Sign up now for your FREE Newsletter. You will receive a Newsletter twice a month providing tips, techniques, and fun projects for your garden. Sign up now
Sign up now.
For most gardeners, spring is the time for digging new planting beds. Until I learned better, I followed the same calendar. The secret is to build new beds in fall and seed them with soil-enriching cover crops. By spring, beautiful, fertile beds are ready for planting. And the only digging required is turning under the cover crop before planting, which I have found is a lot less work than busting up sod. This method combines the best of two time-tested garden-building techniques—layering and cover cropping—and the result is fluffy beds that are supercharged with fertility.
Not only is this method gentler on my body, but it also leaves the soil structure undisturbed, just as Nature intended. Earthworms and other beneficial organisms flourish, and weeds are choked out.
Lay it on thick Once you have decided where you want your new bed to be, the process is simple and requires surprisingly little work.
1. Start with a layer of cardboard or black-and-white newspaper. Lay it directly on top of grass or weeds and thoroughly wet it. A good thick layer (10 to 15 sheets of newspaper) will smother weeds and sod, and all that decaying green matter will form the foundation of your spring bed.
2. Add a layer a couple of inches deep of moist garden soil to weigh down the paper layer and speed up the decomposition of the sod below.
3. Next, spread any fallen leaves, grass clippings, or well-chopped kitchen waste you have handy onto the bed. Be creative—a local brewery may have spent hops to spare, or a juice shop may have carrot pulp. Many coffee shops will gladly give you all the grounds you could want.
4. Add a thin layer of soil or finished compost—just enough to sow the cover-crop seed into. When I empty flowerpots in fall, I also add the leftover potting soil.
5. Plant a cold-tolerant cover crop directly on top. In frost-prone areas, plant in late summer or early fall. Some crops can tolerate temperatures well below freezing if you give them 6 to 8 weeks to become established.
Cover crops offer many benefits. They hold soil in place over winter and prevent erosion. Their roots reach deep to break up compacted soils. Leguminous varieties add nitrogen to the soil as they grow. And when the crop is turned under in spring, it provides a quick, plentiful dose of organic matter. Let the soil rest 2 weeks before planting.
Crimson clover(Trifolium incarnatum): Fixes nitrogen in the soil, attracts beneficial insects, and increases earthworm populations.
Fava bean(Vicia faba): Survives temperatures to 10 degrees F.
Hairy vetch(Vicia villosa): Chokes out weeds, fixes nitrogen and tolerates cold to 0 degrees F.
In a cool, coastal climate, such as mine (where freezing temperatures are rare), cover crops will grow steadily through winter. Even if they happen to be killed off by a freeze, you can easily turn the crop residue under in the spring or plant seedlings directly into the mulch of the dead cover crop, which will provide weed control. Some cover crops, such as crimson clover, may green up again in spring even after a hard freeze.
Relax and wait for spring During the short, chilly days of December and January, your garden will be at work even while you are inside with seed catalogs. The layers of organic matter will decompose, leaving crumbly soil behind. Because each bed is gently raised above the ground, the soil will warm as the days gradually grow longer.
In spring, turn the cover crops under before they set seed. If you've got a large area, consider mowing the crops down before turning them under. Let them decompose for about 2 weeks. Rake out your new spring beds, and they are ready for planting. You will be surprised by just how rich and loamy they are.
