How to Create a Biointensive Garden

Start flats of seeds in heated cold frames in the spring, six weeks before garden soil is warm enough for direct planting.

As soon as the soil is warm enough in the spring, prepare a 100-square-foot garden area for double digging by removing all weeds and plant materials, then watering the area very well. Let the wet soil sit for one day.

Double dig the soil and add aged manure, compost and other organic matter, such as peat moss and shredded hay and leaves. Dig down 2 feet and remove the soil from a 10-foot-by-100-foot section of the bed, putting the soil into the wheelbarrow or onto a tarp. Loosen the soil at the bottom of the section with the spading fork. Dig and loosen the soil in the next 10-foot row, mix it with generous amounts of organic matter and shovel it into the first excavated row. Continue in this manner until you get to the last section of the garden space, using the soil in the wheelbarrow from the first section to fill the last section.

Cover the newly dug garden space with a thick layer of mulch, such as shredded newsprint, tree matter or chopped straw.

Divide the garden space into four equal sections, using wooden stakes and twine. Pound a stake into each outside corner, and pound one stake into the center of the space. Stretch twine diagonally from each corner stake, twist it around the corner stake, and tie it to the opposite stake to form four triangular shapes in the garden space.

Plant garden seedlings in the prepared and mulched garden space after the last hard frost. Fill the triangular sections with plants spaced 6 to 8 inches apart.

In the fall, after the garden has been harvested, pull the mulch cover back and till or dig the spent plant material into the soil. Plant fall cover crops, such as oats, barley and field peas, to improve the soil and enrich it with nitrogen and other nutrients. Dig or plow them into the soil in the spring.