Question
I live in the mountains of Colorado (USDA Zone 4) and several years ago bought a townhouse that has an L-shaped raised bed in front of the house.  Unfortunately, one leg of the bed is directly under the drip line of the roof, so it gets flooded if we get a heavy rain, and it fills up with ice and snow from the roof during the winter.  I抳e had some luck with native wildflower mixes in the other bed, but the dripping water just beats up any seed or annual plantings; right now all that抯 left is rock and sand there.  My homeowner association won抰 allow the bed to be moved, but other than that I have some freedom with how to handle it.  I抎 like to dig out both beds, replenish the soil, and establish some perennials  I抣l probably lay some pavers or river rock directly under the drip area, but would like to have something growing in that bed ?any recommendations?  The garden does get a lot of sun during the day and is otherwise quite dry.

Answer
Jill,
 I definitely agree with you on digging out the bed and redoing the soil and starting over.  I will give you my Super Soil Recipe at the end.
 You might want to think of Grasses that are natural to Colorado.  The are hundreds of grasses and your local nursery will be a great help to you for the ones that are good for your area.

Super Soil Mixture:

  In the established garden areas, I  use a shovel, pitchfork or small cultivator to turn the  areas around the plants each year and work in some of the mix.  Work it into the soil around all your established plants.
 
For new garden beds:
 For every 10?x 10?of NEW area add: (you can cut the portions as needed)

4 bags of good topsoil
4 bags of horse/cow/chicken manure-elephant is the VERY BEST!!
Any amount of your own compost
2 bags sand-play sand is OK(depending on your soil type)
2 bags cedar mulch
2 bags pellet gypsum (for aeration)-if your soil has lots of clay
2 bags powdered/granulated sulphur

Rototill this mixture into the ground to about 1 foot in depth or more if you can.

This mixture is the best I have formulated and I have GREAT success with it.  I always have a bunch of it premixed so when I transplant I can have that area primed!  This stuff is like butter if you till it enough and put in the right stuff!

I would also put down a weed barrier then put river rock around the plants.

Sijka