Bed Preparation

A downloadable, printable (PDF) version of our Broadfork Applications Comparison Chart.

Follow these 6 simple steps to prepare your beds and ensure vigorous growth, using tools designed by Eliot Coleman and Johnny's Selected Seeds.

Having reached our 50th anniversary, Johnny's mission to serve small-scale organic farmers and gardeners holds firm. But seed breeding and trialing aren't our only passions... here's a brief history of tool development at Johnny's.

Compare our Infinite Rolling Dibbler Frame widths against their maximum wheel spacing, maximum even spacing between rows, and number of wheels to achieve the desired spacing. Completely adjustable for many different crop types.

Use our comparison chart to review distinguishing features of Johnny's mulches and weed-barrier landscape fabrics, including materials, recyclability/compostability/biodegradability, thickness, weight, color, texture, primary applications, strengths and limitations, and origins.

Johnny's Guide to Small-scale Bed Preparation Tools explains how to use right-sized tools designed from the ground up for smaller-scale growers and home gardeners.

Here's a quick look at using Row Markers with our Seedbed Roller to score the beds with parallel lines in preparation for sowing with a precision seeder.

Johnny's Staple Setter™ allows you to drive staples into landscape fabric quickly and easily. This 42"-long, magnetic-headed tool is ergonomically designed and built to last. Securely staples landscape fabric without having to bed down, hammer, or step on the staples.

A quick video demo of the people-powered Manual Mulch Layer. This light, highly manoeuverable device works as well in a greenhouse or hoophouse as it does in the open field, providing an efficient, right-scale alternative to a tractor-mounted mulch layer.

Here's a demo on how to use Johnny's broadforks for loosening and aerating the seed bed while maintaining soil structure, and for harvest, depending on the design. Shown is the 727 Hardpan Broadfork, a model designed specifically for tougher soils with a few rocks or clay — anywhere you might bend a tine with one of our standard, round-tine broadforks.

Here is a demonstration of Johnny's Tilther, the Eliot Coleman-designed bed-prep tool for mixing in compost and other soil amendments, refining the soil to create perfect tilth in the uppermost profile of your bed for direct-seeding or transplanting.

Here's a video demonstrating how to use our Seedbed Roller, with Row Marker & Dibble Accessories, to smooth out your seedbed. The Row Marker can be placed to mark the bed for direct seeding with a precision seeder or by hand. The Dibbles can be placed to mark the bed precisely and uniformly for transplanting.