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Post by paulf on Oct 13, 2014 7:34:35 GMT -5
Or both or neither? Yesterday the entire garden space got completely cleaned up, all the dead and dying plant material was either put on the compost pile or disposed of. Then the entire space got tilled.
The question is, should I fall till, spring till, both or neither. My reason for fall till is to incorporate the newspaper/straw mulch into the soil to add to the organics of the soil. In the spring, my non-tomato portions of the garden get another light tilling to smooth things off for row crops.
Too much tilling tends to compact the soil and remove oxygen. For some reason I have a need to turn the dirt over and make it look nice. What do you think and what do you do?
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Post by daylilydude on Oct 13, 2014 10:26:04 GMT -5
paulf, I do both because me thinks as long as your turning in something like compost/hay/leaves your putting in more oxygen which keeps it from compacting... but I may be wrong??
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dirtguy50
Pro Member
My avatar got in trouble for digging in the garden
Posts: 255
Zone:: 6b
Joined: February 2014
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Post by dirtguy50 on Oct 13, 2014 21:21:21 GMT -5
paulf, I quit tilling several years ago. I thought that adding all the organic matter in the fall and then in spring were great and looked so good. Then at the end of the summer, the ground was depleted of nutrients and had to start over again. It didn't make sense. Got interested in lasagna, sheet mulching, (what ever you want to call it) which worked much better but required a lot of organic matter each year. A couple of years ago I made the decision to go to the BTE (Back To Eden) and have had the most productive, rich, amazing garden than ever before. The tiller is long gone. Nature doesn't till the ground and is sustainable.
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Post by spacecase0 on Oct 13, 2014 21:28:46 GMT -5
I till in straw and leaves in the fall, then tile it, and the rain soaks in over the winter, I can get a few months of free water in the spring doing that
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 13, 2014 22:30:06 GMT -5
I do it both seasons, and even in the summer, when I turn some nutrients into the double row I just harvested garlic and shallots from. I also run it a few times down all the trenches thoughout the year, to deepen them again.
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Post by paquebot on Oct 15, 2014 3:33:13 GMT -5
Fall tilling works great if there is a lot of organic material to be added. As long as the soil is not frozen solid, bacterial action will be breaking it down. If it's for the nutrients, they will then be available to the plants right away in the spring rather than waiting for several months to break down.
Martin
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Post by freedhardwoods on Nov 3, 2014 4:59:05 GMT -5
I have a 1/4 acre garden and I'm only home on weekends. It would be impossible to keep up with the weeds without my Troybilt Horse (I have 2). Some parts of my garden may get tilled as much as 6 times before winter.
I till in the organic matter in the fall. In the spring, I will do a fast shallow till (1" deep) every couple weeks to kill weeds until I plant. I shallow till between the rows when needed for weed control after planting.
Tilling your dirt into a powder means you are tilling too slow. The top will crust over and plants have a very hard time breaking through. My seedbeds are even, but a little rough looking.
I plant Ground Hog Radish or get my neighbor to pull his 7 shank ripper (300 hp tractor) through my garden to break up any hardpan below the till/plow line.
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Post by brownrexx on Feb 24, 2015 19:12:26 GMT -5
I till one time a year in the fall only and then cover the entire garden with a thick layer of straw. This keeps the earthworms working longer into the cold weather since they burrow deeper as it gets colder. The straw insulates the surface of the soil and keeps it from getting cold as fast.
The straw is already on my garden as a mulch so I get very few weeds in the spring and it is ready for planting peas as soon as the weather gets warm enough. I just pull the straw back to warm the soil a bit and then plant.
Later I plant the rest of the garden and again, the mulch is already there so I just pull it back and make my rows.
I used to till Spring and Fall but discovered that it is not necessary. Rototilling does break up the structure of the soil. It breaks apart all of those structures and colonies built by the fungus that turns into mychorhizzie during the growing season which are so beneficial to the plants. It also chops up a lot of earthworms.
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Post by paquebot on Feb 24, 2015 23:56:30 GMT -5
I would not worry about earthworms. Most are alien as it is and not needed to have great soil. Those which are the most useful, endogeic, operate within the first 6" of soil amd rely on whatever is tilled in. If they don't have anything to eat, they die or move. I only have anecic type (nightcrawlers) and they get out of the way as soon as the tiller starts.
Martin
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Post by izitmidnight on Feb 25, 2015 9:04:41 GMT -5
If I can get someone to till, I do both! It helps to clean up the summer garden and till in the winter cover crop.
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