Your First Garden: A Challenge to You - STEP 4

March is here and hopefully you have been building up to this weekend. It is time to turn the garden! It takes some effort but can be accomplished in under an hour. Once done... you will have a space to plant all year long. Don't delay!

Turn your 4x4 plot over to about a 12 inch depth. You can remove the grass and weeds if you want or make sure they get turned to the bottom of the garden. The lack of light will kill the grass and weeds.

After you turned the garden, open the bags of soil and spread it out over the top of the planting space. You should open your peat moss bail and pour out 1/2 of the bag and spread it evenly over the top of the garden. If you managed to buy some fertilizer and lime, spread that out too. You can use 3 or 4 handfuls of 10-10-10 fertilizer and 6 or 8 handfuls of lime. Spread them out evenly over the top of your garden.

Perhaps you bought some wood to build a raised bed. You would want to create the frame before you add the above soil. Once you empty your garden amendments, mix the newly added soil with the old soil to a depth of about 8 inches. If you removed the grass, you can mix the top level deeper into your soil. Once mixed, rake and smooth it out. You should break up any large clumps with your hand.

Planting is next. Admire your hard work!

Good Luck!