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My hopes and beliefs about minimum disruption of soil structure and micro-organisms has been severely challenged by my third year gardening and by the changes necessitated by soil remineralization.

Last year's planting in untilled soil was disappointing. Germination was poor, plants not as healthy and harvests weren't up to par. Strictly speaking the differences weren't uniform across all varieties, but where they showed up they were dramatic - and there may be other factors of which I'm not aware.

As noted in the topic about remineralization, some essential trace minerals do not migrate down through the soil so they must be tilled into the top six inches. This is a definite contradiction to my low-till approach.

Calcium, magnesium, sulphur and phosphorous are soluble in water and go down into the soil naturally, but some other minerals such as boron, iron, manganese and copper don't and a concentration of some of these is harmful to plants. So some degree of tilling is necessary.

My first experiences with the tilled soil after tilling suggest plants appreciate the looser soil - I see very little evidence of shock after transplanting.

I see as I sow seeds directly that in the tilled, remineralized soil seeds germinate better. A plus is that weeds are much easier to hoe and pull.

And a cover crop planted on untilled soil shows uneven germination even when I work the seeds in.

One problem with low till in my gardens is weeds. The seed bank is well stocked and the varieties of weeds can out-race and smother just about any crop. It is more difficult to get rid of weeds (sans chemical warfare) on tilled soil.

A second problem is slugs. Any mulch except a clear, dry sky provides a hotel for extended stays and a nursery for newly hatched. They wait for a wet or cloudy day and they they swarm.

The No-Till Farmer newsletter and other sources tell that 98% of no-till farmers use a variant of the herbicide glyphosate. Obviously, most no-till farmers do not farm organically. Because I do farm organically I don't use herbicides or pesticides.

I find from the No-Till Farmer newsletter that to convert from regular tilling can take four to six years, preparing the soil, adding compost and green manures, all the while disturbing the soil with cultivation.

After three seasons I know very well the character of the various soils I garden in. Only in a raised bed with imported soil is there a change of decent yields without tilling. But the soil in these raised beds is the result of previous hoeing and turning.

After a moderate tilling, transplanting significant plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, basil, quinoa, and even greens, is so much easier and plants handle the shock easily.