Burying the garden waste to prepare the land for planting

As it is monsoon season here in Kerala, we gardeners have to take into consideration the way it affects the soil. Today we did land preparation for the heavy rains. We dug holes in the new beds and took garden waste from old banana plants and buried it. The top of the soil had been mulched with manure and weeds were growing on them. We mixed the manure and weeds into the soil. I like the idea of just mixing the weeds in because then the nutrients that the weeds took from the soil can break down back into the soil again. When the heavy rains come, they would have washed the nutrients from the mulch away so this is to help with nutrient erosion.

This type of mulch-tillage is a type of conservation tillage, which is better for the soil than intensive tillage. It is especially helpful in times of heavy rain to help mitigate soil erosion because it slows water movement. I am still learning about other ways to prepare the soil that do not harm the soil structure as intensive tilling does. I have read that no-till agriculture helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the soil and is even better for soil erosion. I think that in this climate, with the heavy rains it makes sense in order to mix the nutrients evenly as well as aerate the soil. I am still learning about different sustainable agriculture techniques so maybe there is a way to maintain soil during monsoon season that I have not been exposed to yet.