There’s nothing better than the scent of fresh soil. Except freshly fertilized soil.

You’re washing windows and moving the lawn mower to the front of the garage; snow blower to the back. If you’re a  vegetable gardener, you’re incorporating fertilizer into your soil to provide nutrients for your veggies as they grow.

On our AdFarm North Dakota acres, spring cleaning and field prep will soon be in high gear.

Last year’s crop, pinto beans, was harvested in November. As soon as the AdFarm field dries out, it will be time to prepare the soil for our 2010 crop: corn. Right now, the plan is to deep band the fertilizer in the week of May 3 with the Wil-Rich Q160 air drill.

As Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens explains: “The process of cleaning up organic waste and applying it back to the soil has been a farming practice for hundreds of years. We’ve updated the equipment, but the principles are similar. When hauled onto a field fresh from a livestock pen, manure must first break down into usable fertilizer for a crop. It must also be dug into the existing soil to help it decompose into nutrients for future crops. See more pictures of spring clean up here.

“For our barley and canola, we do that by digging it in with our Wishek disk. The heavy discs cut the surface trash left from last year’s crop and incorporate that in with the top soil and manure. The harrow teeth behind the discs comb the surface to smooth it out.”

Fred is now seeding barley and canola into the prepared ground. Next up: Prep on AdFarm’s acres.

We’d love to hear about your spring cleanup, too.

What do you think about our spring 2010 field preparations — are you doing the same?