[BlackBird]

What to Do with an Overgrown Rockery.

Leave a shrub border untended for a year and no great. harm may result, but treat a rockery in this way and it will almost certainly become an eyesore which will require a lot of work to put right. Listed below are the steps required to restore an overgrown rockery. Once restored make sure that you carry out routine maintenance. Once a week you should weed, trim, clear debris and water when necessary, and then a major overhaul in spring and autumn when replanting, cutting back, mulching etc is carried out. Some replanting will be necessary on occasions in even the best kept rockery as the attractive life span of many alpines is 5-8 years, after which they need to be lifted, divided and then replanted — see below for details.

Restoring the overgrown rockery.
Remove all surface rubbish, cut back all overgrown carpeting perennials and dig out all dead plants. Weed control is essential, so pull out all annual weeds and self-sown alpines growing in the wrong place.

Perennial weeds are a difficult problem when the roots are too deep to be removed, often the answer is to paint the leaves very carefully with glyphosate gel.

When the weeds are growing within the clump it will be necessary to lift, divide and carefully pull away the weeds and their roots, then replant as described below.

Make up a planting mixture of 1 part topsoil, 1 part grit and 1 part peat or well-rotted leaf mould. Leave the good specimens, divide up old clumps and buy pots of new specimens. Plan to cover some but not all the rock faces with carpeting plants and aim for year-round colour.

Dig a hole which is clearly larger than the soil ball and fill with water. When it has drained away, put in the root ball and fill the space around it with planting mixture. Firm the mixture with your fingers and water in.

Finally, cover the rockeries surface with a layer of grit or stone chippings.