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On my little front yard area, last year I tilled it, laid down goat manure, cardboard and then plastic. I figured during winter it would stay wet and the cardboard would be gone in Spring. Nope. Pulled the plastic back a few weeks ago and the cardboard was intact as were the little goat poop berries. I should have piled some organic matter on top of the cardboard and maybe skipped the plastic. Oh well. No grass or weeds have come back at least. I didn’t get the whole area so I’m going to till the rest, put cardboard down with something organic, probably leaf mold and goat manure mix and plant maters and peppers into it in mid/late May. Johnny’s seed date calculator says May 13-20 for those so I’m not that far ahead of you. Last frost date here is May 6th.

I think I could get away with no-till here. I have silty loam according to websoilsurvey. Thought it was clayey loam but it’s not. Just looked at the soil report a few days ago. At least it’s considered loam and I have a good size area with 1-2 feet worth with very few rocks. Probably a little over an acre total. It does have some clay content. I know because I have sculptures that the kids made out of it several years ago and they’re as hard as a clay pot. My son did a long neck dinosaur and the 1/4” neck didn’t crack and break.

All the no-till people I’ve been watching videos of rely heavily on compost and most even use it as a mulch. Found one guy that puts down compost and then a little mulch over it which seems like a better idea. Nitrogen goes away quick when exposed to air from what I’ve read. I need to become a compost making maniac. That and leaf mold since most of the property is forest and I have to rake or burn leaves a few times a year.

Some day when you have 5 hours to spare... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojy-QtTwyY - Organic No-Till Vegetable Production with Bryan O’Hara: Part 1 of 5 | Getting Started

We had a couple of days of solid rain here this week so I had time to watch videos. Not into TV. Read all the books I have. I’m bored with the rest of the internet and sick of the news so why not try and find out how to grow food in our dystopian future?

O’Hara uses KNF - Korean Natural Farming - which leans in the direction of bio-dynamics but more based on reality than superstition. Mostly about getting your local forest fungi into your garden. He’s a little on the hippie side but has some good ideas and methods. He tills once for new ground.