Breaking Down the Broadfork

Reader Contribution by Jean-Martin Fortier
Published on January 25, 2016
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Soil is composed of layers that actually accomplish important purposes – to just till it all up destroys those benefits. Thus, the broadfork. Working your soil with a broadfork will not allow dormant weed seeds, which are hidden in the depth of you soil, to come close to the soil surface and germinate.

Maintaining soil structure — and the soil food web it supports — is such an important component of successful vegetable production that at our 2-acre market farm, we avoid tools that penetrate more than a few inches into the soil’s surface. The one exception is the broadfork.

What is a Broadfork?

The broadfork is a simple yet powerful gardening tool that serves the purpose of efficiently loosening soil without flipping it upside down. You see, soil is composed of layers that actually accomplish important purposes: Bacteria, fungi and earthworms working below the surface are all actively creating tunnels that give the soil structure.

This lively structure develops in different soil depths that have the right moisture and aeration conditions. To completely turn the soil over by using a rototiller or by double-digging disrupts this ecology for at least a while, so that you cannot rely on natural forces to help do the job.

Imagine it this way: Every time you till, you destroy your soil’s habitants. Your otherwise free labor is then too busy rebuilding their homes and won’t instead be driving biological fertility to its full potential.

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