Defining Garden Beds: A Guide to Marking Out

Marking out beds is one of the most exciting stages of garden construction. Flowers displays are marked out using beds or borders that may take various shapes and sizes depending on the character of a garden – formal beds have straight, defined edges while informal types often have irregular or natural ones. Before beginning marking out beds it is a good idea to draw scale plans on paper first as this will enable gardeners to design and measure accurately especially where there are collections of shrubs or herbaceous plants to accommodate.

Marking Out Formal Beds
Square and rectangular designs require right-angled corners. A permanent marker made from three pieces of scrap wood can easily be constructed into a triangle with sides measuring 1, 1.3 and 1.6 meters (3 feet 4 inches and 5 feet), respectively – placing these at each corner will ensure accurate marking. A circular bed can easily be created if a peg is driven into its approximate center with half the diameter line attached; then using that peg as pivot point to draw out an accurate circle using an accurate circle template and sharp stick fastened onto its other end will create the circle as you draw through soil using said line attached half way around that circle, which will mark out accurately every circle a circle.

To mark an oval bed, two pegs are placed close together (the closer they are the more circular the bed will appear) and a line three times longer than their distance apart is measured out and fastened into a loop around them; when pulled, this allows any excess cordage to be taken up by looped cord. A marking stick may then be used to define its contours in soil as the cord pulls tightens around each peg securing an oval in soil surface.

Marking Out Informal Beds
An irregular outline should first be marked out on the soil with a pointed stick, before using lime or sand to cover it later with light sprinkles of either. Another useful method would be using a length of hosepipe as an outliner of irregular beds as this can easily be moved until an optimal result has been attained.

Gentle curves should be created when creating beds next to a lawn so that mowing equipment can easily navigate around its edges. In existing lawns, bed outlines can be traced with a spade or edging iron for more efficient bed construction.