Last month I ordered a 6 metre border from Garden on a Roll. I’ve never ordered plants from here before, but I just loved the idea of creating a beautiful border with ease. I ordered the wildlife border for my sunny flower bed, as I love the idea of attracting lots of bees and butterflies to my plants.
Prep the flowerbed
To prep the flower bed I started by cutting the hedge at the back and then clearing out all the weeds and rocks from the flower bed. I then added three large bags of compost and mixed this in with the soil using my fork. After this I added generous amount of chicken manure and raked it into the bed.
I got this biodegradable planting template with my order, I’ve never used a template like this before and I usually just pot my plants wherever I think the plants would thrive and where they would look best so it was fun having a template to work with instead. Each plant is lettered to match a space on the template so you know exactly where to put your plants.
Once my border was prepped I rolled out the template and used pegs to keep it in place. I ordered a 6 metre border which meant I had total had 23 new plants. Although I actually received a template which was only 5 metres long. Which meant I had four plants which were weren’t included on my template, but I just left a space at the side of template to add this plants at the end.
When my plants arrived I took them all out of the box and gave them a good watering, before I planted them the next day. When planting new plants it’s a good idea to fill a bucket with water and dip your plants in them to make sure the root of the plants is wet.
Use the template
When using the template is you first find the plant with the matching letter and cut out a hole on the cross marked on the template. Then you simply dig a whole for your plant and pot it. You would then repeat this until all your plants are potted and you can then cover the template with compost. However I done it slightly differently. I decided to not bury the template and just use it to eye ball where my plants should be potted. So I cut a hole in the template where the cross was marked. I then used a peg so I knew where the plant was been potted. I then lifted over the template and potted the plant where the peg was.
The reason I didn’t bury the template was because I would of have to dig out a lot of soil to add the extra compost over sheet. As I didn’t want bags of soil I decided that this way works just as well. Plus my soil was already very good with all the compost and chicken manure I had added earlier. When potting your plants it’s a good idea to loosen the soil a bit with your hands and tease out the roots, this will help the plants grow in their new home.
Don’t forget to water your new plants
Whether you’re potting a new plant or moving a plant to a new bed, you should always give yours plants plenty of water afterwards. It’s best to water your plants while it’s cool, that’s why I always water mine in the later afternoon when the sun is setting. This way the water will reach the roots of the plants without too much of it evaporating. It also saves your plants from being burnt in the hot sun.
Click the video below to see how I got on!
