HOME GARDENS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 70, 17 July 1950, Page 6

HOME GARDENS

(By J. S. Yeates, Massey Agricultural College)

SUNKEN GARDENS A reader has asked for some notes an sunken gardens, and accordingly we deal briefly with the subject. The sunken garden is a suitable feature where a formal garden is in general keeping with the remainder of the garden and where soil and configuration of the land are also suitable. First of all the sunken' garden is practically always of some geometrical design—a circle, a square, an oblong, a hezagon or the like, and is subdivided, by grass, brick or stone paths in a way that emphasises the geometrical pattern. Such a pattern would obviously look out of place in many situations, and each suitability of his own surroundings. Near the house is generally the most suitable place, because the straight lines of the house and its immediate surroundings are generally in keeping with the formality of the sunken garden. There is also the point that the sunken garden is usually desired to be seen from the windows of the house.

The drainage from a sunken garden must be carefully watched, because otherwise the whole place is likely to be wet or flooded in winter. Where the subsoil is particularly free-draining, this trouble will look after itself. In poor-draining soils, tile drains at a suitable depth will provide suitable drainage if there is sufficient fall. The easiest situation for making a sunken garden is on flat land where the soil is a deep, free-drain-ing silt. In such a place it is hardly necessary to do more than to excavate the hollow and remove the soil to some suitable place. It is better to keep the top spit of soil in order to replace it on the surface left after" the excavation is completed. The disposal of the excavated soil is likely to be a difficulty. Simply using it to build up the surround of the excavation is not likely to be satisfactory in miost cases, because that is generally fixed already by the level of the house and the existing garden. When there is already a hollow in the grounds, this may be very easily converted into a sunken garden. The work needed is likely to consist of levelling the bottom, cutting definite walls in parts, and building them up around other parts. The depth of a sunken garden will generally be more or less in proportion to its size. In the aver-age-sized garden a wall height of about two feet is generally enough; too high a wall would give too much of an enclosed impression. On the other hand, a very large sunken garden would make a twofoot wall look very low. The walls will generally be finished in stone or brick or in concrete. .As a rule these walls are better if they are so arranged that trailing plants can be planted in pockets of soil. This helps to cover their bareness. If there is to be grass at the foot of the wall, a footing such as a four or five inch strip of concrete should be provided level, with the grass, else trying to mow right up- to the wall will be a nuisance.

• Where the soil is suitable, it may be possible to leave an earthen wall and to grow suitable plants to make a carpet on it. Steps into the sunken garden will also be necessary. These will generally be of the same material as the walls. Be sure to make steps wide from side to side and also wide but shallow on the treads and "risers” respectively. The steps will often lead directly to a path of similar material, to a central feature, and on to another set of steps on the opposite side. If a central feature is used, it may be a sundial, a small pool or fountain, or a small bed or a specimen plant. One of the reasons for having a sunken garden is to create variety by a change of level and also by the outline of the garden itself. Onother/ more practical reason is to be able to grow plants . with less damage from wind.