When it’s time to redo a flower bed outside your home, there are certain steps to take to ensure your plants will get the most nutrients and the best living conditions you can allow them. Whether you have a green thumb or you’re just starting out, these gardening tips from Triple Oaks Nursery in Franklinville, will help you redo a flower bed with ease.
Triple Oaks Nursery has all the tools and plants you need to grow a beautiful garden this spring. When you use the Xspero™ app to pay for your purchase, you can also help grow a charity you choose in the process without spending one cent more. With every purchase through the app, 20 percent goes directly to a local charity so you can help make the grass a little greener for those in need near you.
Take these tips on how to redo a flower bed around your home and watch your green thumb grow.
Remove Perennials and Bulbs: If you have existing perennials in the bed from seasons past, you’ll probably want to help bring them back to life when you redo a flower bed at your home. Digging up bulbs and removing perennials will allow you to tackle the soil and return nutrients to the ground so your perennials (and any new plants you add) will grow lush and full.
Using a spade, carefully dig into the soil three to four inches deep around the base of the plant. Work your way all the way around and lift while the spade is in the ground to prop up your perennial. Most perennials can live between four and five days out of the soil, so you’ll have plenty of time to tend to the bed. Repeat this process for all perennials you want to return to the bed when it’s ready.
Remove Weeds: Now that you’ve removed the perennials and bulbs from your bed, it’s time to tackle the weeds and overgrowth. The most effective and easiest way to rid your flower beds of weeds is to use an herbicide; however, it could take up to two weeks for weeds and roots to die, meaning you’d need to temporarily return your perennials and bulbs to the earth.
If you want to get straight to the root of weeds using a more environmental-friendly technique, dig up visible weeds and overgrowth, careful to extract their roots. In some cases, you can carefully pull up a weed and the root will come with it. Stubborn weeds will need to be dug out. Remove all weeds from the flower bed and make sure no leaves are left behind, as they can further the spread of weed growth.
Prep the Soil: Dig into the bed’s soil and remove any additional plant debris, roots, and rocks. You may need to dig as deep as 10 inches to remove these unseen problems. Return nutrients to the ground by adding a three to six-inch layer of compost and turning it into the bed with a shovel to help enrich the soil.
Plant and Mulch: Since fresh compost and organic material can temporarily remove nitrogen from the soil, it’s recommended to wait up to four days to return your perennials to the bed. When it’s time, plant your perennials at the same depth you removed them from. Fill in your bed with any additional plants or flowers, careful to plant them at the same depth as their nursery containers. Space them wide enough apart so when they grow to full size, they won’t be too close together. Water the plants prior to adding mulch or wood chips as a final layer. Just ensure that the mulch you use doesn’t smother the plant.
