Allotments 4 All

That is the question.

Hi every one, I'm new here and loving reading through all your advise.

I have just taken on a new allotment, that has needed quite alot of work, but its been fairly straightforward clearing so far.  But....  My Dad is going to share it with me when he retires later this year (just in time for the autumn digging hooray) and he came over yesterday and said that as it hasn't been worked for a few years I should be double digging.  My initial reaction was 'if you want to double dig, be my guest' and on gardeners question time yesterday they said that anyone who wanted to double dig either needed a full time job or the exercise.

I wondered what the general opinion was on this.

D xx

Personally I would rather stick a fork in my foot then double dig!!!  ;D

I guess it would depend on the plot though:

What type of soil structure do you have? (clay/sandy)
Is it hard and compacted?
How deep is your soil (you dont want to be mixing subsoil with top soil!)
How good is your back!!!!  ;)

On my Plot I simply single dug it all, then built raised beds and simply throw manure/compost on top of them end of each year. As I dont walk on the beds it doesnt get compacted, and the manure dressing each year (couple of inches) suppresses any weed seeds in the soil. Come spring its rotted down nicley then I just plant into it. Any weeds that do dare to pop up just get chopped of with the hoe.

The only beds I do dig are potato (to harvest) and maybe carrots before I sow them as this has no manure, but each time you dig you expose 100's of weed seeds all highly trained to germinate the fist time you turn your back!  ::)

I do not doubt others will argue for digging... but this way works well for me, and saves an aching back!

I'm in favour of double-digging, but not in the first year of cultivation and afterwards only a portion per year gets the treatment. Do not underestimate the sheer logistics required to do the job properly. First a large volume of topsoil has to be excavated, barrowed away and stored somewhere out of the way. Second. There is no point doing it unless large volumes of compost and manure are to be incorporated. This all has to be sourced and moved. Third. The actual digging and forking will require a fair amount of physical grunt compared with the simple single-spit trench dig.

When I dug mine I had a six ft wide trench and a run of 20 ft which when completed I simply started another 6 ft wide trench in the opposite direction tic tacking back and forth until the whole area was complete. For each 20 ft run I used a minimum of one cu mtr of compost for the sub-soil layer and one cu mtr of manure for the upper layer. Do not underestimate the time it takes just to get this amount of compost and manure, or the amount of space it requires for storage.

Generally I've found that people that have never done double-digging will tell you there is no need to, and those that do it will tell you how lucky they are to have a plot with better soil than anyone else.

Proper double-digging is a serious matter and shouldn't be undertaken lightly. You remove & stack the entire top spit from the area; then you go down into the hole and either single-dig or, better still trench-dig, the lower spit; then put the top spit back. As I see it, there are two reasons for this: to improve the soil as far down as you can go; and to give the men something to do during the winter when there aren't too many other jobs to be done.

I did it for my two asparagus beds (each 8' by 4'). Top spit removed; 2nd spit trenched with barrowloads of manure added; whole area top-dressed with manure; top spit returned & levelled. It took ages; and I have very good soil in those beds with no perenniel weeds. But I don't do it for anything else!

Best is to trench, ie. remove top spit for just one spade's-width; fill hole with manure; turn next spit on top; fill resulting hole with manure; carry on till the end of the bed, then fill last hole with the soil you took out at the start. It's still hard work, but it's a lot quicker and you can stop half way through without the whole site looking like a motorway construction site or a nightmareish version of "Time Team"!

And don't even think about tackling the whole lot! Do a bit this year and a bit next, and so on.

And welcome to the site! (Remember, gardening is supposed to be fun!)

Won't ever have that problem  ;D I have solid rock a foot down.

My method is to  dig a trench a spit deep throw the soil forward, fill the trench with farmyard manure and carry onto the end of the bed like this.

Its done me OK for the last twenty years!!

Thanks for all the replies, I think I'll do the lazy thing, and let my dad do it! ;D

:(

Best is to trench, ie. remove top spit for just one spade's-width; fill hole with manure; turn next spit on top; fill resulting hole with manure; carry on till the end of the bed, then fill last hole with the soil you took out at the start. It's still hard work, but it's a lot quicker and you can stop half way through without the whole site looking like a motorway construction site or a nightmareish version of "Time Team"!

Silly me   ::)

I thought that was double digging  ???

been patting myself on the back ( making OH pat me on the back too  :-\)
for months thinking that's what I was doing, ah well  ???

It was still hard work though  :P

There's three ways of digging.

1) Normal digging: sink spade or fork in fully (10"), pull handle back, lift, move forward and turn. If soil is compacted, you will need to cut down the side you are working to. Both sides with the first spit of the row. Manure can be added to the bottom of the resulting trench.

2) Barstard Trenching: This is where the first row is dug off and barrowed to the end of the plot. The subsoil is then forked over to loosen it. Manure can be  added to the top of this and the next row dug and placed on top of the first. Etc.

3) Trenching: First row is dug off and barrowed. Second row is dug off and barrowed. First row/second spit is dug off and barrowed. Manure can be added to the trench (the trench should be approx. 20" deep), then the third row is dug and thrown into the first trench. The second row/second spit is dug and thrwon on top of the first row. Etc. But be aware that if you are bringing the subsoil up on top and burying the topsoil. It could cause problems on heavy clay.

The object of 2 & 3 is to breakup the "pan" on heavy soils which will allow roots crops to penetrate deeper with ease. But if you are doing this to be followed by root crops DO NOT add manure.

To save the barrowing, divide the plot in half, place the removed soil on the other half, work the first half, come back on the second half and fill in with the soil removed from the first half.

Good luck, better you than me!!!

Build raised beds - it's easier, you never have to walk on the ground so it doesn't get compacted, just keep adding manure and other rotted material.

Everyone knocks Double Digging; its too hard work, its old fashioned, not nessesary these days etc. However the old gardeners of years gone by came up with this technique for a reason; to break up cultivation pans, improve soil depth, incorporate organic matter deep in the soil. They were not sadists or masochists!

Yes it does take time and it is hard work, but in certain cases it is worth doing if you can manage it. If your soil is in poor condition, is compacted, dries out too much in summer or gets waterlogged in winter then double digging will help. If your soil is in good order, is well drained and of good depth, then its probably not worth double digging.

I have a border in my garden that last summer really suffered, despite it being planted with son loving drought tollerent perennials. The soil was poor and it had never been properly dug, having been created simply by lifting turf and breaking up the top layer of soil. The plants were struggling in these conditions and since the planting was ready for a revamp. So I decided to clear the border and double dig it before replanting.

Since i wanted to reuse many of the plants, but having little space to 'hold' them while digging the border, i did the digging in small (roughly 1m square) sections, clearing the plants double digging and replanting before moving on to the next section. This way the task was broken up into manageable chunks (interspersed with nice planting bits!).  It took time and because of the weather, was started at the end of March and completed by the begining of May. A bit late maybe but because the soil was prepared properly the plants have coped well so far.

I think in these days of climate change, with bone dry summers and soaking wet winters, good soil preparation and management is more important than ever, including double digging!

Quote from: asbean on June 08, 2007, 23:27:54
Build raised beds - it's easier, you never have to walk on the ground so it doesn't get compacted, just keep adding manure and other rotted material.

These can still get cultivation pans. I have grown my veg in raised beds for a number of years and have found recently that the soil below the depth of the fork/edging boards has become a bit compacted. I havent walked on the beds at all. I now feel they need some sort of deep digging to improve the soil depth. I confess I did not double dig when i made the beds - although I didnt know I needed to at the time.

Moral of the tale? If possible break up the soil and open it up with some form of organic matter when you are making the beds. The plants will still use the soil underneath (if its there of course). I think its bad practice when i see people just building beds on uncultivated ground and then just dump compost and soil in them.

I have raised beds - but I still dig each bed at least once every season. And, if appropriate, I add well-rotted stable manure (ie. for crops like peas, beans, squashes, tomatoes, etc; so roughly every other year).

But then, I like digging! (Single, rather than double, though, unless really necessary.) Agree with GA - sometimes it is. But, going back to the original query, I wouldn't dream of doing it for the entire plot!!!!

And - to change the subject minutely - digging is much easier with a sharp spade. And the more you use the spade, the sharper it gets. I'm still using the same one my father gave me as a house-warming present nearly 40 years ago and you could almost carve the Sunday joint with it! That's why digging with it is a joy.

and some of us are unable to dig  :-\

Mines clay after a spades depth.  ;D ;D ;D

QuoteMines clay after a spades depth.

The perfect situation where double-digging would drasticly improve the situation.

If you've got a shallow soil, there's good reason to do it. Otherwise, I'm not so  sure.

Get yourself (or your dad) an Azada http://www.get-digging.co.uk/ or a mattock - it makes the job a lot easier (by which I mean much less backbreaking).