For your plants to grow and thrive, you need to have suitable soil for the whole process. So, preparing the ground for gardening has got to be one of the crucial steps. But how do you go about the entire process?
Soil possesses all the rich nutrients that plants need to grow, so; you need to tender it well for best results. This includes improving the ground, which can be done each year. Below is how you can prepare soil if you don’t want it to be useless.
Soil Types
First, you need to identify which type of soil you have. Different places have different types of soil to deal with. Before you can prepare, you have to know precisely what you’re dealing with.
For example, sand soil doesn’t hold much water, but clay holds too much water. This will give you a clear idea of the type of garden you’ll have. Also, it provides a clear indication of how to treat the soil. You also need to test soil PH to find out more about the soil.
Improve Soil
When you add organic matter to the soil, you can instantly improve it. Here’s how.
Why you should use organic matter
- It makes it easy to dig
- Adds nutrients
- It helps to hold more water
- Can loosen up clay soil
There are few options to consider regarding the actual organic matter that you can add to improve the soil.
Manure – Everyone has heard of waste when it comes to planting. But they probably don’t know how or why it is used. Before planting, you need to incorporate manure into the soil.
You can not use fresh manure and for every 100 feet, you need to add at most 40 pounds of manure.
Plants Material – There are several plant materials that you can use to improve the soil. They can be from leaves to grass and straws. This one, however, should be used months before the planting season.
When using the method, add the material into the soil and allow the kit to decompose. For best results, do this during the winter season.
Sawdust – You can also use sawdust to improve soil, ensure it is composted before using. If not, it will rob the soil of nitrogen and starve the plants – nitrogen is a crucial nutrient.
Compost – this is made up of decayed material, and you need to work this into the soil before the planting season.
Green Manure – You can also use green manure, but you need to be careful how to use it.
Tilling
Now that you have improved the soil, it’s time to till. It would help if you dug as deep as possible, around 10 inches deep when it comes to till. When you dig deeper, it allows your plants’ roots to go deeper.
You need to till the soil when it is moist. Never till the soil when it is wet as it may cause the ground to be rough. Use a spade to till the soil when winter as you prepare to plant in spring.
After, you’ll need to rake the soil so that it is level. Then you need to clean it by picking up rocks and other damaging unwanted material. Also, you can treat the ground with manure while you till.
Row Preparation
Depending on where you are, you need to know how to plant on the beds. There are places where you need to grow on raised beds.
When you have that type of environment, few things impose that structure.
- Allow water to drain from the roots
- Enable air to get to the soil
- Help see plants through high rain season.
When creating the rows, you need to make them at least 36 inches apart. If you don’t have enough space, the distance can be a bit shorter. Tenderly care for the plants more when they’re planted close to each other.
Despite the temptation to create straight rows, this isn’t a crucial part of the gardening process. As long as there is enough distance between the plants, there’s less to worry about.
You can work on the small gardens with a rake or a hoe. For the more extensive gardens, you may need a tractor or a rototiller.
Soil preparation being that crucial, it needs to be handled with care, and here are a few tips. The tips will get your garden ready for when you need to plant. And your plants will thrive in the process.