Preparing Ground and Soil for your Garden

How to Prepare the Soil

Of all garden tasks, soil preparation is probably the most important. This includes adding vital nutrients and hummus, in the form of compost and manure, to the soil to replace that used up the previous year.

Well, rotted compost adds nutrients and texture to the soil. It can be incorporated as the soil is being dug. Dig out one spade full of earth and place some compost in the trench that has been formed. Dig out the next spade full, placing it on top of the compost. Put more compost in the new trench and continue until the whole plot has been dug.

Rotating crops helps to get the best from the soil and keeps down pests and diseases. A rough sketch is essential so that space is provided for all the crops that you want to grow.

Cover crops are planted in idle gardens to protect them from soil erosion. Most often they are green manure crops that are turned into the soil just before the gardening season begins again.

Some crops serve more than one purpose. Buckwheat, for example, is often used as green manure, but it also attracts garden hoverflies, which feed on aphids and black flies and thus helps to keep the populations of these pests under control.

Any organic, non-animal waste from the kitchen, particularly peelings and cores, can be used on the compost heap.

Even old tea bags can be used. Beware of including animal waste, in particular, meat, as this may attract rats and other vermin.

Compost is one of the most valuable garden soil conditioners - and it is free. Any material from the garden that will decompose can be used. The addition of some farmyard manure will help speed up the process and will add to its value. If possible have more than one bin, as it is a good idea to be adding material to one while taking the finished compost from the other.

Cleaning and Preparing the Ground

When faced with a new or neglected piece of ground, there is a strong temptation to go at it as fast as one can to get it planted and in production. This can spell disaster since the ground is bound to be full of weeds. Time spent during the first season cleaning and thoroughly preparing the soil will certainly bear dividends in the long term. Although this is true for both vegetable and flower borders, it is the flower borders that need particular attention, since once planted you may not want to disturb them for many years. Vegetables are dug over every year, giving you opportunities to discover and dig out weeds missed earlier.

There is no better way of preparing the ground than by hand digging it over and then hand weeding to remove all the perennial weeds as you go.

Once the ground has been dug it can be left to allow annual weeds to germinate. These can be hosed off at regular intervals. However, many gardeners would find that leaving the ground fallow is a waste of a valuable natural resource. There are certain crops which are ideal to grow in weedy ground that has recently been dug up. Potatoes and brassicas (vegetables in the cabbage family) are two such crops that are regularly used by gardeners in such situations.

They both have advantages above and below ground. Below ground, the extensive and, in the case of the cabbages, deep and strong roots help break up the new ground. The deeper rooted they are, the better. Another advantage with cabbages is that it is easy to hoe right up to the plants, something which it is difficult to do with, for example, a row of carrots. Any’ weeds can be removed and the ground kept in good condition, encouraging other weed seeds to grow so that by the end of the season the number of seeds waiting to germinate in the soil has been drastically diminished. Growing potatoes is beneficial in a similar way, except where the soil is kept disturbed as the rows are earthed up. A large amount of foliage also helps kill off struggling weeds.

There are other plants with strong taproots which help to break up the lower levels of the soil and bring nutrients up to the surface where they can be more readily used by the next season’s crops.

Clearing a Garden’s Site with Machinery

An appealing alternative to digging by hand, particularly on larger sites, is to rent machinery. Although it will increase costs, it will speed up site clearance, save energy, and be great fun-as well as being invaluable for heavy work such as breaking concrete. “Mini” machines, including diggers, dumpers, tractors and their accessories, are perfect for small-scale landscaping. Before hiring, check the width of the access to save embarrassment!
Find out the location and depth of services-electricity and water-which may run across your garden, and keep details of your findings. You can rent tools designed for this purpose; though be sure to use them according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If necessary, contact the relevant authorities to obtain a plan of the site. To avoid damage to other areas of the garden, mark the machines’ route across the plot using brightly painted canes with rags attached to the top, or to the twine between them. Indicate the relevant depths of cables or pipes on temporary signs as a useful reminder. Beware of using large machinery under low power cables; if in doubt, hire an experienced operator to do the job for you, but make sure they know which features are to remain by marking them clearly. Once all the major ground clearance is complete, plough or till the site to break up compacted soil, particularly on heavy ground, incorporating soil conditioners if necessary. Take care to avoid bringing any subsoil to the surface when digging or rotavating.