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Preparing
your Garden Soil!
Tilling
the garden soil
 If
you feel like tilling a new bed, wait
until fall. In the spring, the ground
is too wet to dig, and you will just
compact it even more. Tilling in the
fall will save you work. The freezing
and thawing of winter will work any
large clumps loose, leaving you with
soft, fluffy earth in the spring.
There's an easy way to check if your
soil is compacted. After a drenching
rain, use a red surveyor flag. If
you can easily push it into the ground
at least 12 inches, your soil is fine.
If it gets stuck and won't budge just
a few inches below the surface, you
might want to add organic matter to
your beds.
If
you till or work your garden beds
before they have a chance to dry out,
you'll compact the soil, leaving air
and water no place to go. As if that's
not enough, when the soil dries out,
you'll end up with big chunks of dirt
as hard as bricks. Take your time
and wait until spring is well underway
before digging. To quickly test your
soil, make a ball out of dirt and
throw it in the air. If it sticks
together until it hits the ground,
put your shovel away and wait for
drier days.
Fall plowing alone is not recommended
for hillside or steep garden plots,
because it leaves the soil exposed
all winter and subjects it to erosion
when the spring rains come. If a winter
cover crop is grown to improve soil
and prevent erosion, the ground will
have to be tilled in the fall to prepare
the soil for seed and again in spring
to turn under the green manure. Spring
plowing is better for sandy soils
and those where shallow tilling is
practiced. Generally, most gardens
must be disked or rotary tilled in
the spring to smooth the soil for
planting.
More
Garden Soil Preparation Tips coming
soon... |
