Garden Soil Preparation

Now you’re ready for the hardest part of gardening: garden soil preparation. If your soil is really wet wait for it to dry out until it clumps together when squeezed, but will still crumble. Working the soil can be done with a machine or by hand with a spading fork or broad fork digging down 8-10” deep. This depth gives the plant roots room to reach down.

You’ll want to remove the sod before tilling; this saves a lot of work later on when all that grass starts springing back up after it’s tilled under! Some gardeners like to put the removed sod on the compost heap where it will rot and be returned to the garden later as nourishing compost. Break up the clods that are left after you get the soil worked so you’ll have a smooth garden bed when it’s all done.

If your vegetable garden soil is sandy or has too much clay you can amend the soil to make it more vegetable friendly with organic matter. It’s a good idea to work organic matter into any kind of vegetable garden soil whenever possible. It holds the soil together, retains moisture and feeds soil life. A vegetable garden needs a high organic content or you’ll have to use ever-increasing amounts of fertilizer to give your garden soil the nutrients it needs.

Poor soil can be vastly improved by organic matter with the end result being healthier and more productive vegetables. There are many ways to increase the organic matter in your vegetable garden soil; mulches, cover crops, compost and rotted manures are some of the soil improvements you can use. The ideal soil for your home vegetable garden consists of crumbly, porous soil that will hold moisture yet is well-draining.

Be careful when using a lot of wood products such as sawdust and wood chips; they can deprive your soil of nitrogen which affects your vegetables.

Garden Soil Preparation and Soil Testing

Now is the time to test your soil to find out if it needs amending. Your county extension office can test your soil or you can do it yourself with a soil test kit you can buy at the garden centers.

The main nutrients a soil needs to have are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). It also has to have the secondary nutrients calcium, manganese and sulfur. The micronutrients it needs are copper, boron, chlorine, zinc, iron, magnesium and molybdenum. Much of the growing land in the United States is also deficient in selenium. The soil tests may reveal that your soil lacks some of these nutrients.

Vegetables grow best with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. 7.0 is a neutral pH, so vegetables like it slightly acidic. For soils below 6.0 pH ground limestone can be used to up the pH. You can lower the pH if it’s above 7.0 by working in sulfur.

Soil Fertilizer

Along with adjusting your pH, if needed, now is the time to add fertilizers and organic matter. Some people prefer to use natural vegetable fertilizers such as bone meal, dried blood, fish meal, compost, etc. Work all these things into the garden soil well and then rake it smooth.

Don’t overdue your vegetable fertilizer-too much is as harmful as too little. If a plant looks peaked or just not quite right you can top-dress with a liquid or dry fertilizer around the plants that need it. Fish emulsion and manure tea can be used to top-dress vegetables and give them an added boost. 

If you plan on using compost for your vegetable garden it can take weeks or months for it to be ready. In the meantime, you can get your garden going without compost by using rotted horse manure (never use fresh) for nitrogen, bone meal for phosphorous and granite dust or wood ash for potassium. Spread the rotted manure 6-8” deep over the garden and work it deep into the soil. Then, work in the bone meal and granite dust or wood ash. Rake your soil smooth and you’re ready to plant seeds or put in transplants.

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