Mark is kick-starting his space ready for spring – and it is going to be bountiful!
I love April, but it can be a really busy time in the garden, so I’m making a note of every gardening job that I need to do to kick-start my new garden and keep it going for years to come.
As a gardener and designer who wants and needs to create a garden that is climate- and carbon-positive, I’ll need to look closely at the wider Lincolnshire environment, see what grows in the hedgerows and fields, and select cultivated plants or wild species that can be used in my garden.
Water harvesting will play a big part with the addition of water butts, as will covering as much of the bare soil with plants and mulches that can absorb carbon. I’ll also select more drought-tolerant plants, but still create the evergreen backbone that I’m after alongside naturalistic planting. It’s also essential for me to create a garden that’s rich in biodiversity, that will attract and benefit pollinators, and perhaps consider replacing the existing turf.
I’m thinking about adding a tapestry lawn, which contains no grass, but instead low-growing, perennial flowering plants that can tolerate cutting back, even mowing. Some great examples are Lysimachia nummularia (creeping Jenny), Prunella vulgaris (self-heal), Thymus coccineus (creeping thyme), Chamoaemelum nobile ‘Treneague’ (Roman chamomile) and Trifolium repens (white clover). Not only will these look beautiful when in flower, but they’re also great for wildlife, and because there’s a great mix of flowers, they give pollinators a smorgasbord of delights. Tapestry lawns also absorb rainfall twice as fast as traditional lawns, preventing water run-off.
The side of the house will be the perfect spot for a new tapestry lawn. I was originally thinking about a wildflower meadow in this area, but as I also want to add fruit trees in this space, I think a tapestry lawn will be better. Once it has knitted together, we’ll be able to walk and wheel over it and trim it back either with shears, a strimmer or mower (which will be electric/battery-operated, rather than petrol-fuelled equivalents). As for the fruit trees, I have a long list. I’ll probably wait until the bare-root season (November-March) to plant them, but I can plan in April where I want them to go. I know I want apples, pears, cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and gages. With the addition of a tapestry lawn, I can mark out where the trees need to go and leave a circle or square area free of flowering perennials for each tree to be planted in, and start improving and feeding the soil in readiness fo
