Organic, no-till gardening

[Guest guest]

I have not used chemicals in my garden for years, but this is the first year

that I have done the no-till, " lasagna " , " lazy-man's composting "  method.   The

results are so fantastic, I just had to share.  In basic terms, I spent the fall

and winter adding layers of organic material (leaves, wood chips, straw, wood

ashes, chicken manure) on top of my garden.  By the spring it was about 8 "

thick.  By planting time, it had composted down to 2-3 " .  I just simply parted

it where I wanted to plant.  The soil beneath was rich, black and soft and full

of earthworms.  The pathways were left nearly weed-free by virtue of the

covering of orgainic material.  As the organic material continues to compost,

weeds eventually started to sprout and that was my cue to add more organic

material.  And as seelings emerged, I would surround them with organic material

wich is great for not only weed control but also water retention.  My goal is to

never see exposed

soil.

 

The results are better than I had hoped.  The soil is loose and easy to plant

in.  Inesect life abounds but very little damage to plants.  Weeding time is

down 80-90%.  Germination rates were very high and plant growth rates and

productivity have been stunning.  Lifelng gardners have told me that they have

never see anything like it.   And the taste...  I've grown up on garden fresh

vegtables but, wow, these are significantly better.  And I know that as  do this

year after year and incorporate cover cropping and rotation, the soil and

results will even get better.

 

I got most of the ideas here:

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Organic-Gardening-Soil-Basics.html

 

Gene

[Guest guest]

Gene, I have to admit to similar gardening mulching :-) To go one step lazier,

try to set aside an area for items that can be planted in the same place for

several years and let them go to seed there. A slight scrape in the mulch in

spring is sure to bring up a free bumper crop of sturdy seedlings.

I'm even lopping off kale plants at the ground level in fall to see how the new

shoots that come up fare (pretty spindly so far, but, hey, the experiment is

free). This fall, I will pre-seed kale, chard, peppers (yep-these worked),

ground cherries, lettuce, carrots (yep-this worked, too!!) and spinach for

cold-framing in the spring to avoid needing a greenhouse for many plants and to

have a variety of greens early. A bonus for spinach going to seed is that we

harvest leaves all summer long for salads when it is difficult to get new plants

to start in the heat.

If you can think of any other plants I should try, let me know. It's good fun to

see what works well.

Happy gardening,

in Minneapolis

[Guest guest]

I am so glad to see another convert to no-till gardening! Yes, this works great

for planting absolutely everything; I haven't tilled in over 30 years. I read in

OG the number of seeds exposed per cubic inch when one turns the soil, and I

never looked back. When you continually disturb all the layers of the soil it is

actually worse for soil health and the whole ecosystem of your garden. Also, it

is not necessary, no matter how packed your surface is. There are ways to bring

the earth to life that involve mulches, organic wastes, and water; I have

gardened even over class 5 gravel.

There's a great world-wide forum with no-till info and nice, knowledgeable

people on permies.com; check it out sometime and join in!

[Guest guest]

You all might be interested in watching this film and checking out this

website - " Back to Eden. "

http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/

http://vimeo.com/28055108

It is all about the wonders of no-till gardening.