Reading the Winter's Damage

By early March, a coastal border has usually taken a battering. Before you reach for the fork, spend half an hour walking the plot with a notebook and a sharp pair of secateurs. Look for three things: wind-rock, salt burn and waterlogging.

Wind-rock shows up as a plant that shifts slightly when you push the stem, or a tell-tale ring of cracked soil around the crown. Firm it back with your heel, then stake it properly rather than tightly — a stake that allows a little movement builds stronger roots. Salt burn appears as scorched, brown-black leaf margins on evergreens, especially on the windward side. Don't panic-prune; wait until new growth starts, then trim back to a healthy bud. If a shrub has been lifted clean out of the ground, replant it the same day and water it in well, even if rain is forecast.

Cut out dead, crossing and storm-snapped wood now. Sealed wounds heal faster in cool, damp spring weather than in summer heat.

Rebuilding Soil That Holds Its Own

Seaside soil tends to be sandy, free-draining and low in organic matter, with nutrients leached away by winter rain. If your plot sits over chalk or shell-rich sand, it will also be alkaline. Test the pH with a simple kit before you add anything — liming an already alkaline border is a common and dispiriting mistake.

Work in generous amounts of well-rotted garden compost or manure, roughly a barrowload per square metre, forked into the top 20–25cm. Seaweed is excellent too, but rinse it first if you collect it fresh, and only take loose material from the strandline where local rules allow. Its slow release of potash suits flowering shrubs and fruiting crops alike.

Where drainage is the problem rather than drought, plant on a slight mound and add grit to the planting hole. Raised beds work beautifully in exposed gardens: they warm up quickly, drain freely and let you control the growing medium entirely.

Shelter Before You Plant

Nothing transforms a seaside border faster than a decent windbreak — and nothing causes more trouble than a badly built one. A solid fence or wall simply deflects gale-force wind over the top, creating damaging turbulence on the sheltered side. What you want is a permeable barrier: woven netting, slatted fencing, or a double row of tough hedging, filtering roughly half the wind rather than blocking it.

Run windbreaks across the prevailing wind direction, not around the whole plot, and keep them at least a metre back from the plants you're protecting so roots aren't starved of rain. Gaps at ground level should be avoided; draughts funnelled underneath are worse than open exposure.

Once shelter is sorted, mulch. A 5–8cm layer of compost or bark over the border suppresses weeds, conserves moisture and stops salt spray splashing straight onto foliage. Around alpines and silver-leaved plants, use a gritty top-dressing instead, keeping it clear of the crown to prevent rot.

Plants That Earn Their Place by the Sea

Choose plants with small, leathery or silvered leaves, and you'll spend far less time nursing casualties.

• Shrubs: escallonia, griselinia, olearia, hebe, cistus and tamarix all shrug off salt-laden wind. Fuchsia magellanica is surprisingly tough in mild coastal gardens.
• Perennials: sea thrift, sea holly, lavender, santolina, hardy geraniums, crocosmia and agapanthus.
• Edible ornamentals: rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano and sea kale — handsome enough for the front of the border and useful in the kitchen.
• For dry, sunny banks: sedums, eryngium and drought-tolerant grasses such as blue fescue.

Plant in spring rather than autumn where you can. A full growing season in the ground gives roots time to establish before the next winter's gales arrive.

Spring Jobs, Week by Week

From mid-March onwards, coastal gardens often catch up fast. Tick off the essentials in this order:

• Clear storm debris, dead leaves and any plastic blown in from the beach.
• Fork over compacted beds and re-firm lifted plants.
• Top-dress borders with compost and mulch.
• Prune winter-damaged wood and shape hardy shrubs before growth accelerates.
• Feed established shrubs with a balanced fertiliser; use a seaweed extract as a foliar tonic on struggling evergreens.
• Check stakes, ties and windbreak netting — repair them before the equinoctial gales.
• Water new plantings with rainwater where possible; tap water in hard-water areas adds to the alkalinity over time.

Crops for a Salty Plot

Kitchen growing by the sea is entirely possible if you work with the conditions. Broad beans, chard, beetroot, carrots, radishes and hardy salads all cope well, and early sowings under fleece get away before the wind picks up. Salad leaves and herbs do best in containers filled with soil-based compost, sited in the lee of a wall, where you can control moisture and shelter.

Whatever you grow, keep a watering can of rainwater handy for rinsing salt off foliage after a storm — a quick wash-down on a mild morning makes a real difference to evergreens and young leaves. Get these preparations done in spring, and your seaside border will reward you all summer.