OSU HOME | EXTENSION HOME | ONLINE CATALOG | ORDERING INFORMATION

Extension Service

Growing Your Own Growing Your Own Vegetables | Composting | Container Gardens | Fall/Winter Gardens | Fertilizing | Insect Pests | Plant Diseases | Planting Guidelines | Raised Beds | Regional Tips | Site Selection | Slugs | Soil Improvement | Tilling | Warm-season Crops | Watering | Weeds Tilling Advice Enlarge photo Make sure your soil is dry enough before tilling. Tilling the garden performs a number of necessary functions. It mixes organic matter and fertilizer into garden soil and temporarily loosens the soil and helps control weeds that compete with crops for moisture and nutrients. Frequent tilling, however, may do more harm than good. Too much tilling tends to destroy the structural qualities of soil and eventually may leave you with soil that is better suited to making bricks than garden produce. Till garden soil only when it will accomplish some useful purpose, such as turning under organic matter, controlling weeds, breaking crusted soil for water penetration, or loosening a small amount of soil for planting seeds. Never till soil when it is wet. Doing so will leave you with cloddy, compacted soil. To test soil moisture, take a handful of soil and squeeze it. If it stays in a mud ball, it's too wet to till. If it is powdery and clumped, it is too dry. If it crumbles freely, it is just right.

Produced and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Extension work is a cooperative program of Oregon State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties. Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials without discrimination based on age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran's status. Oregon State University Extension Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Copyright © 1995- Oregon State University. Disclaimer.