Who will no-till/no-dig garden this year?

[catjac1975]

My husband is obsessed with tilling just right. I use tilling with a small tiller to keep weeds down. Using chicken and horse manure you get a lot of weeds. I use grass clipping to keep down the weeds of the most difficult to weed plants-like young carrots.

 

[so lucky]

I haven't had my garden tilled for maybe 4 years, but I do sometimes turn the rows with a shovel or garden fork, before I plant. Mostly just to get some air in there, as it compacts pretty bad. I use cardboard, newspaper and straw for mulch...along with the chicken poo.

 

[dickiebird]

Here's a pic of my tiller, so yes I do till, not only for myself but for a lot of other gardeners.

Have tiller will travel.

THANX RICH

 

[ninnymary]

Dickie, you don't mess around with tilling.

Mary

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Here's a pic of my tiller, so yes I do till, not only for myself but for a lot of other gardeners.

View attachment 6715

Have tiller will travel.

THANX RICH

You know that things are about to get serious when somebody brings a tiller like that out. Nice John Deere!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Yes weeds would count as living mulch, but the more important question is why are those weeds growing there? You can learn a lot about soil based off of which weeds/native plants take up residence.

Alright then, I'll cast my vote for mulch. Yup! The weeds do give me a good idea about what my soil is like.

wow seedo. I hope you don't lose your mind with out gardening this year. I would. May be you can help out some neighbors to keep your hands in the dirt.

I don't think that I'll have to worry about keeping my hands out of the dirt. I'll be helping at least one person out this summer. And I do have plenty of gardening neighbors to help out, none with vegis.

I think that I'm already starting to lose my mind regardless. It's so different, not having trays of seedlings going already.

 

[Smart Red]

Neither!

My parents won't let me intentionally plant anything in the garden this year since we are supposed to be moving in early August. (I'm might scratch up the ground a little and sprinkle some old seed on the soil's surface, shhhh....)
EDIT: Wait - would weeds count as a living mulch?

Oh, no! SeedO not being allowed to plant? For goodness sake, don't you know someone who could use a bit of help with their garden sowing? I fear I would go crazy seeing all that garden space and not being able to work it. (Could purgatory be like that?)

 

[bills]

My Grandfather, who had a marvelous garden with great production every year, always tilled. He did this partly to mix in his compost, (much of it from seaweed), but also to aerate the soil and break the compaction that occurred over winter from the heavy rains.

Nowadays the thinking leans more towards not tilling, least not deep tilling. I'm still somewhat torn between the methods, but I haven't been disappointed with just shallow tilling, as far as crop production goes. I do notice though, that weeds are more plentiful then they used to be, when I deep tilled in the fall.

 

[baymule]

I started with Mega weeds, saplings and a tangle of briars. You bet your boots I dug the crap out of the garden. Pulled roots, briar bulbs and stumps. It will take awhile to get to no till. My garden at the house we sold had reached Nirvana. I just put compost on top and loosened with a spading fork. I will work towards no till, but had to get started somehow.