Readying the ground for planting

I originally started this process of preparing my seedbed on September 16th, but I got interrupted by a 4 inch deluge from above.  Because I have things growing in the garden currently, I plant the fall/winter garden around existing production and pull in that dirt once the summer harvest is complete.  The plot between the field peas and the fence I'm showing you below is just a fraction of the whole garden, but it gives you an idea of the process.  Here is a photo of what the ground looked like before I began along with a bucket half filled with fresh picked Ozark Razorback peas:


Overgrown with weeds

You can see the compost pile in the corner behind the blue handled shovel.  I scattered all the compost on the ground with the shovel.  Composting builds the soil with nutrients and amends organic matter.  I mix hay, grass, weeds, and other organic materials with cow manure, chicken manure and turn it over.  The compost pile, full of good bacteria, "cooks" the materials down into great stuff for incorporating into your soil.  Building your soil up is a slow process.  You have to be really patient and keep feeding as much as you can into the soil each year.  Before long, though, you'll begin to see a change taking place.  For starters, the ground doesn't pack as much as it used to.  It begins to have some texture to it and you begin to see a number of earthworms, insects and other beneficial critters in your soil as you turn it over.  Look at all the chickens around the fence.  When I moved the compost, a lot of insects were scattered and the chickens are helping themselves to an all-you-can-eat buffet!


Broadcasting good compost on the soil

Then I took the tiller and worked it all in real good.  I work the tiller in east to west planks and then till diagonally.  Now, this is the part that is hard for me.  My goal is to get to where I don't till and just plant seeds.  I have a couple of problems, though, with that as I have a lot of weed pressure and I need to pull up rows since the garden is low.  Additionally, I want to work in the good compost into the soil.  One of these days I'm going to figure out how to no till - that is on my to do list as it would save me time and work.  The really bad part about tilling is I can see that I'm killing some of the earthworms I've worked so hard to grow and I need them to aerate the soil, increase porosity, and produce castings for fertilizer.  The other downside to tilling is that when you turn the soil over, you expose the beneficial bacteria in the soil to the sun.  The sun is good at disinfecting and sterilizing, which is a good thing in most cases, but not in this case.  Sunlight sterilizes your soil and you don't want to kill the good bacteria you've worked so hard to inoculate into the soil.



Incorporated compost into the soil

And then I begin to pull up the rows with a hoe.  My garden is very low.  If I don't pull up rows and get the seedbed up a few inches, the crop would drown and scald during the first rainfall.  As I pull up rows, I try to throw out a lot of the Bermuda rhizomes and nut sedge and weeds as they'll just sprout right up again.  This is a never ending battle and one that you never win.  You just try to stay ahead.  In the photo below, you can see all of the green weeds in the rows.  Some of these will die on their own, but some will re-root and grow.  So to be safe, this must all be pulled.  Whew!


Pulling up rows

 The picture below is a favorite of mine.  I think it is beautiful.  I know, I'm weird.  This dirt is good.  It smells good - a rich, musty, "earthy" smell.  It is the where the good vegetables are going to grow.  If you don't have good soil, you aren't going to have good crops.  If you take care of your soil, your soil will take care of you and pay dividends in terms of rich, nutrient dense foods for you and your family to enjoy.


Good Soil

But then the rains came.  This is a picture of the same land as shown above, it is just taken facing west versus from the eastern facing perspective above.  See what I mean about the necessity of rows?



Raindrops keep falling on my head.

 You really can't control the weather and I'd much rather too much rain than not enough, so I'm not going to belly-ache too much about it.  The rainfall made me slow down.  While we wait for the rain water to drain into the soil, we'll plan out the garden.  I'll talk about planning the garden tomorrow.  As with anything, you've gotta have a plan if you want to be successful!