Use No-Until Gardening Strategies for a Low-Work Backyard

The Campbells no cash register, little work, garden after the first few years. Photo by Sheryl Campbell

When we first moved to the countryside, I excitedly turned to growing vegetables. We bought a rototiller that I used to turn the soil in a small, neglected garden lot between our house and the shed. I had very little experience growing anything but thought it couldn’t be that difficult. I didn’t know what I didn’t know

The biggest thing I didn’t know was how much work it was to garden traditionally. Surrounded by every weed imaginable, my new property was the perfect breeding ground for weed seeds. After hacking this little garden every morning all summer, my husband told me I couldn’t create a garden area until I figured out how to garden with less work. My middle-aged back fully supported him!

Hoe, hoe, hoe! Photo by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay

I spent this winter reading everything I could find about gardening with less work. It turned out to be a pretty popular topic in gardening! If you’re tired of the constant, backbreaking work of hoeing and rototillae, read on to learn how to use no-till gardening techniques.

There are a number of approaches to no-tillage. Most popular with home gardeners are those by Ruth Stout and Lee Reich. We used the ideas of these two wonderful gardening pioneers, but found that both systems needed modification to create the truly labor-poor garden we wanted. Read more about Ruth Stout’s garden system and Lee’s method of maintaining a weed-free organic garden here.

The system that we have developed in our undeveloped, permanently mulched garden over the past ten years is based on:

• disturb the ground as little as possible
• rejuvenate the soil
• Mulching with weed-deterrent coverings

This method costs us a third of the use of Ruth’s full system. Using slow and lazy methods of making compost (more on composting later this summer) allows us to use Lee’s ideas without so much physical exertion.

Undisturbed raised beds. Photo by Sheryl Campbell

Follow this process to create your own vegetable garden:

Undisturbed ground

• Use a metal rake to scrape the existing floor into a series of 3 foot wide beds separated by 1.5 foot walkways
• Never walk on the beds – only on the sidewalks
• Keep the sidewalks free of weeds by putting a few inches of straw over them
• When harvesting root vegetables, be careful to gently lift each tuber as you shake the loose dirt back into the hole

Soil rejuvenation

• Cover the new beds with a few centimeters of ready-made compost every spring
• Cover the top half of the beds with 6 inches of coarse compost that rotates each fall so that the other half of the beds receive coarse compost the following year (do not plant or sow root crops in the beds that received coarse compost the previous fall You bugs that ruin the crops)

Weed deterrent mulches. Photo by Sheryl Campbell

Weed deterrent mulches

Straw provides excellent winter and summer insulation and weed control

After the final fall or winter harvest, cover each bed with 4 to 6 inches of fluff straw. Straws are hollow and won’t condense while retaining air and providing good winter insulation for the soil. Straw decomposes slowly and does not bind nitrogen or other soil nutrients. It also stops the spread of diseases caused by rain splashing soil on plants.

Grass clippings add nutrients while a waste product is recycled

Collect all grass and weed debris (before the seeds are planted!) Instead of throwing them away. Lightly sprinkle them over freshly sown beds or lightly place them around the base of tomato plants.

Finished compost also gets rid of weed growth

When transplanting tender seedlings, put some extra ready-made compost around the plant to provide nutrients and eliminate weed competition.

Enjoy the garden. Photo by Sheryl Campbell.

Work less – enjoy your garden more!

Now you’ve created your own low-work garden using simple no-till gardening techniques. You now have more time to focus on new ways of cooking the wonderful vegetables you grow and more time to relax and just enjoy your garden.

Sheryl Campbell is an heirloom gardener, shepherd, and edible flower educator who owns Bouquet Banquet in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. Read Sheryl’s previous blogging with Mother Earth Gardener and Grit, and read all of her MOTHER EARTH NEWS posts here.

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Originally published: 05/05/2021 10:15:00 AM