What to plant in my garden?

While a gorgeous garden requires a lot of maintenance, upkeep and tender loving care, plus knowing precisely what to plant and when will keep it blooming and beautiful. You should be able to enjoy your garden in Winter, Summer and the in-betweens Autumn and Spring. You’ll simply do more preparation and maintenance in the colder months.

Before selecting plants for your garden, you have to know what soil type you have. Different plants like different soil types and you may need to alter or improve your garden’s natural soil composition before you plant. Work out the soil’s consistency first. Does it fall easily between your fingers, or is it sticky and clumpy? Somewhere between the two is ideal for allowing young roots to spread easily.

If your soil is on the heavy/sticky side, you’ll need to add manure or compost to improve the structure and add soil nutrients. If it’s chalky or sandy, you will want to add additional organic matter to make the soil more fertile. 

Knowing your soil’s pH (or acidity) is also essential. Most garden plants respond best to a PH level of between 6 and 7, but some fare better with higher acidity levels. Both blueberries and azaleas thrive in more acidic soil, but asparagus and ferns grow well in soil with higher alkaline levels.

You can neutralise your soil by composting a mixture of green and brown waste. Green waste includes leaves, grass cuttings and pet bedding, while brown waste consists of hedge cuttings, sawdust and ash from paper or wood.

While you can alter your soil’s PH level, it’s important to remember that you won’t be able to achieve the levels of acidity or alkaline you want in some cases. It always makes sense to plant seeds that you know will flourish in your soil conditions.

Flowers can be finicky things, so it’s essential to consider when and where they’re going to grow. Most gardens have areas that are naturally shady and naturally sunny, so putting flower types that need loads of sunshine in the bright areas is a must. Other flowers that aren’t so sun-hungry can go in the shadier areas. 

Flowers also have different blooming periods, so you can maximise the length of time your garden will be in full colour by planting a mix of early-blooming flowers, and flowers stay vibrant straight through to autumn. Here are some tips on how to choose:

With that in mind, it’s usually best to start with those sections of the garden that get lots of sunlight and focus on flowers that need it. You might try Salvias. With these, you get a florid burst of colour that’s brilliant for filling out borders and giving the sunny parts of your garden a lavender aspect. Salvias also have a long blooming period, often keeping their colour well into October.

Astrantia is another popular flower that tends to do well in shadier areas. And if you want to attract some fauna to your flora, it’s cranberry-ish hues are known to bring the butterflies in. If you want lighter colours to brighten up the darker areas, consider rhododendrons. They produce bell shaped clusters of flowers in a range of colours including pink, white, yellow, red and purple.

Erysimum is a flower that pairs nicely with the examples above. Even if you filled the sunnier parts of the garden with just these options, you’d have an impactful combo of red, lavender, cream and yellow which maximises the light and smells wonderful. Throw in some Coreopsis for a thick expanse of red and gold, which is ideal for borders.

For the shadier garden sections, there’s still loads of choice. In the UK, most flowers have adapted to Blighty’s penchant for cloudy skies. Shade-loving flowers have the added benefit of a long bloom. They also tend to be low maintenance. You might start with pink and white clematis, which are resilient flowers that bloom across summer and well into autumn. However, red clematis needs high sunlight levels to thrive, so they won’t be suitable for shady gardens.

Have a look at million bells, especially if you plan to have hanging baskets. They erupt in densely packed blooms of small flowers that spill over the side with a trailing habit. A similar option is heuchera, sometimes called ‘coral bells.’ They’re brilliant in pots since they have a double-level effect between their foliage and flowers. They also work well along the edge of paths thanks to their penchant for low-mounding.

Rockeries create a muted, dry effect that’s perfect for flowers like sempervivum. ‘They can thrive when spread around a rockery, either in small pots or adjacent to the rocks. Other plants that work well include Ajuga, an evergreen plant that can fill and add some colour to empty spaces, and the bright and cheerful Lithodora Heavenly Blue plant. 

Hanging baskets are ideal for small gardens because they add colour to your outdoor area without compromising the space. Baskets and pods are also a fantastic option for people that might struggle to maintain their flower beds due to mobility issues.

Popular plants include begonias, petunias and fuchsias. Experienced gardeners can even try their hand at growing fruits and vegetables in hanging baskets.

Above a certain size, trees and shrubs give larger gardens vegetation at a scale that provides a sense of finish and wholeness. Trees need more time to grow, especially if you’re just starting your garden, but even small trees can bring a unique visual element to the garden that flowers alone can’t. Planting trees at the early stages of a garden’s development also allows you to watch them grow and evolve.

If you’re going to add trees, you may as well look at types that bear fruit. Apple is an obvious choice here, and one of the few fruit-bearing trees that thrives in the UK. You might start with the malus domestica, which produces the large, sweet apple often found in grocery fruit sections. The trees themselves are small, making them a manageable plant that won’t overshadow the surrounding flowers and other vegetation.

If you really want your garden to deliver the goods and have practical value, one of the best ways to do that is to cultivate an herb garden or vegetable patch. Despite to what you may have heard, gardens of any shape and size can be used to turn out delicious veg and fresh herbs. With as little as a few square metres of space, you can create a continuous supply. Individual vegetables do have different space requirements, so you’ll need to sure about whether you can accommodate things like carrots, beetroot, or potatoes.

The most popular home-grown vegetable on most people’s lists isn’t a vegetable at all. Technically a fruit, the tomato comes in so many varieties and is so commonly used in British kitchens that almost every vegetable patch will have some space devoted to them. If you like the big red tomatoes for salads and sandwiches, then go for the popular beefsteak variety. If you want cherry tomatoes, try the crokini variety, which produces a lot of volume from a single plant.

Other common vegetable patch options include onions, radishes, and lettuce; plus mangetout and spring onions.  In most cases, you will need to leave room for some area of open ground soil. Vegetables often need to be thinly sown to ensure sufficient distribution of the soil’s nutrients. Competition between plants for nutrients can yield a bad overall result.

Just like gardeners tastes and interests, gardens can grow and evolve over time. As you refine your preferences, you can look at different potted plants for the patio, mix up flower arrangements, or just sit back and watch trees grow to maturity. With baskets and pots, you’ll always be able to re-position or add something new. You’ll likely develop as a gardener along with the garden itself. By starting out on the right foot, you’ll be able to bring it along with your tastes and interests, creating something to truly enjoy.