How can i improve the appearance of my front garden?

its a basic square lawn with soil roung the edge.the problem is the soil is really hard. any suggestions with what i can do to it or cover it with? as the soil makes the garden look like its got that "neglected" look.

How can i improve the appearance of my front garden?
You need to turn that soil over, give it a good water, turn it over again. Get a weed puller, the twisty turny things. Excellent for turning over dry soil. Once you have moistened it all, mix in some new soil, depending on what plants you want to put in there, you may need to add peat or grit..



Buy BBC gardening magazine , it is great for ideas on lawns etc and you get free seeds sometimes!.



Once you have that soil sorted, buy some baby plants with flowers and also some evergreen ones, to scatter inbetween and to last through the winter. Do it soon, cos summer is on the way out.



Gardening though a costly hobby, is most satisfying when done properly and with a good heart. It is worth every penny.



:) good luck.
Reply:Mulch with a a bark compost mixture yearly. It will break down and improve the soil and all gardens need mulch to have that finished look. Plus it cuts down on weeds.
Reply:flowers!!!!!!!!!! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply:The square lawn will look lovely with floral borders. Put some compost on the edges where the soil is hard and water it well so that when dried it stays nicely intact and doesn't loosen up too much. Water it again after a couple of days which will set the foundation layer for the plants you may want to grow. Initially the edges will look raised but make sure that the compost/new soil is at least 4-5 inches and firm before you can sow the seeds of Nasturtium or plant low height plants such as begonias. If you fancy you could divide the edges from the lawn by a thin layer of tiles or slim bricks. Whichever plants you choose remember to top the soil every two weeks for the first few weeks till it's properly set.
Reply:take a look at



http://www.aplaceabroad.com/spain/garden...



there's a searchable database of flowers, fruit and veg, so you could search for flowers or fruit bushes for your borders.



how about filling them with strawberries
Reply:buy a goat, its the spanish look.
Reply:take away soil to 2foot depth,replace with quality topsoil-mixed with compost,hardwork but rewarding,answer from a gardener,
Reply:Your soil is probably like concrete in this weather. If you kept the grass cut and watered, and keep the edges neat with a lawn edging tool (I got mine from the pound store!) it'll be a good start.

You could put down some weed preventing plastic (Asda, ￡3.50) then cover that with bark chips or gravel. Then in the autumn when the weather cools down, put some bigger plants in. You scrape back the gravel, cut an X in the plastic, dig out a hole a bit bigger than the plants rootball, bung it in and give it a good water.

Put the gravel back and it'll stay looking neat.

The problem is deciding what plants to put in, go for small hardy evergreen shrubs, they'll just want a quick feed and water and a prune once a year. Viburnum is good if you don't let it get too big, the leaves have a spicy scent in late autumn. You can get a plant book from the library and pick out a few you like the look of.

If you mulch in this way you don't have to improve the soil in the whole bed, just in the planting pockets. Dig in some chicken manure pellets and a handfull of Growmore.
Reply:Rocks might help .I had a spot that looked bad every time i planted something in it and so i covered it with plastic and covered it with rock and put figurines in it (like stones and animals etc) I get complements on it all the time.
Reply:mix some sand in with the soil %26amp; then add some plants or get some gravale %26amp; cover the soil with the gravel %26amp; then but some botted plants in tubs around the garden or put a small fence up