Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Serious Soil Preparation

Soil is the foundation for everything you do in the garden and a harbinger of your garden's success. Spend time doing it right. Here's how I did mine. It was a lot of back-breaking work but it is REALLY paying off now in my high-yield garden.
  1. Set the rows - decide where you want rows, which are raised in-place beds. Mine were around three feet wide.
  2. I used an auger to dig/auger three feet down the entire length of the bed. This is a lot of work and I suggest you break it up between several days, depending on how large your garden is. I put logs to the side of the garden so I would later know where the were. These deep rows allow great soil drainage and deep root growth.
  3. I added composted horse manure, old dark rich soil, amendments such as lime, gypsum,... to the entire garden and spread it out evenly.
  4. Next I tilled the entire garden vertically and horizontally.
  5. Then I raked the soil into rows matching where the logs had been laid so the rows (raised beds) would be over the deeply dug soil.
  6. Then I put wood chips in the pathways.

It was a one time deal. From now on, all I have to do it amend the rows with compost. I should never have to till again - just add compost on top of the rows.

The evidence that it worked is seen every day now with the high yield and size of the plants and fruit and vegetables.

1 comment:

  1. Looks nice I'm wishing you a successful planting and a bountiful harvest <|;-)

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