An Expert Step by Step Guide on Making a New Bed For Your Garden
First, mark out the bed with a garden line or with canes.
It is very important to remove all perennial weeds.
Try to do this by hand if possible.
If you do use weed killer, always apply it according to the maker's instructions on the packet, and make sure you leave the bed until all the weeds have died.
Then, start digging a new bed by making a trench one spade's depth deep across one end.
Place the excavated soil into a wheelbarrow and take it to the other end of the plot, where it will be used to fill in the final trench.
Now, place a layer or well rotted organic material such as garden compost or farmyard manure along the bottom of the trench, breaking it up and spreading it over the soil.
Be generous and use as much material as possible.
After that, dig the next row, tipping the soil on top of the compost, filling in the first trench and creating a new one.
Add compost to the bottom of this and repeat until the whole plot is dug, leaving the final trench empty.
Next, add a layer of compost to the final trench and then fill it in using the soil excavated from the first trench.
The digging is now complete and if time allows, you can leave the bed over the winter so the weather will break the soil down.
Lastly, if prepared in the autumn, by the spring the weather will have broken down the soil to a fine tilth or consistency.
Remove any weeds that have reappeared and then rake over the bed, using the back of the rake to break up any larger lumps if necessary.
So, what does composting mean? Buy or make a compost bin and fill it with any material you cut from the garden, spent plant stems, leaves and flowers, grass cutting, shredded hedge and shrub trimmings.
Also, add any non cooked vegetable waste from the kitchen, such as peelings, pods and leaves.
Avoid adding thick layers of just one material, such as grass cuttings, which can go very slimy.
It is better to add thinner layers of different materials in order to keep the compost well balanced, and to fork the heap over now and then.
Adding more material is a constant process and continue until the box is full.
Ideally, you should have three boxed; one that you are adding to, one that is rotting down and almost ready to use, and one from which you are using the ready compost.
Water the material if it is too dry, and keep each box covered.
Leave until it has rotted down into crumbly, sweet smelling compost.
It is very important to remove all perennial weeds.
Try to do this by hand if possible.
If you do use weed killer, always apply it according to the maker's instructions on the packet, and make sure you leave the bed until all the weeds have died.
Then, start digging a new bed by making a trench one spade's depth deep across one end.
Place the excavated soil into a wheelbarrow and take it to the other end of the plot, where it will be used to fill in the final trench.
Now, place a layer or well rotted organic material such as garden compost or farmyard manure along the bottom of the trench, breaking it up and spreading it over the soil.
Be generous and use as much material as possible.
After that, dig the next row, tipping the soil on top of the compost, filling in the first trench and creating a new one.
Add compost to the bottom of this and repeat until the whole plot is dug, leaving the final trench empty.
Next, add a layer of compost to the final trench and then fill it in using the soil excavated from the first trench.
The digging is now complete and if time allows, you can leave the bed over the winter so the weather will break the soil down.
Lastly, if prepared in the autumn, by the spring the weather will have broken down the soil to a fine tilth or consistency.
Remove any weeds that have reappeared and then rake over the bed, using the back of the rake to break up any larger lumps if necessary.
So, what does composting mean? Buy or make a compost bin and fill it with any material you cut from the garden, spent plant stems, leaves and flowers, grass cutting, shredded hedge and shrub trimmings.
Also, add any non cooked vegetable waste from the kitchen, such as peelings, pods and leaves.
Avoid adding thick layers of just one material, such as grass cuttings, which can go very slimy.
It is better to add thinner layers of different materials in order to keep the compost well balanced, and to fork the heap over now and then.
Adding more material is a constant process and continue until the box is full.
Ideally, you should have three boxed; one that you are adding to, one that is rotting down and almost ready to use, and one from which you are using the ready compost.
Water the material if it is too dry, and keep each box covered.
Leave until it has rotted down into crumbly, sweet smelling compost.
