This question would be towards Albert. Isn't using turnips and turning the dirt over pointless? I am under the impression that turnips are great for bringing the good stuff up. If you turn it, you just return it to the bottom. Or am I way off?
TOO Garden Thread
- Thread starter Milo
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at1010
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Good question - short answer, no.
Longer answer
Turnips or other plants that have a significant taproot - are "mining nutrients" from deep in the soil. These are pulling things up like in both that micro and macro category. You are also allowing a large vessel for water to infiltrate for the entire period of time in which the turnips are growing/rotting, this works as a conduit from water to microbes. You are also benefitting the soil by having a plant exuding into the rhizosphere when most warm-season plants are dead or dying - this is good as it is feeding the microbes/fungi.
Now by tilling it up, you are going to disrupt your fungal network, if not kill some of it off. You are also going to likely see a large increase in CO2 respiration occurring because you are giving your microbes a boost of O2 (like giving candy to a baby) - this results in a FAST breakdown of OM, good right? Well not really because Microbes have a diet that is near 24to1 (CtoN) so once your carbon sources are gone (turnips have fairly low CtoN), the boost in microbe population and hunger needs to be fulfilled, they can turn to OM (humus) in the soil for more C or N to balance their diet, some microbes will also die off, which will be fed into the system.
With tillage, when you are adding an O2 burst to the soil - this can cause some oxidizing impacts on soil nutrients. I am far from an expert on REDOX reactions but I do feel confident using Iron as a good example. When iron is oxidized it is very difficult to make soluble again.
With tillage, you are damaging soil aggregation that is being created with the use of cover crops. Aggregates are formed through root channels, root exudates, and glomalin produced by mycorrhizal fungi - which is like a "biotic glue" that holds the soil together.
Lastly, you are speeding up the natural nitrogen cycle - which means you are more likely to leach N out of your soil. Think of all the N being released by OM breakdown, but if not used up and now in nitrate form - without a root absorb it - there is nowhere for it to go. This is heavily impacted by CEC of the soil, drainage, etc. but worth the food for thought.
All that to say - if you want to till your garden - till on!!
I just wouldn't till my turnips under until I was almost ready to plant. I would also reduce my tillage depth as much as possible and I would add other legumes and grains to my cover crop mix. One of the best benefits of a garden is they are relatively small and we can easily amend the soils with the amendment types of our choosing to create some super healthy-looking crops. This same process becomes increasingly more difficult as scale increases. For garden crops and for the cost, I highly recommend looking into some mycorhizal inoculants - cheap, and well worth consideration- especially if using tillage and wanting to re-establish that fungi in the rooting zone (rhizosphere).
Sorry for the length - hope there is something useful there!
AT
Last edited:
at1010
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Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts. I edited it as I was in rush earlier and left out a few key points. I hope it at a minimum gives folks something to think about!!
at1010
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You lost me, now it's past 5 paragraphs.
just imagine how I would answer it if we were talking - its like a 6-12 beer conversation, lol!
Definitely been another very wet year so far. Been like this the last several years it seems like with a 10-12 week drought soon to follow here in a month or so. Y’all gonna enjoy some great veggies this harvest. Can’t wait till I retire so I can do some raised beds and have more time to dedicate towards them. Thanks for sharing everyone.
Ric'r, time to start planning those beds!
1st round of seeds are up and running on a much improved process that includes a germination mat, sump pump water and just shy of 30,000 lumens.
Chancegriffis
Active Member
Left is broccoli, right is mix of tomatoes and peppers. Will plant rd 2. of tomatoes and peppers next week.
Chancegriffis
Active Member
Rd. 1 @ 3wks, rd. 2 planted earlier this week.
It's clear that I need to improve the garden location and size this year. Hoping mud season doesn't last too long this year.
It's clear that I need to improve the garden location and size this year. Hoping mud season doesn't last too long this year.
at1010
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Can you run tile? Might be worth just running some tile if you like the location and all!
Plants looking, good buddy!! I need to get some going, I am behind!
Rd.1 is approaching 5wks. old, transplanted 1x. Another replant to larger containers on the tomatoes and peppers will be necessary before they can get in the ground in 10wks. Luckily, no plants lost to date.
Brocolli is responding well to the lower output spider LED lights and the transplant to 4" containers. Lost 1 guy who got toasted under the shop LED light.
It's an option as I'll have to do something to manage the water no matter how I use that area, but its not the set garden location quite yet.
Brocolli is responding well to the lower output spider LED lights and the transplant to 4" containers. Lost 1 guy who got toasted under the shop LED light.
It's an option as I'll have to do something to manage the water no matter how I use that area, but its not the set garden location quite yet.
I need to get started on my raised beds project.
whitetailjunky3
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Picking up my first tiller this week I guess you could say things are starting to get serious!
Going to go to Menards and get some treated lumber this week and use the 11% rebate
at1010
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