Why Are You Working So Hard? Blow Up Your Rototiller
comments (14) September 4th, 2009 in blogs
Billy Goodnick, contributor
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California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are exquisite, self-sowing annuals found from Mexico to Oregon.
Photo: Billy Goodnick
A commanding, metallic voice crackles over the bullhorn. “Step back from the rototiller, get down on your knees, clasp you hands behind your head.”
As the terra-terrorist haltingly complies, a team of darkly clad commandos inches forward on their bellies. Suddenly, with blinding speed, the well-rehearsed ensemble kills the engine of the growling, grinding metal monster and swiftly ushers the gardener into a waiting unmarked van. Their destination, the CGGRC (Cool Green Gardening Re-education Center).
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| California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are exquisite, self-sowing annuals found from Mexico to Oregon. |
Scenarios like this fire across my synapses more often than I’d care to admit. That’s because I have a strong emotional response when I see people ignoring one of the most basic tenets of sustainable landscaping: Work with, not against, what nature gives you.
That includes your soil.
My most recent “trigger” was an article in a local newspaper instructing reader about creating “your perfect paradise garden.” The writer used the usual “10 tips” approach, including “How to help your soil.” Readers were told to dump bags and bags of store-bought soil amendment into their beds to create a rich medium for their plants. “That way,” the writer enticed, “you can grow anything your heart desires.”
“Even if it means you have to put the plant on life support,” I thought.
Here’s my philosophy. How about designing with nature rather than working against it?
A Lesson From Nature
Living here in Santa Barbara, California, I look out at the Santa Ynez Mountains every day. Acres and acres of native chaparral vegetation burst with shades of blue Ceanothus flowers and entice with the rusty trunks of Manzanita.
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| I’ll never tire of the golden sandstone formations and rugged chaparral that hug the Santa Barbara coast. |
Shimmering golden California poppies dot the hillside in spring. Canyon sunflower brightens the dappled shade along the arroyos.
Nature does this with no help from me or anyone else, thank you very much. No one turns on the sprinklers, spreads fertilizer or amends the soil. No weekly gardener, no “projects” that consume your three-day weekends.
Here’s my philosophy about adding all that organic material to your soil: Go with the flow. Why pay good money to add stuff to the soil, then rototill until the natural, living community of unseen flora and fauna is churned into oblivion?
It's Alive!
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The delicate canyon sunflower (Venegasia carpesioides) thrives |
Many gardeners are unaware of the billions of living organisms that inhabit a handful of soil. An interconnected web of life. An ecology we cannot see.
Instead of trying to change your soil, select plants native to your area. If these don’t give you the aesthetic palette you seek, draw from areas in the world similar to yours. It stands to reason that there’s somewhere in Europe or Asia or South America with a climate and soil conditions just like yours. It also stands to reason that plants from those regions will thrive in the same conditions as the ones you already have.
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| Sometimes called mountain lilac, the Ceanothus species as a signature plant in the mountains and seaside cliffs of much of California. |
In my coastal southern California climate, I design gardens using plants from Chile, southwest Australia, South Africa, Italy, France, Spain, Libya, and my home state. They’re all adapted to my Mediterranean climate—dry summers, wet winters and moderate temperatures. Most need little or no fertilizer, can get by with minimal summer irrigation, and if I provide enough diversity, no pests.
I work with what nature gives me and let the fittest survive. My clients are overjoyed.
Best of all, this approach helps me avoid a run in with those commandos holed up in my frontal lobe.
posted in: billy goodnick, cool green gardens, sustainable landscaping, gardening
About this column
Enter the world of sustainable gardening with Billy Goodnick's "Cool Green Gardens" blog. Billy lives in Santa Barbara, CA, and delivers a West Coast perspective on landscape design that will translate into your own backyard. Check out CGG for great ideas on reducing your impact on the environment and creating a landscape that is an extension of your home.Billy Goodnick, a landscape architect, educator and writer, shares the wisdom he has gathered from thirty-five years of retail nursery sales, landscaping, designing and teaching. He'll challenge your assumptions while putting a smile on your face with his off-the-wall humor.
Whether you're seeking to fine-tune your existing garden or are starting with a clean slate, Cool Green Gardens is your go-to resource for sustainable ideas, innovation and inspiration.
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Comments (14)
Unfortunately, near the house there is still a lot of sand I assume from the construction of the property. Nothing grows well at all and I am clueless how to amend it without digging out all the sand (and not dump more dirt on top, the erosion with our sparse plantings is bad enough) Posted: 11:19 pm on October 15th
Sure, you can have pine, sweetgum, oak and wait for Mother Nature's cycle to renew, in a few decades.
The reality? Amend soil with a 2" layer granite grit or river sand tilled 8"-10" deep. Amend soil with organic material? Why? It depletes within 2 years and you're back where you started.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara Dillard
Posted: 10:59 am on September 15th
I spent a huge amount of store bought soil, to try and "grow what ever I wanted" in the soil of Las Vegas. Yeah, didn't work. I studied all winter so I could make a garden of what grows naturally, and what a pleasure it was! Working with Mama Nature is so much better and more pleasing to the eye! Posted: 5:05 pm on September 14th
That being said, often gardeners are dealing with properties that no longer have their original soils. Sometimes all they've been left with is the clay layer that used to be underneath a layer of topsoil. The only plants that will grow well on a site like that tend to be extremely hardy ones with long, powerful taproots. Although you might be able to find a native plant that would fit that description, most people find that such sites are quickly colonized by invasive non-natives such as dandelions.
As you point out, sheet mulching is a relatively easy way to amend clay soil and kill at least some weeds, including lawn grass. (In my experience, sheet mulching is great for killing grass and improving damaged soils but doesn't kill the tougher weeds, which can pop right through.) There's also a variation on sheet mulching, sometimes called "lasagna gardening," in which you pile the layers of mulch high enough to create a mounded bed. Being a deeper mulch, this is more effective at killing weeds, and it allows you to plant deep-rooted plants and plants that require good drainage, even on highly degraded sites. Posted: 9:57 pm on September 12th
That said, the best, though gradual, method of improving any soil is the gradual addition of organic matter (not by rototilling). But breaking up, ripping or turning over the soil (more like plowing than CuisineArt) will help to incorporate the material a bit faster.
You might also start with some raised beds, as that gives you virtually complete control of the rooting medium, though at a bit more expense.
Your best bet is to fine a local garden coach (search for Garden Coach Directory - they have a listing by states) or check with a master gardener or possibly a University extension program.
Hope this gets you started. Y'all come back (I'm originally from the suthin' part of East Flatbush, Brooklyn, hence my accent =0) Posted: 11:09 am on September 11th
Good luck! Posted: 2:18 am on September 5th
But if I'm starting with a plot of land that currently produces crabgrass like there's no tomorrow, isn't tilling (or, more likely, assault and battery with a cultivating fork) better than, say, chemical options to prep the space? Posted: 2:01 am on September 5th