How should I prepare the garden soil

[dragon49]

I am putting my plants in the ground next Friday. My garden has not been attended to since last October. After weeding, what else should I do? Is it best to remove some dirt from the top and put in some topsoil and some mulch? If so, how much many inches should I remove? Is there anything else I should be doing?

Thanks

 

[Dyce51]

I add material to mine every year. I add a bunch of leaf humus and sweet peet and then till it all under.

 

[UltraZelda64]

This is my second year gardening, so I'm pretty new to this. I go the semi-easy route and get a couple bags of gardening soil to spread over the area, then use a shovel to loosen up all the dirt and stab it into finer chunks. Then remove any junk (ie. roots, rocks, glass shards, and other random garbage that somehow managed to find its way in there that I missed last year) and mix it in. Most people would recommend compost, and if you can make a compost pile somewhere, that probably is your best bet. It's certainly cheaper, that's for sure.