When you are about to turn your garden into a more lively outdoor living space, tilling its soil at first will help the plants grow better. You have to know how to till your garden first before planting some plants around.
As you may have known, tilling is the process to break up the soil which then makes it loose enough for the plants to grow. You also need to mix the loosen soil with the amendments to provide abundant nutrients for the plants.
Tilling is not actually a hard job to do even when you are a beginner in the gardening universe. You can just simply use a tiller or shovel and rake manually by hand. It’s a very practical way to turn your yard into a garden bed without costing you a lot.
Yes, you can actually rent or even buy a tiling machine but it can be quite expensive and also unnecessary since you just need to till the small section in a cozy yard. Tilling manually by hand is surely a fun thing to do that you can finish in no time.
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For you who are planning on tilling your yard any soon, below we share a simple tutorial on how to till a garden that you can follow easily.
How to Till a Garden Manually
As mentioned above, you only need some simple tools to till your garden manually. There is no need in using machines here. Spring is always the best time for every gardener to start growing their plants, so you can till your garden when the season comes.
Prepare these tools:
- Hand tiller
- Shovel
- Stakes
- Hammer
- String
Get all of the tools in hand to till your garden manually.
Mark the Area
First, you’re gonna need to mark the area where you want to grow the plantations.
- With a hammer, plant 4 stakes in each corner of the area.
- Tie strings from one stake to another to mark the edges of your garden bed.
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Remove the Grass and Weeds
Grass and weeds can disrupt the growth of your plantations by absorbing the nutrients of the soil. Therefore, you have to remove them from their root system.
- Use the shovel or tiller to remove the weeds in the area that you have marked.
- When you remove the grass, make sure that you leave the topsoil as much as possible, pull them with hands.
- Make sure you remove the grass and weeds with their root system to prevent their growth.
Test the Soil
The soil for your garden bed should be loose enough so the plants can grow properly. You have to test the dryness of the soil before tiling it to determine how much you have to till it and the amendments that you have to use.
- Grab some soil and squeeze it in hand.
- If the soil crumbles as you squeeze it, it means that it has good dryness.
- If the soil forms clumps s as you squeeze it, it means that you have wet soil and you may need to work harder for it.
Start Tilling the Soil
Now, you can start tilling your garden bed, it may take a lot of elbow grease so brace yourself.
- Start tilling slowly along the length of the marked area and continue your way across the bed.
- Keep tilling until you are sure that the soil is turned over and broken up properly.
- Make sure that you don’t notice any clumps.
- Clean the tiller when you find a lot of clumps and grass on it.
- Remove large rocks and trashes with hands.
- Spread the compost that you need over the soil and till again to mix them well.
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So that is the tutorial on how to till a garden manually that you can follow. Of course, when you prefer to manually till your garden, it’s gonna be a quite exhausting job to do, but it’s really worth the effort. You will have the cozy garden bed for the plants to grow that turns your outdoor living space into a very enjoyable spot.
Well, let’s add this how to till a garden manually tutorial to your DIY Garden Projects now!
