Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Greg Baka <g_baka2002@yahoo.com>]

Re: double dug beds

Although most double-digging in the US is done with a
spade and garden fork as others have described here,
it is not the only way to do it.

In other parts of the world the azada (South America,
Portugal, Spain), jembe (Africa) powrah (India) or
chungkul (Malaysia) is the preferred digging tool.
(I'm still looking for the Chinese name if anybody
knows it...) More on this tool in below.

In these parts of the world where very small scale
agriculture is still the norm they use the azada and a
"Fork Hoe" to double-dig by a method that requires
less effort. That method is described in this article
from the International Institute of Rural 
Reconstruction called the Guide to Deep Soil
Preparation:
http://www.iirr.org/saem/page134-137.htm

I know about the azada and fork hoe because I am
working to open a business called Easy Digging to
offer them in the US. The business won't be open until
late February (hopefully), but there is a whole bunch
of information about azadas and fork hoes currently
available at my site:
http://www.easydigging.com
*hopefully the moderator won't consider this a
shameless plug for my store - I'm a long time list
member who doesn't post often but always reads :o)

If you are in Europe there is a similiar business in
England that has been selling these tools for a few
years now. They have large garden spaces available for
rent from the city called 'allotments' and folks have
really embraced these long forgotten tools and
evidently pass them from one neighboring allotment to
the next for the tough jobs like breaking sod, heavy
cultivating, and making trenches. Many of the same
things we would use a garden tiller for. The British
site is at:
http://www.get-digging.co.uk

If you look at the site and say "Hey, that's an eye
hoe (or a grub hoe). My grandpa used one of those",
you are partly right. In short there have been some
improvements since the days when such tools were used
on American farms. On the tools I will handle the
angle between the head and handle has been optimized
for digging on some tools while other tools have a
different angle for shallow cultivating and weeding.
The old eye hoes (and some you can still but today)
are angled between these two optimal angles so that
they sort of work for both tasks, but not great for
either. Also my tools have a handle that is 5' long so
that you work from an upright ergonomic position
instead of from the hunched over position the short
handled tools force you into.

This is what happens when I talk tools...I have a hard
time stopping. Anyways I hope this opens some new
possibilities for those who dig, garden or farm.

Greg in MO




"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."  
             Seneca.  3rd century b.c.


 
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