Shady garden

[HorsesDoovers]

I have given myself the challenge of creating a shady garden with seating area in a very neglected part of my garden. Currently home to a neglected trampoline which we will be getting rid of. I will post some pics tomorrow but in the meantime does anyone have any suggestions for shade loving plants? I'm wondering about creating raised beds as the soil is very poor and dry.

Thank you so much everyone. Vodka that makes sense about digging down into the original soil at the bottom of the raised bed. I had been looking at ready made wooden planters but of course the bottom is solid wood so the plants would have a limited amount of soil for the roots.
I have lots to plan and research now! DS has agreed we can get rid of the manky trampoline which takes up most of the space so as soon as that's done I can get started

Brilliant tip about the leaves. My garden gets inundated in the autumn and I've generally got rid of them as it's a hassle to lug them to my allotment and garden is too small for a bigger composter than I already have. But I have a hidden area behind the shed that would be perfect.

Well save your bags that you get compost etc in, don't forget to put holes in the bags (though seal the top) and also don't forget to put dates on them! I'm gutted I haven't got more and may resort to stealing leaves this autumn...

Re the leaf mould - don't do what I did and spend money on fancy leaf mould bags from Sarah Raven. They just disintegrate within about 2 months and leave you with a pile of lovely leaf mould behind the shed with no way if retrieving it . Compost bags are definitely the way to go!

Yeah I'm not happy with Sarah raven at the moment. Plants arrive half dead and most don't survive. The only sweet peas I've managed to get growing thus far came from marks and Spencer's. She's got a good eye but a lot of her stuff doesn't do that well.

I'm looking to start a business selling plants online soon (I do furniture now and would do a similar model but no showroom) but I'll be very wary of Sarah ravens suppliers.

Cobra lollies, if you fancy something a bit different

@Vodkacranberryplease let me know the name of your company if you do start selling plants! I would be very happy to order from you. In fact I would just order "Vodka's shady garden selection" and see what arrived

haha I havent got a name yet! Sorting out my current staff and vat 😁.
The plan is to be really clear about what will go where. Then you can look at heights, is it an airy or dense plant? So an airy plant like geums for example arent very tall in the leafy part but the flowers are high but you could still put it near the front of a border/group of pots because it's not a 'tall' plant.
How much water does it need (like actually) and and roughly what kind of soil - but in terms that mean something - does anyone have 'chalk' soil? What is it even?
And of course colour! And finally being able to get the flowering months sorted so it's constant. Most shady plants flower in spring or winter (prob cause no leaves on most things) or for a short tine only.
Plus you'll get instructions on what you do to get it/keep it flowering (cut them off? Leave them? Cut it to the ground for a second lot later?) etc.