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Loosening Soil With Cultivators
On this page find descriptions and demonstrations of how to cultivate soils around vegetables to keep them workable and prevent weeds, including:
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- The benefits of cultivating soil around vegetable plants.
- Cultivating tools and implements.
- A step-by-step demonstration of how to cultivate containers, beds, and hills planted with vegetables.
- A step-by-step demonstration of how to cultivate in garden soil in row and block plantings of vegetables.
How to Cultivate Vegetable Plantings
Cultivating is an essential part of garden care that benefits plantings by loosening and aerating the soil near the vegetables.
Cultivating uproots young weed plants to prevent them from competing with your vegetables for water, nutrients and sunlight. It also aids water penetration and absorption in garden soil.
Regular cultivation helps maintain a neat overall appearance in your garden’s containers and planting beds.
Cultivating Tools
Step-By-Step Instructions
For small areas, follow the step that applies to your situation in the first option for using a hand fork or tined tool; in larger areas, follow the steps for using a hoe, cultivator, or specialty fork near garden plants.
Limit cultivating to the top 2–4 in. (50–100 mm) of the soil nearby your vegetable plants, avoiding deeper penetration that could harm their roots. Save deeper cultivation for areas outside of the plants’ root zones.
Gather your tools and any materials, then follow these easy steps:
How to Cultivate Containers, Beds, and Hills
Carefully loosen compacted soil in containers with a hand fork, turning the soil to a depth of 2–4 in. (50–100 mm). Uproot and remove any weeds that sprouted in the worked area.
In raised beds, work carefully alongside your vegetable plants using a small, sharp-pointed cultivating tool.
Work the soil around each plant to at least 2–4 in. (50–100 mm) deep.
For plants grown in hills or mounds, turn the soil in the moat and its surrounding levee.
Use the tool or a hoe to rebuild the mound’s edges, moat and levee into a new water basin, adjusting the widths of the hill and moat as the plants grow.
Cultivating in Garden Soil
Unearth 4–6 in. (10–15 cm) of soil near the plants, removing weeds, rocks, and debris.
Avoid disturbing plant roots.
Break up clods and remove pebbles or debris.
If additional organic matter is needed to improve workability, mix in compost or other amendments.
Work the soil more deeply in the area beyond 1 ft. (30 cm) from the plants.
Bring up buried soil from 8–10 in. (20–25 cm) deep, mixing it into the surface soil.
Deep cultivation adds oxygen and promotes growth of beneficial soil microbes that release nutrients to the plants.
Work backward down the row and around any hill plantings, cultivating towards yourself.
Avoid walking on and compacting finished areas.