To Till or not to Till

Tilling soil is hard work and its reward comes once the task is complete. Smelling freshly tilled dirt invigorates the soul, but the benefits of the task are questionable. Tilling the soil kills millions, if not trillions of beneficial microorganisms. Exposing soil microbes to sun and wind causes dehydration and death.

Tilling with a machine is expensive and tilling with a shovel is hard on ones back. The basic idea of all tilling is to break up tight soil. This creates air and water space, and makes it loose for root growth. But you can get better root growth without tilling. And it can be done twenty four hours a day and seven days a week.

Macro and microorganisms can till the soil for you if you give them the right incentives. Macro organisms like earthworms will literally work for table scraps. When composted table scraps are placed on top of the ground and covered by mulch, the earthworms will find it and take it a foot or deeper into the soil.

An inch layer of compost, a generous application of organic fertilizer, followed by a three or four inch layer of native wood mulch will begin to invigorate the microorganisms below the soil surface. As these bacteria, fungus, and other organisms begin to multiply and grow on the compost and mulch, the soil tilth improves.

Over time, the action of these small organisms together with compost and mulch serve to loosen the soil and make nutrients available that were previously tied up or too deep for plant use. To plant a viable crop, simply pull the mulch aside and place seed or transplants in the ground.

Now you have a garden with loose soil and areas without dirt to cling to your boots. As you walk in between the rows of fruits, vegetables and flowers, your steps break apart the mulch and cause more surface area to be exposed to the soil microbes. An added benefit is that the ground will now absorb and retain more water than exposed soil.

So the take home message is to throw away the tiller, the plow and forget about the backbreaking work of tilling a garden, and let the living organisms in the soil do the work for you. If a two to four inch layer of mulch is maintained over the garden, each succeeding year’s crop will be an improvement over the previous year’s crop.

David Will, Member TGCoA