How to Prepare Soil for Spring Planting

What is in soil? Soil is the most important part of gardening, no soil, no crops. Soil contains plant roots, animal material, insects, bacteria, fungus and organisms. By plowing over your garden in the fall it can absorb nutrients for spring planting.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tractor
• Manure
• Compost

1. CHECK SOIL TYPE. The best soil to grow in is loam soil. It contains 40 percent sand, 40 percent silt, and 20 percent clay. It is important to prepare garden soil in the fall for spring planting. (See my article on Loam Soil in my resources.)

2. REMOVE. After the last harvest, remove tomato plant stakes and fencing for peas and pole beans and any non-biodegradable materials from the garden area, if you have gardened before. Of course, if you are new to gardening skip this step.

3. PLOW IN THE FALL. Plow the garden soil over and cover the entire area with fresh manure and compost. Do not use cow manure, because often cows are fed hormones that remain in their feces, which will in turn affect crop growth. Use manure that is about 2-3 years old. Horse manure is the best to use if it is not aged.

4. SPRINGTIME. In the spring, you will need to plow the garden again to get the dirt turned over. Then loosen the soil with a tiller and add a fertilizer such as 12-12-12. Now you can begin planting early crops.

Tips & Warnings

• Are you a new gardener? Have your soil tested before planting. It is important to know what your plants are lacking.
• The local extension agency can help with soil testing as well as give helpful tips on starting a garden.
• Some crops do not grow well around others, while others thrive in groups such as the three-sisters planting. For example, corn, pole beans and melons grow great together and benefit one another. On the other hand, corn and tomatoes do not like growing close to each other.

Resources

• eHow Spring Guide
• How to Grow Berries above the Ground
• How to Check for Loam Soil
• How to Buy Seed Potatoes

[apalmer]

on 5/29/2009 1GoGetter - Gardening isn't easy that is for sure! If anyone has questions please message me and I'll gladly iron out any problem areas, if I can. Thanks for the comment.

[1GoGetter]

on 5/28/2009 A bit simplistic, don't you think? A beginning gardener won't even have step one under their belt, let alone the understanding of the following steps.