How to Lay Out a Planting Bed

A planting bed can better the aesthetic of any lawn if it is properly constructed. Time and effort has to go into the design as well as the execution of it. Planting beds are not very high maintenance and they can add a splash of color in a sea of green.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Designing a Planting Bed

1. Determine your design plan. You can draw a rendering of your planting bed on graph paper or consult the internet or a landscaper to best decide the plants for the amount of sunshine a certain lawn area gets or the type of soil it has. The type of plant life in the bed should also be the kind that requires as little water as possible for low maintenance unless you can afford in time and money otherwise.
2. Conduct a soil test and make necessary additions to the soil to make it more hospitable for whatever kind of plant life you decided to place in the planting bed. Take a gander at plants' tags when purchasing and make sure that all of the plants to be grouped together require similar living conditions.
3. Be aware of the different amounts of shade or rain one part of your yard where you lay out your planting bed may get.
4. Remove any plant life in the bed area that is not wanted as part of the finished design.
5. Develop a planting bed in an oval or round shape because this makes mowing easier than the sharp lines of a geometric shape would. Outline this shape using a garden hose and then use the kind of paint seen marking football fields to trace it.
6. Cut and dig four inches deep and six inches wide along the painted outline. Remove any grass found in this groove as you lay out your plant bed.
7. Prepare the planting bed by using just your hands and a shovel or a tiller for bigger areas.

Filling a Planting Bed

8. Plant the taller plants towards the back of the bed so as not to shadow smaller plants preventing their absorption of sunlight. And larger plants first or plants that will grow to be big to allow enough space for root growth. Place plants near enough to each other so as to prevent weeds from growing in the crevices.
9. Water the planting bed as much as it says on their tags. Make sure they consistently receive the amount of necessary water. Drip irrigation may be needed to give the proper amounts of water.
10. Add mulch to the plant bed so as to allow it to absorb the water. A compost-soil mixture or pine straw, chipped bark, and grass clippings will all prevent weed growth if the material is packed to two or three inches high.

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