How to start a garden from bare cracked earth like this !

How to start a garden from bare cracked earth like this !

So... I am starting a new vegetable plot and thought I would share with you all how I am going to do this. Hopefully it will be ready for planting in the Fall when it is cooler (ha ha).

I get asked this question a lot when I teach classes about soil, so I thought where better to actually show the process, than on my blog. That way you can follow what I am doing and see how the soil is slowly brought back to life during the next couple of months. I am going to show a few different way of doing this as well.

Here's what I am starting with -

 

Garden Plot abandoned by previous gardener at the Community Garden where I garden.

Weeds are mostly dead but still have to be removed.

 

One of the first things to do is just water the soil, I know that sounds a bit crazy, but there is no way you can dig bone dry cracked earth. The soil must be watered even before you lay anything on top.

 

A simple thing you can do is just get a bale of hay from a local feed store, break it up and lay it all on the ground. If nothing else, you then don't have to look at that sad cracked earth any more ! There is method here though. The soil needs to be brought back to life, so we are going to amend it in various ways and water it. The hay will help retain moisture, provide some shade and also start to rot down to add to the biomass of the soil. 

 

 

Straw

 

You can also do this with pine needles if you have a pine tree nearby. They do take quite a long time to rot down due to the waxy substances in the needles, but they make a great mulch or pathway material and as they are acidic, they help to neutralize our alkali soil. Again, water them once you have laid them out. This helps them to rot down.

 

 

Pine Needles

 

Remember, we are trying to add back to the soil here and as I am a completely organic gardener, I am only going to show organic amendments (things you add to improve your soil). You can also add leaves and various manures - more on that in another post.

 

This is going to be a slow process, mainly because it is just too hot to be out there for very long and also improving soil takes time. At least we have a good few months to get started on this before it is time to plant.

 

So.... watch this space for more soil updates in a few days !!