Correct Garden Plowing Technique

Timing

• Fall is the best season to plow only if erosion is not an issue. Fall plowing turns under those leftover pumpkins, uproots weeds and incorporates amendments, allowing them to break down over the winter. It also uncovers burrowing insects and their eggs -- you'll often find an optimistic flock of birds descend on your garden after plowing. Limit fall plowing if you have erosion issues or dry spring weather, however. Crop remnants prevent winter erosion and effectively trap snow, which melts into your garden. If you do plow in the fall, a second, shallow plowing in spring evens the soil and prepares the garden for planting.

Amendments

• Many of the most popular cultivated plants, such as pumpkins and tomatoes, are heavy feeders. Replenishing your soil is vital to a successful garden, and plowing in compost, manure or other soil amendments increases both your soil's structure and your garden's production. Test your soil before amending. If your soil is poor, add 10 to 20 tons of aged compost for each acre -- about 1 to 2 lbs. per square foot -- when you plow. Cut this amount in half for established gardens.

Erosion Control

• Use the right plow for the job. The right plow leaves about half of the old crop on the surface, increasing soil moisture while preventing erosion. Avoid wide-set disc plows and moldboard plows, and opt for chisel plows, undercutters or, for smaller gardens, rototillers. If your land is hilly or sloped, plow with the garden's contour; never plow up and down a grade. Plowing vertically on a slope encourages erosion. Also consider wind direction, plowing perpendicularly to the wind rather than with it. Adopt no-till gardening if you have issues with soil erosion -- instead of plowing 8 inches deep or deeper, no-till gardening stirs just the top 2 inches of soil when seeding in spring.

Cautions

• Turn a shovelful of soil before plowing. If the dirt sticks to your shovel's blade, your garden is still too wet for plowing. Plowing a wet garden decimates the ground's structure, leaving you with hard, dense clumps of dirt instead of loamy soil. In the case of amendments, bigger is not better. Too much compost leaches into groundwater, eventually tainting local wells or increasing algae bloom in nearby waterways. The extra nitrogen won't help your veggies, either; nitrogen boosts leafy growth at the expense of your crop.