@steveb4 … a big pile of loam mixed with chicken manure… sounds like just what I need.
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I’ve been experimenting with a few different methods. As an actual experiment, the design is terrible. I have a small lot (50x100 feet) so I haven’t replicated anything and each different style of “no till” has been done with different cultivars.
In my front yard, I clipped the grass very short, dug a trench (amended the soil with 1 bag of composted manure) and then covered the remaining grass with contractor paper. Since this was the front, I mulched with decorative wood mulch from a local place. Unfortunately, the bare root plants I had ordered were arriving just as the pandemic was getting started. They weren’t from the best nursery and were DOA. It wasn’t until midsummer that I was able to get some heritage and double golds in 2" pots. We had an extremely dry summer and the plants struggled. Still, they came back strong this year. I fertilized when they started to leaf out with hollytone. The heritage in particular spread like crazy.
In the back, I mulched over uncut grass with oak and maple leaves last fall. This did a good job of killing the grass, but violets, creeping Charlie, etc. came back stronger than ever. I planted bare root Boyne and Prelude from Nourse about 3 weeks ago. They have started to leaf out from the canes. I didn’t amend here, just the leaf mulch. I chased a doe out of here earlier today.
Last spot, also in the back, I put down a thick layer (8") of arborist wood chips. It killed the grass very well. Violets and dandelions still made it through. Here I planted dormant tissue culture plugs of Bristol black raspberries (also from Nourse). They have grown pretty well so far. Some baby bunnies tried to make a meal out of a few, so they are under some chicken wire cloches until they get a bit bigger.
I’m not against tilling, but getting a tiller with any power in our yard would be tough. So far all methods seem viable.
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@TNHunter Thanks! It’s definitely still a work in progress, but a lot better than the half dead lawn that was here when we moved in 2 years ago. 
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Sometimes I am jealous of all you folks with more land, but this tiny plot is still plenty of work!
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I am a big fan of no till in small garden beds. I put down cardboard over grass, then leaf mulch, then compost and wood chips. I have raspberries in some of the beds below, but I just planted them this spring. I added another row to the garden and you can see the layering of cardboard and leaf mulch.
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@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.
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My raspberry bed is about 25 years old. I have needed to reestablish it by cleaning out the roots of the giant western red cedar that is only about 20’ away. When I first planted this bed, I did not realize how invasive red cedar can be, but I was aware of how fast raspberry roots can spread out of control. So my first bed was a raised bed with lots of horse manure compost. After about a year or two of good production and lots of nice berries, I noticed in spite of my watering faithfully during the bearing stage, that we were getting fewer berries. The next spring I began to notice that new growth came very slowly on the end closest to my cedar tree. So I dug down to explore fining more cedar roots tha raspberry. I waited until fall because I was frustrated that all my labor had been defeated. It took me several weeks of planning to improvise a bed that could be successful over cedar roots.
Finally I concluded that most roots need a soil medium to grow; therefore, if I could build a raised bed on top of air, then it migh5 work. So I set about doing just that. Supporting a 1’ deep column of soil on air is somewhat of a challenge, but I happened to have an abundant supply of old clay bricks. I used the bricks to support the base of my bed (corrugated roofing) and r eplanted my raspberries. That task was completed about 15 years ago. Now all berries stay faithfully inside, no cedar roots are invited to take my nutrients, and there in never any tilling involved. Each year I just add some more leaf and horse manure to feed the berries! I might suggest that before your berries migrate too far that you consider placing an impenetrable barrier around the bed about one Foot to 18” deep. Then your berry roots will all stay inside!
Good luck, I vote for no til
Dennis
Kent, wa
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cost me $100 for 2 yards delivered 3 years ago. still got 2/3rds left. wasnt the best stuff. mostly silty clay but no rocks. the chic manure fluffed it up some.
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i have 60 different fruit plants/ trees groundcovers and medicinals of many cultivars growing on 3/4 acre of what was once grass. if you plan well its amazing how much you can grow in a small area. good job! i never could bring myself to waste land growing grass when you can grow something to eat. 
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excellent work! looks so neat and clean.
I got into raspberries about 5 years ago. In the spring of this coming year i should have 6 varieties of reds and around 10 varieties of black rasps.
I started by tilling… i have a wonderful Troy Bilt Horse that is around 40 years old.
Tilling and heavy mulch has created a great world for weeds… after a while i just have to say im over it.
I am not happy with the amount of work it takes to keep my rows in check. So i am re-doing everything in the spring.
Game plan- 1 roll of Kraft paper 36" X 1000ft. $67 at staples.
I should have around 250ft of raspberries so i can go 4x on the paper.
I plan on making a lasagna row. Paper then leaves on top of the paper, then compost on top of that, then woodchips on top of that. Leaves will be piled in the fall to compost all fall and winter.
The biome of the soil and the moist leaves will take care of the paper all while smothering the grass underneath which will in turn compost.
I plan on doing no irrigation, no fertilizing. And hopefully very little weeding.
It sounds like a make work project but in all fairness i am removing 5 or so varieties of reds that have wandered into the row… and i want to play with some other varieties of blacks…so its a good time for me to experiment.
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i only till in between the rows a couple times a season to kill the runners popping up there but the rows where the rasp. are growing haven’t been touched in 6 yrs. i just mulch them with wood chips every spring to keep the weeds out. i find the tilling in between the rows also lets some air get to the sides of the roots, helping the rasps. grow healthier. my father grew them like that for 30 yrs and never had any issues.
I put box cardboard, then wood chip mulch about4-6 inches thick. The weeds still came through by the end of the season.
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you got some super weeds. that usually stops them the 1st season. the creeping charlie tries to invade from the side the 2nd year. i zap it with herbicide.
I’ve done both not much difference IMO if you had sandy soil that need OM added it might be different. Raspberries are tough as nails and a Weed…be aware they will try and spread aggressively (mine go under a 1ft deep trench and try to invade) so I wouldn’t recommend planting a a garden be near other annuals (better off along a property line/bordered by grass etc so they’re easier to keep put)
Yes, Steve, we’ve got great weeds here—huge thistles, ragweed, milkweed, some other huge yellow things whose name I don’t know, etc.
probably goldenrod. here yarrow, chickweed, lambs quarters, dandelion and creeping charlie are the worst
Goldenrod sounds right. We have yarrow, too. The dandelions and creeping Charlie stay low, so don’t shade the bushes.
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I did the cardboard/woodchips method and had very few problems. I was generous with the cardboard and overlapped each piece 6-12 inches. Only had a few bits of grass or weed come through, all where cardboard was out of place. Overall it worked great. I have all the same weeds listed above. I collected a great deal of cardboard, though. I put a compost mound on top of the cardboard for planting beds. Blackberries did very well.
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