I have a small area (about 20 ft by 8 foot) patch in the front of my driveway that I want to fix. The builder planted grass 8 yrs ago Not sure what he did (how much topsoil he put, what type of grass he put, etc) butall I have is hard hard lawn, lots of rocks, and weeds, with grass here and there. I used tool today to rake/scrape all the dead matter away and filled like 3 garbage bags with leaves, stones, dead stuff, etc. I also softened the area since it was rock hard. It is 'low' and I want to build it up a tinge before p lanting. can I just dump 2-4 inches of topsoil on this area, and plant seeds in that? Do I HAVE to kill t he weeds first? I really want the grass quiclkly. I'm in NY. Would this work? I'd love some suggestions. Thank you.

We moved to NC in '91, bought our house in '93 and i started putzing right off. First thing was pulling out the old foundation shrubs, which are now scattered around the prop. My first bed was my 'blue' bed, and it's still there, though not all blue anymore. We terraced the slope between the blue bed and house, made the bed along the house and reworked the walkways within a year or so. Next, within a year or 2, came the paisley shaped bed with donated daylilies from my mentor. Surrounded the 2 remaining plum trees yr or so later and made our boomerang bed. Then in 97 we made the big, long 100' perennial fence bed up front. Somewhere in there we added some small misc beds and the rounded gazebo, as well as working at cleaning up the woods and beginning to plant natives in there. Around '00 we worked the slope on the left side across from the existing terraces into matching terraces with 2 ponds and a stream with some planting beds. When our psycho neighbors (now gone) put up a fence and cut off our common turnaround in '92, we used the best light in the drive to make a narrow row of tubs along the fence with have a postage stamp orchard in it. We've since reworked the area to the south of the paisley bed into raised metal edged beds about 3-4 years ago. The same time we made a concerted effort to get the woodlands garden full of natives and cleaned up. Now i need to remove the periwinkle i planted in the first place that has gotten out of hand, and plant just down from the finished area where we lost a dogwood and a mock orange is taking over that i don't want. Our next big job is much bigger than the front and many times more intimidating, and it is the back yard. I've plopped a few things in willy nilly in the years, but for the most part, it's unplanned and open (well, except for the woods along the south edge). Now that the trees have been thinned to let in some more light and allow better growth, i need to plan a little better before planting. I carefully observed the light patterns last summer so i know where i can squeeze in a few more fruit trees, and other light lovers. Much of the wooded area along the other side will eventually have native perennials and deciduous azaleas and other native understory shrubs. I'm sure some non-natives will come in, too- i'm no purist. Our hope is to some day have a koi pond back there in between the sun and shade as well- but that's a long way off.

David, I had going a very long post of recommendation when the electricity went blip and I lost it all...damn. Well, here goes again...start with a "business plan" outlining all the important parts of the project and a timeline for completing steps to completion. Some questions for you to consider: Who is doing the work? The site has to be cleared of trash, the soil tested for heavy metals and toxins, and the garden units laid out and generally prepped with available potable water for garden plots and gardeners. Who are your gardeners? Have you polled the neighbors, local religious and ethnic centers? Will you be charging them for their plots? What are their responsibilities to the garden and to each other? How will you get liability insurance (Your property owner probably won't let you run a community garden without insurance unless you can get the city park's department or public works to sponsor the project). An association with a local agency might give you more for the invested buck. What are your security needs for the garden and the gardeners? Fencing is a minimum. Have you got sponsors to help pay for preparation, layout, tools and other expenses? The garden ought to have sets of simple tools and a safe storage place. Try to interest local houses of worship, ethnic clubs, ethnic grocers, local botanical and garden clubs (check with Brooklyn Botanical Garden and New York Botanic Garden -- the first publishes little gardening books including one I think on community gardens. There are already a large number of community gardens in the NY Metropolitan area for you to visit and talk about your vision. Good luck, hope this helps, Marshall

Well, now is a good time to plan. Think for a bit about what you really want to end up with... lots of pretty grass - which also will need frequent mowing, summer watering, and probably fertilizers... and just which flowers appeal to you? Annuals? Perennials? Low care? Specific types and/or specific colors? How much time will you really spend taking care of those guys -- and don't say 'every weekend' unless you never take trips or go shopping! Be realistic about how much effort you are willing to put forth regularly, and then plant accordingly. By using mulch (and sometimes installing drip irrigation), and bulbs/perennials it is possible to have blossoms from spring to fall with very little effort once they have been planted. Roses, on the other hand, are considerably more demanding. Most of us go somewhere in between those two extremes, but you need to decide for yourself what suits you. Take notepaper and figure out for sure just what you want, and where. It helps to have real-life measurements of what you have right now: fence-to-fence and house-to-fence; mark in permanent items such as trees and lightpoles, shrubs you want to keep, sidewalks, the tool shed, etc. Then measure and sketch where the present flower beds are. Then put a piece of heavy, transparent plastic (or a clear page protector from the stationery store) over that base drawing and sketch where you would like to have the various beds, and how much lawn you really want. (I use the dry-ink pens, they are easy to erase from the plastic.) Remember that curves are more comfortable to live with than straight lines, and clusters of flowers usually look far more attractive than a rigid row. Visual variance in height, width, and color is good, but allow for repetition especially in color to keep the whole thing looking planned instead of looking splotchy. While doing all that, you also need to decide just what you want in the way of flowers and herbs. Most herbs are perennial, and many are demanding of well-drained soil, which means that unless you already have light, sandy soil the herbs will be happier in a raised bed. That's okay because raised beds are neat, easy to maintain, and easy to harvest. They don't *have* to be permanent, but most folks prefer the appearance of permanent beds. Just give yourself a break and be sure to put a mowing curb around any and all tree/flower/herb beds. A mowing curb is made of almost anything including rubber, concrete, brick, or hypertufa. It allows the mowing machine [rider or push] to trim the lawn neatly so you don't have to use an edger or pull weeds. Now, having overwhelmed you with all that, let me say: do just a little bit at a time. Unless you have lots and lots of $$$ and can hire help, *don't* try to do a whole makeover all at once. Or even all in one summer! Use your sketch to decide what you want to end up with, and then list. A list could read like this: shrubs to hide the garage; annual flowers all along the west fence; a bird bath among hostas under the oak tree; an herb garden near the kitchen door [best place for it]; an all-weather path from the porch to the tool shed; etc. Once you have a list of projects, choose which single one is the most important to you. Then break that project down into steps needed to get it done. If the project is physically big like putting annuals along a 100' of fence, downsize it into 10' sections. The only time you shouldn't break a project into sections is if you decide to have a concrete truck come and pour a sidewalk or driveway or patio -- better to pour it all at once instead of in 10' segments :) Do make use of the GW forums, read the FAQs and then use 'search' for specific questions. In fact, if you do a search on this forum for "new beds" and read all the postings (about 7 pages worth popped up for me), most of your questions will be answered! I'd also recommend visiting the Soil forum, because no matter what plants you decide to use, you are likely going to have to do some soil prep - even for a lawn.