Gardening and Horticulture - Should I till in the fall?

Hello All,
Just want to see if there are any benefits to tilling the veggie garden under in the fall after harvesting? Seems logical to me; but am wondering if there are real benefits to be derived. I normally till twice in early spring before planting.
What do you all think?
normanthechoreman

I never used to but I think I will this year.
I find that the ground becomes quite compacted by spring with our heavy snow cover.
I also think I will try the fall planting of some onions and garlic to see what happens.
Here, we weren't able to plant untill the first week of June and because of our record low summer temperatures, we'll be lucky if our onions are the size of a golf ball.

Look up (Austrian Winter Peas) as a Winter Cover Crop.

We plant all bare soil with the AWP, & have oddles of free Nitrogen for our Spring crops every season.

Peas & beans add nitrogen to the soil, & Legumes unlike Winter Wheat dies out instead of becoming another weed to pull as the weather get's warm in the Spring.

It's about the nature of Cover crops vrs. bare soil :)

Miguel,

I read about AWPeas but all I could find had too many aggy words I didn't understand.
Is a cover crop one you try to grow between seasons?
If so then it would have a hard time growing in our four feet of snow.

I may not be spelling it right Austria Austrian Winter Peas. A small Pea you plant right now. You don't have to plant an acre of peas just where you don't have anything growing. A cover crop helps keep the soil healthy by keeping the soil protected.

Our Corn takes a lot of Nitrogen so we plant a thick cover of AWP, & till on #1 just to roughen the soil. I till the soil deep to turn under all the humatic material from this season. Then plant the peas with a hand spreader & use the tiller on the least deep setting to stir them in. They run $20.00 for 50#s but you can buy a few pounds at a time for small gardens.

When we till the whole Garden in early Spring these 10 to 12 inch long snow flattened peas that grow in very cold climes have root systems covered with White, Pink & Red balls or nodes of Nitrogen. Over 27 lbs of free Nitrogen per acre is just what the Dr ordered for getting all your dark green Leafy Vegies craving ready to use Nitrogen.

I have a series of pictures that I took every Spring for 5 years after we started using AWP. I used a quarter for size comparison of the biggest head of Broccoli the last years was the biggest head, & was right at 4.86 pounds & the quarter looked like a dime :)

Of all the cultures in the World that I have seen where they depended on the food they broke their backs growing to survive, none ever left their soil bare. I learned from the woods, & over time that bare soil can become unhealthy. Look at the bare soil that Modern Farming methods have used that whitish haze over the fields id Sodium (Salt ). Even if you use salt based plant foods a Winter cover crop can help disapate the sodium & help clean the soil.

We apply many of the longer to break down Organic foods in winter, & just spread them in on top of the peas the rain takes it all into the soil. By Spring we have more to add but we also have an unending supply of food for our plants. Soil is alive so it makes sense to feed this living eco system all year round.

The Soil is alive, & we must feed it all year Winter is a good time to rebalance the soil. The one time of the year to enrich the best nitrogen for the next Season is Winter. Summer Beans consume more than the Peas make so Winter is it. This is the best single thing we can do for our Soil all Season.

Thanks Marturo,
Very interesting information. I may just do that in a little while. Sounds like a plan.
Normanthechoreman

Hi Norman

When you plant your Nitro eaters next Spring like Broccoli, Lettuce etc, let us know if they seem to grow faster & greener where the peas were.

We are going to have over 20" of rain from that Hurrycane by tommorow as if it's not wet enough :D

What do you till with?