Laying Out Your Beds
Carefully choose a place for your raised beds that has
access to water and sunlight—preferably 7 to 11 hours of
direct sunlight each day.
To begin, mark out a bed 3 to 5 feet wide and at least
3 feet long. A 3 foot by 3 foot space assures a minimum
mini-climate. Most people prefer beds to be 5, 10 or 20
feet long, as it makes calculating easier.
The maximum length should be determined by ease of
work.
Consider your source of compost. Ideally, you will
have compost that you have prepared available as you
begin to prepare your beds. However, many decide to
purchase compost or aged manure to begin. For this
initial application of organic matter, one may consider
aged manure. While compost is preferable, if one
chooses aged manure, assure that it is two-year-old steer
or cow manure, or two-year-old horse manure that
originally contained a lot of sawdust, or two-month-old
horse or chicken manure not containing much sawdust.
The best time to double-dig the soil is in early
The best time to double-dig the soil is in early
morning or evening in spring or autumn. The air
temperature is cooler at these times so less soil organic
matter is lost in the process. Dig only when the soil is
evenly moist. It is easier and also better for the soil.
Digging a hard, dry soil breaks down the structure, and it
is di,cult to penetrate. Wet soil is heavy and easily
compacted. Compaction destroys friable structure and
minimizes aeration. These conditions kill microbiotic
life. Correct soil moisture can be determined by a simple
hand test. Soil is too dry for digging when it is loose and
will not hold its shape after being squeezed in the palm
of your hand (in cases of sands or loams) or when it
cannot be penetrated by a spade (in the case of clays).
Soil is too wet when it sticks to the spade as you dig.
The goal of double-digging is to loosen the soil to a
depth of 24 inches below the surface. The +rst year, you
may only be able to reach 15 to 18 inches with
reasonable e)ort. Be satis+ed with this result. Do not
injure yourself or your tools. More important than
reaching 24 inches in the +rst years is improvement over
the course of time. Nature, the loosened soil, worms, and
plant roots will further loosen the soil with each crop, so
digging will be easier each year and the depth will
increase over time. Be patient in this soil-building
process. It takes 5 to 10 years to build up a good soil
(and one’s skills). Actually, this is very rapid. Nature
usually requires a period of 3,000 years or more to build
the 6-inch layer of farmable soil needed to grow a good
the 6-inch layer of farmable soil needed to grow a good
crop of food.
After the soil has been initially prepared, you will +nd
that the GROW BIOINTENSIVE method requires less
work per unit of food produced than the gardening
technique you presently use. The Irish call this the “lazy
bed” method of raising food.
