Several years ago I took a day-long workshop from Jean-Martin Fortier, a fellow market farmer from Quebec. He introduced us to his methods using a BCS walk behind tractor with 30″ wide implements. I’d been using a small BCS with a 20″ tiller for most of my time at Geezer Farm.
Over the years I’ve learned about the damaging effects of deep tilling on the soil, disrupting the soil food web, part of the process that makes nutrients available to the vegetables.
Jean-Martin’s method involves using a broad fork (sort of a super wide, double-handled pitch fork) that you use to loosen the soil to a depth of 12″ without damaging the soil structure or inverting the soil layers.
So last fall, after a month of driving my friends crazy talking about whether I should upgrade my equipment I decided to invest in a new BCS walk-behind tractor, a flail mower, and a tiller that allows for very shallow tillage. I calculated that it will save me and Scott hundreds of hours in time each year.
My new bed preparation will be something like this. In spring, cut any cover crop with the flail mower leaving a very fine layer of mulch. Next will be a quick pass with the broad fork to loosen the soil. Then I can either cover the beds with soil from the pathways with a rotary plow, or can cover the beds with large tarps that speed up the decomposition of the cover crop and encourage any weed seeds to germinate and then die off under the tarps. Either way I should have a nice clean seed bed to plant.
At this point I can spread compost or other organic inputs I need, and use the tiller to work in the amendments into the top inch of soil, leaving a nice level compact bed to seed or transplant into.
Scott Friend and I were able to remake all the beds last fall to the new layout, thirty-inch raised beds with 18″ paths to better accommodate the new equipment. We even got a lot of the garden cover cropped, and the rest mulched with hay.
It’s the best we’ve done putting the garden to bed in 8 seasons. Hoping it’s all a good omen for a great 2019 season.
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