Re: no-til gardening
A suggestion from another inhabitant of Bezerkeley: I think the "no till"
method of farming presumes you have good soil to begin with. In almost all of
Berkeley, there is 10-18" of adobe clay overlying normal clay, with at best two
inches of what one might call "topsoil" or humus. It has almost no drainage,
except in rocky hilly areas. These are great conditions for growing native
plants, but hardly ideal for anything else. (As evidence of the adobe soil's.
ability to compact like concrete, most of the California Missions were
originally built by making "bricks" out of it. ) If you want not to till the
soil, you should have amended the heck out of it first (into it?). After that,
continuously dumping organic material on top, will allow you to get away
without "tilling".
Barbara Sargent wrote:
> I have a small backyard garden in Berkeley and have been attempting, for
> some time, to try no-digging methods. I have the sunniest spot set aside
> for summer vegetables, i.e. tomatoes, beans, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers,
> etc.
