Will tilling or discing new ground that is hard and dry harm it?

And is one of these methods of breaking the ground better than the other? What about discing followed by tilling?

Thanks for your feedback!!!
Ed

It's not ideal but if you are on a short timeline it's better than messing with mud. Ideally add compost to it to make up for anything lost by tilling when hard.

We're starting from scratch there so little amendments available. We're looking at a 60'x30' area.

ETA: Thanks for the feedback, Amanda. We'll see what organic we can get up with!

Maybe, it'll rain, meanwhile.

Sally, I really wish it would rain. Today marks 20 days without any and the 7-day forecast shows all "Sunny" days. Basically, we haven't had rain since Hurricane Helene came through except for *maybe* a very slight trace.

Intheswamp said: Will tilling or discing new ground that is hard and dry harm it?

New soil, harm, no.
New soil often produces the best crop you will get out of that garden.

Actual plowing, then discing, and then roto-tilling would prepare it the best, but you can plow then roto-till.

Just tilling fresh ground to do a good job, will take multiple passes .
I used to till mine length wise, width wise then diagnolly but I figured that made nice loose dirt but was over-kill.
I now just do it one direction, slowly.

Dry soil is the most miserable soil to till; moist is best; I some times use a lawn sprinkler on the whole garden then next day, do the tilling.

Do not till leaves into the soil in the Spring, you will get a globby mess that produces half-heartedly.

"Do not till leaves into the soil in the Spring, you will get a globby mess that produces half-heartedly. "

I've tilled a mountain of leaves into my garden over the years (in the fall), but they were always shredded up by the lawnmower first.

Weedwhacker said: "Do not till leaves into the soil in the Spring, you will get a globby mess that produces half-heartedly. "

I've tilled a mountain of leaves into my garden over the years (in the fall), but they were always shredded up by the lawnmower first.

Fall and Spring are two different worlds.
I did it in the Spring twice, against my Dad's saying "not a good idea" he was extremely correct.

Sorry, kind of lost my train of thought there... .

However, when we've put the leaves on the garden in the fall and waited until spring to till, they have always been pretty well broken down before tilling; probably because they were shredded by the lawnmower in the fall.

I've never seen the disc tillers work, I think those are good for when the ground is too stiff for a rototiller to work. A rototiller will give you a much finer soil for growing.

I assume you plan on going to Home Depot and renting a power tiller for a garden that size? 30' x 60' is a little big to do by hand, unless you want to get really strong, and a little small for a tractor. Is there a landscape supply close by where you can get a truck load of topsoil delivered? And then some bulk compost to spread on top?

Does your property have good enough drainage for an in ground garden? And are you sure you want in ground and not raised planters?

Or just spread 6-10" of arborist chippings over the whole area, let it soak over the winter and plant through the mulch next spring. The chippings will add nutrients, feed microorganisms, and help retain moisture. There's really no need to chop up the soil and all the fungal hyphae already growing there. You can add any other organic matter either before or after the chippings. Just don't mix it in.

kendvp said: I've never seen the disc tillers work, I think those are good for when the ground is too stiff for a rototiller to work. A rototiller will give you a much finer soil for growing.

I assume you plan on going to Home Depot and renting a power tiller for a garden that size? 30' x 60' is a little big to do by hand, unless you want to get really strong, and a little small for a tractor. Is there a landscape supply close by where you can get a truck load of topsoil delivered? And then some bulk compost to spread on top?

Does your property have good enough drainage for an in ground garden? And are you sure you want in ground and not raised planters?

Let me ponder over this a while. I appreciate all the information.

Thanks for the feedback on the "hard/dry" question. There is a lot more involved with this project than what I poised in my question so I'm going to start another thread pertaining to the project. I'll come back and post a link here to the new thread.

As for the garden plot, itself, it disced up nicely. It was indeed hard and required many passes over it. We were grateful to the guys that did it, they were some guys who have a side business of planting food plots for deer and they did it "pro bono".

Thanks a million!
Ed

shredding the fall leaves makes a huge difference. One year I had a layer of shredded leaves with a sheet of plywood over- wow, really nice by spring. Kept them moist and protected.

Sally, you shredded and covered them and they were whete you tilled them in?

So sad that some of you don't have enough snow to hold the leaves down over the course of the winter .

It *really is* snow sad.

Barrie.. um, what? (Typo?)

Snow is so good for the fal leaves! It really gets them moist and geld down and insualted from the colder air.

sallyg said: shredding the fall leaves makes a huge difference. One year I had a layer of shredded leaves with a sheet of plywood over- wow, really nice by spring. Kept them moist and protected.

You did this where you tilled them?