Last year we developed a toolset that allowed us to clear an abandoned baseball field of perennial sod and convert it into a vegetable producing mini-farm. This petrol-free toolset included a low-wheel cultivator made by Glaser and a two-foot wide broadfork. It is quite likely that we used these tools in a more rigorous way then they were intended, (opening new land instead of working pre-established vegetable beds), yet the tools withstood hours of work with only a handful of needed repairs. After last year’s experience we consider the combination of the broadfork and the low-wheel cultivator to be an appropriate toolset for small-scale vegetable cultivation because they efficiently use manual labor in place of fossil fuel powered equipment to prepare vegetable beds.

This blog will revisit our method for preparing vegetable beds in light of the fact that we are no longer fighting against tough perennial sod, and instead, we are removing our over-winter cover crops.

Step 1: Removing Cover Crop

We use a sharp scythe to cut the cover crop off as low to the ground as possible. Once the crop has fallen we rake up the remains and cart it off as a nitrogen input to our compost piles. In the earliest part of spring, we are careful to remove only the cover-crop from the vegetable beds that we immediately plan to prepare for transplant or direct seeding. This allows the other areas of cover crop to continue growing as much as possible in the increased temperatures and daylight hours of spring.

Jason Using Sharp Scythe to Clear Cover Crop

Cover Crop Cut Close to the Ground With Scythe

Step 2: Breaking Ground

After the cover crop has been removed we are left with the gentle stubble of annual cereals and legumes. We have noticed that the loam soil is quite soft and easy to work with, and we attribute this to the fact the area we are working was established last year. A prime consideration at this stage of bed preparation is soil moisture. We want to be careful not to work the soil too wet or we will remove an unnecessary amount of soil as we cut through the stubble of the annual cover crops.

Low Wheel Cultivator Cutting Into Soil

Step 3: Loosening the Bed

After the stubble of the previous crop has been broken free from the soil, the next step is to broadfork the soil. The broadfork is two feet wide and includes five tines that sink into the soil about ten inches. It is amazing how much easier it is to broadfork the soil this season than it was last year. We have changed the width of our beds this year from 5-foot wide beds to 4-foot wide beds. This change has put us into some areas of soil that is similar to last year when we had to combat the sod. Pushing the broadfork into the previously worked sections versus the reclaimed sod sections really shows what one-years-worth of work accomplished for reducing compaction and improving aeration. Again we want to be aware of soil moisture, so that we do not smear wet soil together in the prying and lifting action of the broadfork.

Chris Sinking Broadfork into and Prying Down

Step 4: Cross-cut the sod and rake

After the bed has been forked, there are entire clumps that have been lifted and are uneven. We use the low-wheel cultivator with a 3-tine cultivator attachment to cross cut the bed and thereby remove the clumps. By the time we are finished with cross cutting we have up to five inches of loose soil on the surface which makes a good seedbed. It is also easy to transplant into the newly cross cut bed. If we intend to seed the bed we rake the surface smooth and make sure there is no trash that could interfere with the drill-seeder.

Jason Cross-Cutting Bed with Three-Tine Cultivator

We like this toolset because it clears an area of grass or cover crop and produces a vegetable bed that is suitable for direct seeding or transplant. In this method the soil remains loose and aerated up to ten inches and it does not entail the soil disruption of double digging or rototilling. By making sure to compost the soil and debris that is removed from the area in which you intend to make a bed, you make a good step toward sustainable soil management in which no soil is lost and on-site nutrients are cycled back into the beds in the form of compost.

If you are curious you can click here to check out and contrast our bed preparation method from last year.