Digging up against the house

[JoceAndChris]

Hi all

Digging today. I've ordered eleventy billion lavender plug plants ( sorry, more gardening) and I'm planning a lavender "hedge"up against the front facade. There used to be a sort of flower bed there, but it's now overgrown with grass. There are a few deep rooted things to dig out, two very diseased roses, some black hollyhocks I never planted.

The soil here typically requires fairly hefty stone excavation - when you get to about 6 inches depth you start hitting quite large pieces of stone, clearly it wouldn't be a great idea to disturb too much of this up against the house. Do we think I'll get away with just digging it fairly shallowly for the lavender? I could even not bother trying to dig the rose roots out which will be into the stone of the house, and just paint on poison.

What kind of spacing should I leave between the lavender and the building? I wasn't thinking of leaving much of a gap at all and of making the "hedge" fairly narrow as it will just be lavender and nothing else.

Also I'm wondering about gravel, or membrane, or just leaving it as earth - you don't seem to win whatever you pick, gravel needs weeding and will spill into the lawn that I have to mow, membrane disintegrates and will make it too damp overall I think.

Not too worried about damp and the building, lavender is dry and there is a slope away from the house at this side.

My mother in law visited yesterday, she's a keen gardener but she thinks I'm crazy and should just keep strimming up against the house as anything else is going to be mega work.



The lavender should reach up and almost cover the stone plinth in maturity.

Any thoughts much appreciated, or if you do think it a crazy idea, please speak up before I start!

 

[88v8]

Not crazy, if it's south facing.
Lavender likes a sparse dryish soil, otherwise it will get lush and fall over and be short lived. More short lived, I should say.

I'd leave it bare beneath. Easy enough to hoe. Gravel... spawn of the devil... unless you have someone else to maintain it.

Some companion planting, if you wish to extend the period of interest.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/lavender/lavender-plant-companions.htm

Ivor

 

[Woody3]

You're photo doesn't seem to be displaying for me, however I planted Lavender last year around the perimeter of the house.

It's about 300mm away from the wall in around 100-150mm of topsoil, with broken sandstone below that, so very well drained, which like Ivor says is ideal for it.

I can't remember what spacing I did mine at now, but I'll have a measure up later today when I get chance - a foot rings a bell though.

 

[Flyfisher]

We've used lavender as a border, though not as close to the house as you're proposing Joce.
Below is the south-facing border and was planted about five years ago and seems to have lasted quite well. We clip it back each year of course but it seems to be doing quite well. We just dug each plant into the ground with no great thought about drainage, but soil is quite free-draining anyway. We did lay a membrane under the gravel for two reasons - first to prevent/minimise weeds growing up through the gravel and secondly to prevent weeds seeded above the gravel (yes, it will happen!) from becoming well established. The membrane also makes any weeds very easy to pull up.




Below is the east-facing border. It was only planted around this time last year, so has only had one year of growth. The sandy mark on the wall is proof that gravel does not prevent rainwater from splashing up walls :evil: This marking was the result of a dripping gutter that overhangs the wall by about 50cm. The dripping was fixed last year but I've been awaiting decent weather to apply some more limewash.

 

[eezageeza]

Depending on the size of plug - some are tiny - you might need to consider potting them up, and growing them on a bit before planting them out.

You'll need to water them well for the first season, but once they're established, they should be fine in poor well drained soil.

Spacing depends on the variety of lavender -they come in different sizes of course. If it's L. angustifolia 'Hidcote' for instance, then maybe 30 cms between plants will work. If it's a larger variety, then maybe 45 cms spaces will be okay. If you have space, and enough plants, then double staggered rows will make a good dense hedge.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks so much for the extremely helpful replies - very useful!

Flyfisher the planting look beautiful! Wow! Gosh that has transformed your adjoining areas to the house hasn't it. Love what you've done and the plants look like they like it! Lavender is so great in sunny free draining soil!

Ivor that's great thanks for the thumbs up. I do have a nightmare already with gravel here which is continuously taken over by very tall stately cow parsley (?) weeds that blow in from the adjoining field! How much would I love to replace that gravel path! But it's a cheap solution for now. The membrane I put under the gravel lasted 4 years and then disintegrated. I'm sure there are better ones.

I think you're right it isn't necessary up against the house and it's just as easy to come out with a hoe regularly than to weed gravel!

Thanks for the idea of companion plants, I would in a larger border but this is going to be about the depth of a lavender plant and no more. And I want a kind of continuous hedge look as FF has. I have a lot of herbaceous borders here though so that is useful!

Eezageezer good idea to grow them on if they arrive and they're very tiny! Otherwise they may just be scratched up by the cats, birds etc. Yes it is Hidcote so maybe 30 cm will be ok. And yes will water them in for a season, it is so dry in my garden most of the time.

Made a good start on it yesterday - fortunately as it was a border ten years ago the grass is coming out ok and the old line of the border is there.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I have always had lavender close to the house wall Joce--no problems at all.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Such a beautiful plant Joss! I was slightly worried about digging into the foundations as the land slopes away from the house, butbit has clearly been done before with no ill effect.

The plants arrived and as Eezageezer suggested they are so tiny they are almost invisible! I've put them all in pots on the sunny south side, and it looks like I have the whole summer to dig this long bed as I can't imagine they will be big enough to plant until autumn. Going to be lovely though!

Have now joined a gardening forum so will pester PPUKe less with these types of questions, I have millions and am working 10 hours a day on the garden at present!

 

[noj]

Keep a close lookout for rosemary beetle - here in the South East, if I don't pick them off daily, they strip every flower from the lavender and seriously stunt the rosemary.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=555

 

[plasticpigeon]

I have those little buggers on my lavender. They look pretty, like little shiny metallic ladybirds, but they chomp away. I keep picking them off as I don't want to spray insecticide as I I don't want to kill the polinating insects so they are a real pain.