Quote:
Tilling kills all the bacteria that feed your plants and the worms that break stuff down while producing a lot of things that make plants happy. This makes you reliant on chemical fertilizers to feed your plants which then makes you vulnerable to salt and pH problems.
Edit: tilled gardens become compacted soil in 1 year which makes people till them again.
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I am well aware that such claims are frequently made by no-till advocates and presented as absolute truths. But they are overly simplistic claims. Either that or my gardens, despite regular tillings, are a miracle.
They thrive with active bacteria and worms by the handfulls. My soil tilth is excellent with no compaction and excellent drainage even with the recent 8+ inches of rain. And while I do provide the plants with some compost tea and fish emulsion as supplements, I've never been forced to use any synthetic/chemical fertilizers in them.
Maybe the key is in knowing how to till correctly.
That way only the soil dwelling pests that can thrive in no-tilled soil are disturbed, any weed seeds are adequately buried, and the green manure cover crops, compost, previous year's mulches and any other desirable organic supplements are well incorporated into the soil. Decades of tilling has proven to be very beneficial to my soil.
Dave