Many gardeners like the idea of putting their garden to bed for the winter. When they do that, it often includes tilling which aerates the soil, loosens it, and allows it to be more workable. The problem is it is the wrong time of year to do it and can lead to more problems in the long run.
@MIgardener
33 Comments
I have a very small yard so only have 4 raised beds and the rest is done by grow bags…..many, many grow bags! In the fall we always dump the soil out of all the grow bags onto a cement slab so we can put the bags away for the winter. We cover the soil with a blue or brown tarp and weight it down so it doesn't wash away with the rain. Does anybody know if this practice with the tarp is inadvertently solarizing the soil? My soil samples last spring were pretty much completely deficient in everything! Although I've had pretty good yields this year, I added some amendments before planting so guessing that was why.
eat the purslane, its delicious and probably high in mineral content, but yah a pain in the ….
So I have some bind weed or morning glory in my beds. Any suggestions on getting rid of those? Congrats on your new addition!
Than you Luke! 😊
Wow! Thank goodness I decided to take a break and watch your video! I was resting to go til my beds!! I never knew any of that! So no fall tilling for me. Thank you once again!
In California our soil never freezes. Can I till the soil in fall?
Oh man, I should have taken leave from my channel when mine was born two months ago. I pushed HARD to keep up with my weekly video schedule and finally burnt out this week. finished up this weeks video today and I am not filming this coming up week. Taking a much needed week off with the baby. Congrats on yours!
No augmentation to soil in fall?
ugh purslane….my son in law did a 'favor' and tilled the area for my garden before letitng me finishing the weeding….oh my gosh the massive amass of those purslane are all over my yard…I guess the birds helped but they are living in the cracks of asphalt! They are beautiful plants but NOT in the garden! Big lesson learned..the hard way!
Can your raised beds benefit from covering the soil with a landscape fabric for the winter?
How do I get rid of common vetch? I’m in eastern Washington state and it’s EVERYWHERE. It’s got a long tap root. It spreads with the purple flowers and along the roots too
You should go back to acting normal like your first videos and not sounding like a fast talking used car salesman.
Yes! Please please please do an episode on cover crops. It's so hard to find information on cover crops for raised beds!
P.S. Thanks for all the great content! And congrats…. dad! 😉
What if you plan on using the same beds for your fall crops? Is it ok to till then?
Welcome to no-till 👏👏
Purslane won’t grow back if you eat it. It makes great salad greens in the spring, it’s good in smoothies, and will thicken a soup if you chop it up and add it the last 15 minutes or so. It is nice tasting, juicy and bright. Give it a try.
HELP! This year I built a few raised garden beds but mistakenly did not remove weed tarp from the bottom, also had new soil that was VERY dense. I had planned on removing ALL the soil this fall, cutting the weed tarp out, replacing the soil and adding perlite to make the soil less dense, as well as compost on top, followed by crushed leaves. This video made me worry that I should NOT disturb the soil at this time. Now I am unsure what to do!
Congrat's Dad
People need to chill out or you will have Luke falling on a burnout and then he will stop making videos 📹 all because a lot of people are addicted to YouTube drugs metaphorically speaking 🔊🤷💯.
You can eat Thistle and sow Thistle, I wish to have a purslane weed problem because that means I will eat a lot of weeds.
Purslane and dandelions are easily THE most nutritious foods you have in your garden beds!
Luke you don't look sleep deprived enough to have been at home with your newborn the last few weeks, either you're lying or you were making your wife do all the work… where were you really?!?!? Hahaha!
Congratulations 🎉. Glad you back. Love your videos.
short and informative as always……tx
Somebody's been watching a lot of James Prigioni from Jersey. Don't worry your secret is safe with me.
I'm in a suburban area in Zone 5b. I saw one of your past videos that showed you covering a garden with plastic. The last 2 years I have cut down my dead plants and left them, covered them with 6 mil black plastic, and in the spring all that matter is gone when I uncover my garden. I put my grass clippings and leaves in my garden as well. I've had pretty healthy crops.
I’m thinking of sneaking over to my community garden plot and dumping my leaf mulch on my plot. Then make sure I get the same one next year 🙂
does that hold true with Garlic?
Thank you for this info, one less thing to do!
Darn! I wish I had this video a couple weeks ago 😢
Great advice! Thank you!
It's actually better to NEVER till your soil. We tilled ammendments in every spring & couldn't figure out why it still stayed compacted & had a tendency to be weedy. Then I read about Ruth Stout's method & started adding compost & mulch in the fall & we now have wonderful rich soil & fewer weeds.
Your video with the baby was cute with no equal. YouTube money can make a great college fund. Stay blessed