How to Prepare the Soil for a New Flowerbed

The perenials in this flowerbed come up every year.

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A new flowerbed is like a painter's empty canvas, or a sculptor's hunk of clay. It is the foundation for creating a garden and adding new interest to your yard. But just like a canvas or clay, the soil in the flowerbed must be prepared properly. Once the soil for a flowerbed is prepared, then it's easy to add flowers and shrubs to create a beautiful garden.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Garden hose
Flat shovel
Rounded shovel
Herbicide (Roundup works well)
Rototiller (optional, but useful)

Step1

Select the location in your yard for a new flowerbed. Pay attention to how well the soil drains in the area and how much sunlight the location gets each day, as this will affect the types of flowers and plants that will grow and thrive in the flowerbed. A flowerbed can be an island in the yard, or it can follow a fence or the foundation of your house.

Step2

Outline the area for the new flowerbed using a garden hose. It's fun to move the hose around to create a free-formed shape with concave and convex curves.

Step3

Remove the grass inside your flowerbed. Using a flat shovel cut the outline of the garden hose for the new flowerbed. This first cut should be straight down about 4 inches.

Step4

Make a diagonal cut down from approximately 6 inches on the inside of the flowerbed out to the original cut. Remove the triangular section of soil and grass. Continue around the entire shape of the flowerbed.

Step5

Kill or remove any grass remaining in the flowerbed. There are a couple of different methods to do this.

1. The grass and top layer of soil can be removed as sod with a flat shovel. This method is good if there are other areas in your lawn that need the grass.
2. The grass can be mowed really short and sprayed with a herbicide like Roundup. Wait a couple of weeks and the grass will be dead.
3. The area can be covered with old newspaper and plastic. This eventually smothers the grass. This process can take a month or longer to kill the grass, but no chemicals are used on the grass.

Step6

Loosen the remaining soil in the flowerbed once the grass is gone. This can be accomplished by turning the soil with a shovel, or the area can be tilled with a power rototiller. Try to turn or till the soil as deep as possible.

Step7

Add at least an inch of organic matter, such as compost or peat moss, to the soil and once again turn or till the area.

Step8

Rake the area smooth, removing any large rocks.

Step9

Mulch the flowerbed to conserve moisture and help control weeds.

Step10

Now your flowerbed is ready for its plants. Because the entire bed is prepared, you can plant the flowers and shrubs anywhere without fear of hitting roots, rocks or hard soil, and the plant's roots will have an easy time growing in the prepared soil.

Tips & Warnings

Creating curves instead of straight lines adds additional interest to the flowerbed. It is also easier to mow around a curve than turning sharp angles with straight lines.
The size of the flowerbed determines the scale of the project. It also determines how much space you will have for flowers. Before starting the project, determine how many and what kinds of plants, shrubs and flowers you want to use. Also think about how much energy and ambition you have to dig around the flowerbed and weed and care for the flowers.
Have a soil test conducted on the soil in your flowerbed by your local Cooperative Extension Agency. This test will tell you exactly what your soil needs as far as lime and fertilizer.
Call 811 (before you dig) to have utility and power lines marked before digging into the yard.
If sculpting an area around the foundation of your house, be careful not to change the grade or slope of the soil, otherwise water could be directed into the foundation instead of away from the house, causing water and/or flooding in the basement.
Read and follow all instructions for a power rototiller before operating or injury could occur.