t92k
Newly Registered
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:18 pm
Location: Upstate NY

Should I till now?

Hey all. Since this only my second year of gardening I'm in need of some advice. With all of this nice weather I'm not sure when I should till the soil. Last year we decided to do the garden at the last minute (early May) and had a guy come out with a big tractor and till up the sod for us. In December we had a load of composted manure (mix of sheep, goat, pig) dumped in the center and now I have that spread out over the garden. My wife just bought me a front tine tiller. I'm wondering if I should till it in now or wait. I don't plan on planting our early season crops until late April even though I'm tempted to now. Even with all this great weather I think we'll be getting a freeze now and then. Should I till it up now or would it be better to wait a couple of weeks?

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rainbowgardener
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Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

When to till has more to do with how dry it is. As long as the ground is unfrozen AND completely dry, you can till. After tilling it can wait until planting. What you really don't want to do is till damp ground. Then it turns into big clods that will never break up. Tilling early isn't bad, because then you can wait a couple weeks, let all the weed seeds you just exposed sprout and then till again. That will cut down on how weedy your garden is.

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jal_ut
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Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

It depends on your soil type and how wet it is. Take a shovel and dig up one shovelful. Take a handful of the soil from down under a couple of inches and squeeze it hard in your hand, then open your hand and poke the ball with a finger. If it falls apart, you can till. If it stays glued together in a squishy ball it is too wet.

As rainbowgardener says, do not till it when too wet.

A lot of folks are planting already. Spinach and onions can be planted now. See if you have an extension service in your area. They usually have local gardening information.



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