Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Greg Baka <g_baka2002@yahoo.com>]

One of valuable things about Gene Logsdon's article on "No-Till" was that it 
points out that term is being applied to a very wide continuum of practices.

The continuum ranges from:
- Gardeners who keep a thick layer of mulch over their undisturbed soil...
- Farmers who plant straight into a living tangle of ground cover...
- Farmers who disc in green manure before broadcasting or drilling...
- Farmers who till and mix the top few inches of soil and crop residue...
- Farmers who use every conventional row crop operation imaginable EXCEPT 
turning the soil with a mold board plow

So perhaps is he pointing out to us that "no-till" has become a term that is 
so widely used that it has begun to lose it's meaning? Like "green" and 
"organic" and "natural"

Maybe the term "no-till" no needs qualifiers to tell where it falls on the 
continuum?
* The farmers that Gene Logsdon describe from his area seem to be following 
"Industrial Ag No-Till". 
* In my flat row-crop garden that has never been plowed or rototilled - but 
is cultivated and weeded with a wheel hoe and a hand hoe - I am using 
"Cultivated Garden No-Till"
* the previous poster who plants straight into the living ground cover is 
using "Intact Sod No-Till" or perhaps "Pure No-Till"?

Moving away from a heavy plowing or rototilling habit is a good thing, some 
just move farther than others before they stop, practice their new method, 
and hopefully later further across the continuum to whatever true no-till is. 
Gene's article reminds us that many farmers haven't been moving very fast and 
are maybe getting a bit too settled where they are on the continuum.

Greg in MO