When you have identified an area in which to create a brand-new flower bed the first thing you need to do is to strip it of all weeds in the area. This can be done in a couple of ways.
Remove Weeds
First of all you can spray over the whole area with a translocated herbicide which kills the weed itself. This goes right the way through and kills the roots too which is all-important, to stop the weed just growing back, rather than contact herbicide which just burn off the top and in 4 weeks’ time you are back to a border of weeds..
If you’re looking for more of an Eco way; using a spade and fork you can dig out all the weeds but you will need to get all the roots out.
Alternatively if it’s not an urgent job, you can lay black polythene over the border surface of the land and leave it for six months or so. That will kill most of the weeds. A variety of different options to get as much weed out, especially those roots.
Cultivate and More
Then to dig the area over either get stuck in with a spade yourself or whip yourself down to the hireshop and pick up a rotovator and cultivate, cultivate, cultivate. Get that area really good and loose; remove any stones, debris, branches or weeds, and roots out of the area as you are turning it over.
If it’s really bad soil, you can purchase topsoil inexpensively for about £35 a ton, depending on quality (it’s always best to check with the supplier) to bring some new fresh soil into the area.
Alternatively you can dig in well rotted farmyard manure; chicken manure is another option if you can stand the smell. It is six times more nutritious than normal farmyard manure or you can add in Peat and Growmore. Dig in the manure of your choice, if it’s a very, very clay soil you can add in some sand to help break down the clay or you can purchase clay breaker which is a good addition into the area as well.
Edge it
With your fully cultivated area you are almost there ready to plant. It is always best to edge the bed with the lawn or patio and it’s usually always better to put a trench there if you can because that gives a natural break between the bed and of course your borders.
Another option is the use of plastic edging or Bradstone stone edging or sleepers or various other different types of edging, just to make that border separate from the rest of the garden.
Worms
You can if you wish add in more worms. Wiggly Wigglers is a supplier that sends worms in the post. There are two types of worms, the first is Lob Worms which are very deep and go through the base of soil or the second option is Red Dendra which pulls down fallen leaves and debris into the soil. Worms are great and you can buy some excellent ones to help pep up your border.
With all that together you are ready to plant, final tip before we finish is once you planted that new border is to add a bit of bark chip. Bark chip helps in a variety different ways; it keeps the soil warmer in the winter and slightly cooler during the summer. Moreover it stops a lot of transpiration from the soil as well, which is drying out your soil during the summer months, it suppresses weeds and rots down well so adds to the soil. The other main thing is that it looks good too.
There you are a new bed ready for new plants!
Here are some great edging products »»
