How to Prepare the Ground to Plant Seeds

Soil is extremely important for growing seeds, and the more time you take to prepare it, the better your results will be. Ideally, you should start a few months in advance to prepare the soil, add amendments to improve its nutrient content and texture, and let those amendments become incorporated in the soil before planting. For spring planting of seeds, ideally, you should prepare the ground the preceding fall.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Shovel or spade or large garden fork
• Rake
• Soil amendments (organic matter, fertilizer)

1. Study your soil to determine its texture. A simple test is to take a handful of soil, squeeze it in your hand and then open your palm. If the soil holds together for a few seconds, then crumbles apart, you have loam, which is the ideal soil texture. Congratulations--you will have the easiest time tilling your soil!
   If it sits in your hand in one big lump, it's either clay soil or very wet. If there's been no rain lately, you have soil with clay in it, and will have to add amendments to lighten its texture. If the soil is wet from rain, let it dry and repeat the test.
   If the soil doesn't stick together even for a short time, it's sandy and also needs to be amended to make it hold together better.

2. Decide what amendments you will add to improve your soil. The best amendments are organic. Organic matter is simply materials that once were living, such as dead leaves, peat moss, or manure. There are many kinds to choose from, but they should be completely decayed into compost, which looks like soil, before they are ready to use. You can make your own compost or buy it. Organic materials hold water and nutrients like a sponge, increasing the soil's capacity to hold them also. They help soil particles stick together in small crumbs, creating a texture that supports good root growth. Adding organic matter will both lighten clay soils and thicken sandy ones.

3. Pull or dig weeds from the area that will be your garden. Pulling is preferable to hoeing, which will chop the roots into pieces but leave them in the soil, therefore making it possible for them to sprout again in increased numbers.

4. Spread organic matter in an even layer over the soil.

5. Turn over the top layer of soil with a shovel, spade or garden fork, incorporating the organic matter into the soil. Break up large clods into smaller pieces. (If you have a very large space to cultivate, you may need to use a power tiller.) Dig down at least 6 to 8 inches. Rake out weeds and rocks.

6. Ideally, leave the bed fallow for a couple of months before planting. But keep weeds pulled in the meantime!

Tips & Warnings

• Do not cultivate the soil or even step on it when it's wet. This can squeeze out air spaces in the soil, destroying its structure and making it a bad consistency for root growth.

References

• All About Perennials; Ortho Books; 1992