Double Dig

By: brian odonnell 

This week in the garden we started by double digging. Double digging is where we dig out a 1 by 3 foot section in our flower bed and move the dirt from that section to the far end of our bed in order to put into the hole that will be there when we are almost finished, then we go back to the original hole and use a spading fork (pitch fork) to break up the dirt in the bottom of the hole. This aerates the soil so that we can grow the soil with bacteria and worms. We found that the bottom of the holes we dug was mostly clay.

When we had finished with that first hole we moved to the section next to it. We dug a second hole next to the first and put that dirt into the first hole we had finished digging.  Next used the spading fork to break up the soil that was still clumpy and  the dirt in the bottom of the hole, and so on until we got to the end where we put in the dirt from the first hole. After the double digging we added some compost, that Mr Stewart ordered, that is supposed to be really good for the soil, plants and microorganisms living in it.

After we double dug and put on the compost we had to put the drip hose on top of it all for watering the ground, although we haven't planted any plants yet. One part of our hose was broken so I had to figure out how to fix it, but I couldn't so I had to ask for help from Mr Stewart and he helped by showing me how to screw it together. After the hose my group had to put hey over everything to keep the ground moist as well as killing off weeds and other unwanted plants, then, when we figured out where the hey actually was, we put it all on and now the garden is ready to be planted.