Top Landscaping Tools and Materials for Building a DIY Flower Bed

While you can go about this process a number of ways, this is a list of the Landscaping tools and materials we used to build a DIY flower bed. This is a serious labor intensive process that I tackled solo without the use of machinery.

We spent about two weeks on this front yard makeover, which added so much curb appeal to our home’s exterior. It started with busting up the old, cracked concrete walkway that led to nowhere and finished with adding a new gravel walking path with pavers, brick edging and a flower bed in front of our home.

Landscaping tools and materials

Tools

• Sledgehammer
• Reciprocating saw
• Garden spade 
• Measuring tape 
• Trencher
• Shovel
• Mallet
• 36 inch level

Materials

• Lawn soil
• Bermuda grass seed 
• Paver sand
• Weed fabric
• Garden fabric staples
• Brick edgers
• Brown rubber mulch
• 16×16 inch cement pavers

What I Learned Landscaping a DIY flower bed

I far underestimated just how physically demanding this landscaping project would be. Removing the old weed fabric and mulch across a roughly 300 square foot area took probably half a day, but the real issues started to hit when I dug down into the soil to prep the area for the new landscaping.

Even without any trees in the immediate vicinity, the roots running through the soil were massive. Our oscillating tool was sufficient for cutting through thick areas, but the process of shovel in dirt, finding root, cutting root and shovel back in felt like two steps forward, 1.99 steps back.

What I Would Do Differently

Even though the area we were clearing out wasn’t large, I wish I took up friends’ offers to help clear out the area. That would have sped up the process and saved my back in the process. I’m not certain I would have opted for a tiller, excavator or other machinery if I had someone helping me, but I definitely would have rented one of those tools if I did this solo again.

At least it was good exercise, and I was able to finish before Florida summer starts and the outside becomes a wet inferno even before the sun rises.

And it compliments our beautiful white painted brick exterior.

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