Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post

bjbebs · June 21, 2015

I too am a tiller of the dirt. I only till when adding amendments back in.
My gardens are decades old. They've seen hundreds of tons of leaves, manure, spent crops, compost, cover crops and fish remains. No additional ferts are used. The tilth of the soil is loose to a foot or more deep and remains so during the growing season.
Yes, this does not happen overnight but with a lot of discipline and hard work you can end up with soil that will grow anything. On my larger areas a PTO driven tiller behind a 2000 pound tractor does the work. No compaction, no damage to worms, active bacteria and produce galore.

June 21, 2015	#40
bjbebs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2014 Location: illinois Posts: 281	I too am a tiller of the dirt. I only till when adding amendments back in. My gardens are decades old. They've seen hundreds of tons of leaves, manure, spent crops, compost, cover crops and fish remains. No additional ferts are used. The tilth of the soil is loose to a foot or more deep and remains so during the growing season. Yes, this does not happen overnight but with a lot of discipline and hard work you can end up with soil that will grow anything. On my larger areas a PTO driven tiller behind a 2000 pound tractor does the work. No compaction, no damage to worms, active bacteria and produce galore.