
	Intro: Before you begin Step 1: Pick the plot Step 2: Know your growing season Step 3: Buy your seeds Step 4: Plan the garden Step 5: Prepare the soil Step 6: Plant your seeds Step 7: Tend the garden Step 8: Harvest the garden








	If you're preparing soil in the fall, you can mix in organic materials like compost, rotten leaves, grass clippings, and fresh animal manure, since it will age over the winter. (If you live near a farm, contact the owner and ask if it's possible to use some of the manure.) If you own a rototiller (or are renting one), it will both turn and break up the soil, although you should still check it over for clumps. A good, homemade mulch for your footpaths and between planting rows is an inch-thick layer of newspaper covered by grass clippings. This will keep the weeds down, and the newspaper will slowly decompose.

2torial #0568:
Learn2 Plan a Vegetable Garden (Continued)

Prepare the soil

The more you prepare your soil early on, the more success you're likely to have. Professional gardeners recommend that initial soil preparation take place in the fall before spring planting. This lets the fertilizers and other amendments break down and mix with the soil over the winter. If you aren't able to plan that far ahead, it's okay. Just be sure that whatever you add to the soil is mixed in thoroughly and is safe for planting (some fertilizers can "burn" the seeds if they haven't broken down in the soil enough). Here's what you need to do:

Take two or three soil samples from your garden site. Use your spade to get a few scoops (no grass or rock--just dirt) and put them in separate bags or jars.
Call your local nursery or garden center and ask if they can test your samples for their pH levels (the amendments you use will depend on the pH level). Some places will test the soil for free, others for a small fee. You can also buy a testing kit, which is cheap and easy to use.
Pick a day when the ground is dry--wet soil is almost impossible to work with. Gather your equipment and soil amendments (you may want a wheelbarrow for this). Measure out your garden with the measuring tape, then drive stakes into each corner and tie strings to mark off the area.
With the shovel, "turn" the soil in the marked area. This involves simply digging the shovel into the ground and flipping over the scooped soil. The depth of the turned soil should be at least a foot. Remove any rocks.

Take your hoe and break up the dirt clods. The finer the soil, the better the planting, so really get in there.
Use your shovel to spread the amendments over the site according to the nursery directions. Work everything together until the soil is "fluffed," or loose. Don't step on the fluffed soil.

If animals are a concern, you may want to fence the area with chicken wire. Also, it's a good idea to mark off your footpaths so you don't step on and compact the prepared soil. You can spread mulch over the path areas, or lay down boards or flagstones.

Step 6