Prepare Soil to Grow Flowers

Once you have killed, removed or smothered the existing vegetation (see Clearing A Flower Bed), you can begin to work the soil or loosen the soil and prepare the flower bed area for planting flowers. This can be done with a tiller or by hand using a spade and garden fork. If the soil is very compacted or has never been worked, you may want to rent a large, powerful tiller to do the initial passes. Thereafter, a lightweight tiller or a spade should be sufficient. After the first year, you should not need to till the soil again.

How Deep to Loosen Soil

For annual flowers, loosen the soil down at least six inches, for perennial flowers with their deeper root systems, ten inches is better. Break up big clods, remove larger rocks and any roots as you go.

Add Organic Matter to Flower Bed Soil

Now the most important step: Work in organic matter such as compost, well rotted stable manure and bedding, rotted down autumn leaves, or whatever organic material you have available locally and at a reasonable cost. A layer several inches thick is not too much to add at one time, and a six inch layer is better. Organic matter is the best amendment you can use to improve either a clay soil or a sandy soil. It is easier to add organic matter now, before you plant, than at any other time.

The organic matter will help keep the soil both aerated and moist all season as well as help feed the soil slowly as it breaks down over time. Plant roots grow best in well prepared soil, and the better the roots the better the overall growth and flowering performance. So don’t skimp on this critical step. More on Adding Organic Matter

How to Prepare Clay Soil For Planting Flowers

If you have heavy clay soil, you might also add a small amount of coarse builder’s type sand or fine grit. But add this only in addition to the organic matter. Without organic matter, sand plus clay yields brick when dried!

Remove Stones: Planting in Rocky Soil

Rocky soil is not necessarily bad but it can be difficult to work it when your shovel bounces off the stones. You’ll probably want to remove anything the size of a potato or larger. If you use a tiller, you may have to remove smaller stones as well. Raking and hand picking are the two main ways of removing stones and rocks.

Shallow Soil – Raised Planting Beds

If you have bed rock or ledge with just a shallow layer of soil on top of it, you may want to build some raised beds so your plants will have deeper soil for their roots. I’ll write more about raised garden beds later because using raised beds is a project that can be as simple or as complex as you care to make it. Here we go: How to Plan and Construct Raised Beds

For more help with starting a flower bed, don’t miss Flower Garden Basics.

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