We all know that spading is hard work, but many people around the world still till their soil this way. The plow used by a farmer accomplishes the same thing as spading. It turns the soil upside down. Whether you use a rotary tiller or a farmer's equipment, everything gets mixed up - roots, grass, organic matter, and soil particles which leave the soil fine and mellow.
If you are starting a new garden, it is best to turn over the soil in the fall and leave it to decompose and be broken up by frost during the winter. However, if you have to start out with new land in the spring, you will still have success, but it will take more work. If you have heavy sod, till it thoroughly once, let it sit for a couple of days, then till it again. The more you till and work the soil, the better job you will do of killing the roots of grasses and weeds.
You should begin preparing your soil as early as possible in the spring. Make sure you don't start working your soil if the soil is still soggy from melting snow and ice or spring rains. When the ground is dry enough to work, you can pick up a clod and easily knock it apart with your thumb. Soil that is too wet won't break apart so easily.
Don't throw away hay, grass, or weeds that you have removed from the garden plot. This makes beautiful compost if worked into the soil you are planning to use for your home vegetable garden. If you do take off the sod, mow the grass, or pull up the weeds, save them in a compost pile. Once they have decomposed for a while, they will make excellent organic fertilizer. Rotted organic matter is called humus - something gardeners are always trying to find or make. Humus should be put back into the soil by plowing, tilling, or working the earth by hand.
Whether or not you realize this, preparing the soil is one of the most important steps in home vegetable gardening. The soil should be loose and friable to a depth of at least four to eight inches. The organic matter should be chopped up fine, and there should be no large clods or clumps of earth. This soil is the foundation for your plants. Keep in mind that old saying that "your house is only as good as the foundation it sits on", and apply that saying to your gardening. Your plants are only as good as the earth that supports their roots. It is vital that extra time and effort be spent in soil preparation.
