Originally developed by Lasia Brown for Gardening 101 at Noyes Park.

Soil preparation and care is the most important step in a successful growing season. During the winter or rainy season, soil goes to sleep. However, similar to the human body during our sleep cycle, soil also repairs itself during this rest. An extended deep freeze helps soil kill diseases, which is partly why climate change and rising temperatures are massive threats to soil health & agriculture.

Maria Rusciano, co-owner of Menomale and longstanding partner and sponsor of Noyes Park, joins students from Ms. Rutherford’s Noyes Elementary School 5th Grade class to prepare the garden soil and plant garden beds. Photo circa 2015.

Once soil begins to wake up in early spring, you must replenish and prepare it to nourish the roots of your crops. You’ll need to bring your soil back up to prime quality. The quality of your soil is determined by:

Oxygen
Texture/weight
pH (acidic or akaline)
Presence of natural carbon
Presence of nutrients and minerals (nitrogen, phosphorous, etc.)

At Noyes Park, gardeners have raised beds. Raised beds have many advantages in terms of maintaining high-quality, nutrient soil. They keep the soil a few degrees warmer than the ground, provide improved drainage, greater oxygen flow and help keep weeds at bay. Still, coming out of winter or going into fall, you’ll need to replenish. Community gardeners are provided soil amendment, however, making your own compost is also possible.

How to Prep a Garden Bed for Planting

Weed the bed as thorough as possible with your hands and tools provided.
Sift through the bed, removing old roots, rocks, trash and large pieces of bark.
Rake the topsoil (top 4-6 inches of soil) several times.
Add soil amendment or compost. Sift, comb and rake about 10-20 times.

Now the bed is ready to receive seeds or transplanted seedlings.