Can anyone please explain the "No Dig" method to me as I am currently doing the "Loads of Dig" method at the moment and my back is killing me?
This is a serious request and not just a rant, I just want to be sure I haven't made a load of work for myself unnecessarily.
Ta.
First check out why people dig.
! to loosen the soil
2 incorporate manure
3 bury weeds
4 create a tilth.
No-Dig answers
1 If soil is not compacted, don't dig.
2, surface application of manure.
3 hoe and remove to compost.
4 soil is maintained in a friable state.
By the use of defined beds and fixed paths, soil is never compressed. I have used a 'deep mulch' method to clear beds. I place a layer of wet cardboard, followed by 3" of manure, and topped off with straw. leave overwinter, pull off any remaining straw, BINGO!! perfect tilth, loads of worms, easy life!rgds, Tony
As Above!! ;D ;D
Very well put Tony ;)
And what does the bindweed/couch grass think of the attempt to easily erradicate them?
People talk about shallow roots on these weeds ???
Open mind from me, but from my experience my weeds travel south of subsoil and will not be dug out totally unless I hire a JCB.
So i think maybe for a season or two things will be ok and once you let your guard down the chickens will come home to roost once more.
But hey you never lose weeds anyway! right?
no-diggers have to remove perennial weeds, just like anyone else.If you don't think that no-dig is a long term option check out Charles Dowding, he's been doing it commercially for over 20 years!!
I presume that no diggers remove the perennial weeds by digging them?
This is becoming confusing!
the term 'no-dig' is confusing, I think it refers to the lack of routine digging, after all we have to dig out our parsnips and leeks!
That's exactly how I use the term! Some things do have to be dug, but I don't see the point in the annual ritual of digging everything except the fruit. I find that couch is always shallow-rooted unless the roots have been dug in deeper, which is very easy to do when you have a lot of it. Bindweed does go deep, and is harder to eradicate. Fortunately, it's also slower to establish.
Our plot is half raised beds and I need only use a hand fork with these ,so to me this is 'no dig'(or very little dig) our other half is traditional plot so lots of digging ,the heavy stuff .To me the only people who do' no dig 'are those who grow things
through plastic. I think I would feel nervous if someone took my spade away.
Ive got clay soil & am attempting to have an organic no-dig plot as much as possible. I hoe & rake my soil when it is damp to prepare beds for planting/sowing rather than digging. I didnt rotovate my plot & am so glad as the weeds are few & far between sofar whereas my neighbours plot has been rotovated & dug loads & is a total weed-fest at the moment :o
I am adding grass cuttings etc on the surface of beds & letting the worms do the work for me ;)
I think the trick with digging is not to do it all at once! I am starting to see that a variety of methods works well. I don't have raised beds etc I work straight in the ground. But I have found that growing some things thru plastic (eg strawbs, toms) is quick and easy, and some things seem to grow well in a "lasagna" bed (which I made with thick cardboard covered with, well muck, grass clippings, horse poo and compost) such as courgettes (for now), and I think I might make a similar contraption for my melon plants that are just itching to get outside.
But for now all the other plants like the root veg, Potatoes etc do require some digging. I find it best to dig one patch when I have time then cover it so when I plant out it is ready to go. By doing this I manage to gradually get everything planted with not too much back breaking.
In late autumn I dig over quite deeply the bed that is going to have the spuds in the following spring, then spread a thick load of manure on top and leave it covered in the porous type of weed suppression fabric. Because of rotation this means that each bed gets a serious going over every few years.
Depending on the state of the others (the soil can get a bit compacted if there's a lot of rain and sun) and the timing, they either just get manure spread on top followed by a bit of harrowing before planting to produce a surface tilth, or manure forked into the top 6 inches or so.