The barn garden

The Barn Garden

With very poor soil and the setting of semi-derelict barns, this area presents a unique planting opportunity for something that contrasts with the rest of the garden, focussing on ephemeral, self-seeding plants to give a sense of nature reclaiming the man-made.

The Concept

The soils are really poor here, essentially because the area around the barns is man-made. I wanted to use that and go with it because our soil is generally quite rich, so having the opportunity to garden somewhere where plants might not grow as vigorously makes a really interesting contrast.

When I set out to make this planting, I wanted to create a mood of the garden having taken over these old, semi-derelict barns – a sense of the barns sitting in a tide of plants that have swept right up to and around them. I wanted it to feel like pioneer plants have colonised and taken over the land.

The Plant Palette

I put in some good perennials that I knew would be static and stay in position – like Stipa gigantea and Baptisia – and a few shrubs which I coppiced, such as Ailanthus. These provide constancy and structure.

I then added short-lived perennials, self-seeding biennials and some annuals. Weaving and seeding amongst the static forms, these provide a dynamic planting that is never quite the same year on year.

• I like the idea of this planting feeling quite spontaneous, colonising the rubbly ground, and then me going in once a year to restore order, organising those seedlings and taking out any that are taking over too much.

Maintenance and Self Seeders

This fairly small area probably takes as much time to weed as the whole of the perennial garden, where I've used reliable perennials with very few self seeders. These are pioneer species, so seed very vigorously.

But the spontaneity of that is great. It means the planting is completely mingled – there isn't a square inch of free ground, and it's alive with insects. The plants all form some sort of balance, which I just adjust once a year in the spring.

Some of these self-seeding plants I wouldn't introduce into a perennial planting where I wanted things to be more static and lower maintenance, because they would start to take over. But here I take that chance, because I love these plants and want there to be spontaneity. The plants I've used include:

• Oenothera odorata – a beautiful evening primrose that comes out in late afternoon, runs through twilight and is still out in the morning.
• This likes to be right on the edge – every year it seeds forward onto the open gravel.
• The biennial Eryngium giganteum or Miss Wilmott's ghost.
• This is highly opportunistic and produces so many seeds that it's very likely to colonise any niche it finds. It becomes a very dominant plant here, and I have to weed out a lot of the seedlings in spring to keep it in balance.

The self-seeders aren't all this dominating, though. Bupleurum falcatum (also used outside the studio) is also short-lived and pioneering and travels quickly through a planting, but it's much lighter on its feet – it has just a small basal rosette and then very airy emergent flowering stems.

Self-seeders can be really useful, especially for providing immediate impact in a new planting, because with their short lifespans they're very fast-maturing. So in a garden that you're establishing from scratch, some of these annuals and biennials can be valuable for providing early interest.

Good Planting Choices Will Pay Off

This planting is completely adapted to its environment – dry, rubbly soil in an open, exposed site.

• This hasn't had a single drop of artificial water since I planted it, but it's really thriving – a great testament to putting the right plant in the right place.

There are enough perennials in this mix to give the annuals and biennials a framework through which to seed. These include oreganos, like Dianthus giganteus (giant pink), and marsh mallows (Althaea cannabina).

This type of naturalistic planting that's dominated by self-seeder plants is about knowing your plants and having the confidence to go with the flow to a degree and to let them have their reign, just going in once a year to monitor the seeding and to adjust the balance before letting the whole thing go again.

Edit the Plants While They Are Rosettes

I leave this planting standing right through winter to enjoy the skeletal forms, such as the Eryngium. Over winter, it gradually becomes battered, so in late January I cut everything right down to the ground.

I can then see where all the emerging rosettes are. I've trained myself to identify them all in their very young form, and also to recognise the seedlings, so that at this point I can weed to adjust the balance.

So the barn garden is a high maintenance area, but with that comes a real liveliness and adaptation to this place. I've balanced it out with lower maintenance areas elsewhere, so that there are different rhythms in the garden, and so I can allocate my energy accordingly.

Plant Directory

• Stipa gigantea
• Baptisia
• Oenothera odorata
• Eryngium giganteum
• Bupleurum falcatum
• Dianthus giganteus
• Althaea cannabina