Is it the wind?

[Deleted]

Ever since we moved here in December I've moved a succession of plants from one half of my main flower bed and hospitalised them where they recover and thrive. The soil is quite sandy but nearly always dry and apart from low growing rockery plants at the front and a hollyhock and variegated elder at the back nothing really does very well there. I think this half of the flower bed catches the wind full on and this is the problem, but I'm not sure.It seems to get enough sunlight. Anything taller than low growing end up growing prostrate along the ground and leaning forwards until I dig it out. The other half of the bed is not so bad but if the front flowers are too tall they too start bending forward. It doesn't receive the full brunt of the wind like the first half.. As most of the plants are in pots now I'm going to mix the soil with compost and peat over the winter. We've also just put a large bamboo in front of the bed hoping that it'll alleviate the wind problem a bit.
Anyone else had this problem?

[oldmoleskins]

Haven't had the problem, mrs beige, but can't help feeling "the answer lies in the soil" as Arthur Fallowfield used to say and you're already on the right track: it sounds like it just doesn't have the structure to support the plants, or to retain moisture, and the addition of anything 'beefier' is going to help, compost, manure, topsoil (you can buy it in bags from B&Q now).
Just a suggestion: peat is so friable, I wonder if it has the 'heart' you need to introduce...

OM.

[Deleted]

Thanks OM, I think I'm on the right track now. The garden used to belong to a builder and there is so much rubble amongst the soil, it defintely needs a makeover.......