Bird song fills the air, and the yearning to plant consumes you. Here’s where restraint is needed, before the elixir of damp earth intoxicates you. Chant “Wait, wait,” and check to see if the soil is dry enough to be worked. Scoop up a handful and squeeze. Open your hand. If the soil sticks together, it is still too wet. If it crumbles when poked, it is ready.
Never work wet soil, especially clay. You may ruin its structure for the entire season and end up tripping over solid, sun-baked clods instead of early lettuce. Read the rest of this entry »
After preparing the seedbed, run string attached to two stakes across the garden. Line up one edge of a steel garden rake next to the string and drag it the length of the row For a wider row, lay out two strings to the desired width and drag the rake between them.
Broadcast seed in the raked area, slightly closer together than you would in a conventional row. Press into soil with the back of a hoe or rake. With the rake or hoe, pull soil from outside the row to cover the seed. Read the rest of this entry »
Have you selected a new garden site, and now you want to prepare it? You can spade it, but that’s hard work. Try covering it with black plastic. In one month, and often less, all plant life under the plastic will die, and the soil will have a delightfully soft, moist quality. For a much more thorough job, put a hog or two in the area. Pigs will prepare the area more completely than a rototiller. They will eat all the weeds and their roots and will turn over the soil — and fertilize it. Read the rest of this entry »
