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Creating a Garden Bed

The first thing to consider in creating a garden is the selection of the best spot. Hopefully, you have a choice of places with the best growing conditions. With space restricted, conditions could lead to no garden, or to a box garden. Certainly a box garden is better than having no garden at all.

But we'll today think that it is possible to really pick out just the right site for the garden. Where shall it be located? The greatest deciding factor is the sun exposure. No one would choose a north corner, unless there were no other choice; because, while north corners work for ferns, specific kinds of wild flowers, and begonias, they are not suitable as spots for a general garden.

The ideal spot is a southern exposure. Here the sun radiates throughout the day. When the garden is located southerly, the rows of vegetables and flowers should run north and south. With this placement, the plants receive the sun's rays all the morning on the eastern side, and all the afternoon on the western side. One should not have any ill-proportioned plants with such a placement.

Suppose the garden faces southeast. In this case the western sun is not part of the problem. In order to get the best distribution of sunlight run the rows northwest and southeast.

The idea is to get the most sunlight as evenly distributed as possible for the longest time period. From the one-sided growth of window plants it's easy to see the effect on plants of poorly distributed light. So if you use a small diagram remembering that you wish the sun to shine part of the day on one side of the plants and part on the other, you can adapt to any situation. The southern exposure gives the ideal case because the sun gives half time nearly equally to each side. A northern exposure may mean an almost entire cut-off from sunlight; while northeastern and southwestern places always get uneven distribution of sun's rays, regardless of how carefully this is planned.

The garden, if possible, should be planned out on paper first. The plan is a great help when the real planting time comes. It saves time and unnecessary buying of seed or starter plants.

New garden spots are likely to be found in two conditions: they are covered either with turf or with wild brush. In large garden areas the ground is ploughed and the sod turned under; but in small gardens remove the sod. How to take off the sod in the best manner is the next question. Stake and string line off the garden spot. The line gives an accurate and straight path to follow. Cut the edges with the spade all along the line. If the area is a small one, say four feet by eighteen or twenty, this is an easy affair. Such a narrow strip may be marked off like a checkerboard, the sod cut through with the spade, and easily removed. This could be accomplished in two long strips cut lengthwise of the strip. When the turf is cut through, roll it up like a roll of carpet.

But suppose the garden plot is large. Then divide this up into strips a foot wide and take off the sod as before. What shall be done with the sod? Do not throw it away for it is full of richness, although not quite in available form. So pack the sod grass side down one square on another. Leave it to rot and to weather. When rotted it makes a fine fertilizer. Such a pile of rotting vegetable matter is called a compost pile. All through the summer add any old green vegetable matter such as grass clippings to this. In the fall put the autumn leaves on. A thin application of limestone added to each layer of matter will aid in the decompostion of the matter. A fine batch of plant nutrients is being prepared for another season.

Even when the garden is large enough to plough, I would pick out the largest pieces of sod rather than have them turned under. Go over the ploughed space, pick out the pieces of sod, shake them well and pack them up in a compost heap.

Mere spading of the ground is not sufficient. The soil is still left in clumps. Always as one spades one should break up the big clumps. But even so the ground is in no shape for planting. Ground must be very fine indeed to plant in, because seeds can get very close indeed to fine particles of soil. But the large clumps leave large spaces which no tiny root hair can penetrate. A seed is left isolated in a completely wasted area when planted in large chunks of soil. A baby surrounded with great pieces of beefsteak would starve. A seed among large clumps of soil is in a similar situation. The spade never can do this work of pulverizing soil. But the rake can. That's the value of the rake. It is a great clump breaker, but will not do for large clumps. If the soil still has large clumps in it, choose the hoe to break these down.

Many people handle the hoe awkwardly. The chief work of this implement is to rid the soil of weeds and stir up the top surface. It is used in summer to form that mulch of dust so valuable in retaining moisture in the soil. I often see people as if they were going to chop into atoms everything around. Hoeing should never be such vigorous exercise as that. Spading is vigorous, hard work, but not hoeing and raking.

After clumps are broken use the rake to make the bed fine and smooth. Make sure that the soil is well broken up to a depth of at least twelve inches or three hundred millimeters. Now the great majority of bed preparation work is done.