PREPARING THE SOIL

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

If your ground's ready to work, first clear and remove the dead weeds and crop residue . . . and scythe or mow down any tall, live vegetation. You can then either rake this growth off and compost it or—while it's still green-turn it under. Note, however, that cellulose—rich plant matter requires nitrogen to break down, so if you till in the plant material, you'll also be temporarily reducing your soil's supply of that important nutrient. Wait a month after turning in green matter before you plant.

You can, of course, choose one of several ways to break the ground. If you have a small plot and a strong back, you can dig the whole area by hand. As another option, you can rent or buy a rotary tiller to work the plot. It may take a large number of passes with the machine's tines set at increasing depths, but eventually you should be able to finely break up the top four to eight inches of soil. (For help in choosing a tiller, turn to the buying guide on page 86.)

Then again, you may live in an area where you can pay a tractor owner to plow and disk your plot. Although the machine probably won't work the ground any deeper than a tiller would, it will do the job more quickly and easily. In fact, if you're preparing a large first -year garden on a plot with a thick layer of sod, you'll definitely be better off if you let a tractor do that initial ground breaking.

At the Eco-Village, we work our garden primarily with hand tools (although we have employed rotary tillers, a tractor, and even a draft horse in some areas), using a process called double-digging. This method, as many of you know, involves loosening the soil with a spade and garden fork to a depth of as much as 24 inches to better work in organic matter and to promote texture deep in the soil. (See the drawing on page 72.) The process demands a lot of hard work . . . but the results usually justify the effort. In fact, yields from double-dug beds can be four times as great as those from conventionally dug areas! If you want to learn more about the method, we heartily recommend reading John Jeavons' Howto Grow More Vegetables , available at many bookstores and libraries or, for $8.95 plus $1.50 shipping and handling, from Mother's Bookshelf, 105 Stoney Mountain Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28791.

While a lot of factors can influence vour choice of ground-breaking technique, one element crucial to good soil texture is depth. . .1 rotary tiller or tractor will do a fine job of texturizing the top four to eight inches of your plot, but those machines won't touch anything beneath that. In fact, with repeated use they can actually compact that subsoil into hardpan.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print