I’ve now gathered all my ideas and thoughts together and I’m going to go with three large rectangular steel beds with bark chippings paths over a weed membrane.

I would usually draw out my design so I can work from it but for this design, it is not necessary. There is only one place to put each bed, and this will become obvious once I build and place the first bed, the second bed will sit next to it on a slightly lower level due to the slope. The third and final bed will sit where the other original bed starts next to the path.

In February I began work on clearing the beds of any objects that would be in the way of the new bed design. This involved removing the old tin edging which I then used as edging around the beach hedge to provide a barrier so that the new bark-chipping path would not end up under the hedge once it was laid. I also used this edging on the outside of the garden hedge to prevent the blackbirds from scratting the material from under the hedge onto the public footpath and for me to be constantly sweeping it back.

Early March I bagged up the topsoil from the old bed along with any subsoil that had to be moved to level the top bed. Once this was complete, I built the first steel bed.

The levelling of the second bed started next. Any soil removed in the levelling process was placed into the first bed. In the photos below you can see the drop in the levels of the first bed to the second bed.

The process for the third bed followed the same as bed two with any soil removed in the levelling process was placed into the previous bed, in this case, bed two.  

I used the subsoil that I bagged up from levelling bed one to go into the bottom of bed three. I then shared the topsoil that I bagged up between all three beds.   

With the beds in place, mid-March I levelled the paths and placed any unwanted soil into the beds. I then laid the weed membrane and pegged it into the ground, followed by adding the bark chippings over the top.  

I then filled all three beds with compost ready for planting in a few months.

The design was now complete.