One Time Tillage In The Garden. Is It Worth The Risk?! Epic Gardening Tilled Their Garden Here’s Why

Have you ever heard of one time till? Maybe you noticed your no-till garden beds aren't doing very well? A one-time tillage application to your garden may be your answer when it comes to solving garden issues. Kevin over at epic gardening has officially done a one-time garden till application to his no-dig setup. This is perfect for his situation with heavy clay and low organic material. For healthy growth in your first season, this is a must for many gardeners.
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Ashley is a soil scientist who has had a passion for plants since she was a small child. In the long summers as a child, she would garden alongside her grandmother and it was then that she realized her love for greenery. With years of great studying, Ashley had begun her post-secondary education at the University of Saskatchewan.
At first, her second love, animals, was the career path she chose but while doing her undergrad she realized that her education would take her elsewhere. And with that, four years later she graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a bachelor’s degree in science and a major in Soil Science.
Some of Ashley’s interests are KZbin, in which she posts informative videos about plants and gardening. The focus of Ashley’s KZbin channel is to bring science to gardening in a way that is informative but also helpful to others learning to garden. She also talks about the importance of having your own garden and the joys of gardening indoors. Ashley continues to study plants in her free time and hopes to expand her KZbin channel as well as her reach to up and coming gardeners.
This description or comments section may contain contain link to affiliate websites. I receive a commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such link. This includes the gardening in Canada website. You should assume all links both on the gardening in canada KZbin, Blog, and all other social medias are affiliate and I will receive compensation.
#gardeningincanada #canadiangardener #soilscience

[@GardeningInCanada]

I didn’t include all of Kevin’s video! But you can check out out here kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHepoJ6Xh52nbdU

[@epicgardening]

What a fantastic breakdown! Really appreciate your insight as always

[@GardeningInCanada]

Anytime!

[@mendicantcrow]

I was literally just saying to myself, "I wish I could find a colder climate based, more science-heavy gardening channel," and you showed up in my feed! Subscribed so fast! I also love watching Epic Gardening but so many of Kevin's tips are off for Saskatchewan gardens.

[@GardeningInCanada]

HAHA thats such a specific channel you are looking for. Thank goodness I fit the bill

[@amykirby9607]

Your google guy who evesdrops on you must have put it in your feed haha

[@kolokithas7865]

I relate too! 😁

[@shannoneg2000]

Same.... well, minus the cold weather part haha. I'm an analyst at heart and I love knowing the why of things, the impact different variables play and actual data to back things up. Glad to find your channel!

[@VGV0]

This is how I found this channel last year. Searched for a Canadian gardening channel. Easy find

[@norcimorci]

I can't believe I found your channel ! So thankful for all the information you're sharing. Not easy to find actual scientists explaining everything I wanted to know Thanks!❤

[@GardeningInCanada]

Happy to help!

[@NicolesGardenNS]

I tilled when setting up my no-dig beds as well. same reasons, Heavy clay full of rocks and little organic matter. It really helped get the process started. That was 3 years ago and the beds are doing really well now!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yea absolutely. Important first step

[@pyramidion5911]

Why bother calling it no dig?

[@NicolesGardenNS]

@@pyramidion5911 because I don’t dig it. That’s the point. You might need to in order to set it up, then you don’t dig. Hence, no-dig.

[@drmick3423]

LOVE LOVE LOVE this. As a fanboy both of Charles Dowding, and Kevin, I was glued to this. Why there aren’t more videos like this, I don’t know. I’m sorry you’ve had “pushback”, and as you’re a new discovery for me, I’m looking forward to seeing more. Next: pH and soil testing…. Thanks again for sticking your neck out and making these videos. 🤙

[@maddieprivate1]

I appreciate the sound science you present in a way anyone can understand. Great channel. I'm glad I stumbled upon it. I'm in the province just west of you and trying to turn my backyard into permaculture. I've made a lot of mistakes, but I think I'm at least learning what I've been doing wrong. Your channel is helping, thank you!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Welcome aboard!

[@jpexoticpets146]

I'm all sand. I have about 1-2 inches of soil on the top, but then nothing but sand underneath. I tilled in compost, coco coir, vermiculite, peat moss for my blueberry bush beds, and other garden ammendments such as lime and michorrhizal fungi. Now I will move to a no-till (low till) method for years to come. I needed to give my plants a head start. I'm already seeing so much more bee and bird activity. It's like my yard came alive. Very exciting!

[@JoanEvangelista]

I love how you tackled this topic. A lot of gardening advice online lacks "context" and it's so frustrating.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Completely agree every one is different

[@gregbluefinstudios4658]

I've been enjoying Kevin's videos for a few years now, as well as TONS of other KZbinrs! There's almost always SOMETHING to be gleaned from everyone's experience. I guess in some ways, I am a bit of an exception, in terms of my gardening method: I like what I learned from my grandfather and mom. Happy to try new, but until it proves to be better than what I am currently doing, I will stick with it. For 5 years now, I have been exclusively a Fabric Grow Bag gardener. At the end of each year, I dump all my bags, into a pile, next to compost bin. I have been doing something similar at the beginning of each year. I fill my bags with this mix: 1/3 peat, 1/3 soil from last year's pile of garden bag soil, and 1/3 compost, as well as a few organic granular amendments, depending on what's growing on that bag (I adjust NPK and micro nutrients, by the veggie or herb grown). My compost pile is the garden waste, kitchen waste, clean paper and cardboard scraps, and any yard waste. Each compost pile sits for an entire year, before getting used. I've never been a "fad" or bandwagon follower. Eggshells in a pot? It takes forever to breakdown, so grind them, then, into the compost bin. Coffee grounds? Compost. Sticks, chips, twigs, leaves? Compost bin is my answer for most everything. (I believe my kids behave because they're wondering when the day comes, will they end up in the compost? They're 27 and 29.. they've survived the danger point! Kidding. Or, am I?) For centuries, farmers have sort of "solved" the problem with tried and true methods. Same for smaller gardeners. I am not opposed to new methods, but, show me the WHY. Prove it works over time. I learned gardening from my grandfather, and my mom. I have been gardening for much of my 60 year life. I try new things, and find, many of the old ways work fine.

[@auntiereeses5864]

Hallelujah! I am SO glad to see this post. The owner of the field behind our back fence has blessed me with the use of 10 feet of his field to expand my garden for just this year, and then everything has to come out in October. It is all well-established weeds and grasses growing in soggy, heavy clay. I've counted 4 plants so far that have what I'm guessing are rhizomes and have been trying to carefully pull them out with a garden fork. I've barely begun and gotten so tired, so I've decided to rent a tiller and wheelbarrow in amendments. It's a lot of hard work, financially taxing (building beds on top is out of the question), and I know I'll be pulling weeds all summer, but I'm ridiculously excited to have this opportunity. Thank you for not being in the never-till camp (even a local master gardener adamantly told me not to till), and thank you for all the grains of wisdom you put into just this one video. Now I'm off to search your videos for the gypsum and lime you referenced. Thanks again!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Tillage is a tool and it’s absolutely needed in some cases

[@kimmanning4989]

Clearly explaining why and why not. AND Yes farmers are given a hard time(I’m not a farmer) ❤️I’m so grateful to our 🇨🇦FARMERS!

[@GardeningInCanada]

❤️❤️ they don’t till much here in Canada that’s forsure

[@aquilip1]

I can't believe my luck or if goggle was listening to my recent conversations? I was just recently given a rotary hoe by a cousin and I too, was a believer of no till gardening to a point as I mainly have raised garden beds but since I retired, I wanted to expand my vegetable patch. I have been gardening all my life. I am about to turn 60. I used to turn over the garden for my grandparents with a garden fork when I was a kid and I never experienced any problems with bad crop yields from turning over the soil every season but they did use chemical fertilisers! For the past thirty or so years, I have been gardening using the Permaculture method and I love it. Nowadays in my half acre garden in Melbourne, Australia, I bearly tilled my soil, except in furrows where I would plant my seeds. I am an organic gardener and I love soil science. I won't feel so bad now when I use the rotary hoe 😅 Can't believe my luck stumbling upon this channel. Thank you so much 🙏

[@tonypalmer8556]

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome! Gardening rules for a changing world.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Absolutely!

[@r3sistxwampa685]

There is more than black and white in the world. No matter what the currentvtrend in the gardenbubnle is you always got to think about what makes scence for you and find your own shade if grey. Thats the best advice my teetcher ever gave me.

[@groussac]

In cities they routinely strip off the top soil, leaving a clay hard pan or backfill from the hole they've dug for the basement. They grade the yard with heavy equipment, lay over a patina of sod, and call it good. Then the city turns around and charges a sewer fee for the water that drains off the yard whenever it rains. Seems to me that trying to garden in this, the best you can do is break up the hard pan, integrate the chunks of clay with manure and mulch, and build your soil on top of this, continuing to use mulch, top soil, more manure, and whatever else you can find to make soil. The best you can do is continue to build soil as you garden on top of the hard pan, knowing that underneath your garden, that hard pan will remain as is, the water will drain off under your garden leeching nutrients with it, but in the meantime you can grow a few flowers or some vegetables. It takes a long time to create top soil. A hundred years or more I'm told. But plants are resilient. They're used to used to working with less than optimal conditions. We can still have a garden, but it won't be the Garden of Eden...

[@j.spallin1502]

LOVED this video. You are such a baller! I'm not even a farmer and the amount of cool stuff I learned from this is crazy.

[@aok2727]

Jesse from no till has done tilling for some situations. Tilling, long term, regularly is not a big deal but people get purist about this stuff. Yep, low till is a better than bringing up the soil and leaving it vulnerable to erosion, changes water situation. I am kinda a Kevin fan girl!

[@outdoorlyf]

Hi. Thank you for the information you provide. I am a backyard grower and a small yard only. Heavy clay soil is what I had to start with. My clay held soo much worms as it had grass cover. I filled about 15inches but kept the clay in my beds while I added a lot of organic material along with manures. 2 years later i took out my soils out of the beds (No idea why). And I found that a further 10 to 15 inches further that the clay was soft and fertile. So I filled up again with manures etc and returned my soil back into the beds. The life in wet clay I found is the life you want come up into the growing grownda.

[@emmyhusfloen]

I love that you added commentary to his video, he is realizing that 'No till' is 'Low till', and Charles Dowding is 'Low tilling' too.. because he uses his transplants.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Years of working in agriculture has broken my brain into being very analytical haha

[@amanda-theorangecatsgarden7303]

This was an amazing video that really affects my choices! I came fot the drama and stayed for the science ;) Starting so many gardens this year, this is so helpful.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Hahah! Love that 😂

[@Netcentric-fk6ek]

of course tilling will help in heavy soils, and not just once. I've seen people try no till in my area, it lasts about 2ys then they give up with poor yields. What works in one area does not always work in another

[@butternutsquash6984]

Thank you. I feel so much better about choosing the old fashioned system of tilling now. I have heavy clay and once i looked at who actually has productive gardens in my area I realized they all till pretty much every year. So much aimed at the homegardener is now highly focused on boxed beds of basically potting soil that its not very useful.

[@michellellewellyn9971]

I like to till cover crops under. That's pretty much all I need to do.

[@thekitchengarden3056]

Thank you for your science based explanation of how to manage soil. I also appreciate you defending agriculture. It doesn’t make sense for farmers to do anything too harm the soil so I’m glad you are sharing how “ big ag” techniques work and why they are good for soil conservation. Thanks so much, a fellow plant nerd and farmer in Ontario 😊

[@tecmow4399]

I've enjoyed so many of your videos but this was my favourite so far! It was so fascinating hearing the common reasons for "no-dig" having nuance added to them and the scientific understanding behind it. Thank you 🙏

[@crazysquirrel9425]

Tilling can kill of bugs and their eggs. It can loosen soil for aeration. You can till in organic matter. It can also get rid of some weeds.

[@susanfoy4794]

Thank you! I have learned so much from just the few videos of yours that I have watched. I live about 40 miles north of San Diego (where Kevin is), and my soil is exactly like his. To see your reaction to Jacque digging the hole validated every frustration I have had with my soil.

[@JS-jl1yj]

I till my veggie garden beds using a straight-edge spade to dig in my compost and just to break up the soil and fluff it up and make it airy. But, over the past few decades of doing this every year, my beds became too tall, looking like fresh graves. So last Spring, I installed galvanized frames, designed for raised beds, to contain my existing soil, so it would not get washed off with every rainfall and cover my concrete tile walkways with thick, slippery layer of mud. With the beds framed, my walkways stay clean and safe to walk on. This Fall, I am once again pulling out every little weed, spreading compost and digging it in. When my veggie garden is happy, that makes me happy.

[@jeffree9015]

What's your thoughts on broad forking instead of tilling? Seems a lot of the "No-till" farmers broadfork their beds for the first few years at least.

[@tecmow4399]

Such a brilliant analysis! I feel like a lot of the “no till” die hards need to see it. I’m going to go look up flocculation now 😊 Thank you

[@GardeningInCanada]

Haha down the worm hole you go!

[@meerafinearts1914]

This crossover 😍

[@GardeningInCanada]

Haha ❤️ glad you enjoyed

[@barco581]

Thank you for setting the facts straight. I find the no till crowd also tends to be the 100% organic only crowd as well. Look at giant pumpkin growers as an example of tilling. They all till, soil test, and are growing pumpkins in excess of 2,500lbs outside in the US.

[@GardeningInCanada]

I am envious of their pumpkins haha

[@barco581]

@@douganderson7002 actually growing giant pumpkins does apply to the vast majority of agriculture. Isn't the goal to get the best yields and have healthy soil and plants? My comment is in response to people who claim that in all cases tilling is bad and will reduce yields. And an ion of nitrogen from a synthetic fertilizer is the same as an ion of nitrogen from blood meal. Synthetics do not hard the soil or the environment if they are used properly and in small doses.

[@chriswhitley3283]

I moved to a farm when I was seven years old and was introduced to gardening. Our family has raised a garden for a long time. My dads family went well over a hundred years back. They originally was from Alabama where they had a truck garden and vegetable stand /store. My mom is of German descent and my grandfather was a child of immigrants. Anyway we just have tilled the garden every year. That’s what you did to last years garden. You turned it under. Wasn’t no science involved, you just did it. I am now in my sixties and I still garden this way. I have a very large compost pile I am working on right now which will be spread over this years garden then will be tilled in to the garden when I am done.

[@johac7637]

Kevin dirt is our virgin desert soils, no rains to get organics, nothing, Caliche is also sometimes pliable, sometimes jackhammer hard, I feel for him, our streets are our "River closed" during our rains, as no soil perc, dig a hole 2 ' deep, fill with water, 8-15 hrs later, still water. Glad you understand, wish I could post pics. Tillage works for some of us, I'm living proof.

[@kevgoes]

You said 'Kevin' so many times. It felt so weird because my name is Kevin and I'm not used to hearing my name so much 😁...Really informative video. I urban garden in Winnipeg and this gave me a really good understanding of why my soil is the way it is. Thank you so much! 🙏

[@GardeningInCanada]

HAAHAH sorry! ❤️

[@dustyflats3832]

Kevin is now owner of Botanical gardens in CO and he is located in CA. Charles Dowding is known for no dig, But he has LOADS of compost-Loads! Most of us do not have access to all that compost or deliveries of giant bags of compost from an area community compost. The community compost I seen here could include anything and they don’t munch it up like the huge machine in UK. I think tilling is fine If needed. The problem is when it’s over tilled and cut to powder. Tillers like Manthis are high speed and can turn sand to powder.

[@cody481]

I plow every spring. Tons of leaves blended into the top 3" every fall. Tons of grass clippings on top during mowing season. The deer really seem to enjoy my garden. The plants explode every spring. My kids / grandkids spend 30 min twice a year weeding. Daikon radish are almost a pest. Life is good. I almost forgot till she brought up the seed bank in the soil. I plow and let everything sprout for 1-2 weeks then cross plow wait a week then harrow the top 2"-3" and everything dies.

[@dymondwillow2]

Learned that tilling first then adding compost is better ... if that is how i understand it...

[@infiniteadam7352]

Hi Ashley, just wanted to tell you that I just got excited when I saw you had a new video, I always look forward to them!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Woohoo. I love when you guys wait around for the vids to release!

[@rowenadinsmore1]

I think Charles Dowding can do the no till because they have better soil in their area.

[@manuelakarras5386]

Thanks for commenting on the scientific side of what is happening there. Being an agriculural engineer, I can agree to all Your views. Adding to the topic of re-compaction after tilling: in Europe we see it also as a result of the movement of the different sized partcles as the small ones (clay) wander downwards e.g. with rain water and stopping at a certain depth and the bigger particles (sand) not being able to float downwards with the rainwater that much. (Sorry my English). This process even gets more with time so that You have to till again after a few years. What´s also bad then is that the clay particles can in fact be very biologically active and in their correct percentage help the biological life in the upper part of the soil.

[@michaellippmann4474]

Very good video! As I have practiced "no till" for a number of years I have always acknowledged that it is more Low Till. Even though my roto tiller went away quite a few years ago tillage still happens in my garden (and in most no till gardens actually). Whenever I grow root crops tillage happens, I have parsnips that are 10 - 12" long and when I pull/dig them out I am tilling. When I dig my potatoe crop I am tilling, when I pull my Leeks out of the ground I am tilling. So even Charles Dowding "tills" the soil without actually breaking out a roto tiller! My base soil is what we call brick making clay (several brick works survived in this area for many years) so when we set up our garden 30+ years ago you bet we tilled. And added horse manure, compost, grass clippings, hay, etc. as mulches and these got worked into the soil seasonally. Now for many years we have avoided the work of tilling traditionally but we still break up the soil when we dig out our harvest. And of course because we rotate our crops around the soil gets "tilled" in different beds in a regular basis. So No Till is what we call it but it actually is Low Till or minimal soil disturbance or what ever you want to call it. As an example my sister lives 20 minutes away from me and she tills every spring. She has a great garden (mine is better of course 🤣) but she loves that tilling every year! Each to their own. Have a great day and Thanks for doing the work of the video! Mike 🇨🇦 🍁 👍

[@GardeningInCanada]

WONDERFUL COMMENT! Thank you for this. Very nice and thorough.

[@NickijoeCanuck]

It’s great to watch your channel grow..

[@paullueders5218]

.thanks! you read my mind!

[@jerrybessetteDIY]

I find a broad fork allows me to get compost down to 14 inches with a minimal disturbance of my clay soil. The deep loosening helps the roots go deep allowing my plants to survive longer in our hot and dry Texas summer.

[@jerrybessetteDIY]

I forgot to add that most years I don't disturb the soil.

[@Enn-]

Great info, as always.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Thank you!

[@wildedibles819]

We dig and fill in the hole with compost and wood and any animal bones etc then plant in there for years before digging in there again

[@GardeningInCanada]

nice! so basically a trench compost

[@wildedibles819]

@@GardeningInCanada yes we dig down to the sand layer so we can look at what we already have too

[@chillymilly7005]

THANK YOU! My raised bed soil feels so compacted this year I could hardly get my hands in past the top layer of compost and I was concerned that tilling would be the death of my soil.

[@GardeningInCanada]

gosh no. till away!

[@alisonnewall1748]

Thank you for this. I was perplexed by the cardinal no till attitude because I’m basically tilling every time I dig up a root crop like garlic

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yes hahah I like that description

[@voggs3072]

Best gardening video I’ve watched all year on KZbin 🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@GardeningInCanada]

Woohoo! Love that

[@johac7637]

I snowbird in a Zone 9 while my Sask.cousin fights -30c winters. Our Arizona poor dirt is not soil, on each side of our home are undeveloped lots, I though, wow, flowers, leaf veggies, spread lots of seed, watered, they came up, whet the seed food source was gone, they tipped over, -1% organics in the dirt, so for 3 years I covered with alfalfa pellet plant waste, wood chips, tilled, planted cover crop, tilled again in Feb. Planted again, warm weather cover crop, when in BC for summer, it mostly tipped over, some regrew, from monsoon rains, in Oct/Nov started all over, now 3 years in I'm looking at 19% organics, needing Mag, Mang, Moly, micros, high on Boron, Calcium, my soil PH from, 8.1 now to 7.0, so I am going to split the plot and try to no- til vs til and plant. As logging goes, my pre retirement career, it is looked at by tree species, pine, til, or fire, as comes are heat crush released, they do til, in contactless logging, grapple yarding where no soil disturbance, in areas they do disturb soil, reason being, the tree planted need to deposit seedlings into mineral soil, and the only frozen, is not fully applicable, it happens when the haul roads aren't passable when not driving on frozen soils, other areas, are break-up bans due to road damage, I'm sure you've heard of road bans, So there is no 1 size fits all again, my family farms 10+ sections now in Sask. Air seeded now, Grampa, Uncle would do roll overs as tillage was to them the only way, now they are trying a bit of cover cropping and interplanting, depending on crop. I just saw some mushrooms after a watering, I even inject 90% sulfuric acid into the drip lines under the tree rows, trying to get salinity, PH to work with me better. My go to this week is getting another 24 cu yards of alfalfa meal into a pile to compost over the summer, and then spread onto 7500k SQ.ft lot, as it keeps the microns, fungi, etc going. My 2 bits. worth.

[@katrinatanchoco6777]

Thank you for helping bring some balance back. I found it a helpful reminder to approach most things with an open mind and consider different views and look at data as basis for your decisions.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Glad it was helpful!

[@chesterhobbs7244]

As always, a great informative video qualifying what makes sense from a perspective of logic, science and work experience. Thanks loads!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Absolutely agree with that! And the results the first year are shocking 😂

[@thetheoryprincess3050]

I loved watching as you reacted/commentated on Kevin's video. My parents always tilled and their gardens always grew! Only issue I have for my area is quack grass which is insidious, so I tread a little more carefully. Thank you for providing this valuable info. Hope to see more of these reaction/commentary style vids in the future. You do a fantastic job of them :)

[@GardeningInCanada]

Thank you!!

[@VaultDwellerGal]

Howdy from Texas. Great info! Just ordered your paperback planner from Amazon and I’m stoked 😀

[@GardeningInCanada]

Woohoo! That’s awesome. You’re going to love it!

[@JoelElder2013]

Thank you for defending us SK farmers! 😁 We do put up a lot of negativity. Just found your channel and have binged several very informative videos, thank you. I'd argue farmers in middle and southern USA still till farm more than we do here in SK, my family farms in Iowa and Missouri. The amount of tillage I see while there still astounds me in comparison to here in SK.

[@erinsiemens9921]

The was awesome! Finally someone doing informed Sask-relevant videos. 💚💚

[@GardeningInCanada]

Haha love the Sask relevant ❤️

[@lesleysimonian166]

Amazing post!!!! Great information! TYVM!!! Go Bills ❤

[@GardeningInCanada]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@christines5430]

Thank you for this video. Very helpful and informative. Your channel came up on my feed last week and I have been enjoying and learning from it ever since. Watching from the UK😊 I love Kevin's channel and am so glad that he is resolving his clay soil issue the right way.

[@GardeningInCanada]

You are so welcome!

[@aalejardin]

Just came across this and really appreciate the information. I am in the Hudson Highlands (lower Hudson Valley NY) and, even though we are on the side of a mountain that leads down to the Hudson River, the glacier gouged out areas that are now swampy and dumped piles of rocks everywhere. Our neighbors told us there used to be a duck pond where our driveway now is. Clay fill certainly explains what happened when they leveled out part of our property in order to build a house! The soil under the lawn is a daunting mix of clay and rocks. If you dig a hole you will end up with a big pile of rocks and a well that fills with water. Outside the fill area in amongst the rock outcroppings and at the edge of the woods there is lovely humus filled with soil life although not very deep. For my vegetable garden I am avoiding the problem by using tall raised beds. I'd like to replace much of the lawn with beds for shrubs and perennials. I was thinking of doing low raised beds for that purpose (the rocks pulled out of the soil make good stacked stone walls) but I think it would be helpful to improve the soil drainage below. Time to look into flocculation! I am already a plant nerd, may as well add soil nerd to that. I look forward to watching more of your videos. PS I grew up in Wisconsin among working dairy farms -- farmers are not stupid about the land and we would all be very hungry without large-scale agriculture.

[@jkplester8917]

Thank you for this video... I'm based on clay (small town, last street on the "suburb" - if you could call it that LOL) but it's also a result of being somewhat close to the river (a small "property" away). Anyway, all I've been hearing is "don't till", "you'll destroy your soil", etc... this video calmed me down and made me realize that we can do what's necessary. I already know we have between 1&2" of top soil because we put in a fire pit and it was obvious - I DO know we have earth worms but not entirely sure how deep they go - they love to hang out in the grass - that kinda tells me that they stick to the top soil BUT that's just a guess. We also planted a couple of haskaps late last fall - something tells me we'll have to re-do that but that's ok, take things as they come.

[@amyjohnson9240]

Just found your channel, loving it. I just watched Kevins video so this was timely. New subscriber to your channel. Thank you for your info.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Hello! Welcome to the channel

[@saraskelton109]

I am always blown away after we watch your videos! Thank you! We are out in the country, so not having to worry about clay- but still very interesting video!

[@GardeningInCanada]

So nice of you

[@frasercook5823]

Amazing video. Something that we learn in Horticulture is that every site needs to be reviewed from history to purpose. doesn’t mean no dig will work initially. I was assessed to use a Rotavators on heavy clay soil just after rain. It was exhausting.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Very very true. You always want to review your areas history. And most urban areas are backfilled with clay. More importantly if you can get an understanding of exactly where that clay came from is never a bad idea!

[@maizevagastien8399]

I like the grow tent in the background, I have the 4x8

[@GardeningInCanada]

I have 3! I’m not sure which is my favourite yet 2 x 4 is nice

[@kadeemgray93]

1st nice breakdown video 2nd you're so pretty 😂 3rd this was educational thank you

[@billastell3753]

Love it "Farmers put up with a lot of shit" Moooo

[@maralensoeur5378]

I love you!! Omg 1000% true, let's respect the tool and not cancel it. No one should be shamed for how they garden, we all have different circumstances i.e. soil

[@GardeningInCanada]

Totally agree! just plant the damn garden!

[@pyramidion5911]

It's not about shaming gardeners it's about practicing what you preach. If you call your garden no till yet you are out digging in it every year, you are not a no till gardener.

[@MyGardenWanders]

Thank you so much for your videos! This is the type of information I’ve been searching for. I’ve about broken my back, along with several shovels and forks trying to remove/fix our clay soil. I need to look into floccing apparently. Any recommendations on where to start?

[@1963charmaine]

Great information! Thank you. BTW - I live in Toronto, and it's all sandy soil here. So I compost fall leaves in my backyard to add organic mater. I've been doing it for 30 years, and my soil is better than all the surrounding yards.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Wonderful!

[@darcytimmons3984]

Hi I’m for Blaine lake I till every year after the frost and snow are gone …I also mini till between the rows to help control the weeds all summer long … thank you Ashley I’m vary grateful to have found you here on KZbin

[@GardeningInCanada]

That’s awesome!

[@elloohno1349]

Hi ! new follower here :D I'm on the other side, in South Africa! Hoping we will find some *common ground* hehehe Interesting video thanks !

[@reidcrosby6241]

I have converted a thin shaley Gilpen soil , into a loamy rich with pee gravel throughout it. The local city has brought me mulched fresh leaves for 5-7 years. Literally 50-100 tons per year for 3 acres. I rolled it under and lofted throughtout my soil horizon with a 6' tiller. This lofting also allowed the bacteria, and fungus to work throughtout the winter snow season. By spring the only thing left is the stems. The converting of the shale to pee gravel was LITERALLY done by years and YEARS of brushhogging the soil. Its looks ABSOLUTELY crazy....but whats better than a loam (that compacts) , is a gravelly loam. I am potato grower , so i dont know of a "no till potato" lol. Light surface tilling is what i call "tilthing" and i do tilth to try to keep my weed seed bank minimalized.

[@stephenseaborn3844]

Are potatoes an exception to no till? When I grow potatoes I dig a 10 inch deep trench and put seed potatoes in the bottom with the dug soil alongside the trench. Then I cover them with a couple inches of soil. As the potato plants grow I add more soil until the trench is full. Finally I add mulch to the soil around the potato plants.

[@matthawkins4579]

I have several raised beds on my property along with a lot of trees and other large plants. As a result I get a lot of roots coming in to my beds from outside the beds. So, every few years I dig the beds out and replace the soil with the soil I dug out several years before. Not sure if there is a better solution but I am all ears.

[@spooner709]

I would love to hear more on fluctuation, what it is and how it works. Great video!

[@GardeningInCanada]

You got it!

[@travisherbermann7249]

I till . I picked okra (15 foot tall) and tomatoes ( bush cluster baseball size ) untill Christmas. Cucumber untill Thanksgiving week. Barrow county. GA. 4th year

[@bobvanbuskirk778]

Love your channel. I broad fork my beds, ? best home hade soil for avocado trees?.

[@samivelable]

Thanks so much for all your amazing videos and resources! Definitely making me think! I'm removing a Norway maple from my yard which will open up space/sun for a vegetable garden - but there are a fair number of roots from the maple in the area. Is tilling a good idea in this case? Or should I to build up the soil to a raised bed?

[@GardeningInCanada]

I would till it and just break up the roots. So long as you think the rototiller can do the job.

[@scallywags12]

I give my raised bed a once a year till. Good way to add more air into the soil and break up clumps.

[@joshholschuh1847]

I live in south Georgia. Im a farmer and logger. We never see freezing temperatures until winter and rarely that

[@francestaylor9156]

The issue with Charles Dowding is that he bought a place that USED to be a farm. So it's likely that farm had tilled prior to him purchasing the place. He already had a beautiful fluffy soil when he bought it so tilling again would be pointless and probably more damaging.

[@johnjude2685]

I now no tilt for 2 years, First 5 years I had 6 wheelbarrows of 7 inches rocks the first season and 5 years there was about 3 wheelbarrow full but average 2.5 inch average average size so big improvement. So now tilting for potatoes but not as much turning it into a powder as I used to do thinking it was good for the soil. Thanks for the teaching Lady

[@GardeningInCanada]

That’s a crazy amount of rock!

[@johnjude2685]

This area was a housing development and topsoil is usually bulldozer into a big pile and basements and foundation are often clay base with big stone and little stones, After completing the topsoil goes to where bulldozer pushed it and backyard sometimes not treated equally, But I have mostly straight carrots now,so trying no tilt. Thanks for the teaching Lady

[@dreamlovermimi9458]

Thank u Ashley! Wonderful as always! I have a Heavy Urban clay soil, what microbes are even active in heavy clay soils? How can i build healthy soil from that?

[@michaelmarchione3408]

I set up my no-till garden with a layer of wood chips and topped it off with a layer of rabbit manure. I planted winter squash seeds and leftover tomato plants. The tomato plants were pretty sickly, but they thrived and caught up with the others in the raised beds. This year will be my second year using this no-till. I will again add a layer of rabbit manure. I started composting two years ago, but it still isn't ready. A compost bin doesn't seem to create enough heat here in zone 4a NNY to break the stuff down very fast. Our sandy soil doesn't support night crawlers only small worms that aren't large enough to fish with. Our healthiest part of our yard is because of the rabbit manure which contains a lot of nitrogen. Also calcium from rabbit urine, That's the white chalky looking stuff you see on the wire cage bottoms. It dries almost as hard as cement. It is very dusty when broken up. I use a Weasel (brand name garden tool) on our raised beds. It has star shaped cutters that only penetrate about three inches. I enjoyed your info and agree with you...I'm not a scientist just old school. The no-till is just an experiment. Take care!

[@GardeningInCanada]

The sickly plants maybe from the mulch or unfinished compost.

[@michaelmarchione3408]

@@GardeningInCanada The sickly plants were just weak plants from the garden center. I didn't use any compost or actual mulch on the no-till area. The wood chips were just layered on the sod and the tomato plants were set just in the rabbit manure. Our raised bed are about 95% to 100% rabbit manure. Some of it is aged manure. It ages pretty fast.

[@swahilijs]

Thanks. I’m a beginner. I live in Walla Walla, Washington. Our garden area had compaction (new term for me). Today I tilled the area and weeded it. We have freezing weather at night now. What would you recommend next . In the spring should I put organic top soil on top of it? Put leaves over this area through the winter. Just wondering.

[@wildalentejo750]

Broadfork is the key

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yes those do work wonderfully

[@emmanuelmartinez9953]

Love your content! Can you make a video about bentonite as a soil amendment? They make it sound like that’s a miracle solution for dirt

[@GardeningInCanada]

yea absolutely

[@emmanuelmartinez9953]

@@GardeningInCanada thank you!

[@helenachase5627]

Yes around here the farmers do not disturb the soil much. I saw air seeders with the big rollers . I had the till my garden by hand. I just bought my property and the clay soil is so compacted the tractor could not dig it more than 2 inches. The soil has virtually no organic matter . Wow what a chore. Not a worm in sight . I'm exhausted. I threw in some nitrogen fertilizer. 30-0-0. I will plant in this horrible soil as no manure was available and no compost is ready till fall at least. I covered with DeWitt fabric and will put leaves and stuff between the rows as mulch st least and work it in later. Come on people some soil is impossible . Over time this will become wonderful soil. Then no till is the way to go.

[@NickijoeCanuck]

Another awesome video. I’m learning soooo much! Can you do a video on the difference or what the equivalent of a US gardening zone is to a Canadian Zone? When I watch a US channel that says this plant is a 4-6 what is the Canadian equivalent. Thanks!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Oh yea absolutely!

[@supplies4reptiles228]

thank you love your videos, what confuses me is if i would take a peace of land thats basically sand /dirt.... and regenerate it doesn't it need to be deep tilled and mixed in the fungi and bacteria into the ground?? lets say for potato planting purposes...or a deep root crop.

[@gtavtheavengergunnerlegend3340]

Tiling is acceptable the 1st time only. With compost mixed or tilled in with native soil. After that, no till. Manure is high is salts, wouldn't reccomend mixing in manure. In most cases. You're spot in with this video.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Manure has sulphur haha thats why i recommend it. Onions, garlic, leeks. cabbage. brussel sprouts all LOVE sulphur

[@wykedinsanity]

my brother sent our soil in to the uw wi to get tested and they suggested in our case to add peat moss and lime, worked wonderfully, try the same thing in a different but semi close, we own a house now and the soils simialar and boy those two years we had tomatoes galore

[@GardeningInCanada]

That is awesome!

[@Mrs.LadeyBug]

I found my way here from CP… I have absolutely LOVED your videos there! Do you work at the location the video was taken? I love that store! :) That was a very shallow tiller Kevin used. Nothing like the big tillers I’m used to seeing. I think that would be a good weed killer and top soil/compost mixer, without totally killing off all the night crawlers that stay deeper in the ground. The more shallow helpful creatures near the surface would be mashed, and that’s a bummer. However, I think that this little tiller is a good compromise when its needed to kill weeds, soften up soil that’s gotten really compacted, or combine soil and amendments. We just moved, and I want to do some big soil amendments once I totally figure out what’s going on in the garden. It’s always been deep-tilled and very well tended. I look forward to getting in there and doing some other gardening methods in there! Fun fun!!!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Hey! Glad you enjoyed. That’s Nate’s office actually

[@Mrs.LadeyBug]

@@GardeningInCanada I’m pretty sure I saw Dutch Growers?!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Oh yes! That’s from the first and second video that’s a local greenhouse

[@FMNsocial]

Thanks for this! My father has always tilled at the beginning of the season. Here in the Niagara region of Ontario we have lots of clay as well. We're adding grass clippings and compost trying to make it more workable for us, but we have tons of worms so something must be good!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Heavy clay 🥲 always fun

[@VanessasPlants]

Your so amazing! I just bought a house on two acres that has no grass, no nothing, no grass, untouched since it was built 8 years ago, just weeds, and I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate a greenhouse, and fruit trees, raspberries. All that kind of stuff, but I will need to get the yard ready for it first. So this video was helpful. Thank you. If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear anything you would do in the same situation. Love from fort McMurray, AB

[@GardeningInCanada]

Nice! That’s an awesome purchase congrats.

[@rufia75]

Another comment and I sincerely apologize for long message: I have watched a ton of no-till market gardeners (e.g. No-till Growers which includes farm tour videos of other no-till/no-dig market garden farms, Dowding, Huw Richards more recently, etc the list goes on) on youtube and read about the subject. What I've realized is a couple things. Firstly, Dowding calls his method the 'no-dig' method which really is zero-till (he only disturbs by using a small wooden dowel tool to form a hole for each transplant. He does have his comparison till bed still (1 bed out of probably 100 beds?) just to compare, though he notes it's obviously not scientific. To my knowledge, he does not use any of the below 'low-till'/no-till implements or other strategies that would disturb soil (beyond the comparison bed). To note, he lives in a vastly different climate than much of the no-till gardening/farming community and audience. For example, Kevin's garden location (Yes in Cali as you thought) is pretty much polar opposite to his (besides the fact that both of them can continue to garden for 12 months of the year; you and I, most of Canada, and even many in the US cannot). He has continual wet weather or even just damp or overcast (so many of his videos, it's cloudy), lower day-time high temperatures; Kevin in Cali is always sunny, and he constantly mentions that they get almost no precipitation throughout the year, not to mention the extreme heat (and this is only going to get worse, besides possibly wet natural disaster events). Furthermore, his soil seems to be of a different make, though no-till would say you can use the system successfully with any soil base (sand, silt, clay, loam, etc). They would have different native fungi, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, pollinators, worm species, even rodents, birds, plant species, and larger animals. Though obviously there's still similarities in there, or even the same exact species, whether both native or invasive and/or naturalized. Secondly, no-till in my experience is often actually low-till as you say, at least at the start as the ground/new beds are being established. The most frequent option by far for new beds I see employed is the huge broadfork, which these massive, long tines, and the width is the size of a market garden bed. Many market garden no-till operations will use this implement less and less over the course of a few years (they might use it just once a season at start, or during bed turnover day if the site is more heavily compacted/heavier soils with less organic matter; and then maybe every other year or just in more problematic beds), and so on until they don't use it at all. That's the goal for most market garden no-till operations that I have seen tour videos of, listened to no-till 'educators'/enthusiasts (I think it's still education, but should be taken with a grain of salt as with ALL online content). Still, there are some other 'no-till' operations that will continue to use the broadfork every year. Another tool is a 'tilther' that is more often used for bed turnover/prep as the soil structure improves and deeper soil disturbance is considered to be no longer needed. I see it as a mini tiller as it has much smaller blades/circle and is powered literally by a hand drill (obviously started as a DIY, but now certain companies that market and sell products for no-till/low-till farmers are producing and selling it in larger quantities). It only disturbs soil for 1-2 inches? (I cannot remember the depth) They also use it to blend in soil amendments (if that particular market garden uses supplemental slow-release amendments beyond the straight compost strategy or other no-till application methods). I think they literally named it tilther to not scare away no-till growers from considering it, basically marketing (but hey, massive corporations do stuff like this just like small ones, and it may be necessary for them to survive/thrive/compete). Thirdly, it is a lot of jargon of course and others may choose to differentiate between these methods using a different make-up of jargon, but I found it useful to learn and understand the details/differences I described above, but I have rarely, if at all, gone into detail explaining the difference between the two. If I dive deep and learn the details, differences, potential criticisms, caveats of each, I can blend or do what makes sense and I'm not restricted by a dogma (I would say there is alternative dogma like monoculture lawns, the very strong belief that European or even Japanese honeybees are good for North American environment/ecosystems, etc so it's not just no-till coolade that we should note). Fourthly, there is an interacting/overlapping 'belief system' about the soil food web that no-till community loves, espoused by Elaine Ingham and her associates (though she wouldn't describe herself as no-till, etc) and I think also separately by Rodale Institute (I like their stuff more than Elaine Ingham) and while I think it's valuable to learn about soil structure and different organisms and how they often interact, I do think they are selling a highly marketed, possibly unethical program/service/coolade (you have to pay for further access and they are almost always marketing their sellable stuff in every piece of content) and they very much emphasize how their way is the right way (it's more so Ingham I would say) would not say that Dowding or many other youtuber no-till channels like No-Till Growers typically do this. They will talk about their perceived benefits and the detriments of tilling in general, but it's not really phrased in a 'this is the only way' approach really (e.g. strongly advocate that aerobic compost is the only way and you must use a microscope and if there's bad microbes, don't use it; advocate strongly to make your own compost and only only only hot compost method), but more positive in nature). I wonder if you would make a video on this issue if you have not, though perhaps do so in a careful way lol. Fifth, all this being said, I myself do a version of no-till in my backyard vegetable garden and it's working fairly well for me. I do have grow bags, a few raised beds, and in-ground plot. Obviously grow bags are not no-till, but the rest I do no-till. The raised beds I may turn over/remix at the start of next season to balance out nutrient content a bit (can't rotate the beds that well and want to move this soil over there and that over there, etc). Like I said, there's always context. Whew, again if you read this, I apologize for the length...

[@GardeningInCanada]

AMAZING POST! Thank you. Lots of great point in this!

[@Norbingel]

I watched a lot of gardening/farming videos and haven't seen one with soil as heavy as ours. Many times, I think it doesn't look or feel as heavy but nearly every attempt so far to just plant into it has met with failure. Even plants like radishes which many videos say will bore into heavy soil can't establish their roots and end up just being these pathetic, shriveled plants with very few and small leaves, if they even germinate enough to take root or come up through the soil at all. The only thing that's able to grow enough was mung beans. I just poked a few seeds in and left them alone and while they're not the picture of health, they grew enough to get a few pods out of them

[@tobruz]

Question: does our winter frozen ground cause compaction? Should we broad fork our gardens once the soil dries out prior to planting?

[@GardeningInCanada]

It’s a combo of the freezing and the snow for use Canadians. I would poke away it would make a big difference