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Originally Posted by Tindomul
Great woodland bed!!! Thats exactly what I want. How did you make it? What environmental conditions is it subject to? How much shade, water, heat etc....
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Glad you like it. It's really become a great favorite for us. We didn't do anything special in terms of soil preparation. Once the pathways were in, we raked away the spruce needles and cones (it's under a spruce tree). Then we piled 4-5" of compost onto the bed and dug it in about 8".
We get cold here - we'll go well below zero for a few weeks at least once most winters, and we'll go below -10 for some of that. Most years, we'll get at least a few days below -20. Since it's under a well established tree, we water at least once a week during the spring and fall. During the summer, we water when things in the rest of the garden need it, which ranges from weekly to monthly. We fertilize spring and fall with an organic garden fertilizer (the cheapest organic we can find). We throw garden compost around when we have it, and occasionally, we buy a blend of shredded hardwood bark and composted manure that we'll spread around.
The bed is pretty densely shaded most of the time. I think it would do well with a little more light, but we like the spruce and don't want to deform it too badly. We've got another bed of Hepatica that gets more light, and they bloom a little earlier (I'm not sure how much better they bloom, but I think we get a few more flowers on them, too).
The woodland bed is the only one where I am really diligent about weeds. A good-sized Portulaca or Oxalis is about the same size as some of the little gems, and can really be a distraction, so I weed carefully every couple of weeks. Since I do that, I don't get very many weeds!
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