Seeding into a no till garden
No till gardening is a system of gardening where the soil is mulched to prevent soil erosion, conserve water and reduce the pressure of weeds. Seeding into no till takes a bit of prep work!
Seeds need light and water to germinate. If you take away one of these things, the seeds will not germinate. While mulch helps hold water on the garden, it does not allow sunlight to hit the soil. This removes light from the equation and weed seeds will not germinate on a mulched garden if the mulch is thick enough to block the light.
This means our garden seeds will also not germinate under mulch as well so we have to pull back the mulch so the seeds can be exposed to the sunlight.
To seed into mulch, simply pull back the mulch to make a narrow open row.
If you want to use mechanical seeders, pull back the mulch wider, use the mechanical seeder and then press the mulch back in closer to the row of seeds to help reduce the number of weeds that will come up in this space.
To learn how to plant seedlings into mulch, visit this page.