How to Grow More Vegetables

The best time to double-dig the soil is in early morning or evening in spring or autumn. The air temperature is cooler at these ...

the 6-inch layer of farmable soil needed to grow a good crop of food. After the soil has been initially prepared, you will +nd t ...

cultivating the top 2 to 4 inches. Another way to keep soil loose between double-digging is to single-dig (loosening the top 12 ...

General Double-Digging Procedure—Each year before the main crop until good soil structure is established Spread a layer of compo ...

Spread a layer of compost over the entire area to be dug. (Compost is added after the double dig and bed shaping for Basic Ongo ...

Using a spade, remove the soil from a trench 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide across the width of the bed and put the soil into buck ...

...

...

3a. Loosen the soil an additional 12 inches with a spading fork by digging the tool in to its full depth and then pushing the to ...

falls downward, hits the fork tines, and falls into the hole below. Now, standing in the trench or on the digging board above th ...

Dig out the upper part of a second trench 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide. Move each spadeful of soil forward (into the first trenc ...

amount of soil from one end of the bed to the other to even it out when you are ready to be +nished. This action also causes a d ...

trench at the end of the bed. You may also add some of the buckets from the +rst trench. If you add compost that you have made w ...

BED PREPARATION PER 100 SQUARE FEET Check the soil moisture. The soil should be evenly moist to facilitate digging, but not sat ...

Remove the soil from the upper part of the first trench and place it in a soil storage area for use in making compost and flat s ...

the U-bar dig, shown here The complete texturizing double-dig was developed to improve soil quality more rapidly and is used o ...

area for use in making compost, flat soil and soil for filling in the final trench, when needed. Loosen the soil an additional ...

Fill in the final trench. Shape the bed by raking it. Then evenly spread any needed fertilizers over the entire area and sift t ...

top 12 inches of the area to be dug with a spading fork and remove any weeds. Remove the soil from the upper part of the first ...

Continue the double-digging process (repeating steps 4 and 5) for the remaining trenches. Rake after each 3 to 4 trenches to en ...