Topic: dig or no dig

[adrianhumph]

 Hi all,  :D
                Having read Bob Flowerdews views on dig/no dig, in this months kitchen garden, I was wondering what stance/ideas you all had on the subject.  He maintains that for veg growing no digging is the best way for a variety of reasons, what do you think ???
                                  Adrian.

[Derekthefox]

Woohoo, this topic will run forever !!! I am an advocate of digging, because I believe my ground needs working, but I also respect the no-dig approach, as I know there are many advantages to that as well. Talk about sitting on the fence !!! I have this strange feeling that I may experiment with no dig on a small area, to try it out ... The only thing that worries me, is where will I get my exercise if it turns out the better method ...

Derekthefox

[carrot-cruncher]

I'm doing raised beds filled with a mixture of well-rotted horse poo & ordinary compost mixed together which I will then just plant.   

I've got Mel Bartholomew's book on Square Foot Gardening & he also advocates the do-dig method.

Any method which reduces the amount of work needed to produce veg gets my vote.

CC

ps. my other argument is that mother nature doesn't dig & she always produces a bountiful harvest (tic)

[John_H]

We had some big downpours of rain on my allotment site the year before last and my neighbour had lots of his fine well rotivated soil washed away. The soil on my own no-dig plot survived by having a good coating of compost or green manure on all the raised beds, and enough worm holes in the soil to soak up the rain without generating a run off problem.

I seem to get a lot more really interesting bugs and beasties in the no-dig plot than I did when used to turn it all over with a shovel in my first couple of years. Now I see lots more crickets, beetles, grass hoppers, ladybirds etc because I go a bit easier on their habitat, and I also have slow worms living under bits of corrugated iron and lizards under black plastic, so maybe its become a wildlife reserve as well as an allotment.

[terrace max]

No dig. Same reasons as I don't beat the wife.

[Icyberjunkie]

I have heard that raised beds give a better crop for a number of things (no idea what they are though!).  However, I like the physical effort of digging,  the smell of newly turned earth etc and the less hassle of not having to make raised beds {GG}.   Also all that work means I can eat more and not worry about my waistline!

Iain

[Robert_Brenchley]

I dislike digging and only do it when I need to, to lift roots or to remove weeds. I think mulching is far better, if I can just get sufficiently ahead of myself to get it done. I rend to get bogged down with weeding and digging and end up doing everything a couple of months too late, but it seems to be going better at the moment so hopefully I'll get it all done.

[Meg]

No I don't deep dig but I can understand why the men of the lottie land enjoy it. But my life is to short for that I would have to lie down for a long while.

[Derekthefox]

I understand your comments Icy. I think there is some primitive satisfaction in the activity of digging, and raw physical effort. Like you, my waistline benefits. But I would not go so far as to advocate this to anyone else. I do agree with the argument that digging takes a lot of manhours, that could be spent better elsewhere if time is at a premium.

[derbex]

No dig. Same reasons as I don't beat the wife.

She's bigger than you ;D

I don't dig -bad back, although there is a patch that wants digging to get the weeds out -but right at the moment I daren't, maybe in the next month or two

Jeremy

[flowerlady]

Have to admit that there is something very satisfactory about digging!!  But perhaps I wouldn't do it if it wasn't necessary!!  ;)

My plot was very overgrown and rundown when I took it over, so digging out the bindweed is a MUST!  Having done that for a couple of years and weakened the aggressors, I dare say that an annual dig will not be necessary. 

Flowerdew in all probability has fabulous soil which does not need the extra attention, something that I shall still be striving to achieve ten years from now!!   ;D

[Derekthefox]

I have had couchgrass growing through my beetroot Redclanger !

[fbgrifter]

but you would always dig a new and compacted plot, right?

[jennym]

I think a lot depends on the type of soil you have. I am on heavy clay, and with very little natural topsoil, and subject to waterlogging. So, I dug out sitches, dug and rotovated a few times, but now for certain beds, where I've built up the height by adding things over the past 6 years, I don't deep dig at all, there is no point in bringing up clods of sticky clay.
For the beds that aren't so good, I am still in the process of llightly digging in organic matter to improve them and raise the height more.

[katynewbie]

 ??? ??? ???
Erm..dug out sitches???????? What's a sitch Jenny?

[jennym]

Oops, sorry, getting late here now, fingers slipping, meant to say ditch...

[amphibian]

I've never tried no-dig, but as I have a new and couch infested plot no-dig is not an option for me.

I have a bad back, so the digging is slow work, especially with so much couch to remove.

But despite my bad back, and the labourious process of rooting out the couch, I enjoy digging. I love taking a rest--in the cold sunlight--and watching my mate, the robin, picking over the earth.

Besides digging keeps you warm, making the outdoor hours far more enjoyable. I find half an hour in to digging I am in a t-shirt no matter what the weather (I keep a scarf on though).

[flowerlady]

And difficult soils break down easier having been roughly dug and then left for the frost don't they?

[derbex]

In his book Bob says that it is worth digging a new plot once or twice to get the perennial weeds out -but then stop. Generally the line seems to be use a bed system that way you don't walk on, and compact, your soil so you won't need to dig it. As to the frost thing -you wouldn't have those clods of earth if you hadn't dug them up -so you don't need the frost.

All good theory -just tell it to my bindweed.

Jeremy

[blight]

the fact that most farmers still dig ( plough)  suggests it can´t be t wrong. after all they want to make a living  on their plots and if there were better ways of  cultivating the soil they might have found out by now.