Turning Sod Into Garden Soil

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

The reason for turning the soil is to disrupt what has been occurring naturally. Nature hates bare soil. If you question this, look around at places where we have tried to keep plants from growing. You have got to admire the dandelion that blooms so early in the spring because it has found a root-hold in a crack in asphalt. Left alone that plant will expand the crack and leave enough organic matter on top of the asphalt for other seeds to take root. Without our species, plants would reclaim our roads, parking lots, and buildings in a surprisingly short period of time. Our gardens and agricultural fields would disappear in a year or two.

DANA PEIRSON

Some think of this as a war against nature. Being more of a pacifist myself, I prefer to think of my relationship with the soil as a partnership. The plants that grow naturally in an area can provide you with heaps of valuable information. I wouldn't, for instance, recommend trying to plant anything but rice in an area that was supporting cattails, but existing growth can tell you much more subtle things. For example, carrots will probably do well in an area that supports Queen Anne's lace, because they are of the same family.

If your proposed garden site has thick, lush grass, it probably has pretty fertile soil. If it is weedy and looks scraggly (a scientific term for poor growth), this soil will need an infusion of organic matter. Both spots provide opportunity and challenge. The rich spot quite possibly has witch grass growing in it. This is challenging stuff. It grows on underground stems called rhizomes. Little bits of the rhizome can sprout a healthy new growth of grass. It grows around the edge of the garden and continually tries to come in, but you can keep it under perimeter control by cultivating the edge of the garden a couple of times a year.

Getting it out of our garden in the first place was a bit more of a challenge. It seemed to be well-named, as it popped up all over the place. You can eliminate it in a small garden through vigilance. Just keep after it. A three- or four-pronged cultivator is best for digging under the rhizomes and pulling them to the surface. In a field it is best to till and then cultivate, removing the rhizomes from the surface. In 10 days till and cultivate again. A third tilling in another 10 days should get the rhizomes down to a manageable level. Cultivation of the crops through the season will pretty much put you on top of the situation after that.

Poor soil gives you the opportunity to become a wizard. Pile on a lot of not-toopotent manure like horse or cow, and till it in. Control weeds during the growing season by mulching heavily with hay, straw or grass clippings. The results the first year will be better than your neighbors thought possible, and your soil will be well on the way to something you can be proud to have built.

Adventures in Fertilizing

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print