Starting a new garden bed

A garden is nothing without a good foundation, and that foundation is the soil. Soil has its own complicated ecosystem from worms and beetles on down to tiny, nearly-microscopic filaments of fungi and bacteria. As with anywhere on earth, a healthy ecosystem is essential for optimal growth and health.

In my backyard the soil is a heavy clay over a base of sand. It barely grows grass in some places. But, if you build it they will come... The raised bed that I put in last summer is nearly overflowing with worms, and centipedes are fairly common, too, much to my husband's chagrin. It started off life as a lasagna garden, with a base layer of cardboard boxes recycled after the move, a couple bags of dirt from the grocery store garden center, and some trench-compost piles. Now there's enough good dirt to grow short-ish carrots, and my herbs are taking off. The bed isn't very large because it takes a fair input of cash to start that way, with the boards and hardware to attach the corners. I used two un-treated cedar deck planks and cut them down to a rectangle.



I like using the lasagna method because it deals with grass quite efficiently without a lot of digging. In my area the soil is an extremely heavy clay, and that's just murder on my back after a while. The bottom layer of cardboard, and the second layer of leaves or straw break down after the grass is well and truly dead so it cuts down on the weeding for a while and allows the extended root systems of plants to dig down into the lower dirt.

So, everyone knows that plants have roots. That's an obvious fact. We learn it in kindergarten when we grow beans in clear plastic cups. Some people even know that some plants replenish nutrients in the soil, like alfalfa and peas which put back in nitrogen. But, often we don't know why, and this is a topic that is still fairly new to gardening and farming- soil ecology.

Plants which put nitrogen back in the soil do so through a symbiotic relationship with a fungus, and it's being discovered that certain plants and certain fungi and bacteria will work together. The fungi and bacteria become an extended part of the plant, bringing it nutrients and defending it against disease, while the plant takes sunlight, carbon and water, and feeds the fungi and bacteria the sugar it produces. Each plant has its own favourite helpers and will actively encourage them to grow there.

So, we, as gardeners, need to create an environment where plants and the microfauna and microflora can thrive. Compost and manure return nutrients, but they also fluff up the soil structure, allowing oxygen into the lower levels and helping to retain water. This is why traditionally people have 'double dug' their garden, digging down two shovel-lengths to get compost and manure well down into the strata. This has merit in poor soils, but once you've done that you don't ever need to do it again. Too much digging breaks up the natural ecosystems which develop over time. This is also why it is very unwise to put un-composted manure directly on your garden. Besides the possibility of frying your plants with too much raw nutrients, there is also quite a lot of unhealthy bacteria which are useful inside the back end of an animal, but don't do much for the soil. Or you, if you eat it through cross-contamination. Compost your manure, or buy it that way. This cannot be stressed highly enough.

If this topic interests you I highly encourage you to go and do some reading. There's so much more going on in your garden than just worms.