no tilling gardening
Return to Discussions5 or 6 years ago, I read up on the "Back to Eden" system. The grass is allowed to get longer before cutting, and dry for 3 or 4 days, then raked with a 6 wheel estate rake and put on the garden in thick layers. Tree trimmings are chipped and applied, as are the finely chopped leaves in the fall. I do get weeds and trees sprouting in the spring but they are easily pulled or up rooted with a stiff tined rake, until I get enough organic matter to simply bury them.
I grow mostly squash in the center, stuff like tomatoes, zucchini's... that need more tending are planted near the edge's to limit compacting the mulch layers. Once compacted weeds start easier. Planting can be done bare handed, pull the top layer back and dig into the composted matter to the dirt and plant your seedlings. As the plants grow pull the top cover back in around them.
Last year I had 3 butter cup squash in a hill, at harvest time I brought 58 in and left 38 out that were too green or had been gnawed on by the deer. I have not had to water that garden let, but the other one needs it occasionally.
I grow everything in raised beds because the native soil here is pure beach sand. To start off, I make a box (usually 4 feet by 8 feet) using 2x6 cedar boards stacking on top of each other so that the box is 12" off the ground. Then I dig out 1 foot of the sand and fill with a layer of rotting logs. I add 1/3 compost and 2/3 dirt to fill the box. Each year in the box I aerate the soil with a broadfork and add about an inch of compost. Any kind of tilling ruins the structure of the soil and kills worms and many of the other living things in the soil. I have been doing it this way with much success for over 40 years.
I have a lot of clay, and without a whole lot of organic matter and biochar added it's impossible to get anything to grow in it. Other than briars and forest trees. Even the wild blackberries don't yield very well on it. But once good soil is made the organic 'no till' is good.
We've worn out 2 tillers on our small farm trying to control weeds along the edges of our growing areas. I've bought a third tiller but it's just for breaking new ground and incorporating mulch into these new planting areas. We've converted to using propane burners for controlling weeds in established areas. We've seen an improvement over the last few years.
For my comment above here are some pictures now that the snow is off. This works great for squash and others that have the fruit on the ground, they come up nice and clean ;-) For planting just pull the mulch back to the composted material, then dig a hole and plant your seedlings and pull some of the mulch in. As the plants grow pull the rest of the mulch in around it.
