How to Build a Flower Bed Around a Mailbox

In some communities, mailboxes are positioned curbside with little thought about the surrounding decor or landscape. A flower bed surrounding your mailbox brings beauty and color to an area that might otherwise be neglected, or at best, treated like any other part of the lawn. The few feet surrounding a post-mounted mailbox are ideal for something such as a flower bed. The flowers bring a welcome splash of color to everyone traveling your street.

Flowers

Garden shovel

Tarp

Mulch, topsoil or planting soil

Garden trowel

Edging (optional)

Determine what flowers you'd like to plant around your mailbox. Consider your climate, the amount of sun or shade that reaches the mailbox daily, and whether you'd like the flower bed to be low maintenance. Once you've chosen one or more flower varieties, determine how large the flower bed should be, based on the characteristics of your flowers. A ring or square 2 to 3 feet across may be sufficient. Purchase your plants.

Create a ring, square, or your ideal flower bed shape around the mailbox by cutting away the lawn with a garden shovel. Create the perimeter shape by pushing the shovel into the ground along the outline of the future flower bed. Scoop and pull away any grass, setting it on a tarp. Remove an inch or so of topsoil, if the spot hasn't been used as a flower bed before, and place the soil on the tarp. Reuse the soil and grass in other areas of the yard where they may be needed, or add them to a composting area.

Set a flower bed barrier in place, if you choose to use one. Bend plastic edging to the ideal shape, and push it into the ground by stepping on it, or use a hammer to install it. Connect consecutive edging pieces by sliding the edge tabs into the edge slots of the next piece. Brick edging can be set in place by hand, designed in a fashion you find visually appealing. If you're using decorative stones as a border, wait until after you plant the flowers to set the stones in place.

Pour fresh topsoil or potting soil throughout the flower bed. Plant the flowers with a garden trowel in an arrangement that pleases you. Add the remaining soil, compost, or mulch, covering the flower bed. Water the flowers as recommended for their varieties.

If you're not sure what flowers will look best near the mailbox, consider planting annuals so you can try something else next year or later in the season.

Many curbside mailboxes get full sun or nearly full sun. Consider this when choosing plants for the flower bed.

Do not plant something tall if it will obstruct your view when you enter or leave the driveway.