Methods For Digging The Soil

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Digging the soil is the most important measure for its mechanical processing. Its essence lies in the fact that the soil layers lifted with a shovel must first be turned over, and then slightly crushed. This procedure allows you to loosen the soil to a solid depth, which is very valuable from an agrotechnical point of view. There are several ways to dig, and each is good in its own way

Single-tier (or simple) digging

This is the most famous and used literally everywhere method. Moreover, it is considered suitable for almost all common soils without a dense sole.

With this method of digging, the earth is always processed to the depth of the shovel bayonet. They proceed to it, extracting the soil from the grooves along one edge of the site (its depth should be in the bayonet of a shovel, and its width should be 30-40 centimeters). The soil removed in this way is moved to the opposite side of the site - it will come in handy later to fill the last groove. If there is such a need, then manure is placed on the bottom of the grooves, thoroughly mixing it with loose earth. Next, the first groove is covered with soil from the second groove, the second - with soil extracted from the third, etc. And having reached the edge of the site, the soil dug out of the first groove is filled into the last. Too large areas for digging are best divided in half.

In order to bury numerous weeds-annuals, the earth must be dumped from the shovel, having previously turned it over. And the roots of various perennial weeds must be carefully removed, because even if a small number of them remain in the ground, this will provoke the subsequent growth of weeds.

Digging up the ground overgrown with grass, all the sod removed with a shovel is slowly crushed, dropping it into the grooves.

Two-tier digging

This method of digging is more laborious and difficult. Processing is carried out to a depth of two shovel bayonets. This method gives a good effect on virgin soils equipped with a hardened subsoil layer that impedes drainage and the development of the root system.

At the beginning of the digging, a furrow is made on one side of the site with a shovel bayonet depth and about 60 cm wide (by analogy with a simple digging). The soil taken out with a shovel is thrown not far from the location of the last furrow. Having removed the soil, they try to loosen the bottom of the first furrow well with ordinary garden forks, and this must be done for the entire length of their teeth.

The sequence of falling asleep of the dug grooves remains the same as in single-tier digging. The soil layer transferred to the first groove forms the next one, and its bottom, in the same way, by analogy with the first groove, is carefully loosened with a pitchfork.

Turning over the soil, as well as the elimination of the roots of annoying perennial weeds with this method of digging are required.

Digging with a pitchfork

It is considered as a special method and is ideal for heavy and very clayey soils, as well as for very stony soils, which are extremely difficult, and sometimes even impossible to process with one shovel. The use of a pitchfork will also be successful for periodically cultivating the land in the midst of growing crops. They will also come in handy in the spring, helping to crumble large lumps of soil dug out in the fall and heavily weathered during the winter.

Deep digging

It is usually carried out using a bayonet shovel as well as a small pickaxe. As for the digging depth, it can reach one meter. In the process of digging from the lower layers of the soil, dead soil is released to the outside. The dead soil that appears on the surface is well fertilized with prepared compost or manure, and over time it turns into very fertile. Often, this kind of digging is used before planting vines.