h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Mina and John,

very nice entries, all your wildlife gardening entries!!!


I live pretty deep in the wilderness already and I would like to shape "my" wildlife a little bit to my convenience. I have woodland surrounding my garden on three sides. Unfortunately the area is situated on the north slope of a valley, so that in winter there is only some direct sun. However, reading your entries, I think that the lack of winter sun may serve to my advantage...

What do you think: shall I sow some wild flower seeds (mixed with sand) to a terrace that I have kept pretty short this summer?
I am also thinking about planting some ten meters of a beech-tree hedge along the west side of my garden area. Behind that there is a pretty high fir-tree planting. Is that a good idea or will this probably be without success regarding position and sun radiation?

I would be glad for any of your advice,

HP
»--.

I think I'll have to go and look some of this up, as I don't know a huge anount about trees. I kept away from mentioning plants in this whole project, as there are too many to choose from!
But for a direct question I'll attempt an answer.

The wildflower seeds idea sounds fine, you can get mixes for shade or sun. I've sown sunny ones in my south facing sun trap back garden, and shade ones in the front northfacing arctic weather no sun at all front garden. The trouble is, things take so long to grow in the front.
Anyway, I'll go and have a search to see what beech trees like.

That was easy.
Are you sure you want beech trees? They grow very very big, especially if they are shaded. (reaching for the sun) And you'll need shade loving plants for underneath, as they cast dense shade. They are possible to find, as I have to have some in my front garden.

Anyway, hope that helps. I don't know if John is subscribed to the project, you might need to post to his page to get his opinion.

I hope you don't mind me butting in !

Your garden sounds similar to mine, Hollepolle in that mine backs directly onto mature oak woodland.

The best guidance I find in these more unusual garden situations is to spy on the neighbours, and see what grows best.

Where exactly are you? The stuff I can grow in the central pennines (acid soils) may be very different to you if you're on a chalk or limestone. Does anyone near you grow good rhododendrons for example ? Or do Buddleia and Crab Apple grow better ?

Re your comment about beech trees growing very big - yes, but so do many hedging plants if you let them. Beech is widely used for hedging, having the advantage that you can let it grow to the required height before cutting rather than repeatedly pruning hard to encourage bushiness. The simple way to judge whether it will be suitable is to confirm whether it naturally occurs in your surrounding woodland. If not, ask what does - yew, holly, hawthorn, blackthorn? Or just plant a hedge of mixed varieties and let the more suitable varieties take over!