Gardening Tips - Creating Garden Borders, Raised Garden Beds Using Tillers and Cultivators

Gardening Tips

Creating Garden Borders, Raised Garden Beds Using Tillers and Cultivators

Tilling — How Does It Help Your Garden Grow?

Many gardeners strive for the perfect garden. They put a lot of time and energy into cultivation. However, many of these avid gardeners are wasting their time. Knowing the proper gardening techniques is the key to a lush, healthy garden. In order to fully understand how to care for your plants, you must first know the proper way to prepare the ground they will grow from.

Ground Breaking

Using a rototiller is the most popular way to prepare the garden. It easily breaks new ground for effortless planting. Rototillers are also helpful when working organic matter into and removing weeds from the earth. Most importantly, however, is the tillers ability to aerate the soil. Aeration is the key ingredient in the perfect garden recipe.

Aeration

Aerating the soil adds oxygen, which in turn causes a surge of microbial activity. These microorganisms feed on the organic matter in the soil, which accelerates decomposition creating healthy, enriched soil for your plants to grow. Without proper amounts of oxygen, plants do not take in adequate nutrients resulting in accumulation of toxic substances. These toxic substances ultimately lead to plant death.

Aeration also improves many physical properties of the soil, such as structure, density, and porosity. The plants depend on the state of these characteristics to help bring nutrients to their roots. The structure of the soil relates to how the soil particles are grouped together. Modifying the structure of the soil by tilling helps keep the soil nutrient rich. The density of the soil is another important physical property of the soil. A low density soil will provide better results than a high density soil. Porosity directly relates to density. Porosity is the empty space between particles of soil. All of these factors deal with room for water, air and root penetration. The more the plant is able to reach the nutrients it needs to grow, the healthier the plant will be.

Organic Matter

Not only do tillers help with the texture of the soil, they are also helpful when it comes to working other important ingredients into the soil. A rule of thumb when it comes to tilling is always replace the organic matter that is consumed by the microorganisms. When you till, you increase microbial activity. This eats up all of the organic reserves. Eventually these vital organisms die due to lack of nourishment. So by replacing their food source, you guarantee they will be around for the entire growth period of your garden.

Other ingredients to a healthy garden include nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. These are common ingredients in organic fertilizers. Nitrogen is the key to a greener garden. This element stimulates green leaf growth. Phosphorus, however, promotes root and seed growth. This leads to a more plentiful harvest. Last, but certainly not least, potassium. Potassium accelerates early growth, strengthens stems and helps the plants build up a resistance to cold. By carefully monitoring your gardens food and water resources you are able to maintain healthy, beautiful plants.

Tilling Tips

There are only a few things you need to remember when tilling. First of all, do not till when the soil is too wet or too dry. This may destroy the soil structure and lead to soil erosion and a loss of vital nutrients. Make sure to till only once. Over-tilling will also destroy the texture of your soil, making retention of air and water more difficult. Lastly, make sure to replenish the nutrients that are essential to your plants growth by tilling in organic material and fertilizers. If you follow these simple rules, you will be sure to have a healthy, green garden season after season.

How Do I Plan My Garden?

Choose a level location near an irrigation source that does not compete with trees or other landscaping.
Make sure you have the tools you need.
Make sure to prepare the soil properly. See "Tiling — How does it help your garden grow?"
Make a sketch of the plot. This will help keep you organized.
Select what plants you want to grow.
Allow room for the different varieties of vegetables and fruits that blossom at different times. Take this into consideration and plant early season plants next to late season to guarantee plenty of space

How Do I Create A Neat Garden Border?

The key to any garden is to create a garden that is not rigid in shape. The planting areas should have a gentle, fluid look to them, with no hard edges.
Using landscaper's marking paint, lay out the desired garden patterns. Allow at least 24" between each bed form.
Cut out turf and/or existing plant material. For removing old lawn, use the Hoffco Li’l Hoe.
Remove the lawn from the bed, create a smaller interior shape inside each larger bed. This should be smaller, but similar to the main bed shape.
Create a border edge. You can do this by using the Hoffco cultivator edger attachment.
To connect the ends of the hose together, insert a smaller piece of stick, dowel or bamboo into one end of the hose, then slide it into the other end to make a solid border.
Begin planting your new garden.

How Do I Make A Raised Garden Bed?

Remove the sod. Use a flat shovel or a sod remover to remove the sod. Wet sod is heavier to lift, but comes up easier.
Use a Hoffco tiller to cultivate the area eight to 10 inches deep. Put extra dirt onto a cloth.
Put plastic edging along the side to hinder lawn grass growth.
Add six inches of organic matter. If the soil is clay or other heavy material, add pea gravel or coarse sand last so it can sift down during tilling.
Till the entire bed. It should be close to level with the original lawn.
Put a border around the bed. This could be with rocks, wood, edging material, etc.
Add the soil on the cloth back into the garden bed. Make sure to any soil from the lawn.
Till the garden one more time.
Rake the bed smooth with a garden rake, and it's time to plant.

Links

Want to check the weather forecast? Need some planting tips? Do you have other gardening questions? Check out these helpful links:

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