Do I need to till before planting new plants?

11 years ago

Hi GardenWeb,

I just joined this great forum.

I am still learning about soil and such, and had a quick question.

I have some soil in front of my house which had various plants in it. Last week, I rooted them all and plan on planting Imperial Princess Azalea as my shrub plant (love the flowers it produces) and some roses and marigolds in the front.

The old plants that were in the soil were some deep rooted shrubs and some smaller plants. I plowed the soil with a very heavy shovel.

Is it recommended that I till the land before I start planting? I am having someone work the soil to get as many roots out as possible with the shovel. I don't really want to pay to rent a rototiller (is it possible to till by hand??) if I don't need to. The area isn't big at all and will be used just for plants.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Janet

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Comments (7)

greenthumbzdude
11 years ago
no, just dig the hole and plant the plants. Tilling actually destroys soil microbes which are beneficial to your plants. They help in nutrient and water uptake. If you want to enhance the soil you could had a handful of a mineralizer like azomite/green sand to the soil going back into the hole. The same goes for compost.
pnbrown
11 years ago
here we go!

Examine the thread just below titled 'great debate'.
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ceth_k
11 years ago
Till or no till. That is the question.
nc_crn
11 years ago
Everything you want to plant should do fine on a dig + plant + native soil fill...technically you've already loosened the soil up digging the other plants out. If you choose to amend your fill...do so with mostly native soil to prevent the root from balling up in too-rich/amended soil. Also, your azalea will want acidic soil...you may or may not want to lower your soil pH with amendments.

Unless your Zone 9 is in an area prone to caliche deposits (desert areas) you most likely don't need additional tilling...and even then only to break up deposits...and even then you'll probably need something stronger than a tiller unless it's a shallow/thin deposit.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 15:18
toxcrusadr
11 years ago
I'm a little fuzzy on some of your terms. What do mean by "I rooted them all"? Dug them up by the roots?

"Plowing" is usually done with a plow, rather than a shovel.

Unless you're British, in which case, never mind. :-]
Kimmsr
11 years ago
As you, or the person you hired, roots around to get the roots from the previous plants out you will be tilling that soil. All "tilling" is is disturbing your soil in a way that opens it up somewhat. Many people with soils tht lack adequate amounts of organic matter find they must "till" each year to get their soil into a condition that allows planting, while those of us with adequate amounts of organic matter in our soil find that "tilling" is not necessary.
archedjumpshot
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you for all the help guys. I read all the posts and they were all beneficial.

After reading the replies, I will not till the land by machine.

@nc-crn, thank you for the information on the acidic soil for the Azalea. I would have never known that.

Sorry my terminology is bad. The person I had root my land used this:
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00YvGtEAbsqfzH/Garden-Tools-Iron-Hoe-with-Wooden-Arm-JR-0288-.jpg

Do I need to till before planting new plants?

Comments (7)

greenthumbzdude

pnbrown

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Do I need to till before planting new plants?

Comments (7)

greenthumbzdude

pnbrown

Related Discussions

ceth_k

nc_crn

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archedjumpshotOriginal Author

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