I began no-till gardening about 4 years ago. I started out with an old Bermuda Grass lawn. The Bermuda was thick but I pulled it up stolons and all one square foot at a time.

On the other part of the garden I spread rice straw about 6 inches thick directly on the Bermuda and waited about two weeks. I then transplanted tomatoes and eggplant directly into the straw. They grew well, and it was a lot less work than the above garden.

I no longer till the garden at all. I grow wheat and oats in the winter for grain and leave the straw on top of the ground.

I'm finding that I no longer need to use compost or fertilizers as the soil is becoming highly fertile.

I find this method much less work, with less weeds to contend with than all the double digging, compost turning, organic gardening methods out there.

The only draw back are the snails and slugs. This is a huge problem. I'll turn in some small silky chickens once the plants are mature. The chickens eventually exterminated all the slugs and snails from my garden; but they wander in from the neighbors sometimes.


Some boards have been placed here and there and I check them every day for hiding slugs or snails.

I keep a vigilant eye in the early morning or go out at night with a torch looking for snails. I usually get most of them.