Soil Preparation Tips

PREPARING YOUR GARDEN SOIL
Before you plant our garden you need to rotor till it. If there hasn't been a garden there before you will need to plow it or rotor tilling will be a serious pain especially if you have a substantial sod layer to take off. If you need to plow it I suggest finding a friend or neighbor with a tractor and a plow. I know sometimes this isn't possible so here's what you will need to do. Set the rotor tiller depth bar (usually in the back) so it tills at the shallowest level. This is going to be allot of work and the tiller will want to grab into the sod and take right off on you. The deeper you attempt to plow the worse it will grab. When it grabs be prepared to go for a little ride. Please be careful!

What you want to do is take the sod off gradually. Go over the entire are with the tiller on the shallowest setting. Keep tilling the area over and over until the tiller no longer grabs on the shallowest setting. Now

move the depth bar to the next setting and repeat. Once the tiller no longer grabs set it to the next setting and so on. After a while you will have the tiller set to the deepest setting and will have your garden completely tilled. It's probably going to be break time when you finish tilling. 

Now it's time to fertilize your garden. It's up to you if you want to use organic fertilizer or chemical fertilizer. I like to do things as natural as practically possible. The word practical will come to play here for many. I have used chemical garden fertilizer many times. As long as you don't over do it the veggies taste just fine. For those die hard organic gardeners, I have noticed even Wal-Mart now has organic palletized garden fertilizer. I suggest getting your organic nutrients early in the season. The growing popularity of organic food sees to it that organic nutrients fly off the shelf fast and don't usually get replaced.

If this is already the case contact your local farm supply or elevator as we call it here in the boonies. You may also have the opportunity to use some composted manure. If so make sure it has composted properly or it could burn up your plants. My experience is that cow manure works best. Horse manure makes your garden grow well also but it seems to produce lots more weeds than cow manure. I think it has to do with what horses eat and their digestive system. This is my observation and I'm not sure about the digestion thing. Chicken manure can also be used but you have to use the stuff very sparingly as it is very potent and high in nitrogen. It is quite easy to over do it and burn your garden right up. I noticed some of the miracle grow organic fertilizer is chicken manure/feathers. Of course it is ground up but still quite stinky. I'm sure if you use it properly it works great. Chicken manure seems to work great on sandy soil but probably works fine anywhere if you use it properly.

We take all of our non meat table scraps and kitchen waste to the compost pile. This stuff works great to mix in with other fertilizer. You may also have some nice compost saved up from the winter. If so now is the time to mix it in. Whatever you decide to use spread it over the garden and rotor till it in using the deepest setting on your tiller. Only go over it one last time.

In Autumn when the leaves fall we rake them up and rotor till them into the garden soil good. It is good to rotor till your garden in the fall. Grinding the remains of your garden plants and leaves adds organic matter which is very good. Mixing a little nitrogen in with the leaves helps decompose the organic matter faster.

It also prevents certain bugs like cut worms from overpopulating your soil in the spring. If you have sandy based soil like we do these bugs can be a real problem in the spring. Moths lay eggs on garden vegetation in the fall. Keeping that vegetation tilled in prevents them from laying eggs which in turn helps you keep those nasty pests from demolishing your plants come spring.