TILLING THE FLOWER BEDS PART 1

One of my Saturday projects was to start getting the flower beds prepped.  This is the area between the two sets of stairs on one corner of the house.  I used the tiller on it so that I could get the ground turned under and softened.  It doesn't seem that anything has ever been planted there so it needed to be prepped.

It takes a bit of practice to use it, it's more like a jackhammer at first, as it goes into the hard ground, and then with this tiller, you pull it back toward you instead of pushing it, but it works great.  It was kind of fun, though my arms are sore after.  Nothing like a good "yard work out", ha.  Anyway, here it is with the process started. 

And here it is completed. It looks prettier in person, ha.  I went in a curve from one set of stairs to the other, creating a sort of 1/4 piece of a circle.  The extraneous grass was removed on Sunday so now it's all fresh dirt, very soft dirt, about 8" down. Should be great for planting soon!  I'll do some more fine tuning this weekend, creating a more defined edge and then I'll be ready for the actual plants and flowers.  Hope to look for some drought tolerant natives.  We're not sure if we'll have another dry, hot summer but better to be prepared.  Now that we have the John Deere and I can keep it mowed, I just want to plant some things so it will begin looking good on the outside as well.