Back Yard Make Over - Step 1

Preparing for Raised Beds

Last week I showed you the west corner of my back yard in my Extreme Back Yard Makeover post.

This is the same spot, from a different angle, a couple of weeks on and after I’ve been at it with my trusty spade, removing turf in preparation for raised beds.

Preparing for Raised Beds

It’s not strictly necessary to remove turf when preparing a space for a raised bed if you’re using the no-till or no-dig raised bed method. In my case though I decided to dig and remove the turf for the following reasons:

1. The raised bed location was not level to start with.
2. When it rains, a lot of water flows through this part of the back yard. It would be easier to direct the water if I removed the turf before leveling.
3. I needed the turf to use for a rain garden in another part of my plan.
4. I like digging. It feels good to work hard and I get to find worms (lots of them). I live too far from the beach to make sand castles; turf digging is my best alternative!

Tools for Turf Removal

Here’s a list of tools I’ve been using for turf removal:

• Grass edger – mine has a similar blade to this one, but a standard t-shaped handle. I use it to cut the edges of strips of turf as wide as the length of the blade of my spade. Then I cut again into slices the width of my spade.
• Shiny, garden spade – mine is a ladies spade rather than a kid’s spade, like this one. It’s important not to have too large a spade blade or the weight of lifting the turf that fits on the blade will be too much.
• Trusty wheelbarrow – mine is not red, and it is all metal rather than plastic and wood. It’s a similar shape to this kid’s one though. I used to own a two-wheeled plastic garden cart. I don’t recommend them. A wheelbarrow is much more satisfactory.

What to Do with Turf

Turf Edging for Rain Garden

Turf has a variety of uses in the garden. It’s great for building berms and banks. In this instance I’m using turf from my west back yard to create a berm for a rain garden in my east back yard.

I simply flipped the turf over, grass-side down and stacked it. If I wanted this to be a grassy bank I’d have put it grass side up, but I want to plant something else here. I’ll have to take precautions to kill the grass in the turf. I’ll probably use black plastic, cover it, and wait until the grass is dead before replanting on the bank.

The Rain Garden Plan

As you can see, the new turf berm collected some water behind it when it rained. It was really helpful to see how the water gathered. That’s going to help me know where to dig out a depression, and how to further extend the berm to prevent the water just running around the end.

I’ll be incorporating a rock-lined deliberate overflow point for the rain garden; when the garden gets a lot of rain there’s likely to be more than can fit in a depression in this one spot. Fortunately the drainage is quite good, even though I have clay soil. The puddle was gone an hour or two later.

I may soon get to decide what to plant in my new raised beds. There’s more work to do first though. What about your garden; what’s growing?

Related posts:

1. Back Yard Makeover – the plan
2. Extreme Back Yard Makeover
3. Confessions of a part-time gardener