How to properly level the garden bed?
A common problem when setting up a vegetable garden, flower garden, lawn is the presence on the site of various irregularities, holes, small ravines. To plan the placement of beds, flower beds, you need to level the territory. This requires knowledge of methods, rules of alignment.
The planning of the site begins with preparatory work, since it will not work to level the beds at random. Calculations, consultations with specialists are required. It is possible to fix everything yourself if the area planned for leveling vegetables, flowers is small.
Content:
- How to level a garden bed
- How to level a bed under a lawn
- How to align a bed for a flower garden or flower bed
How to level a garden bed
The optimal time for leveling is considered to be the beginning of spring, when the snow has completely melted. Any excavation work begins with cleaning debris and stones. It is important to uproot stumps, roots. Then proceed to the main part of the work - alignment.
A horizontal platform for a garden is created in three ways:
- They choose a midpoint on the garden bed, relative to which they will level. They mark it with a peg, which is hammered so that it rises up ten centimeters. Squares are split from a point, the vertex of which will be in the same horizontal plane. Now you need a level. After the breakdown, it will be clear where to remove the extra layer of soil, and where, on the contrary, to add. Level the surface with a shovel, pitchfork. After the work done, the garden must be given a rest for ten days, and then sowed.
- If the slope in the beds is large and can be preserved, then both the highest points and the lowest are marked with pegs. After that, the ropes are pulled, connecting the upper and lower pegs in pairs. You will get a horizontal platform for a vegetable garden with a corresponding slope. It remains to edit the site with shovels, rakes. Used for work and cultivators, walk-behind tractors. The mechanisms are easy to control and regulate the process. After loosening the soil, a level board tied to the back of the machine will help to level the beds.
- If you are going to sow large areas with garden crops, then you can level it only with the help of a tractor, a bulldozer. The procedure is carried out by processing the territory along and then across.
With the correct marking of the beds, it is easy to level them both manually and with special equipment.
How to level a bed under a lawn
Lawns represent a horizontal platform without slopes. The need for such a lawn is due to a number of reasons:
- Most grasses grow better on flat surfaces.
- During irrigation, the water will be evenly distributed throughout the area.
- There is enough sunlight for all the green grass of the lawn.
The evenness of the lawn makes it a decorative element of the site, where design elements in the form of alpine slides, single and group plantings stand out favorably. The garden bed chosen for the lawn is divided into nine identical squares using pegs and pulling ropes between them. After that, the irregularities of the future lawn will be noticeable. And they begin to clean up the earth from the low hills, filling the holes, ravines.
If there is a shortage of soil on the site, it is imported additionally, purchasing it in specialized stores.
A significant slope of the bed is more difficult to level.Then they embody a design project to divide the site into a number of terraces. The best location for a stepped lawn would be the slopes in the southern or eastern part of the area. In this case, the herbaceous plants will receive enough light.
Leveling under a small lawn is carried out with simple devices. One of them is a wooden staircase, which is dragged along the beds. The smoothing efficiency will be very high. At the same time, when the ground is being leveled, a drainage system is also created. It is better to run the water through the grooves leading to the catchment pit. It is realistic to prepare garden beds for arranging a lawn, but with effort and diligence.
How to align a bed for a flower garden or flower bed
Small plots of land for flower beds, flower beds are corrected using rakes and shovels. Having chosen a shape, pegs are driven in at the edges, between which a cord is pulled. Removing the top layer of soil, remove it to the side. From a high level, the earth is transferred to the lower one.
It is not necessary to ram a flat area, it is worth filling the harvested fertile layer on top.
Rake the area and allow the soil to settle. Two weeks later, the design of the borders of the flower beds and the planting of flowers begin. You can level the beds using a fan rake, a bayonet shovel, a building level, a wooden peg. Beds with a slight slope can be prepared for flower beds within one day.
More information can be found in the video:
To level the bed, you need to break down the future bed in the illuminated place of the site, pegs must be hammered in the corners. Then the bed is dug up and loosened with a rake.