Planting advice for a full border in year one

If the soil is poor or very heavy you don’t have to improve it all instantly. Instead, concentrate on improving the soil in each planting hole by breaking up the base well and mixing in lots of well-ro ed compost or manure. Look out for perennials in nurseries and garden centres that have lots of fresh shoots. These can be divided into three or maybe more plants by teasing them out of their pots and using hand forks to prise apart the different sections of plant. Mix up lots of different packets of hardy annual seed and sow them over large areas of the border to create a ‘meadow’ effect. Sow them in between gaps you know will be filled in future years when long-term plants have grown bigger. Mulch the areas around the base of each new plant but don’t try and mulch the whole border before planting or you may end up encouraging more weed seeds to germinate.