We have been composting for years, using a tumbler or large piles, and we used the Lasagna method to replace an area of sod with a new garden bed. I understand that tilling destroys the soil's precious microbial life and try to avoid that if possible.

Anyway.... I am using the method of trench composting to prepare one of these borders. I plan to create a new hole every few days and dump in the latest kitchen scraps, cover with soil and mulch, and keep damp. When I reach the end, I'll add more to the first hole, or start a new one next to it. Then, in late fall / early winter, I plan to plant directly in this bed. We also plan to recycle all of our yard clippings to create thick layers of mulch.

Does anyone see a problem with this plan? Am I realistic to think that the material in the trench will break down by the end of this year? Our summers are hot (upper 90s, sometimes low 100s) and dry but there are ways to save water to keep the trenches moist.

Many thanks for any suggestions...

Got a new bed for veggies ready to be planted next week. Have oodles of half-finished compost (still recognizable veggies and peels, and much too wet from the rain, and lots of spud volunteers) from two full piles that I have been planning to put into a trench dug straight down the middle of the bed. (Plan to water with buried clay pots and plastic bottles. Anyone have experience with this or should I ask on the Irrigation forum?). Got huge piles of pulled weeds gone to seed off in a corner - no I won't spread them around. Trench to be about a foot deep in horrible, rocky, no OM ground, but diggable. We get full sun and no more rain till October, and searing temps in summer. Would like to hear about my plans within the week, as I'm having a garden elf party next week with about ten friends who are coming over to help me create it all. Any thoughts?

2."I plan to create a new hole every few days and dump in the latest kitchen scraps, cover with soil and mulch, and keep damp. "

3."Does anyone see a problem with this plan? Am I realistic to think that the material in the trench will break down by the end of this year? "

(1) It's possible that undeveloped soil doesn't have the wondrous denizens of which you speak. I wouldn't obsess about tilling.

(2) Anecdotally, doing this to barren sub-soil,(about 1' deep), keeping damp is unnecessary. But I don't have sandy soil.

(3) Nope. The only thing left after 6-7 months, HERE, in the abovementioned barren soil is tomato skins and certain fruit pits.

Once the earthworms find that buried treasure they will be very happy and will multiply and give you lots of castings which are an excellent soil amendment.

In your hot climate mulching will be essential to keep the soil moist - earthworms will not stay in dry soil. Grass clippings make great mulch and even better mixed with chopped leaves. I've found, depending on the type of veggie scraps that are buried, that it often decomposes in a few weeks.

My composting piles are not working well, to much shade, & to close to trees. It takes forever to break down, doesnt get very hot, and I feel like the trees are the only ones that are happy. I had been thinking of just using that area for leaves, and burying my kitchen waste directly in the garden.

I look upon this method as feeding the earthworms and they give back abundantly.

It sounds like rototilling organic amendment into the soil now, then laying a thick layer of mulch on top, and letting it sit through summer will be more effective than burying kitchen scraps between now and November.

How long is "a long period of time"? Years, or 6 months? How is that different than the lasagna method of building layers and letting them sit for months, then planting? We used that method once to create a new bed in our lawn; after 6 or so months, the soil was teeming with worms.

I'm not arguing or disagreeing with you, just respectfully asking.

http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/cm/review/2004/amfungi/

On this Rodale site below field trials occasionally produced as much as 50% increase in yield after inoculation.

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/node/441

I could not find a study of how long mycorrhizal fungi can survive in a starvation environment.
Not a very useful study.
But if you look in the ACRES USA magazine, you can see advertisements for mycorrhizal fungi.
They show about a 25% increase in corn (moderate dependent) yield when fields are inoculated after being knocked back by fertilization.
Rodale saw a 50% increase in yield for the more dependent crops.
Everyone will have to extrapolate for themselves what the exact effect is.
You could always spend money and re-inoculate after killing them back, but that seems awfully inefficient.

There is no direct relationship that I could find between earthworms and mycorrhizal fungi.

jolj - I think you and I are pretty much on the same page

But this is for undisturbed soil. If the soil is disturbed to bury organic matter, I would assume almost 100% destruction of the network, with only slow growing spores remaining. With no roots to feed them, I would assume a very slow recovery.

https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/files/certifications/certified/ed ucation/self-study/exam-pdfs/197.pdf

Jenn, you still there?

Back to square one. You are digging a hole and adding kitchen scraps right? So whatever Microcosm Of Microbial Holiness that MAY be there is getting disturbed.

Sow some smother crop seeds on top. Something that will spring up quickly, choke competition and provide biomass for down the road. Or mulch, as per OP.

Seems you have a conundrum, worrying about disturbing Mike O'Rizey yet wanting to increase OM.

Any "damage" to your soil will be settled long before the arguments in this thread.

Thanks for bringing this back to square one.

Here's what I'm starting to understand:
1. If I bury kitchen scraps or till/turn in organic materials NOW, and let it sit until November WITHOUT planting any crops NOW, this will disturb the soil food web or microbial holiness or whatever good stuff is down there.
2. Planting crops with deep roots (carrots and parsnips, I read) NOW will loosen the soil and feed the microbes.

Am I correct?

QUESTION: Can I till in lots of good stuff now AND plant the crops in the newly-amended soil?

Thank you for helping me through this!

Jenn, if you bury kitchen scraps NOW and let them sit 6 months (until November) I'm fairly certain that those scraps with be decomposed and not be a problem with anything you plant then. Keep the area moist for faster decomposition. I'm thinking you are not burying tons of veggie scraps, only what your family produces. We eat a lot of veggies/fruit and rarely have more than a gallon of scraps per day. Mostly less than that. When these are buried in a hole in the garden with space between them there should be no problem. What does not decompose quickly are things like onion skins, citrus peels, and avocado pits. The first 2 can be chopped up in small pieces for faster decomposition.

I'm not sure about using carrots and parsnips to loosen soil - I always thot they needed loose soil to grow straight. However if you have this from a reputable source it's certainly worth a try.

If you intend to till in uncomposted materials now, you should wait until it's decomposed before planting. If you are tilling in finished compost I think it's still recommended to wait a couple of weeks before planting.

IMO tilling is not necessary - the only time we till is when starting a new bed in our concrete-like clay soil. Then my DH tills once, I pile on whatever amendments I am using, and he tills again. After that it's trench composting between plants and/or using compost/mulch on top.

I'd suggest you try the trench composting as you suggested in your first post to see what happens to the soil. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Not too many here use trench composting so they don't realize the benefits.

The Holy Grail for deep "tillage" are the Japanese radishes (sorry, senior moment on the cultivar name). They go deep, then are allowed to rot.

Problems?(I haven't tried this in the OP's conditions);
Rooters need certain soil conditions to even yield-parsnips can be problematic- and to my knowledge none like high N which although not immediately available at depth of trenching, will still persist.

But apart from seed/labor/time, what's to lose? I'm not one to think practices advocated on this board can "destroy" soil.

It is a little too hot now for carrots / parsnips / roots.
I would work in kitchen scraps, wait two weeks, and plant something heat loving like inoculated beans, okra, or sunflower. The okra and sunflower are especially deep rooted.

Though you may have gotten conflicting or confusing responses, the pooling of observation is of benefit to readers such as myself.