Last year Enviro Girl had to plant a field of non-native cool season grasses on her property as part of a conservation project she’s enrolled in. The directive was to use “No till, drill” planting. Enviro Girl called around and learned only one area landscaper practiced this method and had the necessary machinery. Curious about “No till, drill,” Enviro Girl began to read more.
“No till, drill” refers to planting without tilling or plowing up the earth. Instead, the seeds are “drilled” into the topsoil at the appropriate depth. The benefits of this process include:
1. less disturbance to worms and micro-organisms that keep the soil healthy and aerated
2. reducing the “compacting” of soil–tilling eliminates the natural layers that occur in soil left alone and those soil layers keep roots healthy and hydrated. If you go into the woods and peel away the top layer of leaves and composting material, you’ll observe how spongy and rich the soil beneath becomes.
3. reduced erosion–soil that isn’t plowed up isn’t blowing through the air.
4. reduced weed growth–dormant weed seeds are brought to the surface through plowing and tilling. Over time, weed growth significantly decreases using the no-till method.
5. reduced water evaporation because the soil layers absorb moisture like a sponge when it is left alone. Water conservation alone is a pretty good argument for no till gardening.
In large-scale agricultural operations, tilling accounts for nearly a third of fuel, labor and equipment costs. By eliminating tilling, farmers leave less of an environmental impact (erosion, carbon emissions, air pollution) and over time benefit from improved soil. No-till farming is taking hold around the world, but it’s gaining popularity in backyard garden plots, too. Here’s a fantastic video of one farmer’s success story in Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania.
Enviro Girl has always been a springtime tiller, but after her research, she’s decided to leave the rototiller in the garage unless required to clear an area for new planting. (Tilling does have it’s place and purpose.) She’s done her homework and while no-till gardening involves some work, she believes it will become easier to garden in the long run. No till gardening involves:
1. liberally mulching the area, something Enviro Girl already does.
2. only digging where seeds or plant seedlings will be planted.
3. amending the soil through top-dressing–Enviro Girl is a committed composter and will do this cheerfully.
4. covering beds in the off-season by either planting a cover crop or laying down a layer of hay (Enviro Girl already spreads hay on her strawberry bed, she’ll just have to buy more hay).
To learn more about no till gardening, Eartheasy Blog has a great article or click here to read the Urban Farmer’s handy how-to. Tell us, readers, do you practice no till gardening? Have you heard of it before?
So you can use this for flower seeds, too? I have a slanted bank I’d love to try this on…
Yes!
This sounds interesting! I’m stuck tilling this year (or doing *something* to get the grass/weeds out of the way for the veggies). But I’m going to have to look into it for next year!
I’ve been doing some variation on this for years. In fact, I don’t even own a tiller.
I’ve tilled the garden for the past several years, spreading a layer of compost and then turning it into the soil. This year, I’m experimenting. We started a new raised bed area, and we piled a layer of leaves and grass on top of the main garden. I’m going to work on a no-till and see how it works.
That video was very informative. What I couldn’t figure out was how the machine worked that planted the broccoli–I’d like to see that up close.