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Location

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Date Posted

Upa Creek, MO

How deep does everyone till or break the soil up these days assuming the hardpan\clay has already been broken up from previous years?

I didn't want to hijack the thread below, so just curious what the "trend" is.

Thanks in advance

3/31/2026 7:26:57 PM

Kelowna, British Columbia

I do 3ft but that's mostly just to remove the roots from the walnut and willow trees that are next to my patch. They have roots deep under my patch and send up new roots every year. Takes me several months to complete by hand.

3/31/2026 9:50:46 PM

Ontario

I think year to year probably 8 or 10 inches would be great. Subsoil it occasionally maybe. I personally do 8 inches cause thats what my tiller can do

4/1/2026 7:13:12 AM

Western NY

I go through with a 2 bottom plow before tilling and bury it as deep as I can. I probably get a little over a foot at the deepest I would guess.

4/1/2026 8:12:46 AM

Springfield, VT

I'm double digging the patch with a backhoe, too many rocks to subsoil. In the end it will be 12-18" deep. It is to allow for water to drain down a bit with a heavy rain.

4/1/2026 8:48:38 AM

Grittyville, WA

Cold soil here almost year round, at 12" depth the soil doesn't warm up to 60 until August. The soil depth issue is also a soil heat issue, unless heating cables or warm irrigation water are used.

4/1/2026 10:10:17 AM

Hadley Ny

Rentals for small excavators are cheap and you can dig as deep as you want!! My nephew has one....a bit bigger...but takes care of his patch with it. He did my veggie patch a couple years ago and had him dig as deep as a bucket would go plus teeth on the bucket. !500 sq ft in about half hour. 12-18" average. Turned the whole garden over and flattened/leveled with bucket on hoe. Glad to see the soil turned.

4/1/2026 3:19:32 PM

Hadley Ny

Depth should be right off the bottom but you should know that!

4/1/2026 3:23:25 PM

Upa Creek, MO

Thank for all the great input.

I went down a foot last year. After seeing the post a few below this one about shallow tilling for hyphae recovery, I was wondering if many rotate deep to shallow each year to let the soil rebound?

Jordan, 3 feet... holy lower back

4/1/2026 5:55:09 PM