Don't Mess Up Your Bed Before You Make It

 Don’t mess up your bed before you make it. No, I’m not talking about the bed you sleep in. I’m talking

about the bed you grow in, your gardening bed. Spring will be here soon and all the weekend warriors

of gardening will be dusting of their gloves and shovels to get out and play in the warmer climate. In a

previous article, I tried to convince Midtown’s urban farmers to grow year round. However, I realize it’s

cold in the winter and harder to get out in the garden. Or maybe you meant to but didn’t get around to

it this year. Your beds probably look depleted and the soil line has dropped a few inches. Maybe they

are full of leaves or covered in weeds. Logic would tell us to start tilling, taking a shovel and digging up

and turning over all the weeds and leaves. This will kill the weeds, aerate the soil, and mix the leaves in

nicely for decomposition while you cover the bed in some quality store bought garden soil. While this

seems to make perfect sense, I am going to try and convince you why is does not.

Within your soil is an ecosystem of beneficial microorganisms, fungi, nematodes, earthworms, protozoa,

and others. The longer your garden exists without being tilled, the more robust this ecosystem

becomes. Tilling your garden will destroy this ecosystem ridding your garden of these beneficial

organisms. These organisms breakdown the organic matter in your garden, converting it into nutrients

that your plants can use. Without these organisms, your plants are like a person at a restaurant with no

servers or kitchen staff. There’s potential for food all around, but no one to prepare and serve it. Plants

grown in gardens with a robust ecosystem are not only more productive, but more resilient to pest,

disease, and environmental stress. There is no need to aerate your soil by tilling as these organisms,

especially the worms, aerate the soil for you. The job they do is far superior to what you can accomplish

with a shovel. With a shovel, you will create compact clumps of soil and large air pockets that are not

ideal for plants. The organisms in your ecosystem will create tiny air pathways evenly all throughout the

soil, creating ideal air pockets for roots to grow. This form of aeration is also much better for water

retention.

So what do you do with your seemingly depleted, weed ridden garden covered in leaves? Well this is

the best part. You do nothing to it. That’s far less work than tilling and easier on the back. Your soil is

currently in the best shape it has ever been. And if you leave it alone, it will be in even better shape

next year. You will have to do a little work on prepping the surface of your bed however. Any

substantial weeds that have grown will need to be cut at the base, do not pull them. Pulling them

disrupts the ecosystem. Just cut the weeds with clippers or a weed trimmer as close to the base as you

can get. Leaving the roots provides organic matter to decompose in the soil and later be converted into

food for your plants. If you had a lot of weeds, you may want to lay some cardboard down over the

area. Later you will add more soil on top of the cardboard. This will keep the weeds from coming back

and the cardboard will disintegrate by the time roots get to it. Make sure it is plain brown cardboard

with no wax coating. All the leaves that fell into your bed over the fall and winter can be left in the bed.

They will also provide organic matter that will decompose and slow release nutrients into your soil.

Usually the soil line will have dropped a few inches since last year, especially in a raised bed, and it will

need to be filled. You will also want to cover the old surface of the bed to keep old weeds from coming

back. Start with any additional leaves or pine straw you may have around. You can use any other

organic matter such as small twigs or the weeds you just cut from the bed, as long as they are small

enough to hide at least a couple of inches below the surface of the new dirt. By the time roots reach

them, they should be deep in the decomposition process and ready to provide nutrients to your plants.

I built a new garden a few years ago right after Christmas. Trying to figure out what to do with my

Christmas tree, I looked at the empty raised garden bed I just built and a light bulb came on in my head.

I cut up the Christmas tree and filled up the bottom of the bed. I even used the trunk since it would be

well below the soil line. Adding raw organic matter like this to the bottom of your bed is not necessary,

it is just a cheap way to fill your bed with something that will have benefits down the road.

Now you can add new garden soil with amendments that you will actually plant your new plants in. If

you don’t need a lot, get bagged soil at the hardware store. If you need a lot, you may be better off

having a truck load delivered. It’s much cheaper. Just make sure you know the source of the dirt and

that it is free of pesticides and other chemicals. New, or store bought, soil is like a house without food.

A plant can live there, but there’s nothing to eat. The amendments will add these nutrients.

Homemade compost is one of the best if you like to save your food scraps until they decompose. Three

other amendments I can recommend for our area are worm castings, kelp meal, and crab meal. Coffee

grounds also make a great soil amendment. Mix these in with your new soil after topping off your

garden. Then apply a layer of mulch. Not only does mulch help retain moisture and prevent weeds, it

slowly decomposes and turns into plant food and new soil over time. You should continue to add new

mulch as the old mulch decomposes, continually supplying the bed with organic matter to be converted

to food. This will also keep the soil line from depleting. Mulch doesn’t have to be wood shavings

bought at the hardware store. It can be leaves from your yard.

Now that you have this new top layer of your bed, the organisms living below in your old soil can slowly

migrate into the new soil, expanding the old ecosystem. You may be thinking, but farmers till their land

and who would know better about growing vegetables than farmers. Farmers till because it wouldn’t be

practical for them to add a complete layer of new soil or mulch over such massive spaces. Their tilling

actually causes them a lot of drainage issues, and they have to supplement with heavy amounts of

fertilizer to make up for the poor quality of the soil. I started doing the no-till method 3 years ago, after

I buried my Christmas tree, and the results have been great. Each year, I get fewer pests and better

production. Save yourself some back ache this year and try the no-till method.