Building a rock garden – or rockery as they are also known – can give a flat garden structure, can make more of a sloping backyard and create a home for dry or Mediterranean gardens.
Rock gardens in Europe are traditionally reserved for alpine plants, but there really are no rules – your rock garden can feature everything from traditional planting schemes to desert-loving, drought-tolerant succulents and cacti. The rock garden ideas you choose – and the planting in particular – simply need to suit your zone’s climate and reflect the natural materials and rocks found locally.
You can build a rock garden yourself, and it’s especially easy if you already have a sloping garden. However, the slope, mound or mound can be recreated by supplying additional soil and stones. Here we show you step by step the basics of building a rock garden.
How to build a rock garden To build a rock garden you will need the following basics:
Rubble – unused rubble, such as old or damaged bricks, will do. Scenery fabric to cover the debris. topsoil. Stones of different sizes, from fine gravel to small, medium and large stones. You need more than you think to create an effective display. Choose stone that reflects your local environment for the most natural look. Compost. rock garden plants. 1. Find the right location for your rock garden A rock garden can really be anywhere in a backyard, but you need to consider whether the conditions – such as shade, southern exposure, good or poor drainage – will suit the planting you’ve chosen for it. Plants suitable for rock gardens include traditional alpine plants, which like lots of light, while desert plants, which also suit a dry garden, also like good drainage.
Also consider the surroundings of your rock garden’s location – it needs to look as natural as possible to be convincing, although over time it will look more established.
2. Plan the design of the rock garden When the rock garden’s location is decided, you can begin to work on its shape and size. If you want it to look natural, consider working towards an organic, irregular shape, although rock gardens can be more formal and mimic some of the design elements of Japanese gardens.
A rock garden is perfect for an entire front yard – it’s a low-maintenance way of gardening and always looks neat with minimal effort. When landscaping your backyard, it’s important to make sure your rock garden looks like a natural part of the garden, and sometimes it’s best to build a low wall around it of local stone where it borders a lawn, for example.
Likewise, gravel, stones and rocks that suit your garden’s local environment will make your rock garden look as integrated as possible, as will planting that is adapted to the local climate.
Your rock garden design will be very organic, but as you go you need to consider where plants are going so you can leave room for planting bags.
3. Prepare the site The first step in building a rock garden is to remove all weeds from the site. When you are finished, you can start building your rock garden structure with the first layer of rubble. There must be some gaps between the rocks to ensure the rock garden has good drainage, otherwise it will become a hardened mound. However, these gaps must not be more than a finger’s width, otherwise the structure is not in order.
Once you’re happy with the basic shape and size of the rock garden’s foundation, cover it completely with landscape fabric – to discourage future weed growth – and weigh down the fabric with small rocks at the edge of the rock garden until you’ve layered the first layer of rock.
4. Start positioning the bricks Lay the largest stones first so they create a slanted, natural look. Make sure the directions they are pointing in are random and that there isn’t a pattern that your eye can discern as “normal”.
Next add some smaller stones and use them to wedge the larger stones in a stable position. Keep adding rocks of different sizes until you’re ready to add gravel, leaving room for planting bags.
Make sure the edges of the landscaping material are hidden by rocks, gravel, or a retaining wall.
5. Add topsoil Once the large, medium, and smaller rocks are in position, add a 4-5 inch layer of topsoil to the rock garden to create planting pockets. The ground may need to be deeper in some places to also embed and stabilize some of the rocks.
6. Plan the planting After most of the rocks and planting bags are in place on the rock garden, begin positioning your plants in pots, periodically stepping back to check that you are happy with the arrangement, plant heights, and juxtapositions.
When you are satisfied, loosen up the planting bags and fill them halfway with suitable compost. If you’re growing plants that like free-draining conditions, feel free to add horticultural bedding to the mix, too.
Push the plants into the compost, rack them, water them and let them grow. Hide the soil under the foliage of the plants or with a handful or two of gravel or small rocks.
When is the best time to build a rock garden? The best time to build a rock garden is January/February when the weather is wet but the ground is not frozen solid. However, you can build a rock garden at any time of the year, but you should make sure that the soil is easy to dig and move.
Does a rock garden need soil? A rock garden needs soil – but the amount needed and the soil mix chosen really depends on the conditions favored by the plants you are putting in. For example, traditional rock garden plants like well-draining soil, so you’ll find that mixing compost with grit and sand creates ideal conditions. However, because you are creating individual planting pockets within a rock garden, rather than tackling an entire boundary, you can create different soil conditions for each individual plant to thrive in.
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