Cultivating the Soil

CULTIVATING THE SOIL: WHY IT’S IMPORTANT AND HOW IT DIFFERS FROM TILLING Culti vati ng is a very old gardening principal and like many old things, is quite simple.

Breaking up and loosening the soil in the garden. As with most simple things, there is oft en more to it than fi rst appears leading to some fundamental questi ons: Why do we culti vate? How should we culti vate? When should we culti vate? Not to menti on it begs a disti ncti on – what is the diff erence between culti vati ng and ti lling?

Culti vati ng as a practi ce is really two things: removing weeds from the garden and loosening the soil to opti mize the retenti on and penetrati on of air, water and nutrients.

To deepen our understanding, let ’s address the questi ons we asked ourselves at the outset.

Why You Need to Culti vate: Nature takes a toll on the soil as the elements acti vely dry it into a crust. Culti vati ng breaks up the crusty soil surface allowing for a much easier penetrati on of air, nutrients and water deep into the soil where plant roots can gain access to them.

While almost everyone knows the importance of water to a garden , it is vital that air is able to penetrate the soil surface in order to benefi t the micro-organisms in the soil that perform the various important tasks of improving the soil and creati ng nutrients for plants.

Culti vati ng the soil also makes it easier for newly germinated seeds to sprout through the surface of the soil.

While culti vati ng can also bring some weed seeds to the soil surface to germinate, culti vati ng will also draw up and expose these young weed sprouts, leaving them to die when left exposed on the soil surface. Culti vati ng also acti vely interrupts the germinati on of weed seeds in general.

As weeds are systemati cally removed it decreases competi ti on for water and nutrients, leaving everything for your plants to feed to their hearts content.

Culti vati ng improves moisture penetrati on and thus helps with water retenti on. As more water is retained there is obviously a reduced need for supplemental watering.

Last but not least, a culti vated garden with minimal weeds looks att racti ve and fresh.

How to Culti vate: Soil must only be loosened a couple of inches deep when you culti vate. If you culti vate too deeply you will only encourage the surface to dry out faster.

When culti vati ng, care must be taken to not disturb plant roots, which will cause damage to your plants. Culti vati ng between the rows and not getti ng too close to your plants will prevent damaging roots and the plants att ached to them.

When to Culti vate: Only surface culti vate when necessary. If you can easily observe that the soil surface has crusted over and that weeds are sprouti ng and on the off ensive, it is ti me to shallow culti vate.

Do not culti vate when the soil is wet. By doing this you will risk further compacti on. The soil should be dry. In fact, err on the side of more dry than moist. If it seems too moist it probably is.

Before you lay down seed is also a good ti me to culti vate. If working with small fi ne seeds they will have an easier ti me sprouti ng and thriving in culti vated soil.

Similarly, it is good to culti vate before planti ng fl owers and vegetables.

Whenever you top dress the soil by applying compost or organic fertilizers , shallow culti vate to loosen the top crust of soil for integrati on of added nutrients and to reduce runoff from rain. This will also kick start a process that earthworms and micro-organisms can complete by doing the work of fully integrati ng the nutrients deep into the soil.

What is ti lling

Tilling is actually a form of deep culti vati on that is necessary when preparing a new garden bed or when adding large amounts of organic material. Tilling will culti vate the soil 8-10 inches deep, perhaps even more if you are creati ng a new garden bed in an area where the soil is very poor. You can also ti ll at a more shallow level of 4-8 inches when mixing soil amendments into your bed(s). This is ideally done at the end of the growing season. Autumn or fall ti lling also provides the opportunity to supplement the soil with rough organic amendments that decompose slowly prior over the winter. This is a near-perfect feeding situati on for plants going into the next season. This is not recommended however unless your plan is to add substanti al amounts of organic amendments to improve the soil. Some gardeners do not like to disturb the building of micro-organisms and earthworms naturally, other than when they are preparing a new garden bed. Digging in soil amendments every few years in fall can be done to a rather shallow depth, allowing nature to do most of the work. Once spring rolls around, ti ll as normal when preparing to plant .

Most of the reasons for ti lling are similar to those for culti vati ng with some diff erences.

Soil tends to become compacted over the years due to rain, foot traffi c, etc. Air pockets that are created by the deep loosening of soil facilitate air and water penetrati on for plants to use. Air penetrati on is also important to the micro-organisms in the soil that perform all kinds of important tasks creati ng nutrients for the plants (as noted above with culti vati on). Loosened soil makes it much easier for roots and root vegetables to spread out throughout the soil. This is very important if you have clay soil. Tilling is also useful when turning over a bygone crop aft er the season.

While not all gardeners agree about the necessity, frequency and depth of culti vati ng and ti lling, all of what is noted above is generally accepted practi ces. Much has been writt en about no-ti ll methods employing the theory that soil should be disturbed as litt le as possible. While this may be important in acreage farms focused on reducing erosion, it may not be practi cal for backyard gardeners without the proper equipment found on large farms.

Originally seen on: htt ps://manti s.com/culti vati ng-the-soil-why-its-important-and-how-it-diff ers-from-ti lling /