Land Cultivation
Cultivating Your Land
Land Cultivation is the practices you put in place to build up your soil structure. Cultivating soil involves building up Vitamins, Nutrients, and Minerals, while inviting beneficial insects to live and reproduce. It also includes the breaking down of organic matter such as leaves, and woodchips. Cultivation is super important for your soil, and your plants.
When do you cultivate the soil?
Cultivating soil is a process that takes time. Most often accomplished by Amending the existing soil with organic matter. Soil is usually amended in early spring, before crops will be planted. And in between plantings. Remember that with each plant you grow, it will take nutrients from the soil. It is important to add some nutrients back into that soil, for the health of your new plants! If you do nothing to improve your current soil, nature will take a toll on the elements of the soil, causing it to dry out and not hold much, or any, minerals or moisture, preventing adequate nutrient absorption. Land Cultivation is usually only needed once unless you change your mind and choose to move things around.
What are soil amendments?
Soil amendments are minerals and nutrients you add to the soil to enhance the life and ecosystem. Common soil amendments are Blood Meal, Bone Meal, Kelp, Seaweed, Compost, Dead Leaves, and Garden Tone just to name a few. Before adding anything to your soil willy nilly, it’s good advice to perform a soil test. The soil test will tell you everything that is in your soil, and everything that is missing. Remember, healthy soil grow healthy plants.
Tilling
What does tilling have to do with Land Cultivation? Tilling is the act of turning or loosening the soil to improve penetration of water, nutrients, and air while removing weeds. Tilling the land is a great first step to building up the overall composition of your soil. Avoid tilling in the fall, mulch instead. Pull out spent plants and compost them, then scuff up the surface with a hoe to kill weeds. Mulch through winter, and save actual cultivation for spring.
How do I till and what do I use to till with?
Since “tilling” is basically the upturning and mixing of soil, you can use a Hoe or soil aerator for manually lifting the soil. An electric or gas powered tiller is a more expensive, and a more effective way of tilling the land. If you have a large garden space to till, using a hoe, and manually turning the soil will take a significantly longer than an electric or gas powered tiller would. You can rent a tiller in various sizes, and pay per day. Usually through Black Cat or John Deer, or a company like those.
No Till Gardening Method
No-till gardening, also known as ‘no-dig’ gardening, is the practice of adding nutrients on top of the existing soil, without disturbing it too much. Rather than using plows, hoes, or other tools to “turn over” the soil, it is relatively left alone. The no till method starts by killing off any grass and weeds in the space you’ve chosen for your garden. There are two main methods for accomplishing this.
The First way to create a No Till Garden is to lay a tarp down and keep it there for a few months. When the grass is sufficiently dead, pull back the tarp and pull and remove any large root clumps, rocks, and debris. Add a good thick layer of compost in rows 2-4 feet wide, and mulch in between the rows to keep grass and weeds suppressed.
The second way you can make a No-Till Garden Space is the Cardboard Method. Using cardboard to create a base that will suppress the grass and weeds, and eventually break down adding nutrients to the soil.
First you’ll want to cut the grass and remove any debris. Then lay down a few thick layers of cardboard, and moisten it well. Add 8-10 inches of good, rich soil in rows 2-4 feet wide, then add 3-6 inches of compost on top of the soil. Finally, mulch in between the rows to keep the cardboard moist. You can immediately plant into your new No Till Garden! Remember to mulch around your plants to help protect the soil and retain moisture.
Want to learn about Container Gardening?
How about Raised Bed Gardening?