How To Prepare An Old Garden Bed For New Plants

*this article is sponsored by Fiskars*

There are many instances where we would need to take an old garden bed (or not so old, but unused for quite some time) and get it back in shape and ready for planting! In most cases, this is nothing short of hard work, but honestly- once you et it done – it’s somewhat smooth sailing afterwards. In collaboration with Fiskars, I’ll show you how to take an unruly garden bed ridden with weeds to a flourishing bed ready to produce amazing harvests. Are you ready?

In this article, I’ll walk you through the process of preparing a garden bed for new planting. I use this process for spring and fall planting and it also can be applied to reviving an old bed.

Remove All Unwanted Weeds

More than likely, you’re starting with a bed that is covered with weeds. The first step is getting rid of them. Weeds are plants too and although they don’t need much – they can depleted your soil of nutrients and compete with with your food you wish to grow. We always want to remove them and keep them at a minimum. Depending on the native weeds in your area this process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to hours. The best approach is to find a system to removing weeds and remove all weeds by the root. In this instance, I battle the undefeated crab grass and it’s imperative to remove all of this weed by it tap root. I used Fiskars Weeder to unroot the weed and/or cut it at the root. I’m pretty sure this tool cut my weeding time in half.

Assess Current Plants & Remove Any If Necessary

At this moment, I was preparing my bed for fall planting, so I allowed my flowering basil to stay, but the eggplant was taking up prime real estate. Since it was a very mature plant, I needed to use Fiskars PowerGear2 pruners to get through the woody stem. Keep in mind, that microorganisms in the soil would enjoy the roots, so I cut as low as I could and let the roots stay. Healthy soil is the foundation for a thriving garden. I concluded that I probably wasn’t going to get anymore eggplants because of the decrease in weather and my basil can serve as a pollinator haven until it died off. These are the type of decisions you’ll make while assessing which plants you’ll keep in the bed – if any at all.

Add Soil Amendments + Fertilizers

As we mentioned before, soil is the foundation for a healthy garden, so it’s only right we do what we can to make sure we create a thriving environment for our soil. Soil amendments can be tricky and often boils down to preference and accessibility.  You can’t go wrong with topping off with compost – whether is home made, bagged compost purchased from your local store, and/or locally purchased from some other source – compost is gold. It’s important we replenish the soil so our new plants can thrive. Twice a year before switching the beds over, I top off the beds with a layer of compost from my compost pile and local compost. I also add worm castings and a granular fertilizer. Compost and fertilizer should not be handled without gloves, so I like to use a hand rake or Fiskars Cultivator to make sure everything is evenly distributed.

Water Deeply

This step seem almost minuet, but it’s really important so I’m adding it just in case you guys are like me and don’t remember to do the small things! Watering the soil before you plant is ideal because it activates the fertilizer and soil to release nutrients. Also, this method is a plus because it’s not advised to water a plant’s leaves, so water prior to planting solves such issue.

PLANT

Your bed is now ready for growing! I use my Fiskars Hand Trowel to measure how far and deep I’m planting. You can add new seedlings and/or new seeds based on their growing needs.

Rule of thumb for adding seedlings:

• only loose the roots at the bottom of the seedling if they are tightly wound
• remove seedlings from the plant tray by squeezing the bottom of the tray to push the plant out versus pulling the plant by its stem
• plant only as deep as the roots are – planting the stem too deeply can cause stem rot

Rule of thumb for direct sowing seeds:

• plant as deep as the seed packet instructs
• for small seeds, plant anywhere from 1-3 seeds based on germination rate – for larger seeds, plant 1-2 seeds
• do not fertilize again until after true set of leaves emerges

read more: How To Start A Garden From Seeds For Beginners

It’s kind of overwhelming trying to imagine taking a old bed to something amazing. I promise it doable and simple! These steps should guide you on which avenue to take when refreshing your garden bed or even starting new ones.

Happy Planting!