How bad is it to till your soil when clearing you garden?

Hello Nancy! Tilling is great for your vegetable garden soil! Before you till your soil remove dried plant debris by raking it in a pile and then bagging it or piling it far away from the garden. Removing the dried plant debris is important if you have had any kind of disease like blight on your plants and you will also pull up any weeds and roots lurking in the soil. Till up the soil, and rake again, removing any more debris and weeds. Till deeply. Take the opportunity to till a second time and add soil improvements to your garden-manure and compost are two suggestions. Till deeply, and rake again. Let your garden sit for about 2 weeks before you plant. I like to do this both fall and spring. If you do a good job in the fall-spring is much less work! If you have a big garden it does get to be some hard sweaty work but it will result in a beautiful garden that produces well.

fall tilling exposes weed seeds to the winter elements that help kill the and what isn’t lulled sprouts in early spring so spring tilling uproots them killing most of the rest, making it easier to maintain a weed free garden

There's debate about tilling, but we've opted for no tilling and use raised beds instead. Here's a good article: https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/7-ways-to-improve-soil-quality/

Hi Nancy: If you don't have any weeds in your garden, then tilling is o.k. as it will work the old plants (as long as they don't have thick stems) into the ground for additional nutrients. If you have weeds, then add some Preen with pre-emergent to the dirt once it is tilled to kill any weeds that may have ideas of growing:) Mulching thickly after you rake is a good idea, too. You can use regular mulch or straw. Good luck