Trench Planting Root Crops

Food Gardening GuideOther Root Crops / Planting

By National Gardening Association Editors

Photo by farmerdill

If you want to grow terrific root crops in hard clay or compacted soil, and you can get your hands on a lot of organic matter (shredded leaves, grass clippings), give trenching a try. It's another way to create an ideal growing environment for those roots.

Trench Planting Method

Dig an eight-inch trench, fill it with five or six inches of moist organic matter or compost, pull two to three inches of soil over the organic matter to fill the trench back to ground level, and plant your seeds in that top layer of soil.

The organic matter will decompose all summer, staying soft and moist. Your root crops will grow down into that loose, humus-rich material. You can grow tremendous, prizewinning roots this way, but remember, the smaller ones are the best tasting, so pull them up before they get huge. Just for fun, leave one or two to mature past the eating stage, and get a snapshot for the family album. Your friends will never believe you grew them.

If the organic matter you use in the bottom of the furrow is mostly compost or well-rotted manure, there's no need to add fertilizer. If you're using old, chopped hay or leaves, sprinkle a small handful of 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 on every two to three feet of trenched organic matter to make up for the loss of nutrients that are used to break down those materials. Cover the fertilized organic matter with at least two inches of soil.

Trench composting works especially well in heavy, clay soil. It is also a wonderful way to improve your soil a bit at a time. If you rotate your root crops each year, after a few years your whole garden will have rich, loose soil.

The main trick with trench composting is to moisten the organic matter you put in the trench, if it's dry. Plant the seeds just as you would on a regular seedbed. After that, it's practically just a matter of watching them grow.


Together with Victory Seed Company:
Victory Seed Company Logo Victory Seed Company has all the seeds you want for your best garden in 2024.

For 25 years, the family-owned Victory Seed Company has provided the highest quality vegetable, herb and flower seeds to families across the country. We are passionate about providing you the best seeds available that give excellent germination, robust plants, and the harvest you want. With a catalog of over a thousand varieties, we have everything, and our prices are the kinds that we'd want to pay. We have hundreds of yesterday's heirloom vegetables, as well as today's award winning hybrid selections. Get to know us by visiting our website and browsing through our online vegetable seed catalog.

Other articles in this series:
1. Planting Root Crops
2. Trench Planting Root Crops ← you're on this article right now
3. Combining Root Crops
4. Soil Preparation for Root Crops

This article is a part of our Vegetable Gardening Guide for Other Root Crops / Planting.
Other articles in this series:
1. Planting Root Crops
2. Trench Planting Root Crops ← you're on this article right now
3. Combining Root Crops
4. Soil Preparation for Root Crops

This article is a part of our Vegetable Gardening Guide for Other Root Crops / Planting.
Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by Zoia and is called "Volunteer"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.