Side Shade Garden On A Budget 8 Years Later

Do you have a shady spot in your yard that currently consists of dead grass and weeds? This is exactly what we had in the small strip of grass between our house and our neighbour’s home a few years ago. The grass was dying and the weeds were slowly taking over. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this spot as it’s not a place we spend much time near, but it is visible from the front of our home and along the path to our neighbour’s backyard. In this post, Side Shade Garden On A Budget 8 Years Later, I show you how to create a lush shade garden on a budget.

Garden Location

This shade garden can be planted anywhere that’s shaded and other plants or grass have difficulty growing. This could be a patch of earth under taller trees at the back of your yard or it could be along the shaded side of your home. The garden that I created is approximately 6.5 ft wide and 40 feet long, but the ideas presented here could work in any size space. First, you’ll want to ensure that the area is properly drained and that it does receive at least a few hours of sunlight or dappled sunlight during the day.

Preparing The Earth For Planting

I recommend completely removing any old plants and grass, including their roots. Then you can amend the soil to make it suitable for planting. We already had a thin layer of topsoil, so I simply added a few additional bags of topsoil and a little compost to create reasonably fertile soil. I’ve never had to fertilize this garden because the soil quality I started with was good and the plants I chose are not heavy feeders. If you have heavy clay soil you may need further soil amendments.

Choosing The Shade Plants

I did some research on shade plants in my zone before purchasing anything. I also relied on my own personal experience with plants in our city. We live in Ottawa, Canada, in the Zone 5a plant hardiness zone. All of the plants I used have thrived and we’ve never had any winter losses.

When choosing your plants, consider the goals for your garden. I wanted a low-maintenance garden that would fill a large space economically and look good from the street. Additionally, I wanted a taller plant to hide some unsightly infrastructure (pipes and our air conditioning unit). I also chose one really beautiful plant (hydrangeas) that I knew I’d be able to harvest flowers from.