Turning Sod Into Garden Soil

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The Winter Garden

Early cold season is an ideal time to start a new garden or expand the old one, and getting the soil in shape is always the first step. Mort's "lazy technique" of fertilizing new soil and preparing the seed bed makes planning your spring garden a pleasure.

By Mort Mather

When I bought the 150-plus year-old house and 100 acres in Maine in 1969, I had no thoughts of be coming a back-to-the-lander. It was an investment. Then, I fell in love that same year with Barbara, and a few years later with the land. We have been living in the now 175-plus year-old house since 1972 and we are currently planning our 24th garden.

Early cold weather is a much a time of renewal as spring. The good is cleared and prepared for the next year's planning and planting.

In many ways, not much has happened to us during that time. Our phone number and address are the same, but the dead elms that surrounded the house when we bought it were used for firewood years ago and replaced with maples. They were twigs when we planted them. Now they tower over us, as do our children. And our garden this year will be in the same place the first one was.

Then the spring rows are set, soil nutrients replenished, seeds planted, and a year's worth of fresh vegetables begins to sprout.

Breaking Soil

There are two jobs that need to be done before planting season begins: A seed bed needs to be prepared and the soil needs to be fertilized. Our first garden was hand dug with a spade. That's the way my father prepared his garden. If he could do it, so could I. I was digging it for Barbara to plant half a dozen tomato plants. Converting sod to garden soil is not an easy task but hand-digging is not the worst method. As I recall, I even enjoyed it. I would have to jump on the spade with all my weight to cut through the mat of grass and roots. The first spadeful had to be cut on all four sides before it could be dislodged and turned. But it got easier. The second spadeful only had to be cut on three sides and after the first row was turned it only took two jumps to turn a clump of sod.

Then each clump had to be banged against the spade to separate the soil from the roots. I doubt that I took more than an hour to prepare that first garden. It was small, but it took the tomato plants Barbara had purchased with plenty of room to spare. I planted a few potatoes right out of the kitchen just to see if they would grow.

There are several advantages to turning the garden by hand rather than using a machine. Most appealing to me is the quiet. It's just me and the spade. I work at my own pace. Barbara says she likes to see me leaning on a garden tool contemplating who-knows-what. I do a lot of leaning just to amuse her. It's also good exercise. You feel a special sense of accomplishment. You don't do violence to the soil. More earthworms survive. It's inexpensive. But perhaps the greatest advantage is that you will not end up with a first garden that is too big and, ultimately, discouraging.

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