Woodchip question

[roadrunner]

When you need to till, always till and amend. Adding new material in helps relieve any structural breakdown and compaction.

I understand that and I know a lot of gardeners do till a garden area every year and never experience compaction. I'm kind of a wierdo on this site, because I'm more interested in soil and attracting wildlife, than gardens. I don't have a normal/traditional garden in my yard, rather, my entire yard is for growing all kinds of stuff, except grass

That's why I looked for other ways to manage my yard/garden. I'm especially interested in Permaculture/Agroforestry

I first came across this issue of no-till while learning about regenerative gardening and for farming on a very large scale, no-till makes a lot of sense, but it must be used in conjunction with many other principles, otherwise you are not really building soil.


I'm really intrigued by people like Gabe Brown, Ray Archuleta and Mark Shepard, but I understand that what they're doing doesn't necessarily transfer to traditional gardens.

I just find this stuff interesting and Gabe Brown has really good videos on how tilling compacts soil, but again, this applies to large scale farming.

 

[Marck]

I am not advocating for tilling when it is not necessary. Compaction and erosion aside, it is also extra labor. Still, it does seem that even many 'no till' schemes will find they need to disturb the soil for some reason, sooner or later.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Isn't Mark Shepherd known for growing chestnut trees and running pigs under them as his main "product". I also seem to remember he championed the STUN method of growing trees. Sheer Total Utter Neglect. If the tree survived that it was the genetic material he wanted on his farm.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I don't use rototillers in my garden at all. But I do plan on turning over a bed or two a year as I harvest potatoes or sweet potatoes.

I have also taken to growing something like daikon radish / harvester radish in the fall and leaving that in the ground to rot over the hard freezes of the winter.