Should I Till My Garden In The Fall

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Should I rototill my garden this fall?

Thread starter mrsgibber
Start date Sep 24, 2009

Joined: Feb 17, 2009

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Not sure where to post this question but my garden is almost past and I plan to send the chickens out this weekend to pick at what's left. SHould I till my soil over before winter? There are plenty of weeds in one of my empty gardens already.

Joined: Mar 31, 2009

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Location: Norman County, MN

We swear by a good tilling-in of manure or compost in the fall and that gives it all winter to break down in the soil. Then another tilling or two in the spring, without adding manure, just to really mix it a aerate it. DH is itching to get my fall tilling done for me...but the garden isnt quite done yet...

I have read that turning the soil over by hand (shovel), and leaving it in big clumps over winter, is actually more beneficial to the garden than fall tilling. Apparently this allows the frost/freezing to penetrate the clumps, and kill off overwintering pests/larvae, and kill weed roots.

There is some question as to tilling a garden at all. Apparently year after year of only turning the soil to a depth of the tiller's tines can cause the underlying soil to compress. This can cause drainage problems, and make it harder for the deep rooted plants to access.

That being said, if one is adding a large amount of compost, it sure is easier using a tiller!

There area lot of different thoughts on this. You can find books and articles written by "experts" that will tell you about anything. Sometimes I wonder if they are expert gardeners or expert book sellers, but that is just me being cynical. I'll probably insult someone by leaving them off this list, but I'd certainly pay close attention to what Greensage, Pat, and Digits say on this forum. I am certainly not in their league.

Making sure you know I am not an expert, I'll tell you what I do. I'm in a different situation than you so it may not apply anyway.

In the fall, I use a spade and turn over the area I want to plant very early in, then use a tiller to bust up the dirt clods. Then in the spring I can plant my peas, beets, radishes, lettuce, cabbage, whatever I want to get in the ground real early without waiting for it to totally dry out so I can work it. It still needs to dry out, just not as much. I also add lime if needed and usually some organic material before I spade it. I'll also turn areas I have mulch that I think needs to be buried to break down over the winter. The rest I wait until it dries out in the spring to turn it.

Good luck!

Joined: Nov 23, 2007

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Location: Ontario, Canada

If you're going to till, I'd suggest tilling now instead of in the spring, in most circumstances.

You may not have to till though -- I avoid it whenever possible as it can be hard on the soil and just brings new weed seeds to the surface, and remember that worms et al WILL mix topdressed amendments in with the soil over time. I will till a buncha organic stuff into the new (for next year) veg patch, just before the ground freezes in Nov; and it's been a few years since I did major organic additions to the main veg patch so I will probably roughly hand-dig some in there too. But in a home sized garden, I think tilling is often overdone.

I used to be heavily invested in the "leave the soil turned in rough clods over the winter so the frost will break up the big clay-ey chunks".... until this year, on this property, which is quite a wet site and was quite a wet year... when I realized that a WHOLE lot more moisture soaked into the plot left rough-turned. This might be a good thing in a dryish climate. It was NOT a good thing here, trust me

THIS year, I am going to make sure it is all raked FLAT and just chuck some composted chicken shavings on it and leave it that way til spring.

But, in other circumstances I would still stand by the merits of leaving things rough overwinter (unless you're in a climate where you can do a cover crop green manure type thing)

JMHO,

Pat

Joined: May 28, 2008

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Location: Portland Oregon

I agree with Ridgerunner that there are many different views on this topic. Depending on where you are located, another alternative is to plant a winter cover crop that can be tilled in during the Spring.

I'm fortunate to live in the Pac NW with a fairly mild winter. I just planted crimson clover in the garden beds that are empty. will be planting garlic soon, and have beets and carrots still holding well in the soil.

Crimson clover tills under quit easily, rots quickly, and provides added organic mater in the soil so less compost is needed.

Joined: Aug 24, 2008

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Location: Slidell, LA

I am going to go with a cover crop in Oct and then hand digg it in with a shovel because I don't have a tiller.

Joined: Nov 23, 2007

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Location: Ontario, Canada

BTW, I had sort of understood the question to be "I am going to till, should I do it now or in the spring".... but really, I quite agree with those who are not big fans of tilling. I think it does have its place though (like if you have to work a lot of amendments into a large area the first time it is made into a garden plot, and time or physical restrictions prevent you from doing it with shovel and fork).

I will probably borrow my MIL's little Mantis tiller for the new 12x16 plot I am starting up, and possibly even take it a pass through the existing plot (now something like 16x20) that could use a good buncha compost this year, but only because I am severely short on time. I really think a fork and shovel do a better job -- the very fine homogenization a tiller gives you is not really the best result, IMHO, there is a lot to be said for a coarser-grained mixing and then letting soil critters do the rest.

Pat