Soil Tilth In A No-Dig Garden Bed

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker, Sep 12, 2014.

  1. PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker

    PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker Junior Member

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    Hey everyone,

    I've not dug my veggie garden for almost 2 years now. Whenever a crop finishes I pull back all the mulch off the garden, add my home made compost and put the mulch back on.

    Unfortunately, while doing this, because the bed is too big, I have to walk on it. I try to minimise it as much as I can, but it is inevitable.

    I was wondering what soil tilth other people have in their no-dig gardens?

    I have a bunch of seedlings that are nearly ready to go into the bed in a week or two. I think they will be fine, as roots are very good at pushing through soils.

    I guess I'm just concerned because I see all these people casually scooping a handful of their soft, fluffy soil. My soil is hard to stick my finger into!

    I really don't want to dig my garden because I am aware of all the relationships between roots, bacteria and mycelium etc. And of course, all the poor critters in the soil who inevitable get maimed or worse :(
     
  2. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    I use a broad fork to loosen the soil, it allows the compost to get into the ground without disturbing the soil critters to much. The broad fork works much the same as a subsoil plow, it lifts the soil where it stands without turning it over and so disrupting the natural order of things in the soil. One of the real bonuses to using a broad fork is that they are normally about as wide as a bed should be or if you like to be able to get to both sides to work the bed, two forks wide is just right.
     
  3. PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker

    PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker Junior Member

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    Hi Bryant, thank you for your reply.

    I really don't want to do any type of digging it all, even if it is just lifting the soil in place.
     
  4. matto

    matto Junior Member

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  5. PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker

    PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker Junior Member

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    Thanks matto! Though it's too late for me to include radish in this seasons crops, I will definitely consider it in the future!
     
  6. rmcpb

    rmcpb Junior Member

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    Why don't you just bite the bullet and reconfigure your garden into two narrow gardens so you don't have to walk on it? End of problem.
     
  7. PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker

    PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker Junior Member

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    Could do, but that would be costly...
     
  8. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    spread your weight over a bigger area

    if you do have to walk on the garden use a board as wide as possible to distribute your weight. this will help avoid compaction. if possible you can also put the ends of the board on blocks so that it doesn't press down on the garden bed at all, but this is more work than just moving the board. if your edges are strong you can use them to support the board.

    stepping stones in the middle...

    my own preference is to never have raised/fixed garden beds any more. too much work/expense to keep up and inflexible fixed structures, i much prefer living green things instead of pathways and garden edges.

    other common recommendations:

    - don't walk on the garden when it is too wet

    - increase worm species diversity

    - use deep rooted plants and rotate the planting and cutting of them to encourage deep channels (alfalfa works well, but may take several years to get roots down deep)
     
  9. PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker

    PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker Junior Member

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    I was thinking about using a board, but that's another thing I'd have to buy. Guess sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

    Definitely going to try the root approach next season though :)
     
  10. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    That soybean/canola photo is great. What a great example of pioneering plants. I can just imagine any climax species travelling down the rotting roots of a dead Acacia in that manner.


    I'm a broadforker, mulch over the top, annual plants and radishes, and the only boards I could find are in the garden on the same paths. Beds are a tad too wide but mulching heavily on the edges reduces the compaction from knees.
     
  11. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    I understand completely. I've got plans to just do layers of compost and mulch from now on. The soil on my place had been in nature recovery for seven years prior to my buying it. Even with all that fallowness, the soil was compacted in places and I also had to remove many blackberry and sumac roots so those buggers wouldn't continue to grow new bushes. That was what I went to the broad fork for. I am composting all the veg I'm removing to lay back down on top and just seed from there. I am also going to be doing sheet mulch/composting so I will be no-till for the future.
     
  12. sweetpea

    sweetpea Junior Member

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    Stepping stones are a good idea, placed so that there's no more than 1 meter/3 feet between pathways so you can reach to weed, or use a long-handled weeder. I use really, really deep mulch, like more than the depth of a shovel blade, but in the spring there's always some weeds on the edge.

    You can make simple stepping stones, at least 70 mm thick/ 2.75 inches by digging a circle 1 1/2 times the length of your foot, and shoveling in wet cement, smooth off the top with a wood scrap, cover it with a piece of plastic for a couple days, wet it down a couple times a day, and let it set slowly over a week or so.

    Walk in the same place to make lowered paths filled with pine needles, or gravel, or wood chips or even lots and lots of dead leaves, or straw.

    There is a permaculture design of a mandala with keyhole paths. It's been calculated to have the most growing space with the least path space. The end of the path has a keyhole shape so that no matter where you stand in the keyhole you can reach out and weed or harvest. It's in the shape of a wheel spoke, with the end of each spoke having a keyhole on it. Or the paths can be parallel with keyholes at each end.
     
  13. PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker

    PeaceWalkerTruthSeeker Junior Member

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    Yes, I think I will be putting stepping stones in after this harvest. Thank you all :)
     
  14. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    i know what you mean about wanting to keep sumac and blackberries from regrowing. they can take over an area and are hard to remove. smothering with layers of cardboard and mulch is a part of the answer, but we find sumac roots quite some distance from the plants and they put up new spouts at times. we keep removing them when we can because we sure don't want them getting into the more formal garden areas.
     
  15. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    no kidding, I pulled up one sumac root that was 4 meters long, turned out there were three trees coming from that one root. At least most of them are not deep underground. Some I have had to use cable and jeep to remove, the things are just incredible on how far the roots will spread.
     

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