"Glen L. Madigan" wrote in message
...
Hi from New Zealand.

I am very much interested in gardening, however I am a newbie at the
sport.
Sport? well apparently each hour one does any gardening one loses 100
calories.
WELCOME! to one of the most interesting newsgroups and neighborhoods there
is around with all sorts of neat and interesting peoples............

well, hobby, obsession, compulsion, way of life......g first step,
garden bed preparation.......I love raised beds, and that requires double
digging. Unless you have hard clay and even then there is some digging and
lots of building upwards and filling area with compost and soils and such.
Double digging is removing a spadeful of topsoil from a garden bed,
loosening the soil layer below that topsoil, and then restoring the topsoil
layer into that spot. During the process, it's best to incorporate organic
matter into the soil. Lavishing most of the organic material on the
topsoil. Add only small amounts of compost or chopped leaves to the lower
soil layer because the rate of decay is much slower in the second six inches
of soil than it is in the top six inches. Double digging will raise your
beds about 3 to 4 inches because it thoroughly loosens and aerates the soil
which makes very happy plants later on.

if your interested and can do the hard work this requires, you'll lay down a
wonderful garden bed for whatever plants you want to try. I'll elaborate if
your interested. Like with a house, the foundation is the most important
and then the "bones".......
madgardener up on the soggy ridge, back in Fairy Holler overlooking a cloudy
English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36