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Re: Rototilling - What is the alternative

Bill and Andrew,

I'm from the old-fashioned plowing faction, myself. For over 25 years I had a huge, extremely productive vegetable and flower garden, much too large to either use the no-till methods being discussed here, and too large to rototill as well.

Every spring I'd have the garden plowed and harrowed, put black plastic down immediately over the entire surface to trap soil moisture in and prevent weeds (silo covers are great for this purpose) and plant through holes or rows cut in the plastic. (Rainfall reached the plants both through their own individual planting holes and through slits I cut in the plastic wherever "ponding" occurred.) In the fall I'd get rid of all of the plants and plant debris, take up the plastic and, every other year, have a roughly two-to-three inch layer of wheat straw rough-plowed into the soil, to deteriorate over the winter. My soil was always light and fluffy. I never had to water -- even in the years of worst drought --  had almost no problems with plant diseases, and the soil's fertility was absolutely fantastic -- I never fertilized anything, either the garden generally or any plant specifically -- ever. It simply wasn't necessary.

I'm sure the method's being discussed here would work for small plots, but for large ones the size of my former garden, it would be almost impossible for one rather small woman to physically accomplish without major garden help, which I did not have. Under these circumstances, practicality has to be the ruling factor. Although it's been ten years since I moved and left that beautiful sunny garden behind (I have shade now), the new owners of the property have continued to keep it in production, following the same methods I used, and it is still marvelously productive and healthy.

As to no-till farming methods, this is commonly seen in our area in cornfields. I don't think most people realize that, in order for no-till corn production to work, in addition to drilling the seeds into the soil, a weed-killer also has to be spread simultaneously to prevent weeds from overrunning the field. This is why, if you live in an agricultural area where this is practiced, you will see fields of browned grasses or weeds with nice neat rows of corn sprouting among the devastation. On hillsides, the no-till method can be useful, since it prevents erosion, but on flat or very gently rolling land where erosion is not a problem, it does nothing but add herbicides to large amounts of acreage, and for that reason, I oppose it in these areas.

As for double-digging -- oh my aching back!!!!! I tried it once, and never again!

Lina Burton 

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