Getting Ready!

Is Your Soil Ready?

Gardening involves a lot of dirt- which is properly called soil- and learning when towork your soil is important. 

*Working your soil too early subjects it to clumping and hardening, as it is usually too wet from melting snow and the decreased sunlight of winter. Wet soil makes cement-like clumps that are tough to break up. 

*Working your soil too late can also be problematic, as any organic matter  you've added won't have time to settle in and decompose.Take a good handful of soil from your garden site, and give it a squeeze. If it stays in a lump with your finger indentations clearly visible, than it is way too wet. But if you can give the lump a tap and it fall apart easily, then it's ready.

DIG!

Digging is one of those things that just must be done. There are various ways to do it, and as a general rule, deeper is better.

*Gas-powered tillers are one option. They churn up the earth with rotating blades. They do well chopping up weeds but may not get deep enough. 

*Digging forks look like short, thick pitchforks. They are the same size as a full-length spade, and the times are usually around 8-12 inches long. You push this into the soil and step down on it like you would a spade, then twist and "pry" up the soil, poking apart any large lumps. 

*Full-length spades work well too, you use them the same as you would a digging fork.

*Hoes and hand-cultivators are good for chopping into the soil and prying up weeds, and they are also good at digging and aerating the soil. 

Fertilize!

It's a good idea to work some compost into your soil. If you are lucky enough to live near a farm, or have your own manure producers and you have a well aged manure pile, this is a great form of compost. You can also create your own compost with yard clippings and kitchen scraps. Just make sure it's well-aged: raw compost may carry harmful bacteria and tends to "burn" young plants. Here at Beier's we offer may types of fertilizers for any garden need you may have.

Weed Control!

After the soil is first turned and the sun warms the soil, weeds will begin to take over. One of the easiest, and earth friendly ways to deal with this is to cover your garden with several layers of newspaper. Lay rocks or compost on the newspaper and then wet them thoroughly. When it's time to plant, you can just make slits in the newspaper and insert seedlings. Newspaper allows the soil to warm and "breathe," unlike plastic and other weed-control covers.

If you don't want to use newspapers, a thick layer of mulch will also help.