Why No-Till?

By Sherrie Ottinger (The Tennessee Dirtgirl)

“My ground is ready to be tilled. I’ve put all sorts of rotting stuff on it for a year and I want to make a garden. You say DON’T TILL! Why?”

The life below the surface of the ground is more populous than the life above it! There are communities, webs, roads, and agreements between plant-roots that we know nothing of. Humans are NOT the smartest species when it comes to co-operating. You have helped build on the web of life…the fungi, insects, beneficial bacteria, organic matter, and so much more. Fungi are what feed plant roots, not Miracle-Gro. We don’t even understand all there is to know about the sub-soil world…and I don’t think we ever will. Life below the soil will feed your plants. Plant at the proper time, based on what you’re planting, then mulch well with hay, straw, shredded paper, leaves and pine needles or whatever organic matter you have. Watch what happens. Harvest the yield. Tell your neighbors, who’ll not believe you and continue on in their struggle to preserve tradition. It’s amazing how the ones who “get it” are only the ones who were brave enough to try.

People, we humans didn’t create life, and we will never control it. Not weather, nor procreation, nor food sources, nor any other process that was here before we knew. Let’s try to find Nature’s pulse…then listen…then follow…even if it means abandoning tradition. If we are to survive, we must go against the grain. It’s OK…I’m in the same boat.

The Tennessee Dirtgirl