Trenching, Bastard Trenching, and Double Digging—An Overview

Although not as common anymore, trenching, bastard trenching, and double digging have been around for centuries and have been described in gardening books dating back at least to the 1920s. They are, by far, the most intense methods but also the fastest and most effective ways to create ideal soil—and the only ones that will significantly alter your soil deeper than a foot. Of the three, double digging, being less intense but probably as effective as anyone would need, has received the most recent press.

Although intense, it’s worth noting that these methods are not done with all of the garden soil but just the areas that become beds, as the garden is transformed from one with individual rows and paths into one with up-to-five-feet-wide beds of loosened soil as growing areas with at-least-two-feet-wide paths between them.

For all methods, the area you intend as a bed is first loosened about a foot deep with a digging fork, cleared of weeds, and amended with a layer of cured compost on top.

Let’s turn to our first method, trenching, in more detail.