One thing that does annoy me in my work is when there is a lack of planning in carrying out work on a new garden bed. I’ve had a situation recently where this garden bed in question has been empty for months then suddenly needs to be filled with plants by the end of the day.

In this garden bed, the weeds had taken over, so the boss demanded that the area was sprayed with chemicals to kill the said weeds, before turning the soil over and planting the plants in question all in a mad rush at the end of the day.

There are so many issues with this, which I will go through as this reactive method is always unnecessary, unless there is a safety issue that needs rectifying immediately.

First things first, if you are going to spray your weeds in garden beds, you need to do so about a week before you do any other work in it. This is to allow the herbicide to work and for the weeds to die after being sprayed. Alternatively, the weeds can be pulled out or you can use a garden hoe to help get them out (this second option doesn’t take any more time than the initial spraying, especially on small garden beds found in many homes-bigger ones are probably where you get bored part way through and do the job over several days).

Once the dead plant material has been removed, the soil needs to be looked at. If the soil has been really compacted, it needs to be rectified to allow air, water and plant roots to move through. This ideally can be done without any digging-put organic matter like compost or animal manure on the garden bed as a mulch and the worms and other soil animals, fungi and bacteria will break this down and mix it through the soil. The soil is aerated and has nutrients readily accessible to plants in it. As this doesn’t happen overnight, it does take a couple of months to occur-which is why planning is important! If time is a bit more limiting, and you aren’t afraid of hard work, you can turn the soil and mix in some organic matter at the same time-depending on your soil, this can be almost impossible!

Once your soil sorted, you are ready to plant. Only buy the plants as you need them, as having plants hanging around for weeks in the pots they came from the nursery in is never good for the plants. Plant then within a couple of days into holes twice the diameter of the pot and then water really well. As the plants are becoming established, ensure they are well-watered through rain or by hand.

Once established, only water when needed, do it well and really deeply and then add compost yearly as a mulch. Also weed frequently to prevent a large build up to prevent bringing out the chemical herbicides. Good garden practices make these substances unnecessary.

Good gardening always takes time if you want to do it right and always looks better long term if done this way.

All photos are my own