Next I add the soil amendment material because as you can see from the picture, the soil is pretty sandy. Every year I add some type of soil amendment, whether it 's compost purchased from a landscape yard or horse manure I haul in from a stable. The result is a beautiful soil that will yield me lots of vegetables. But after a year of growing, irrigation and rainfall, the bulk of the organics have broken down/washed out/blown away/disappeared into the soil profile and left me with sand. This year I amended with a combination of composted cow manure and peat.
The soil was tilled completely before I covered it with plastic back in August so I don't need to haul that gas powered monster out again. Besides, the more the soil is tilled the faster I seem to lose my organics. But I definitely need to integrate this material somewhat, so I get out the garden weasel and give myself an upper body workout turning the soil.
Once I have the soil just slightly turned I water it down and top dress it with a slightly composted mulch mix. This will continue to add organics, yet will suppress weed growth and hold soil moisture. The walkways will be mulched as well, but I prefer to use pine straw for this, mostly because I like how good it looks contrasting with the mulched beds. A garden should be planned and laid out so that it will be successful and maintenance friendly, but I also like mine to look good.
