Front Yard Island Bed Shape and Edge Corrections - March 2026

Yesterday I posted my annual to-do list of 25 items I'm aiming to tackle this growing season.  I'm starting off with an early win by taking-on Priority item #2 on the list one-day-in.  I've talked about how I've adopted what I call the 'lazy bed extension method' of using three factors: 

1.  Cardboard to smother the existing turf grass.

2.  A mix of (municipal) biosolids, leaf litter and composted manure + topsoil.

3.  Time.

That 3rd factor (time) is why I'm going at this garden upgrade in March.  

Here's what I wrote for #2:

2. Priority Project 2: Expand and fix the edges of the front yard island bed. But, use a ‘fewer curves’ approach to making a curvilinear shape. Last year, I planted Coleus (which was great) and Supertunias (which weren’t), so strike the right balance between colorful annuals (maybe mirror what I put in the front porch bed) along with some coleus for foliage.

I also included further down the list at #12 a "Fall Project":  Expand the beds.  I put it as a fall project because of that key factor of time.

Time is needed to kill the grass.  Time is also needed to mellow out the biosolids and compost.  And time is needed to allow for the cardboard to decompose. 

I'm planning on using a mix of annuals (Vinca + Coleus) and some dahlias in the island bed, so that means a late May/early June planting time.  With two weeks left in March + four weeks in April + three (or four?) weeks in May = nine or ten weeks of TIME.  

Below are some photos to show the process that I undertook to straighten out the edges. And, that's what I really was aiming to do:  shape the bed to be curvilinear.  I wrote up this whole post about the problems with the bed and how I could shape it in a way to leads to even more bed growth in the seasons to come.  

I started with my shovel and created what I wanted in the primary (central) curve.  I cut in a line.  Then walked away.  Went back and re-shaped the line a little bit.  To finally get what I wanted.

One of the things that became apparent is that I didn't just need to REMOVE turf.  By adding in a concave (is that right?) curve, I was going to need to ADD turf to a part of the existing bed.  On this side that runs from the house to the sidewalk (below), I decided that it was better to insert turf to part of the bed:

Because I was taking turf out to create the edge in other parts of the bed, I simply dug a trench in the bed and inserted those turf pieces to 'shrink' the existing bed.  You can see that linear run of new turf inserted in the bed below:

From there, I went about using the cardboard that I had collected during the offseason:

I lay down some remnant leaf litter that I scavenged from other beds.  Thinking about this like mixing compost, the municipal biosolids are nitrogen-heavy.  So, adding some carbons to balance things out a bit feels like the right move. Then come the biosolids.  

I repeat the process a segment-at-a-time.  I only want to put down enough cardboard that I can successfully cover in one session.  This usually takes multiple days.  Incremental bed growth.

I then began to work the other side.  First, digging a new edge.  Then, cardboard, leaf litter, biosolids.

The final amendments that I add to the mix is a blend of Composted Manure and Top Soil.  I buy it by the bag and haul it out to the beds.  

 

The final (for now) result is a much-better shaped bed.  See below for the 'curve' as viewed from the front porch.  You can also see the contrasting colors of the composted manure/topsoil vs. the the lighter (more grey?) biosolids.

These curves are much more professional looking than what was there last season.  

Legibility improvement via clean edges?  Yes.  

Following (my own) Great Garden Rules with swooping curves?  Yes. 

This bed will get planted later this year and then mulched out.  

I have more work to do in the front yard with bed extensions.  In this 'candidate post', I mentioned a few other spots:

• Extend bed by front stoop. And around Saratoga Ginkgo.
• Extend bed down to touch the Oregon Green.
• Extend Magnolia bed.

And, earlier this year, I wrote this: Can I expand the front porch bed a bit this year, too? That would be ideal.

Time is ticking.