The sand garden - tough, beautiful, low maintenance...

Tom Brown, head gardener at West Dean Gardens in Sussex, answers your most-asked questions about sand gardening — and explains why gardening in sand, gravel, recycled concrete rubble, and chalk are all variations on the same brilliant idea. After our first sand garden video your questions flooded in, so the Middlesized Garden went back to West Dean in a different season to put them directly to Tom. He's the award-winning head gardener at West Dean — one of the UK's outstanding public gardens — a gardening writer for the Telegraph, and author of gardening books. 00:00 Welcome to the Sunken Garden (sand garden) at West Dean 00:13 How sand, gravel and concrete rubble gardening works 00:40 West Dean Gardens: https://www.westdean.ac.uk/gardens 00:50 The first Middlesized Garden video on sand gardening at West Dean    • The Sand Garden - A Bold New Trend in Resi...   01:48 Can you add sand to an existing border, or do you have to clear it first? 02:49 What's the difference between sand gardening, gravel gardening, and gardening in concrete rubble? 03:46 Do you need to make the borders weed free and how do you do that? 06:03 Will the sand, gravel or rubble eventually sink into the earth and could it change the pH? 08:36 How do plants get nutrition in a sand or gravel garden? 11:58 Does sand cause problems on heavy clay soils? 12:47 What's the minimum depth of sand, rubble or gravel needed to create the beneficial effects 13:40 What does the sand garden look like in winter? 14:03 When do you clear last year's vegetation away? 14:30 How often do you need to top up the sand or gravel? 15:28 Do bulbs work in sand? 15:52 Can you scatter seed in sand or gravel gardens? 16:20 How much weeding do you have to do in a sand garden? 17:14 How do slugs and snails do in a sand garden? 18:12 How do you manage the edges? 19:14 Can you mix sand, gravel, and rubble together? 20:51 The steps to take to create a sand or rubble garden area in your own garden 21:53 What do people ask Tom - and what is their reaction to the sand garden? 23:50 The first sand garden video:    • The Sand Garden - A Bold New Trend in Resi...   Whether you're curious about gardening in sand for the first time, or you're already experimenting with low-input aggregate planting, Tom's answers are practical and based on the available research as well as several years of real results at West Dean. West Dean Gardens are open to the public and well worth a visit. They're attached to the world-famous West Dean College of Arts and Crafts, where you can take short courses, longer courses, or full diploma programmes in a huge range of arts and crafts disciplines. The gardens are now reached through a new entrance by West Dean's craft shop. For garden ideas, gardening advice, garden design and landscaping ideas for your garden or backyard, subscribe to the Middlesized Garden YouTube channel here:    / themiddlesizedgardencouk   Whether you love English garden style, cottage gardens or contemporary urban gardening, The Middlesized Garden has gardening advice and garden ideas for you. Weekly videos cover gardening advice and garden design - from small space gardens to middle-sized garden landscaping - plus garden tours and tips for container gardening. The Middlesized Garden practices sustainability, wildlife gardening and no till methods. If your garden backyard is smaller than an acre, join us and enjoy your garden even more! The Middlesized Garden Complete Guide to Garden Privacy is available in Kindle or paperback in 13 countries (in English only). If you'd like your garden to feel more private, click here for availability in your country: https://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.u... #gardening #gardendesign #backyardgarden For small and middlesized backyards and gardens.... See The Middlesized Garden blog: http://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/ For Amazon storefront see: https://www.amazon.com/shop/themiddle... Note: links to Amazon are affiliate which means I get a small fee for qualifying purchases. It doesn't affect the price you pay and I only recommend things I use myself or really think you'd like! More garden ideas on Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.co.uk/midsizega... Twitter:   / midsizegarden   Facebook:   / themiddlesizedgarden