kafifa wrote in
s.com:



So I think I will start with the flowerbed/border. I don;t think the
soil is very good, as we moved in last september and there wasn't
anything very nice growing in the borders!

That doesn't necessarily mean there is nothing spring or early-summer
flowering in there though. Are there any new shoots coming up now that
could be daffodils or bluebells? Both will disappear more or less by
September, but are worth keeping for the spring.


Shall I dig out like a foot of the old
soil in the borders are replace it with this soil? I think that would
go a long way towards getting started..?

What's in there at the moment? Is it hopelessly overgrown with weeds,
or just empty and bare? If there are weeds, can you easily pull them
away, or do they have great horrible roots going down and down?

If they are smallish annual weeds, clear them away (into the compost
heap!) and stick the topsoil on top.

If they are brambles, nettles, cow parsley and other big perennial
rooted things, you will have to at least give it a good digging over
first to get the worst of the roots out, though there's no reason to
discard a whole foot of soil.

If there seem to be a lot of weed roots in there and you don't think you
can manage to pick them all out, I find sticking on a layer of newspaper
or cardboard works wonders. Put your topsoil on the top so you can't
see the paper, and it will hold the weeds down for a while then rot away
and improve the soil. In the meanwhile you can plant small plants into
the topsoil, or cut holes in the paper for holes for larger plants.

This works very well on docks, grass and dandelions, and also that
annoying soil that seems to contain 6,000 weed seedlings per square
foot.

Victoria