Preparing Your Planting Beds
- Whether you are growing
vegetables, flowers, trees, or shrubs, the main steps for preparing the area is
basically the same.
Planning Out New Beds -
Whether you are working from a plan or simply want to add another planting bed,
a garden hose is the great tool for laying out your new planting bed.
A garden hose heavy enough to stay in place, and it is flexible enough to adjust
to any changes you need to make. Lay it out roughly where you want to create
your new flowerbed. Then, shape the hose as required to get the best-looking
design.
Removing The Sod
- Once you have decided upon the layout of your
flowerbed, you can now remove the sod, and any vegetation. Clean the area down
to the topsoil.
To begin with, cut into your sod down to the soil along the layout that you have
create by laying out your garden hose with a square-nose shovel. This will
define your new flowerbed. You can now roll up your hose and put it away.
Then, use your shovel to pull up the edges of your sod down right down to the
soil. Drive your shovel in between the soil and the sod to cut the sod free from
the soil.
Put the sod in your
wheelbarrow and plant it somewhere else, in your yard, you can also use it as
compost.
For larger flowerbeds, a sod cutter is a superb choice. The sod cutter's blade
cuts the sod free from the soil nice and clean, and with plow-like handles puts
much less strain on your lower back than by using a shovel.
Preparing Your Soil - Using
a variant of double-digging make a new flowerbed, this is also a good way to
freshen up an older bed, for another growing season.Start
on one side, digging down with your shovel, bringing up a shovel full of dirt
and then turn it over. Continue to do that over your entire bed prior to going
on to the next stage.
TAKE NOTE:
Real double-digging essentially involves: - Shovel
out a foot of soil and remove the soil for the time being.
- Shovel
out another foot of soil keeping it separate from the first foot of soil you
removed.
- Fill in
the resulting two-foot deep area with the first pile of soil you removed,
and then finish filling in the area with the second batch of soil you
removed, piling it on top.
 It
is a lot of hard work, but it does aerate and loosen your soil to a depth of two
feet. Once you have turned the soil over, you should apply some organic material
such as a two-four inch layer of manure, compost, or peat moss. This will
increase the soil drainage and fertilizer will increase the amount soil
nutrients.
You can rent a
roto-tiller to more fully aerate and mix up the newly enriched soil. Go over the
bed two-four times, you will end up with a soft cover of topsoil. You can use
manual tools to mix and chop the soil, but it is tiring, and time consuming, and
does not do as thorough a job. Use a rake to smooth the top of the newly tilled
soil.
Finishing Your Borders -
For an easy natural looking bed, you can
finish it with a beveled edge. Dig down along your edge roughly four inches in
depth, pushing your soil back into the bed. Leave a small space between the soil
and the edge. Shape your soil bed so it slants downwards to the bottom of your
new edge at a 45-degree angle.
Alternatively, you
could use some plastic edging, follow these simple instructions:
- Dig down about six inches along
the edge of the bed, keeping the outside edge plumb.
- Put
your edging against the outside edge.
- Place
the loose soil against your edging.
- Pack
down the soil to set the edging securely.
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