Alternative gardening methods? Is Plowing bad for soil?

[gardener4life]

so I was watching this...around like 13 minutes in to 15 minutes in its talking about plowing being bad for soil. I was curious for insight on this if people agree? And when it's not then what do you suggest? Is plowing actually bad? If it is then we have to look at alternatives? Last two years I tried doing garden without plowing and what was amazing was how many 'volunteer/ free' tomato plants we received. But even though this worked, I haven't really studied if it was the best thing to do or what people think or what the current research is saying about it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWILIYSf5ts

I enjoy gardening but one problem I have is how do you plow or not plow but still not get bugs? Snails and other garden eating pests a problem here in Utah. I want to try maybe straw bail gardening this year too.

I had thought of a possibility of maybe cutting small holes around edges of lawn to put in some garden plants because the soil in the lawn seems rich when you dig it up, but last year the bugs ate all the plants that I tried that with...But the soil didn't seem richer than exposed plowed and dried soil. (So the experiment would be if seeing the lawn soils are richer and can be sort of used for a strategic advantage to transfer good undisturbed soil to garden use and maybe alternate moving the lawn sod areas around it.)

I feel a sense of urgency about learning about self sufficiency and food production recently. I wish we can talk about more of this kind of topic. IF we're really in the last days we have to think about how we'd live if the rest of society can't function.

Another issue too is I'd like to try raising chickens but I don't think my family members would let me so that's a problem...but it seems like maximimizing the best gain per square foot of garden space would include looking at chickens...

In the past I've done gardens for the last maybe 5 years. Every year I learn a bit more and it's exciting to see that you can grow your own green vegetables but we don't have enough space in a residential area for grain crops or corn which need a LOT of room. But you know last year everyone I know in Utah had bad garden year. (Sign of the times?)

[gardener4life]

Also another follow up thought; is it not possible to not plow for grain crops that use lots of land like wheat, corn, etc?

[JohnnyL]

Don't plow is the new thought. The main reason, I think, is that it destroys the microcultures. On top of that, you're mixing topsoil with other soil (depending on what's there and how deep you go).

I think many plow to till under the leftovers (stalks, roots), especially if they burn it first.

[Michelle]

I don't know if we should never till. In the Old Testament the Lord told them to till and plant, but the seventh year they were to let it all go fallow and then start again on the eight. This would seem to create a sort of regular composting and renewal of the land.

Now that I've said that, I think this is a good idea as well:

https://www.backtoedenfilm.com/

I highly recommend you watch the film, its free. He credits God with his success and explains why you don't want exposed dirt. He compare open tilled earth to a wound on our skin. If we don't cover it, it gets infected. If we don't keep the ground covered it gets "infected" with undesirable weeds and bugs. This has become very popular in our area since we have very little rainfall.

Also, this TED talk talks about how important mycelium (mushrooms) are in the process of healing the land. You can learn more about this and how far these mycelium networks go

https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_ ... anguage=en

I had a sick apple tree. I felt like I wasn't suppose to use any chemical process to heal it. So I prayed (over my flocks and fields right?) and soon after a circle of mushrooms appeared around the tree.

[kgrigio]

In a lot of farming practices, the use of minimum till and no till is quite large and getting larger in practice. This is especially true of the large grain farms and corn/bean farms. There are two main reason, the first being simple economics. It costs a lot to go over land that you have already planted and harvested to then till it and then there are multiple studies that show that there isn't significant yield loss and in some cases yield improvement year over year so why spend the extra money to till? There are farmers out here in the Midwest that haven't tilled in 20 - 30 years. Now some farmers will go over their land with a vertical tillage tool, that basically works the residue into the ground so the nutrients get back into the ground, but it isn't deep tillage like you would normally think, and what you might do for a garden.

There are other reasons for not tilling, but it mainly has to do with erosion, but weed control is part of the reason as well.

[Juliet]

Chickens. They eat the bugs and they scratch and till and fertilize the top soil for you.

Portable chicken coops can allow you to put the chickens in the garden as needed to till, debug, and etc.

[FamilyFunnyFarm]

Tilling isn’t really a bad thing as long as you are adding organic matter back and not leaving it empty to erode. There are lots of organic ways to combat pests with rotation being one method. I have successfully grown corn in buckets on my patio. It wasn’t a huge harvest but it was nice to have. Chickens are a great addition, they take up very little space and 6 chickens will give conservatively 2 dozen eggs a week depending on breed could be more. Just be careful with the garden as they will eat every last pepper. I have a self sustaining flock. I allow some hens to hatch babies and by end of summer I have roosters and old hens to butcher and eat. There are lots of books on gardening and many differing opinions on how it should be done. I personally like square foot and container gardening. Keep experimenting and figure out what works for you.

[gardener4life]

Tilling isn’t really a bad thing as long as you are adding organic matter back and not leaving it empty to erode. There are lots of organic ways to combat pests with rotation being one method. I have successfully grown corn in buckets on my patio. It wasn’t a huge harvest but it was nice to have. Chickens are a great addition, they take up very little space and 6 chickens will give conservatively 2 dozen eggs a week depending on breed could be more. Just be careful with the garden as they will eat every last pepper. I have a self sustaining flock. I allow some hens to hatch babies and by end of summer I have roosters and old hens to butcher and eat. There are lots of books on gardening and many differing opinions on how it should be done. I personally like square foot and container gardening. Keep experimenting and figure out what works for you.

Wow this is interesting.

So for the chickens you said it was self sustaining. Do you range feed them or buy feed? I was wondering if its even possible to really range feed them without losing them to predators or other reasons?

I tried container gardening and didn't do well with it. I'm trying to tell if the cause was the heat being so hard for it, or what.

[FamilyFunnyFarm]

My chickens free range all day and go into their barn at night. I supplement feed in the winter but I really don’t feed that much. I’ve had less predator problems since I started free ranging and I rarely deal with ticks anymore. Just keep in mind if you eat free range chicken the meat is a lot leaner but eggs are so much more delicious.

[JohnnyL]

https://returntonow.net/2018/01/27/no-t ... 2386a46db2

[Seek the Truth]

So, you should never till. Tilling destroys the soil food network, from worms all the way down to fungi and bacteria that are mandatory for plant growth. You are cutting your feet off if you till.

Sheet heavy mulch is the ONLY way to garden, and WOODCHIPS are the BEST type of mulch BY FAR. Using a heavy mulch decompacts the soil, retains water, blocks weeds and fertilized the soil in a slow natural way. No work, maximum results.

It's so easy. Woodchips, and open pollinated varieties.

It creates Eden like conditions. I have been doing it for a few years now and it just gets better and better.

[Michelle]

I think I may have to amend my answer. I still think Paul Gautschi method is wonderful, but the Amish are able to get similar results while still tilling. So I think both no-till and till can be excellent methods when done right.

I have been reading about the Amish more and one Amish man said he rejected "no till" when it was shared with him years ago.

Because of how the Amish farm, many of the concerns we expressed that would be fixed by "no till," never became a problem for those who farm in old ways. Their methods actually improve the land, just like the "Back to Eden" method. One Amish man said it takes about 5 years to heal land and get it really good for farming.

Some highlights: They use their own animal manure and crop rotation to heal the land and keep it healthy. They use horses to avoid compacting the soil. They don't mind some weeds and grass, it helps keep the soil in place. They don't use insecticides because the don't have trouble with crop damaging insects. The work with nature, for example, they may delay hay-cutting "to let the young ground-nesting birds finish raising their fledglings."

Most Amish are keep their farms to about 80 tillable acres or less since that is what the family can work without being overburdened.

Amish Peace by Suzanne Woods Fisher, Part 2 "Time: The Patient Farmer," pages 72-74

[James Paul]

I turned 83 on Tues and l left West Jordan, Utah March 1, 2017, as I had 20 years of the chemtrail laden skies in OR and UT.
Now with a new lease on life with a new wife as my soon to be sealed companion, I am trying to find ways to help others benefit from my years of planting, growing, and experimenting, in 5 states and now in the Philippines. It has only been the past 5 years that I began to try newer methods of planting while avoiding ANY harmful chemicals and also any tilling.
Let me begin by directing you to do a search on You Tube for Aquaponics, Chickens and earthworms. You can spend a lifetime sorting which ones you like and they will pop up since You Tube likes to direct you to more of what you last searched for.
You can ignore most of those who try to sell you something and as you get established you may find that you will have things to sell, even if just to your neighborhood. You also have a built in way for your kids to earn money by growing the produce that makes the most money from the smallest space. My own experience began at age 7(1942) as we were all asked by FDR to grow a victory garden and I had a small plot at the end of our garden to plant a few things.

Today we have about 20 containers which are just cast off plastic buckets, yogurt containers and old plastic dishpans and drawers from a destroyed cabinet even. We live in a small apartment (Called a house in this crowded city) that we built and just finished a few weeks ago. We bought a bag of mixed soil, a bag of Worm castings and a kilo of African Nightcrawlers from a couple that has their own small business operating on the web. My wife just took some photos of our plants and I will put them on this if I can figure out how.
Meanwhile I will give you some YouTube Urls to start you on the path to learning a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbmjCN4T19o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCCN4nq7BlQ&t=162s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VObZy8n0u8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oifWngdzwCg

[James Paul]

These plants were started from seed from food that we ate, about the middle of Feb. Of course we have no cold or freezing weather and growing season is simply 12 months here.

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