Designing A New Big Garden - Part 2
In this series I contemplate what I would do if I had to start all over again, with the goal of creating a new garden. In this installment, I discuss soil amendment, layout and bed design.
The goal of this series is to answer a question that was asked by one of my viewers about what I would do if I was starting all over again, and had the goal of having a large garden (e.g. 2,500 square feet). It’s a great question because I currently have a large garden, and I am constantly re-thinking every decision I have ever made. In fact, to that point, just a few months ago (in fall 2022) I decided to do a massive re-organization of my garden in order to address a number of flaws that were the result of the original layout! To that effect, I suppose it can be said that this series is not just for the new gardener, but for any gardener, because one’s gardening space can always be re-imagined! In the first article in this series I discussed garden size, grade, sun exposure and soil preparation. In this article I discuss soil amendment, layout and bed design.
Soil amendment
Where soil quality is considered, the standard advice, is to get the soil tested. There are many kits that can be purchased for doing this, but none of them will have the sophistication, accuracy or quality control that can be obtained by means of having the test done in a lab by trained professionals with good equipment. Where I live, they are done by government labs for about $30 - which is arguably better value than a kit. With that having been said - I’ve never gotten it done. Instead, what I’ve always done is to look for signs that the existing soil is reasonably healthy. If there is grass and clover and weeds growing in the soil where I plan to make a garden, I assume that the soil is probably good enough, since grass needs nitrogen and clover fixes nitrogen, and both of those plants need all the things that most garden plants need (phosphorous, potassium, etc.). The weeds, despite our dislike for them as gardeners, are evidence of biodiversity, and evidence that the soil has probably not been treated with herbicides. Also - if there are worms in the ground then things are probably ok, since worms eat soil organisms, and healthy soil has soil organisms.
None of those signs guarantee anything - but they are good signs in general. By contrast, if the soil is covered in moss; or, perhaps if it was a forested area covered in conifers (evergreens), or if things just seem strange (relative to the conditions discussed in the previous paragraph), then I would not be so confident about the soil quality, and have it tested ASAP.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Maritime Gardening Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.