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This First thing to do in in having a garden is to prep the soil.
Why?
It is essential to prepare the soil, cause if you don’t you may experience- Slow Growth, sparse flowers or fruit, plants that are prone to diseases and pests, hard soil and more. If you prepare ahead of time then you can look forward to robust plant, lots of flowers or fruits, plants that are more immune to diseases and pests and after a few years, soil that’s breathing with life. If you don’t have 6 months and you want to have a garden now then we have some things for you too, it will help you get a garden off the ground. If you can spare a month before you need the garden then we can help with that too. A note on compost: If you don’t have a compost bin or the place to put it. Then you can buy it at the store, just make sure that the main ingredient isn’t composted manure. Manure has high amounts of nitrogen in it, and your plants will look really leafy but have sparse flowers or fruits.
6 months to spare?
First turn under your ground up and try to remove the weeds out of it or build a raised bed garden(which is recommended as one can fill it with topsoil and compost at once). Have the top soil hauled to you if you can. Less shoveling.
Next have your soil tested if you can, the soil test can tell you what your ph is, it will tell you what your nutrients are at- usually low, medium or high. It will tell you how much minerals are in the soil. Personally I don’t use the fertilizer recommendations, unless they give some sort of organic alternative(A lot of the time they will recommend chemical fertilizers), I add organic matter. Compost, Manure, leaves- and other things that will break down reasonably fast when turned under .
Put compost, leaves or manure on the garden, I put all three on the garden- don’t go wild on the manure. Manure has loads of nitrogen and if you add to much you’ll have a lot of leaves and not that many flowers. Till the organic matter under.
1 month before its time to plant go ahead and turn under the ground again, to finish breaking up the organic matter.
If you have a year to wait, more can be done. Like growing a green manure crop and then turning it under as well
1 month before?
Go to a garden center and get some bagged compost, then go turn under the ground or make a raised bed as we mentioned above. For a 18 square foot bed use 2 bags. That’s a 6×3 garden . till in
After planting and during the growing season, I use a organic fertilizer called fish emulsion. Fertilize your plants every 10 to 14 days.
Have to plant today?
Turn under the ground. Go to the store and buy 1 or 2 bags of compost. dig a hole about an inch deeper than needed and put some of that compost in the bottom of the hole, plant the plant. And every two weeks fertilize it according to package instructions. After a couple of months take some more of that compost and put it on top of the soil around the plants.
Improving the soil
If this is a annual(lives one year) or a Veggie bed. After the first freeze that kills everything. Pull the large plants( tomato, okra, corn) out and put them in a compost bin- if you have one, or discard them Leave the small plants in the ground and turn the ground up.
About 2 or 3 months away from planting season, put some compost on the garden and turn under. After a few years your soil will be loose and full of life.
For a perennial bed top dress the soil with organic matter like compost or composted manure.
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Author Bio Box: Curtis White
 http://growingthumbs.wordpress.com/techniques/garden-bed-prep/
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