Great Tips For Shade Growing Plants
I know that shade growing can be a challenge. But with some careful planning and patience you can design a lush, interesting garden that thrives in shade. And once established, a shade garden is low maintenance and provides much needed respite from a hot summer day.
Look for plant recommendations for shade growing trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and bulbs. You’ll be amazing at the selection of plants that thrive in the shade.
Having chosen the best shade growing plants for your garden, next give some thought as to where the plants are going to live. Few plants can survive in complete shade. Plants need a certain amount of light, combined with good soil, good drainage, and sufficient water to thrive.
Preparing the soil is pretty much like any other type of garden; you need to make sure there a good mixture of organic compost and mulch in the soil. To check to see how the soil drains, dig a hole and fill it with water then come back in a couple of hours to see if the water has drained. If not then you will need to mix sand into the soil to help with drainage. Soil balance is essential to success in growing any garden.
Once you’ve considered the soil, check that the surrounding trees are not stealing all the light, moisture and nutrients. This is one of the most common problems if you plant a shade garden under large trees. Your plants will be competing for food and water with the trees, so regular feeding and watering is required so the plants aren’t too depleted for nutrients.
Speaking of trees, if the trees doing the shading are evergreen conifers, the soil tends to be acidic (low ph). So have the soil tested and adjust the soil ph accordingly for what you plan to grow (adding dolomite lime will raise the ph).
Shade from a building or wall will also affect what you can grow in your garden. Consider the placement of the building or wall: if your garden is in the front of a north-facing wall it will be in shade most of the day. In addition, the garden will be exposed to the elements like the prevailing winds and frost during the fall and winter.
Take a look at where your house is placed on your property, and how that affects where the sun is at various times of the year. For instance, where the sun is in the morning isn’t going to the same in the evening, especially the later in the season it is.
As long as you do some planning, you can grow a wide variety of plants in your shade garden. Just keep the important factors in mind: plant selection, the degree of shade you are dealing with (light, medium or dense), good soil and sufficient water. I encourage you to try a shade garden. You’ll love it!
Want to know more about Shade Growing? Visit Barbara Bakker’s site to get recommendations on the best shade plants for your shade garden. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
Tags: evergreen shade shrubs, garden, Gardening, how to, Landscaping, shade, shade garden, shade shrubs, shade treesDecember 18 2009 | Gardening | No Comments »