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How to Double Dig a Garden

What's up everyone? I wanted to start a thread on double digging your garden. This is a great method to really loosen up your soil and ensure that the roots of your plants can get down deep into the ground. An added bonus is it allows you to really pull out any crap that is in your soil such as rocks, debris, etc.

The premis behind this method is that you are removing dirt from one area and replacing it with dirt from another area. In my case, I had 4 beds that I was digging, so Bed A's dirt goes to Bed D, Bed B's goes to Bed A, Bed C's goes to Bed B, and Bed D's goes to Bed C's. Here is a quick visual on the wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_digging

The tools you will need (at minimum) are a shovel, a wheelbarrow or tarp, a tape measure, a rake, and a spading fork. Some "nice to haves" are rope or kitchen twine, a knife, marking sticks, a transfer shovel, and gloves.

Step 1. Identify your area and mark your beds.
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I used the kitchen twine and bamboo sticks to mark my 4 beds.

Step 2. Remove the top layer of grass.
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I started to use a regular shovel, but found that the transfer shovel works much better for this.

Step 3. Dig the bed out to about a shovel head depth.
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Thanks Dad for this!

Step 4. Use your spading fork and break up the soil beneath. (I didn't take a photo, sorry, but there is a part in the video where I demonstrate sticking it in the ground and wiggling.....)

Step 5. Move the dirt to the appropriate bed.
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Use the above recommendation. Move the dirt from the first bed to the last and the remaining beds over one.

Step 6. Smooth out the tops of the beds and DON'T WALK ON THE BEDS! You do not want to compress the dirt that you just spent a ton of time aerating!
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At this point, you should add a few (3-4) inches of compost and your nutrients. Just work it into the top few inches of the soil and you should be good to go!

As a side note, what if you just want one bed? What if you don't want to move the dirt? Don't worry you can still "turn" the soil. The method for this is very easy. Do steps 1-4 and then put the dirt back in. You will get the same aeration results. The experts only really recommend double digging every 3-5 years, or when you are starting a new plot, the subsequent years turning the soil should be sufficient.

Here is a How-To video for yall!

http://youtu.be/TA9ZJVie7Rs
 
Yeah, works for you people who have nice sandy dirt. Us here with clay can barely move a wheelbarrow full of clay/dirt, must weigh 500lbs. Looking real good though.
 
Very nice step by step instructions and video! I did it this way last year, this year didn't feel like working as hard with the damn clay we have here! Ridiculously heavy loads is right!

If you ever feel like investing in a electric tiller I highly recommend this one. http://www.amazon.co...33&sr=8-3-fkmr0

Although it is out of stock on Amazon right now, probably due to the season. It was the best $119.99 I have EVER spent!! No tax AND free shipping, can't beat that! This little thing is a work horse and if it can handle my clay it can handle anyone's dirt! :)
 
Thanks Melissa! I actually considered roto tilling, my buddy has one that he was gonna let me borrow, but there is no way that I could have got nearly as deep as I did with a tiller. My soil was pretty damn compacted at 6 inches and below, now it is loosened about 18 inches down. That, and the fact that some say you can do less damage to the micro-organisms by digging instead of tilling, I was like what the hell....the first year will be the worst and after that it should be easy!
 
Nice job MGOLD86, looks like you'll be cranking em out good this season. You guys should see my dirt! Its like this gray clay dust. Im gonna have to really work with some of this dirt bigtime, and not only that, but we will probably be water restricted again this summer :tear: , but that wont stop me.
 
Looks good. I used my cultivator pulling it backwards on mine then raked it out of the way and went again to get deeper. Worked good on my beds, Of course 2 were built last year and the other is 3 years old and they were all built with and yearly added to with leaf compost. Wish I had sandy or clay sometimes. Maybe some amending is due.
 
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