No-till

[Billy]

Jeff Moyer -- Championing organic no-till

Preserving the health in the soil while eliminating weeds. Jeff Moyer has been farm manager/director at the Rodale Institute for more than 28 years, has served as chair of the USDA¹s National Organic Standards Board, and is a founding board member of Pennsylvania Certified Organic. He has also been working on perfecting an organic no-till system that reduces and even eliminates both tillage and the herbicides on which most no-till systems are dependent.

What tool couldn¹t you live without? Cover crops. They are the biological tools that are the keys to success of our farm.

-----

No till has worked for me for the last 2 years, although I'm in a quandary about what to do with the potatoes. I hate digging up the soil and ruining all of the earthworm's labors (not to mention the mycorrhiza). Maybe it's not so bad, if it only happens every 5 years or so.

I still have some pepper plants, but they have looked better.

Rain in the garden today (50F/39F).

[gardenlen]

g'day billy,

we do 'no-till'

and also grow our potato's under mulch >

[Billy]

I like it ;O)

[DogDiesel]

My plan last year was based on a modified no till method by Ruth Stout. With a pile of hay and fabric for ground cover. Due to my weed issues. I skipped the no till part though. And I'm looking at what I have now and its a mess out there. Plants , leaves, grass , bark, branches, weeds laying everywhere.

So I don't know what to do either. I got the part about screwing up the worms and nematodes and bacteria . But tilling sure cleans up the mess doesn't it?

[Billy]

So does laying newspaper over the beds, then covered the newspaper with mulch, and hosed it down. Last year, I laid drip irrigation on top of that and then covered all with clear plastic (wait 6 weeks before planting, if you can). I cut openings in the plastic near emitters, and used a dibble to create a planting hole. The plastic made the ground about 5F warmer than without, and I was ahead of most gardeners in the region by about 3 weeks.

[Suzanne D.]

Best use of a lawn EVER!

--S.

[gardenlen]

g'day dogdiesel,

we've never tilled and never had a mess so realy can't add to you comment.

snipped

[gardenlen]

thanks suzanne,

yep that's waht we figured as well.

snipped

[huluzu]

i tried this zero tillage thing too, since i got an advise during my studies of how to start ecological farming. well i must say, i was more than disappointed and i am still looking for the right alternative. not even sure, what i want anymore. :(

[Billy]

Odd. I have used this method for the last 5 years and I am very happy with it. Last year, I was a month ahead of other gardeners in my area. I can't imagine what could have gone wrong. Things do go wrong. Last year was a cool year here, but the problems that I had weren't the mulches fault.

You did mulch, didn't you?

[huluzu]

yes yes. i did use mulch. but i also believe that it might have been a combination between the way too rough winter and my inpatience. actually i wasn't too engaging to that.

let my husband do most of the work and i'm not quite sure, what he did wrong.

but at this time i take a little break anyway, so i go enough time to research for other possible alternatives.

[Billy]

Spread your amendments on the beds N: 18.37 lb. chicken manure/ 100 sq.ft. (2.88 oz/sq.ft.) P: (rock phosphate) 3 lb. / 100/sq.ft. (.48 oz/sq.ft.) K: How much wood ash should you use in your garden? The late Bernard G. Wesenberg, a former Washington State University Extension horticulturist, recommended using one gallon of ashes per square yard on loam to clay-loam soil, and half as much on sandier soils.

Cover with sheets of newspaper

Cover newspaper with 3" to 4" alfalfa

Hose the bed

Wait 4 - 6 weeks and plant with seedlings. Use a dibble, ideally the pointy (sharpened) end of an old shovel handle, to make the planting holes.

For seeding directly to the soil Rake in the amendments, Seed, add mulch as plants grow.

Mulch can act as cover for pill bugs, silver fish, and other insects that can eat the very tender eaves of sprouting plants.

[huluzu]

oh wow @billy. thanks for all the detailed advise. will print them out and discuss it with my husband. maybe we should give it another try.