Reclaiming an Overrun Garden Bed

Before

We've all done it. Life gets busy and before you know it, it's June and one (or more) of your garden beds is completely overrun by weeds and who knows what else. No worries! I'm here to walk you through how to reclaim your garden area.

Step 1: Determine what you want to save. We kept the two azalea bushes, despite their sickly appearance and transplanted some daffodils and bleeding hearts to another spot.

Step 2: Rip out everything you don't want. In this case, we tore out lots of weeds, dead leaves, rotted logs and two snakes. (They were tiny, no problem!) Of course, when pulling out weeds, get as much of the roots as possible.

Step 3: Be sure to outline your bed the way you want. We just used spades and, at the end, a string of rocks from the woods. However, you could also use any number of different edging from your local hardware store.

Step 4: Add any plants you want. We were going for a Japanese inspired look so in addition to the Azaleas, we also added small hostas. (Azaleas and hostas are from Japan)

Step 5: Baby any of the plants that are original to the bed. If the plants have been over run with weeds and forgotten, odds are they are going to need a little TLC. I pruned the Azaleas, fed them with an organic fertilizer and treated the plant with a fungicide. (If you interested, it's called Green Cure and you can order it here.)

Step:6: Lay down cardboard between plants. This will repress the weeds. You will thank yourself later.

After

Step 7: Mulch over the cardboard. In this case, because we are going for a Japanese look, we used rocks but you can also use wood chips.

Step 8: Water if needed. Be sure any new plants don't dry out.

That's it. I did the pictured garden bed in one afternoon with some help. Don't give up on a garden because it's over grown. The feeling of accomplishment is so worth the effort of cleaning it up. You can do it! If you'd like more information on Japanese gardens, then check out the links below.

The Elements of the Japanese Garden

9 Traditional Japanese Plants