Planning your Border

Before doing anything its best to take a step back and think – considering a few things.

Soil Type – You need to be prepared for what type of soil your garden is. Most gardens will either have Clay, sandy, chalky, silt or loam. Most new build areas will have clay soil, you can test this by gathering a small scoop of your soil and clumping it into a ball, if it sticks, its clay! Try to check your Soils PH too, this can drastically affect what plants you can have. If your unsure, check out our Beginners guide to Soil Ph.

Sunlight Levels – Different plants need different levels of light, and its important to know what your garden receives most of the time. For South and West facing gardens you will receive full sun most of the time. For North and East facing gardens you will mostly be in the shade, so find some shade loving plants to accommodate!

Frost Maps – Unfortunately, things like “Frost pockets” do exist and these can limit what you can plant too. If you are prone to frosts or harsher conditions, consider planting hardier plants or be prepared to protect your plants with a fleece quite often.

Plan your Plants – Consider where you’re going to place each of your plants, placing them at random can be fun, but later on you may find a tangled mess of different leaves roots and colours – so try to place methodically.

Building your Border

With the plan set in motion its time to get digging! Start by marking out your border with either a rope, hose pipe or some sticks so that you keep to your boundaries. If you find yourself lacking any tools, you can find a large selection available Online.

Prep your soil by digging over to reduce compaction and remove any large stones or any debris (particularly in new builds). For every soil its best to mix in some organic material, you can find plenty available at your Local British Garden Centre to help improve structure, drainage and soil fertility!

Now for the plants! Start by creating your border foundations, such as your larger trees, shrubs and climbers to set the stage at the back of the border. Keep taking steps back to re-evaluate your layout, you don’t want to plant your border in a way that will annoy you later so always adjust until your completely satisfied.

Place all your smaller perennials/annuals according to your plan and give every plant a good water whilst still in their pots. This will help them transfer to their new homes a little bit easier and give them a nice head start too.

It’s Time to Plant!

With the foundations in place, now its time to create your border. Once again, start at the back of the border with all the stage setters and get your digging tools out! Dig out a hole slightly bigger than the pot the plant was initially in, if you know your soil is poor you can dig a little bit deeper and add some Multi-purpose Compost to help them a bit more.

Place your plants and firm them in, and once settled give them another good watering and move onto the next plant! Some plants may need their roots teasing before planting, this is simply just gently pulling the roots slightly out of their pot-bound shape to encourage further growth.