Double Digging - Improve Soil Structure
by John Yazo
Double digging is a technique that will improve the structure of your gardens soil. Having a soils that do not drain well can cause harm and virtually destroy the biology that naturally improves soil structure, along with wasting money and time to try to grow a productive crop.
Even though double digging is a very labor intensive way to improve the structure of soil, it has many benefits and they can be long lasting if maintained properly. All you need is a garden spade or shovel, a tarp or wheelbarrow if you want to protect the area you will be piling the dug soil on, organic soil amendments of your choice, and the ambition to take on this task.
A compact soil can provide a lot of natural benefits for plant life to thrive if it is amended with organic material to provide a habitat for beneficial microorganisms and earthworms to call home. Adding this organic food source to the soil will give these organisms the supply of energy they need to improve the soils structure naturally, that includes for water retention, drainage, and the ability for the natural minerals in soil to be converted into a form that plant life can benefit from.
To start this process, you will need to layout the area you want to improve. At one end of the bed, begin by digging a trench that is a comfortable width for you to work the length or width of the garden bed to remove the top layer of soil to a depth of one garden spade or shovel deep, and pile the excavated soil however you prefer, on the ground, in a wheelbarrow or on a tarp to set aside for reusing it at the end. Now using your spade or shovel, loosen the subsoil layer below the soil you just removed by pushing it into the ground and working it back and forth, only loosening it,not removing the soil. Once you have loosened the subsoil, add your choice of an organic soil amendment, like compost, and work it in lightly. Once you complete this step you can move over and start another trench, only this time you will be placing the topsoil layer you are removing on top of the loosened subsoil that you have just added the organic soil amendment to and adding, along with mixing more organic amendments to the topsoil soil as you place it on the first trench. continue this same process across the entire garden bed and when you get to the last trench you will be filling it with the soil that you have stored from the first trench.
Now that your entire garden bed has been double dug, the soil should be several inches higher than the existing grade around it. If you do this process in the fall, it will give the bed time to settle out before you plant, if not, and you are doing this and you want to plant the garden bed once you have completed it, water it well to allow for it to settle, and let nature take over by allowing the natural biology, organisms and microorganisms, to work hard for you improving the structure of the soil. All you need to do is feed the soil and nature will feed your plants.
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