How to Make a No-Till Garden

so often we reach for that tiller to turn in an overgrown patch of weeds or start a new garden plot or maybe just mix in some new soil amendments into an existing plot but it's tilling really the best way to go to improve your soil while it might be the easiest and fastest way to get started it's not the best way today I'm going to show you why a no-till approach to gardening and improving your soil is a much better way plus I'll show you a quick way to get started so you can ditch that tiller for good [Music] so farmers and gardeners till for a few main reasons to turn in those overgrown weeds to create a new planting space or to generally just mix in some new nutrients into an existing plot but here's the problem with tilling every time you do it those tines are bringing up dormant weed seeds millions of them so now that they're exposed to the sunlight they can germinate but here's the bigger issue whenever those tines turn into the soil they're destroying nature's infrastructure all those billions of microorganisms working together known as the soil food web those particles bind together to improve drainage help retain moisture and aeration and one more thing is those tines are spinning they're burning up carbon and nitrogen elements and nutrients that the plants need to do what they do best and they get that from the soil but when we till we destroy all of that that's not the direction we want to go so what's the alternative to tilling well a no-till garden of course in a no-till garden we still have the same objectives fewer weeds a place to plant and improve soil but in a no-till scenario you let nature do the soil prep for you and that's the key difference you need to plan in advance at least one season to start but that's enough time for that initial surface area to be broken down enough that you can plan into it the following season and then every year after that it only gets better and better so how do you prepare your new garden plot using the no-till method follow these simple guidelines and you'll be planting into perfect soil within just a few seasons first smother the area you want to use for planting this will kill the grass and weeds beneath in soften the area for planting later 5 to 10 layers of newspaper would work as a base level but if you do this just be sure to come in behind it with something to quickly weigh it down compost is my method of choice for that it's an alternative to newspaper I prefer cardboard it's just as available and easier to work with plus over time it completely breaks down and I think it provides a better smother base to begin with next add layers of organic material above the cardboard or paper you want something that will break down rather quick I like to use rotted leaves if available well lage manure or compost even straw ideally a mix of several of these options would be great while you could stop here I had one more layer of shredded woodchips or bark it had some bulk and weight this is also a great time to add any supplemental nutrients I use milorganite here to help all this material break down quicker while adding another organic nitrogen source into the soil my plan is to end up with about a six inch layer of blended organic material in a matter of months if you keep it moist all of this that you vadik will break down and integrate into the soil and be that first new nutrient-rich plantable layer when you're ready you can just pull away the area where you want to sow your seeds or plant your seedlings the beauty of this method is that unlike tilling that brings millions of weed seeds to the surface and a no-till environment we're covering the dormant seeds deeper and deeper as we continue to add a new layer or two of organic matter every year ultimately you have an incredibly spongy layer of soil rich in nutrients and beneficial organisms that are the perfect environment for roots to grow in and easily expand the added benefit of mulch layers is that it helps protect the soil surface drastically reducing the risk of soil erosion and runoff while improving water infiltration and moisture holding capacity in the offseason as an alternative to mulch you could plant cover crops as a living mulch layer that adds nutrients to the soil and improves drainage while still protecting the surface so the final step was to take the last bit of the straw and add it to the new part of the planting bed and then whatever was leftover added it to the existing bed so now everything's protected and all that organic matter is going to break down over time now the last step that I do is just water this all in to get it kick-started but anything worth having is worth waiting for and it's going to take a couple years for this area to reach its full potential as far as really improve soil but anything worth having is worth waiting for and that's certainly the case in a no-till soil environment like this you [Music]

Channel: Milorganite Fertilizer

Views: 263,628

Rating: 4.8458905 out of 5

Keywords: How to Garden the No-Till way, Learn Why NOT to Till Your Garden, Learn the benefits of No-Till Gardening, How to prepare your garden, how to till your garden, tilling the garden, soil health, how to improve your soil, how to have healthy soil, no-till gardening, preparing your garden, no rototiller gardening, no till garden

Id: ZErovOnP8QI

Length: 5min 4sec (304 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 09 2017