Before you let Scotts come. True gardenrs feed the soil, not the plants. I pass on the chemicals. I use liquid fish emulshion..nothing else. After you expand your flower bed (skin and remove the "sod"), rake your lawn hard, plant some seed, rake it in, water every day.....you'll do better than Scotts....their chemicals will kill your garden....for fertilizer, buy one of those miracle grow sprinklers, toss out their powder, and fill with about 2 inches of the fish emulsion, and then spray on lawn and garden once a week, and watch those plants grow like crazy!

RAke and shred your old mulch. Bring in some good rich organic soil. Now's the best time to change the shape...check out a few books (I peruse them at Lowe's all the time) and take a chalk spray out and apray a shape you like....run it along the driveway up to your walkway....nice curved shape....more bed=less lawn=more nature and beauty to your yard. Raise the bed, 6-12 inches, and till the first layer-some good black cow for Lowe's may help) before you build it up....Then, get new edging.

Look at your site, sun-shade....morning-evening....abd try to select a mix of flowers and a couple of host plants/shrubs if you can....really brings the butterflies.....look back at those books and the garden center, pick some flowers you really like, draw a list and see if they like your area (sun-shade, water etc.) and then remember you have 3 blooming seasons...spring, summer, fall. Try for plants that hit all 3, a couple clusters of bulbs/iris rhyzomes for spring, coneflower/redebeckias for summer, sages for summer and fall.

Perhaps a new mailbox, with a wooden post, and a nice climber can co up (Clematis), honeysucke, or better if you want the prettiest butterflies, try a Dutchman's pipevine there as you have some shade) and you'll get some nice pipevine swallowtail butterflies to lay their eggs on it (don't remove the caterpillars when they eat the leaves, those are your butterflies!)

If it's really shady there, your tall plants could be foxgloves, which will reseed every year.....perhaps some hostas, or calla lillies...plant them in nice clusters so they're a real showstopper....Get some butterfly weed (Asclepias currasavica) or another kind, and you'll have visiting monarchs and some caterpillars you can watch as well. Sneak a small cluster of parsley plants under your tree, or against the house, and remember not to pick the green striped caterpillars that suddenly appear (you can use fennel or dill as well) and soon you'll be the envy of the block with dozens of black swallowtails around your yard...

Use the color wheel....shades of the same color go well, as do opposites. Yellow and purple are stunning together, pink and purple go well together, yellow and pink do not.

Tall in the middle, shore on the borders, where your bed comes up your driveway to yourr walk, maybe you loop it out to be able to fit a real showstopper, like Mexican bush sage for the fall etc.....

When you build your beds up, 12-18" is best, with nice soft mixed soil, then get some old newspapers, remove the glossies, and spread on top of the whole thing, in layers 5-6 sheets think, water with a hose sprayer as you go, and they will stick.....HAve mulch handy, as soon as you've covered up your nice soft beds with newspapers (your neighbors will think you're crazy) cover with about 3" of mulch.....water the mulch again, and let the whole thing rest for about 3-5 days (this will be hard....but it's a good time to be picking plants and setting them out on the bed to get an idea what it will look like) your bed needs to settle during this period..now why the newspapers? It's called the lasagna method, and it's guaranteed to cut your weedpulling time by 99%, and it enriches your soul by attracting earthworms...you'll re-do every yr or every other yr....then from the ceter, dig your holes, plant, and watch your miracle grow! You'll be the envy of the neighborhood...

Interesting. I will add a couple of caveats. Don't add grass seed to an established lawn unless you know for certain what kind of grass you already have. Usually, lawns can be rejuvenated by cultural practices: de-thatching (if necessary), aerating (pulling plugs), and the application of fertilizer. There are numerous kinds available to you....organic or other wise. I would certainly NOT buy the Miracle Grow hose end sprayer unless you intend to use the fertilizer! lol There are very good hose end sprayers on the market, should you decide to go that route. (I use a combination of granulated and liquid fertilizers, both organic based.)

Though it looks like your Bradford Pear is at that stage in life where it might begin to fall apart, it is important to remember the tree as you redo that bed. Don't drag a tiller in there and disprupt the roots, nor should you pile on too much soil/amendments. Tree roots are easily smothered. Would be a shame to have to remove a tree before it needed to be. Rule of thumb for adding to the grade around a tree is 3 to 4 inches, maximum.

If you were to add a two or three inch layer of good compost, then do the newspaper thing (which I like), and then bark chips....you'd be in good shape. Worms will do the tilling for you.

I don't have much of an idea of how many hours of sunlight falls upon this location. 6 hours is generally considered to qualify as full sun, when considering your plant selection.

Good point(s) rhizo. My thought about the tiller is to mix the layers so that the bed and prior soil become "one". YOu could just scrape the top to mix, that would do. Yes, definately use the same grass. As for the MG sprayer, I never found empty ones that I could add my own fertilizer in.

I was thinking about that tree...would it be a good time to take it out?

Don't forget to have utility lines marked before you dig, much less till. The spot looks dry to me, like most mailboxes, especially with a thirsty Bradford. Do you have small kids and pets in the neighborhood? If so, I'm thinking shrub border with annuals rather than putting in perennial flowers to be dried out and/or run over. If you do shrubs, you can dig hole 2 to 2-1/2 times diameter of root ball and same depth, add soil conditioner to dug-out soil, and plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shrubs

Y'all are awesome! Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I went to a nursery yesterday with pics in hand and asked for help. The bradford has to stay - it's a neighborhood covenant. When it dies we have to replace it with a tree that's at least 1/3 the size. So we want to leave it for now and spend our money on other landscaping.

So nix the Scott's? We both work full-time and my husband works weekends so I'll be doing the work mostly by myself, our 2-year-old hovering nearby. I don't want to take on redoing the front yard grass and landscaping at the same time. Sigh...

msrpaul, have you ever tried a siphon attachment for your faucet/hose? I'm not sure what I would do without those little gadgets. My hose-end sprayer of choice is a Gilmour (see attached link). Full strength product goes in the bottle, and you select the appropriate T. or tsp. per gallon according to label directions on the product. I like it, too, because of the simple deflecter attachment which allows you to spray UP into shrubs while still holding your arm down. Makes it easy to get your product to the underside of leaves. (I am thinking plain water or horticultural oil) But people get attached to what they are used to! I'd chase you with a pitchfork if you tried to take my sprayer away from me!

http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/a0/d4/Gilmour_Professional_All_Purpose_Hose_End_Sprayer_362_Sprayers-resized200.jpg

As far as Scott's goes....you need to do what is comfortable for YOU. Scott's makes a lot of products, that's for sure. I don't use them, but it's just a matter of choice. Let us know what you decide to do and how it goes.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:35444}}

Rhizo...way cool with the link. I won't take your sprayer (promise!) (and since I don't want my posterior to become swiss cheese!)