Deep Fertility in a Medium Sized Garden

I have already discussed a couple methods of increasing the deep fertility and water holding capacity of garden soil i.e. ways of putting organic material into the top foot to eighteen inches of garden top soil. This is especially important in very droughty sandy soil which by itself is both low in fertility and unable to hold hardly any moisture. For the small but productive postage stamp gardens one can enrich the soil with the double digging method also called trenching. I discussed another method of deep furrow planting followed by hilling. For the medium sized garden where double digging would prove too labor intensive one could use the hill method of growing which is probably most similar to the method used by the native Americans to grow their “three sister” crops of corn, beans and squash with only one tool, the stone bladed hoe. First the “hill” doesn’t always have to be an actual mound; it is just a close planting of seeds in a circular area of relatively rich soil. This soil is enriched by “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” The circular area is enriched by pulling the surrounding area topsoil with the hoe and concentrating it in the three foot diameter “hill.”

Better yet this hill could actually be a hole, a honey hole into which the gardener has dumped skimmed off inverted turf, compost, and a cup of organic fertilizer. There is never enough compost and in a medium sized garden and this is one of the best ways to make it stretch. For melons, squash, cucumbers, corn etc. I dig a hole about a foot deep, trying not to bring any subsoil out of the hole. Topsoil is dug out but not subsoil. I then skim off the top inch of winter ryegrass turf surrounding the hole and invert it into the three foot diameter foot hole and dig some of it into the subsoil. Next I pour in a five gallon bucket of compost into the hole and mix it with the topsoil I had dug out earlier and add my store-bought organic fertilizer. My “hill” or “honey hole” is ready for planting. These hills are in a row with four to six feet between each hill. If every year I move my new hill three feet then after three years the entire row if deeply fertilized with a water holding sponge of organic matter. If I have used this method throughout the garden then the entire garden is of good tilth and drought proofed. I also dig similar holes for tomatoes and bell peppers but the holes are deeper (about two feet deep; I wheel barrow the subsoil out of the garden). The honey holes are about two feet wide with two feet in between hills. I like this method because it makes very good use of scarce compost, drought proofs plants, and reduces the amount of hand digging. The results are long lasting.