Week 2 - Preparing the Soil

For episode/article 2 for This Week in the Garden, we’ll cover preparing your garden for planting. Similar to last week’s video/article, this week’s content focuses on the preparation of the garden, a step that lays the foundation for success. The more work that is done during this time, the better luck you’ll have with seed germination, and transplant adaptation.

One thing we didn’t mention in our first installation of This Week in the Garden was row orientation. Ultimately, row orientation and spacing vary based on your situation and preference. In general, you want to orient your rows north to south to best utilize sunlight. However, if your garden has any elevation differences, you’ll want to orient your rows so the alleys point toward the low spot. This will allow them to act as ditches when we get heavy rain, helping your garden to drain properly.

Once you’ve got the direction figured out, you’ll need to plan the row spacing. The general rule is that you should have 18-24 inches between your rows. This varies depending on what you’re planting (pumpkins and watermelons need WAY more!) but works for most vegetables. In my garden, I used 24-inch alleys and my rows are 18 inches wide. That gives the plants plenty of room to grow and gives me plenty of room to walk.

After the garden is all laid out, it’s time to prepare the soil. The soil should be tilled at least 6 inches deep, with 10 inches being ideal. PRO TIP (from my experience): wait until the ground has started to dry before you start tilling! If you’re having difficulty getting a deep till, start by flipping the soil with a shovel, then go back over it with a tiller. This extra work will pay off in the long run!

Next, you’ll need to amend your soil. If it is heavy clay or fine sandy soil, you can add organic matter to help with the soil texture. Things like compost or organic-rich topsoil work well and can help your soil retain water if it was sandy, or drain if it was originally heavy clay. After you’ve mixed in the additives, you’ll want to have your soils sampled for fertilizer recommendations. We can now send those in to the NCDA&CS, so if you need this done, check out our videos and we’ll help you get them sent in and interpreted.

The last thing to consider before planting is if you want to mound your rows. Mounding is an additional step to help keep your plants’ roots dry. This works best on clay soils that hold onto water, or in low areas where you need additional elevation. The downside to mounding your rows is that they will dry out quickly, so you will need to make sure you keep an eye on the soil moisture, and water accordingly. This is especially crucial when establishing new transplants and when trying to germinate from seed. See my future troubleshooting video for more!!

This week is the start of our first giveaway! From today, Friday May 1st, until 5 pm May 15th we will be accepting entries to our seed packet giveaway. To enter you must subscribe to our series through Eventbrite, and take a picture of your garden and email it to me, it’s that simple! The picture can be of any size, shape, or type of vegetable garden as long as it’s yours from this year. Include in the email a list of seed preferences you have and we’ll do our best to include something from your list!

That’s all for this episode/article of This Week in the Garden. For additional components of planning a garden to consider, check out the Food Garden Design and Vegetable Gardening: A Beginner's Guide publications. If you have any questions about any of our articles make sure to fill out our form.

-Adam