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rotilling

Dear Jeff,
    Fascinating about rototilling, which I didn't know.  If you have 
heavy clay soil and you need to incorporate organic material and the 
space is too big to dig by hand, what do you do?  I know organic 
mulching (hurrah Ruth Stout) makes a huge difference, but it takes 
several years to get even a few inches of top soil out of that.  What do 
you do in the mean time, and what do you do about the heavy red layer of 
clay underneath?  
    Looking forward with eagerness for your response.
    Catriona Tudor Erler

JEFF LOWENFELS wrote:

>
>Rodale missed a lot of the essentials. Take rototilling the soil.
>Unless you are putting in a brand new garden, and even then, roto-tilling is
>one of the very worst things you can do to your soil as it kills all sorts
>of soil organisms big and small, results in greater compaction during the
>season due to loss of fungal infrastructure, causes carbon loss to the air,
>etc etc. Of course, who were the biggest advertisers in Rodale's mags? Troy
>et al......hmmmmmmm. Even in the last years of OG, they didn't see the clear
>science.
>
>
>Cheers and Happy Easter,
>
>Jeff L
>
>P.S. If you are reading this and saying to yourself, "Gee, I rototill....and
>I tell my readers to rototill" you really need to check the science on the
>practice. It isn't pretty in favor of tilling. Just the worms and
>microarthopods you kill, forget the fungi you can't see....."
>
>
>
>
>
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============================================================
The tax deadline is looming?are you prepared? 
Avoid the last-minute rush with online tax filing!  Prepare 
and e-file your return at CompleteTax for $17.95. 
http://click.topica.com/caaajuZbUrGSSbVSZwBf/CompleteTax
============================================================

GWL has searchable archives at: 
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters/
If you have photos for GWL, send them to gwlphotos@hort.net and they will show up at  http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos/ 
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