In one of the articles, we discussed the issue of tidying up the site and preparing it through reclamation to the state, which would allow the cultivation to start. Growing a garden, will it be a plot, or a backyard garden, consists in carrying out various cultivation treatments using different tools. However, all these measures have one goal: create conditions conducive to creation or preservation (if one already exists) lumpy structure, thanks to which the soil can store large reserves of water with free access of air at the same time. Our task is through appropriate continuous cultivation treatments, consciously regulating and shaping positive physical phenomena, chemical and biological, the effect of which is the enhancement of the so-called agricultural culture.
Cultivation treatments allow organic and mineral fertilizers to be introduced into the soil; they are also the only large-scale weed control in use (Chemical warfare methods through the use of herbicides should rather not be used), as well as with pests and diseases. We divide the cultivation procedures into two groups: treatments to prepare the soil for planting and sowing plants. The latter group falls within the scope of beauty treatments and will be discussed in other chapters.
Preparation of soil for the cultivation of vegetables or ornamental plants in the garden is limited to digging the soil to the depth of the spade. If we receive the plot in the spring, in an area not plowed in the fall, then spring digging and fertilizing is necessary. However, because deep soil disturbance causes drying out, therefore it should be dug as early as possible in the spring, while carefully breaking the lumps. When digging in the spring, it is more advisable to use a wide-toothed forks, which go into the ground more easily and break lumps better. The dug-in surface should be rake immediately.
If we put manure in spring digging, keep in mind, that it is wet and well distributed, because by digging up dry manure, we collect water from the soil. Dry manure should be carefully moistened with water before being covered. The rule, however, is, in order to perform deep digging of the plot in the fall, and in a special way. Namely, lumps of earth are not smashed, but the opposite, all cut off
with a spade, the furrows should be placed intact "upright". Thanks to this, we enormously increase the soil surface exposed to the effects of the weather (air temperature changes, rainfall, frost). The crushing effects of frost are of particular importance for the formation of the lumpy structure. The water capacity of the soil also increases, which absorbs large amounts of water like a porous sponge, and snow blowing is reduced, which, stopping between the furrows, increasing the "water supply”. Thorough soil ventilation also enhances the work of soil bacteria and chemical processes.
Digging starts from the shorter side of the garden, creating a groove along that side to the depth of the spade; the soil from it is scattered all over the garden. This is called plight. By cutting off the first furrow, we arrange individual lumps of earth at an angle to the wall of the overgrowth, turning them over like this, so that the top layer is at the bottom of the furrow. If digging is combined with a manure cover, this is the fertilizer evenly spread over the entire surface, after placing the first furrow slice, we sweep it to the side of the furrow, not to the bottom of the furrow. Thanks to this procedure, we will avoid too deep covering of the manure, which will be rapidly degraded by soil bacteria, working intensively with good access to air.