Prep soil for iceberg lettuce, cabbage and broccolini, and soil sterilization

2022/8/7

How to grow iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini in rental patch. This time, I will prepare the soil and make the bed for growing iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini.

The plot for iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini

Starter fertilizer for iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini (Best organic fertilizer for lettuce, cabbage, and etc…)

For growing iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini, the needed fertilizer (starter fertilizer) is 2 liters (2 qt) of cow manure, 50g (1.8 oz) of chicken manure, and 200g (7 oz) of canola cake. (Best starter fertilizer for lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini.)

Spread fertilizer in the lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini plot and mix into the soil

Create bed for iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini (Lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini how to grow)

After fertilizing, the next step is to create the bed for iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini. Shape the bed with a trowel and wooden boards.

As a tip for making the lettuce and cabbage bed, use a trowel to press the edges of the bed and make it slightly compacted. If you press the edges of the bed, you can maintain the shape of the bed.

Shape the iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini bed with a boards

How to make lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini bed

Press down with trowel to make edge firm

The bed shape of iceberg lettuce, cabbage, and broccolini is complete

Soil sterilizing with sun (How to sterilize garden soil)

Normally, after putting black mulch, the bed is finished, but this time I want to sterilize the soil, so I will pour 4 watering cans of water on the bed.

After pouring the water, I will put the mulch, but instead of the usual black mulch, I will use clear mulch. (If the bed has collapsed when pouring the water, I will fix it.) Clear mulch lets sunlight through, so it raises the soil temperature more than black mulch.

Also, the large amount of water poured on the bed helps. Water transfers heat, so the heat from the sunlight reaches deeper into the soil.

In other words, with clear mulch and a lot of water, the soil becomes steamed, and pests and diseases die. This allows us to sterilize and reset the soil. This method is safe because it uses no disinfectants or chemicals, only the natural power of the sun to clean the soil.

The soil sterilization period with solar heat is about 3 weeks to 1 month. So, it is good to calculate backward from the planting date of the autumn and winter vegetable seedlings to do this sterilization work.