Today we were visited by four students and a teacher from Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, CA. They spent an hour with Joel learning how to properly spade up a garden bed. There is a real art to it and Joel is the best. You never see a single spot of green on any bed he has spaded. The kids were great, they did up a whole bed and learned a lot about preparing ground for a garden. We use a rototiller a lot but there are times when a shovel is really the better tool. You can prepare a bed for planting in one session as you can turn all the weeds under completely. With a tiller you have to come back a few days later to do it again. Also you can spade ground that is too wet to till and thus get into it sooner in the season. Spading also doesn't destroy the soil structure as tilling does and this benefits all the critters like earthworms that live in the soil and contribute to its fertility.
Monday, May 25, 2009
How to Spade up a Garden Bed
Today we were visited by four students and a teacher from Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, CA. They spent an hour with Joel learning how to properly spade up a garden bed. There is a real art to it and Joel is the best. You never see a single spot of green on any bed he has spaded. The kids were great, they did up a whole bed and learned a lot about preparing ground for a garden. We use a rototiller a lot but there are times when a shovel is really the better tool. You can prepare a bed for planting in one session as you can turn all the weeds under completely. With a tiller you have to come back a few days later to do it again. Also you can spade ground that is too wet to till and thus get into it sooner in the season. Spading also doesn't destroy the soil structure as tilling does and this benefits all the critters like earthworms that live in the soil and contribute to its fertility.
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Wow, how cool! How did this visit come about? Were they there just for the day?
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