Preparing a Bed for Replanting

Feeding the soil is probably the single most important thing you can do to grow better vegetables.  I do it every single time I change crops in a bed, even if it's a quick crop, like radishes. On the odd occasion when I've forgotten for some strange reason (or been too lazy) to amend the bed before planting something, it's always immediately evident to me: slow growth, yellowing and stunted plants.  Now I never "forget" to amend the planting bed between crops. 

The above is a shot of the bed I'm going to prepare for planting.  You'll see that it still has the residue of the old crop: celeriac, (also known as celery root).  The harvest debris is still on the bed.  It will have to be removed.

Once the harvest debris is removed, I then remove the irrigation lines from the bed and place them temporarily in the mulched path:

We prep beds in various ways, depending upon the crop, but for this bed we will use what's become known on the farm as the 'standard amendments'.  I always use humic acid on my garden beds first.  Not too much, just a sprinkling of it.  I use about one cup for a 4 x 12 foot bed, or about two cups for 100 square feet.  Here's a shot of the humic acid I buy from my local organic feed and farm store:

And this is how the humic acid looks in the bucket.  It has a fine dark brown pebbly appearance:

Humic acid is an organic soil amendment that can (1) increase microbial and mycorrizal activity,, (2) promote nutrient uptake, (3) accelerate seed germination, (4) increase crop yields, and (5) aid in reducing frost damage.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  Betcha you guys haven't been putting this great stuff in your soil, have you?  Well, now you can, there's no reason not to, particularly since it's not very expensive.  A bag goes a long way.

Now that the humic acid has been sprinkled on the bed, I then put on a goodly amount of crab meal. 

Crab meal is a great fertilizer.  What the heck is crab meal, you ask?  Ground up dead crab bodies!  Ewww.  Try to use a mask when applying.  It's not going to hurt you, but it smells just like what it is. Here is what the bag looks like:

And this is how the crab meal looks in the bucket.

 

Crab meal supplies nitrogen and phosphorus -- the "N" and the "P" of the "N-P-K".   I use it as a source of these two important macronutrients, plus it suppresses pathogenic nematodes and fungi.

Pulverized bodies of shellfish, such as crabs, shrimp and lobster, are called chitins (pronounced kite-ins).  They all have similar nitrogen and phosphorus readings.  They are all expensive, but well worth it.  I'll put about 5 pounds of it on a 4 x 12 foot bed, or 10 pounds per 100 square feet.

Now that we have our N and P taken care of, we need to add potassium (K) to the soil.   Plants need these macronutrients, plus a bunch of other micronutrients (such as calcium, magnesium, boron, iron, etc.). I'll go into these essential nutrients in depth in future posts, but for now, realize that you have to put at least the macronutrients into the soil before you plant.  Finally, I use Sulfate of Potash as my potassium source.  Here is what the bag looks like:

It's a very fine white powdery amendment.  Sulfate of Potash is an organic substance derived from a mined potassium source.  I use about half a pound for my 4 x 12 foot beds, or a pound for 100 square feet of garden bed.

The other essential thing for your garden beds is some home-made compost.  On this bed, I've decided to use some lovely worm casting compost, given me by our worm guy, John.  John is a master composter who has generously set up two gigantic worm bins at the farm.  The bins are only a few months old, and not able to give us output yet, so John generously brings over a few tubs of the stuff  every so often, and I love to use it as a soil amendment.  Here's what this crumbly black-gold looks like:

And here is a close-up shot of it on the bed, click on the photo to get a better look at that wiggler in the middle there.

Here is a shot with everything on the surface of the bed:

Once all the amendments are on the soil, I immediately turn them in with my trusty garden spade fork.  I don't want the worms to languish on the dry, powdery amendments, as that will dessicate them and kill them pretty quick.  Since my beds are all pretty much fluffy from previous doubledigging, I only need to go down into the soil the length of the spade fork and turn in the amendments. 

We never walk on our garden beds around here once they have been doubledug. Soil needs air just as much as it needs water and nutrients.  I know this seems counter-intuitive....how can there be air in the soil?  But there is indeed air in there, and we want the soil to stay airy, plus be light and fluffy so that the nutrients and water (and roots themselves) can move through it.

Once I turn in the amendments, I also try to get water on the bed as soon as possible.  It's all about the worms at this point, and making sure they're happy.

I then rake the bed smooth with the wrong side of a rake.  The bed is now ready for most of my crops.  I prep new beds for carrots, brussel sprouts, and tomatoes differently.  We'll talk about those crops later.

There are dozens of ways to prepare beds, and hundreds of different products, both organic and synthetic to use to get the nutrients and other helpers into the soil.  This is the way I do bed prep. . .  How do you do it?

Comments

[Suzi Randall]

Cynthia,

I would really like to take your workshop on Bed Preparation. You haven't posted the workshop schedule for Nov-Dec 2010 or 2011, but I am hoping that this will be offered again soon. I know very little about soil prep and amendments so I need this class! Fingers crossed!!!

[Matt]

Mmm, crab meal. I love crabs. Too bad you don't live here on the East Coast. In Delaware and Maryland, we have huge crab feasts every few weeks in the summer. I have been known to take the crab waste after the party's over and add it straight to our big compost pile, even with a few corn cobs and paper plates mixed in. When we moved into our new house and got our raised beds set up, my mom used the crab shells as part of her sheet composting in the fall to get the soil set up for next spring's planting. Sure the stuff stinks for a while, but what's better for the garden than free amendments from your recent party!

[Fabrizio]

I turn the soil over twice with a pitchfork and hand pick bugs...then add:
1. composted chicken manure 3-6-3.
2. hardwood ash.
3. rake that under and cover the beds with black plastic.
4. 2-3 weeks later, start planting tomatoes.
5. dig a deep hole, add 6-7 trowels full of bovung (50% manure 50 % hummus well rotted).
6. add pulverized lime.
7. add plant tone 5-3-3. Has bone meal, fish meal, kelp meal, seed meal, crab meal, feather meal...bacillus thurengenis and a ton of other microbes and other organics.
8. water with root guardian...sometimes I have used fish emulsion.

[ed]

Great blog. Happy I found it. Rotenon however is not a compound that should be taken lightly

[Connie Williams]

Cynthia,

Have you ever heard of treating the soil with coffee grounds?

[BG]

I found your site yesterday and appreciate the time you have taken to post such helpful information. You mention that you prepare beds for tomatoes and carrots a bit differently. Is there a particular post to reference for that information or will it be coming at a later time. I grow about 15 heirloom tomato varieties each year and always have a couple of beds dedicated for them. While I always rotate beds and use compost, I have not amended the beds in any other way. I had a less than great season last year and would like to try the methods you outline(BTW - I also agree that the Black Cherry is one of the best tasting I have tried so far).

Thanks again for the helpful information.

[Love Apple Farm]

Tracy, I buy them at Mountain Feed in Ben Lomond. Jorah, who owns the store, is a great guy who is trying very hard to bring a very high quality organic feed and farm store to our area. He's got great prices, too!

[Tracy]

I am very interested in purchasing the soil amendments mentioned in your "Preparing a Bed for Replanting" article (humate soil conditioner and crab meal). Where can I purchase these organic amendments.

Thank you,
Tracy

[Farmgirl Susan]

This is such a great post, Cynthia. So much helpful information. Now I need to see if I can find a source for humic acid - it sounds like marvelous stuff. I'm green with envy that you have a local organic feed and farm store! : )

Have you written a post about what you use as a seed starting medium? I've had terrible luck over the years with commercial seed starting mixes - the pepper seedlings won't grow, and the tomato seedlings are purple and stunted from phosphorus deficiency. And of course these days they're almost all loaded with chemical fertilizers. I've amended with compost and even garden soil, though I always read that you need a sterile potting mixture when starting seeds in containers. But I figure that anything direct seeded is germinating in unsterile soil! : )

Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

[Love Apple Farm]

John: I'm glad you liked my drip irrigation class. And you're right, earthworms are an indicator of good soil. I'm going to guess that the bed you saw being amended here was one of my newer beds, that hasn't had the time to acquire the earthworms it needs. I just took out a lawn and put in a bunch of new beds. It takes several years of loving care, with plenty of worm castings and compost added to get the earthworm population up and running.

[John Herrick]

AT YOUR DRIP IRRIGATION CLASS, WONDERFUL BY THE WAY, I WANDERED AROUND AND TALKED TO ONE OF YOUR VOLUNTEER DIRT PERSONS. SHE HAD JUST FINISHED PUTTING THE CRAB MEAL IN AND OF COURSE IT WAS STINKY - I THOUGHT IT WAS FISH EMULSION UNTIL SHE TOLD ME WHAT IT WAS. THE SOIL LOOKED GREAT AND IS WAS QUITE DARK. HOWEVER, I DIDN'T SEE ANY EARTHWORMS. WHEN I MENTIONED THAT TO HER SHE REMARKED SHE RARELY DID SEE ANY, BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHY. OK, WHY? I THOUGHT PLENTY OF NIGHT CRAWLERS MEANT EXTREMELY GOOD SOIL? WHAT AM I MISSING? THANKS, JH

[Brian]

http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/rotenone.htm

[Brian]

Curious about Rotenone, I bumped into an analysis of rotenone posted on a site that seems well organized and sincerely making effort to provide good data and support.

[C.C.]

Thank you for demystifying Humic Shale Ore. I've never been successful at finding how much to add to a bed. Now I know.

BTW, I answered your question re: sprouting fava beans. Soil temp was 55 today. I was wondering if I should poke more fava beans in or just scatter lupines. Such a dilemma. ;-)

[Love Apple Farm]

Aphids are tough to battle on organically grown vegetables. I would suggest a spray or powder made of Rotenone, which is an effective organically-approved pesticide for use against aphids as well as caterpillars, earwigs, and other pernicious buggies. I personally like Rotenon Garden Dust

[Carol O'Donnell]

Hi Cynthia,
I participated in you wonderful Plant a Fall Garden class and went home with may wonderful veggies. I have two questions:
Some of my cole vegetables have been attacked by aphids, probably due to the recent warm weather?, I've sprayed them off with water, rubbed them off with my fingers, and used insecticidal soap. Do you have a magic formula for aphids on broccoli?
My second question is where do I get seed and information on Ficoides Glacial--we love it.
Happy Gardening,
Carol

[Love Apple Farm]

Pip: We do try out best to filter out the worms, not because of them aggressively reproducing - we like a healthy dose of worms foraging around, but because we want them to stay in the worm bin and continue multiplying in there. So although it looks like I'm dumping a bunch of worms on the bed, in fact I'm not. It just so happened that there were a few wigglers left after the sifting. I believe the soil is healthier with a nice population of worms. I don't think I have to worry about them taking over. Thank you so much for the heads up, though. I appreciate all comments. I get a chance to learn more myself that way.

[Pip]

I believe that the worms used for composting should not make it out into the wild. There were reports of them aggressively reproducing and even killing trees. They should be filtered out.

[Love Apple Farm]

Jack: As long as the chicken manure isn't fresh, and of course, your good compost is the absolute BEST amendment!

Sandi: The addition of the horse manure compost might be problematic, if it's too fresh. If you aren't going to plant until spring, then no worries. Don't plant carrots or parsnips in a bed that's been recently amended with manures, as they will cause them to split and fork horribly. Yes, I would still amend with phosphorus and potassium anyway, as the manure is only adding a healthy dose of nitrogen. Good luck!

[Sandi]

Hi Cynthia...I've read your blog AFTER I put horse manure compost from the stables into my soil. Can I still go ahead and amend the soil with N-P-K? If my vegetables can look half as good as yours I'd be happy!

Thanks for the blog, it's bookmarked!

Sandi

[Love Apple Farm]

Phyllis: Vetch is a great cover crop, as are fava beans and the one I use, which is red mustard (it cuts down on the bad bugs in my soil). I would still strongly advise adding amendments prior to planting out that vetch-covered bed next spring. Thanks for your support, and thanks to Jen's comment above as well.

[Jennifer K.]

Hi there Cynthia,
Love the idea of the site! I have met you a few times, though you probably dont remember me. I have taken some classes at Cabrillo, among them one of the most memorable has been Richard Merrill's Soils class. It was very informative, and frankly facinating! Since the class I have paid much more attention to the soil and it has Always paid off in the end. My neighbors are also gardeners and are amazed at the seeming neglect I give my plants,yet they florish. The reason is, I have preped my soil and the plants are being fed! Not by Miracle Grow, which we have all used, but by the soil and organisms in the soil, the water and the air!
Thank you for the article on biodynamics. I have not heard of this form of farming yet. It is interesting and I bet it works very well!
Jen

[Phyllis Stagnaro]

We plant a 'cover crop' (common vetch) which grows thru the winter. We farm approximately 1/2 acre. Should we do more to prepare the soil for our summer crops?

[Phyllis Stagnaro]

We plant a 'cover crop' (common vetch) which grows thru the winter. We farm approximately 1/2 acre. Should we do more to prepare the soil for our summer crops?

[Jack Carsten]

How aboout chicken manure and compost from my pile? It's also a bit smelly. Turning is important to keep the elm tree roots cleared out. They will stunt everything. Good luck with the blog