In article ,
Down Under On The Bucket Farm wrote:

[snip]

So my question is... How deep should I till down through this
soil (I will be doing it by hand)?

It depends on the nature of the soil: its composition (especially sand vs.
clay concentrations), history (has it been trampled on by people or
machinery?), what kind of plants you want to grow (how deep are their roots
going to be?) and how much of a rush you are in (top production what year?).

The heavier the trampling, the more clay, the deeper rooted plant, then
you better get started tilling as soon as the ground (and water saturation)
will allow.

OTOH I finally got around to double-digging some sandy loam that hadn't been
walked on in a few years. Side by side comparison with another bed that
hadn't been double-dug -- also planted with carrots -- showed absolutely
no benefit (both did well).

If you don't have a good method for determining your soil type, I recommend
the method Steve Solomon describes in his book (sorry, don't remember the
name, it's probably 20 years old now).

HTH...
-frank

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