Our Milpa: Part 1- Preparing the ground

Select a site that is sure to receive a lot of sun throughout the day. Prune branches on any trees that would otherwise provide shade. The space does not have to be all connected, you have patches that are each a few meters, spaced between some trees or other non-plantable spaces. First cut down all of the vegetation that is growing in the area where you want to plant. A machete is very useful here. Pile up branches that re larger/thicker in various piles located in shady spots. The shade not only helps the decomposition process, but you want to plant in all available sunny spots.



For the next step the hoe is an invaluable tool. Use your hoe to scratch the root clumps, grass, and other vegetation up from only the top 1 to 2 inches of soil. It is not necessary to turn all of the ground up like a rototiller would. This is basically a cleaning process to remove most of the weeds and clear the ground down to the topsoil. The roots, grass, and bits of soil that are scratched off these areas are also made into piles in shady areas around the land. These piles will later be spread out over the growing crops.



At this point, if this is the first time that this piece of land has been worked, you could prepare and enrich the soil and remove any big rocks from the area. See Preparing a HOT BED. Note this THIS IS NOT NECESSARY. It is true that a good recipe for growing any crops is to dig down at least 12” (preferably 24’”, while respecting soil level compositions), removing any rocks, and then adding a good amount of organic matter such as decomposing leaves or compost, along with some lime to balance the soil. That being said, merely cleaning the area and planting, as described below, you should get decent results, even in the first year.