To Rototil or Not?

[OldGuy43]

I'm new to gardening and have a lot to learn. I've found information elsewhere that using a rototiller to much wasn't a good idea. I'd welcome all advice on this.

Thanx,
OldGuy43

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

it depends on your situations. i like to till new earth for a few years just to help break up the soil and get out any debris (which i have lots from the previous few owners). tilling helps to aerate the soil, but doing this you could also cause any weeds seed to germinate at the same time as your intended plants. i also like tilling to help get any chicken/rabbit manure mixed into the ground for the season. i usually throw it on at the end of the fall and during the winter when it snows the stuff leeches into the soil as it breaks down and makes it easier to mix into the soil.

not tilling you can limit the amount of weeds that will sprout up. there is a book called 'weedless gardening' or something like that. it basically says to limit the movement of soil to help keep the weeds at bay.

i use a mechanical rototiller since i don't have much of a back or time to be doing it all by hand. some prefer to do it by using garden tools.

 

[digitS']

Rototillers are useful machines but there can be drawbacks to repeat tilling to the same level, especially in some types of soil. Chisel plows were a great invention for field cultivation. I wish we had a similar machine for some of our garden work.

Just looking at tilling at this time of year -- for the light working of the soil surface at the end of the growing season, a rototiller seems really appropriate.

All I was trying to do with my rear-tine tiller here a few weeks ago was to get whatever was on the soil surface, below ground. I ran the tiller in a couple directions but made little effort to really work the soil with the tines.

Something that is important to fertile soil is for it to have adequate organic matter. Decomposition of plant material progresses much more rapidly when it takes place beneath an inch or so of soil compared to just lying on the surface. This is especially true when the air temperature is at or below freezing.

It is surprising how much some weeds can grow thru the winter months. Any delay in getting them killed in the spring because of rain and such can allow them to get even a stronger hold on life and on your garden. Disrupting their plans in the fall, even if you can't kill all of them, then hitting them again in the spring can get you quite a ways down the road to having fewer problems from the weeds thru the growing season. The very best thing you can do about weed seeds in your garden soil - is to not allow weeds to flower and go to seed in your garden.

Tilling in the fall isn't essential but it makes things easier when the next growing season rolls around. And, all of this . . . is just my 2 on the subject.

Steve

 

[dickiebird]

I till before planting to make the soil easier to plant in.
I till after growing season to incorperate any left over plant matter into the soil.
Both seasons I add lots of composted chicken and horse manure before tilling.
When I till I try to go over the plots twice, at 90 degrees to one another.
My tiller is mounted on a full size tractor and covers 5' at a pass. It will go to a depth of 10" or so, In the fall I only go down about 5" or 6" but in the spring I go as deep as I can.

THANX RICH

 

[Smiles Jr.]

My opinion of tilling is that it is somewhat like double edged sword. It's great for aerating and loosening up the soil in the spring. And its a great way to work your organic soil amendments (compost, manure, straw, leaves, etc.) into the soil. But it also brings up lots of dormant weed seeds and promotes tremendous weed infestation. If you're the type of gardener who likes to use those nasty chemicals this may not be a concern.

Something that I have learned over the past four decades is that if your soil is full of good compost and lots of organic materials tilling is very beneficial and will produce a great and workable soil all season long. But if your soil is mostly clay and if you till the clay into a light fluffy powder (thinking that you're doing a good thing) you will regret all of that hard work. The first rain will turn all that powder into concrete and nothing will grow except tough weeds.

With the exception of many root crops, most plants do not care if there are sticks and twigs, decaying small wood chunks, straw, leaves and ,yes, some gravel in the garden soil. Good soil amendments require this stuff. It allows oxygen to get to the roots, it allows water to penetrate the surface, and it keeps the soil from turning into that dreaded concrete. Many home gardeners seem to want their garden soil to look like the potting soil that comes out of the bag. But that is neither desired nor is it practical for the garden.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I generally turn my 50' x 75' garden with a shovel, then use the tiller to bust up the dirt clods and mix in some amendments. I don't use a tiller to try to prepare the soil without turning with a shovel first. The shovel gets deeper, brings up certain nutrients from the subsoil, and aerates the soil, especially where I've packed it down in between rows by walking on it.

I also use a tiller to run between rows of certain planted crops to get a lot of the weeds and bust up the hard clay crust to make it easier to use a hoe in the rows.

I prepare about a third of the garden in the fall for early spring planting. My spring is normally pretty wet, so I have trouble getting a dry spell in late February-Early March to get my early spring stuff in that needs to be started as soon as you can work the soil, the cabbage, broccoli, peas, beets, stuff like that. All I need is for it to get dry enough to run the tiller to get the weeds that have started and I can plant.

So there's my three uses of a tiller. Bust up the clods and level turned ground, some weeding during growing season, and final touch-up for early spring planting.

 

[seedcorn]

I till because I can then plant using only my hands.

If you want to stop compaction, stay off of the garden when it's wet. Do the math when you look at your one foot holding all your weight the amount of pounds/inch being exerted on the soil. A tiller will give you a compaction layer if you till in wet soils but your feet will do more compaction.

If you till, you fight annual weeds more than perennials. If you don't till, then perennials will become more of a problem. I usually wait and let the first flush of weeds germinate, then till. I find I have weeds no matter what I do.

 

[gardentoad]

I don't till, I container..fewer weeds almost none, and much easier on the back...and cheaper no tiller cost or up keep


Don ( the lazy gardener ) I should change my user ID

 

[momofdrew]

unless someone takes pity on me and comes by with a motorized tiller I turn my gardens by fork and spade until my back says whoa...I have started one of my plots where I get lots of help from my chickens ...as soon as they see that fork they come a running it's treat time... have read that you should not over till the soil with a roto-tiller as it will break down the structure of the soil...

 

[Smiles Jr.]

have read that you should not over till the soil with a roto-tiller as it will break down the structure of the soil...

Yes, I think this is very true. Good growing soil is not powdery but is lumpy and full of chunks of organic materials.