How to Prepare your Garden Beds for Spring

The No-Till Method

With a steaming cup of coffee in my hands I stand on my patio and scan the landscape of my new-to-me (and deeply neglected) garden beds. With a single glance one wouldn’t guess they even existed, yet the skeletons of rickety borders barely poking through the grass give the disheveled plot away. Thick layers of leaves cover the walkways and insides of the beds rendering it difficult to see what lies underneath. Who knows when the last time a flower bloomed here or when a tomato was gently plucked from a vine and plopped instantly into an eager mouth. Considering the height and expanse of the prickly wild rose stalks that overtake the west end, my guess is more than ten years. 

As my eyes traverse the scape, a transformation begins to unfurl in my mind's eye. I envision these beds growing lush with flowering herbs like chamomile and lavender. Flowers bob back and forth as bees hum from one sweet head to another. I imagine the spritely shoots of carrot tops and beets peppered into the spaces between tomatoes, spikey onion stalks and rosettes of lettuce. I know it will take heaps of muscle and a generous amount of care to revive this plot, but there’s no other work I’d rather be doing. I am a gardener. I carry the energy, the vision, and the heart to cultivate magic.

Step 1: Clear the debris and dead plant material

I begin by removing the weeds and clearing out the piles of leaves that have accumulated on top of the beds and walkways over the years. They’ve created a thick heavy mat, like a forest floor, that could be good or bad. There’s potential the leaves are harboring mold and disease, or they could have provided a layer of protection and fostered abundant soil life. There’s only one way to find out. The leaves on top are dry and brown skeletons, while the leaves on the soil are heavy, wet and black, but I see no mold, white powdery mildew, or sickly smelling growths appearing. Below the leaves i see dark soil and an expansive network of earth worm tunnels. This is a good sign.

Step 2: Analyze the soil

Once the debris is cleared I can properly investigate the soil. Any gardener knows that the key to cultivating productive plants lies in cultivating robust soil. I remove my gloves to thoroughly probe the soil with my bare hands. It’s a moment of pure magic and intense sensory learning. I’m firmly convinced that my bare hands and feet can sense the health (or lack thereof) in soil quicker than the intelligent side of my brain can. I feel first and think second. As I probe the soil, I’m searching for clues. 

Is it dark in color and rich with nutrients or light brown and depleted?

Is it moist and does it hold it’s form with the squeeze of a hand, or is it dry and crumbly?

Is there life, like earthworms, beetles, and millipedes, or is it vacant?

What’s the smell? Earthy like the sweet smell after it rains? Or is there a sour tang of dank mildew that indicates disease?

Is it spongy and fluffy like loam, sticky like clay, or gritty like sand? 

Are there bright white networks of mycellium (fungi roots)?

Are plant root tips white with fresh life, or brown and rotting?

Are there soil gnats that indicate disease, or is it balanced with crawling insects?

The soil I discovered is surprisingly healthy. It’s dark in color, slightly fluffy, but mostly grainy. This means that it holds some nutrients but offers good drainage - perhaps a bit too much at the moment. It holds a form when I squeeze it into a ball, which means that it’s retaining a proper amount of water. I notice only one worm and no other critters, it could use a little more life. There is no strong smell, just a mild earthiness - perfect. I’m relieved that the soil is in good condition. Although I still scoop out a large handful and ship it to a lab to be analyzed by soil scientists. A professional soil test will be able to tell me exactly what levels of nutrients are present, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, or if any harmful chemicals and heavy metals are present. My local university extension office tests soil for only fourteen dollars. That marginal cost is worth it to me because this is my first time gardening on this plot and the resulting knowledge will likely save me hundreds of dollars in fertilizers. After I receive the test results I’ll know exactly what fertilizers to apply to my garden after I plant.

Step 3: Amend the Soil

Amending soil just means adding nutrients, organic matter, and refreshing it’s vitality. It is the most important thing to be done in the garden each season. While cultivating a successful harvest depends on many variable factors such as precipitation and pollination, this is one variable I can control. I know that if I amend the soil well then my chances of harvesting armfuls of organic garden fresh produce are increased significantly.  I usually do this in the fall so that all winter long the refreshed soil and added nutrients can percolate downward and become established before the next growing season. However, I moved to this land in December and doing this task in springtime is better than not doing it at all. 

When it comes to amending the soil I’m a huge advocate for the no-till (aka no-dig) method. It’s a form of permaculture gardening and the most sustainable gardening method. A soil ecosystem is made up of billions of bacteria, microorganisms, insects, earthworms burrowing critters, minerals, rocks, plant materials, roots, earth, water, oxygen and other naturally occurring chemical compounds. All the moving creatures carve layered pathways, eat things and excrete things. Water and oxygen flow through the pathways. Plants drink the water, use the oxygen, consume the nutrient compounds that are bound to the soil and convert it to different forms that other creatures use. I could speak for days on the majesty of it all. It’s complex and fragile. The moment we dig, till, walk on, or expose the soil to the surface air we destroy all that life and the composition of the ecosystem structure. Of course when we transplant starters we must dig a hole, right? Yes, that’s okay to do. Digging small holes here and there is minimally disruptive and the ecosystem can recover quickly. Churning the soil through the process of tilling and digging destroys it to a point that is extremely difficult to remedy.

A wonderful way to amend the soil without harming it is to layer on amendments in a lasagna fashion over the top of the existing soil surface. I start with the dead grass from my weeding. Because the roots are dead they’ll decompose within the soil very quickly and add biomass which will feed the life that currently exists in the garden beds. I do however want to remove weeds that could potentially reroot and spring back to life. Next I layer on cardboard boxes, simply because I have so many from moving and they’re compostable. It’s a great way to reduce waste. This layer doesn’t need to be cardboard boxes though. It could just as easily be done with other carbon brown waste, like dead leaves, twigs, and sticks. You can also layer on fresh green plant waste like grass clippings and green leaves before the next step too. I did not do that this time because it’s early spring and they aren’t present.

Next, I layer on fresh organic top soil. Using organic soil is important because I don’t want to introduce harmful chemicals or unnatural substances into my food producing garden beds. Then I mix in a layer of composted animal manure. I caution against adding raw and fresh manure because it contains high amounts of uric acid that will burn plant roots. When manure has been composted for six months the acid has likely leached out and it’s safe to apply. The ideal mix for soil amendments in garden beds is 50% organic soil, 30% compost, and 20% animal manure. This mix provides the soil with enough organic matter that is rich with life, nutrients, and offers additional soil substance to the existing beds. A healthy soil texture is fluffy, spongey, and provides good drainage too. It will retain the nutrients and life, yet let excess water drain efficiently. 

Step 4: Let it rest

After amending the soil by layering a refreshed mixture on top of the existing beds, it’s time to rake it smooth and let it rest. April is the rainiest month in the spring season and I don’t intend to transplant starters until Mother’s Day. Although I will directly sow seeds of hardy plants like radish, spinach and sweet peas after about a week. This timeline and forecast will allow the soil ecosystem to stabilize and get established for nearly six weeks before spring transplanting. As the spring rains hit the soil and leach downward it will draw the nutrients downwards along with it and settle the new soil. The cardboard will also begin to decompose as life in the soil begins to move, consume, excrete, decompose, and procreate. When it comes time to transplant starters from the nursery, all levels of the soil profile will be rich with nutrients. The new baby plants will acclimate quickly and be set up for a successful growing season.

Now that the days work is done, I’m exhausted and ready to rest myself. I think I’ll take a soak in the tub with my homemade garden flora soothing bath blend and dream of my soon-to-be blooming garden.