Preparing Beds from Start to Finish

Village Farm Team,

The soil dried out enough for us to continue bed preparation for our fall tomatoes. Since there are several steps involved, we thought we would give you a visual step-by-step guide to show you how we prepare.

Once the existing tomato plants were turned under, the soil was shaped into beds using our BCS tractor. After the beds were shaped, we spread a layer of compost and MicroLife organic fertilizer by hand

Next, we went back over the beds with our BCS in order mix in the compost and fertilizer and aerate the soil. The rain that occurred since we shaped our beds had compacted the top layer of soil a bit so this was particularly helpful.

Every other row was planted with Sunn Hemp, our cover crop of choice for the warm seasons. The Sunn Hemp will work to fix beneficial nitrogen to the soil.

Now our beds are ready for planting! The rows amended with compost and fertilizer will be planted with our fall tomatoes and the rows seeded with Sunn Hemp will be left to grow and act as a beneficial cover crop. We can’t wait to see it begin to take shape over the coming weeks!