Most green thumbs are really not green but rather black. Yes, success and failure in growing great gardens are mostly in the soil. Great soil = great gardens! Here are 3 no-till gardening methods to have great soil: sheet mulch, just mulch, and square foot gardening. One for each of the following situations: if you need to build good soil, you have good soil, or even if you got no soil to garden at all.
What makes soil so great?
It is not the soil itself – it is the soil life that is the most important element. – Geoff Lawton
When we look at creation, at places where man is not in charge, things grow perfectly fine without tilling. Actually, untouched soil is the most healthy soil there is. Tilling damages the little critters that work so hard to break down organic residue and incorporate it into the soil. These living organisms become an instant fertilizer for the plants. The prompt results make one think that tilling is the best way to garden, however, if we kill everything living in the soil there soon nothing will be left to kill and fertilize the plants with.
Tilling also exposes the soil to the wind, which is especially damaging in the winter. You can see by the brown snow in winter how much topsoil blows off of tilled fields. Many growers have proven that tilling is not necessary, and is actually damaging. So, stop tilling your garden and start a no-till garden today.
Sheet Mulch Garden
With sheet mulching you can build an instant garden no matter what the soil underneath is like. If you have good soil, you will need fewer layers. If you have very poor soil, you will benefit from more layers.
There are many ways to do a sheet mulched garden. You can hardly do it wrong, as long as natural materials are used. Here is an example of a sheet mulched garden:
1. Begin with cardboard or newspapers. Some like one more than the other, some use both. Brown cardboard is what we used. It is easy to get and simple to work with. The cardboard will prevent weeds from growing, and feed the worms in the process.
After we have done it so many times, we would not insist that this step is crucial. It works without cardboard or newspaper too if you add a good layer of everything else. See how we converted a hey field into a garden.
2. Add a good amount of compost and/or composted manure, about 3 inches (ca. 8 cm).
3. Top with mulch of your choice: wood chips, hay, straw, or shredded leaves, another 3 inches (ca. 8 cm).
Sheet mulching also works in raised beds. You can use straw to gain some height, and even layer straw and compost. Sheet mulched raised beds are a great choice if you do not have any good soil to start with.
Sheet mulching is also known as Lasagna Garden or Back to Eden. Here is more info on these methods:
Mulched Garden
If you already have a garden plot with great soil and are only looking to switch to a no-till garden, mulching is the way to go. Yes, it is that simple, just cover the soil with a thick layer of mulch and all the tilling is not needed any longer.
Ruth Stout discovered this almost a century ago when her tiller did not come on time, and she was so tired of waiting before she could plant her garden. It was a revolutionary method back then, and just as effective today. Ruth’s “No work” books will inspire you.
For mulch, you can use old hay (make sure it is seedless), wood chips, grass clippings, or any organic matter you have on hand.
Compost seems to be the best and easiest cover to work with in a wet climate. It can be an all plant compost or a mixture of well-rotted manure and compost.
Wood chips work well as mulch in a dry climate, make sure you use the right wood chips for the garden because you will be planting into them in spring.
Also, if you started with a sheet mulched garden, it will become a mulched garden over the years. An annual cover of mulch is needed to retain the effect of no-tilling. Over the years you might need less and less mulch, but to keep the soil covered will always be important.
Square Foot Garden
There are two sides to the square foot garden. For one, it is a way of planting and this is how Mel Bartholomew started it. Instead of planting a garden in long rows with lots of space in between, you plant the garden by using every square foot – hence the name. Any garden that has a fertile soil can be planted this way. You can have a sheet mulched square foot garden just as well as a mulched one.
The All new Square Foot Garden – is a great method if the existing soil is of no use at all, or you build a garden where there is no soil. Here you build some raised beds with new soil. A square foot garden can be built just about anywhere – on driveways, balconies, or small yards.
To start a square foot garden mix together Mel’s Mix:
1/3 compost
1/3 vermiculite
1/3 peat moss
You can find all of these ingredients in a garden center or Home Depot. You will find all the needed info in Mel’s informative books. These books are great for any beginner gardener because as we said above any garden can be a square foot garden.
We used Mel’s Mix in our raised garden bed, and grow bags.
Even though all 3 No-Till gardening methods are different, they are all great and successful. If you have experiences with one of these or other no till garden methods, please share in a comment.
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Great article! I had never heard of Eden gardening and may need to try that in my perennial beds. I never know what to do there because I hate to disturb the beautifully rooted plants.
Thanks got the To Dig or Not to Dig shout out. I hope readers find it informative. I am a firm believer that double digging has its place and time so long as you know when that place and time is.
Again, great post!
Oh yes, I think every gardener needs to watch Back to Eden. Thank you for your great post To Dig or Not to Dig. I think so too, it has its place.
Just beautiful Anna – We are finally ready to put in some raised gardens in our backyard. Will be utilizing your blog a lot in the near future 🙂
I am glad to be of some help. Have fun gardening!
I’m in the midst of spreading black wood chip mulch! My husband asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day and I told him mulch! I’m changing from red to black. I think it looks natural and really neat. I was so excited when a truck dumped 8 yards of mulch on the tarp my husband and placed in the yard! Am I the only one who gets excited about things like that? Loved the post!
What a nice gift! Yes, I would get all excited about mulch too!
I would be careful of using dyed mulches. Natural organic mulches made from pine, spruce etc, with out any dyes are the best for both your plants and the environment. It’s not the dye, which is not bad for plants, its what they are using the dye for…to cover up the bad mulch that isn’t bark mulch at all, but ground up decks, pallets, etc….which could contain harmful chemicals….just saying, if you want a nice natural mulch, go natural! Go organic.
Valuable information, Paula! Thank you for sharing!
I’m working on a combination of lasagna and square foot gardening 🙂 I just didn’t know it until right now LOL
Often we just do it, and then discover the name for it ;).
We have several lasagna / square foot combos. I love them. I want more. But I can’t get my husband to agree. Right now we have a 100 by 95 tilled up garden spot that is hard as a brick since it rained for days after we had it tilled. He is having a hard time accepting that both of us (due to physical problems) are not capable of traditional tilled gardening anymore . He is most worried about corn and green beans. He thinks they can’t grown in raised beds. I know green beans can. What about corn?
Yes you can grow Corn in raised beds. But if your husband likes the garden spot, keep it. But before planting put wood chips on it. The Back to Eden way. Since it is a garden plot, you do not need to start with newspapers or even compost. Just cover the area. Next spring all you will have to do is to add some manure and if needed some more wood chips. The film explains it very well. You can sell the rototiller but still have your garden the way you like it. Hope you health improves and you can enjoy it!
we did a lasagna style square foot garden. worked great!
Good to hear. We were busy all day today doing just that, some lasagne style raised beds. Will share soon!
We have been composting our garden spot for about 14 years now. You would think it would be great, wouldn’t you 🙂 Not so much. We live in an extremely sandy area, it is always a challenge. I just added some chicken manure to my composter and intend to add to red wigglers soon so it will decompose quicker. I’m a flower gardener but do have a few tomato plants which I put in pots. They will do better that way. Pinned this to my Yard and Garden board, great information!
The back to Eden garden way. Take wood chips, add at least 1/4 by measurement greens (untreated grass cuttings etc. you can put your compost in this also for the “Back to Eden” method uses tree trimmer chips which have a lot of green. This was also what I read was a good compost mixture). Put in your seeds, put the mulch to within 2 or so inches of the seeds, then water till they are big enough to receive mulch around them. Push the mulch around the plants when they are big enough. The chips/greens mixture will keep the ground great and you won’t have to compost again, the garden does it. No tilling, just add more mulch the next year. You should be able to plant right in the mulch after a year or so. Be sure the mulch is six inches deep the first year.
Great tip, Judy. Thank you! Appreciated it.
I love not till gardening and I have one of those versions. It works great. Thanks for linking up to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I’ve pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Board.
Thank you for hosting and pinning! We just put in the lasagne garden, waiting for wood chips to do Back to Eden.
I am staggering my Garden this year and see if that works better for me..Have lettuce and Cabbage in now and putting tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, okra and eggplant in now.. will put more in later around the first of June
Sounds great! I am in the process of planting too. So fun! Happy gardening!
I have watched the Back to Eden Film many times and have not taken the step of actually doing it yet. Our gardens are so large now I am not sure we could. I absolutely love the concept.
This is the first year we are actually doing it our self. So excited!
I really loved this post! I just wanted to let you know that I’m featuring your post on my blog today for Green Thumb Thursday. Stop over and grab a featured badge for your blog. I hope you’ll join us again this week!
Thanks,
Lisa
Oh thank you Lisa! I was so busy with the garden, that did not even see it till now. Will go over and add something new ;).
I just watched back to eden and have been busily mulching my orchard. So excited! A few of my garden beds have received the same treatment. I can’t wait to see how things grow
Good for you! We did the same thing this year. I have done wood chips on raspberries before, that worked very well. So hope everything else will be just as great.
Enjoyed this post! Just wondering if you had a hard time finding the course vermiculite for the soil mix? We are out in the hot Okanagan of BC and trying to decide between SFG or lasagna method for beds. Thanks again for all of your helpful tips/hints.
We got the vermiculite from Home and Hardware store. Personally I would go with Back to Eden and not much of a raised bed, if at all. Raised beds are great in cool climates, but in the heat of summer they tend to be dry. We love our raised beds for early crops, but overall prefer the garden covered with wood chips. Hope this is helpful.
Being a conventional gardener, I’ve plantdd raspberries a LA the University of Maine in two feet wide raised beds with municipal compost which have done well the first year.
Knowing of Ruth Stout, I’ve become better acquainted with mulching and sheet composting. I’m going to build a sheet composted bed soon in south central Pennsylvania, then plant Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes a la Peter Cullen in Growing Australia. I’ll let you know how it goes. Best wishes to all.
Look forward to hear your results, thank you!
We put a couple of pigs to eat the roots etc. They are a good fertilizer / tiller combo!
Yes they are, that might just be the reason why God created pigs ;).
Good simple article! Thanks!
Sorry to be the downer in the bunch, but it should be noted that if you have a lot of slugs in your area, no till gardening is not your friend. I learned this the hard way. I happily set up several no till garden plots, and was amazed at how quickly the soil community flourished…..but, my plants kept disappearing. I lost 4 ground cherry and 3 tomatillo plants all in one night. And, yes, I was doing it all in terms of slug patrol (nightly walks, egg shells around plants, beer baths, grapefruit lures, etc.). I just couldn’t keep up with the numbers. I started poking around my layers of straw, cardboard, etc….and there they were. All snug!!! I was basically creating slug hotels. So, I removed it all – the mulch, hay, cardboard and now my slug problem has SIGNIFICANTLY been reduced and I haven’t lost any plants. I think the no till method is fantastic, but wasn’t ideal or my location.
Thank you Trina for bringing this up. It is not the no-tilling that does not work in areas with slugs, it is the mulch you used. I address all this in the blog post: http://northernhomestead.com/challenges-with-the-back-to-eden-method/ You can still grow a no-till garden, but use compost instead of slug friendly material. There is a link to a lot more information on that post, hope it helps.
I guess I’ll add what I do… I have raised beds, use the square foot gardening method. We mulch the veggie beds with grass clipping. Then I make compost every year and we make wood chips out of all the winter blow downs that are to small for firewood. The wood chips go on the flower beds. We do live in hot Montana and I do have to water most everyday. But that is a relaxing end of the day time for me! This year I am growing more to try canning a years worth of food. I like the “high performance gardening method” too. Combine what works for you. I like reading your posts!