Kitchen garden seed bed preparation for kitchen gardening By Mr Allah Dad Khan Agriculture Consultant KPK Pakistan In Training of Kitchen Gardening

2. Seed Bed Preparation For
Kitchen Gardening
A Training Presentation
By
Mr. Allah Dad Khan
Agriculture Consultant
KPK Province Pakistan

3. Soil Preparation
 Perhaps somewhere in the world, the key to
successfulgardening is simply dropping seeds into the
ground and watching them spring forth. But
most garden soils require careful attention and
preparation.

4. Soil Testing
 Get acquainted with the soil in the plot. A soil test will
reveal fertilizer needs and composition of soil. Soil
testing is available for a nominal fee through area
extension services and some private testing labs. Soil
testing for home gardens is recommended every three
to five years.
 Soil tests determine the pH, salt concentration and
level of nutrients. On a scale with a pH of seven being
neutral, many vegetables will grow quite well from 6.0
to 8.4. With the analysis, the lab or extension service
will provide information on needed soil improvements.

5. Soil Texture
 The minerals in soil are tiny particles of weathered
rock. Texture refers to how the relative sizes of the
particle structure deal with their arrangement.
 To determine the type of soil in a garden plot, test it by
turning over a shovel full of soil and squeeze it together.
If it does not stick together well, the soil is probably
sandy, if it forms a sticky ball that does not easily come
apart, the soil is clay. Soil that forms a ball, crumbles
easily and is not particularly sticky is considered loam.
 Optimum plant growth occurs in soils that hold water
and nutrients around roots, yet drains well enough to
allow oxygen into the area. It should also offer support
for plants. Always correct soil imbalances before
planting.

6. Tilling
 Till as deeply as possible to break up the soil beneath. If
a garden is tilled to the same depth each year, a
hardpan layer may develop just below the usual tilling
depth. Hardpan forms an impermeable “floor” where
water accumulates and cannot soak through. Plants do
not grow well unless this layer is penetrated and broken
up.

7. Organic Matter
 Soils should contain five percent organic material. Nearly all soils,
whether clay, sandy or humus, benefit from the addition of organic
matter. Spread a layer of organic matter two to three inches thick over
the soil surface and incorporate it six to eight inches deep. Organic
matter breaks up clay allowing for air and water circulation, and helps
hold water in sandy soils. Good sources of organic matter include straw,
twigs, leaves, peat moss, sawdust, grass clippings and well-rotted
manure.
 Organic matter ties up nitrogen as it decays. Add nitrogen fertilizer to
the organic matter to aid in the decomposition process. This addition of
nitrogen is not intended to aid future plant growth, but to act as a
facilitator to help in decomposition. More fertilizer will be needed when
planting. Use one pound (one pint) of ammonium sulfate, or 2/3 pound
of ammonium nitrate, or 1/2 pound of urea for each inch of organic
matter placed on one hundred square feet of soil.
 Manures vary in quality. If mixed with large amounts of bedding
materials, there may not be enough nitrogen to decompose it and feed
the crop. When using well-rotted manure for organic matter, reduce the
fertilizer rate by 1/2.

8. Soil Amendments
 Many areas of the country have acidic soils. If it is
determined that your soil is acidic, add lime, gypsum or
dolomite to loosen the soil and reduce acidity.
 Gypsum is neutral and will not acidify alkaline soils,
although it is sometimes promoted as an "alkali fighter."
It can be used in areas of very high sodium soils known
as "black alkali" areas where crops grow poorly, if at all.

9. Choosing a Plot
 Try to select a spot with good, rich soil. Good garden
soil is deep, loose, fertile, well drained, rich in organic
matter, and has a neutral pH. The ideal garden soil
composition is about five percent organic matter;
twenty-five percent air; twenty-five percent water; and
forty-five percent mineral matter with a neutral pH of
about seven. Soils in desert areas are alkaline and are
not naturally fertile. Plan to work to improve what is
there.

10. Loosening soil
 Benefits of loosening soil include:
 Improved air circulation to roots of plants.
 Faster penetration of water into soil… and better
drainage
 Better environment for earthworms that improve soil
quality by breaking down organic solids.
 Eased raking, hoeing, planting, and weeding
 Improved penetration of soil additives applied on the
surface during the growing season.

11.  Inorganic Mulches
 Inorganic mulches, particularly black plastic and
landscape fabrics are good for holding down weeds.
 Clear plastic mulches have the specific benefit of
warming the soil while holding moisture in. These clear
plastics warm the soil more than black plastic. Many
garden annuals grow and develop much faster in
warmer soil. Planting crops through clear plastic aids in
rapid growth and production.

12. Mulches
 Mulch is spread over the soil surface to keep moisture in
and weeds down. Mulch also helps keep the soil from
getting over heated or from getting too cold.
 Generally, mulches fall into two categories: organic and
inorganic.
 Organic mulches include materials like bark, shredded
leaves, composed products, pine needles, and shredded
newspaper. Inorganic mulches include plastic, rock, and
landscape fabric. Clear all weeds from a garden before
mulching for best weed control.

13. Organic Mulches
 The advantage of organic mulch over plastics and other
non-organic types is that organic materials eventually
break down and improve soil structure. Mulches are
sometimes used in the fall over perennial plants to keep
soil temperatures constant. The purpose is not necessarily
to keep soil from freezing, but to keep it from an
alternating freeze/thaw, freeze/thaw cycle that may heave
plants out of the ground, damage roots, or allow plants to
break dormancy during a thaw, exposing them to potential
damage during a freeze.
 When using grass clippings as mulch, scatter them in thin
layers allowing them to dry out between applications.
Grass tends to clump together and develop mold and other
micro-organisms. Spread in thin layers it quickly desiccates
and new layers can be added to achieve the proper depth.
Grass is not a great soil amendment because it is mostly
water and deteriorates very rapidly.

14. Adding humus
 Reasons to add humus include:
 Mixed into soil, humus helps keep the soil loose.
 Humus retains water, releasing it gradually for plant
roots.
 Humus provides nutrition for plants; it reduces or
eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers.
 Humus feeds—and may even provide—microbes that are
beneficial to your plants

15. Adjusting PH
 Controlling your soil’s acid content can improve the
production of vegetable plants. Unfortunately, some
vegetables prefer acid soil, while others prefer neutral
or even alkaline soil. For simplicity’s sake, I encourage
you to work toward neutral PH in a vegetable bed; most
crops will do fine, and you can make adjustments
locally when you plant something that prefers higher or
lower PH.

17. Traditional In-Ground Planting
Beds
 Months ago, I defined a traditional in-ground planting bed as one that is simply a soil patch
in which you garden. The patch is large enough that you need to walk in it to till, plant,
weed, and harvest. Here are the steps to prepare a traditional planting bed as we prepared
the family vegetable garden on my parent’s farm when I was a kid:
 1. Remove any large items that you might not have removed in the fall—rocks, tomato
stakes, plant cages, trellises, tools…
 2. Cover the entire garden bed with six inches of raw horse manure. Alternatively, use raw
cow manure. Ideally, use mushroom soil or mature compost.
 If you’re hand-raking your garden, I hope it’s no larger than about 14 square feet.
Alternatively, use a low-till approach as I’ll explain in my next post.
 3. Plow and disc the garden bed. Our kitchen garden was large enough that plowing made
sense, and the neighbor farmer generously stopped by each spring with his tractor to do the
job. Your small kitchen garden probably won’t accommodate a tractor, so you might resort
to a power tiller—or even a shovel—and finish by raking. In either case, you may need to use
a thinner layer of organic dressing than I suggested in step 2; one goal of tilling is to work
the horse manure into the soil, and it’s hard to work six inches of manure into the soil by
hand. Many gardeners recommend three inches of organic matter, and that’s a good amount
if you aren’t using machinery.

18. Traditional In-Ground
Planting Beds contd
 4. Pick weeds and rocks out of the loose soil.
 5. Mark the rows where you intend to plant.
 6. If your garden bed tends to collect rain water, mound soil from
between the rows onto the rows, creating six-to-nine-inch berms.
By mounding the soil you turn each row into a raised bed that will
reduce the chance of excess moisture damaging your crops.
 If your garden is on high ground that drains quickly, don’t mound
the soil; step 7 will result in depressed planting rows that catch
and hold rain water; an advantage especially in a dry year.
 7. For seeds, hoe the rows into trenches to receive the seeds. For
seedlings, dig slightly-larger-than-root-ball-sized holes in which to
set the plants. The dimensions of trenches and holes vary
depending on the types of vegetables you’re planting and—for
seedlings—on the condition they’re in. Consequently, step seven is
where planting instructions begin in upcoming posts.