Who Came Up With No-Till Gardening?
By Sherrie Ottinger (The Tennessee Dirtgirl)
Who came up with “no-till”, “no-dig”, gardening? It’s been used for as long as there’s agricultural/agrarian history. People observed Nature, and followed the example. You won’t find anywhere that Nature has ripped the ground open, over and over.
Technically, credit has been given to several men between the 1940’s and 1970’s, but there are others, such as Ruth Stout, who have unofficially contributed to, and taught no-till gardening practices. The benefits of no-till far outweigh those of tillage, and are not hard to find, if you look. Today, there are so many great examples of successful, healthy, no-till gardens and fields.
Nature doesn’t leave the soil bare, the way tilling does. Nature will quickly put in plants that hold the soil in place, with roots that open up deep pores to receive the rain, and mine deep nutrients. The soil is alive with fungal and bacterial communities, as well as vital insects. The web of life beneath our feet is far larger than the life on the surface of the planet. Our lives truly depend on that underground world, and yet we’ve done everything we can to kill it! Makes sense, right?!
The Tennessee Dirtgirl
