last house the garden was being tarmaced so we brought a lot of stuff with us in pots I will take a pic for you, lavender does well as does rosemary and Hydrangeas I also have cordyline, mallow, buddlea and clematis montana, honeysuckle, rosa rubosa, sweet peas annual and perrennial, roses, potententilla hebe aubretia lilies iris capanula primula ,we have juniper willow forsythia and 2 grey plants 1 is santolina the othe escapes me at the mo all grey leaved plants do well on the coast that were all that was in the garden when we came ! I was told nothing would grow, I have proved them wrong I also have 2 veg plots in raised beds but 1 is now a fruit garden, my garden faces NE and we get the worst winds from the W so it is the most sheltered spot but always windy here on the sunnyside I have fig, olive, passion flower herbs more sweet peas and rosa rubosa thats my hedge more lavender so plenty for you to go at Very Happy