How to Grow More Vegetables : And Fruits, Nuts ... - Shroomery

The proper tools will make the
work easier and more productive.
FOR SEED PROPAGATION
Hand fork
Transplanting
trowel
Dibber
FOR SOIL PREPARATION
D-handled
flat spade
D-handled
spading fork
ONGOING PREPARATION FOR REPLANTING PER
100 SQUARE FEET—BEFORE EACH NEW CROP
1. Remove remaining vegetation, if necessary. Remove 7 5-gallon
buckets of soil from the upper level of the first trench. Use 6
buckets of soil to make compost (they will eventually be returned
to the growing bed in the form of added compost) and 1 bucket of
soil to make flat soil. 3 Double-dig the soil. 2 to 3 hours.
2. Level and shape the bed. 1⁄ 2 hour.
3. Add any fertilizers and pH modifiers indicated by a soil test to the
surface of the bed, and then add up to a 1-inch layer (8 cubic feet
or 12 5-gallon buckets) of compost per 4-month growing season to
the surface of the bed. 4 Sift in materials 2 to 4 inches deep with a
spading fork. 1⁄ 2 to 1 hour. (Adding the compost after the doubledig
for ongoing soil preparation minimizes problems caused by
water-soluble nitrogen leaching in increasingly loose soil.)
4. Plant or transplant. 1 to 2 hours.
Total: 4 to 6 1 ⁄ 2 hours for ongoing soil preparation, fertilization,
and transplanting.
3. If you are digging only 25 rather than 100 square feet, only hold out 13 / 4 5-gallon buckets
of soil for making compost and flat soil, and return 51 / 4 5-gallon buckets of soil into the bed.
4. Do this at least once a year—normally at the beginning of the main growing season. Generally
our practice for autumn crops is to only single-dig and to add no compost or fertilizers.
Bow rake
Note the difference in side views of a
shovel and a spade.
Standard shovel
D-handled spade
BED PREPARATION 9