Use of space, not plants, crucial to successful garden design
When it comes to landscape design, your garden’s theme should reflect your personal style. Go outside and take a good look at your property. Mark the boundaries if they are not clear. Use a compass to get the orientation of the house. Check which parts of the yard get sun at different times of the day. Recall where snow piled up during the winter. Take photos. Review the needs of your specific garden(s). Is the vegetable garden in the sunniest spot? Is your water supply accessible? Stand with your favourite view of the garden and make a wish list.
Successful gardening revolves around the use of space, not the use of plants. Good design relates to the users of the garden first. Plan and design for your needs and let the garden grow around you.
HARDSCAPEAND SOFTSCAPE
Hardscape elements should manage traffic flow and provide comfortable recreation spaces. Hard landscaping defines the garden with distinct lines and includes all the non-organic design elements such as patios, fences and pathways. Always install the hardscape before the softscape, even if you cannot afford it straightaway. For example, lay gravel and sand until you can afford the flagstones or concrete for the patio.
Softscape comes next. This includes all the plant material that softens and complements the hardscaping. Soft landscaping continues to grow and to change the shape of the yard. Calgary is known for its microclimates — mini climate zones that differ from the surrounding area. Take advantage of them by carefully choosing and positioning your plants. Proximity to water may cool the ambient temperature or add moisture. Close to the house, more heat is retained, allowing tender plants to flourish. And on a south-facing slope, plants will thrive in the warm, bright sunshine.
Avoid the pitfalls of softscaping: making your beds too small and growing more plants than you care to maintain. Landscapes that “bully you” by demanding constant pruning, mowing, fertilizing and watering should be replaced or modified.
CREATING NEW BEDS
Flower beds should be at least two metres wide to give plants enough space to spread naturally. Lay a hose to outline where you’d like your new beds, or use flour dribbled out of a wine bottle. Be generous with curves — sweeping curves give a sense of infinity, while small curves make a bed look lumpy. Raise beds at least 10 cm above ground level, with a low rise towards the middle. Remove turf with an edging tool, shovel or machine. Begin by cutting along the hose or flour outline, working your way into the new bed. Cut the turf about six cm deep into long horizontal strips about 20 cm apart. Then cut each long strip into small “bricks” that you can lift with ease. Use the bricks to amend other parts of the lawn or stack them upside down to degrade into compost. Amend the new bed with 10 to 15 cm of topsoil. If you are reducing your lawn area a lot, you can suffocate the grass by covering it with thick layers of newspaper and watering thoroughly to prevent it from flying away. Place the soil on top of the newspaper, then cut down through the newspaper as you plant.
BUILDING YOUR SOIL
Digging, rototilling and even walking on it damages soil structure, reducing drainage. Soil can take years to regain its structure. It’s better to buy a few cubic yards of good quality topsoil and lay it on top. Then dig only where you plant. Leave nature and the earthworms to integrate the layers. Tilling and even hoeing can rip apart the delicate labyrinth of fungi that “mine” the soil for water and nutrients and transmit them to plants’ roots. Plants served by fungi have better root formation, fewer root diseases, require less water and fertilizer, and show increased salt tolerance.
Before you buy any plants, check your soil type. Is it light and sandy, or heavy with clay? Many plants do better in one type than the other. Clay soil is the bane of the Calgary gardener. It does hold more nutrients but is difficult to work, and too much clay results in poor drainage. In general, a healthy balance of soil is comprised of 35 per cent mineral residue (clay, sand and silt), 15 per cent organic matter, 25 per cent air and 25 per cent water, plus an abundance of microorganisms to feed on the organic material, decomposing it and releasing nutrients into the soil.
In our next instalment, we get growing!