Your garden’s soil is the source of all the nutrients that your plants will be getting every time you plant something. However, before your start tilling, there are actually some important things to keep in mind. Tilling is done in order to mix in organic material into your soil so that weeds can be controlled. It can also be done in order to break soil that has already crusted, or to loosen up a place where you can plant. Generally, tilling shouldn’t be very deep, and it is best to dig in your area less than twelve inches.

However, many homeowners wonder if tilling their garden is really needed. If it is needed, how often should you till your garden? When is the best time to do it? To much tilling of your garden soil can lead to more damages. Tilling it during the wrong time can also cause it to stop storing moisture, and digging too deep can end you up with dry and competed soil as well. So do you really need to till your garden beds? When is the best time to do it? In the past, digging the soil and tilling it seemed to be always done in the soil. But is it really needed?

Tilling is done best when setting up a garden, but doing it too much or too regularly will destroy the soil in your garden in the long run. It will make the soil harder. Too much gardening in the same area doesn’t require constant tilling. What you can do is to cover the soil and taking a break on tilling. You can cover your soil with natural compost, or mulch. Covering the area where you plant in regularly with compost and mulch instead of tilling will moisten the soil and keep the weeds from growing. You can also use a fork to turn the soil, instead of tilling.

If your garden is full of weeds and the soil is too hard, you can till it if you are willing to put off planting for at least a few more weeks. After at least two to three weeks, you can then plant in the soil.

Nonetheless, the best time to till your garden is when the soil is dry, and when then weather is starting to get warm. Spring is the best time to till your garden, because doing this during the rainy season can only cause more damage. Tilling can be during March, May, or early June, depending on where your area is. To determine if the soil is dry, you can insert a towel or push it in. If you are having a hard time inserting it, then it already needs tilling.