The No-Till Veggie Garden

 The first season of our experiment with not tilling our vegetable garden is up and running. Our veggie garden consists of two large tillable areas and one area of raised beds in the center, all told about 3,000 square feet. When we first moved here this whole area was blackberries, maple trees, clumps of filberts and bramble. FM cleared it by hand over the course of a year or two and our first attempts at veggie gardening yielded good crops. Beginner's luck, maybe. Good soil, too. We rented a large cultivator for the first few years to bust up the field grass and then we added organic amendments and compost. 

Every spring thereafter we used a small rototiller to break up the two open areas and we would direct sow all manner of seeds and plant transplants from the greenhouse for broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, shallots and leeks. This has been working well but the weeds are overwhelming and I also sensed the soil was getting compacted, especially just under the surface past where the rototiller blades hit. My interest in no-till veggie gardening continued to grow until we wrapped our heads around what steps we would take to break the annual cycle of using our rototiller and actually do this. Reasons to not break up the soil are that the soil is healthier when its structure is intact. Weed seeds don't come to the surface (and I'm sure there are billions of weed seeds in this soil) when it's not disturbed and if the soil is mulched it also holds in water much better than if it were exposed to all day sun.

Here then is a peek at how our experiment is going in late July.
The eastern edge of the veggie garden in mid-July.

Beginning last autumn we started covering the open harvested areas with leaves collected from the garden and also spent straw from the chicken coop. Once I decided what would grow where we added more coverings in the form of more spent straw in what would become rows between veggies. This photo is from April. We also added a layer of composted horse manure but quickly realized it is really dry and difficult to plant into. It should have been added last autumn to give it the winter to break down. But we are learning and mistakes are made.

 Since this is a rather large veggie garden I knew we would need more mulch. Enter Chip Drop which came through for me with about two units (about 15 cubic yards) of arborist's wood chips in mid-June. We wheel-barrowed load after load down here to make nice deep, wide rows.

I had already planted starts of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage so had to work around the veggies. Kind of a pain but we didn't have a choice. Chip Drop is not something you order on demand, you get it when you get it, if at all.

As you can see most of the ground is now covered in wood chips. The idea is that as we harvest food we'll cover any bare soil with mulch to keep it covered. That's the key, keeping the soil covered. It will continue to be wood chips when they are available as well as spent chicken coop straw as well as leaves from the garden. Anything organic will do. It will continue to break down and add nutrients to the soil without any disturbance.

Here is the eastern garden with the raised beds in the center. Beyond the corrugated metal wall is the western garden. We rotate crops every year, this year the eastern half has cauliflower, corn, onions, leeks, some beans, dill and beets.

The south edge of the upper or western garden complete with FM's new retaining wall. Here you can see black beans, one of our new favorites. They are called Willamette Valley black and are very easy. They dry in the pod and are bush types. Very delicious and resilient to drought.

Speaking of water, we are super impressed at how much water stays in the soil with wood chips practically stopping evaporation. We're watering less than half as much as we did last year and weeding is seemingly almost eliminated. I know that's not entirely true, there are weeds lurking under that mulch but it has helped so much.

Cucumbers coming on strong after a bit of a struggle getting going in dry compost. I love the little Beit-alpha types for they are sweet and small and thin-skinned. Seeds purchased from High Mowing Organic Seeds. Tomatoes are doing great, I'm experimenting with grafted and non-grafted versions of Brandywine, my very favorite, given to me by my friend Anne (the goddess of starting tomato seeds).

While moles upended most of my artichokes, a few have survived and are ready to harvest.

Broccoli is better than ever this year, this is Covina.

Covina broccoli from High Mowing Organic Seeds.

We have a fine crop of cabbage, too.

Farao cabbage from Territorial Seeds, these have been sweet, blemish free and tight. I also have Passat from High Mowing and they are equally as good, this variety just matured a little faster. FM says sauerkraut is in our near future. Hooray!

The raised beds are all over the map this year. They did not get wood chips but are producing well, primarily lettuce and kale. The strawberries were epic this year from all the spring rain but fizzled out quickly. I'll rebuild their bed later this summer and start fresh.

Ornamental Roman chamomile for groundcover is taking over. It's so lovely when you step on it, the fragrance is sweet.

Italian parsley in the asparagus bed. I grow it here because it attracts a beneficial insect (I can't recall which one, a wasp of some kind) that takes care of any asparagus beetle. Our boy Hobbes like to sit in here and watch the world go by. He's 19, and a Bengal, and he does as he pleases.

Oaxacan green corn and a volunteer Verbena bonariensis and sunflower.

The orchard is looking good, this is our Diospyros kaki 'Saijo', persimmon.

Onions and more black beans. I found Maria Nagy's Transylvanian red onion seeds at Adaptive Seeds and couldn't wait to try them (it's the region my dear sister-in-law is from) and they were definitely the biggest, hardiest of all the onions started from seed this year. I'm excited to try them soon!

FM doing a little hose management and getting ready to water in the morning. FM has renamed July to now be known as "Sprinklemonth." Yes, he is a bit hose-crazy.

Row of cauliflower, leeks on the left and corn on the right. This photo is from a couple of weeks ago, the corn has grown substantially since.

Calendula are EVERYWHERE. I started with 'Radio' and 'Strawberry Blonde' and now I have crosses of both. While I rip out 90% of them, I do love them so some stay.

Purple Italian cauliflower on the left and 'Goodman' on the right. The 'Goodman' variety is definitely the winner, the former struggles to produce a flower in summer.

This is 'Goodman' - and it is excellent. We haven't had success with cauliflower the past three years but this year is the best crop we've ever had. I think it's due to the wood chip mulch and not tilling.

Onions . . . a definite favorite.

Some carrots sown last autumn went to flower, I'm going to let the seeds mature and collect them and see what I get.

Fortex pole beans are our very favorite. I found these at North Circle Seeds, though I see they are currently not carrying them. Still a lovely company. I plan on ordering from them again.

It's a lose-win situation with the rhubarb. I thought they were killed outright when FM buried them under soil while building a retaining wall. Not so! They popped through and grew like crazy. The lose part of the equation is that the heat wave a couple of weeks ago fried them. Still, there's some growing going on.

Speaking of the heat wave, it did a number on a few blueberry bushes. You can just make out the ends of this one are crispy.

FM's new grape support is doing its job well. This is one of three grape vines on the property. What we don't eat the chickens will. They love the grapes! Actually, they love anything from the garden.

This year we are growing the following: Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, onions, shallots, beets, black beans, pole beans, delicata squash, pie pumpkins, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, loofah gourds, birdhouse gourds, garlic, dill, chives, tarragon, parsley, thyme, basil, corn, lettuce, potatoes, kale, carrots, rhubarb, blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries, grapes, strawberries, asparagus, artichokes and a variety of fruit in our orchard. I keep track so I know what I've grown from year to year. The chickens don't care, they love it all.

While we're not even a year into this no-till business, I can see already the result is fantastic. There will be changes as we continue to learn but so far the hardest part has been resisting the impulse to want fluffy, dark soil via the rototiller. That's a temporary bit of satisfaction, however, as the tiller brings up all the weed seeds. I want to garden smarter, not harder, so this method was definitely worth a try and I'm so glad we did. As we continue to harvest throughout the season we'll do our best to keep the soil covered. It's this coverage that keeps weeds down and water in the soil. As wood chips decay they add organic material to the soil and the soil becomes increasingly healthier. While it was just as hard as ever to get plants and seeds in the ground this year, I'm hoping in consequent years that the soil is so fluffy I can plant them with my hands alone, without using a trowel. A girl can dream. All I can say now is that the cauliflower is delicious (think Indian recipes....crunchy and oh so yummy), the broccoli as fresh and meaty as can be and cucumbers are on the way. The garlic has been harvested and is curing, life is good. The cabbage has seen us in fresh cabbage salad many times already and the beets are huge this year. All in all, I'm super happy.

Stay tuned next time as we switch gears and start the journey into the many fantastic gardens visited in the Puget Sound/Seattle area last weekend with 100+ of my favorite people, gardeners and garden bloggers/Instagrammers/Tik Tokkers/Facebookers. There is a lot to share and I'll do it over the course of the next several months.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love hearing from you all! 

Comments

  1. Jeanne DeBenedetti Keyes3:39 PM PDT

    Looking really nice, Tamara! I added a small summer veggie garden (zucchini, tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, onions, green beans, blueberries, strawberries) to the grassy area near my apple tree, going no-till also. I used a compost/soil mix. I covered the the area with leaves, compost from the rest of the garden and shoveling some of the grass over on itself. I am starting to get cucumbers, beans and zucchini, tomatoes still ripening. Hoping to have enough leaves and compost to cover it this winter. Chips are a good idea!

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    1. Hooray! sounds like we're employing similar methods. I have a new use for all those leaves! So far so good and your veggies sound lovely. And ripening tomatoes already - lucky! We patiently await for that first ripe tomato on the vine. Mmmmm...hopefully Caprese salad is in my future.

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  2. Anonymous5:15 PM PDT

    Charles Dowding just had a post on insta showing the results of his test beds of till vs no-till gardens, I think 3 years on. Very positive!
    Are your blueberries in full sun? If so, they don't need to be. They do fine in part shade.
    I really like the strawberry blonde calendula as well, but sadly they eventually over generations always revert back to obnoxiously orange.

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    1. Oooh, thanks for the tip...I just looked that up and yes, that's impressive - Charles Dowding's post. The blueberries are actually in partial shade, they just got a blast from that last 107 heat wave. They'll be fine but it kind of breaks my heart a little. The calendula...wow...I had no idea they would be so - everywhere. There are worse problems to have, I kind of like them. Oddly I have no nasturtium seedlings this year. I used to get hundreds. Nature is interesting to say the least!

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  3. Not only reduction of weed seeds but increase of beneficial mycelium and mycorrhizae in the soil with no till. The less I till the fewer weeds I have. Permanent beds and permanent paths.

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    1. Oh yes, indeed Kim! Thank you for the reminder. Permanent beds and permanent paths, that's the way to go.

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  4. Beautiful vegetable garden! 15 yards of wheelbarrowing wood chips is NO JOKE! Currently I have a glut of tomatoes, blueberries, cucumbers, peppers & zucchini. Melon & pumpkins are coming on strong. I need to plant a few less tomato plants and add in more variety.

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    1. Hi tz - that's a good thing, a glut of fresh food. Pumpkins are a favorite for sure for that special pie on Thanksgiving (or any time, really in autumn/winter). Fewer tomato plants - I understand - they do tend to get soooo much larger than what I ever allow for. We've cut down on ours, for sure - especially cherry tomatoes.

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  5. Your no-till vegetable garden not only looks productive but its very attractive too, Tamara. Kudos on all the hard work! Although I no longer grow any vegetables other than artichokes, I'm also committed to doing much more in the way of mulching and general soil improvement - I need to conserve every drop of moisture I can.

    I'm sorry we just passed between bus rides and didn't get a chance to chat at the Fling!

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    1. Thank you Kris! Artichokes are so good when fresh. Conserving water is the name of the game especially for California. Yes, so frustrated we didn't connect on the Fling but I think I was generally overwhelmed and bouncing all over the place. I hope you had a good time!

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  6. Anonymous6:44 AM PDT

    It's admirable to see who much fruit and vegetables you and FM tend to. This kind of success means you'll need to plan a community harvest party... :-D
    What do you do with all the produce you grow?
    Chavli

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    1. Thank you Chavli! A community harvest party is a fantastic idea. We'd gladly take on volunteers. We preserve a lot of the harvest by canning, freezing, drying, etc. and give away a lot to friends and family. Nothing goes to waste for sure. The birds (and mystery night critters) tend to eat all of the gooseberries but beyond that we eat so much of it.

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  7. Jealous of your veggie boogie. You've got the right idea going no till and are seeing the evidence first hand. Rhubarb is a tough plant. Mine in full sun usually goes dormant in August, but the plants in part shade keep on chugging. It's one of those plants that hates the heat and burning sun. Too many varmints for us to get a good veggie crop, though we half-heartedly try now and again. Nice to see a success story! Also, thanks again for saving me at The Fling with migraine meds. And, I learned an extremely valuable lesson from you about recognizing limits and pulling back as needed. I tend to go all in, ramping up in energy, until I get exhausted.

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    1. Oh, Jerry, it took a LONG time and a lot of wishing to get the veg garden I wanted. Even as a kid I remember trying to plant carrot seeds in bark dust on a clay baked side of the yard and feeling so disappointed that nothing happened. Thanks for the rhubarb tips, I figured as much. Maybe I'll move it? And damned varmints! They do wreak havoc. And as far as the Fling, it was SUCH a hoot hanging out with you! I think I have more pics of you than of anyone else. Yes, the introvert in me learned a long time ago to go into a cocoon for a spell to recharge batteries while on the bus - but it's all so exciting so difficult to do.

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