Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening

Tillage & Cultivation

Part 1 – 68 | Unit 1.2

Resources

PRINT RESOURCES

Fortier, Jean-Martin. 2014. The Market Gardener: A
Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-Scale Or-
ganic Farming. Gabriola Island, British Columbia:
New Society Publishers.

Includes a section on permanent raised beds,

tillage equipment for small-scale production,

and minimum tillage.

Grubinger, Vernon. 1999. Sustainable Vegetable
Growing from Start-Up to Market. Ithaca, NY:
Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering
Service.

Includes a section on tillage equipment and field

preparation.

Jeavons, John. 2012. How To Grow More Vegeta-
bles, Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops
Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land
Than You Can Imagine, Eighth Edition. Berkeley,
CA: Ten Speed Press.

An overview of the French-intensive,

biodynamic method of horticulture, with

information on cultivation and bed preparation.

Martin, Orin. 2007. French-Intensive Gardening: A
Retrospective. News & Notes of the UCSC Farm &
Garden, Winter 2007. Center for Agroecology &
Sustainable Food Systems.

Summarizes the history and practice of French-

intensive organic gardening, as introduced

by Alan Chadwick at UC Santa Cruz and in

use today at UCSC’s Alan Chadwick Garden.

Available for free download from casfs.ucsc.edu/

about/publications/for_the_gardener.html

Plaster, Edward. 2014. Soil Science and Manage-
ment, 6th Edition. Delmar Publications.

Contains a chapter on tillage and cropping

systems.

Pressman, Andy. 2011. Equipment and Tools for
Small-Scale Intensive Crop Production. NCAT Pub-
lication #IP417.

Focuses on equipment and tools for intensive

crop production on small-scale commercial

farms. Includes information on field-scale and

hand tools used for soil preparation, planting

and weed management, and an extensive list of

tool suppliers.Available for online purchase at:

attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.

php?pub=373

WEB-BASED RESOURCES

ATTRA, National Sustainable Agriculture Service

attra.ncat.org

ATTRA provides a wide range of free and low-

cost resources, including publications on organic

farming, field crops, horticultural crops, and

resources for beginning farmers.

Agricultural Network Information Collaborative

http://www.agnic.org/

AgNIC is a guide to quality agricultural

information on the Internet as selected by the

National Agricultural Library, Land-Grant

Universities, and other institutions.

Estimating Soil Moisture by Feel and Appearance,

USDA NRCS Program Aid Number 1619

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/mt/

newsroom/?cid=nrcs144p2_056492

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/moisture.pdf

This user-friendly guide describes how to use

the “feel and appearance” method to estimate

soil moisture. Includes photos of a range of

soils at various moisture levels and provides

useful guidelines for estimating soil moisture

conditions, e.g., by using the “squeeze test.”

Good Fruit Grower

http://www.goodfruit.com/buyersguide/

Includes a listing of national equipment

retailers.

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Uni-

versity of Nebraska-Lincoln

cropwatch.unl.edu/tillage

Tillage system descriptions and comparisons.

Rodale Institute—Organic No-Till

rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/organic-no-till/

Describes the Rodale Institute’s work on

organic no-till cropping systems.

Resources