Planting in very shallow soil

flogen

There was a concrete platform at the back of my garden that I’ve paved over, and I hope to made some bedding at the back of it for planting.

I had hoped to break/cut a strip of the concrete out to give the bedding some depth but that hasn’t gone to plan, so might just be left with 15cm of soil depth once the paving & surrounds are in place.

Is there anything at all I might be able to plant in that? My original hope was to put climbing plants there to cover the back fence but something tells me that’s a non-starter!

The bed will be about 30cm+ long and almost 5m wide and the back wall gets sunshine most of the day, if that makes any difference.

macraignil

Does the area for planting have drainage or will it fill up with water when there is heavy rain?
Some plants (e.g alpines) will grow in very little soil if it is free draining but if the roots are likely to become waterlogged the options are much more limited.
It might be better to get some large planters/pots that could alow a deeper free draining substrate for growing more varieties of plants but then watering regularly will be required in warm weather.

flogen

macraignil wrote: »

Does the area for planting have drainage or will it fill up with water when there is heavy rain?
Some plants (e.g alpines) will grow in very little soil if it is free draining but if the roots are likely to become waterlogged the options are much more limited.
It might be better to get some large planters/pots that could alow a deeper free draining substrate for growing more varieties of plants but then watering regularly will be required in warm weather.

At the moment there very little drainage, to be honest.

There’s a good slant on the area that normally sends water away from the back wall but the new paving, sans & cement will likely slow a lot of what’s coming from the bedding.

I was thinking of even trying to drill into the concrete to get some more drainage but haven’t tried yet (did have a go with a sledgehammer and it looks like there’s a lot of hardcore under there -would struggle to break into the whole 5m span manually though!)

Lumen

If it's not reinforced an SDS drill with a chisel bit and a 5ft crowbar should do it. I removed a slab and a couple of small block walls this way very easily.

Or hire a breaker.

looksee

You could try sedums and sempervivum. You can buy panels designed for roofs that should grow all-over green (and other colours depending on varieties). You are not likely to succeed with anything else. You will need to ensure drainage though, they prefer a well drained situuation. Could you post a pic, it would help.

flogen

Lumen wrote: »

If it's not reinforced an SDS drill with a chisel bit and a 5ft crowbar should do it. I removed a slab and a couple of small block walls this way very easily.

Or hire a breaker.

Any recommendations for a good value SDS drill? Could do with a decent drill so don’t mind spending a bit extra for quality - though it’s not something I’ll be using every week so don’t want to over-do it!

standardg60

Bear in mind that the size of your drill is an important factor in establishing your position on the social hierarchical ladder.
Oohs and aahs when you whip it out define your place in society.

How often you actually use it is irrelevant.

Regarding your planting area I would really either pave it or pebble it and then throw a few pots on it, trying to grow anything in it long term if you can't remove the underlying concrete is pointless. Realistically you just have a big window box with no drainage.

flogen

standardg60 wrote: »

Bear in mind that the size of your drill is an important factor in establishing your position on the social hierarchical ladder.
Oohs and aahs when you whip it out define your place in society.

How often you actually use it is irrelevant.

Coincidentally I just noticed B&Q are doing a deal on the Wall Dominator 4000...

Regarding your planting area I would really either pave it or pebble it and then throw a few pots on it, trying to grow anything in it long term if you can't remove the underlying concrete is pointless. Realistically you just have a big window box with no drainage.

Ugh, I had a feeling that would be the case but really hope I can manage to make it work. A big part of the motivation for the garden upgrade is to plant stuff to cover the ugly fences!

Lumen

flogen wrote: »

Any recommendations for a good value SDS drill? Could do with a decent drill so don’t mind spending a bit extra for quality - though it’s not something I’ll be using every week so don’t want to over-do it!

Mine's a Hitachi DH26PX. £100 on Amazon. But you would only use it on concrete/block. My house is built like an Egyptian tomb so I need it for attaching anything to the walls.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitachi-DH26PX-Rotary-Hammer-Handle/dp/B00FI5XP7W

standardg60

Lumen wrote: »

Mine's a Hitachi DH26PX. £100 on Amazon. But you would only use it on concrete/block. My house is built like an Egyptian tomb so I need it for attaching anything to the walls.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitachi-DH26PX-Rotary-Hammer-Handle/dp/B00FI5XP7W

Ooh :-)

flogen

Lumen wrote: »

Mine's a Hitachi DH26PX. £100 on Amazon. But you would only use it on concrete/block. My house is built like an Egyptian tomb so I need it for attaching anything to the walls.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitachi-DH26PX-Rotary-Hammer-Handle/dp/B00FI5XP7W

Thanks. The exterior walls in mine are a bit like that... bar the bit above the living room window which is inexplicably made of cheese...

blackbox

flogen wrote: »

Ugh, I had a feeling that would be the case but really hope I can manage to make it work. A big part of the motivation for the garden upgrade is to plant stuff to cover the ugly fences!

If you can get an ivy started between now and spring it will probably manage to get a good root system and cover your fence in a couple of years.