We have been experimenting for a number of years with different ways of preparing the earth for our crops. Historically, tillage was performed to prepare a seedbed and control weeds. In conventional tillage, the earth is turned to a depth of 8 to 12 inches with a plow and then disked twice.  No-till farming, on the other hand, is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The first three steps in conventional cultivation are eliminated and the crop residue is left undisturbed after harvest and the next round of seeds are pushed through it, followed by placing the seeds and closing the trenches or holes. Since 1989, it has become the dominant form of soil management on conventional operations, covering more than 65 percent of cropland. However, no-till planters and herbicides are available to commercially accomplish these tasks and the results have been mixed. In addition, there are large amounts of herbicides that are applied in conjunction with "conventional" no-till. With commitment and experience, no-till can work, but our focus was how to minimize tilling while also minimizing - or altogether eliminating herbicides and pesticides.

​Pros and Cons of Each Approach
​First, let's revisit why it is desirable to move the soil at all. Conventional wisdom was soil is tilled is to loosen it so oxygen and water can reach the area where roots will grow. However, many passes over a field with equipment and even heavy animals such as oxen or horses, much less heavy equipment, further compacts the layer of soil just beneath that of which was tilled. Additionally, the broken-up soil is very prone to being compacted by rainfall. its ability to create a more natural soil that retains nutrients and water, prevents soil erosion, and compacts less.

Plowing, it is claimed, incorporates fertilizers and crop residues into the soil, making nutrients readily available to the roots of the plants. Turning organic matter under also has the benefit of preventing planters from becoming fouled with surface trash. In no-till farming, crop residues are left on the surface, where the nutrients that result from their decay can leach into the soil. This leaching process is far more thorough than you might imagine. Fertilizers—including anhydrous ammonia, phosphorus, and potassium—are at least as effective on the no-till fields where they've been dispersed as on the plowed plots. These ingredients can be placed directly into the planting trench, where they're most needed, during seeding. As for the potential problem of the planter fouling with residues, it is recommended to cut a slot through surface trash.

Though the soil does stay cooler until a little later in the spring because of the insulating layer of residue, the day/night soil temperature fluctuations are smaller. A no-till field rapidly makes up its deficit in growth rate as the weather turns warm. And if the summer should be really hot and dry, no-till yields will nearly always exceed those of plowed ground. Since soil moisture levels can be more than 10% higher in late July in an unplowed piece of ground, it's not surprising that plants are happier in a field covered with mulch.

​One of the significant downsides of plowing is it tills the entire area, where doing so by hand will only create the trench needed for seeding. Both plowing and tilling can be done in a way to help minimize the amount or water runoff, but a big benefit is that no-till soils stay more moist than those in tilled fields. The surface residues trap water and protect the earth below from the evaporative effect of the wind. In areas, where adequate spring moisture depends largely on spring rains and/or snowmelt, the vegetative cover helps keep the snow from blowing away and water runoff. (For more on permaculture practice click here). The advantages don't end there, though. If you grimaced when you read "anhydrous ammonia", consider this: One of the main problems with conventional agriculture's heavy use of nitrogen fertilizers is the leaching of these compounds into surface water during runoff. By retaining rainfall, the untilled field also better holds the chemicals that have been applied to it, thereby decreasing their pollution potential.

​Our Findings in the Backyard Garden
When the climate is drier, we strongly prefer a minimal till approach as described on the Building Soil page. This might involve taking a spade and lifting up the soil where the plant will go and perhaps 12 inches of space on all sides. Then as the plant grows, we will hand pick the weeds that grow up around it. This is very desirable and doable during periods of low rain fall because a minimal amount of soil is turned over to release carbon and dust in the to atmosphere, the bacteria and beneficial creatures in the slow are minimally disturbed and the weeds - with some regular diligence, and especially when a drip irrigation system are used - are easily kept under control.

​However, we've also found that in optimally rainy conditions, no till seemed like a futile attempt to do the right thing for the environment. Weeds quickly out-paced our ability to pull and pests arrived in droves, often taking advantage of the long stems and leaves of the weeds around the crops to hide themselves and gain advantageous access. Our attempt at minimal tillage in a year like this left us breathless, exhausted and with a minimal yield of crops. One of our take-aways was we needed to over-turn more of the soil around the plants and we needed to weed more often. Unfortunately, tiime is not in endless supply, so here are some other things we learned:

Water Gardens Become a Necessity in Times of Drought
Although water gardens may seem like a luxury in drought-stricken central Texas, at our place they have become a reliable and critical source of water for a lot of our wildlife. Birds are particularly vulnerable to a lack of water and after only a few hours in 90+ degree temperatures without a water source, little ones like hummingbirds quickly perish. Later we saw deer licking almost non-existent morning dew off of leaves and rabbits coming right up to the house to drink out of water buckets, such boldness and desperateness was heart breaking to watch.

After finding numerous birds that had obviously died from heat and thirst, we decided it was imperative to provide a water supply for our winged and four-legged friends as well as the frogs, toads and snakes whose populations have taken a huge hit with the drought and subsequent fires, such as the devastating Bastrop County fires and the impact it had on the Houston Toad. 

Ideas for Sustainably Building Water Gardens
One of the biggest challenges when building the water garden was to be sure to always prioritize water conservation. In addition, we wanted to create a pond that emulated a natural pond as closely as possible. Fish were introduced to help manage the mosquito population.

A shallow pond covering a large area will quickly lose water. Sunny locations will obviously help accelerate the evaporation and encourage the growth of algae. Therefore, when selecting our location, we decided to go with an area that could most easily be described as a breezeway between two buildings on the property and then built a bridge over the pond. This kind of approach offers several advantages in that it is enjoyable, enhances the beauty of your property, is an asset to wildlife and yet easy to maintain. A few key elements include: 

1. A very deep and narrow channel covered by the bridge provides protection for fish from predatory birds.
2. The covered roof helps cool the area and slows evaporation.
3. A shallow, shaded area with easy access from the side provides access to birds and other smaller animals.
4. Growing plants along the edge of the pond can both help shade the pond as well as provide access for lizards, geckos and similar reptiles while also helping cool the water and limit direct sunlight. River ferns, lilies and irises work well for these applications.
5. Whenever possible, plant evergreen plants, or plants that freeze back and regrown the following year are best. Deciduous trees and plants can result in a lot of additional debris in the water that may increase the amount of upkeep required by humans.  
6. Locate the pond is a low area so that when it does rain any run-off can be retained. Berming can also help with this effort. 
7. Incorporate water plants such as hibiscus, pickle relish and horsetails to give dragonflies and damselflies a place to rest. Be sure to include fast replenishing plants for food for fish, but also check with you county extension agent to make sure the plants you are using are not invasive and/or detrimental to natural waterways. 
8. You will want some means of circulating water. Be sure to select a pump with a biofilter and a UV light to help kill algae, but it's best to keep the flow from the pump as discrete as possible. Trickle it down a small wall or make a water fountain that sprays water gently just a few inches above the water to minimize evaporation. 

Do you have a water garden photo or story you would like to share? Let us know.

The central southern part of the United States as been in an extreme drought for most of the last two years. High pressure systems sat persistently to the west of Texas, over eastern New Mexico bringing scorching temperatures and frequent high winds. Grass has become almost non-existent, many mature trees died and almost all plants were extremely stressed. The high winds combined with the exceptionally dry soil have resulted in record breaking wild fires and huge losses of top soil as we watched clouds of soil lift into the sky and be carried away.

Sustainable land management means managing land without damaging ecological processes or reducing biological diversity. Key elements of land management include healthy, productive soil and fresh water. As natural water supplies such as creeks, rivers and lakes dried, the youngsters of the wildlife were the first to perish. Then the older animals began to dehydrate and starve. Feed prices have increased exponentially and in many instances it is no longer even possible to procure the types of hay needed for livestock. 

The winter season has provided some relief with some light scattered showers on occasion, but most of the area still needs amounts of rain measured in feet to recover. This is not likely to happen as the La Nina event that has stubbornly been in place during the winter of 2010-2011 and the winter of 2011-2012 will dissipate too late to provide rain to the U.S. Southwest because the rainy season will be over by that time. 

In the meantime, surface water isn't yet making its way deep enough into the soil to help large trees, much less into water tables and well pumps have gone dry or are being ruined as they pump up large amounts of sand. As a result, there remains a desperate need to maximize the use of our water resources while helping to get rainwater back into the water table as opposed to running into gutters, sewers, culverts and eventually rushing out to sea - often eroding the best top soil in the process.

A few months ago we attended a permaculture seminar with guest speaker Gary Freeborg. Gary opened his seminar with a map of the United States from approximately 200 years ago and asked us what was fundamentally different between now and then. The answer was the beaver. Beavers used to sculpt the land, slowing water run-off and creating reservoirs. The beaver were hunted off and the dams they had built were no longer there to help slow rainwater run-off.  Gary's call to action was all of us can contribute to the preservation of land by bringing together various disciplines to help jump-start the cycles that nature used to implement.. 

Sculpting and preparing the earth to direct, absorb or hold water is something that virtually anyone can do and requires little to no expense, regardless of what kind of property you have be it an urban or suburban lot, commercial building landscape or acreage in the country. Inspired by Gary's talk, we decided to do some sculpting of our own. 

The first thing we did was observe the existing contours of our property. Some of it seemed to be natural, but other parts had been negatively impacted when construction had occurred on the property. Loads of dirt were excavated and left standing about with no particularly purpose or reason. Low lying areas had been artificially created that exacerbated run-off problems. Because we also use a roof rainwater collection system we have a low-point drain that is used when the tanks are full and also wanted to retain as much of that water as possible as opposed to letting it flow to the culverts and out to the road.  Many urban residents will find their property exhibits many of same characteristics and if you don't use a roof rainwater collection system, much of the water collected in your gutters will flow eventually into your neighborhood sewer system never allowing the water to benefit the plants and animals the way nature had intended. 

First we tackled the run off areas which were already experiencing significant erosion from previous rains, but also from the drought and the wind carrying away the soil once the roots of the grasses could no longer survive in the drought. The job was easy enough - we simply built a small U-shaped berm, then added in some rocks on both sides to reinforce it. Where it made sense, we also incorporated branches and sticks that had fallen from neighboring trees, much like the beavers would have done. Because we have a pool with a cover in this area, we then pump any rainwater that collects on the pool cover into this retention area so the water can be allowed to slowly seep into the ground and provide much needed relief for the large oaks trees that sit along the periphery of the collection area.

We also created much longer berms along the edges of the property where the land drops off sharply. The biggest job was moving a man-made pile of dirt from by the chicken coop area and transporting the soil to create a berm along a fence line that bordered the road. The area had experienced a large erosion problem for some time, so the mixture of soil and clay was placed along the fence line with a slight positive edge. Intermittently there are small gaps on the berm so if the rainfall is exceptionally heavy the water won't back up into the field and cause significant flooding. 

Some of this moved dirt had minimal nutritional value, so we decided to amend the dirt by mixing in some of our homemade compost.  After amending the dirt we sprinkled it with grass seed to help hold the dirt in place. We also planted beans and okra, both of which will take advantage of the sunny growing location. In addition, the beans can take advantage of the fence line as a support structure for when they begin to climb. The new plants also produce flowers and fruit which is good for the bees and wildlife.