Small Scale No-Till Methods for the Market Garden with Pat Battle UNCUT

"No-till" isn't that new idea. When I was working in a local Agriculture department, years ago the subject was ever-present. No-till was what we tried to convince gardeners and farmers to practice. When I was studying horticulture no-till was very important in the horticulture education at the University in Krakow, Poland. Now I am in my middle seventies and I see that North America is awakening to this subject. Better late than never. I like your passion for recycling everything that could be reused. How little we need... But I would like to see the community not supported financially by any subsidy, except education. We need to be self-sufficient in everything. When you use cover crop and no-till metod, the plants need to be broken, or mowed and left in place.They shoud not let be going into seeds no mater what. In agriculture they roll over the cover crop and seed main crop in rows between the cover crop rows. quite often the cover crop is corn, easy to break. the broken plants tops are serving as mulch and the lower parts deteriorate like compost, build soil structure and leave some nutrients in the soil. In horticulture it is advisable to do the same. though many gardeners preffer straw. Wheat does this work slower because the capilars the root create are small and not as many as in the case if corn. While planting cover crop it is very important to use mixes of seeds, to supply as many nutrients as possible. The trick is plant only annuals. so even if they germinate next year they can be moved or broken and do the same purpose the next year. Cover crop is only for limited time i a year to enrich and rejuvinate the soil. I still garden and almost all my produce is from my little garden. And I still learn from others. Thank you for your work.

You slide the blade in a curving motion so it cuts as the sickle slides across the grass/weeds. No hacking required. I used this and learned the proper way to use it in Germany... You guys are working to hard hacking with it. 👍😎

Thank you so much for posting these, Mr. Battle. This is the corner of youtube i clearly belong. It's pretty challenging to be a regular homegardener who is trying their hand at experimentation with covercrops and no till. I don't belong with the traditional 'till it till it's sterile' homegardeners, who have a wealth of knowledge about veg and fertillizer but disregard the soil life completely, i don't belong with the regular market gardeners, not really soil builders in my opinion but some are going in the right direction and i don't belong with the large scale no till farmers because it's not easilly scaled down, toolwise. They all have their useful knowledge but these were the scale and techniques i was looking for that bind it all together and make it easier to implement. I'm so deeply interested in this subject that my plot looks more like an experimental site than a garden but i like it that way. At this point, the vegetables are merely a bonus because i'm way too interested in the soil conditions and catering to the many species of pollinators to notice them. Of course this is a wild exaggeration. ;) I eat good! I'm doing it all, live mulch with garden perennials, mowed mulch, covercrop, interplanting, live mulch with veg, compost beds, hugelculture, sawdust, woodchips, woodshavings, leafmulch. Show it, i'll try it. The best way i have figured out to make a quick start is the lasagna bed but i have a diverse patchwork of all kinds of other techniques as well that work fine too. (i could not dig soil if my life depended on it, that's how it all started) Especially woodshavings from the rabbit pen has been a lifesaver. That stuff is gold as a soil cover. I get it from the local petshop who save it for me. comes with covercrop species already mixed into it from the rabbit and hamster food plus their urine and manure. The pigeons come in, poke around in it and manure right where they should. Have to work with what you get! Let's see how that overwinters or not. Hope it all winter kills. Probably not.

in the garden, kitchen compost drilled full of hole cylinders in the ground plant feeders seems to work awesome

Your video is a great reminder of the value of patience and perseverance. It takes a lot of time and effort to grow and harvest melons and oranges, but the end result is so worth it. And the fact that you're able to make a living by selling them at the market is even more impressive. Keep up the great work! And it's an honor to have you visit our channel, we can discuss more about our experiences in harvesting and building farms.

place a strap on the top of your chainboard so you can slide your foot into it. The combination of a step board with weight of chain and using a foot and arms to distribute weight to lift and smash works wonders. Or just drag it if the crop cover isn't too tall. Fantastic video btw!

The scythe is a cool tool. But what I’ve found very effective is doing no cut work at all. I let nature and weeds make the soil rich. Weeds die back as soon as I start planting a new cover crop of buckwheat and red clover/ mixed variety of small bird seeds as well so the finches come. It works wonders. By the time the plants all die and weeds come up the soil is beautiful. I used to have a very hard sand/clay soil that grew nothing. I can now grow everything. Even hard to grow plants inside that tiny area I’ve been experimenting on. It’s beautiful right now as the clovers and buckwheat die back. I found wild flowers thanks to birds inside. Just beautiful how nature lets it just work out. Of course, don’t let it go solo without planting something. I have a patch of weeds and plants I don’t touch for three years and the weeds really just overrun but I let it because bugs and birds prefer the weeds funny enough

great video and very touching

Glad you are out there teaching - does anyone mass produce vermicompost? - I use compost tea early in my soil for 5 year and no pests or disease- just a little garlic and hot pepper spray the fist and second year to get rid of black bugs on my tomatoes. - take care

Vetch - will not die - I have used vetch for my small scale market garden over the past five years, I allow it to grow wild each season then, at its peak, I introduce chickens into the area...in large enough numbers the chickens will scratch out, knock over and kill most of it enough to allow my planting of beans, peas, melons, pumpkins, cucumber, corn, sunflower and tomato mixed seeds. This tangled mess makes for enough produce each season to allow me to make a small living over the spring summer fall seasons that allows me to work in the winter garden (Sub tropical SE Queensland Australia) when the weather is cool enough to allow full days of work. At current times, (February 2017) the weather is 30 degree C (86 degree F) with 87% humidity at 0730 in the morning.!

WoW this is Great!!! No Till for you, No Till for Me, No Till's the way Y'all We Agree! SOOO, now lets also Relax and get More Stress Free, and GROW the Fun with Paw Paw Gee!

touching tribute. great YouTube channel really inspiring for a home gardener

Thanks very informative.

Great job!

Thank-you! From England. A few weeks' ago, I sowed a grazing rye plus vetch green manure mix on my new-to-me half allotment. Your heads-up on knocking it down is especially thought provoking re the vetch! Very bext wishes, John Courtneidge

this video has a lot of good info, ya know!

great video

Love what was said about Monsanto.

I really like this video.

Great video