Tasks or activities to be carried out in the family garden
Usual tasks that must be carried out in a vegetable garden
After proper planning, both the preparation of the garden and its cultivation will require us to carry out a series of constant tasks to obtain the best performance and the best possible quality.
Below is a complete cultivation guide in which you will find the horticultural tasks to be carried out on crops, from soil preparation to harvesting and storage.
Soil preparation
Once the choice of the location and design of the vegetable garden has been made, the soil preparation tasks must be carried out, which will leave the land in good condition for sowing vegetables.
These tasks will be carried out during the autumn and winter months, so that, when spring arrives, the soil is ready to receive the seeds.
Among the most important preparation tasks are clearing and digging the soil.
Clearing the ground
Clearing is the initial task of establishing a vegetable garden for the first time on previously unworked land. Clearing involves removing stones, weeds, tree remains, roots or stumps of trees and bushes.
If our land is very large and we are going to establish an intensive vegetable garden, the use of machinery, such as a plough, will allow for adequate clearing and less physical effort. However, in the family vegetable garden or orchard-garden, this work is normally done by hand and is the hardest step from a physical point of view.
How is clearing carried out?
For this cleaning phase, the herbs are pulled out manually or tools such as a hoe, a rake, a shovel and a sickle (a kind of short scythe for cutting grass) are used.
Small machinery such as motor cultivators or motor hoes can also be used. The former are like small tractors whose wheels propel the vehicle that drags the blades that dig into the ground.
Motor hoes are smaller and do not have drive wheels, although they may have steering wheels, and it is the blades themselves that make the machine move forward while removing the soil. The latter are more difficult to operate, although they are cheaper. If we carry out this task several times, in the end most of the annual weeds end up disappearing. Some weeds are very difficult to eradicate such as grass, chickweed, bindweed, sowthistle, pigweed or nettles. In this case, it can be covered with black plastic for a while.
Can clearing be done with herbicides?
It is always better and more respectful of the ecosystem to use non-chemical methods. We have to consider that pesticides and herbicides can accumulate in the soil and kill a whole range of beneficial animals, such as earthworms and other soil animals. In addition, certain herbicides can be absorbed by plants and we can ingest them when eating the vegetables (pesticides in food).
Sometimes, although it is not very ecological, it will be necessary to apply herbicides, as is the case with blackberries or sarsaparille. This type of shrub has very strong roots, from which new shoots are produced. The application of a foliar herbicide will eliminate its leaves and dry out its stems, and the application of a liquid herbicide, when it penetrates the soil, will attack its roots. After one or several applications, this type of weed will eventually disappear.
It should be noted that herbicides are completely ruled out if we intend to establish an organic crop, since they are absorbed by the plants and can pass into the food chain. Even in non-organic agriculture, they should only be used when absolutely necessary and in accordance with the conditions of the leaflet. For example, copper was allowed in organic farming, but it has proven to be very toxic. It should also be noted that nothing should be planted for a few months after application.
Whether manually or mechanically, the objective of clearing is to eliminate weeds and make room for crops.
When should the garden be cleaned?
This type of task is best done on dry soil and in sunny weather, so that the weeds can be left uprooted on the ground for a few hours to allow the sun to dry them out.
It is also important that this is done before the plants produce seeds, because even if we pull them out, the seeds will produce new plants again next season.
Digging the ground
Digging is a type of work that is carried out after clearing and consists of removing the soil in a deeper manner. For this to be done properly, the soil must be free of weeds, debris, stones, remains of stems and superficial roots. All of this has already been done previously in clearing.
What is the soil dug for?
The purpose of digging, in addition to removing deeper roots, is to break up the soil so that it acquires a looser and more porous texture. This allows water to penetrate more easily and organic matter to be incorporated more easily. It also encourages rooting, since tiny roots cannot thrive in soil that is too compacted. All of this leads to greater activity of the flora and fauna of the subsoil, which improves its conditions.
There are several techniques for digging the soil properly, but the most important are the following: digging the garden for beds, and digging the vegetable garden for plots.
*More information about digging
Next vegetable garden tasks
- Seed preparation
- Sowing
- Transplanting
- Soil fertilization
- Irrigation
- Weed control
- Crop association
- Crop rotation
- Ecological prevention and treatment of pests and diseases
- Harvesting and storage
More information on cultivation of vegetables and greens
