We work a garden six times that size by hand. I gave the tiller to a church group years ago, and have never regretted it.

In spring many beds can be prepped using a broadfork. Once the deep holes are made with the broadfork, compost spread over the surface the trickles down into the root zone. After some grooming with a rake, the bed is ready to plant. This technique is not so much about weeds as about aerating the soil without tearing up the soil food web, particularly its fungal component.

Depending on soil, some gardeners can broadfork year after year with good results, but my clay soil needs to be dug and aerated with a digging fork every other year. Otherwise it loses its loft, which the cabbage family seems to like. I try to plant them in beds that haven't been redug for a year.

Do a search here. There are numerous till, no till debates here and it is a hot button topic. They always turn into very long, controversial, and heated arguments that don't need to be repeated yet again.

Dave

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg1202520814763.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg1107055929166.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg020748548640.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg102343078715.html

Here is a link that might be useful: To till or not discussions

Good one Dave!

I do till in some amendments and residue. I chop and mow up crop residues.. It is my garden and I will do what works good for me no matter what Joe guru likes to do.

That said, I have very healthy soil and do like to do some weeding by light tillage and I do like to freshly open up the soil for planting. I have wide raised and amended beds from 7 to 16 feet wide and of course walk on them some to no hurt.

If I felt I needed to loosen things a bit, I would and do use a potato fork...works like a small broadfork.

The field adjacent to me is no-till and that works well too. However they spray to kill off weeds rather than hiring 36 hoers.

To till or not to till, there is the question. But there is no single, simple answer to that.
I personally DO till. Like PLANATUS, I do it manually using a shovel. A broad fork also will do.
I believe tilling does good. The number one advantage is , it aerates and loosens up the compacted soil to provide better drainage. Number 2, when you add amendments (compost, manure) it gets blended in and help the roots to grow better. Roots like fluffy soil better than compacted one.

FOR EACH THEIR OWN.

Feel free to garden any way that makes you happy. Just remember that people have been producing great gardens for decades using rototillers. Over-tilling is a problem on farms, where they might drag steel through their soil 5-6 times before planting seeds. In a back-yard garden, you'll never use the contraptions farmers do - disk harrows, etc - so it's really not an issue.

Personally, I always go through my plots with a pitchfork each year. To the degree that that's 'tilling,' I find it helps incorporate fertilizer and organic matter. And there is always an endless supply of rocks and broken glass in my back yard to deal with.

Thanks to all for your thoughts...I really didn't mean to stir a pot...I have really marginal soil and have been moving 10-20 wheel barrows a yr to amend and raise....its a 5 yr project and I am only beginning on year 3..and every year the weeds are over the top...was just hoping to find a way to get ahead of the curve...again Thanks!

I find fall tilling helpful to incorporate amendments. If I do till, it's never more than the top two inches. If weeds are such a problem, mulch your beds with shredded leaves, straw, grass clippings, whatever. At season,s end, rake up whatever hasn't broken down and compost it, or turn it under.