After the leaves have been stashed in the compost bin and while you are eagerly awaiting your new seed catalogs is the best time to build new beds for your anticipated new arrivals. It's cool outside, and there's plenty of time for all those micro-organisms in your compost to help you prepare the soil.
Use your garden hose to lay out your new beds. (It shouldn't be attached to your house, with the possibility of freezing weather coming, anyway.) Whack the grass to the ground using the weed whacker and rake out the roots. (Put them in the compost bin, too.) Cover the bed with 4 to 6 inches of compost followed by a layer of landscape fabric. Pin securely with landscape pins and top with 4 to 6 inches of mulch. Add any landscape-border material.
By the time you are ready to plant, those micro-organisms and worms will have loosened up that soil under your compost, and it will be ready for your new plantings. Remove the mulch and landscape fabric, and you have a superb bed ready for planting.
Barbara Krizan, Smith County Master Gardener
Texas Cooperative Extension
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