How to Prepare Soil 

There is one key ingredient to having a flourishing, blooming, bountiful garden year after year… Soil! The health and fertility of your soil will make or break your garden, so learning how to prepare soil for a garden is a crucial step to building the garden of your dreams. 

Thankfully, there are a number of things you can do to balance your garden and learn how to prepare soil.

Pull Weeds and Add a Protective Layer

It’s time to pull some weeds! For my yard, I had designated an area for raised beds. This area was full of weeds and chalky soil. So, I began pulling and uprooting all of the weeds in the dirt. This is an important first step to prevent weeds down the road. 

After you’ve pulled your weeds, till the ground. You can use a shovel to create small divots in the soil, each about six inches deep. Once you’ve broken it up, you can use a rake or a hoe to even the soil out to a smooth and level surface. 

For Raised Beds: Once you’ve prepped your soil, you can lay down a weed repelling tarp, and nail down each corner of the tarp. 

For In-Ground Gardens: If you are planting directly into the ground instead of into raised beds, you’ll want to feed your soil and prep it before adding the weed protecting tarp. (Explained Below).

Create a Fertile and Healthy Soil Base

For Raised Beds & Container Gardens: One of the many benefits of using raised beds in your garden is that you can completely control what goes into the soil. I utilized an organic raised bed soil mix as well as local, organic compost. Once I had filled my beds up, I mixed in organic fertilizer to ensure that anything I planted would have a bountiful harvest!

For In-Ground Gardens: Planting your garden directly into the ground is a great way to save money with your garden. However, you’ll have to do a bit more work to ensure high soil quality. 

As a general rule of thumb, you’ll need to mix in organic mixtures like compost or leaf mold. The simplest way to do this is to invest in quality top soil and compost and mix them together. We like buying in bulk when we can, because it is generally cheaper than buying bags of top soil, but for smaller gardens, bags will do just fine! You are well on your way learning how to prepare soil for a garden.

For in-Ground Gardens: Once you’ve prepared your soil, you can then go ahead and nail down weed-protective tarp. (Trust us—this can save you so much time in the long run!) As you go to plant your starts, you’ll want to use scissors to cut through your tarp to get to the soil. If you’re not using landscaping fabric on top of your soil, you can add a garden topper, like wood mulch, to help with water retention. 

It’s time to start planting! But before you start digging up dirt, you should prepare your soil to reap an abundant harvest. First things first–invest in an organic plant food mix, like this one from Rejuvenate. 

Feed Your Soil

That’s right! Not only will your garden require water and sunlight, but it will require healthy plant food. Adding an organic plant food to your soil will bring all sorts of benefits. These mixtures are designed to ensure that your soil is balanced and that it is retaining all of its important nutrients. Plant food discourages pests, weeds, and diseases from harming your crops, and it encourages your fruits, veggies, and flowers to yield a bountiful harvest. 

Once you’ve prepared your soil, added a weed-protecting tarp, and mapped out your garden, you can get started on planting. Happy growing!