Market Farming

[Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>]

Rose & Fred Lieberman wrote:

> It always seemed to me - with no experience in permanent raised beds - that
> over time the bed would become dense and lose its tilth, then you'd have to
> go into the bed with a tiller of some kind, and that would be more of a
> pain.
>
> What am I not understanding?

Rose,

We have 70 raised beds, all of which have been tilled (not rototilled) one 
time. They're
"raised" because of the amount of air space our tillage incorporated into the 
soil- not
by adding material on top. Some of these beds were tilled 15 years ago and 
none have ever
been tilled again.

Our soil management techniques encourage the soil life to build and maintain 
a stable
soil structure which maintains the physical structure established by the 
tillage.

What you're not understanding is how to maintain a stable soil structure 
which then makes
any further tillage destructive.

Alex