Preparing the Soil

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However large the plot, if you want the soil to be ready keep working.
However large the plot, if you want the soil to be ready keep working.
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Turning soil with a garden fork.
Turning soil with a garden fork.
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The procedure for double-digging: First, a spade-wide layer of topsoil is removed from Strip A. Next, after the lower layer of soil in that trench is loosened with a garden fork, topsoil from Strip B is shoveled into the ditch in Strip A, and the dirt in the lower level of Strip B is loosened. This process is repeated down the row to the end of the bed. Finally, the topsoil from Strip A is used to fill in the remaining ditch.
The procedure for double-digging: First, a spade-wide layer of topsoil is removed from Strip A. Next, after the lower layer of soil in that trench is loosened with a garden fork, topsoil from Strip B is shoveled into the ditch in Strip A, and the dirt in the lower level of Strip B is loosened. This process is repeated down the row to the end of the bed. Finally, the topsoil from Strip A is used to fill in the remaining ditch.
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Turning the earth to promote aeration is an important part of preparing the soil.
Turning the earth to promote aeration is an important part of preparing the soil.

It wasn’t that long ago that farmers were called sodbusters—a term derogatory to people who worked with the soil. Today, however, more and more men and women seem to be eager to get out and bust some very special bits of sod—their home gardens.

At MOTHER EARTH NEWS’ Eco-Village, we look forward to that moment in spring when the soil has warmed and dried enough to allow digging to begin. From then on until early summer, our backs will bend and our sweat will flow as the earth beneath us is lifted, tilthed, and reawakened to its full life.

This year, though, before beginning to break ground, let’s pause for a few minutes and review the basic reasons and techniques for preparing the soil. This article will be of special interest to people with new gardens, but it should prove useful for experienced growers tending years-old plots, as well.

Let’s begin, then, with the “root” word …

Soil Cultivation

  • Published on May 1, 1985
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