Smother out the existing grass in the area that will house the flower bed.  We will use a weed barrier to accomplish this goal.  First, spread the fertilizer over the entire garden bed area, then place the barrier over it. We are using landscaping staples to hold the weed barrier in place while we plant the bed.

Get the branding iron & fire ready. We'll use this to burn holes in our weed barrier to place the plants. If you don't have a branding iron, you can make one using a cat food can, a tobacco stick, and screw to hold things together.  Your fire can be any super hot heat source (charcoal fire, propane burner, or wood fire).

Measure and mark the weed barrier for hole placement.  I placed the holes at 9 inches center to center, the rows are also 9 inches apart.

Once you have burned your holes in the barrier, create a hole in the soil for your plants, I used an electric drill with an auger bit. I would suggest a 2 plus inch auger bit.  Resist applying pressure to the drill; hold back on the drill to prevent the auger from jerking the drill from your hands.  Keep the speed slow and pressure low.

Finally, time to plant--The fun part! I kept a bucket of plant food on hand to soak each planter pack before planting, but you don't have to. After putting each plant in the ground, I used compost to fill the hole around it so it fit snuggly.

Last, mulching the bed.  I delayed mulching the bed just in case I needed to replace any transplants that didn’t make it.  In hindsight, I should have mulched sooner, because the heat from the weed barrier created a lot of stress on the plants and forced me to water daily.