In my fourth years involvement in Horticulture I have never heard anyone say that their soil is so good that they don't need to dig it. This statement quite bluntly is complete and utter nonsense and goes against good Horticultural practice. Sorry to sound so scaving, I must explain my reasons herein. Firstly, we need to get air into the soil to allow winter conditions to break down harmful bacteria and control annual weed growth. Secondly by turning the soil in Autumn we are improving the structure regardless of how fine or fertile it is. We are also mixing any ameliorants in whatever form they take. You will not upset destroy or offend the worms, as winter progressses and the soil gets colder the worms will Bury deeper, thus working the soil.Undug soil will eventually pan and cause disease problems. I have even seen panning on sandy soil which on the face of it is very strange. Hand digging with a spade is best on light soils, it is good to be able to turn the soil not least to get rid of pernicious weed roots, those long white almost tuberous roots.
I concur. Don't worry about the worms, you don't kill them even when you cut them in two pieces. Aeration is more important, especially if you don't mulch heavily, year-around. Just plain, ordinary rain compacts soil over time. Corn is wind pollinated, so plant in blocks, not rows. (The squirrels like it better, too). Better stop putting more N on that plot, too, or you'll just grow foliage. You already have too much N. Wood chips consume N and aid tilth.
I'm old and I have a gentleman's garden now. I have three 12' x 30" plots with 24" x 24" concrete patio blocks in-between as walkways. Three of the plots have two 2" dia x 8' pipes sunk 24" deep, centered, and 8' apart. I have two 6' x 4' sections of chain-link gate that I stand-up 6' high and tie to each other in the middle and to the permanent posts at each end, all with electrical cable zip ties. (They were driveway gates) I grow snap peas on them every year and leaf lettuce outboard either side and at the ends. I move them to the next plot for a 3 year rotation. I grow a tomato up one pole and a couple cucumbers up the other pole and leaf lettuce in-between.
My son had a stand-alone ~10' square patio type cover that blew down one year, and being a habitual junk collector, I took his hardware and reassembled it into two columns by putting two corner legs together to form a 7' tall x 12" x 12" box, again, strapped together with zip ties on one adjoining corner and open on the opposite corner. that allows me to slip the assembly around the buried pipe and strap the corner in-place up and down the length of the pipe forming a tomato cage and a cucumber cage on the other pipe. It comes off each autumn and I lay both on a long table on my covered back porch over winter. They are made of lightweight square metal tubing and I want them to outlive me.
The 3rd plot is used for cuttings, seedlings, and growing-on young bonsai with the pots sunk.
Plot #4 is outboard and fronts on the yard chain-link fence (48" tall). The other side of the fence is an irregular area covered with stones that fronts my seawall on a canal. I grow Jack-o-lantern pumpkins for my grandchildren and guide the vines out on the stone area. I had to lay fallow this year to beat the bugs, but I had two potted fig trees in that plot. (I bought two big pumpkins locally and put them where the kids usually get them, and they didn't know the difference.)
Each of the 4 plots are surrounded by vinyl coated wire mesh fencing 18" tall with 1" square openings. Before I retired, a guy in a shop a few doors down from mine made machine guards out of this material. We shared a dumpster and he would throw away odd drops (a drop is what's left over when you cut the size piece you need out of a 4' x 8' sheet of stock). Naturally, I collected the best ones, like a dozen 18" x 8', or 24" x 4', or even bigger pieces, in quantity. When I closed my shop and retired, they came home with me. I didn't know what I was going to do with them until the rabbits got me the first year in my new home. The rabbits don't get my lettuce, anymore.
I also have an asparagus patch, 18' x 6' with cement pads surrounding it. I never walk on dirt unless I'm turning it with a fork. In fact, I can do most of that from the walkways. There is a narrow path of cement steps down the center of the pumpkin plot, too. I keep leaves from the prior autumn to mulch after turning in spring. Always, complete mulch cover, year-around. I over-winter my hardy bonsai in 3 plots. You always have to walk some place, so having permanent dedicated growing and dedicated walkways works just fine.
A gentleman's garden for an old man who's been around the block. I used to grow more varieties on more area, but now I only grow what can't be beat by store-bought. Squash is great, but they take up a lot of space and in-season they're cheap. Green peppers from the store are 3 times the size and quality of mine, so none of those. Aren't I pleased with myself?
