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No-Till Gardening: 5 Reasons You Should Never Use A Tiller Again
Image source: NOLA.com
Tilling the land has always been a part of traditional gardening, despite the testimony of lush natural vegetation in wild areas unspoiled by man’s hands. Even within the cultivated garden, seeds that accidentally fall among brambles and rocks often present such vigorous growth that they could put well-tended plants in neat garden beds to shame.
Lazy gardeners through the ages would have occasionally taken shortcuts, but it was not until the 1940s, and the Plowman’s Folly by Edward Faulkner, that no-till gardening received attention as a viable alternative to traditional farming practices. The Japanese farmer-philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka of One Straw Revolution took the idea to the extremes and proved it to be both practical and profitable.
In a no-till garden, the soil is left undisturbed under layers of protective mulch. Plantings are done in shallow holes or ditches with minimum disturbance to the soil biome. After a season’s crop, plant remains are not dug up; they are left to join the soil biomass through the action of soil microbes. The soil gets aerated by the action of earthworms and other permanent inhabitants. This method is now considered a holistic and cost-effective way to produce food.
Source: http://www.offthegridnews.com/survival-gardening-2/no-till-gardening-5-reasons-you-should-never-use-a-tiller-again/
