Tilling is deeper than cultivating the garden. Tilling usually did when you are opening a new garden or using an old garden which is not used so long. Here is how to till a garden without and with a machine. And don’t forget to read and do the tips too.
Table of Contents
How to Till without Machine
If you don’t have a power tiller or till machine, you can still use a spade to do this. It may more tiring but it is like you do a sport while gardening.
1. Use Gloves
The first thing you need is a glove. This will prevent you from any injuries or bugs and dirt. Choose garden gloves that can be used more than once.
2. Mark The Garden
Mark the garden which you want to till. This mark will be your guide to count how many beds you want to make.
Use some stick of wood to mark then make a line with rope or yarn. After doing this you will easier to make the garden beds. If needed you can spray white paint into the soil.
3. Remove Grass
The next thing to do of how to till a garden is removing grass. This will help the plant grow better because grass can consume minerals and nutrients inside the soil.
You can do it by hand. Pull the grass until the root is uprooted. Make sure that the root is gone because if the root still planted, the grass can easily regrow. You can use the grass as compost but process it first before spread them to the ground.
4. Add Mineral Or Organics Compost
You can add some mineral of organic compost above the soil. Just spread a little amount. This compost only uses for making the soil richer.
5. Use Spade
The next step is starting the tilling process. You can move from the outer corner of the garden. Follow the line you have made before.
Dig the soil with a spade for about 6 inches. Push it then turn over. The soil from the ground which usually has a darker color will move up.
Repeat this process until the end of your mark. Don’t step the soil which is tilled. If you think that the soil is not mixed yet, you can dig the soil twice before moving.
6. Remove Rocks By Hand
If you see some rock, remove it by hand. Move it and collect it out of the garden. Soon, you can use it as a barrier to prevent some unwanted pest and animals.
7. Break Appart Large Clumps
Then, if you see large clumps of soil while tilling break them apart. Make sure that the soil is mixed well with the compost. If there is a lot of clumps, you can use rake or shovel.
Tilling without a machine is more tiring but it’s a good activity to do while spending the holiday with kids. They will love to play and do something new.
Tilling With Machine
If you already have a tilling machine, this work may be done faster. But if the garden has tilled before don’t force the tiller machine to do more work. Just till it slowly with these steps.
1. Mark The Garden
The first thing you should do is marking the garden. As mention in the tilling without machine procedure, this mark will be a direction for a gardener to make the beds. It will make the work faster and easier. Further, the beds will be neater too.
2. Remove Grass
The next things of how to till a garden is removing grass. If there is a little amount of grass you can pull it by hand.
But if it is too much grass, you can use the tiller machine to get rid of it. Just make sure you remove the root so they will not regrow fast.
3. Move The Power Tiller
The next thing is to start to do the tilling process. Move the power tiller through the marked soil. Move it slowly and don’t be rush.
The power tiller will work well if you already remove big rocks at the ground. Use gloves to prevent your hand from injuries or slipped while moving the tilling machine.
4. Spread Compost
The last thing you can do is spread the compost. You can spread it before the tilling process. So the compost and soil will be mixed well and make the soil have more nutrient.
Those four steps of how to till a garden show that tilling a garden are really easy. You can do this in a day or weekend. Tilling can make the ground easier to plant and make the garden look more pretty and organized.
With the separated beds, you can plant more than one type of plant. For example a row for flowers a row for carrot, another row for anything else.
Tips
Since tilling is a new thing for you, it must be done and work well. To make the tilling process works better there are some tips you can consider.
1. Wait Until The Spring
Besides understanding how to till a garden, you need to know when is the best time to do the tilling process. If you are in 4 season county, the best time to do this is while in the spring season.
You can check it with a thermometer. The best temperature is about 15°C. Check first before tilling is better because after the tilling process you want the soil ready to use.
Put the thermometer to the soil and wait for some seconds. You can also grab the soil and try to spread them. If you feel the soil is moist then that is a good time to till. But if it too wet or dry, it better to just wait for some moment.
2. Don’t Spread Fertilizer at First Tilling
Chemical fertilizer is needed when the plant is planted. Before that, you should avoid them. Because instead of make the soil richer, you can damage them more.
From this procedure and tips, you can see that tilling is not hard to do. There is only some steps of how to till a garden and can be done in a day or two.
It depends on how large the garden is. When you are going to till a garden, make sure that the soil is moist enough and use possible tools like a spade, rake or a tilling machine.
