You may have read about the problem we had with our raised beds — the mulch underneath the beds was holding water like a sponge making the beds too wet. We fixed that problem as much as we can, but decided to plant more crops around the perimeter of the garden. Then, we decided to expand the garden by about another 350 square feet. The original garden is about 22×20 feet, so we are almost doubling the size. Here’s the expanded garden. As you can see, we’re still preparing the soil on the new plot at the top of the original garden:
I started by tilling up the turf with my Mantis tiller, which works really great for that task. Next I raked out the plot and let the churned up turf dry in the sun for a couple of days. Then I raked the plot, clearing the dried up grass and roots. Then I started back with the Mantis, tilling the soil. But I didn’t like the outcome — the soil was being over-worked into a fine powder. The weather has been extremely hot and dry here, so the soil is very friable anyway.
Abandoning the tiller, I went back to hand-turning the plot, just like subsistence farmers do. I use a mattock to break the soil down to the clay layer, about 6-12″ inches depending on where I am in this plot.
As I am pulling the dirt toward me, I pick out the big rocks and other debris. Our house was built in 1897, and from what I’m finding, a shed must have stood here long ago. Here’s a photo of some of the stuff I’ve dug up:
Lots of rocks, a piece of cast iron pipe, a piece of an old plow, broken cast iron, and roots. So, a tiller would have a really hard time with all this junk underground. After I break up the soil and pull it toward me, I shovel it back onto the row I’m digging, effectively moving the soil from one spot to another. This is my version of double-digging, although I’m only going down 12″.
This has taken me about 8-hours, and I’m only about half-way through the task. But, there is something very satisfying about turning the soil by hand without the noise and smell of a tiller. I also have a new appreciation of subsistence farmers who work under very difficult conditions with much poorer soil than mine. At the end of the day, I’m dirty, hot, and tired, but the satisfaction of doing this by hand is good.
When we get this plot turned, I’ll add compost, organic composted manure, maybe a little peat moss, and a mixture of organic soil enhancers. Then, we’re ready. We’re planting a new garden with potatoes, beans, squash, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, cucumbers, and who knows what else. Once this new plot is established, we will completely re-work the raised bed area by removing the beds, mulch, tilling, and rearranging the layout. We’re learning this year, but already we’ve got great plans for our fall garden. We’ll keep you posted. Stay simple!
I love the photo of the things you’ve found buried in your yard! That’s very interesting!
gosh, i know the feeling. when my husband was creating our gardens he found a 3′x3′ cement block L shaped wall under the ground with rebar holding it together. we have found old brown glass bottles and horsehoes, too. it is exciting to find some of the stuff, but it all requires a lot of hard work to do such clearing.
Oh, your experience brings back memories about gardens I’ve established. The end result of the hard work is rewarding. Now that you’ve cleared the inorganic rubbish the soil will become a healthier haven for the for worms and other beneficial micro-organisms that will enliven the garden for you. As you say, ’stay simple’. Cheers, Jenny.
That looks so pretty!! I know it isn’t for looks but it is very nice to the eye too.
Love,
Christy (Deb’s sister)
Gardening connects you back to the land, provides sustenance and beauty. Thanks for the post. http://www.bentpage.wordpress.com.
My gardening friend, I’m a big fan of not breaking one’s back while gardening.
I prepped my very first garden bed (roughly 100 sq ft) nearly the same as you (sans Mantis). I double-dug down to about 18″, creating raised rows as I went. After that I used grass clippings and compost as mulch for the veggies I planted.
This was in a suburban backyard. The only things I dug up were small rocks and tan clay.
That summer I learned about “lasagna composting” — a modified form of sheet composting and raised bed making.
If you don’t know, sheet composting is the practice of simply laying out compostables on top of the soil… ie, mulching.
Lasagna composting simply takes that process several steps deeper — building up layer upon layer of compostables, typically in alternating layers of browns and greens.
The only heavy lifting with lasagna composting is hauling the compostables.
For browns I’ve used straw (bales can be heavy when wet); bags and bags of newspaper; old wood chips; and autumn leaves, lots and lots of autumn leaves.
For greens I tend to use grass clippings, coffee grounds (coffee shops will sometimes give them to you en masse); fruit, veggie and other kitchen scraps; and horse manure, lots and lots of horse manure. (I’ve also buried waste fish and seafood parts when I can find the occasional source — heads, tails, skins, lobster and crab shells, etc.)
That fall, after learning about this, I double the size of our veggie garden in the span of 3 days. The “lasagna” pile was built up to a depth of about 30″ for our newly expanded 10×20 garden. I placed down thick sections of newspaper right over top of the sod in the expanded area and spread out the compostables on top of that.
Over the winter it all decomposed (snow helps, as it melts) and I was left with about 6″ or so of compost mulch in spring. The sod was gone and the worms had done my tilling for me. (I’ve never seen earthworms so fat and happy.)
This spring, at our new home, I decide I wanted another row of veggies so I did the same process — put down cardboard and news sections on top of the sod; spread out about 10″ of compostables; and then I pulled back some of it to make holes for the veggies. I filled those holes with a topsoil and planted away. The ‘maters are happy as clams with the warm weather we’re having.
Check out Pat Lanza’s book “Lasagna Gardening”. I found it at our local library so I didn’t buy it. She wrote an article for Mother Earth News that gives enough of a description that you shouldn’t feel a need to buy the book if you don’t want.
I avoid using any peat moss and wood ash in our garden — she advocates a lot of it, but it’s not necessary.
I’ve tried all sorts of variations of this — thick piles up to 3 feet deep, thin piles as small as 6″ deep, prepping it in every season (even, literally, the coldest day of the winter one year), etc. It always works well for me and now I don’t ever feel a need to dig unless I really, really want to see what’s down there.