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The first step in preparing vegetable gardens for planting is to clean the site. Remove boards, rocks, old plant supports and general debris. Cut weeds and crop residue. The material may be worked into the soil or composted if it is disease free and does not contain mature seed. Otherwise, it must be discarded. Bulky plant material, such as corn stalks, will need to be chopped before they are worked into the soil.
One of the best ways to insure the garden will be successful is to have a soil test completed. A soil test is the only accurate way of determining the lime and fertilizer needs of the garden. However, if the soil test information is to be accurate, the sample must be collected carefully.
Use a small planting trowel or spade to collect samples. Collect samples at eight to ten locations in the garden. The soil should be dry or free from excess moisture. Collect vertical slices of the top four to six inches of soil. Place the soil in a clean plastic bucket and mix thoroughly. Metal containers or those contaminated with detergents or other foreign material may cause invalid recommendations.
Avoid irregular areas in the garden when collecting a soil sample. Do not collect soil samples from areas where water stands, heavy amounts of ashes have been dumped or where debris has laid. Collect the sample from areas that are most representative of the garden.
Obtain a soil sample box and information sheet from a county Agricultural Extension Service office. Fill the box about three-fourths full of soil. Carefully, fill out the information sheet. Request the basic test which supplies recommendations for lime, nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. Send your soil sample to Soil Testing Laboratory, P.O. Box 110019, Nashville, Tenn. 37222-0019. Return the information sheet separately to the above address with a check, no cash, for $2. Allow two weeks to receive the results of the test.
Lime should be applied to garden soils according to soil test recommendations. Proper amounts of lime improve rooting, allow better usage of fertilizer and reduce the incidence of certain physiological disorders such as blossom-end-rot of tomatoes. Care in applying lime is essential, since excessive amounts may be harmful.
A soil test report recommends the pounds of ground limestone to apply per 1000 square feet of garden area. If hydrated lime is used, it should be applied at three-fourths the recommended rate of ground limestone.
Ground limestone will be most effective if applied several weeks before the garden is planted. It is better, however, to apply lime just before planting than not at all if lime application is recommended.
Broadcast lime evenly over the garden, and work it into the top six inches. It will probably last three to five years under most conditions. Do not apply heavy concentrations of lime around the base of plants or sprinkle it over plants in an attempt to control insects.
Apply fertilizer to garden sites in accordance with soil test recommendations. In the absence of a soil test, use two or three pounds of 6-12-12 fertilizer per 100 square feet of garden area or its equivalent. Broadcast the fertilizer evenly over the soil surface and work it into the top six inches of soil.
Be careful not to work garden soils when they are too wet. If water can be squeezed from a handful of garden soil or if the squeezed lump of soil does not break apart when dropped, it is too wet to work. Working wet soils forms clods which become extremely hard as they dry and are entirely unsuitable for a seedbed.
It may be difficult to work some soils early enough in the spring to plant cool season crops by the recommended planting date. Sometimes these soils may be improved by establishment of drainage ditches or tiles, addition of sand or incorporation of organic material. Perhaps a part of the garden area higher than the rest may be utilized for the earliest planting.
Another solution is to work a portion of the garden soil in the fall and to make ridges six or eight inches high in this area. These ridges will warm up and dry out earlier in the spring than the rest of the garden.
They can be used for the earliest plantings without further working if fertilizer is incorporated in the fall when the soil is prepared. Nitrogen will be lost when this system is utilized, but it can be replaced by sidedressing.
By David W. Sams, Associate Professor
Plant & Soil Science
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
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