Hello Padraic - Welcome to Goy. I had a border just like the one you describe in my front garden after we had a conifer hedge taken out. Initially there were alot of roots left in it, and the soil was generally quite poor. The first year I just filled it with lots of spring flowering bulbs (mainly tulips and alliums) which all came up the next year and flowered well. During that first winter I added countless numbers of wheelbarrows full of compost on the top and just lightly dug it in. Since then I've planted it up with lots of herbaceous perennials. Like: delphiniums, poppies, campanulas, rudbeckias, peaonies, and some clematis trained onto obelisks to give some height. All of these plants have done pretty well and now into their second year of flowering the border looks quite mature. I'm sure other Goy members will give you more advice. A bit more information would also be helpful like; what aspect does the border take? Is it a windy site? Is the soil free draining or lay wet. Where is it front garden, back or field and also what kind of plants, colours, themes do you like. The choices are endless the worlds your lobster!!!