For years I used to break out the tiller each spring and run it diligently through the beds. I would use shovels to break up some of the hard ground and then would till until everything was a fine consistency. I would often stop while tilling to clean roots out of the tiller wheels. I would see very little worms and was surprised how hard the ground got each year. Usually by two weeks after I tilled a nice crop of weeds would spring up everywhere to be fought over and over all summer.
So a few years ago, when I was really into listening to the Self Sufficient Gardener podcast, I kept hearing about no-till gardening and finally listened to an entire episode on it. I thought that what I was hearing from the podcast made sense. http://theselfsufficientgardener.com/episode-197-no-and-low-till-planting-methods I have included the link for those that might like to listen to it. Frankly, Jason Akers' podcasts are like gold, so check them out. He has not been active since 2013 but his stuff is still relevant. He has published several books which are also great content.
From my experience and Jason's podcast here is why tilling is bad:
1) You disturber the natural layering structure of the soil process when you till. Soil has a natural looseness to it when there is organic matter in it. When there is not enough organic matter in your soil and it appears hard and needing to be broken up, yearly tilling it will only help the soil stay hard in the long run. If you just put organic matter on top of your beds each year, it will slowly work through the soil naturally. Microbes and worms work through the compost and tunnel back into the soil leaving castings and nutrient by-products as they go. Your soil will stay soft and healthy with stratification of organic material each year. To make it even better the organic material will work as a mulch keeping weeds down.
2) When you till you kill the microbes, soil bacteria, fungi and others digesting in your soil. These mini beasts convert the organic materials to nutrients your plants can absorb. You can't re-arrange or till these habitats and have the microbes survive. So when you till the soil you are essentially reducing the life value in your soil. The lower the life value, the lower the nutrient conversion, the lower the yield.
3) Tilling causes weeds. You till to make the weeds go away but you in fact you are causing more weeds. As you till you are mixing up all the weed seeds sitting on top of you soil and the ones laying dormant under ground. The weed seeds in the soil are released so they have a chance to actually germinate causing the unavoidable break out of weeds you get shortly after tilling. Also, tilling will propagate root spreading plants like dandelion or mint. Think Medusa and her many snakes. So the tilling actually brings on future weeds.
4) Tilling reduces water absorption capacity of your plants by pulverizing the micorizal fungi that connect to your plants root systems. The networks of fungi under the soil connect to your plants root systems increasing their capacity to access water by up to four fold. This makes for deeper and stronger root system that tunnel through nutrient rich soil. If you till, then each year the fungi is weaker and your yield will show it.
2) When you till you kill the microbes, soil bacteria, fungi and others digesting in your soil. These mini beasts convert the organic materials to nutrients your plants can absorb. You can't re-arrange or till these habitats and have the microbes survive. So when you till the soil you are essentially reducing the life value in your soil. The lower the life value, the lower the nutrient conversion, the lower the yield.
3) Tilling causes weeds. You till to make the weeds go away but you in fact you are causing more weeds. As you till you are mixing up all the weed seeds sitting on top of you soil and the ones laying dormant under ground. The weed seeds in the soil are released so they have a chance to actually germinate causing the unavoidable break out of weeds you get shortly after tilling. Also, tilling will propagate root spreading plants like dandelion or mint. Think Medusa and her many snakes. So the tilling actually brings on future weeds.
4) Tilling reduces water absorption capacity of your plants by pulverizing the micorizal fungi that connect to your plants root systems. The networks of fungi under the soil connect to your plants root systems increasing their capacity to access water by up to four fold. This makes for deeper and stronger root system that tunnel through nutrient rich soil. If you till, then each year the fungi is weaker and your yield will show it.
If you are worried about hardening soil, rotate the areas and put in carrots of other root vegetables that will naturally loosen stuff up. However, if you are putting organic material on the beds, and keeping the beds as foot free as possible, you will be good to go with soft, healthy soil structure.
So, why would one till up the ground each year, breaking up the networks of fungi, worms, etc. just to unleash all the weed seeds. Combine this plan with a technique of adding about two inches of organic materials each spring, and presto you will have incredible yields each year.
So tilling is bad, MmmmKay. We have figured this out. However, now we need to consider one more point. The materials you layer with each spring must be of good quality. It can be well broken down compost from your own garden or trusted sources. It can come in bags from the hardware store. Just watch out, sometimes the bags have a terrible almost gasoline smell and a tar like consistency. While, sometimes the bags are beautiful, fine and healthy. If you do have to get compost from a store don't be afraid to make a small finger tip size hole to check out the quality of the compost before you buy. Do you want your soil eating Prime Rib or McDonald? Input - output my friends. Happy no till, just add your compost and watch what happens.
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