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~Our Simple Life~

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Flower Garden, Herb Garden, Homegrown, Vegetable Garden

How to Prepare Your Garden Soil for Planting

March 27, 2011

Prepare garden soil: Spreading Horse Manure  in Garden

The best way to prepare garden soil for planting is to improve it by adding organic matter.

When you improve your soil, it will be easier to dig and turn, have more nutrients for your plants, and hold moisture better.  Your garden soil will be full of living organisms and nutrients that will promote healthy plant growth and higher fruit and vegetable yields.

If you are just starting your garden, you will need to mark out your garden location with stakes and string.  Then, use a flat shovel to cut the outline of the garden.  Next, remove the sod, rocks, roots, weeds, etc. from the top of the soil.  Then, add organic matter to your garden.

These are all great jobs for your teenagers.  A ‘teenager way’ to play in the dirt.

Ideally, your garden should be prepared/turned in late fall, but early spring will also work.

Improving your garden soil with organic matter…what we do:

We have a lot of clay in our soil, so every year we try to replace what our plants use up from our garden soil, plus a little extra.

When we gather the leaves from our yard, we put them in the compost pile and add organic ‘waste’ from our kitchen and stir them in.  We allow the pile to rot for a year or more and add this to our garden.

Our neighbor has a few horses and plenty of manure to spare, so we ask them for their oldest piles and spread them on our garden.

Adding ashes from our fireplace and a little sand seems to help too.

We till all this in to the soil in the fall and till again in the spring just before planting.

This seems to do the trick for our vegetable garden, what works for you?

 

 

composting garden soil gardening homesteading vegetable garden
by Nelle 
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About Nelle

I am Nelle. I grew up in rural, small town, Ohio. When I was young, I learned a lot about homesteading from my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, 4-H, FFA, and others around me. Now, I’m all grown up, have 6 children of my own, and plan to teach them everything I know. Here on Mama’s Homestead, we talk and write about homesteading, homeschooling, and kidsteading (homesteading with kids). We teach our kids about survival, self-sufficiency, gardening (vegetable, herb, flower), orchard, beekeeping, home keeping, soap making, harvesting, cooking, food preservation, livestock, nature, crafts, homesteading tools and wares, and more… Welcome to my homestead…come and learn with us!

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previous article: Gardening with Kids: Let Them Help with the Harvest
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Welcome to my homestead!

Hello, I'm Nelle Weaver!
I grew up on a small farm in Ohio and experienced various aspects of homesteading. I learned many skills from my grandparents and parents and from being involved in 4-H and FFA.  
My husband and I write about our simple life here on Mama's Homestead and teach classes on our homestead in central Ohio, where we raise goats, chickens, and rabbits, have an orchard, garden, keep bees, and much more. Read More…

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