To Till or Not to Till
Return to DiscussionsI purchased a small farm last year. This year I will need to plant them. Some beds will need to be tilled just because they got a little weedy by the time we got on top of the gardening. Others are in good shape either because we got on top of the weeding or were covered. No till gardening is being heavily promoted these days, but I am thinking of giving all the beds at least a shallow tilling to make planting easier and aid in water infiltration while the plants are young. Any opinions or suggestions?
Much of the no till thought is aimed at raised beds, where it makes good sense. Someone else said its about not disturbing the ecosystem in place and thats true to a point as well. However, one must also be able to plant the seeds and plants and that requires disturbing. My beds arent very old, so they arent compacted at all. I can walk out right now and run my fingers/hand in and bring up a large scoop of mix/soil. No need to till that at all. I will top off with some compost and top with straw mulch plants have come up or planting is done.
Seems to me the main point of tilling is turning the soil, esp when you have amended it with fresh manure/compost and fertilizer. Traditional, in-ground gardens like what we had growing up need that. They are largely topsoil, last years compost and manure, left over weeds or plant material, etc. Turn it over and till it up and then hoe it out to end up with perfect soil, ready to grow whatever we want.
In no-till gardens, the garden is made up largely of some mix of components like peat, coco coir, compost, manure, purchased mix, top soil, vermiculite, perlite, worm casting, etc, etc. Much of it doesnt need to be tilled and much of it may even be filled with perennial plants.
For the OP, it really depends on how large the area is and what type of garden beds were discussing. Refreshing raised beds is much easier than in-ground traditional garden beds. My fil still tills everything, every year. I never till except small areas with a 4-prong rake.
Zone 7b and am planting cool weather plants this week! Lets Grow!
Yeah, I'm tilling this year. The soil is just too compact. I have seven 8X24 raised beds, and perhaps a quarter acre of traditional farm beds. I'll only plant a portion of the traditional beds with peppers and squashes this year. I'll cover the rest, perhaps plant a cover crop, but I have a weed issue that needs to be addressed. Being Zone 4/5, March is my signal to start plants in the greenhouse for spring planting. I also have numerous flower beds that need plants.
I agree that till the garden area is beneficial to the garden, to no till. But a lot depends on the slope of any so you don't have wash away top soil. It you do then no till would be the way to go. Using a ground cover material to control weeds, then just open up holes and fertilize just in that area to mix and get air into the soil then plants can grow and be watered with less water.but ground cover will still need some type of cover so not to over heat the ground and keep it in place.