Beginning the New Front Garden

I mentioned several weeks ago (a couple months ago) that I was wanting to remodel my front garden. I was mostly speaking of the area directly in front of the house but since then an additional idea popped up. There is a small area around a Bradford pear tree that I envisioned an elongated oval shaped bed. Eventually that ornamental pear tree will be removed (it's bound to split one of these days!) and I'll replace it with something else but a little farther away from its current location. Making this new garden bed will create a wide pathway between our front garden and the hillside in the front of our house. The pathway will direct the view toward the arbor and the self-sowing garden. It will also give me a place to move several of the plants that will be coming out of other areas.

Here's another view of the new garden spot. You can't see it really well in the picture so I highlighted it in black lines for you. When making a new bed there a technique I like to use with my bagging lawn mower.

• First I drop the wheels down as low as they will go yet still be able to roll across the ground. 
• Then I mow the shape of the bed. The low mowing height will go a long way toward killing off the grass in a chemical free way.
• Afterward I gather grass clippings and pile them onto the new bed area as a mulch. I'll pile them on as high as I can then let them dry. 
• Once the grass is dry I can come back with a nicer mulch to enhance the area. I use newspapers under any layer of mulch to prevent weeds from popping through. It's a layered bed but the technique is often called lasagna gardening.

Until I get around to it or have the time to get mulch I'll pile on more grass clippings. Dead grass clippings make an excellent source of organic material. They decay fast and really create some heat when thrown in the compost bin. I placed two bags of grass clippings in my bin the other day and was amazed at the heat they helped to generate - and heat in the compost bin is a good thing!

I'm beginning with the preparation of the bed now so that I can plant a few things this fall. Have you started any new gardens lately?