In spring at the latest, when the snow cover melts and severe frosts are no longer to be expected, the time has come to prepare the vegetable patch for the next harvest season. But what work is then pending and what garden tools are required for this? You can find the answer to these questions in this article.
In the spring before sowing, the vegetable patch is loosened up
Draw a planting plan
It is advisable to draw a planting plan and divide up the available space. According to the laws of crop rotation, a distinction is made between:
- heavy feeder
- medium eater
- weak feeder.
A small area of the vegetable garden should be reserved for flowering plants or herbs. These attract insects, which ensure good pollination of the vegetable plants and thus a higher crop yield.
Prepare bed for sowing
If not already done, old and not rotted plant material is removed first. Now you need a digging fork and a boar tooth to loosen the top layer of soil compacted by snow and frost:
- Work the soil thoroughly with the digging fork so that the soil is well aerated.
- The surface is then worked through again with the sow tooth, as seeds and cuttings only thrive in finely crumbly soil.
In the course of this work, compost and, in the case of very heavy soils, sand are worked into the soil. Remove all weeds and stones, this will make maintenance much easier later on.
When does green manure make sense?
You can sow green manure from March to October and prepare the vegetable garden for planting.
Green manure plants also loosen deep layers with their roots reaching far into the earth. This makes the usual early digging superfluous. After hacking off, you can leave the plants on the beds as a protective mulch layer, they serve as food for earthworms and soil organisms.
This increases the humus content in the soil and it can store more water. The lepidoptera often found in green manure mixtures enrich the soil with nitrogen, which is valuable for other plants, via their nodule bacteria.
tips
Heavy digging in spring causes lasting damage to soil life. Therefore, only carefully loosen the soil and fertilize with a biological fertilizer if necessary. A soil analysis is recommended, so you know exactly which nutrients are missing.