Savvy Gardening: Garden Ideas, Tips, Pictures, and More

Starting Shade Gardens | Savvy Gardening: Garden Ideas, Tips, Pictures, and More

Aug 11 2007

Starting Shade Gardens

Published by Jennifer at 2:36 am under Gardens, Plant/Flower Types, Violets

Photo: Violets in a shady spot

Whether you’re just looking for a small garden to enhance the look under the tree in your front yard or if you’re trying to make the best of a yard with more shade than you know what to do with, shade gardens are the way to go. Shade gardens can add some green to parts of your yard where you’re more likely to have bare dirt, but you have to plan these gardens carefully. To help you get started on putting some shade gardens in your yard, here’s some tips on doing just that.

Be Prepared To Cut Roots

Because shade gardens are located under trees in your yard in most cases, you will find that in order to get your plants in the soil, you’ll need to work around or through tree roots. Of course, this can be difficult to do, since if you cut through too many roots, you’ll both destroy one of the methods the tree uses to get water and nutrition, as well as the main anchor source for your tree. An easy guideline to follow when preparing the soil for shade gardens is to not cut through a root that’s bigger through than a ballpoint pen.

Get The Soil Ready

One of the reasons that plants in forests manage to grow despite the shade is the because the mulch created from dead leave, needles, and animal matter creates a rich soil that’s good for growing small plants. Follow the same tactic by adding three inches of compost or manure to the ground around the base of your tree, followed by another three inches of mulch. It’s best to plan far ahead for this, getting this around your tree at least by fall, if you intend to have a good topsoil for the springtime.

The Plants

Because of the limited light in shade gardens, the plants that grow best in them are small perennials that don’t require a lot of light. Such flowering plants as violets, toadlillies, and foxglove all do well in shade gardens. Because you are dealing with mostly small plants in your shade gardens, you will be concentrating more on the color and texture that your plants provide, rather than planning varying sizes and shapes of plants.

Be sure to research which plants you want to use and see if they can thrive without as much sunlight as most plants. Do this, add good topsoil and a little extra care, and you’ll soon have the basis for the first of many shade gardens in your yard.