Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The only difference between plain digging and
double-digging (a.k.a. bastard trenching) is that in the latter,
after a trench is dug a single-spade deep and before the
compost is added, a digging fork is worked into the soil at the
bottom of the trench to lift and break up the soil. Finally,
more compost is added on top and mixed with the top six
inches of soil. I perform this last step after I've built the form
around the dug area.
The garden fork and digging spade are indispensable tools for
double-digging.
Both plain digging and double-digging can be useful for
newly created beds and can be especially useful for an area
that is covered with grass as the spits of dirt (the dirt that
makes up a spade-full is known as a “spit”) can be turned
grass-side down in the adjacent trench as they are dug. It is
extremely useful in either case, where the land to be used for
farming was previously weeds or lawn, to sift through the soil
