Ran into a retired farmer at the hardware store who changed how I think about soil

It was about 2 years ago, I was grabbing some compost for my backyard garden at the Ace Hardware out on Route 9. This older guy, maybe 70, saw me loading bags and just said "you're fighting the wrong battle with that stuff." He went on to explain how he'd been no-till farming on his plot near Hudson Valley since the 80s, barely touched the ground except to plant. He showed me pictures on his phone of this dark, crumbly soil that looked nothing like my dusty patch. Said he hadn't used synthetic fertilizer in 15 years and his yields went UP. That conversation got me to stop tilling and start sheet mulching, and honestly my vegetable patch has never been healthier. Has anyone else had an old timer change their whole approach to gardening or land management?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam4149d ago

That old farmer's method sounds interesting but I gotta wonder about the weeds. Did he say what he did for weed control without tilling or synthetic stuff? Sheet mulching works for small gardens but on a real farm scale it seems like youd get overrun with quackgrass and thistle. Also curious if he was growing vegetables or just field crops cause thats a big difference in soil management. My neighbor tried no-till for two seasons and his squash vines barely grew because the ground stayed too cold and wet in spring.

parker_webb8d ago

No-till squash struggles are real. Could it be the carbon ratio of his leftover crop residue locking up nitrogen?

the_faith8d ago

Old-timer I knew swore by a flamer for thistle, said burning them off at the seedling stage was the only thing worked at scale. @adam414 might be onto something with field crops vs vegetables, that guy was growing soybeans mostly and just let the quackgrass die under the residue.