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Planting directly into the yard (no tilling)??

JoeFish

JoeFish

I have posted this question in my GLOG but I maybe a little impatient.
 
Can I just plant through my Bermuda grass into the ground, then  just mulch the crap out of it to keep the grass/weeds from messing with it?  I had the idea to mulch it with my homemade compost and or aged wood chips.  Thanks for any advice anyone can give. 
 
Here is a picture of my yard, to the right is my tilled garden spot for everything other than peppers and to the left is my proposed spot for peppers.  Just trying to save a little work and make it look cool with a sweet pepper plant garden of evil.  I just think its an idea and would look pretty different.
 
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I had some Hungarian waxes I planted directly into this godawful red clay we call soil here without tilling and they did great.  I didn't fertilize them once and they were throwing massive pods.  I'm leaning towards a "yes"
 
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Yes, you can.
 
With wood chips youll have to go pretty deep 4-6". I have a raised bed that I dont till, its covered in plain wood chips. I need more now though. 
 
Or there is the lasagna bed method. You could also grow directly in bales of hay. Or use spread hay to kill the grass. Or just mulch it in selected spots.
 
There are lots of ways to even think of right now.
 
That's a nice looking planting area - compost tumbler, compost barrels, nice looking garden plot! All I can say is the peppers would also like a tilled area also - I assume you have a tiller - why not till?
 
JJJessee said:
I'd dig an 18" hole ~18" deep, mix in about 2/3 enriched potting soil, put down some newspaper, and mulch the crap out of it. Probably work.
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Notice he said "dig" not "till"? I would agree. Tilling is not a good thing although you could get away with doing it once and then get the soil doing it's thing but I would never till again after you get the ground ready. Tilling does more damage than good.
 
Bob_B said:
That's a nice looking planting area - compost tumbler, compost barrels, nice looking garden plot! All I can say is the peppers would also like a tilled area also - I assume you have a tiller - why not till?
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Thanks for the reply!  I think this is the average mind set including me!  Why not till?  I have been reading a lot about gardening over the past 6 months and I have to say that a lot of the stuff Ive read about roto tilling is not always needed and sometimes does more bad than good.
 
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
Notice he said "dig" not "till"? I would agree. Tilling is not a good thing although you could get away with doing it once and then get the soil doing it's thing but I would never till again after you get the ground ready. Tilling does more damage than good.
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Thanks for the reply!
I agree I felt I needed to till the spot for all my normal garden goodies and get that established Bermuda out of my way.  As for pepper plants I just thought, why cant I just dig a hole plant a plant?  So this thread it confirming for me that it will work and is not a terrible idea.
Yall check out my GLOG they will be going in the ground middle of April!!
 
I used post hole diggers last year along my fence row dug my holes put the dirt in a wheelbarrow and mixed it with a few bags of cheap composted cow manure then threw it back in the hole and planted my ghost peppers................
 
The only thing I would add is that I don't plant my favorite peppers in the ground anymore because I overwinter a lot - especially with Chinese. That's because I do pots for overwintering my favorites! Digging a whole and and planting obviously works but I do pots now to move around as needed especially at the end of the season. Just saying - plant your Chinese or Pubescens in pots for easy overwinter. Otherwise, plant directly in the ground with your annuums!
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
Notice he said "dig" not "till"? I would agree. Tilling is not a good thing although you could get away with doing it once and then get the soil doing it's thing but I would never till again after you get the ground ready. Tilling does more damage than good.
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Why do you think tilling is bad?
 
Tilling hasn't hurt in my opinion - certainly has aerated my soil and not compacted it. Why do the farmers do it?
 
I'm not gunna lie, I'm a little interested in this "planting directly into haybales" thing myself.  I already have a bunch laying around.
 
Bob_B said:
Tilling hasn't hurt in my opinion - certainly has aerated my soil and not compacted it. Why do the farmers do it?
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Where the tines hit the soil compacts the area beneath it. Farmers feed chemical fertilizers so the soil health is not as important to them so they don't care if they kill what little life they have in their soil.
Many are now going organic because it's far better in every way.
 
Bob_B said:
Tilling hasn't hurt in my opinion - certainly has aerated my soil and not compacted it. Why do the farmers do it?
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People do a lot of things just because "that's how we always did it".
 
I think train tracks are still the same width as the old roman chariots if that tells you anything.
 
Here is one of many articles about "No Till" gardening...there are also many about "No Till" farming. Interesting read and some very good results. Give it a go and let us know how it goes!!! I second the thought of a layer of newspaper under the mulch...or as the mulch. I use it often and it works very well. The water seeps through and it keeps most of the weeds at bay.
 
http://eartheasy.com/blog/2009/01/no-till-gardening/

Oh...you mentioned bermuda...
 
I till from time to time when working in new organic matter, but I always hand cultivate and weed to get the bermuda gone first. Nothing worse than chopping a few bermuda grass runners into hundreds of bermuda grass runners...
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
Because it kills the soil food web including fungal and bacterial hyphae, worms, arthropods, etc. and causes the soil to become more compacted. Do you have a copy of "Teaming With Microbes"? Highly recommended.
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Yes, it is a great book every organic grower should have. Have you read "Teaming with nutrients" yet, I gotta get that asap?
 
I'm no scientist but before there were chemical fertilizers farmers were tilling. plants will grow well in soil that hasn't been tilled but the benefit is to drive fresh nutrients down deeper where the roots of the plants your trying to grow can benefit from them. I till to speed up weeding of my beds and to break up the soil. I think I will try not tilling a section of my bed to see if there is a difference. After reading up on no till farming I have had a change in opinion about the science behind tilling.
 
Bermuda grass will grow thru concrete and ashphalt!  You can pile miles of dirt on it and it will grow thru.  It is incredibly competive.
 
Best to annihilate it.  I watered mine deeply and when it had 10-15cm of growth I nuked it with glyphosphate (Roundup).  It must be growing strongly otherwise you won't kill the underground buds - and they are usually about 15-30cm down.
 
I then tilled the whole thing over and mixed in copious amounts of organic matter, flattened the soil down to reduce the air filled porosity, spread a decent layer of fertilliser (organic mix of chicken manure, fismeal and kelp that is composted and extruded into pellets: Seamungus - here's a link http://www.neutrog.co.za/seamungus/).%C2 This was then covered with a layer of wood chip mulch.  The plants in this area are HUGE and covered in fruit.  No transplant shock, rapid but strong growth and have good deep root systems.
 
I planted another area where i did not prepare the soil this way and those plants are spindly, hardly any production.
 
I would say: Nuke it.  And then prepare the soil properly.  Otherwise you could end up with a regrettable season.
 
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