So, in the time I lived here, I’ve noticed that the ground is basically a solid piece of water-holding clay with a nice underlayment of rock. Not the best place for root veg, etc, and whenever I want something to survive I am basically left trying to till the top few feet just so the ground moves and is aerated, and mixing in a bit of homemade compost and garden soil (soil a la Miracle Grow – also not ideal). Not the cheapest or most natural method, but I feel a bit like we are rehabilitating some sun compacted soil, so I do what I do.
That being said, I started using raised beds and containers to grow some of the veg, and that has been much easier. Additionally, I LOVE elevated beds. They don’t hurt my back like working in the ground.
This year I’d been listening to people talk about no till gardening, and quite honestly I figured it was a bunch of goofiness. How am I going to break up my soil if I plant right in it? How do I get rid of the weeds? Etc?
Once I researched it more, I realized that by tilling, I am really hurting our soil more than helping. I thought I was doing it a favor by introducing air, but apparently I’m also destroying little bug and microbe cities worse than King Kong during a temper tantrum. YIKES.
Additionally and sort of in parallel to this research, I wanted to grow corn this year, and I thought I’d till up a regular garden plot. Well, I did, and I failed. Our poor little Amazon tiller barely made a dent in our concrete dirt, and my chickens picked over what was left…at this point, frustrated, I thought there had to be a better way, and that led me to dig deeper (pun not intended) into the whole no till thing, because I now hate my tiller (sorry, tiller).
Come to find out, I’ve been no till gardening for a while for our garlic, lettuce, etc (lettuce because slugs are GROSS), and I found this great article that I am going to try to use for my 3 Sisters garden, which is basically a Native American inspired garden that uses corn for the trellis, beans to add nitrogen, and squash in a companion-like arrangement.
No Till Gardening: https://donotdisturbgardening.com/how-to-start-a-no-till-garden-a-complete-step-by-step-guide/
The article above, from Donotdisturbgardening.com, has an option to use bagged dirt on top of compacted dirt, and then to basically remove the bags at season’s end and start building compost layers to rehab the dirt. I LOVE THIS. No tiller needed, and it makes measuring super easy. Seeing as I’m spending a lot of money on dirt (funny enough, my biggest expense this year for the garden), I would love to be able to add compost amendments and not have to keep adding dirt long term.
Side note: bulk dirt is cheaper than bagged (in theory), but we can’t use bulk because I’m fighting a years’ long war against fire ants, which LOVE when I get new dirt (fresh meat, they say). I’ve been trying not to use more chemicals than necessary, so I use a mound treatment with a short half-life. Since I’m not using broadcast pesticide, it has been a long battle, but I’m getting there!
One of the no till options was a container garden. I started with grow bags, raised beds, and elevated planters a few years ago, and have been adding to them as I can.
It has been my experience that the grow bags dry out faster, but on the flip side they don’t hold water, and if you add perlite or keep them out of blasting sun you should be fine. That’s why mine are next to the workshop. They are shielded from late afternoon sun.
In any case, I’m waiting on a shipment of soil to do my 3 Sisters garden, and I fully plan to reuse my Amazon boxes to add compost layers and paper mulch. I’m trying to taper off what I buy commercially, so one of my challenges is to be more self-sustainable. I’ll keep you posted on the 3 Sisters progress.
If you have ideas on the fire ant situation or on sourcing cheap/better dirt, holler.
-Katie
Jumping Dog Farm 