As promised, here’s a tidy little graphic that illustrates the soil preparation method known affectionately as “double-digging”. Note that the level of the “double-dug” sections of the bed on the left are higher than the untouched sections to the right. This results from a combination of aerating compacted soils as well as the addition of soil amendments. In my case, the extra soil volume created by aeration and both manure and compost amendments necessitated a raised bed to contain the newly alive and enriched soil. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Work continued on my garden by making another fun trip in the ZipCar Tachoma pick-up, this time to American Soil Products. I’ve been hearing and talking about this place for some time, so I was quite excited to finally visit. Upon my arrival, howver, I was somewhat surprised to find a preponderance of ornamental rock material — rows and rows of beautiful boulders sprawl across much of the ASP yard. However, my sights were set on compost and had no time to dally. I quickly obtained my sales receipt to pick up a load of Grover’s organic certified Eco-Compost. I wish had thought to take a picture of the front loader dumping a cubic yard of gardner’s gold into the ZipCar. It was truly a sight to behold. Alas, you’ll have to settle for this shot back at the ranch:
While I was out I also picked up some cardboard at the Berkeley Recycling Center on Gilman for the sheet mulching soon to come (stay tuned for the expose on that wonderful landscaping technique):
After finally procuring all of bulky materials I would need for Project Garden (excluding wood chips, of course), it was time to really dig in. And dig did I. Here are some shots of the work in progress.
By the end of the weekend I was able to finish all of the hard work of double-digging, both in the 8′x4′ area I had already started as well as the 18″x10′ strip that wraps around the back of my cottage.
You may have noticed the wood frame at the back of the bed along the cottage. This is the beginning of the raised bed alluded to earlier. The next step is to finish the frame of the raised bed so that the soil does not wash away during watering or natural precipitation events, and I’ve got just the local, recycled material with which to do it. I think this step is going to be pretty cool, so check back to find out just what that material might be and how things look when the raised bed is complete!
Filed under: At Home, Sustainability
