Written and edited by Tammy 10th February 2023
If you were a 'newbie' to gardening, you'd probably be asking "what is till?" Is it important and do I have to do it?"
Tilling is just a fancy word for digging, turning your soil over, and it sounds like a lot of hard work to me, so I'm not really into tilling. Let me share a few more good reasons why.
Firstly, why would you break your back if you don't need to, gardening is supposed to be enjoyable right?
It was once thought (and some might still think) that you needed to turn your soil over in preparation for a new garden bed, to chop up the weeds, to aerate it, incorporate your compost and fertilisers and "fluff" it up.
The trouble with this is, the moment you start turning shovels full of soil over bringing what's beneath up to the top, you disrupt and alter the structure of your soil.
Not only does it increase the surface area from which water runs off, and lead to erosion, but all those glorious little critters earthworms, beetles and microbials that live within your soil, have their homes torn apart and in some instances are left on the surface to die.
How sad is that!!🥺
It's not the way Mother Nature does it or intends it to be, think of it that way.
It's far more beneficial to build up good, thick, generous layers of organic matter regularly and let these little fellas do their thing and work their way through it incorporating it for you.
They'll be happy healthy and well fed, our soil structure is sound, our backs are good, and our plants will be happy and thrive, win win I'd say.
And the weeds? Often that's just what the weed seed bank needs to kick it back into gear. Weeds love growing in freshly disturbed soil. Smothering weeds is often enough to supress them.
As for the tired, finished summer vegetables that you would otherwise spend half the day pulling out? You don't really need to.
You can still chop back the bulk of it and throw it into your compost, but as for the roots, they're not doing any harm by staying there.
In actual fact
They help hold the soil intact.
Are broken down by your soil critters.
Create little channels for the water to follow down through to infiltrate your soil.
They 'll create shelter and protection for your new seasons little seedlings to come up in amongst, so they're not standing out there all alone exposed to the wind and extreme elements and waiting for the snails to come along.
Each to their own, but I personally feel it's in your best interests not to till your soil if you can avoid it.
Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your gardens. Stay off the shovel😜😘🪴
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