@TNHunter
Want to compliment you on the great job i think you did. Everything you did up to this point i totally agree with more or less. I usually top dress the soil with wood chips after tilling and adding compost. My version of growing things is slightly different than most and its likely their production is better. These are one year old black rasberry plants. I’ve developed them into a more wild than tame variety through the years.
These are new tip starts from last fall
This is an old plant getting ready to start a new plant as you can tell by the ultra long cane.
Look closely behind the bush yes its an autumn olive. Im cheating in two ways using a plant that is a nitrogen fixer and by breaking up the types of plants should a disease start it cant go down an entire row of plants.
Ok so i know noone is convinced but zoom in on the stems we know green stems are one year growth. Look at the growth rate i have had in one month. Remember may is not over so plants have been growing about a month. Thats growing beside an old chicken yard as well but they grow like that just about everywhere. The raspberry dont like full sun on my property they like some shade like a goodeberry here. I cannot grow red rasberries at all but yellows or blacks grow fine since they are hardier.
If you look at this thread you will see our methods are very similar. The reason i planted a row of solid carmine jewell was for spraying purposes. These rasberries do not require spray. Carmine Jewell Cherry Yields increasing with age. So back to your original question why not till anymore it worked great so far? My opinion is for several reasons #1 It disturbs the earth worm colonies #2 it disturbs the soil which results in more weeds like a scrape on your arm a weed is natures band aid #3 the soil is not compacted thats what the first tilling was for. #4 it will disturb your rasberry plant roots #5 dries out the soil. All that said if you like to till instead of applying wood chips i dont think it hurts much. You have heavy grasses on all sides so the erosion is minimal and the earth worms will recolonize quickly from the grassy areas. What your doing looks nice and it’s effective. I’m getting the results i want but the thing is your likely using the method to get the results you want. If you look closely you will find out my true agenda there is still a chicken pen in there. The bushes grown like that supply chickens with shade , fruit, and lots of insects. They supply the bushes with fertilizer we get eggs. Im not raising chickens right now but you see my plan. By the way you till to get organic material in the soil but dont forget now the cycle of rasberry roots growing and dying does that for you. My black raspberries get stronger every year accliminting more to my property all the time. Soon they will take off like never before.