How To Till A Garden with Double Digging Technique

How To Till A Garden with Double Digging Technique

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People with gardens can understand the tension and the excitement of soil tilling when it is time. Though the spring is the perfect time to prepare the soil for tilling, it can be delayed due to the surrounding atmosphere and soil quality. Except having garden many don’t know the right process of how to till a garden.

We will spread an ideal guideline on how to till a garden perfectly with less effort and maximum outcome. So if you are struggling with your garden soil to till them properly then follow this article to the end acquire a complete working plan that 100% works.

What Is Tilling?

The one word tilling actually bears a heavy meaning on its own but simply it means turning over the soil from the deep and then breaking them up into small sand sized pieces.

The reason why you are tilling defines the depth of your tilling. People need to till their garden soil when it is time for new season to prepare.

In the spring it is the accurate time to prepare your land for next flower or crop. You can till the soil using heavy machinery or by hand using some traditional tools.

If you have a small garden then using a garden tilling machine may seems a bit expensive but for a big land owner it may be the only option. Tilling also means you can remove the grass and weeds from your lawn or garden by this process.

Hand tilling takes much time but cost efficient on the other hand machine tilling saver time and energy but a bit costly.

When to Till a Garden?

Any novice gardener with little experience on gardening repeatedly ask one question, when is the perfect time for tilling the garden. It is commonly known by all that the spring is the time when you need to till your garden soil for next vegetative blast.

As the winter has just gone the soils are moist enough but the surface is dry and the plants are ready to grow back again.

As your main purpose is to grow plants so before starting the tilling have a quick soil test to know what amendments are needed for best growth.

Some common soil amendments such as organic fertilizer, peat moss, lime, mulch are the easiest and cheapest to collect any time. These simple but effective add ones will provide the soil of the garden a great texture.

As you have added all the necessary items it is time for the tilling process to began. The growing environment created by the natural amendments can be destroyed if you use any chemical fertilizer.

If you need to use then do it after six months. After doing all the steps properly water the soil to make it moist not wet not dry. Grab the handle and you are good to go.

What Equipment Is Needed?

As there are two medium of tilling one is with a machine like rototiller and another by hand. If you do it by hands then you need some specially designed equipment. A comfortable handle on a shovel and a rake is the major things you will be needed while tiling. Measuring tapes are also used while tilling

How to Till a Garden?

The question doesn’t have any specific answer because there are two major ways of tilling a garden. The first one is the traditional one by hand and other is by using a tilling machine.

The traditional process needs hard work, patience and a lot of time. On contrary the machine needs less time and work load but expensive than the hand tilling.

Tilling with hands means you are going to till with some tools operated by hands. Tools like shovels are important for digging and cleaning the surface of the soil.

It will help you to clear the weeds and grasses on the ground. Then you have to measure the place with a measuring tape and dig along the spotted line. After digging mix all the necessary amendments and keep them for composting.

On the other hand using a machine could be the easy option for tilling your garden but you should go for it only if you have big areas to till.

Machines can make your tilling fast and smooth but ready to spend a huge amount of money for the fuel and maintenance. Hence, the tillers will cut off your pressure from hand it will lead to your pocket.

How to Till a Garden Without a Tiller

As we have learned that having a garden means you need to till it for production and it depend mostly on the soil condition and size. A small sized garden is perfect for hand tilling and it is not that much hard as you think.

You need some specific tools and a proper guideline for hand tilling. It is like you are doing some workout. Using gas or fuel machines maybe useful but for small garden hand tilling is the best. We will guide you by discussing the whole process on how to till a garden without a tiller.

  • The very first thing you should keep in mind that never forget to use a pair of garden gloves to ensure the safety of your hand. During the tilling process blisters can form on your palm and it may create infection in future.
  • If you don’t have a pre-set location for tilling then choose a place with enough moisture but definitely not muddy.
  • Make sure the place receive enough sunlight and have water sources nearby. While tilling notices that there is a well drainage system. Now it’s time to test the PH level of the soil to ensure if it needs any treatment or not.
  • At this stage take the spade and go to a corner of your tilling area and start using your spade by pushing the handle down as much as possible. Turn over the pried up soil inch by inch across the whole area.
  • Keep doing this until you finish the marked land. To make this plowing more effective repeat this process once again to extract the best possible result from your soil.
  • For Large rocks and tree roots use your hand instead any tool. Because you will have better grip with bare hands.
  • Now it’s time to take a rake to level the tilled soil evenly. By doing so small and medium sized rocks will be gathered. You can pile them besides and later through them according to your desired time.
  • For big sized soil clumps; break them into pieces and spread on the garden. Thus you can complete the tilling process.

How to Till Soil by Hand with the Double Digging Technique

Are you a novice in the line of gardening? Sometimes it happens, as you start a new garden you have to struggle with the soil turn over because of not having proper knowledge on tilling.

If you are in this list and you don’t have access to any tiller then it is time for thinking to till your garden by hands. A double digging technique is such a process that can saves your money and hassle for operating tillers.

Expensive machineries are huge problems for any start up so hand tilling is the convenient way for them. To use double digging techniques properly you have to follow some steps.

  • At first take the composts collected from farmers and spread them over the tilling area.
  • Starting from one end of the marked area dig 25 cm with the help of the spade and repeat it until you reach the other end. To stimulate the double digging you should follow the end to end techniques.
  • Now taking dart from the first ditch and fill the second ditch you are going to dig next to the first one.
  • Cover the whole garden bed following this design.
  • Finally after filling the last ditch rake the soil properly to complete the tilling by double digging.

Benefits of Double Digging

Double digging is a tiring and time consuming process but it brings you an amazing outcome. The machine tillers will make your work easy but not much profitable. There are several benefits one can get from double digging techniques instead of machine tilling.

  • Hand tilling makes the crops more nutritious and healthier. A research shows that you can expect 30% more crops by following double digging method.
  • Hand tilling maintains the water and nutrition level of the soil on its accurate level and thus the seeds grow faster than other techniques followed.
  • Soil compactness and soils natural structure stays intact if you follow the double digging techniques by hand tilling. By machine it is impossible to maintain the natural factors.
  • You dig deeper than tilling machines with bare hands.
  • Plant roots, bacteria’s, and earth worms will nurture the soil if you double dig the soil only once a year. Because excessive use of them may hamper your further crop cycle.

Reasons For Tilling Soil

Those who have gardening in their list of leisure activity may connect with the importance and reasons for tilling soil for gardening. There are several vital reasons may lead you to till your gardens soil. You can do it with a machine or with hand tools like spades and shovels.

The first and foremost reason for tilling soil is to prepare the soil for next crop season. You must make the soil fluffy because it is told that fluffy soil can hold more natural particles than compact soil. It is one of the quintessential reasons for tilling the soil of a garden.

To posses more air circulation and water movement tilling soil is necessary and it could be the very next reason for tilling soil. Though it took place for a limited period of time it works like magic.

The planting process starts in the spring but you need to prepare soil before he seeding and that’s why soil tilling is necessary.

Getting rid of weeds and long grasses soil tilling is also needed as you cannot plant anything a massy land. You have to clear them first.

And finally, to establish a healthy and nutritious crop we need to maintain the ratio of microorganisms and earthworms that can be done by tilling the soil.

Conclusion

Though manual soil tilling is a tough and challenging task to perform it has a great outcome. For heavy crop and their faster growth hand tilling may help you.

Machines are expensive and can break the soil particles and other beneficial bacteria’s but the hand tilling is less expensive and safer. So till your soil with hands for best payoff.

About the Author: Susan Larson

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Hi there! My name is Susan Larson, the person behind Garden Function. I started this blog to share the passion I have for gardening. It’s a love that’s grown since my childhood afternoons in my grandmother’s garden to the ever-evolving (and always dirt covered) adventures I enjoy today. It’s an adventure and a hobby in which I always tend to learn something new everyday.