conor ryan asked 15 years ago
hi jerry.i recently cleared some waste ground at the end of my garden.the soil is heavy,sticky and shallow,lying on a yellow pan of mud.it is very wet and parts waterlog for most of the year but bakes solid in dry weather.i dont wish to go to the expense of drainage or importing in soil.i would like to know what trees and shrubs would suit. Thanks .
1 Answers
Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
A waste area of this kind will always present problems for ordinary gardening … shrubs will struggle and lawns will be wet and difficult to cut.
The best policy is to go with nature and plant some trees that like these conditions. The first choice would be alder, a native tree that thrives in heavy wet soil. You could plant these about two metres apart but randomised, not in rows. Mix in a few willows to give bark colour, such as Salix alba ‘Vitellina’. And if you want to add a touch of the exotic, try a swamp cypress, Taxodium distichum.
Control weeds in the early years to get these trees going and after that you will have little or nothing to do with this area which will become a feature in itself with lots of wildlife.
