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The original was posted on /r/permaculture by /u/Ehiltz333 on 2025-01-27 12:03:19+00:00.

My wife and I are coming up on our first growing season in our first house, and we were looking into no-till gardening. It’s especially attractive to us because she’s pregnant, and the less work the better for us.

However, no till seems fairly expensive. To get enough compost for even a three inch layer on a 50ft x 50ft area, I’d need about 24 cubic yards of material. That’s already prohibitively expensive, not to mention wood chips on top of that.

I’m rethinking now about just tilling the soil, amending it with fertilizer, compost, coir to keep it from compacting. Then planting and covering in mulch.

It’s not ideal, and yes I know I’ll be battling weeds, but it seems like the cost to rent a tiller will still be far less than all that compost. Plus, we live on a hill so there’s no driveway to do a chip drop at. Even worse, I’ll have to carry all of the compost up a flight of stairs just to get to ground level.

Does anyone have any advice? I’m in southern connecticut, zone 6b. Thanks in advance!