Spading or Forking-Loosening Soil 1' Deep with a Digging Fork
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- Опубликовано: 12 апр 2021
- Website: greenthumbgardeningsecrets.com
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Twitter Garden Calendar: / greenthumbgard3
Perfect soil might be a gardener’s dream. The reality, however, usually isn’t so easy. Most of us start with clay-choked or sand-filled soil. But we can create perfect soil. Doing so is our practice: that to which we regularly devote our time and energy and the most impactful way we can create strong, healthy plants.
But how?
We loosen it and add organic matter.
The lessons from our roots show us the wisdom of this approach: greenthumbgardeningsecrets.co...
As gardeners, we feel like we grow plants. But we don’t. At least, that’s not the whole picture-or even the most important part of it.
The wisest insight green-thumbed gardeners possess is knowing they don’t grow plants; they grow soil. Plants are merely a byproduct, a simple reflection of the quality of the underlying earth and the effort given to improve it.
Join us for this fourth episode in the series on to soil building: loosening soil and adding organic matter one foot deep with a digging fork! And try it in your garden! Your plants will love it!
For more on this topic, check out its specific description on our website: greenthumbgardeningsecrets.co...
For more green thumb gardening secrets, check out our website: greenthumbgardeningsecrets.com
Follow us on Instagram: / greenthumbgardeningsec...
And check out our garden reminder calendar on Twitter: / greenthumbgard3
Thank you for not being so wishy washy as many other channels tend to be. Straight on point, we need more of that.good job!
Thanks for that comment!
Thanks for the confirmation. Nice to see some common sense again.
I know, right?! The fads have been crazy and even more nonsensical these days. A garden friend of mine sent me a popular fad-driven RUclips clip recently, saying, "This is what's killing gardening." I welcome all-at least they're trying-but he also has a point. It's hard to see so many fail when success is so much easier and cheaper. That all said, you're quite welcome! Thanks for letting me know there are still people out there who are succeeding through observation, logic, and using long-successful methods.
This is a nice video. I used this method of loosening the soil when I was 40. I'm 73 now and I just put down some cardboard and pile on the planting mix.
Thank you, Carol! It's a great method. My grandfather also used it for most of his garden, and it's nice to carry on that tradition. Plus, in our testing, it almost always gets the second-best results for deeply and widely rooted crops like tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli. But, yeah, I know what you mean about switching methods as we age. That's part of why I try to present several options in the book (online right now) for differing levels of interest and ability and why we're in the midst of editing videos for a few "no-dig" methods like the one you mentioned, which I'm guessing you've found works great for most plants. I think we'd both agree that the point is to still be out there doing it no matter your age--and to pass it on to others around you who have the interest but maybe not the background. You're one of my heroes for that!
Great instructional video for beginning this type of gardening.
Great to get close to the soil and the land!
I think the lazy way might be to cover the ground with heavy layers of cardboard after mowing or even after leveling with a tiller.
Gardening with a tractor is a different story and then there is container gardening.
Securing land is a serious study.
Another serious study is going all organic.
It is time for communities to become more self sufficient by growing their own food, recycling everything, and producing their own biofuels.
Thank you for sharing informative and helpful videos!
Thank you for your thoughtful comments! You're certainly welcome!
We have videos coming on exactly all of that you mentioned! The filming is completed. They just need to be edited and published. Next will be "no till" methods, one which you described and a few others. We also weighed and compared the production from beds using all common till and "no till" methods, and those videos are on their way as well!
Just waiting to get outside now
Good luck and happy gardening!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
You are VERY welcome!
@@greenthumbgardeningsecrets75 seriously this is the only video I have come across that actually demonstrates start to end how to do this, without unnecessary chatter, just pure information. Bless you!
@@pixelated23-b9z It’s so great to read a comment like that because that’s exactly why I made the whole series on soil building - just to show several very doable but very effective methods, so people can see how easy they are and pick the one that best suits them. I’m so glad to hear it’s useful to someone!
Do you sharpen your fork before hand ? Docyou gavw cideo on that. Thanks for your time💯💜
I don't. I've never had the need. The square tines are strong, already come to a bit of a point, and dig in really well as is. I could maybe see the need if digging super hard clay, but we originally had that and the tines dug in just fine. Now, our soil is improving so much it just gets easier and easier. Now, a shovel on the other hand. I regularly sharpen those (but that's for work outside of the garden).
Thanks for all of your comments! I appreciate you getting something out of and interacting with the video info!!
💯💚
This is great! I knew there had to be an effective way to deepen my loosened soil!
Quick question though. How long do you wait between “fluffing sessions” (I.e. between the first moderate breaking and the next step)? Do you perform the second session at the same time you add compost?
Thanks!
Thank you! It’s great that you’ll use it. Your plants will love it!
You don’t have to wait at all. You can add cured compost and further fluff the soil as you mix in the compost. Does that make sense and answer both of your questions?
Thanks. I've been looking to start my first outdoor garden and was going to do the double dig method until I saw this. This way seems more simple and easier on the back. What vegetables would you not want to grow with this method due to the shallower soil?
Danny, it is our pleasure! We're glad you find it helpful! That's a great and very astute question. Thanks for asking. We've found that double digging is worth it for peppers, tomatoes, and the larger brassicas (e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage), which makes sense considering the size of the root systems of those plants. (You can find more on that here: greenthumbgardeningsecrets.com/lessons-from-our-roots/.) Having room for the true size of their roots, their extra health and growth are marked and worth the extra effort of double digging. Following that same logic and in all of our experiments over the past 20 years, spading/forking, however, is the next best method by a margin over the others after it, even for those plants, if double digging doesn't work for someone for any reason. I wrote more on this here greenthumbgardeningsecrets.com/double-diggings-finer-points/ and have a video on that here ruclips.net/video/F7a9_sPNYJY/видео.html I hope all that helps. Let us know if you have questions or further comments.
We wish you the best of luck on your new garden and many years of happy gardening!
@@greenthumbgardeningsecrets75 Wow, thank you so much for the detailed response. This is very helpful as I'm trying to absorb all the information about gardening to maximize my results. Due to your response, I think I will put in the extra effort with the double dig. Thanks again, I just subscribed to your channel
@@dirtydan2007 You're very welcome! Very happy to do it when I have time. I started writing the book exactly for people like you-to pass on the "secrets" and "tricks" that used to be done so commonly by previous generations as to be taken for granted but that are slowly being lost-so folks like you who want to start the amazing journey of gardening don't get frustrated or give up simply for lack of them being passed down. I love your approach to maximize your results. You'll also love the lack of weeds and the ease of weeding in such loosened soil. I'd also add that you might like learning about how to use offset spacing in your beds to maximize your yields and minimize weed growth. I have more on that here: greenthumbgardeningsecrets.com/in-bed-spacing/ If by the end of the year, things don't turn out as well as you'd hoped, my two cents is to remember to be gentle to yourself, stay at it, and ask around just like you did here. Gardening is a wonderful journey that entails a lifetime of growth, each year expanding into new areas, ideas, and practices. Good luck!
@@dirtydan2007 And thanks for subscribing! We've just started building the channel but have big plans and high hopes. Cheers!
Hello, was one of the spades you showed on this video a bulldog spade?
Yep! Good eye.
@@greenthumbgardeningsecrets75 Are they worth it? I’ve been eyeing them and wanting to upgrade my spade and fork.
@@blaablaahi I’m glad you asked. Absolutely! I broke my first cheaper version of digging fork (you know, the ones you get at most stores with a metal collar over a short tang) within its first year-just snapped it in two-and the second one in its first year, so someone who knew better recommended one of these. Now, I’ve had this one for over twenty years and the spade almost as long. They’re expensive in comparison one-to-one up front, but when they last more than twenty times as long for any serious work they’re much cheaper. I could pass this one on to grandchildren eventually, like I remember the old similar spades and digging forks in my grandfather’s garden shed.
Just have to build deep raised beds in my pure clay soil.
Joni, I hear you. That's a path that many take, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you can also build that pure clay soil into something amazing with this and the other soil building methods I have on the website (greenthumbgardeningsecrets.com/building-soil) instead of just constantly adding on top, and your soil will be even stronger for all of the nutrients and micronutrients held in the clay. Plus, you will have eliminated the problem of constantly having to water raised beds on solid clay in hot, dry weather. A watcher of this channel recently used a variation of this method to switch from raised beds that dried out quickly above his concrete-like clay soil. In so doing, he dramatically improved his soil, plant health, production in one season. Here's a video: ruclips.net/video/ev6ryzsIcRg/видео.html. You can get even greater improvement with double digging. Here's that video: ruclips.net/video/z0AO_nwpwXc/видео.html. The soil you see in the video, my soil at our new farm, was almost pure clay at the outset just a few years ago. Take care and happy gardening.
Very good video. If you want to do something properly in your yard, you have to take your time, use the proper tool and plenty of elbow grease.
Thank you! If you do it that way, it pays you back (and then some usually).