When establishing a new planting date, specific actions need to be implemented to ensure the long-term success of the plants. One of these actions involves land preparation which is usually done before planting.
Land preparation aims to provide the necessary soil conditions that would help to establish the young offshoots or the tissue culture plants. A prepared land helps control weeds, recycles plant nutrients, provides a soft ground for transplanting, and a suitable surface for direct seeding.
Most people struggle with achieving their desired results in gardening because they don’t know how to prepare the land properly. In this article, you’ll discover the activities and processes involved in preparing land for gardening at the most suitable time.
Prepare a Land For Gardening
Here are five steps to follow when preparing land for gardening:
Mechanical Land preparation
Mechanical land preparation or tillage operation is the first step to consider when preparing land for gardening. It involves the use of various types of mechanical agitation such as bush clearing, removal of stones and rocks, ripping, leveling of the soil, stirring, digging, and overturning.
This can be done using human-powered tilling methods, such as shoveling, hoeing, picking, and raking, or mechanized work such as plowing (overturning with chiseling or moldboards ), rolling with rollers, harrowing, and cultivating with cultivator shanks.
Irrigation system installation
Installing a sound irrigation system helps to conserve water, which in turn saves you money. It also improves the health of the plants by allowing you to water deeply and less often.
Irrigation installation can be done by a professional, or you can do it yourself. It may be a sprinkler or drip irrigation system or a combination. Usually, the availability of water, soil conditions, and topography will determine the type of irrigation system to use.
Soil improvement
Soil improvement is essential for plants to produce abundantly, resist pests and diseases. Whether starting with fresh, quality soil or gardening in your native topsoil, improving your soil is a continuing process.
Healthy soil is ordinarily high in nutrients, minerals, and organic matter. Chemical fertilizers produce only certain nutrients that can’t maintain excellent and friable soil. Meanwhile, organic matter is essential for promoting a bio-diverse sub-culture in the soil, encourages drainage and aeration, provides nutrition and other benefits to plant life.
Most soils are poor in organic matter content, and improving this situation plays a vital role in soil fertility. Adding organic nutrients to the soil in the form of aged manure, compost, growing cover crops, or using mulch is the best way to prepare the land oil for planting.
Salinity
If the soil has a high salinity, the plants will be less vigorous; seeds will germinate poorly, and the plants will become stunted or grow slowly.
If the salinity concentration is too high, the plants will wilt and die, no matter how much you water them. Routine soil testing can detect the soil’s salinity levels and suggest the best measures to correct the specific problem.
Hole preparation
Hole preparation is one of the last actions before planting takes place. The diameter of the holes shouldn’t be less than that of the rootball, and the hole should have sloping sides. Generally, plants strive in larger planting holes, enabling a more significant amount of loose cultivated soil in which rapid root initiation occurs. Also, large holes allow good water penetration for fast, healthy root growth.
Conclusion
Gardeners often disregard the impact preparing the soil has on the health and vigor of their plants. Land preparation isn’t the most thrilling aspect of gardening, but it’s undoubtedly one of the most important. If your soil isn’t suitable, your garden will struggle to reach its full potential. However, if you follow the land preparation tips outlined in this article, you’ll achieve the best results.
