Newbie makes a small crevice garden

[MatthewStuttard]

So, with some trepidation amongst so many experts, this is a story of a small garden. Made because some old railway sleepers came into my possession.
January 2014, cutting and fixing the sleepers to make a planting space about 1.8m by 90cm with a height on two sides of 25cm and two sides at the back of 50cm.
Positioned in the sunniest spot in my garden in Surrey. After cutting out the turf, the sleepers were bedded on coarse gravel and fastened together with a combination of long screw bolts and angle brackets.  Then old roof tiles, clay and bigger concrete ridge ones were sunk vertically into our local clay to make root runs.

[MatthewStuttard]

Well it was just going to be a sloping soil bed in two halves. Left half alkaline, right half acid.  After a lot of googling the recipes were as follows.
Acid bed: 140L JI3, 70L Grit, 70L Sand, 140L ericaceous compost, 4L bone meal.
Alkaline bed: 90L JI3, 45L limestone chips, 45L sand, 90L Irish moss peat (guilty conscience), 6kg lime, 2L bone meal.
Surprisingly hard work mixing that lot up!

[MatthewStuttard]

At this point my wife thought I was digging a shallow grave and was not too keen!
Then I started reading more into the subject, including the wonderful SRGC!
Main sources:
Zvolanek's "The Crevice Garden and its Plants"
Good's "Alpine Gardening for Beginners"
Mitchell's "Alpines an essential guide"
Plus a vist to the alpine garden at Wisley - in February - not much showing in the way of plants but great to see the crevice garden structure.
So ideas developed and I clearly had to get my hands on some rock!
I found a local supplier with a good range of rock and after a bit of agonising went for rough cotswold stone. I really liked the waterworn limestone they had, but in addition to ethical concerns thought it would look too busy to have limestone on the alkaline side and sandstone on the acid side.  At first I got pieces which were too small, but after reading Zvolanek I went back for bigger bits, including trapezoids for the ends and squarish pieces for the middle.
I set them out as you can see in the pictures. I kept to Zvolanek's rules about the profile, but broke them in spacing the different vertical strata more than 1 inch apart.

[MatthewStuttard]

The rocks and soil provided a range of environments.
Alkaline and acid.
Crevice and flat.
Sharp drained and less sharp though still well drained.
As the rock makes a curved stickleback ridge facing south there is also sunny and shaded.
So in this small area there is a huge amount of variety in plant micro-climate.
Research was carried out on plant selection using the RHS plant database + the books mentioned + SRGC + the really great websites of Alpine growers.
A spreadsheet was necessary to absorb and process the vast amount of info, in particular I wanted to ensure 12 months of flowering interest,
The upshot of all the research was a planting plan, based on plants I knew were available. Zvolanek's booklet was an inspiration in this effort, but he mischievously mentions a lot of plants which are not available.
After a lot of study, it was possible to make a scaled planting plan. I was worried about the huge number of plants for such a small area, and also had Zvolanek's message to avoid the 'goulash' in my mind. But gave into my desire for specimens, form variety and  year-round interest traded against  harmony and planting rhythm.
You can see in the planting plan that I just went for a dog's breakfast. I suppose you wiser heads will tell me it will be a terrible mess in two years time.
NB. My wife who is much more artistic than I am, drew the rocks brilliantly on the scale drawing so we could stick down the plant models. These were just made as circles to scale of spread after 5 years showing the flower colour, and codes for soil type, crevice or not, shade or sun.

[ChrisB]

Looks like quite a lot of research and thought has gone into this Matthew, well done!  As for plants, you will soon discover it's much better to grow from seed when you want nice alpines.  Took me a long time to become convinced but I now grow them this way and plant them out while they are seedlings so they establish in the crevices and root down.  It's not as instantly satisfying so I do put in a few short term plants as well, but my little gems grow and I hoick out the others when the smaller ones start to look overcrowded.   I also do tiny cuttings from existing plants, root them and stuff them into gaps using a pencil or something similar.  This of course helps keep down costs.... 

[Maggi Young]

Welcome Matthew -what a super project - and all because you were able to get some old railway sleepers - how good is that?
Very impressed at how organised you've been -  for sure you will get years of pleasure from the plants you are able to grow in your crevice bed.

[MatthewStuttard]

Thanks for the encouragement Maggi and Chris, very much appreciated. I feel I have many mistakes ahead of me (and some behind already!), but that's all part of the fun. I certainly do intend to experiment with growing from seed and cuttings next year.  But the priority this year was to get my hands on some good plant material so - leaving the bed to get wet and settle for  a while I ordered most of the plants on my list from Pottertons, Craigiehall and Slack Top nurseries.  So exciting to get the deliveries!  All these suppliers provided a first rate service, the plants grown hard and well rooted in mineral soil - so different from those floppy types with lots of top growth and little root I saw in garden centres.  They were all really well packed too.  I planted the first batch in late March and the final delivery in early April, being quite brutal spreading out the roots on some that were to go in the narrower crevices.  The rocks had been bedded on the vertically sunk tiles and then packed with coarse sand, so I dug out planting pockets with a very small 'houseplant'  trowel and then backfilled with JI3+grit+sand one third each. I followed the advice in the books about ensuring their necks were above the soil and then dressed and supported the stems with small gravel. I used a bamboo stick to pack the soil around the roots trying to get rid of air pockets. Then it was about waiting and occasional watering.  I looked anxiously for signs of new growth - the first flowers arrived very quickly but that's just stored energy, I wanted to see new leaves.  Overall early establishment has gone well, two failures: an Edraianthus Niveus in a crevice (probably my fault  - it was a good plant) and a Rhodohypoxis Tetraploid which was not well on arrival and for which a refund was made without quibble. I thought I had lost a campanula (Dickson's Gold) , but I think something ate the leaves as it is now re-sprouting protected by slug pellets. A Sisyrinchium became a bit unwell - yellow leaves - but it has responded to a little NPK top dressing, and a Leontopodium looked very weak when planted but is now OK.
One month in and there is a new delight every day! Pictures here were taken yesterday.

[Maggi Young]

Now , that does look fine in the sun, doesn't it?

[ChrisB]

What a triumph!  When I plant bought plants they are often in lots of compost.  I get rid of most of it and then squeeze the roots onto the position I've prepared.  Sounds like that's the practice you've adopted as well.  I had seen this demonstrated by the Bainbridges which gave me the confidence to remove all the soil.   Before that I would have been trying to put the whole thing into the crevice, but it's not necessary.  Good luck with your new crevice garden....

[Maggi Young]

I would go further than merely shaking off most of the soil from bought plants. I prefer to wash off the roots as much as possible.  Even well-grown  newly bought plants may not be in a growing medium that is conducive to long term growth or to successful transfer to one's own soil.
In the past I have been disappointed by the failure of apparently healthy new plants to root out into the surrounding soil and thus grow on well.
A gentle washing of the roots allows a  quicker and more complete transition to the new growing compost/soil mix.

[ChrisB]

I've not done this before Maggi, but I hear what you're saying about appropriate medium... Too often I've tipped a plant out only to find gooey sticky compost of some sort with no real chance of drainage.... Must start doing this routinely...

[MatthewStuttard]

Which Bulbs?
I do have a few spaces left, but will be waiting a while before sticking in rooted plants - I will remember your tips for next time.  My thoughts are now turning to selection of a few bulbs in order to ensure flowering interest from October to March.  I impose a constraint of max 15cm height so they are in keeping with the scale of the other plants. As you can see  in the general pics posted earlier the bed is pretty small with a flatter area along the front which should be OK for growing bulbs between/through the other plants (aubretia, zauschneria, campanula). I'm thinking of Colchicum speciosum, Crocus laevigatus 'Fontenayi' (Dec to Jan), Crocus pulchellus, Crocus fleischeri, Narcissus romieuxii, Scilla siberica 'Spring Beauty', Fritillaria aurea 'Golden Flag'.  Is this too many if I plant 3 bulbs of each?  Of course it is! But how to reduce the selection and get the flowering span? Child in sweet shop problem here! 
And Cyclamen coum in the slightly shaded area just behind the rock ridge but near the top of it seems to be a must.
A few tips suitable for a beginner would be very welcome - I realise from the bulb logs that this is a huge topic.

[SJW]

 
And Cyclamen coum in the slightly shaded area just behind the rock ridge but near the top of it seems to be a must.

You could also try Cyclamen intaminatum which should also establish well from small plants or seedlings.

[fermi de Sousa]

Which Bulbs?
I do have a few spaces left, but will be waiting a while before sticking in rooted plants ... I'm thinking of Colchicum speciosum, Crocus laevigatus 'Fontenayi' (Dec to Jan), Crocus pulchellus, Crocus fleischeri, Narcissus romieuxii, Scilla siberica 'Spring Beauty', Fritillaria aurea 'Golden Flag'.  Is this too many if I plant 3 bulbs of each?
A few tips suitable for a beginner would be very welcome - I realise from the bulb logs that this is a huge topic.

Hi Matthew,
I would suggest rather than Colchicum speciosum one of the smaller leafed types like C. corsicum would be more suited to a crevice bed. At this stage the foliage of the C. speciosum wouldn't be an issue but as your garden fills up the dying foliage could impact on the surrounding plants if they are at all delicate. We have Colicum cilicium amongst sempervivums and the mass of foliage doesn't adversely affect the semps.
The foliage of the others you mention shouldn't be an issue,
cheers
fermi

[MatthewStuttard]

Thanks very much for the helpful tips Steve and Fermi, I'll give them a go.
Matthew