Get your garden started with this simple idea

Dig it up

Here’s how to get a garden bed up and running from scratch, with little or no money and no fancy equipment! Just grab a plot of ground, a sturdy spade, maybe a mattock, a garden fork, a rake, and some soil boosters like compost, fertiliser and mulch. You won’t even need to buy or build a raised bed or edging, and you can maybe borrow tools to get going.

1. Start by marking out the area for your garden bed using pegs and stringline or go with non-toxic marking paint if that’s easier. 

2. Next, take your spade or mattock and strip away the grass from the bed. Don’t worry about going deep – just remove the top layer where the roots and runners are. If you have a compost heap, toss the grass in to break down, or start a pile in a corner of the yard for later use. 

3. Once the grass is out of the way, it’s time to loosen up the soil. Dig down about the depth of your spade, breaking up any big chunks until the soil feels nice and crumbly. Then sprinkle on 2–3 buckets of compost per square metre, along with a handful of organic fertiliser, and mix it through. This combo will feed the beneficial organisms in your soil while improving the soil’s structure and moisture-holding capacity. For heavy clay soils, consider mounding the soil a little to help with drainage. 

4. After that, rake everything smooth, give it a thorough watering, and top it off with a layer of mulch. 

5. You can add a proper garden edge later if you like, or just keep the surrounding grass in check by trimming around the bed regularly.

Phil Dudman’s full article appeared in our Early Summer 2024 issue (OG 153). Subscribe to the magazine and get practical solutions delivered to your door!