Tips for Preparing a Planting Bed
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Article by: Michael McGroarty If you are preparing beds , Taming Your Outdoors for landscaping , Marble Mosaic Art around your house , Gardening During Hard Times or Emergencies - You Can Feed Yourself! this article should simplify the process for you. I say that because of everything that is written about this subject, some of it is accurate, some of it is just plain wrong, and much of it is much more complicated than it needs to be. I like to think of myself as Simple Simon. I find the easiest, yet most effective way to do things, and they work. Let's assume that the area where you are planning your bed , Abatement and Consistency Philosophy is now planted in grass. , Annuals - 5 Easy To Grow Flowers How do you get rid of the grass? Chemicals or no chemicals? Chemicals are easy, so we'll look at the chemical method first. My favorite chemical for killing grass , Want to Stamp Your Patio? and weeds , Garden Heating the Traditional Way is RoundUp, and used properly it is effective. Rule number one: Read the label on the package, and mix the chemical exactly as recommended by the manufacturer. , Waterfall Ponds Rule number two: Assume that every plant , Annuals - 5 Easy To Grow Flowers that the RoundUp touches is going to die. It is a non-selective herbicide. The first thing you need to do is mark out where your planting bed , Abatement and Consistency Philosophy is going to be. Spend some time on this step. If you are landscaping , Wild Flowers around your house, , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 7) - Hard Water give careful consideration to what is going to be planted in the bed, , Pond Liners - Which One to Use? and then decide how large each plant , Garden Pond Liners is going to be when fully mature. You can keep plants , Marble Mosaic Art trimmed to a certain size, but be realistic when you make these estimates. Trust me when I tell you, this is the number one mistake made by Do-it-Yourself landscapers. People are just afraid to make those beds , Do You Want to Have Concrete Balls? large enough. Typically, a bed , Choosing Fish for the Garden Pond should never be narrower than 42", and corner beds , Annuals - 5 Easy To Grow Flowers should be 12' in diameter. Islands. If you make those little tiny island beds , Floral Garden and Landscape Toupees that I see everywhere I am going to come over to your house , Taming Your Outdoors and snap you with a wet towel! The island bed , Spring Flowers in your front yard , Natural Garden Pest Control should be 20' to 40' long, and a minimum of 12' in diameter on at least one end. The easiest way to mark out your planting beds , Three Tips for a Better and Cheaper Lawn is to buy a can of marking paint , Henry Doubleday Research Association at the hardware , Spring is Around the Corner - How is Your Garden? store. Unlike most spray paint, , What You Need To Know About Pruning Bonsai Trees this only works when the can is inverted, and it is designed specifically for painting , Do You Want to Have Concrete Balls? lines on the ground. They even have cans that spray chalk instead of paint. , Abatement and Consistency Philosophy I've always used the paint, , Spring Flowers it holds up better if it gets wet. Once you have the outline of the bed , The Magic Plant Copier established and marked, mix up some RoundUp and spray all the grass , Rose - The Flower of Love and Romance and weeds inside , Wild Flower Garden - Plan to Plant the bed , Taming Your Outdoors area. Do not put RoundUp in a sprayer that you intend to use for other purposes. You need a sprayer that is dedicated for the use of herbicides. When applying the spray, be very careful not to let the spray drift onto the grass , Vegetable Gardening and other plants , Henry Doubleday Research Association that you do not want to kill. To minimize spray drift, adjust the spray nozzle so the spray pattern is narrow and the droplets are larger. A wide, fine spray pattern is sure to drift outside , Henry Doubleday Research Association of the intended area. Also keep the pressure in the sprayer quite low. Pump , Healing Aloe Vera Plants Are Easy To Grow and Provide Health Benefits it just enough to deliver the spray. High pressure causes the spray to atomize and drift. Apply just enough spray to wet the foliage. If you have liquid dripping off the blades of grass, , Garden Pond Liners you are applying too much. More is not better. Once sprayed, be careful not to step in the area that has been sprayed. Many a people have had golden footprints across their lawn , Bird Baths in Your Yard because they forgot and walked through what had been sprayed. This is the difficult part, and the part that many people do not get, so pay close attention. The only way that the RoundUp can possibly work is if you leave it alone. Did you get that? Once you apply the RoundUp, don't do another thing with that bed , Gardening During Hard Times or Emergencies - You Can Feed Yourself! for 72 hours. That's three very long days. I know you're anxious, but this is the price you pay for not planning ahead. RoundUp is a systemic herbicide, which means that it has to be absorbed by the plant, , Backpack Blowers then translocated throughout the plant. , Garden Pond Liners It takes three days for that to happen. If you go digging and chopping, you might just as well skip the spraying step. Go build a compost , Safety On Lawn Tractors bin while you're waiting. After three days the weeds , Foraging In The Forest: Finding Materials That Link Your Home To The Great Outdoors and grass , The Flower Garden in August are going to look as healthy , The Value of Mulch and happy as ever. Don't let 'em fool ya. They're as dead as dead can be. Providing the RoundUp didn't get washed off by rain within the first 24 hours of the waiting period. Now you can dig and chop to your heart's content. However, the only digging that I do is to go around the edge of the bed , Injury to Trees and Shrubs and strip the sod back about 15". Just peel off about 1" and flip it into the center of the bed. , The Flower Garden in August This makes it easier to edge and mulch the bed , Perfume Your Garden and Home with Gardenias if you get the sod out of the way. Now for the non- chemical method. Mark out the outline of the bed , Patio Enclosures as described above. Strip the sod back 15", just like above. Since you aren't using any herbicides I would dig down about 1-1/2" when removing the sod from the edges. Take the sod you stripped back and lay it in the center of the bed , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 7) - Hard Water upside down and pack it down firmly. Now take newspaper or brown paper grocery bags and cover the entire bed , What You Need To Know About Pruning Bonsai Trees area. Use 9 layers of newspaper. No matter what method you used, chemical or non chemical, you are now ready to fill the planting bed , Straw Bale Culture Technique with topsoil. Put 8 to 12" of good rich topsoil in the bed. , The Magic Plant Copier Make sure the soil , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 7) - Hard Water is higher in the back, closest to the wall, , Do You Want to Have Concrete Balls? so the water , Injury to Trees and Shrubs drains away from the building. , The Magic Plant Copier If you are creating an island planting make the center of the bed , Gardening During Hard Times or Emergencies - You Can Feed Yourself! the highest point. Make sure the topsoil you buy is well drained and rich in organic , The Value of Mulch matter. Buying topsoil is a tricky game, you've got to be careful and shop around. Topsoil is one item that you do not want to order over the phone, , Bird Baths in Your Yard sight unseen. This is what you are looking for when buying topsoil: Topsoil that is rich in organic , Straw Bale Culture Technique matter will be very dark in color. , Man Made Puddle If the soil , Healing Aloe Vera Plants Are Easy To Grow and Provide Health Benefits is light , Natural Garden Pest Control in color , Winterizing Your Roses it is probably just fill sand. , Mosquito Disease The other thing you've got to watch for is how well drained the soil , Healing Aloe Vera Plants Are Easy To Grow and Provide Health Benefits is. Topsoil that has a clay base is poorly drained and sticky, and your plants , Waterfall Ponds will not be happy at all. They might even die if they are too wet. Once a clay based topsoil dries out it gets very hard. Today most topsoil is run through a screener to remove the clumps, rocks, roots, , Man Made Puddle and sticks. There is nothing wrong with buying unscreened topsoil, especially if you've visually inspected it and have found it to be of good quality. Actually, really good topsoil shouldn't have to be screened, but there is little of that quality topsoil to be had. When you visit the yard , Garden Heating the Traditional Way where the soil , Floral Garden and Landscape Toupees is stockpiled, scoop up a handful of the topsoil and run it through your fingers. If it seems to be grainy, it is probably good soil. , Floral Garden and Landscape Toupees But if it appears to be tiny round balls that can be smashed between your fingers, it is probably a clay based soil , Marble Mosaic Art that will trap water , Mosquito Disease during rainy seasons, , Mosquito Disease and get as hard as a rock when it's hot , Injury to Trees and Shrubs and dry. Pay attention to how the soil , Patio Enclosures is screened. Some machines just shake the soil , Ants! - 1,000,000,000,000,000 Invaders! over a set of screens to separate the debris, and others actually shred the soil. , Mosquito Disease If the soil , Perfume Your Garden and Home with Gardenias needs to be shredded, you don't want it. Look closely at the pile that the raw soil , Three Tips for a Better and Cheaper Lawn is coming from. If the soil , Straw Bale Culture Technique in the raw pile is as hard as a rock, that's what the screened soil , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening for Beginners (Part 12) H2O2 is going be once you get it in your beds. , Pond Liners - Which One to Use? If it appears to be fairly loose, it's probably good soil. , The Dangers of Chlorine Free Pool Chemicals Put 6-8" of topsoil in your beds. , The Value of Mulch You are now ready to plant. , Wild Flower Garden - Plan to Did you notice that I didn't get into rototilling and all kinds of extra work? Nor did I suggest that you add bone meal or any of those other goodies that the garden , Winterizing Your Roses centers sell. I skipped the part about checking the pH too. pH is important, but I've found that good topsoil almost always has a suitable pH. I've got a confession to make. In almost 30 years of growing, , Straw Bale Culture Technique planting, landscaping , The Flower Garden in August and the like, I've never tested the pH of the soil , Annuals - 5 Easy To Grow Flowers on any project that I was working on. Is that smart? I don't know, but I've been successful in my efforts, and I have landscaped several hundred homes , 6 Steps To A Greener, Healthier Lawn and grown tens of thousands of plants. , The Flower Garden in August It's something to think about. What I'm really trying to say is don't get caught up in too many details, and be careful who you take advice , Safety On Lawn Tractors from at those garden , Bird Baths in Your Yard stores. Many of those sales people were flipping burgers last week.You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information , Pond Liners - Which One to Use? at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, http://www.freeplants.com/resellers.htm. Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent gardening , Asian Lily Beetles - A New Garden Threat newsletter. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com |
  
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