If your new years resolution is to shed some pounds, then gardening is for you! It's a double whammy, providing you physical exercise and healthy food! "Double digging" is a method of creating a raised garden bed used in biodynamic farming. An alternative to rototillers and tractors, this technique breaks up the ground deeply and thoroughly while preserving the microbiology in the soil, and improving the tilth (or texture) of the soil.
"Dig" is not only a verb, but also a noun meaning the length of a spade fork's or shovel's head. Double digging means that the garden bed installed will have soil broken up two "digs" below soil level. Loosening the soil deeply will provide better water drainage and aeration, and plants will have more root space.
To start, mark out a garden bed with a wooden frame or with stakes and twine. Remove any grass or weeds from the marked out area.If using a wood-framed bed on an uneven surface, level it first.
4 foot wide beds are great because they maximize space and you can still reach into the middle of the beds without struggling. We usually install 10 or 12 foot long beds, but any length is fine.
Shovel out a trench at one end of the bed that is the width of the bed, 12 inches long, and 1 "dig" deep. Put all the soil from this trench into a wheelbarrow and move it to just outside the bed on the opposite end.
Loosen up the soil at the bottom of that first trench with a spade fork 1 "dig" deep and add 1 wheelbarrow of compost. Break up big clods of soil and remove any rocks or roots. If you don't have your own compost, we suggest using 1 bag of Gardner & Bloome Farmyard Blend compost and 1 bag of Gardner & Bloome Harvest Supreme compost. Mix in the compost with the lower "dig" of soil. Once you have begun breaking up the soil in the trench, never walk on that area of the bed again.
Then dig another trench next to the first trench 12 inches long and the width of the bed. The soil from this trench should be shoveled onto the first trench and broken up and mixed in with the lower "dig" of the first trench. Then in the bottom of the second trench, break up the soil 1 "dig" deep and add a wheelbarrow (or bags) of compost.
Continue these steps until you get to the end of the bed. The soil from the first trench that you removed should be added to the top of the last trench in the bed. Once the bed is double dug, you never ever let anyone step in the bed!
Want to learn more about preparing beds and what you can plant in them now? Attend our Early Spring Vegetable Gardening Class.
That was a good day for double digging. It was an overcast day which is perfect for working outdoors, the ground was softened by rain that fell the night before, and there was a willing team.
Posted by: Lisette | January 14, 2012 at 11:27 PM