Bulding A Rock Garden. Part One

To create a good rock garden thorough planning is crucial before you begin. It's essential to remember the main aim is to produce a rock garden which will appear as natural as possible. At all costs steer clear of scattering stones over a flat bed. Select a basic design, as a general rule a sloping rock garden is a lot more attractive than a level one. The chosen site ought to be free from shade for most of the day - a background of trees and shrubs can enhance the natural feel, however the trees should be far enough away so they don’t have any harmful effect on your plants. Visit a very good rock garden or two to determine what an outcrop or terraced rockery should appear like. Draw a rough sketch, but a detailed plan at this stage is not possible. Mark out a place in your garden with string which is slightly larger than your planned rock garden.

Prepare the location. Choose a day when the soil is relatively dry. Take off the turf should you have any and remove all perennial weeds. This weed removal is important as couch and bindwees etc. can ruin a rock garden. Dig out all of the roots, if the site is badly infested you will need to use an appropriate weed killer such as glyphosate and leave the site unplanted for the period suggested on the label. Good drainage is an additional vital will need. On a sloping site on a non-clay area, no additional groundwork should be required, but if your subsoil is heavy then a drainage layer is going to be necessary.

Move stones around. You will be able to maneuver small stones around by simply carrying them, either alone or with assistance from a helper. Always wear leather gloves and strong boots. Keep in mind the golden rules, knees bent, back straight, hold the load evenly and then straighten the knees with elbows as near to your thighs as possible. Never stoop over to grasp the rock and never jerk up suddenly to lift it from the ground. You should be able to deal with rocks weighing as much as about 1cwt in this way, but in a big rockery you will want to make use of some stones which weigh significantly more. One of the best aids for medium sized rocks is the sack trolley. You will have to lay down a trackway of boards on soft ground. Do not use a single wheeled garden wheelbarrow as the load can easily tip over. Some stones are simply too large to make use of a sack trolley and these pose a big drawback. You can make a track of wooden planks and roll the rock along by turning it over and over with a bar or perhaps a lump of wood.

To put the stones in place, you will need a crowbar, spade, some wooden planks and a solid stick for ramming soil between the stones. Unless the proposed rockery is tiny. You will also need one or more competent helpers. Ideally you have selected a bank having a gentle slope of about 10 degrees, if your site is flat and you plan to build a sloping rock garden you will require a minimum of 1 ton of topsoil for every 20 sq. ft. Buy Top quality topsoil if your earth within your garden is clay. Look at the stones and pick out one which is large and has an attractive face - this will be the main stone and serve as the centre point for the first tier of stones.

Dig out a hollow which is larger than the bottom of your key stone and roll the rock into place. Use the crowbar to lever it into its final location. Push rubble under the key stone and add soil both under and behind it. Ram this down firmly with a stick to ensure that you have no air pockets. Stand on your rock to make sure it is firm. Follow the exact same process with stones of assorted sizes on either side of the main stone, this will complete the initial tier. Some stones need to be pushed tightly together with the crowbar but you need to avoid a continuous line one stone high. It is far better to rearrange the stones in groups, declining in height as the edges of your rock garden are reached. You must make sure that all of the strata lines on the stones run in the same horizontal direction, and soil needs to be pushed into the cracks. Alpines can be planted into these joints while you proceed - now move on to the second tier of stones. It may be necessary to set down wooden plank ramps to enable the stones to be rolled up to your upper tiers.

Continue until all the stones are set in place, stand back now and then to make sure that you are achieving the desired effect. The last step at this stage is to include some more soil between the stones, but don’t fill the planting pockets to their final level - leave a space for the planting mixture.

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