Once the sketch had been finalised and the circular layout positioned, we marked out a large 23 metre square that we were going to turn over, essentially on the surface, with a rotovator.
This tool isn’t ideal, but turning over 500 m2 with the grelinette (aerator) was an impossible mission, given the hardness of the soil, which had been compacted a thousand times by the wheels of the ride-on mower and was covered solidly with a network of varied grasses. This will be the last time a machine will be used in the vegetable garden.
This operation will only be carried out once, as it partially destroys the network of mycorrhizae that is essential to the life of the soil. It will be reconstituted over the years.
A second pass, a few days later, will bury the weeds and aerate the soil before pouring in a good dose of manure…
