TILLING YOUR SOIL - The Fastest Way To KILL Your GARDEN!

Now before I begin, I don't want you to think that I'm totally against tilling your soil. The first year on our homestead, we tilled over our soil simply because it needed it. What do I mean by that?

Turning over your soil will increase the oxygen content in your soil and thus will GREATLY accelerate the break down of any organic material within. This is fine if this is the first time the soil is being prepared for planting. But if you do it every year, the organic material in the soil has all rapidly been depleted and you will need some sort of fertilizer to get the production you will be happy with.

For new ground that is hard and never worked, it's ok to till in your first year because you will introduce lots of oxygen into the soil along with moisture at depths it has not before reached in good quantity. Then top off with lots of natural organic matter that will break down over time and feed and grow the microbial life that now has access to that oxygen and moisture.

The Modern Plow

The commercial farming industry is one thing. The backyard and hobby farmer is another. The latter is quickly learning the benefits of not tilling or plowing their land every year. And the former is slowly realizing this has all been a giant mistake. The Back To Eden movie by Paul Gautschi from Washington state was a huge step forward in this movement but it was actually an idea thought of much earlier.

In the 1940's, a book written by Edward Faulkner called the Plowman's Folly really first called into question the idea of continually turning over the soil in order to get plants to grow. Today, farmers are pouring tons of synthetic potassium, nitrogen and phosphorous additives on their planting ground just to get something to grow.

It's long been a joke meant to insult the American Indian (yes I used the politically incorrect term for the supposed natives who weren't really the original natives at all) by telling a story of a tribesman who saw a plowed field for the first time and responded with the words, "Wrong Side Up". But now we are seeing who will have the last laugh.

By constantly turning over your soil every year, you are destroying the ecosystems of millions of living organisms. In healthy soil, there are close to 50 billion microbes in just a tablespoon. Those microbes including yeast, beneficial nematodes, algae, fungi and various bacteria are busy growing and building their own infrastructure underneath the soil, and by tilling, you are destroying their hard work. It's all their hard work that makes the ground fertile enough to grow what you want to plant. Sure, you will always have small deficiencies that you can correct by proper monitoring and testing. By fixing these deficiencies, you are adding additional building blocks for these microbes to add to their already flourishing ecosystem.

Not to mention that healthy soil will have worms working in it to turn over soil giving great access to moisture and oxygen that the microbes need to flourish.

Last year I visited the home of master gardener Dr. Calvin Bey and interviewed him on this exact subject. You can see the video below. Dr. Bey is a big advocate in getting your soil tested and seeing if it lacks any major nutrient. And if it does, you can come back and add it naturally the way nature would add it. Dr. Calvin Bey has never tilled up his soil and he has amazing growth as you can see in the video.

In states like Virginia, almost 50% of the farmers have now switched to NO-TILL and are finding that it's becoming easier and cheaper to grow their crops. Before they had to spend more money on special patented seeds that could withstand the chemical herbicides being sprayed over the top of them. Now, seeds are cheaper and they are no longer buying the harmful chemical herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. That is just one state. But the idea is spreading!

And not only are farmers saving money on expensive GMO seeds and chemicals, they are finding they can get rid of equipment as well since a majority of their on-site machinery is purposed for yearly tillage. Talk about a WIN-WIN-WIN.
Cheaper seeds, less chemicals and less machinery to maintain and pay for. And all this of course leads to better healthier foods.

In nature, you don't see the need for overturned soil to achieve spectacular growth. So if that is the case with nature, why should we do any different in our gardens?

Visiting The Home Of A Master Gardener

Making Your First Year Garden Great!

Above are some videos that we think will help give you some great advice on getting started on gardening in a way that will allow your soil to give you fantastic production for years to come!