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Preparing the
ground
To give plants a good start in
life its essential to provide well-prepared, fertile
soil.
The amount of soil preparation will depend
on what you’re faced with. You may have a garden that
just needs lots of weeding; your completely new garden
may have a layer of topsoil hiding piles of builders’
rubble; or you may want to remove areas of lawn to make
space for more plants. |
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Whatever your scenario, the cure is the same - elbow grease. It may not be an attractive proposition, but, believe me, time spent doing the ground work will repay you a hundredfold in lower maintenance once the garden is up and running.
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The first step is to get rid of the rubbish and dig out tired old shrubs and weeds, especially perennial weeds such as thistle, nettle, bindweed, ground elder and couch grass. Remove all parts of the roots: rhizome,
tap root and bits of brick bat. But, don’t be over
hasty. Keep an eye out for surviving plants. This is
especially important in winter when they may be
‘resting’ below ground. Let them grow, and if they’re no
good take them out. But remember, they may turn out to
be a real treasure.
Improving your
soil
With the ground preparation
complete, it’s time to improve the soil. Improving the
soil means making its texture and structure easier for
roots to grow in and providing all the food a plant
needs.
It’s a two-stage process:
- Dig in lots of well-rotted, bulky organic
matter, such as horse manure or garden compost,
about half-a-wheelbarrow load per square
metre
- Apply fertiliser - a handful of a general
organic fertiliser, such as blood, bone and
fishmeal, per square
metre
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| If you are starting afresh, do
the digging and mucking preferably the winter
before, especially if you are on soils that are
clay dominant, but don’t worry if you’ve missed
it. And fork in the fertiliser just before
planting. |
| If the plants are already there,
‘mulch’ the beds with a
10cm (4in) layer of bulky organic and a scattering
of fertiliser before the growing season begins –
early spring. |
Organic
matter
Organic matter improves
soil structure, as does the digging, and as it
breaks down it releases small amounts of
nutrients. That’s what organic gardeners mean by
‘feed the soil not the plant’. |
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| You can buy a range of soil
improvers in bags at the garden centre, but this
is expensive. Much better is a ‘steaming pile’
delivered, and making your own with a compost
heap.
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Grand Opening Going On Now!
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