I see all your raised flower beds and I want one to are they hard to make I would love to have one in the front yard, filled with flowers It looks like they just give everything some depth. Thank you Margie moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic
Margie, the easiest raised bed we made was roughly kidney-shaped and with a trench about 4" wide and 6" deep around it as a weed/grass barrier. The dirt from the trench was tossed into the bed, and we added two wheel-barrow loads of composted cow manure and a wheel-barrow load of sand that we dug out from around the barn. That raised the bed a bit above ground level. It was easy to do and looks pretty good. We planted the tallest things in the middle, and shorter toward the edges, but varying the heights so it wouldn't look "industrial."
Flexible edging will work for a low-raised bed. Diging (and sifting) out lawn and grass rhisomes is the "Martha Stewart" solution. I have simply laid on a layer of cardboard as a light block and filled the space between edging (or 2' by 8's) and filled the empty parts with compost or manure. How perfectly you cover old lawn with an overlapping layer of cardboard will dictate how much lawn comes up in your new bed. Plant out after additions cool. In the fall or next spring you can begin digging and mixing soil with amendments. Spending a few minutes a day kneeling in front of a garden weeding and telling your plants how good they're doing is good for both the plant and the gardener.
