Has any one changed to no-till gardening this year?

[kenh]

It seems to be a very strong fad or paradigm shift here in northern california.
I don't know if keeping the soil un-broken has been shown to be obviously beneficial.
I do now use a bigger layer of mulch, on top of tilled soil, and that extra mulch may be most of the benefit.

[Mrs-M]

Aside from reading the odd article on it (here and there), no-till gardening is all new to me but I believe has it's benefits just as it has it's non-benefits depending on where one lives.

One thing I did read Re: no-till gardening, is that one needs to carefully prepare the garden with mulch and other necessary additives in order to commence this style of gardening, but according to the articles I've read thus far, it does sound like a promising and successful method of maintaining and preserving the natural properties of gardening soil. This is one area I will be watching closely in hopes of learning more.

[Zoebird]

is it similar to things like "lasagna gardening?" we did a lot of this at the philly community garden where I worked -- it was a really nice way to plant things, keep weeds out of beds, etc. and worked beautifully. it was carboard, then newspaper, then soil and compost, then plants, then mulch. this could be put right over existing lawn, so it made things very simple. it also created a nice foundation for raised beds on weedy, concrete-y lots. gave you something with some slow decomposition, but it would still decomp nicely and then the next year you would just soil/compost/mulch (and sometimes a weed barrier layer on top of newspaper strips, then mulch).

i can't wait to move into our new place and garden.

[goldensmom]

I've not heard of no-till gardening but did lay potatoes on the ground and cover with straw one year like I'd read they did centuries ago in Europe. I would think that the advantages of no-till gardening is the same as no-till farming, i.e. time, convenience, cost, etc. We do not farm by the no-till method as I like the looks of a nicely fit field.

[benhyr]

We prepared the beds without tilling (we double-ditch dug) and will never till. Green manure cover crops planted in the fall will be turned under (likely chopped down and turned in with a long fork but possibly spaded) but that's about it. Of course, we're using raised beds with high sides so tilling isn't an option anyway. We're not through a growing season though so I can't offer any experience.

I do know that a small but increasing percentage of commercial farmers (ie, 1000+ acre corn/soybean farms) are going no-till. I think it's around 5% of farmland now. They're using seed drills to plant the seeds under the surface and leaving the silage from last year's crop on the field. They're also injecting fertilizer under the surface, which allows them to use less than just spraying it on and it greatly reduces fertilizer run-off.

One benefit of not tilling is you keep more of the soil crumb in tact which also keeps more nitrogen affixed in the soil.

[Amaranth]

One big advantage to no till is that it preserves the nutrient pathways and the earthworm tunnels in the soil. For some interesting reading, check out some of the latest soil research on recent discoveries related to mycorrhiza.

Another advantage to no till is that it avoids bringing a new batch of weed seeds to the surface.

[Mrs. Hermit]

I'm trying no till this year by default. We never got our 6 inches of mulch tilled under, so I just planted in it/around it/ under it. I will put more mulch on top. Should be an interesting experiment. Now if I can keep the deer out of the garden to find out how it will turn out!

[Float On]

Wow, if I tried to till it would sound like a rock quary and would be a danger zone. I do raised beds because I've got about 2" of topsoil before hitting shelf rock. I'm on the back side of a cliff.

[SRP]

No till gardening has been around for a looong time. :~) Ruth Stout really gained attention when she started planting in layers of hay mulch - I have one of her books. Google her and you'll find a bunch of stuff.

Anyhow, this is my first garden in several years. I had to have it tilled to break through and get rid of the sod. But from here on out I do plan to go no-till. I started to get into it in my previous garden way back when and liked it. Hopefully I'll have good results this time around too.

[flowerseverywhere]

no till for many years. As someone else posted, large sheets of cardboard were put down and raised beds around that, then covered with compost, peat and vermiculite mix. Much easier for me to weed and I can plant much more intensely. I was just outside between rains and my gardens are full of earthworms. Some of my beds are over 15 years old and have never been stepped on and are very light soil. As they years go by you get fewer and fewer weeds. Between the raised beds are mulched paths that originally had cardboard under them.

I do rotate my plants so that I only put the same plant in every third year so as not to deplete the soil.