Are you ready for a no dig garden?
Here’s a question as we look forward to the new growing season. Are you ready to turn your garden, plot or allotment over to the no-dig approach?
No-dig gardening or a raised garden bed, consists of layering organic materials on top of the soil to create a nutrient rich environment for your plants, in this case, vegetables.
No matter what your location, gardening the no dig way has to be an option. The garden literally composts the materials while feeding the plants.
But take heed the no-dig option does not give an easy way out. The concept may be perfect for the organic grower who is likely to have a larger worm population. Remember on a no-dig garden it is the worms that take the material down into the soil, so it will take longer for the material to be mixed into the soil than if you were digging it in.
Gardening guru Bob Flowerdew is an exponent of the no-dig system and claims to have used it successfully for many years without the fertility crash. He contends that the digging required by root crops, especially potatoes, is enough digging and that no more is required.
Adding horse manure and then the results of new activity after three weeks
Organic matter such as well rotted manure, compost, leaf mould, spent mushroom compost, old straw, etc, is added directly to the soil surface as a
mulch at least 5-15 centimeters (2-6 in) deep, which is then incorporated by the actions of worms, insects and microbes. Worms and other soil life also assist in building up the soil’s structure, their tunnels providing aeration and drainage, and their excretions bind together soil crumbs. This natural biosphere maintains healthy conditions in the upper soil horizons where annual plant roots thrive. No-dig systems are said to be freer of pests and disease, possibly due to a more balanced soil population being allowed to build up in this undisturbed environment, and by encouraging the buildup of beneficial rather than harmful soil fungi.
You will need a lot of compost. To cover ten square yards with two inches of compost will take a minimum of 15 cubic feet of compost. A standard ten pole allotment would require nearly
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Developing your vegetable plot without ever needing to dig again is proving to be a very attractive option. Here’s what you need to do.
17 cubic yards to cover. That is an awful lot of compost! A standard allotment compost bin made from pallets would hold probably hold (if full) 1.5 cubic yards of compost.
In practice it is not quite that bad as you would be liming part of the plot but it is still no easy task.
Growing on the no dig system
If you are clearing the site using the mulching system you can still grow some vegetables through the mulch.
If you are going to do this then don’t put the mulch on in winter. At this time the soil is cold and dry so mulching will keep the cold in, and the warmth and water out. The vegetables that you can grow will depend on the thickness of the mulch. Vegetables you can grow include pumpkins, marrows, tomatoes and potatoes.
Green Manures
A green manure is a plant grown to improve the soil. Green manures are normally dug back into the soil. However, you can’t do this in a no-dig system.
Annual green manures can be cut down with a hoe or lawn mower and the plants can either be left where they are or put on the compost heap. Grazing rye is the best over- wintering green manure but it does not work well on a no- dig system as it will grow again if hoed when young, and is rather tough to cope with when older.
In a no dig system grazing rye should only be sown where potatoes will be grown the following spring. The rye is cut down with a mower or shears and the potatoes planted on top. The covering mulch prevents the re-growth of the grazing rye.
In favour
makes a friable topsoil through which seedlings can easily emerge
Against
Country Gardener
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