We are still working on getting the garden ready to plant. This weekend we added some well aged manure to the soil. Following Paul Gautschi’s (from Back to Eden) method of soil preparation and gardening, we are layering to prevent weeds and because we have horrible ground to work with.
After one more load of dirt, we will top off it off with wood chips. The wood chips will help hold in moisture, and as they slowly decompose, they will add important nutrients to the soil. Some people have voiced concern about woodchips taking nitrogen from the soil. This may be an issue for the first year or two, but adding blood meal will help help. Since we are adding a good amount of manure, we should be ok. I have a soil test kit that I am going to use before and after planting, so we’ll see how it goes. Stay tuned for updates on how this new method is working for us.