starting a garden island
Hi Well it sounds like your main challenge will be your soil. If you have poor soil, all your work will be in vain. Start by outlining the area you want to turn into a garden bed. You can use a garden hose, string, or even a bit of flour to mark your bed's outlines. Then, you'll need to dig or till the area, adding as much organic matter as possible: compost, rotted manure, leaf mold, bagged products, fresh topsoil, etc. Add as much as you can and then spade it all in with your existing soil. Once the soil is improved, you can plant your garden. Be sure to know how much sun or shade the location gets so you know what kinds of plants to choose. Also, you can use our Plant Encyclopedia on this website to do an Advanced Search on your needs and it will give you a planting list. And, if you like, in our Garden Design area you'll find over 100 garden plans showcasing all styles and types of gardens with plant lists. You could easily take some of those plant combinations and work with them in your own garden.
