How to Start a Free Form Flower Bed:

Garden Shovel (or) Tiller
Garden Rake
Garden Hoe
Garden Hose,with nozzle
Rope (opt)
Baby Powder or Flour
Flowers
Gloves
Garden Mulch or Rocks
Spot for your New Garden

Here is What You Need to Do:

First you need to look around your yard to find the perfect new home for your flowers. Take a long look at it, through out the day, and ask yourself these questions. How much sun does it get? How much shade? This will determined the type of plants you buy. Also a it is a good idea to make sure there is no electrical, phone, gas, or water lines running in the middle of your garden, it would not be pretty to hit one of these, it will surely rune your day.

OK, you have looked over you yard and found the perfect home for you new flower garden. Now is when the work begins, you will need to determine how big you need your garden, and the best way to do this is to do this is to use your garden hose, or rope. Take the garden hose and lay it on the ground, exactly how you want your garden to look. Remember it doesn't have to be a perfect circle, it can be wavy, square, rectangle, or any shape you can think of, my theory on this is if you can make the garden hose or rope, go into this shape then it will work as your garden. Step back and look at the shape,do you like it? Now is the time to make changes not once you start to till or dig up the garden bed. What determines the free form part of the garden is it need to look like mother nature put it there herself, it shouldn't look all fussy, or well made up. This is not nature, this is Formal gardening, we are doing Free Form Gardening. Before you till or dig, go around your outline with either baby powder or flour to make your garden. Do Not keep your rope or garden hose down, you will either dig it up, get it tangled in your tiller,or poke a hole in your garden hose, this would not be good.

The Next Step is after you have decided you like this shape, it is time to either start digging or tilling up the ground. It is best to do both of these, take the shovel and dig around the outline of your free form flower bed. Then go over the ground once with the tiller to loosen up the dirt, rake up all of the grass if this is a new spot, and then dig again to loosen up more soil. Rake smooth once again, then go over again with the tiller if needed, while doing these steps remember to follow your garden outline. You may have lost it while tilling that is fine, relay out the garden hose or rope, and this time use your baby powder or flour to remake your outline. Your free form flower bed should now be free from grass, weeds, and roots.

Now comes the fun part of the job, putting in the flowers you bought. You will need to place them were you think they will look there best. If your free form flower bed is next to your house as a border you will be placing the larger growing flower (like, Butterfly Bushes,Hydrangea, as an example ) in the back, your middle height growers ( like your, Lilies, Irises, some Ornamental Grasses, Black-Eyed Susans, for example). Now is you lower growing flowers, (like your Ground Cover Daylillies, Phlox,Candytuff, and most of your annual plants). Don't forget to add a trellis or two for some climbing flowers to give your garden some height. Now once you have decided where your plants will live, now is the time to start digging the holes. Make sure these holes are deep enough to cover the dirt that is already around the plants, and tease the roots a little so they will branch out to reach the much needed water supply. Once you have dug the hole place the plants root ball in the hole, recover with the dirt you just dig up and make sure to firm the dirt all around so there is no root or old soil showing.

Now that you are done with the planting, you can now put on the garden mulch. This should be no more then an inch think around our flowers, and make sure the mulch is not touching around the stem this could cause some rooting. Yes mulch is good for weed control, but it is mostly used to keep the soil from hopping up onto your plants every time it rains. This will cause diseases and pest to invade your flowers. Make sure the area is all cleaned up, and Please put the tools away. Now is the time when I go through my yard or house to find my garden art. I will use old cookie jars, figurines that no longer have a home, and so on. Thinks outside of the box for fun garden art, an old terra cottage flower pot makes a great frog home, an old tea kettle can be planted for a neat table center piece (just put rocks in the bottom for drainage) and you can even use an old headboard as a trellis. Remember My Rule, there are No Rules when it come to Garden Art, just keep it safe. You will now need to water in your plants to wash all of the dirt and mulch off of them, to stop the pest and diseases.

Now once you have put all of your plants in their new home, the tools are put away, and you found some neat things for your garden art. Now step back and take a look at your new free form flower bed. I didn't include how to put in a watering system, because I am still watering my plants the old fashioned way, with either a garden hose, or a watering can. You will have to ask the fine people,where you purchased your flowers, on how to do this step.

The last step to making your own free form flower bed is this, remember to keep it weeded, and to take the time to set down and enjoy all of your hard work. If you planted perennials, this garden will last for many years to come, just remember to take care of it, and let mother nature do the rest. I hope I helped you build a free form flower bed. Please take the time once planted to enjoy your work, and teach what you have learned to someone else and help make the world a little more prettier.