Before we discuss tilling the ground, it should be noted that the most important postulate of the Texas Raised-Intensive Method is this: "Don't try to grow good plants, grow good soil. If you grow good soil then the good plants will surely follow." The Texas Raised-Intensive Method considers both philosophies of Jeavons (who would be considered a "Pro-Tilling" advocate) and Fukuokasan (who would be considered a "No Tilling" advocate) with regards to the preparation of the garden bed. The combined end result is a minimal amount of manual labor upon the gardener and a beneficial aid to the immediate environment (and therefore the Earth as a whole).
The Texas Raised-Intensive Method does use an initial dig into the soil much like Jeavons' double dig method(*1) . Most of the dirt though is temporarily lifted out of the bed, rather than just one initial row of the bed, to be mixed with high-grade organic planting soil. This step un-compacts the soil, which is vital to our raised garden as it allows the ground to aerate oxygen and carbon dioxide, and permits easier penetration and expulsion of moisture. The roots of the plants will grow deep into the Earth and will not be competing for nutrients at the surface of the soil. If the garden bed is fully enriched with nutrients and un-compacted we can then grow our crops closer together than what row-planting methods call for. Receiving higher yields on less space is the main reason for this initial tilling of the ground. The condition of the original soil dictates the amount of imported nutrient-rich soil that will be needed by the raised bed to get started correctly. Most yards, lawns and existing garden beds are in definite need of enriched soil. With the Texas Raised-Intensive Method though, that exportation is only needed for the first season. From then on all organic by-products of the land, like grass clippings, fallen leaves, corn stalks, melon vines, etc. will go directly on to the garden bed, and food stuffs (excluding meat and dairy products) will go into a compost pile for eventual return into the bed. However the Texas Raised-Intensive Method does not require nor recommend future tilling after the initial dig.
Allowing the soil to heal itself or rather create itself will accelerate it's own flourishing potential. Therefore with the Texas Raised-Intensive Method, we help the soil by loosening and un-compacting it initially and then we never till by hand again, making sure also that we never trample upon it again. The initial tilling allows the microbiologic worlds in the soil to start (re)building themselves. If we give the garden bed time to create a living, breathing soil and then we pull it up and turn it over again and again and again, we are prohibiting the Earth to fully flourish. The tiny worlds are disrupted, and though not in the depleted, compacted condition that it was in, the soil still spends time having to mend itself when, if only left alone, it would thrive in it's own rightful way. The Earth has grown millions of plants for millions of years without re-tilling itself every season. There are many things for us to emulate from Mother Nature. This one particular point is a major lesson for the gardener growing foods.
With the freshly tilled soil the plants will grow deep and make nice thick rhizomes and roots for that initial season. It will slowly separate through the soil, digging deeper, under our original tilled garden bed. Eventually that plant will die and the roots will rot in the soil, leaving an aerated vein of mulch deep in the ground. If we leave this soil alone and do not re-compact it, another plant will send its roots down those veins, using the mulch provided naturally by its predecessor and also digging down a little further, un-compacting the soil even more. These roots are also destined to be food for the next generations of plants to come. Eventually the garden bed will be completely naturally tilled, hundreds of inches deep within the soil. The possibilities for various microbiologic worlds, galaxies and universes in this type of naturally tilled soil, which will provide us with natural fruits and vegetables, are endless. Masanobu Fukuokasan has practiced this method for over 40 years. He has possibly the most fertile soil on the planet.
One important thing to remember is that a plant which is grown in mineral deficient soil will be deficient itself. It might grow fast and appear healthy (due to watering, sunlight and mulch), but if the nutrients are not in the ground they will not be present in our crops. Therefore, we need to provide our gardens with the tools they will need to provide us with the nutritional values we need. If we enrich and build our soil properly, AND return ALL un-edible products of the food we don't eat (husks, rinds, peels, vines, leaves, etc.) back to the soil, then a natural cycle has begun which will provide us with fully nutritious foods. Recycling these "waste products" back into the ground along with growing sustainable soil fertility crops (such as legumes: beans, peas, peanuts; clover, rye, potatoes, burdock, sweet potatoes, etc.) will perpetuate a healthy, fully nutritious LIVING garden bed in which we can live off of ourselves for many, many years.
Footnotes:
*1- Jeavons, John, How To Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine. (Berkeley, Toronto: Ten Speed Press, 2002. Pp. 10-14.
Lance Willard - Copyright 2004 - All Rights Reserved