One of the key components of regenerative gardening and eco friendly homesteading is no-till gardening.
No-till methods are perhaps the single most impactful nature-based solution to climate change that you can implement in your backyard.
In addition to being a method of storing carbon in the soil, no-till gardening is also easier and requires less work overall. The end result benefits your plants - you’ll start to see less weeds, your soil will have better water retention, and your plants will thrive because of the healthy soil life that you’re maintaining in your garden.
In this article, we’ll look at the science-backed reasons why you should practice no-till gardening, and go over a step-by-step guide to transitioning your garden to regenerative no-till methods. We’ll also cover how to start a new garden with no-dig practices.
Ready to dig in…or rather, to no-dig in? Let’s go!
Here’s what studies have proven about the environmental and soil health benefits of no-till regenerative gardening:
When farmers and gardeners till the soil, they are disrupting and damaging the ecosystem that exists underground. The soil is full of beneficial microorganisms, from bacteria to fungi, that form relationships with your plants in order to deliver nutrients to their root systems and protect them from disease.
When soil is tilled, this system is destroyed and takes time to build up again.
There have been many studies examining the benefits that not tilling the soil has on the soil microbiome. One such study is from South Dakota State University, which found that long-term no-till farms had substantially more bacteria and fungi levels in the soil.
Moreover, a study from the University of Illinois surveyed 60 farms and found that cover cropping, a regenerative no-till companion, increased the soil microbiome by 27%.
As climate change causes extreme weather patterns, many farms and gardens around the world are dealing with drought and flood conditions.
No-till methods help with both, as the soil structure is better able to infiltrate beyond the surface level. With better water holding, any water that is provided during a drought stays available for longer periods of time, and any excess flooding is able to sink into deeper layers of the soil.
As someone who lives in an area with very little rainfall during the primary growing months, and a well that runs dry because of this, no-till practices are essential to keep my garden healthy and produce a harvest.
One research study out of the University of Nebraska Lincoln noted that more water can infiltrate on no-till soil versus conventional tilled soil. During a 90 minute period, almost 4 inches of water was applied to no-till land before water runoff started. It took only 1 inch of water before runoff began on tilled land.
Many famers and gardeners feel the need to till the soil because weeds that form over the growing season will start to overcome the beds. Other farmers might practice no-till farming but use herbicides to kill off weeds.
The irony is that no-till methods cause less weed pressure over time, and that tilling the soil actually causes more weeds to germinate!
This is because there are weed seeds under the surface layer of the soil, and by tilling it, those seeds are brought up where they receive water and sunshine, and maybe even fertilizer. It’s no wonder that they start to grow and thrive!
No-tilling minimizes soil disturbance, so the weed seeds do not get brought up to the surface.
Instead of applying toxic chemicals to the weeds, mulching can help get rid of unwanted plants. Any weed seeds that are present at the surface layer are covered by mulch, and so they are less likely to push up through the mulch and become a nuisance.
Furthermore, cover cropping helps prevent weeds from overtaking a bed in the off-season.
A study from 2015 found that when compared to tillage systems, no-till methods produced less weeds. The weed pressure continued to decrease year over year, and by year three only 4% of weed seeds germinated in the no-till systems, compared with 33% in the tilled land.
With the added soil carbon and soil life, not tilling the soil produces more yield in less space, and studies show that the increase in yield keeps growing over time.
One such study was from Michigan State University, and was conducted for 30 years.
One of the key scientists for this study was Nick Haddad. He shares his findings on yield in this quote: “When we look over time, initially, when the land is converted to no-till there’s no difference in yield. Yet over time every year the crop yield in no-till treatments becomes higher and higher relative to conventional agriculture. The crazy thing about our study is that over a thirty year time period we don’t see that trend leveling off.”
This is part of the reason why we believe that regenerative no-till farming can feed the world.
Here at eco friendly homestead, this is the main reason why we advocate for no-till methods in the garden: this practice is essential in the fight against climate change.
Across the globe, tilling releases CO2e into the atmosphere. In turn, tilling practices result in a need for more fertilizer, which often times isn’t organic. Synthetic fertilizers contribute heavily to climate change and are often derived from fossil fuels. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers emit nitrous oxide, the most damaging greenhouse gas - it’s 265 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
This rippling effect of tilling practices is part of what causes the agricultural sector to contribute to 21% of greenhouse gas emissions.
One of the biggest benefits of not tilling your garden is not needing an expensive tiller or needing to go through the hassle of renting one.
However, there are some things that you will need. Luckily, some of these things are free, and anything that is on our list that you could purchase is optional.
If you're ready to start with regenerative no-till gardening practices, here's a step-by-step transition guide to help you understand how to implement this eco friendly technique:
These steps for no-till gardening practices allow you to create a regenerative garden ecosystem and turn your garden into a carbon sink for planetary well-being.
This method does require some time, so implement it as soon as you have the time, materials, and resources.
Now you have a new garden area that can feed you and your family, provide beauty, benefit wildlife, and sequester carbon.
When you first start your no-till garden, there are a few issues or questions that you may have. Here’s what I’ve most commonly comes up for people, and how I’d resolve these problems.
If this is the case, I’d recommend planting a cover crop of daikon “tillage” or “drill” radish. When it’s time to terminate the crop, cut back the leaves of the radish and leave the root in place. I’ve found that the radish will respout, which can be good if you want to apply more organic matter. If you want the radish to die back, cut it just below the soil level and mulch over it.
The radish will make the soil more pourous, and will add organic matter in deep layers of the soil as it breaks down.
Then, use a broadfork to loosen up the soil before planting in the spring.
You may need to have daikon be your cover crop for a few of your off-seasons. You can mix the daikon with other cover crop seeds if you want to have other cover crop benefits in addition clay remediation.
There are some weeds, such as bermuda grass, clump grass or crab grass, which seem to grow through the mulch at any given opportunity. These plants are difficult to pull out by the root, and spread rapidly.
While this is something that will take persistence, I’ve found that the weeds eventually die back if you cut them at the base, let the non-seedy grass parts contribute to your mulch efforts, and place a 6-10 inch layer of mulch over the grass.
Monitoring your garden for weeds like this to catch them before they become a big issue helps a lot in making this process manageable.
Be sure to move back any non-broken down mulch before planting seeds. Seeds will germinate if the top layer is compost, but you’ll get poor gemination if you plant seeds on top of or underneath organic straw, leaves, grass clippings, etc.
What I do is pull back the top mulch layer to the edge of the bed and plant my seeds. I keep the bed watered and monitor it closely for germination. Once the seeds have sprouted and are around 6 inches tall, I will carefully apply mulch to any exposed soil, with care to not smother the new seedlings. If you have any mulch left over from this, you can either apply it to another bed or save it to apply to the same bed once the plants have reached around 10 inches in height.
This really depends on a lot of factors, such as what type of crops you have, the season, and what’s available to you.
In short, if you’re growing perennials, I recommend organic straw, chopped leaves, or wood chips.
If it’s summer and you want to keep a bed of annuals cool, I recommend organic straw.
If you have an abundance of leaves or grass clippings, those are both great options! Be sure that the grass clippings have decomposed a little bit and apply them in thin layers so that they don’t warm up the soil too much.
If it’s during your rainy season and you have a lot of slug pressure, I recommend removing the mulch until plants are established, and then reapply the mulch so that slug pressure doesn’t cause too much damage.
We have a complete mulch guide if you want to learn more about the different options!
No-till gardening is a way to tend to the soil with less work and more benefit to our gardens and the planet. The steps outlined here will help you to create a garden that is resilient, abundant, and healthy.
Want to learn more about regenerative gardening and soil health?
Check out our regenerative gardening guides here:
