How to Landscape a Flower Bed

Landscaping a flowerbed can make your entire yard look updated. It’s easy to do and all you need is a little planning, some manual labor and a few things to make it all possible. You don’t have to pay top dollar to have a professional do it for you either; it’s a project you can do over a weekend or even in just a day if you have the time. Don’t let the gorgeous landscape jobs you’ve seen be intimidating. You can get started with a few easy steps and best of all, you can be proud that you did it all by yourself. Does this Spark an idea?

Things You'll Need

• Plants, flowers or shrubs
• Mulch
• Gardening tools
• Fertilizer
• Edging or stones
• Landscape fabric

Instructions

1. Have a plan in mind. Decide how big you would like the flowerbed to be and what shape. The shape and size can and should compliment the look of your existing yard. You can pick up books with plans in them or simply get out a sheet of paper and a pencil and draw it out yourself.

2. Make a budget. Landscaping can get expensive once you start adding up the costs. You’ll need to include the cost of edging or stones to edge your flowerbed, landscape fabric, plants and/or flowers, fertilizer and any soil you might want to add since soil that you buy is richer in nutrients and fertilizers. You will also want to keep in mind extras such as gardening tools (if you don’t already own these) and any irrigation that you add to the existing setup.

3. Decide what you want to put in it. You’ll want to know that you have the room and where in your yard you want to add the flowerbed. Keep in mind that a good-sized flowerbed can be more expensive than you first thought. Since mulch needs to be at least a few inches deep, you’ll need quite a few bags to make sure the flowerbed is covered sufficiently

4. Draw out the flowerbed and clear the land. Start by picking a spot in the yard and placing some kind of marker around it such as bricks or stakes. One good way to do this is stakes in the ground tied with string to border your starting point. Once you have things started, you’ll want to till the area to clear it of existing weeds, grass or sand. When your area is cleared, then add your new potting soil and mix thoroughly with the existing ground. This will add the new dirt in with what you have existing already.

5. Once you have the ground cleared and the potting soil added you would then lay out the position you want the plants in. You do not plant them yet; this is just a guide at this point. Lay out the landscape fabric. Once you have the landscape fabric in place, cut holes where your positioned plants would go and plant the plants.

6. Now you’re reading to add the edging and mulch. You would add the edging first, placing it around the flowerbed and over the landscape fabric to weight it down at the edges. Once you have done this you will now add fertilizer according to instructions and place the mulch into your bed, covering everywhere and making sure it’s a few inches deep.

7. Once you have done all of this, either place your irrigation if you are setting up a new system or go ahead and water the plants thoroughly, letting it soak the ground. A good rule of thumb if you are in a dry climate is to water for at least an hour. Since you have new plants with new fertilization, it’s imperative to get the ground nice and wet so your plants don’t dry out.

Tips & Warnings

• Always have enough supplies. It's easier to take things back to the store than to come up short and have to make another trip.

• Don't let the new plants dry out. Water thoroughly the first day.