Mixed border on poor, damp slighly acid soil. A mixture of herbaceous plants and small shrubs, in the foreground Rosa spinossissima. We do not use fertilisers and generally save compost for the vegetables, fruit bushes, and for newly-planted shrubs. The plants in this picture are well adapted to the conditions and do well regardless. Dead leaves and stems which are left throughout the winter tend to breakdown and are recycled by soil organisms, and also a system of mycorrhiza (symbiotic underground fungi) will develop in undisturbed chemical-free soils. These mechanisms help to maintain soil fertility. We try to dig the soil as little as possible. © Marc Carlton 2006

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