Ideas for raised beds

[Laurasanford111]

Hi all

So this year is first year I have had raised beds. I grew veg,.cosmos, dahlias & sweet peas. It's all been a bit of a disaster. The cosmos were so bushy with foliage hardly any flowers, I had sweet peas in same bed and fed them, cosmos like poor soil so I think they were getting to much food. Dahlias were not the colours I ordered.. and the veg bolted.. next year I know what veg to grow that we actually used. Next year I'm going to do my dahlias in pots.. I'm left now with kind of empty looking beds.. they are in the main part of the garden near seating area so I want them to look pretty all year round. I have popped in a couple of evergreens, and I'm going to have Nepeta in there (my fave plant) I'm thinking next year having different cut flowers but I'm not to knowledgeable on what ones, I love cornflowers! I adore the cottage style look,I just want full looking beds that kind of take care of themselves and that I can have cut flowers from, what do you grow in your beds? Also when the season is over coming into winter I still want some greenery there! Sorry for the ramble haha.
Thanks x

Bumping

How big are they, what kind of light do they get, and how much drainage?

@Catname hello, 4ft by 8.ft, south facing so lots of sun and yes good drainage

I’ve gone for grasses and perennials, echinacea, astrantia, salvia, achillea, foxgloves - things that come back every year and look good with seed heads in winter.

I've just bought Huw Edwards Veg in One Bed book, it seems really good. Although I've yet to put it into practice. It gives you a month by month guide to growing veg in a 4x10ft raised bed. When to sow, transplant, etc. I'm looking forward to trying to put it into practice.

I think you need to look at what your priorities are.

Full looking, looking good all year round, giving you cut flowers and the cottage garden look are not things that go naturally together.

The cottage garden look is generally full of annuals. While they are good for cut flowers, they don't take care of themselves, they have their whole cycle in one year so of course will give you empty beds in the winter.

The low maintenance style tends to be a bit sparse for a reason - full looking means it is either temporarily like that (from fast growing plants that then die down) or that it needs cutting very regularly, so is high maintenance.

You can't have it all ways at once.

If you you only have 1 raised bed that’s 8x4 then I agree with Catherine that you may need to focus on what you want most from the bed. You also have to make a decision about blocks of the same plant vs number of different varieties. However, here’s a list of things that should like your conditions and flower through the year.

There’s a variety of colours/sizes so you might want to choose your favourites and plot them on graph paper. I completely overplant to minimise weeding, and also try to think about “layering” so one plant flowers and goes over before something else comes up in the same place so I’ve got Allium and Tritellia bulbs with geraniums in the same area, Aquilegia and Echinacea, Poppies and Rudbeckia etc.

Evergreen
Erysimum Bowles Mauve - flowers for months. (I’ve just bought Stars and Stripes so waiting to see if that is as good a performer). Not long lived.
Carex
Uncina Rubra
Ajuga
Dianthus Mrs Sinkins
Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina' - flowers for months with a lovely scent
Hebe - I’ve got a purple leaved purple flowered one that flowers for ages throughout the year if I keep deadheading but they generally aren’t long lived
Stachys Lanata
Bergenia - go for one that has good red leaves over winter.
Parahebe Snow Clouds
Cistus Gold Prize

Deciduous Perennial
Geum
Catanache
Lysimachia Clethroides - likes damper soil to thrive
Lysimachia Ephemerum - as above
Lysimachia Cilata Firecracker
Lychnis Coronaria
Coreopsis
Penstemon
Salvia
Poppies
Aquilegia
Clematis Recta Purpurea - it’s not a climber but mine likes a bit of support
Symphyotrichum laeve 'Glow in the Dark'. There are many other Asters but this has great purple stems and bright flowers
Physostegia - there are pink and white varieties, I have both and they seem to flower consecutively
Veronicastrum - various heights and colours
Echinacea - various colours
Verbena Bonariensis
Agapanthus
Iris
Hardy Geranium - Rozanne is always mentioned as long flowering but I’ve had a better summer of flowers from Hexham Velvet and Wargrave Pink (which is evergreen)
Japanese Anenome
Helenium - Sahins Early Flowerer
Persicaria Alba seems to be quite well behaved but others are much more rampant - I’ve bought Pink Elephant this year which is smaller and supposed to be slow growing (and has nicer flowers than Alba)
Echinops
Leucanthemum
Rudbeckia
Campanula Poscharskyana - semi evergreen ground cover

Bulbs
Tritellia Queen Fabiola
Allium
Daffodils
Crocosmia

How high are the raised beds? A cherry tomato vine draping over the side looks pretty. Mixed with some herbs like Basil and Parsley. Radishes can be plonked in just about anywhere as they grow so fast, same with lettuces. Some herbs like thyme, rosemary and oregano will give some year round colour. A couple of mini sunflowers would add some colour to it. Some nasturtiums would also drape over the side nicely and give vibrant colour.

Think of it as an extra large pot plant rather than a vegetable bed given you want it to be attractive.

Skimmia is a good one for winter colour.

That’s Skimmia japonica ssp rubella, which is being heavily pushed at the moment. It does flower very vigorously (those are the flower buds in the picture, not yet open) but if you get Skimmia japonica ssp reevesiana you’ll get nearly as many flowers, and berries as well