[Tribesman29]

Hello,

An apprentice gardener in need of some help and advice please.

The back wall of our back garden is in desperate need of some life and colour.

My sketchy plan is to make some sort of raised bed in front of the bottom of it, and either put trellis along it for vines etc and one or two trees and some flowers.
I have attached photos below. It is a very shaded area throughout the day so I would like some ideas on what to plant and what to do preparation-wise to get the most from it.
Below are photos of the garden.

Any help much appreciated.
Cheers
Alan

[SorchaBC]

Howdy Tribesman29,

Depending what way your rain falls you're going to have a shady and moist, or shady and dry area at that wall (I, for example, have a large shady and dry area in the garden due to the surrounding trees sucking up all the water). You'll need to do all the usual basic prep work on the soil - determine the type, improve soil texture, add nutrients etc. There's LOADS of threads on this site dealing with this in detail, so I'm not going to repeat them here, simply use the search function to find out more about that.

Plants-wise it depends on whether you'll have moist or dry soil, and also on the style of planting you want. Are you going for a country-cottage style? Something robust and able to withstand children? Modern and edgy? Which is the most important to you:- form, colour, scent, function?

I know I'm throwing a lot at you here, but there's actually a surprising amount of plants that will survive, or indeed, thrive in shade and I want to make sure that anything I suggest will suit you

[simonj]

Dont forget veg is another option.

This site might give ideas, small company in Celbridge, their blog shows a project in a school that might give a few ideas

http://www.patchworkveg.com/