Many gardening sites recommend double digging especially when starting a
new garden bed. Sounds like a whole lot of work but I'm no stranger to
hard work! Think I'll give it a try this year even though some claim
it's worth the extra effort while still others claim it really has very
little advantage to the average home gardener. My thoughts are based on
the fact that the root system is the heart of any plant. Take good care
of the root system and the plant should get a great start in it's new
home. My plan is to remove the first foot of soil with a spade and then
use a spading fork. I'll thrust the fork down another ten to twelve
inches and rock it back and forth to loosen the sub soil. After the
whole plot is double dug, I'll then rototill the bed, add some slow
release organic fertilizer and rake it into the top 3" of soil. I only
plan to double dig once. After that, hopefully the earth worms
combined with the addition of compost will to the job for me in the
future. I have a lot of leaf mold from last fall to mix in also. If I
get tomatoes the size of basketballs, I'll then know that double
digging wasn't all in vain........LOL

Rich