I have been growing a garden my entire life and have had several neighbors over the years ask me how I prepare the ground for a vegetable garden? This is a great question, that I thought others may want to know as well, so here is how I prepare my garden spot.
To prepare the soil for a vegetable garden you will need to loosen the soil by spading or plowing 10-14 inches deep and till in a good garden fertilizer.
The major thing you need to remember while spading, tilling, or plowing, is to go down 10-14 inches deep and loosen up the soil. Loose soil allows the water to get to the seeds and roots of the plants.
Loose soil also lets the roots of the plants grow freely without the hard ground to bind up the roots, thus hampering growth.
The other major thing to think about is how fertile your soil is. You will probably need to add fertilizer, especially if you have used the ground before. So it is a great idea to till and spade and incorporate fertilizer into the soil as you are preparing it.
You will want to have the fertilizer disbursed throughout the soil to allow the plants roots to access it as they grow. We have a great article on fertilizer here.
Preparation
I often prepare the ground in the Fall, which makes the garden plot relatively easy to have ready in the Spring. If you leave excess weeds, growth, or last years dead plantings to remain all winter long, it can be more difficult to get things going in the Spring. Preparing the ground in the Spring is fine, it’s just a little easier to prep the ground in the Fall if you can.
When you spade, till, or plow the garden spot in the Fall; the old vegetation will break down and decompose through the winter. This will add beneficial nutrients and humus to the soil.
The humus is the fluffiness of the soil, also known as the loam of the soil. More humus means lighter soil, adding more room for roots to grow, and more room for water to get to the roots of the plants, which means healthier happier plants.
Planning
There are however, some other things to consider when starting a vegetable garden plot. Here are some things that I have found that have helped me over the years.
1- Choosing a Size for Your Garden
First, begin with the end in mind. Plan ahead on what size of garden you wish to grow, where it will be located and what types of vegetables, herbs, flowers, or berries you want to grow there.
The size of a garden plot you choose to grow will vary depending on how much land you have available, how much area the plants need for growth, and how much work you are willing to put into the project. The more land or area you use, the more work that will be needed to maintain efficient growth. More land cultivated also means a better yield, (or more delicious vegetables !!!)
My family loves vegetables, so our garden has always been pretty good sized. With a larger garden plot you can also plant a lot of different varieties of plants. This past year, our garden included: garlic, onions, peas, bush beans, black beans, navy beans, Anasazi beans, red cabbage, green cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce of all kinds, swiss chard, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, butter nut squash, banana squash, acorn squash, hubbard squash, corn, raspberries, black berries, currants, potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, and beets.
You can always explore fun and different varieties of plants with your own garden, which is what I highly recommend. Let your garden be something fun for the whole family and neighborhood. Feel free to try new stuff and you might find some really great vegetables and flavors that you have never even thought of or tasted.
2. Choosing the Location of Your Garden
Choose your garden location wisely. Most gardens need some source of water for irrigation. If you have a small plot, you could feasibly irrigate with a water can or bucket. You can also string a hose to the plot, or hire a neighbor kid to carry water for you. However where I live water is in high demand and we have to really plan how we irrigate, (including the purchase of water shares). I will explore methods of irrigation in another post, but please think ahead. Your water source is a vital element when planning ahead for preparing your ground for a garden plot.
Sunlight is also a critical consideration when deciding where to put you garden plot. Without the sun, your yield can be lessened, or your garden may even fail. It is best if you can find a location that will allow full sunlight coverage on your plants unless your seed packet says otherwise.
Most garden plots will have shade during some time of the day. That’s ok, but try to find a place where your garden can get the greatest amount of sunlight possible. Some people have explored growing vegetables in the front yard and had great results.
It is also important to consider accessibility to your garden, and potential growth interruption such as foot traffic, fence and property boundary lines or other backyard projects as the season changes. Remember to plan for weeding, watering, and harvesting your garden. Planting is quite simple, and you can plant vegetation almost anywhere, but you may not always be able to access where plants grow. It is difficult to move the plants after they are growing, so think ahead.
I remember a neighbor of mine planted their garden in a great spot for sunlight and irrigation and the garden grew really well. The plants were vigorous, and the family was so excited about the vegetables that were growing. They unfortunately didn’t plan on needing to move their camping trailer for some vacation trips they had scheduled for the summer. It was sad to see those really beautiful plants get squished when they pulled the trailer back and forth over the garden.
Another neighbor had some children that didn’t embrace the garden as well as the parents did. A super competitive football game went awry and the tomato patch got pummeled. Needless to say, look ahead on where you are going to put your vegetable garden plot.
3. Choosing what to Grow
Perhaps the most exciting step, is choosing what you are going to grow. This also will require some forethought. Some plants only need a few feet, other plants need a lot of room. Pepper plants don’t require as much space as tomato vines. Cucumbers will spread all over as well as squash and melons. Bush beans use less room than pole beans.
So plan ahead on what you are going to plant. Most of the guidelines on spacing of plants are on the seed package. Many of the workers in a local nursery will have suggestions on how much room a plant will need to grow properly.
4. Choosing a Fertilizer for your Vegetable Garden
It is likely that you will want to add nutrients or fertilizer to your garden plot. Fertilizer is a loaded topic for gardeners. There a many differing opinions on fertilizer and everyone seems to be an expert.
I think personally you should try to be as natural and organic with your fertilizer as possible. If you think about it, you are going to be eating the food you grow. I have always believed that a natural input will yield a stronger and more nature supported output. I don’t want to say that you should never use commercial fertilizer, just learn about it before you use it. I have used a mix of natural and organic over the years, and have had good results from both.
Often you can just add some good garden mix fertilizer from your local nursery, farm, ranch, or hobby store. If you have access to composted or degraded animal manure it’s really great for your ground. However you need to be careful with using manure! It’s powerful stuff.
Poultry manure is particularly strong and can hamper the growth of your garden. Often it is referred to as being too “hot” or strong for the garden. I find that when you use the strong stuff you can use those strong properties to your advantage. I have written a post on fertilizer for those who want to learn more.
To summarize
What you need to do to get your ground ready for a vegetable garden is:
- Plan where you want it
- Plan on how to water it
- Plan on the location
- Plan on what you are going to plant and grow
- Till or spade 10-14 inches deep to loosen up the soil
- Work in fertilizer during the tilling, spading, plowing phase to incorporate the fertilizer throughout the soil