Double-Dig

Double digging is a way of cultivating soil in new gardens or in situations where deep, and airy topsoil is required. All that you need is a wheelbarrow, a spade, a fork and a plank of wood to stand on while digging. This works with or without grass sods on any type of garden and it is a one time chore. Double dig a fantastic method of producing airy soil. It’s like a fluffy sponge cake in the form of a garden bed!

How to:
Lay your plank across your bed’s short side and dig the first trench the width of your bed standing on your plank. The trench should be roughly the width of your plank.

Remove ( Level O) grass sod and set aside the top soil ( Level A) and place it into the wheelbarrow. Once this soil is removed you’ll have reached the subsoil ( Level B) it’s the denser level you hit while removing the surface soil and is lighter in colour than what you just dug out.

Now take your fork and loosen this layer, give it lots of air but leave it in. Now if you have grass sod (Level O), you can put it, grass side up in the trench at this point.

Move back and place your plank a planks width from the trench you just dug and dig another trench, remove the grass sod ( Level O) first, then you are going to toss the top soil (Level A) into the first trench you dug. Trench 1 is now complete.

Repeat to the last trench and fill the last trench with the top soil  (Level A) from the soil in the wheelbarrow. Once this is done you must never step on the bed again, which is why the perfect width for a permaculture bed is 120 cm between paths, so you can reach from both sides at an arms length to harvest, weed and water.