Dig it.

So... sunny spot... check?  Compost plan... check?  Shovel.... check?  Who's ready for
Homework Assignment #3:  Dig your Garden

Step One:  CALL 811 OR 1-800-282-7411 at least 48 hours BEFORE YOU DIG.  Water, sewer, underground power, cable, telephone, gas lines will all run within the right-of-way of your adjacent street  or there's the chance you have what's called a utility easement that would contain utility lines 5-10 feet adjacent to the right-of-way.  Then each of these lines will T-off to connect with your home.  The Georgia Utilities Protection Center (www.gaupc.com) recommends that you call before any type of digging activity just to be sure, but it is required by law to call within 48 hours prior to any mechanized digging.  If necessary, they will send someone out to mark your utility lines with paint or flags.  Usually though, they will only mark the utilities in the right-of-way or easement, and so use some common sense with regards to where your electric meter, water meter, gas meter, etc. are located.  Underground utilities will be located from each meter perpendicular to the street.

Step Two:  Asses your equipment needs. A shovel is a great start, and one with a pointed end can be especially helpful in digging red clay.  I also like to use my spade shovel - it has a shorter handle and a longer, squared blade.  This is great for digging down deep and then lifting the soil up to turn it over, then chopping up the clumps.  A spade isn't a shovel at all but instead is a strong 4-pronged fork tool that will dig in when the digging might be too tough to get the whole shovel blade down deep.  A spade can loosen an area up before going in with some sort of shovel.  And to be honest, you may need to use something called a maddock.  A maddock, at first glance, looks like a pick axe, but instead of a sharp, pointed head, it has what looks like a small axe on one end and a sideways axe on the other.  The head of a maddock is heavy, which means you don't have to exert a lot of effort in swinging it down into the dirt - instead your effort gets exerted lifting it repeatedly and letting it fall.  Make sure other people - especially kids - stand well out of your way when you're using a maddock!!!

You could also use a tiller; however, tillers won't do the best job breaking up a new garden spot if you've got really hard clay.  I'm not a huge fan of tilling because using one repeatedly breaks down the texture of the soil and destroys a lot of the most useful creatures within your soil, like worms.  Probably the best use of a tiller might be after you've hand-dug your garden spot, using it to break up the clumps into a finer consistency.  Rent one for this if you'd like to, then give it back.  And don't rent one again until you're starting a brand new part of your garden. 

Step Three: Plan ahead.  The best time to dig a new garden is after a day or so after a late winter, spring, or fall rain.  Mid-winter and mid-summer the ground is going to be at its hardest.  Rain softens the ground best in spring or fall, and if you wait until the ground is no longer muddy, it will dig most easily.  Never dig your garden while the ground is muddy, as it will actually serve to compact clumps together and destroy valuable air pockets in the soil texture.  I completely ruined a garden spot once by making this mistake!

Step Four: Start digging!  Remember to start small, and don't get discouraged.  The absolute best way to start is to double-dig, but if you need to, just start with dig.  Double-digging is when you dig out all the soil of your garden area to the depth of the head of your shovel.  You take out all of this soil and set it aside.  Then you dig out the next layer of soil to the depth of your shovel - meaning you've got a crater 2 shovel-lengths deep. Then you mix your compost and soil conditioner in with this soil, and shovel it all back in.  Remind me later to tell you about the time, during the slow season, my boss at the plant nursery had us double-dig about a tenth of an acre for a display garden.  Or about that day I got furious with my high school boyfriend and as a result began a new flower garden.  Double digging with a maddock can be very therapeutic.  My mom was afraid I was out there digging his grave! 

So - yeah - one depth of your shovel head or 6" to 8" can be a great start.  And remember - most of what I'm talking about here is worst-case-scenario with hard soils.  You might be pleasantly surprised with how easily your soil will dig up, and you might be willing to make your garden bigger than you originally thought.  Or you might need to scale back to just 2 or so square feet.  I'd encourage you to make the best start that you can - it's better to dig deeper and add more compost over a smaller area then to dig less deep and add less compost over a larger area.