Organic Vegetable Gardening: Deep Beds and Double Digging
Posted: Wednesday, April 01, 2009
by John Shelton
http://gardening.daddybakesbread.com
Deep Bed Gardening The How and Why for Increased Yields in Your Organic Garden!
I have always had a limited amount of space in which to garden... well except for when I summered at my grandparents farm in Lone Hickory, North Carolina; but I was eight years old then. There was plenty of space out there...but I was small. The amount of space I used for pole beans and such amounted to a couple of rows out in the kitchen garden. I don't remember exactly, but I don't recall using pesticides and fertilizer. I think we may have been organic back then in the early seventies. Go figure...
Plants are much happier growing in loose deep soil. [you also get fewer weeds and pests when your plants are happy making organic vegetable growing even easier]. The plants have room to stretch out. Aren't you happier when you have room to stretch? Who likes being crammed into a plane with no room? Your garden feels the same way... So, exactly how do you make your plants happy and give them room to grow?
First, pick a good spot to grow your organic vegetables. Full sun and good drainage are important. Remember, don't tie yourself to squares and rectangles, your bed can be any shape try a circle, a parallel-o-gram, or a star. You can even plant your vegetables intermixed with some flowering annuals cottage garden style.
After you pick your location and shape, you need to make friends with double digging. Lay out your bed with twine, lime, baking soda, or stakes. Then across one end of your bed (the shorter way), dig a trench the width of your shovel and about a foot deep. Put that dirt in a wheel barrow you'll fill in the last row with that dirt. After you have removed the soil, take a garden fork and loosen the soil in the bottom of the hole by working it with the fork. Move to the area directly adjacent to your dug out trench and dig another trench across your bed. The trench is again the width of your shovel and about a foot deep. Put the soil from this trench back into the first trench that you dug. Loosen the soil in the bottom of the second trench with the garden fork. Rinse and repeat until you get to the end of your bed. Fill in the last trench with the soil from you wheelbarrow. Hooray!! You have a deep bed. [ Note bene: you probably want to work some compost into the soil as you refill your trenches. This will increase your soil quality and, conveniently, your vegetable output.]
How big should you make your rows in your organic vegetable garden? I make mine four feet wide. Yours should be as wide as you can make them and still comfortably be able to work in the middle of the beds/rows. The walkways are narrow. Thus maximizing your growing areas and minimizing your wasted space.
So, get out there and garden!!! Grow your own organic vegetables. Feed your family good food and, most importantly, have fun!!
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Good information, John. I have made the move to organic fertilizers and have seen the difference in my plants. I am not ready to spend the time or space on a garden quite yet...maybe next year. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us.
My hubby keeps talking about setting up a garden, therefore I found your article to be interesting. I will print it off for him. Thank you for sharing. Welcome to Search Warp.Linda DeWitt
Double digging is a counsel of perfection but, having a bad back, I prefer the lazy way. Pile soil and compost above ground to make a Lazy Barrow, cover with slices of lawn turned upside down to foil wind and rain erosion, and sow plants through that surface. In time, the soil rises to a new friable level - and never needs digging!
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