A new round of garden questions (March 2021 – part II)
And the round of garden questions continues! In this second part, tips from garden pros Mama Bart. How to make your own picking garden, learn how to replace your lawn with a border and what are those jungle vibe plants for the Dutch garden? Hold on tight, here's part II.
For a handy, beautiful picking garden, I would make elongated rows with walkways in between to make it easy to weed weeds. Never make the flower beds wider than 1 1/2 to 2 meters and leave a path of about ½ meter between them. Of course, you still want to be able to reach a little on both sides of the flower beds.
Now is the time to sow indoor annuals. These can be planted outside in the right place after mid-May. (see sowing tips). Furthermore, many types of ornamental grasses can of course be used (look for fine ornamental grass for bee Henny Hemmink), an easy and above all beautiful way to make your picking garden a versatile paradise. All kinds of perennials that are suitable for cutting and putting in a vase also fit perfectly here. Not just flowers, don't forget the foliage plants!
To make it look nice you have to pay attention to contrasts, high and low for example. Or wide and thin. Next to a plant with spikes, a plant with a round flower head looks nice. For example, next to a Salvia is an Achillea. Also pay attention to the colors, because contrasts such as deep red and green, or black and yellow make it complete.
March/April is also a good time to put the summer bulbs in the ground. These often include beautiful cut flowers. For example, the ornamental onion and Bulgarian ornamental onion. It is best to only plant the dahlia outside after mid-May, because it cannot withstand frost and with those Dutch springs you never know.
A few more perennials that fit well in the picking garden: Helianthemum, larkspur, vervain, knotweed, peony, baby's breath, loosestrife, phlox, girl's eyes, coneflower. So, plenty of options here already.
There are two ways to get rid of your dull lawn. Because let's face it, aren't flowers, shrubs and ornamental grasses much more fun to look at and walk through than such a (often barren) lawn?
Option 1 is to spray the grass completely with a product that can be purchased at the garden center. You then wait until the grass is completely brown, remove it and the soil is suitable for creating a border. Patience is also one here virtue, because it will certainly take several weeks before your grass is completely dead.
Option 2 is cutting the sod. If your lawn is not that large, you can do this with a shovel and then remove the sod. For a larger lawn (lucky you) you can rent a sod cutter. Especially if you do it with a shovel, you will notice that the ground is rock hard (and also infertile by the way), so it is a tough job. After this, remove all the weeds by digging up the soil and pulling everything out by the roots. Add a layer of compost (or better yet, a soil improver from a specialist professional) of about five centimeters and you have come a long way. On very wet soil it is best to apply Rhine sand for better drainage. Add a little organic fertilizer and possibly lime and you have the start of your border. If you want to be completely sure, take a soil sample and have it tested, then you can be sure that you have the optimal start for your border. Level the ground and stake the plants before planting them.
For a wilder, more natural garden, you can also cut a hole out of the lawn and plant a perennial plant. Then throw in some compost for a little extra love.
A palm tree may be a bit difficult, and a coconut palm just won't make it. But how do you get a jungle vibe in your Dutch garden? Mama Bart has made a nice list with all kinds of plants and small trees with a Mediterranean look. Make sure you inform yourself well. Not all plants in the list are 100% winter hardy or you may need to give them a helping hand by protecting the branches with a fleece or bubble wrap. It's not just the temperature that can kill your plant, wind and rain can also be disastrous. So be well informed (or think logically) about where you are going to place your new jungle.
Tuscan jasmine; white. Climbing plant. Can withstand frost down to about -10 degrees
Agave filifera / Agave montana
Tree fern
Chinese fan palm
Cypress
Lavender
Olive tree (not winter hardy) or eucaliptus
Yucca ; white flowers, sharp leaves
Passionflower (moderately hardy)
African lily; blue 50 cm (container plant)
Euphorbia characias ; yellow/green 50 cm
Iris Jane White; white 50 cm
Romneya coulteri,; white 200cm
Allium; blue 60 cm
Cistus ; gray 60cm
Phlomis; yellow 50 cm
Verbena; blue 150cm
Echium vulgare; blue 80 cm
For strong and organic plants you need to grower Hessenhof in Ede are. Specially looking for roses? Than the Bierkreek.
Where is the best place to go for which flower, tree or seed? Mama Bart knows all that too. For perennial geraniums you have to Jan Neelen being in Him, for fruit trees (and a tea garden, nice!). Baggelhof and for anyone who is not blessed with a south-facing garden, you can get shade plants Koen van Poucke justifiably. We ourselves like edible plants (because they are beautiful and useful). Peter Bauwens and the special seeds department the most fun. If you really have a lot of space in your garden, then you should definitely take a look at the tree nursery Halesia, specialist in all kinds of fun and beautiful trees.
