A flower bed is one of the eye catching landscaping tricks that makes a yard look softer, or more inviting. An elevated flower bed around an existing tree, or around the perimeter of a structure makes a beautiful accompaniment to any yard décor.
You start the raised flower bed by building a solid foundation to place your decorating border on top of. The shape and design of your border is limitless because there are so many different materials you can use for this purpose. You can choose from brick edging, plastic molded edges, rock edges, wooden edges, or concrete edges. Some people even get creative and make edging for their raised flower beds from pieces of old tires, and other materials that have been discarded.
Edging materials to use in landscaping
• Landscaping timbers are made of wood, they look attractive, but they start to deteriorate after 6 to 7 years. These timbers can be put into place without a foundation.
• Rock is a permanent edging material. It is more expensive than landscaping timbers but does require a solid foundation be prepared.
• Plastic pre-shaped borders are easy to maintain, they are great for gentle slopes. They are inexpensive and require no foundation.
• Brick can be placed in the soil at an angle for a border. If you go more than 2 layers of brick high, you will need to create a foundation.
60/40 soil is a mixture of sand and clay that is used to create a level soil surface before you begin to set your decorative border around your flower bed. Your level base is the key element in these flower beds. Without a level foundation your border material will begin to collapse after time. You need to dig away the grass and put the 60/40 mix in place to establish your bed.
The soil that you use inside the border has to be sandy, or a type of soil that provides excellent drainage so that the flower bed does not hold water. If you are landscaping around pre-existing trees and shrubbery make certain that you do not put anything down that will inhibit water from getting to the roots of the tree. You can kill a tree with a flower bed if you are not careful about the materials that you use.
If you wish to reduce the number of weeds that grow in your flower bed you can place a special cloth that is designed to block weeds from coming through it. This cloth is very handy, but make sure you have bought the breathable pieces of cloth and not a heavy plastic that rain water cannot penetrate.
When you are ready to put soil inside your edging you can use some of the soil that you excavated from around the tree when you were establishing a level base for your border to sit on. Carefully remove all grass roots from the soil and combine it with your potting soil mixture. The nutrient rich potting soil will help your flowers, and your tree, and the readily available soil will reduce the amount of potting soil you have to buy.
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