Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening

Tillage & Cultivation

Unit 1.2 | Part 1 – 53
Instructor’s Demonstration 2 Outline

Demonstration 2: French-Intensive Soil Cultivation

for the instructor

OVERVIEW

The following demonstration

introduces the practice of the

French-intensive method of

soil cultivation. Following this

demonstration and with the help of

step-by-step instructions, students

will be asked to prepare a garden

bed using French-intensive tillage

techniques.

SITE PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

1. Following Demonstration 1, you should have garden beds
   staked and marked out with string, at proper soil moisture,
   and ready for cultivation.


2. In advance of the demonstration, divide the pre-existing
   garden bed into four 6-foot sections (may be more or
   less depending upon number of techniques to be modeled).
   In the front 3 feet of each 6-foot section, pre-till sample
   sections using the following tools and techniques: double
   digging, single digging, deep forking, U-bar/broad fork.
   Pre-tilled examples may be used to illustrate both the
   effects on the soil of the individual techniques and to
   compare/contrast effects of different techniques. The
   remaining 3-foot sections of untilled soil may be used to
   demonstrate each of the techniques listed above.


3. On the day of the demonstration, gather tools, materials,
   and handouts: spade, garden fork, u-bar/broad fork,
   digging board, granular soil amendments, finished compost/
   aged manure, the soil moisture chart (Appendix 1), and the
   USDA-NRCS publication Estimating Soil Moisture by Feel
   and Appearance (see Resources)

PREPARATION TIME

1 hours

DEMONSTRATION TIME

1.5 hours