Preparing Soil for a Spring Garden

Suggested Anchor Introduction

Although winter hasn't arrived yet, it's time to start preparing that spring garden. New Mexico State University's Anna María Pérez-Wright explains.

Story

Click to Listen:

Fall is a good time to get soil prepared for a spring garden. If you've been composting all summer, that organic material is ready to be worked into the garden soil. But Doña Ana County horticultural agent John White with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service says you don't have to have a compost pile to prepare the soil for a spring garden. Sterilized steer manure works well and is available at garden centers, but White cautions that this material might have a high salt content.

"If you're going to use a high amount in the garden, get it worked in and then get the garden watered several times during the winter so that if there are any salts in there, you do try and leach them out of the soil."

Peat moss is another common form of organic matter, but White says it can be expensive. He recommends buying bagged composted material which is also available at garden centers.

"Usually compost is cheaper than peat moss, maybe a little bit more expensive than animal manures, but I think you're getting a good quality product, because usually your salt levels aren't very high. Materials that come from different sources have a broader range of nutrients in the compost versus it coming from one source."

White suggests putting about two inches of organic material on top of the garden soil and working it in eight to ten inches deep. For N-M-S-U's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, I'm Anna María Pérez-Wright.