The snow melted from left to right in the picture, so the stuff on the left side has had more time to start growing. There is a some vetch starting to grow, but it looks like the grass is starting to grow, too. Ugh, that will be a pain to get rid of. There are also a few holes dug into the ground. Animals are going to be a concern since I don't have a good way to keep anything out of the area. I saw a possum in the backyard once, but the most common animal I've seen has been cats. Hopefully they will do a decent job of patrolling the area. Maybe those holes are just from a cat using the yard as a litterbox. Probably wishful thinking, though....
So I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to get my hands on a tiller to turn over my garden this year. I considered buying a new one, buying one on Craig's list, renting one (as I did in the fall), borrowing from one of the two people I know who have one, or turning the garden over with a shovel. It turns out they are pretty expensive new or used. Seems kinda crazy to buy one to use it once a year. Renting one was a big pain last year because I didn't have a good way to transport the tiller. The same applies to borrowing one. Turning it over by shovel concerns me because there will (theoretically) be a well estabilished patch of hairy vetch that may not die if it is just turned over. None of those seem like real good options to me.
I'd heard about no-till farming, and I decided to look into it a bit more. Basically, you don't till the soil at all, and any soil additives are just added to the surface. Its talked about in hippie circles as being beneficial because tilling disrupts the biological activity in the soil, as well as killing beneficial earthworms and beneficial fungi mychorrhizae. It seems to be gaining popularity in large commercial farms because less soil is lost to erosion and there is less evaporation so less irrigation is needed. There are a few negatives, though. It takes longer for "top-dressed" soil additives (like manure) to work its way down into the soil and decompose, weeds are (arguably) more problematic, and the soil amendments can be washed away and cause pollution. I don't expect to be using too much soil additives, so that shouldn't be a problem, but the weeding is a concern. In small scale gardens, large amounts of mulch is often used to conrol weeds, and as it decays, it is beneficial for the soil. The big question, though, is how does it affect crop yeilds? There seems to be contradictory studies about that, but I found one that makes a case for it depending on geographical location(and rainfall), which make some sense to me. You can look at a summary of the study here. Basically, where I live, they suggest that no-till should produce similar, or slightly lower (less than 5%). I suspect that 5% is probably insignificant compared to the mistakes I will make as a first year farmer.
Another benefit is that I realized that the hairy vetch is supposed to be cut down and/or tilled under in late April, just as its beginning to flower. The two reasons for that is that it maximizes the amount of nitrogen that the vetch adds to the soil, and as the plant expends energy flowering, it will be less able to re-sprout after being cut down. According to my planting calendar, I'm supposed to start planting some stuff starting April 1st. If I don't till, I can deal with the garden in patches, cutting down the vetch and planting sections of the garden as it is needed. At this point, I'm leaning towards trying out the no-till method.
The weeds do concern me, though. Not only will there be more weeds without tilling, but the vetch will be less likely to be killed off by just cutting it rather than tilling it. I may have a solution, though. From what I've read, newspapers are great at keeping down weeds. 3 or 4 layers of newspapers will not only block out light, but physically prevent weed sprouts from poking through. Then some type of mulch or compost is put on top of the newspapers. When you plant vegetables, the paper is just pulled back from that spot, or a hole is poked in it for the vegetable. I wonder how well rain would get through, but poking some extra holes would probably help that. Sounds like a bit of a pain to put down the paper, but probably worth it in the long run. I guess its no more work than renting a tiller and turning over the soil.
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