Microbial Magic: A no-till approach to regenerating soil life
At Wild Heart Farm, we practice no-till methods to improve soil health. Limiting soil disturbance by reducing or eliminating tilling can help maintain soil moisture, build organic matter and minimize weeds to name a few benefits. The no-till technique works well for gardens and small-scale farming. In this blog, we will share ways Wild Heart Farm supports soil health without using heavy equipment. We have tried many methods and observed the results over the years. We hope this gives you a better understanding of the no-till technique and sparks some interest if you want to try this in your own garden.
How to begin
Let’s start at the end (which is also the beginning!) when your plants are done producing and you want to prepare the ground for something new. The first step in no-till is to cut the plants at the soil level and leave the roots in the soil to decompose.
Make sure the soil has some moisture since this will support microbial activity. These microbes need water and food to work their magic–breaking down roots, moving nutrients and stimulating plant growth. The root matter you leave will become food for the microbial community – this is the life of the soil. As a result, there will be an enrichment of increased microorganisms! Alternatively, tilling or removing the roots can damage soil microbes’ habitat and make it more difficult for them to access food and repopulate.
This video of sister Kelly demonstrates the cutting first with a weedwacker, then a lawnmower.
To further assist the breakdown of the original crop, we place a black plastic tarp (recycled billboards are the best) anything that eliminates light and retains moisture. This helps prevent weeds from accessing sunlight for new growth. With a tarp in place, the shade helps the plants decompose and microbes populate, which builds the soil food web.
Elaine Ingham is the soil food web guru and we love how she illustrates the underground interconnectedness.
The organic matter will break down in the soil and the microbes will feed on the roots. In return, this process will give the microbes more food to rebuild their population and bring nutrients to the plants. A book that does an excellent job of portraying this process is called Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. They wrote an entire library of great soil books!
After a few weeks under the black tarp, the previous crop should be broken down. Look under it and be amazed at all the abundant life, especially compared to ground with bare, dry soil. Depending on the size and vigor of the plants they will be either non-existent or partially broken down.
Introducing the Broadfork
Take the tarp off once it has reached this stage and use a broadfork or a garden fork to aerate the soil for new roots and give microbes oxygen. Using the broadfork is an alternative to tilling at this stage. It opens up the soil without disrupting the microbial community and allow amendments to be mixed without bringing weed seeds to the surface to germinate. Like an undisturbed forest the no-till approach hosts moisture, promotes life and will reduce pulling unnecessary weeds in the future. What’s not to love? P.S. Broadforking is way better than going to the gym, and the long run saves time. You are building a whole city underground that will be working tirelessly to do what they do.
Working the soil with a broad fork is a workout and is best done on low amounts of caffeine to reduce injury.
Making holes in the topsoil with these tools will also help mix amendments into the soil. Amendments will differ depending on the size of your bed and the results from your soil test. Submitting a soil sample to a soil lab will allow you to learn more about what amendments would be best suited to balance soil health. We use A & L Western Laboratories and your local cooperative extension will have recommendations of other sources.
After the soil has been broadforked and amendments added, rake the soil smooth to help mix everything. Compost is one of the best amendments to add organic matter to the soil. It is important at all stages of this process to work the soil and keep the soil at the right moisture level—not too wet or too dry. Try squeezing the soil in your hand. If it hold together with a few crumbs falling away it has good moisture. This will help the new seeds or plants germinate and establish with greater success. After planting the seeds, we cover them with burlap for a few days to keep the moisture in the soil, which helps germinate seeds more rapidly by keeping the soil from drying out. With transplants, we soak them first with kelp solution to reduce shock and cover the bed with row cover draped over wire hoops. This acts like a humidifier or a greenhouse to shelter plants from the sun, insects and keeps the soil from drying out.
Cover Crops
Another way to support microbe activity is by planting cover crops as a succession after your main harvest has been cut down. Cover crops can both add and hold onto nutrients in the soil, making them available to your future crops. In order for this process to be maximized, it is important to cut down the cover crops when about 30% of the plants are in flower.
Cover crops are much more than just planting plants; they invite the alchemy of photosynthesis, transmuting the energy of the sun to help enliven the rhizosphere (the intricate web of life that lies beneath the ground). At Wild Heart we have our favorite cover crops and for multiple reasons and uses. Legumes such as hairy vetch, field peas and bell beans are great winter cops that help build nitrogen in the soil. Other legumes like red and crimson clover offer bright blooms, attracting bees while also adding nitrogen to the soil. Red clover flowers can also be harvested for a nutritive tea. Buckwheat grows tall, tender stems and produces beautiful white flowers for bees and adds airy interest to flower bouquets. Phaecilia is a beautiful purple flower (known as scorpion weed). It attracts bees and helps hold nitrogen and scavenge calcium in the soil. Grasses/grains such as wheat, rye, and oats help produce biomass both above and below ground. There are numerous cover crops to choose from based on what your soil needs and the time of year. Research which ones are best suited for the zone and season and reason.
You can terminate the cover crop with a weed wacker, a lawnmower or just a pair of hand pruners. It always makes us feel better cutting these plants down when we imagine of the feast the microbes will enjoy. Janine Benyus, a biomimicry expert talked recently in an interview with On Being’s Krista Tippet about the process of regenerating hardscrabble land in Montana - “Setting a banquet for the real helpers--helping the helpers, is, asking what would the microbes want now? Literally creating the conditions conducive to life and then life heals it.”
A bumble bee feeding on Phaecilia cover crop blossom, which in turn will feed the soil microbiome when it is cut down and the roots decompose. Photo by Loni Packar
Thinking like a forest
The no-till practice encourages a farmer to think like a forest. Mulching, incorporating cover crops, maintaining good soil moisture and the right amendments will enrich and balance your soil. We have seen the benefits of the no-till method by monitoring our soil reports and testing the microbiome with a microbiometer. These benefits include, increasing soil organic matter, increasing water hold capacity, reducing soil pH, less weeds and overall healthier plants. We also do not have the expense of heavy equipment like rototillers or tractors. This spring, when our field was flooded in 1.5 feet deep water for 2 days, our soil and plants remained in place, and bounced back quickly. Repeated tilling pulverizes the soil structure and makes erosion a strong likelihood.
We hope you will experiment with some of these approaches to soil care in your garden and enjoy the addition of cover crops. We also like this step by step article by Little Green Yard that makes it easy to implement. Let us know how it goes–there are no hard and fast rules, just pay attention and get out of the way!
Written by Portia Griefenberg, Kate Watters with help from Loni Packard and endless inspiration from this place we grow.