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     Every year about this time I wish had had a family of twelve strapping sons whose only goal in life was to pull weeds and work the soil.

     Fortunately, that wish passes fairly quickly, and I go ahead and do the work myself, grateful not to have all those mouths to feed.

     Still, this is the most intensive gardening time of the year. Luckily I have come to terms with my disinclination to do back-breaking labor and found ways of gardening that both work and are easy.

     My favorite kind of soil preparation is what I call the “trickle-down treatment.” I simply pile stuff on top year after year. It soaks in, decomposes, trickles down and gets to the plant’s roots. The stuff I pile on top includes compost, manure, fertilizer, alfalfa, corn gluten, leaves, straw, and/or mulch. On top of this I spray water, seaweed, fish emulsion, Medina Soil Activator, Garrett Juice, Sea Spray, Garden-Ville Soil Conditioner, or any combination of those things or other things that strike my fancy.

     If you pile on enough stuff, the weeds won’t get through or if they do, they’ll be easy to pull because their roots are so loosely attached. My system is similar to the old Ruth Stout method, but I’m not nearly so orderly or organized. I don’t keep a constant thick layer of mulch on the gardens. I don’t have a schedule for feeding that I follow religiously, and I certainly don’t do a lot of serious digging.

     I admire people who double-dig. Their soil looks beautiful and loose and weed- and rock-free. I’ve seen the benefits of loosening the soil several miles down so that your roots can penetrate without any problem, but I just can’t work up the enthusiasm for it. After all, I may not have 12 sons, but I do have two grandchildren, and I’d rather spend my time playing with them than double-digging.

     Last year I built two small vegetable beds. One I dug up thoroughly, removed all the rocks and weed roots. I added manure and tossed the soil around at least to fork-depth. Then life got hectic and I never got the other bed dug. I simply threw some chicken manure on top and covered it well with dried leaves that some of my city neighbors had kindly raked up for me.

     A month or so later it was time to plant. I pulled away the leaves and stuck some plants into the second bed. I planted others in my well-prepared bed. Well, both beds did about equally well. The compacted soil of the second bed should have kept the plants smaller, but it didn’t. My great digging job on the first bed should have made it superior, but it wasn’t.

     That’s when I decided that I’d forget digging pretty much altogether. The manure and leaves seemed to keep the soil moist and relatively weed-free. As I watered in the nutrients, the plant roots were able to get what they needed without any problem. The fact that these were pretty much virgin land didn’t hurt. They had not been depleted of nutrients and there was good life going on there.

     Throughout the season, I sprayed with seaweed and fish and soil activator. I really like to plant on top of rock phosphate, so that went in when the seedlings did. All of these things helped enrich the existing soil and keep the plants healthy and growing.

     One thing plants do as they grow —which they never get credit for — is loosen the soil. As those roots tunnel in every direction, they create a looser soil structure. When you pull out the dead plants at the end of the year, the spaces remain behind where air can freshen the soil and beneficial critters can expand.

     Piling leaves on top of the soil is another good soil texturizing trick. A pile of leaves is just irresistible to earthworms. They’ll come from miles around to get under those leaves and work the soil. I even find them under the bags of leaves that I haven’t put on the beds yet!

     So here we are at the cusp of spring again. I can’t wait to get out there and start planting things. That is the fun part — planting and harvesting. Generally this time of year I feel guilty about putting off digging up the vegetable plots. Not this time. Now I know that my tomatoes and peppers and onions and peas and beans will do just fine without all that digging.

     And I’ve started adding vegetables to the flower beds as well. Bright Lights chard makes a beautiful border plant with its yellow and red and orange and white stems. I already have chives as a border around one bed that is filled with verbena and salvias. Garlic grows everywhere in my garden. Around trees, beneath the roses, in the middle of a flower bed and sometimes right in the grass. I believe you can’t ever have too much garlic.

     So, if you’re worried about straining your back, don’t. Just pile on a lot of good stuff, and watch your plants grow! (unless you have 12 strapping sons.)