No-Till Gardening

No-till, sometimes called no-dig, is an easier way to garden. It limits disturbance to the soil life, largely made up of microbes, and prevents activating dormant weed seeds. To begin, you can more easily create a raised bed garden on turf or some other permeable surface by laying down one or two layers of cardboard over the footprint of your raised bed, and several feet beyond if you want mulched pathways around the bed. If the soil is particularly compacted it’s a good idea to loosen it with a broadfork or garden fork before laying the cardboard. Adding a layer of mushroom compost under the cardboard will jumpstart the conversion to garden soil.

Place or construct your raised bed on top of the cardboard. Poke holes in a number of places through the cardboard to allow excess water to drain. Water the cardboard well and add your choice of garden soil, then plant seeds or seedlings. The cardboard will kill any weeds and grass beneath. Over the next six months to a year, as the cardboard decomposes, worms and microorganisms will move in and soften the earth beneath. Soon you’ll have deep, fertile garden soil. At this stage it’s a good idea to plant root vegetables such as carrots, beets, and particularly daikon radishes, to further loosen and aerate the soil.

Once your raised bed is established, you can garden traditionally or you can continue with no-till methods. In raised beds or in native soil, no-till involves cutting crops and cover crops at the soil surface, leaving the roots to decompose. Drop the plants in place to act as mulch and plant cover crops or new vegetable crops among the dropped plants. After cutting, diseased plants such as tomatoes should be discarded. Woody stalks like okra and eggplant may be removed as they take a long time to decompose. You can compost these stalks in a compost pile.

With this method, microorganisms, including the extensive webs of fungi called mycelium, which are necessary to sustain plants, are undisturbed. Dormant seeds, known as the seed bank, are not exposed to light and air, so weed germination is reduced. Dropped plants are moved aside as necessary, and new vegetables or cover crops are sown to continue nourishing microorganisms and to prevent erosion and leaching of nutrients. No-till gardening conserves moisture, discourages weeds, and provides a steady supply of nutrients for crops as mulched plants decompose. A three to four year crop rotation schedule discourages pests and diseases. It works best when cover crops are planted between vegetable crop seasons to rapidly build organic matter and so that the soil is never bare. Pioneer plants (weeds) will inevitably take root in bare soil.

Transitioning from traditional gardening to no-till requires a period of several seasons of weeding, cover crops, and management. Start by laying out pathways, lay cardboard and mulch to kill weeds there. Plant cover crops thickly, and cut or pull any weeds before they go to seed. Within a few growing seasons weeds will be discouraged, soil fertility will increase, and less care will be needed. It’s a great way to garden. For more information about no-till and a similar process called sheet composting, search “IFAS no dig gardening” online.