Topic: How successful is no dig?

[Digeroo]

Is anyone using no dig?  I am getting past my sell by date for digging.

Have bought a book by Bob Flowerdew.  Hoping to get aquainted with no dig.

Used it for my brassicas and they are doing extremely well best - ever savoys.   Just planted them with chicken pellets and a mulch of hot grass clippings went off like a rocket.

Had been worried about lack of worms but they have now arrived and at the end of year four there are lots of them.

Any advice and suggestions would be welcome.

[InfraDig]

I'm very happy with it, though with the amount of stuff I cram in, I do think that with all the planting holes there is enough digging for me. Much less weeding though. Which Bob Flowerdew book have you used? I use Organic Gardening The Natural No-dig way by Charles Dowding, an excellent book. I recommend his other books too.

[Morris]

I also love the Charles Dowding book - it is great on general gardening tips as well.

I do a mix of dig and non. Where the veg beds run alongside a hedge, I find they need digging more regularly to keep the roots from spreading and competing. Plus it is drier along there so it is good to get manure into the lower layers of the soil. Otherwise, for the remaining 2/3 of the garden, now the soil is in good condition, I mainly spread compost on the top, every time I replant, and fork it over as needed, pretty much as I do in the ornamental borders. Potatoes in their turn mean it gets a more thorough turning over. I do fork extra compost into the top spit for bean wigwams etc, then mulch again. I use masses and masses of straw.

My experience is only with good soil that has been double-dug over many years. I think so long as the soil isn't compacted, your plants are doing well, there is no need to dig routinely and it may even be harmful as CD suggests.

Oh, and I am pretty careful about trampling over the plot, keeping to 'path' areas, using boards, so that I don't compact it myself - and I keep off it in winter as much as possible.

[Digeroo]

I suppose that with potatoes, carrots and parsnips you have to dig to get them up.

My lottie certainly has never been double dug, it would bring up too much gravel and stones.  It has only been a lottie for 4 years before that it was grazing land and before that a gravel working.

I have tried to add large amounts of bio matter.

I have a hedge down oneside and along the top.   I will have to consider how I can deter the roots from invading.

[claybasket]

This yr I tryed the none digging in one part of the Lotty ,just to see how it went, I used chicken pellet's ,and liquid sheep manure,i only lightly hoed as i hate any weeds and thought that the surface needs aerating ,got massive fat carrots ,and big beetroots leeks are big ,yes i think it was better than the other Lotty,and my parsnips are also very big :toothy10:so I think for me this is the way to go .

[Morris]

I would have thought in your situation no-dig would be a good way to go, if its a concern bringing up all those stones.

Charles Dowding believes in any soil, no matter how poor, it is better to spread organic matter on the surface. I just haven't tried it, but his arguments make sense to me.

Maybe you could dig a trench alongside the hedge and just keep that clear, like with bamboo? Perhaps get something along the lines of the barrier they use for bamboo, come to that??

[grannyjanny]

We are no dig but it was double dug when we first got it. It was in such a mess & had no manure in at least 10 years. We hadn't discovered Charles at that point. I think Tonibloke was an advocate of it & I started to look into it & so glad I did . There are less weeds too because the soil isn't disturbed.

Charles a new book out, I think  called Charles Dowding's Vegetable Course. I think it might incorporate the other books.

[Digeroo]

His arguement did not make much sense to me when I had no worms to carry the nutrients down.   But now I have lots of them.

Amazon got the Charles Dowding book reduced so went mad and ordered one.

Certainly need fewer weeds.

I am starting to have a relationship with the hedge/trees.  I have raspberries along the top of the plot and they are doing very well, so I am thinking of putting them down the long hedge side as well. 

Just off to the lottie but it is difficult at this time of year to resist the urge to dig.

[Esplanade]

The Bob Flowerdew books and references are very old. Charles Dowding certainly is one of the pioneers of #nodig in the Uk, with - it cannot be denied - fantastic success.

The #nodig method - if used correctly requires the addition of mulches usually Spring and Autumn and absolutely no soil disturbance whatsoever. The worms will pull down material and improve soil structure to a significant depth. The concept rests firmly on improving conditions for soil microbes and not disturbing the molecular chains that co-exist in the soil. CD advocates total non-disturbance and where this is unavoidable - that soil should be immediately firmed down again.

Weed growth is certainly reduced, we have very few weeds appearing on our beds and removal takes only a few minutes once a week. Worm activity is phenomenal although we did initially import quite a lot of worms to the beds. Red worms (Dendrobaena) will break down significant amounts of clean grass clippings, seaweed, shredded paper, etc and create an extremely viable soil structure in just a few months.

we chose #nodig as a result of heavy Horsetail infestation and have utilised additional sub-mulches of cardboard to remove daylight from the existing soil. The worms have begun to pass under these layers now and have started to soften the original surface; we're expecting to see large deposits of worm cast in the lower layers by the spring.

We had an experiment with the lasagna method also, its extremely efficient if done correctly but tends to look a little messy with material laying on top of the beds.

We haven't disturbed our beds at all since their creation and veg is growing at a phenomenal rate already. Our paths have been left undisturbed and drainage is excellent. This autumn we'll be laying additional mulches on top of all beds and are looking forward to a bumper first full year in 2013.

Not wishing to push our blog - but if anyone is interested in the methods which we've used, take a look at some of our pages. #Nodig really does make a lot of sense, but it is not easy, there's a considerable investment in bringing material to the site and without this, then the method will not be any more successful than more traditional methods other than the reduction in weeds.

Have a great weekend

Roy and Tanya

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

I'm about to plant my garlic out into dug over beds. The onion tribe is notorious for needing careful weeding. I have a good stand of Phacelia close by which I presume will be cut down by frost soon. Is it your recommendation I lay thick  cut clumps of phacelia between the garlic plantings as a mulch?

[gwynnethmary]

Not wishing to push our blog - but if anyone is interested in the methods which we've used, take a look at some of our pages. #Nodig really does make a lot of sense, but it is not easy, there's a considerable investment in bringing material to the site and without this, then the method will not be any more successful than more traditional methods other than the reduction in weeds.

Have a great weekend

Roy and Tanya
[/quote]
Have really enjoyed reading your blog (when I should be doing housework!)....you two have done amazingly well, and no mention of the horrible summer weather we've had either"  Sorry you've had to put up with slugs with legs as you put it, but glad you kept on with it...it looks amazing!

[banksy]

Not wishing to push our blog

Great blog! I now have horse poo envy! 

[Nora42]

Not sure if this post will help but apparently the allotment I took on in April has been a no dig one for 30+ years. we are on London clay here and so some of the allotments on this site are like rubble and crack in the hot sun, they also are prone to flooding.
My all allotment has the most gorgeous black loam soil and if this the result of no dig and years of just laying a mulch on top of the soil I'd say go for it. ~I do wish the previous lady who ran it was still alive so I could ask her myself but sadly not.
i am guessing it is still ericaceous soil as the hydrangea and Magnolia stellar look healthy enough.
I guess I should continue this tradition as the ground is wonderful to plant into and not very compacted at all.
Nora

[strawberry1]

my allotment is the most productive and best looking on our small site and I am the only one who does not dig. I work in 8 x 4 raised beds for all the veg and hoe regularly with hand weeding when needed. I don`t use manure  but I grow comfrey bocking 14, which I use in various beds and for liquid feed. I also make lots of good compost and just lay it on certain beds and then cover with weed fabric for winter. I have had the most amazing crops again this year, plants just love what I do. I do use companion plants like thyme, calendula and marigolds and I net brassicas and alliums. I never walk on the beds. Tbh, I see neighbours digging and another who rotovated and they have the weediest least productive plots. Go for it op, you won`t regret it

[small]

I don't dig, haven't dug in years. I fork out weeds, spread compost, rinse and repeat. Again, and again, and again....I'm not scientific about it but it was either stop digging or stop gardening, so I gave it a try and most stuff grows OK, most years.

[katynewbie]

Esplanade...you say you started no dig because of a horsetail problem. How has that gone for you? I have HT and do really believe that the roots go down to Hell itself! If no dig works, I might give it a go, but so far my observation is that the flipping stuff grows through most things!

[grannyjanny]

Katy, we have HT & are no dig & it has certainly diminished since we went over to it.

[Digeroo]

but it was either stop digging or stop gardening

I am going that way.  I am finding that digging is becoming a problem.  I just have to find a different way.  I suppose I have always dug so it is a bit of a cultural shock to change to no dig.   But I am so encouraged by your comments.

Things grow well naturally and in the wild there is not much digging going on.  I had been growing veg for 37 years before I heard of mycorrhizal fungus.

I am not clear how air gets into soil if it is not dug.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

Worms plus falling rain brings dissolved oxygen. My bonsai need very free draining composts so that every watering brings more oxygen in, both dissolved and by suction.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Falling rain is going to be saturated with dissolved oxygen, and will carry it into the soil. Every time the water table falls, air will be sucked in.