Improving Your Soil

Tilth… Do You Tilleth?

Adding organic matter is not the only way you improve the soil, physical handling of your soil makes a difference, too. Digging the ground at the right time help the texture of your soil stay ideal, don’t work it when wet, especially if you have clay soils. Beware of overusing the mechanical tillers, they can create a hardpan beneath the area that the tines impact.

If you’re breaking ground for a new garden, it might be a good idea to rototill in amendments, but if your soil is loose, open and fluffy, rototilling could destroy the soil pores that enable water and oxygen to pass through, and could harm millions of microorganisms that help feed the soil and prevent soil-borne diseases. -Ciscoe’s To Do List

I roto-till ground every once in awhile in the vegetable garden. I like the idea of raised beds, but if you get lax in weeding you should rototil the area, I think. Both the till and non-till types of gardening are good as long as you stay away from herbicides. I just don’t think you ought to use them on a large scale in the garden.. and ideally not at all. The best way to keep the soil in good health is to continually rotate through the seasons with organic additions, cultivation, and attempting to reduce weeds each year by not letting them go to seed, and uprooting them. A good garden fork is a very good tool for working soils of all types.

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