Bare spots on a lawn can be frustrating. I know. For two years I struggled with a large patch of grass on my highly visible corner lot that wouldn't green up no matter what I did. I tried fertilizers, plugs, and sod. But the grass would just thin out and burn up in the brutal summer heat.
Then I decided to try something different. I turned that bare spot into a flower bed oasis, making it the best feature of my front lawn. Here's a step-by-step guide to what I did.
1. Prepare the site. Once I decided to transform the bare spot into a mini garden, I needed to rid the area of whatever was killing the grass. I got out my shovel and started digging. The bare spot was about 4 feet across and 6 feet long. I dug down 8 inches deep below the spot and removed all of the old dirt and rocks with another 3 inches around the perimeter for good measure. Then I filled the hole with potting soil to give my future garden bed a healthy base.
2. Select foliage. Since my bare spot wasn't near the house or any other structure, I needed to make my new plantings look like they belonged there and not like I just randomly planted a bunch of little flowers on my lawn. I did that by anchoring the whole arrangement around a tall bird-of-paradise bush I dug up from the back border of my property. I could have used any tall bushy plant for the center of the arrangement.
3. Plant an oasis. Once set with my transplanted anchor bush, I planted four small hibiscus bushes around it. Then I added a few $.99 plants from my local home improvement center. Other than digging out that old bird-of-paradise bush, the whole planting session took me less than an hour. I also watered the bed well to give my plants a good healthy start and remembered to water once a day for the next two weeks to keep them going.
4. Add finishing touches. I finished up my little oasis project with a large rock accent I unearthed when I was digging (which was probably one of the reasons I couldn't grow grass there). Then I added four inexpensive solar lights around the bed and topped it off with a fresh throw of red mulch.
