I think I'm going no-till

[cjp1953]

I'm not using a tiller but today I turned my winter crop of vetch and rye under with a shovel.In 4 weeks I'll use my garden fork to work my cotton seed meal and garden tone in.Not really no till,but I don't lose many worms with a shovel as I would with a tiller.I kept a layer of straw 8" deep as a mulch cover in the garden last year and will repeat again this year.

[Mike723]

Last year was my first year with no-till in the "old garden" and I'll tell you the soil this year is absolutely gorgeous.. Nice rich coffee color, light, fluffy and teaming with life - I mulched with approximately 2-4" of grass clippings and shredded leaves last year. I'll do the same with that plot this year.. No tomatoes though as to avoid another year of septoria..

Originally Posted by cjp1953

I'm not using a tiller but today I turned my winter crop of vetch and rye under with a shovel.In 4 weeks I'll use my garden fork to work my cotton seed meal and garden tone in.Not really no till,but I don't lose many worms with a shovel as I would with a tiller.I kept a layer of straw 8" deep as a mulch cover in the garden last year and will repeat again this year.

I planted Hairy Vetch last fall in my new hoop house rows .. I'm tossing around my kill method and was thinking of just chopping it with some lawn shears (during flowering stage of course) and very gently working it in. I only have 3 rows approximately 3' x 30' so it isn't much in terms of labor either way... Have you had good results with just turning it over?