Spading refers to a method of soil preparation that breaks up and loosens the soil’s top layer and mixes it with compost, crop residue, weeds, and other organic material that can fertilize the soil. But unlike tilling or plowing, spading doesn’t turn the soil’s entire top layer.

Humanity has been farming since almost the beginning of time. By dropping a seed into the ground, covering it with dirt, and watering it, humankind knew that the seed they planted would grow into the same type of plant from which the original seed came.