Hosta bed before start of projectIt’s been a couple of years since the Hostas in the front flower bed have been divided so they have outgrown their space. It’s already too late in the season to divide them easily, so we decided to enlarge the flower bed by removing some of the lawn. Hubby thought 18″ would be sufficient but I ended up taking up 24″ of sod since I was measuring from the brick line and not the edge of the Hosta leaf line. I’m sure I could have removed more sod as the plants seem to have grown more in the few weeks since I started on this project.There are sod cutters you can rent but I’ve always just pulled the sod up by hand. Sometimes it comes up pretty easy and other times, it’s a bit of a struggle. I’ve found that if the grass and dirt are a bit moist, the job is easier. If there are trees close by and you run into small roots that are intertwined with the soil, it is more difficult. I keep a small garden cutting tool with me to cut those viney roots away from the soil as I’m pulling up the sod.
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Ready to remove sodTo begin the process, I outline the area where I’ll be removing the sod by laying a yardstick on the ground to use as a guide for the size of space I need – super fancy, huh? Once the line is marked, I use a garden shovel to cut through the sod to the soil, making that cut about 2″ deep.
Sod removedOnce that is done, I use the shovel to cut the length into 1′ sections; doing so creates pieces that are easy to remove and use in a new location. To remove the sod, using a garden knee pad, I get down on my knees and use a small garden rake to pry the sod from the ground. As each piece is loose, I place it in my garden wagon and when the wagon is full, I take it to a location where I can store the sod until the project is finished.After I removed the sod and set it aside. I removed the red brick border and took the 40+ bricks to the backyard to be used at some other time. Little did I know that ‘some other time’ would be soon!
Shopping for edgingWhen all the sod was removed from the flower bed, it was time to add a new brick edging. I wanted to use grey this time so I went shopping to see what the choices were. One of the local builders’ supply stores had an interesting option, called a bullet brick. I liked that look and that they would work well edging around curves, plus, they were on sale for $1.19 so I bought 40. I would end up having to buy a few more to finish this section of the project. The bricks they had in stock had a design on the top – I liked them much better than the plain ones in this display.
Laying the bricksI laid the bricks along the new edge of the Hosta bed. When that was done, I laid down some newspaper to help keep the weeds at bay. I read about this on some landscaping sites as an economical and environmentally friendly option. From what I read, you lay it down and wet it well then add the soil. It’ll be interesting to see how it works! I already had the newspaper, so this ended up being free.***Update…..the newspaper has done well to control the weeds! Better than when I’ve used landscape cloth.
New Hosta bed sizeWith the newspaper down, it was time to add soil to raise the height of the ground to match the existing flower bed depth. We used top soil that we bought from Lowes.
Enlarging flower gardenOnce the Hosta bed was enlarged, I thought it would be nice to continue the process with the rest of the front flower bed. The sod in front of the Hostas came up in nice, intact pieces but the closer I got to the large front yard tree, the more difficult it was to remove the sod due to the tree roots being close to the surface. I used my little garden clippers tool a lot!
Old size of flower bed
New size of flower bedWith the sod removed, I laid down the rest of the newspaper I had on hand then used some landscape cloth that was left over from the backyard project last year. It’ll be a study in which method abates weeds better! Next step was laying the brick and filling the space with soil to match the existing flower bed level.
Added more stepping stonesI had 3 stepping stones in the old flower bed so the yard could be accessed from the east side of the porch. Now that the bed was larger, I needed to add more. I had the two 8″ x 12″ cement ones, also left over from the backyard project, but I needed more. The store where I bought the round aggregate one years ago no longer carries them but I did find square ones at another location and bought two which gave me a total of 7 stepping stones. To set the stones, I removed a bit of the new soil so they would sit down just a bit and be level.
Finished flower bedBecause the tree roots run under this flower bed, instead of trying to plant flowers, I decided to use planters. I had a metal oval planter in my garden supply stash and then bought 4 metal ones at Walmart that I found in their home section. They are containers to be used when entertaining were actually less than the price of actual planters. I bought 2 square ones, 1 large tub and 1 oval one. Their prices ranged from $6.48 to $9.98. I drilled a few holes in the bottom of each then planted some petunias that Lowe’s had on sale – 12″ pots for $5 ea! Such a deal!!
Instructions
- Measure the size of the area where you are removing sod
- Mark with a line or garden hose or use a yardstick
- Using a garden shovel, cut through the soil along the line for the new area
- Pull up the sod and set aside
- You can use the shovel to loosen the sod or a small garden rake
- Use edging bricks to line the new area
- Lay down either newspaper or landscape cloth
- Cover with soil to the depth you want – 2-3″
- Set potted plants in the location of your choice
- Set stepping stones by moving a little soil so they are buried just a bit