Prepare New Beds for Spring

Prepare soil now for healthy spring beds. While cleaning up flower beds and raking fallen leaves, plan a new flower bed and put the spent foliage to good use. Gather materials and pile them in a new area where you want a spring flower bed. A thorough settling and decomposition of soil amendments during the winter months will improve the native soil and make it easier to plant. This will provide a great beginning for seedlings and young root divisions.

     Begin by outlining the new bed area with a garden hose. Remove grass inside the marked area. Use a spade to cut twelve inch squares two inches deep. A depth of two inches will ensure rhizomes and stolons are removed. If you are going to pile dead foliage and leaves in the new bed area, you can place any squares of grass face down in the center of the pile. As long as the pile is at least three feet tall and wide, it should heat up enough to kill all weeds and grass. Inside the new bed area, pile dead leaves and foliage of perennials and vegetables, annual vines, small limbs, and mowed grass (if you bag). To speed decomposition add nitrogen a couple of times or mix the pile a few times during the winter.

     Some organic gardeners place a few layers of newspaper on top of the bare soil before beginning their pile or adding amendments. This limits germination of weed seeds and kills pieces of grass that may have been missed. Over the next six months the pile of spent foliage and the amendments decompose and mix with native soil. This will make the bed easy to dig for spring planting.

     For added improvements, you can add one or more of the following:

         Four to six inches of compost over the entire bed area. Compost enriches the soil.

         One-eighth inch or 4 to 8 pounds per 100 square feet of greensand or lava sand.    Lava sand and greensand add minerals and trace elements to the soil.

         Five pounds of sugar or molasses per 500 square feet. This stimulates the microbial activity. Microbial activity will breakdown the amendments and add nutritious waste products to the bedding area.

         Sprinkle one-half box of Epsom salts for every 500 square feet. This will prevent chlorosis in your future plants.

         Ten pounds of earthworm castings per 500 square feet. Earthworm castings contain many trace elements and minerals that promote healthy plant growth.

         Ten pounds of organic fertilizer per 500 square feet provides necessary nutrients and trace materials to the soil.

     Save money by purchasing many of these materials directly from the producer. The Fort Worth area has three major sources for organic materials.

Call Kristi Richards at
Advantage Organics (469-576-3398)
for bagged or bulk materials delivered to your home.
Clear Fork Materials at 800 Old Annetta Road in Aledo (817-441-7777).
Silver Creek Materials at 2251 Silver Creek Road in west Fort Worth (817-246-2426).

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By Gail I. Morris
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