Tilling is one chore you might be able to skip

摘要

Turning the soil over each year is a millennium-old tradition that has been challenged only in the last half century. The major benefits attributed to the annual rite of tilling are that it aerates the soil; chops and kills weeds; and mixes in organicmaterials, fertilizers, and lime. Not to be downplayed are the psychological benefits of tillage. It induces a righteous-feeling sweat that makes a clean slate of last year's mistakes. So is it any wonder that plants survive and thrive in the wild in the un-tilled soil of fields and forests? Not really.