Your gardening questions answered: How should I plant up my new flower beds?

Q: We got raised flower beds built last year to surround our patio, but have yet to have much success with planting them. I’m wondering what could you advise what to plant to a) offer some height to the area; and b) to be relatively fast growing, to fill out the gaps in the beds, and maybe offer a nice smell? Part of the area gets full sun, and part is shaded. FR, Dublin

A: This looks like a very charming little courtyard-style garden that’s brimming with potential. My first piece of advice is to strip the damaged trellising from the white section of wall, and then paint it the same grey colour as the rest of the walls and fencing to underscore the space’s lovely sense of seclusion, give a sense of depth, and act as a handsome foil to any subsequent planting.

My second piece of advice is to make sure that the soil in your raised beds is as good as it can be, to support vigorous, healthy plant growth in the years ahead. It should be dark, crumbly, easy to dig, and ideally enriched with some very well-rotted manure to fortify it and help it retain moisture. It also needs to be at a finished level that’s just a little – roughly 3cm – below the wooden retaining boards, which means (judging by the photo) that the existing soil level needs to be topped up in places. Use a really good-quality graded topsoil to do this, very gently treading it down as you do so to stop it later sinking. Then mulch the entire surface with some well-rotted manure, and some sprinkled handfuls of a slow-release pelleted organic fertiliser in preparation for planting.

As regards the latter, the secret to making this kind of intimate courtyard space feel lush and serene is to focus on ornamental climbers and wall shrubs that can be trained against