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Preparing Garden Beds
On this page find information on preparing garden planting areas, including:
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- Choosing a planting bed area for a home vegetable garden.
- Removing turf and other plantings from beds to be used for growing vegetables.
- Steps in soil preparation for planting vegetables.
- Discouraging and preventing access to planting beds by animal pests.
- Planning access points for care, maintenance, and harvest of home vegetable gardens.
- Using organic or inorganic path coverings materials in home vegetable gardens.
About Vegetable Plots and Beds
Row gardens are popular for home vegetable gardens, especially in spacious yards where fertile soil is found naturally on a level site with good sun exposure and shelter from wind.
For modest backyard gardens or in sites with irregular dimensions, fit planting beds into your planting site so as to allow as much room as possible for plantings while reserving space for paths and access.
Planting Area Preparation
When preparing a vegetable garden plot in soil formerly used to grow turfgrass lawn, landscape plants or prone to weeds and grasses, remove all of the turf and plant roots, then loosen the soil at least 18 in. (45 cm) deep [see Amending Soil].
Dig your garden directly into the soil. Add edge boards around the perimeter to block grasses or weeds from growing into the planted area of the garden.
If burrowing animals like rabbits, moles, gophers or voles are common in your region, install galvanized wire-mesh cloth barriers beneath the soil to prevent burrowing animals from eating your plants and erect fences to exclude them from hopping into the garden. [see Fences and Animal Pests].
Soil Preparation
Many vegetable plants send down root systems even deeper than that, but most beneficial soil microbes are found in the topsoil layer, where they have abundant air as well as organic matter upon which they feed [See: Sites and Soils].
By loosening the soil you greatly increase both their numbers and activity, and their digestive activities release minerals that your vegetables need to grow and thrive.
Garden Planting Plots and Beds
Bed Layout
Take time to plot the boundaries of your beds using careful measurements and marking the site with string and stakes.
While free-form beds can be attractive, rectangular beds are neat and orderly. To ensure the sides of your planting areas are equal and parallel, measure and make the corner diagonals equal.
Providing Access for Care
Allow ample space between plots for access paths for yourself and for garden barrows or carts.
Create temporary access paths by laying planks alongside your rows and walking on them to avoid compacting the soil. Pave all permanent paths with non-skid materials such as wood chips, bark, or pea gravel to avoid tracking loose soil out of the garden.
As the sprouts emerge in your new row garden, they will line up in even ranks like soldiers, making it easy to identify your vegetables from young weeds.
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