[ciaranlan]

Howdy Gardeners,
I have bitten the bullet and dug up my suburban garden (Yikes! I hear you say) It took the guts of a few days and I didnt run into too much bother. I came across only 2 blocks! The soil is pretty light and easy to turn over. I had blitzed with Round-up a few weeks back. I am sending off a sample to be tested tomorrow also. Anyhoo, my issue is that as I look out my back door there is literally 2 different patches of garden. The problem is I have a 6 foot wall running the length of said garden on the south side. Therefore there is a strip approx 3 foot wide out from the wall that HAS never or never WILL see the sun. Its noticeably wetter and soggier than the other part of the garden that does see some sun. I dont think drainage is an issue so I wont be putting in pipes or anything. Its literally lack of sun! What I was wondering was is there anything anyone would recommend growing in the wet patch? There was grass and moss there before. I have planted ivy to grow up the wall and its doin' well. I was hoping to just plant grass on the whole thing but I dont know if it will do well. Is there any grass that would like those conditions which might blend with regular grass on the drier section? Or would a wildflower mix like it?

[The Garden Shop]

Hello. Brave of you to tackle the entire garden, so well done there.

With your troubled spot: dont feel too bad as there is a lot u can do with damp shade. Dry shade on the other hand can be very limiting

Firstly, grass grows well in shade but will be patchy if the ground is too wet. Maybe consider a soak hole to get away excess surface water and your lawn a has better chance.

Otherwise there are a range of really nice plants suitable to your site conditions:
Hosta
Fern
Acanthus
Astilbe
Gunnera
Filipendula
Anemones
Clematis
Hydrangea
Tree fern

These offer a range of leaf shapes, colours and textures.
Lastly choose white flowering varieties where possible as they really stand out in the shade.

[ciaranlan]

Wow! Comprehensive list-Thanks for that,
I like the look of the ferns amongst other things

[Greengage]

Gunnera will be on the banned list soon so thats a no no