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I have a flower bed that has not been used for a long time. I am starting to grow some plants. Can someone help me with some information. Do I need to dig up the soil, or should I just add new soil on top? I am new to all this and would like some kind soul to give me some advice.

Hi there Nala,

How great that you've decided to get growing in the garden. It seems like you're taking a sensible place to start with just the one flower bed. It's so easy to bite off more than you can chew and then get dis-heartened when it all starts to over-power you.

As for your flower bed, if it was mine, and it is a bit hard to say without seeing it and knowing what the soil is like, but personally, I would removed some of the soil and replace it with some compost. The reason for doing this is so that you have the best soils possible for planting your new flowers in.

If you have a clay soil where you are, this is a fantastic way of incorporating more fiber into the soil. This will help with drainage issues as well as providing more nutrition for the plants.

By improving the quality of the soil you are also making like easier for yourself. Not only will you get better results for your efforts, but any weeding, and future digging that you need to do will be so much easier in ground that doesn't get baked solid.

Whether you remove and replace some of the soil or not, it will need a really good digging over. The soil will have become compacted over the unused years and the roots of your new flowers and plants will have a very tough time trying to get their roots down to find the water and nutrients that they need.

An alternative to all this digging is to perhaps build a raised flower bed over the existing one and fill it in with a good quality soil that you'll be able to get from any good garden center. The materials you can make a raised garden bed from is only as limited as your budget, and there are umpteen ways to make the style of the raised bed fit in with what you already have going on in the garden.

I prefer a slightly rustic feel to my gardens, and my raised beds are made from scaffolding planks. Two planks high, makes them just the right height to perch on the edge to drink tea when I'm on a gardening break! I just love my raised beds. Everything seems so much easier, I can alter the soil to suit what I want to grow, if I want to plant acid loving plants for example I can mix in acidic compost for. Planting, harvesting, weeding- it's all much less unpleasant when you don't have to bend down so far. That and the dog can't pee on it!

I hope this has given you some information that you can use, and good luck with the flower bed- you'll love it, and it's so easy to get really carried away with it all.

2009-04-15 14:19:33 by nala

www.survivalistboards.com This is a garden project for you apartment dwellers. We are going to take this tub and plant some seeds in it. One tub ...

Ive just moved into my new place and Ive never grow anything before but Id really like to grow some basic veg/fruit, in particular asparagus(i love it but its too expensive). the only thing is,I have a balcony garden thats about 10feet square. Id also like to put in some window baskets, any idea of some plants/flowers I could plant now.....

The most expensive thing is mixed salad leaves followed closely by spinach, so if you use these at all then you could save a lot by growing them.

'Baby' veg costs a fortune too, so little carrots and aubergines would be good as well.

Asparagus takes a couple of years to become established and needs a lot of space. The season only lasts 6 weeks so even if you had the room it would hardly be worth your while.

If you are in the middle of a town the temperatures will be a degree or two warmer so you could sow some things now and protect them at night with some horticultural fleece.


Old wooden wine crates make great containers, ask for them at your local off licence. Watch out for the weight you will be putting on the balcony, I know it's obvious but remember how much heavier everything will be once it is well watered.

2008-03-18 05:08:43 by Sadbh

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-need to be hardy; I'm not too diligent about watering, etc.
-perennials?
-hanging baskets

If the containers are big enough you could plant hostas or ivy if you want it back every year.

For annuals, plant new guinea impatiens. Pretty flowers and don't need sun.

Hardy means perennial, in that it lives through winter. If what you mean is desert loving, good luck.

2006-04-20 09:15:15 by peony

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I know NOTHING about gardening. I grew up in high rise crowded apartments in crowded and dirty urban areas and was never familiar with plants or gardening. Now, it is the first time I am living in a condo, which has a small patio garden (about 10x2 feet). I am interested to do some gardening (mostly thinking of herbs, tomatoes and alike), but have no clue what to do. I just have cleaned it and pulled out the weeds. Could someone guide me to a website/book such as "gardening for dummies" :-), or give me some hints here what to do next...like do I need to buy soil? how much, where, what type and so on....Thanks a lot folks!

Welcome to gardening!! It's such fun and totally addictive. While there are literally millions of books out there on gardening, in my opinion the web is an even better resource for getting started.
The easiest way to start is to learn a bit about the various basics...for instance, the most important things to consider when starting your first garden are: light, soil, air/pollution, desired effect. You said you have a small patio area--is it enclosed/walled? If so, this will affect air circulation and could mean less light gets to the plants. In order to determine if your little patch of land is "full sun", "partial sun" or shade, you should know how many hours of sunlight it gets per day. This is harder to determine in the winter, of course, since in the summer a full sun spot would get at least 6 hours of sun per day. A partial sun spot would get 3-4 hours of sun per day. Another thing to consider is whether the spot gets morning or afternoon sun, if it's not an all day sunny spot--afternoon sun is much hotter and more intense than morning sun, and can scorch some more delicate plants. If you determine that your garden is actually in the shade, then you will have to grow your herbs and tomatoes in containers elsewhere (like in the house, or window boxes) since they require full sun.

Next up is your "Zone". This is really easy to determine, just google "garden zone lookup" and you will find a bunch of maps that tell you all sorts of info like your Zone number (numbers 1-10 basically, with 10 being the hottest tropical zones and 1 being, like, the Arctic); the maps also give a general temperature range for your zone, and often tell you the dates of the first and last frosts--important when thinking of growing annuals like tomatoes and most herbs.
Now on to soil; there are very inexpensive little soil test kits that will tell you the pH of your existing soil. They're about $5-$10 usually, and will help you understand whether you need to "amend" the soil with any extra nutrients or elements to change the pH for optimal plant growth. Most plants prefer a fairly neutral soil with a pH around 6.5 to 7. Do a little reading on this subject, as well, to fully understand what I'm talking about. It does make a difference! If you wish to add soil because your pH is screwy and you don't want to mess around with lime or whatever amendments, then make sure to use garden soil, not potting soil. This is available very cheaply at places like Lowe's, Home Depot, etc., as well as Wal Marts with a garden center, and of course, garden stores.

Another thing to think about as you plan out your first garden is how much time you have to spend on the project. If you want to grow tomatoes, for instance, and have good conditions for them, pay attention to the type of plants you buy--indeterminate tomato plants will grow very tall/large, and will need some light pruning as well as support (tomato cage) to grow properly. Determinate tomatoes are a much better choice for limited space like you have--you would probably have the best luck with a "patio tomato" bush since they are small, don't need cages, and are very very easy to grow! As for herbs, most of them are very easy to care for, depending on your zone. They basically all just need a lot of sun, and good drainage (they don't like "wet feet", or sitting in water). One note of caution about herbs: mint is a perennial herb which is well known to be very invasive, and will take over the world if you plant it in the ground! It's best kept in a container for that reason. It took me 4 years to get rid of a patch of mint planted by the former owner of my house! LOL

I could go on and on and on, obviously, but I hope this is a good start for you!!

2008-12-30 06:53:20 by Duped

I decided to put in a patio garden this year using 5 gallon red wood barrels. The frogs are digging into the soil and are killing the roots of my plants. I don't want to kill them because they help with the fly and mosquito population, but I also want my garden to produce.
I just found out the frogs are really "toads." I never knew the difference before. Either way, they are still a problem in my patio garden.

First are you sure that they are frogs and not toads? I have never heard of frogs digging holes, but have heard of toads doing it to get at grubs and worms. Anyway you can use thin sheet metal to create a guard around the pots by cutting and bending it to fit the pots, then just use small self drilling screws to fasten the sheet metal to the pots, just be careful and use a file to remove the sharp edges on the sheet metal after you cut it.

2009-08-10 20:52:57 by GeorgiaV