Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Komposten gjør jorden i blomsterbedet bedre for nye planter. - The compost makes the soil in the flower bed better for new plants.

Here, the sentence is talking about specific compost (for example, the compost you have in your garden), so the definite form komposten is natural.

You could say Kompost gjør jorden … to mean “Compost (in general) makes the soil …”, but then you are talking more generally about compost as a substance or concept, not some particular compost pile or heap.

What exactly does gjør … bedre mean? Is it like English “make … better”?

Yes. gjøre is “to do / to make”, and in this pattern it works very much like English “make (something) (adjective)”:

Komposten gjør jorden bedre.
→ The compost makes the soil better.

Structure:

gjør
- object
  - adjective
    = “make” + “object” + “adjective”

Some more examples:

Solen gjør dagen varm. – The sun makes the day warm.
Ny maling gjør huset penere. – New paint makes the house prettier.

Why is it jorden and not just jord? What about jorda?

jord means earth / soil. Here we are talking about the soil, so the definite form is used:

jord = soil / earth
jorden = the soil / the earth
jorda = the soil / the earth (alternative definite form)

In Bokmål, jord is grammatically feminine, but many feminine nouns can also be treated as masculine. Therefore both definite forms are correct:

jorda (treating jord as feminine)
jorden (treating jord as masculine)

In practice:

Komposten gjør jorden i blomsterbedet bedre … – fully correct
Komposten gjør jorda i blomsterbedet bedre … – also fully correct

The choice between jorda and jorden is mostly style and dialect. jorda often sounds a bit more colloquial / spoken; jorden can feel slightly more formal or written.

How is blomsterbedet formed, and what gender is it?

blomsterbedet is a compound word:

blomst = flower
blomster = flowers (plural form used as the first part of the compound)
bed = flowerbed / small garden plot
bed is a neuter noun: et bed (a bed), bedet (the bed)

So:

et blomsterbed = a flowerbed
blomsterbedet = the flowerbed

Norwegian frequently uses plural forms as the first part of compounds: blomster + bed → blomsterbed.

Why is the preposition i used in i blomsterbedet and not på blomsterbedet?

Here i means “in / inside”, which fits the idea that the soil is in the flowerbed:

i blomsterbedet = in the flowerbed

på is used more for on / on top of surfaces:

på bordet – on the table
på taket – on the roof

You might sometimes hear planter i blomsterbedet (plants in the flowerbed) and planter på balkongen (plants on the balcony). For something that is contained or surrounded (like soil in a bed, water in a bucket), i is usually right.

Why is it bedre and not something like mer god?

bedre is the comparative form of god (good):

god – good
bedre – better
best – best

You don’t say mer god (more good) in Norwegian, just like you don’t normally say “more good” in standard English. You use the irregular comparative bedre, just as English uses better.

Why is it nye planter and not ny planter?

The adjective ny (new) changes form to agree with the noun:

en ny plante – a new plant (singular, indefinite, common gender)
et nytt tre – a new tree (singular, indefinite, neuter)
nye planter – new plants (plural)
de nye plantene – the new plants (definite plural)

In nye planter:

planter is plural (plants)
plural adjectives take the form nye, so you must say nye planter, not ny planter.

Why is there no article before nye planter? Why not noen nye planter or de nye plantene?

planter is an indefinite plural here: it means new plants (in general), not a specific group already known to both speaker and listener.

Forms of plante (plant):

en plante – a plant
planten – the plant
planter – plants (indefinite plural)
plantene – the plants (definite plural)

So:

nye planter = new plants (general, indefinite)
noen nye planter = some new plants (a bit more specific quantity)
de nye plantene = the new plants (a specific set you both know about)

In your sentence, we are talking about any new plants that will be put there, so nye planter is natural.

What does for do in bedre for nye planter? Could I use til instead?

Here, for marks who / what benefits from something:

bedre for nye planter = better for new plants

This is the normal way to say that something is good/beneficial for someone or something:

Solen er bra for plantene. – The sun is good for the plants.
Det er viktig for barna. – It is important for the children.

Using til here would not be idiomatic. til more often means to / for the purpose of / to(wards), and doesn’t fit this “beneficial for” meaning as well in this sentence.

Can I change the word order, for example: Komposten gjør bedre jorden i blomsterbedet?

No, that word order is not natural Norwegian.

With gjøre + object + adjective, the normal order is:

subject – verb – object – rest – adjective
→ Komposten gjør jorden i blomsterbedet bedre.

You generally keep the object and the adjective in this order:

gjør huset lyst – makes the house bright
gjør været kaldt – makes the weather cold

You wouldn’t say gjør lyst huset or gjør kaldt været, and similarly you don’t say gjør bedre jorden. The adjective comes after the object in this construction.

Could I also say Komposten gjør at jorden i blomsterbedet blir bedre for nye planter?

Yes, that sentence is also correct:

Komposten gjør at jorden i blomsterbedet blir bedre for nye planter.
→ Literally: “The compost makes that the soil in the flowerbed becomes better for new plants.”

This version:

adds at … blir (“that … becomes”),
sounds a bit longer / more explicit,
can feel slightly more formal or explanatory.

Both versions are fine. The original (Komposten gjør jorden i blomsterbedet bedre for nye planter) is more direct and typical in everyday speech and writing.