There’s more to gardening that sticking a shovel in the ground, clearing the grass and tossing seeds in the ground. Healthy produce takes time to grow, and it starts with healthy soil.
This process should actually begin the season before your first planting. If you’re beginning it now, that’s okay. You won’t have a bumper crop, but something will grow. Begin when the soil is thawed enough to work.
Step One
Obtain a soil testing kit from a garden center, online or from a DIY store. Follow the directions carefully and record the results in a notebook.
If you haven’t chosen a spot for your garden yet, test several areas. This works well for your front lawn, too.
Your garden spot should receive 6-8 hours of sun a day, as most vegetables and fruits love and need sunlight. For intense sun and high temperatures, build a garden shade for their protection.
Choose vegetables suitable for your plant zone and climate. Heirloom vegetables give the best taste, disease and pest resistance for your dollar.
Step Two
Before digging, call your local public utility so underground wires aren’t damaged when you begin work. If the wires or cables are under your spot, decide on a raised garden bed or choose another spot.
A garden bed 8 feet long by 4 feet wide is a great beginner garden. This provides 32 square feet of space, and allows the gardener to reach to the middle without compacting the soil.
Mark your garden boundaries and using the shovel or spade, cut straight down around the perimeter. Remove the grass and roots to a bucket- take this to the compost pile. If you don’t have one, this is a perfect time to start one. Don’t worry about shaking all the dirt off- it works to help the compost.
Start at one side or end and remove the grass as you did at the sides. When all the grass is removed, begin again at the side and turn at least a shovel full of soil all the way across until the entire area is turned.
Note: If you’re out of shape, or handling a shovel for the first time makes you sore, just do a little every day. There is no need to hurt yourself moving soil.
I would love take this advice on the first day of gardening in the season, but just as I burn my tongue on the first cup of hot cocoa, I pull my back muscles and strain my knee the first day of every season. I’m almost 50, and I say the same thing every year as the ice works to soothe my back: “I won’t overdo it again next year.” At least I’m consistent.
Step Three:
Remember the soil test? Read the little booklet with the kit and find out what you need to amend the soil. Try your best to stay away from chemical amendments- organic is best because they build the soil, not just shock it.
Think about a swimming lake as opposed to a swimming pool. The constant introduction of fresh water keeps the lake healthy, but a swimming pool needs chlorine added so you can swim. The chlorine takes a toll on your skin, suit, hair and eyes. Natural is better.
What type of soil do you have? Clay? Topsoil (you lucky person you)? Sand? Take a handful of soil and squeeze it tight. If it crumbles loosely, you have sandy soil. If it stays intact but you can easily break it apart with your hands, you have topsoil. If you have a hard ball that you have to work to break, it’s clay. Welcome to my world.
No matter what type of soil you have, organic amendments are best. Compost, sand and well-rotted mulch and manure can be worked into your plot. Use a rototiller or your shovel. I don’t have a tiller- my shovel works fine, and gas is going up again.
I go by a rule of thumb for my clay soil- 6 inches of each amendment for a new plot. That seems like a lot, the mixture is actually new soil. I also add 6 inches of topsoil to the mix. You can do one of two things with the clay- mix it in or move it somewhere else. I mix it in. Broken up, it won’t hurt anything.
Mix it in well. You can mix it every day for a couple of weeks if you don’t have a tiller- that works fine.
Step Four:
With a rake, smooth out the plot. If you want to build a form around your plot to stop weeds or make it look good, now is the time. That isn’t a bad idea. Many DIY stores sell garden edgings to stop weeds from “crawling under” the border and make your edges look pretty.
Decide what you want to grow. Plant the seeds and water. Keep the area weeded, and watch your food grow from seedlings to harvest.
Step Five:
For winter, dig in more compost and mulch. Keep weeds from growing over your plot, or you’ll dig like you did in the beginning. This plot is easy to weed by hand. The sooner you take weeds out, the fewer there will be. They can’t seed, so they can’t spread.
Plant winter crops if desired.
This area is perfect for the concept of square foot gardening, where you mark off areas of 1 square foot each and plant different things in each area.
It is also perfect for crop rotation. Each plant takes something from the soil, and deposits something for the next crop. The soil builds as you grow crops.
Remember, to build soil you need healthy bacteria. The microbes need organic material, not chemicals. The bacteria feed the microbes that feed the plants. Healthy plants mean a healthy you.
It all starts with soil.
I started a new plot this year by removing a 4 foot by 8 foot, 10 year old compost pile. I was left nearly 14 inches of beautiful “black gold.” I am turning this under, a little at a time. Unfortunately, Japanese beetles laid a lot of eggs, so now I have to get rid of a plethora of grubs. Almost every shovelful brings up from one to several. That’s okay. I manually remove them and plunk them into a bucket with water. They can’t swim. The more I remove, the fewer beetles there will be. I’m digging down 12 inches below the soil top, to the caliche. There are no grubs in the caliche, because there’s no nutrition for them there.
I do have worms, a great helper to any garden. They don’t eat your crops- they eat organic material and their castings (poop) is among the best fertilizer you can get. Once everything is turned and mixed, in go my tomatoes, started indoors in December. With all that compost, they’re going to grow like they won the lottery. Of course, I’ll plant other things too.
The AMA calls gardening a cardio workout. When you start moving soil, you’ll find out why. Just take it easy- gardening isn’t an extreme sport, it’s an extreme leisure past time. If you think about quitting, think about a healthy, homegrown pumpkin for Thanksgiving, fresh corn for the Fourth of July, tomatoes that – never mind, I’m making myself hungry. Gotta go garden.
Source: The author of this article has over 40 years of experience in diverse forms of DIY, home improvement and repair, crafting, designing, and building furniture, outdoor projects and more.
