Last year I decided to turn a 20x20 ft plot of my bermuda grass backyard into more of my garden. The other part was raised beds. I chopped out the grass, roto tilled the entire area several times and come April planted many tomato, green pepper, beans, and pea plants. It really did not take long after the heat and rain kicked in that the darn bermuda grass was growing in all over my 20x20 plot. I never used any chemicals to kill the grass but the rest of my year in that plot was spent trying to keep the grass away from all the plants not harvesting vegetables. It was really not much fun at all. In addition to all of that the production of those plants was minimal at best. I think the grass choked them out for the most part. Needless to say this year I am not even messing with that plot and keeping my entire garden in the 5 raised beds that I contructed. Not a good experience on my end bermuda grass is so invasive.
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Planting directly into the yard (no tilling)??
- Thread starter JoeFish
- Start date
Keeping grass out:
I have several small gardens throughout my back yard and I line every one of them with a plastic lawn barrier like the one shown below. I've tried multiple times to block out encroaching grass by putting down bark, gravel, other things, but it never worked. Then a few years ago I installed this plastic barrier and its worked wonders. Usually in mid summer and in the spring I'll spend an hour pulling a few plants that made it under/over the barrier, but its not bad at all. The key is not to go cheap and get the short one. I use an 8" barrier.
Farmers tilling:
Generally tilling is not the best way to prep your soil. Its not bad per se, but there are definitely better ways to go about it that don't "mess up" the soil. I would say the main reason farmers in the way back (Little House on the Prairie times) tilled is just a matter of scope. They had a lot of land to plant and were usually rushed to get the seed in the ground in the spring. I personally use a garden fork to loosen, aerate, and work in new organic material, but its a lot of work. I'm wiped out after spending a weekend prepping my 4 little gardens. I couldn't even imagine hand turning 30 acres of land. Its really just a matter of scale.
I have several small gardens throughout my back yard and I line every one of them with a plastic lawn barrier like the one shown below. I've tried multiple times to block out encroaching grass by putting down bark, gravel, other things, but it never worked. Then a few years ago I installed this plastic barrier and its worked wonders. Usually in mid summer and in the spring I'll spend an hour pulling a few plants that made it under/over the barrier, but its not bad at all. The key is not to go cheap and get the short one. I use an 8" barrier.
Farmers tilling:
Generally tilling is not the best way to prep your soil. Its not bad per se, but there are definitely better ways to go about it that don't "mess up" the soil. I would say the main reason farmers in the way back (Little House on the Prairie times) tilled is just a matter of scope. They had a lot of land to plant and were usually rushed to get the seed in the ground in the spring. I personally use a garden fork to loosen, aerate, and work in new organic material, but its a lot of work. I'm wiped out after spending a weekend prepping my 4 little gardens. I couldn't even imagine hand turning 30 acres of land. Its really just a matter of scale.
There's nothing wrong will tilling the soil as long as it is not moist. No till is something that came along to 1) reduce erosion, and 2) save the farmer money and time. It is not considered a superior practice strictly from an agronomic point of view (what is best for the new plant). I farmed commercially for 7 years with my dad and this topic made the rounds quite a bit.
JohnT said:
The food forests planted by natives in the amazon are still going and visible today after hundreds of years. 95% of all plants form symbiotic relationships with fungi, tilling kills the fungi and speeds the bacterial cycle. Tilling results in an endless cycle of having to till. No tilling is whats best for the plants, billions of acres of forest, prairie and any other kind of ecosystem pretty much prove this. Tilling isnt done because of whats best for the plant.
Tilling does not disrupt the bacterial cycle and when done in non wet conditions it assist in aeration. I would rather have forest topsoil to work with too - it is superior in every way. I planted a bed of ginseng no till in a forest floor setting and also 300 tree yearlings. If that's your medium then yes I am in agreement.mx5inpa said:
JohnT said:
When you till you mix a lot of surface organic matter into the soil, it gets eaten right away by bacteria and the cycle ends almost as soon as it begins leading to the farmer have to input excessive amounts of fertilizer, further killing off soil life and leading to things like erosion and dust bowls.
I make my soil more fungal by covering it in 4-6 inches of wood chips. I never have to irrigate and mushrooms are popping out of my garden constantly. Even when it hasnt rained for weeks.
I let worms do my tilling and aerating. Tilling dry soil just turns it into dust.
I realize things like this arent feasible on large farms, but I dont things large farms are feasible either.
There's a lot we know now that we didnt about the soil food web and the science to back it up.
Now we know to feed the soil, not the plant.
On a side note, its also recently been discovered that its the soil of houseplants, not the plants themselves that do the cleaning of the air.
Sorry of this is taking the OP off subject so I am pretty much done in here.
If you want to further discuss it, I'm around through different venues like the chat room or a new thread etc...
I'm gonna be reading that book soon. This isn't somethig I've ever heard of before. I have to assume that if it is true, that farmers do it for the ease of putting seed/plant in the ground. Can you imagine doing it on that large of a scale without tilling? Pretty much impossible. And like you said MX it's what they've been taught and how they've always done it. I've always thought tilling was good but I'm always open to new ideas as long as there is evidence to back it up so I'm definitely looking forward to reading the book 
Since most of us are not growing an acre of peppers I see no reason to till if you have a good soil food web going.
You want to aerate then put in the proper amendments and or double dig. Tilling does damage the food web that is a scientific fact regardless of how much farming you have done!
You want to aerate then put in the proper amendments and or double dig. Tilling does damage the food web that is a scientific fact regardless of how much farming you have done!
I have this book. I will be reading it soon. At this point my main garden is 50 by 70 feet. I add lots of organic material in the fall and spring. It does get tilled in and my garden is always productive. I have been thinking of going no till . I may just try it this year.Proud Marine Dad said: