I till my spring garden as late in fall as possible. My goal is to have the soil hard-freeze while it is still aerated from the tilling. If needed, I will tarp the garden to protect from fall rains to keep it dry for tilling. I amend the soil with compost and dry leaves. I do not work the soil in any way in spring prior to planting seeds. When it is time to plant seeds I lay down boards to walk on between the rows I have laid out to minimize soil compaction. The boards are removed as soon as the seeds are planted, not left in the garden. Every spring is different. My planting time is based on the soil conditions, not on a planting date. None of the early spring varieties I plant go in deeper than one-half inch so my guide to plant seed is when the top one inch of soil is dry enough to be safely worked with the hoe. This means that the soil I am disturbing, which is the soil that needs to settle aroung the seeds and is the soil that the future seedlings have to sprout through, will remain loose and friable and will not dry out into clumps and clods. Best wishes for success! -Tom

Do you have a garden already, or are you building one for the first time, in space that is currently a lawn or the like? I'll share what I did to start my garden in what had been lawn. We dug up the sod with a shovel, and shook out the dirt. We will compost this. We found some earthworms. Then we spread aged rabbit manure on top of the soil, some worm castings that I had around, and the compost from last year's bin. If we hadn't had these things, I would have come up with some other organic matter somehow, probably by purchasing bags of the stuff at Home Depot. The organic matter will improve the soil, and feed the worms, who will in turn improve the soil even more. I mixed in the amendments a bit with a hoe. Before I plant each section, I'll turn the soil with a spade, bringing the amendments a bit farther down into the soil, and I hope aiding in the mixing process. I expect I'll need some lime, too. Someone will jump in and say that I can't know that unless I have a soil test done, but I know what the soil is like in my area, and I know that last year's tomatoes (in the smaller original part of this same garden) got blossom-end rot, which was corrected later in the season by the addition of lime. So I will pre-emptively add some to the new garden this time. Of course you shouldn't do that unless you have reason to believe that your soil requires it. It's not clear that we'll be getting rain particularly soon, so I may take a hose to the garden, because I think just a bit more moisture would benefit the soil microbes and worms as they begin to go to town on the newly added organic matter. My husband and I did all of our work with a shovel, hoe, and other hand tools. We'd considered renting a roto-tiller for a day, but in the end, it really wasn't too much work. YMMV, especially with the size of your garden. This Fall, after the growing season, I plan to spread more aged or composted manure (rabbit or chicken, since I have access to both). I'll spread finished compost either in the Fall or in the Spring, probably depending on what's available in the Fall, and how much time we have. If I play my cards right, next Spring I may be able to just turn the soil and go...unless we do another expansion, of course!

HmmmÂOrganic proponents on an Organic Message Board, imagine that if you will? cerister I can identify with your dilemma of gardening on clay, for I too have solid clay soil. I live on a solid clay hill that has mixed in gravel along with patches weeds donÂt even grow on. The first year I tried to till in the spot I wanted a garden in, but my brand new tiller wouldnÂt even break the surface. I had go find a farmer with a tiller on his tractor to break the clay. The first year only weeds grew in the spot along with Bermuda grass, I considered that progress. The second year I found out about organic gardening, went and got about six pickup truck loads of compost and tilled that in. I also learned about compost teas as well as other teas that I began to use. That year I grew some great vegetables on the spot along with plenty of weeds mixed in. Again, progress in my eyes from where I started. The next year I learned about mulching, that made the difference. Mulching over a layer of compost eliminated the need to till, and I havenÂt had to use the tiller since. I am not saying I wonÂt till again, but the link to "The PloughmanÂs Folley" motivated me to get a disc to pull behind my riding lawn tractor, the results are better than progress, I will call it success. I donÂt count worms; I count baskets of vegetables I bring in all summer and fall. You have gotten some very good suggestions, and I too suggest you do whatever you feel good about, for nothing will change if you donÂt do something. I will say compost, compost tea, organic fertilizers, and mulch will, in the end will get you where you want to go. That has been the experience I have had in this hot Georgia sun, planting on this world famous rock hard red Georgia clay. kathyp When I moved here I didnÂt have a lawn, unless growing rocks count. As I said earlier, my tiller would not break the surface of the clay. What I did to the lawn is I started using compost tea on the area I wanted a lawn. My yard is a little over three acres or more, thus I made a lot of compost tea. I did some research and found very good information from Dchall and followed it. Today I have the thickest, greenest, fastest growing lawn on this end of the county. Let me say again, if you do use compost tea or any other tea or lawn amendments on your yard, you will have to cut your grass regularly and high. The teas are not a danger to children or pets and do work in a season. I have found that the clay gets softer under your feet and the grass, if you want to call it that, will spread without seeding. Did I mention my grass grows thick and very, very fast? I would suggest you look at the FAQ on lawn care before you grab that tiller. I know my arms and back is grateful for what I learned, the lawn, flowerbeds, and garden look great and give the results I have come to love and appreciate. That is my experience, am wishing you both success in your gardening adventure Blutranes ...

I would till. Next year, maybe try a cover crop? here is some info... http://www.humeseeds.com/covcrop.htm and this.... COVER CROPS - GREEN MANURES Even though a portion of your acreage or garden lies idle for a time, the soil can be built up by growing cover crops. Cover crops are fast growing green plants that can be chopped up and spaded, plowed, or tilled into the soil, adding green organic matter that then composts into humus. Plants of the Legume family also add nitrogen to the soil. Some cover crops can be spaded into your garden and with others it is better to cut off the green tops, add them to the compost pile, and spade only the roots left behind into the soil. In the Fall, sow the following cover crops to turn into the soil in Spring: Alfalfa, Austrian Field Pea, White Clover, Alsike Clover, Crimson Clover, Red Clover, Purple Vetch, Hairy Vetch, Woolly Vetch, Common Vetch, Fava Beans, Wheat, Oats, Cereal Rye, Winter Rape, and Lupines. The following are some Warm Winter Cover Crops: Cowpeas (Southern peas), Hairy Indigo, Bell Beans (a small Fava Bean) Lana Vetch, Winter Peas, Lupines, and Purple Clover. See Also: Cover crops Here is a link that might be useful: at the bottom of the page...