I have a big dilema on my hands and was wondering if anyone could help out. I live in a zone 5 in the Kingston area of Ontario and I have started to do some landscaping at our cottage home last summer. I planted some bulbs, ground covers, hostas, roses etc. Being new to the whole gardening thing I discovered they were not growing because our whole back yard is on bedrock and our soil is mostly sand!!! I really want a beautiful flower garden but Im not sure what the easiest thing to do is in my situation. We have a lot of top soil that I can mix with what is already there. The area gets a lot of sun through the whole day at least 6 hrs per day, so could any one suggest some flowers, shrubs and climbers that are flowering that might be good for this area. And what do I need to do to get more nutritious soil so they will grow.. Thank you so much for any help.
Compost ..compost and more compost !!! Make some and buy some and work on building your soil. Gather leaves in the fall and what other organics you can find and work them onto your soil. Sometimes I spread leaves on my lawn and mow them into small pieces and they work into the soil and enrich the grass.
I also have a deal with one of the local Tim Horton's to save me some of their coffee grinds and I use that in my beds and compost. You can always begin in your garden with lasagna beds and just keep on making lasagna beds and working on your soil at the same time. You can google lasagna beds and get tons of info there. With your new rich soil and all that sun...you should be able to grow lots of plants..roses..etc. Hope this is the info you were looking for :)
