What Up Hoe? Time to Treasure Hunt.

Itty bitty Abby arm

About a week before planting each veggy outside, it's time for my least favorite task, and probably the most expensive due to the cost of fill dirt or fertilizer for pots or raised gardens:  Soil Preparation.  I would swear that every year I buy 10 bags of dirt for the stupid raised bed and every year it sinks right back down and looks half full.  Hopefully my composting adventures will help cut down some costs here, but it is a pain.  Not to mention as a 5'1'' lady with arms resembling spindly twigs, getting the jumbo super saver bags of dirt is IMPOSSIBLE.  I actually sent a guy into a laughing fit last year just trying to pick one up before he offered to help me get them into my cart only to realize I'll never be able to get them into my car.  Thankfully, Lowe's is awesome about providing car-side help the moment you ask.  But I digress, get thee to Lowe's (and take thee large male muscled friend with thee), and pick up some veggie dirt and fertilizer if you haven't gotten your composting game on yet and get started with the soil prep.

Large male muscled friend arm.  See the difference?

Another thing to keep in mind is having the right type of soil for your plants.  Some plants like acidic soil (berries are a key example) and you can make the soil more acidic by using pine needles as a mulch or mixing into the soil.  Other plants like more alkaline soil, so you can buy garden lime to add to the soil.   These include onions and beans.  A garden specialty store will usually test your soil for free so take up a few samples from your vegetable beds each year along with a list of what veggies you're planning on planting and what acidity they thrive in (so you know whether you need to amend with limestone or pine needles or can leave certain beds alone).

My favorite, basic hoe.

Now sadly, just picking up some happy dirt and fertilizer is not the end of the story.  You need to work it into the garden bed and create a loose dirt bed for the roots to spread in.  This requires tilling.  And lots of it.  Again, with said spindly twig arms my momma gave me.  This is another area where your life will be greatly improved if you have said large male muscled friend to help you out.  They can till a giant area in like 5 minutes that would take you three hours to break the ground.  And they'll usually do it for a wink and a nod.  Or a six pack of beer.  My large male muscled friend is named Walter, and I promised him a shout out.  And no, despite the name, I'm not enlisting my help from the local nursing home and do not endorse such use of old people.

The high class hoe

Ideally, you want a couple inches (at least 6) of loose, tilled soil to plant in.  If you are starting new and have grass, place a black trash bag over it a few weeks or more in advance to kill the grass and then till it into the dirt.  If you don't have a few weeks, use a flat garden shovel going parallel to the ground to remove the grass.  A tiller often times doesn't get deep enough, and in these circumstances, just get out the basic shovel and go to town digging a hole and spearing the dirt you bring up into smaller pieces.  I generally alternate between the shovel and basic garden hoe.  I've found technology in this area will not help you.  I also own a gas tiller, which frankly, I'm scared of.  But it came as an attachment to my weedwacker so I figured I'd try it.  It pretty much just sends dirt flying everywhere in a big mess, but is perfect for quick mixing of fertilizer or store bought dirt with your own dirt.  It's also as loud and intimidating as a weedwacker.  If it hits hard clumps of dirt, often times rather than separating and tilling, it just bounces back up in the air off the hard clump of dirt.  So skip the gym and get to work hoe(ing).



**disclaimer, I have not ever found treasure while hoeing, but I still keep my eye out for the stray dinosaur tooth.