No-Digging

[Cider Boys]

I have enjoyed and been informed by the many recent debates on seeds, carrots and of course organics etc. and I noticed a recent contributor (I think the name was Orgasmic Fred or something) allude to ‘no-digging’ in her contribution on ‘Falling Leaves on the Allotment’ as follows.

“Yes, sometimes the old timers advice is good, but sometimes it's based on tradition without really knowing or at least understanding the facts behind what they're saying. Such as the advice to turn up great clods of earth for the winter frosts to break down into a tilth for sowing in spring."

I guess Jenny that you follow the ‘no-digging’ technique of gardening.

I have always been interested in the ‘no-digging’ methods advocated by some as opposed to the traditional dig the soil school. I believe the ’Good Gardeners Association’ did some trials about 50 years ago. I have only found it practical on light soils when you have an abundance of sedge peat, compost or manure. I have also found, with a few other ‘old timers’ that it is quite beneficial to dig over heavy ground in the autumn for the frosts to help break the soil to a tilth. What experiences have others found by ‘no-digging’?

Barney

[madasafish]

Our soil is quite heavy: clay at about 2 feet down: drains quite well but if you sieve the top soil you find .5cm diameter balls of clay.
Since we moved here 20 odd years ago, I have adopted a no digging approach to flower and fruit gardens. I spread compost on soil in winter /early spring , remove flowers and trowel in compost onto flowerbeds.. but apart from digging holes to plant new bushes etc, that's it.

My compost is mixed leaves/worm compost and general garden greens..

So far no ill effects on fruit or flowers. the worms and weather gradually decompose the compost and we have a top layer of darker soil which is quite friable.

In the summer drought we still had huge cracks as the clay dried out and cracked but apart from the raspberry canes not growing as vigoously as prior years (but catching up in autumn) no other noticeable effects...

Good strawberry crops/lots of pears/apples etc.
Trying blueberries with heavily composted soil plus sulphur plus vinegar to acidify...

[richard p]

i have part of the garden in beds which get dug when i want to transplant something, usually by scratching the surface with a fork to loosen the weeds and then transplanting with a trowel. the rest of the veg patch gets rotovated about easter which produces a fine enough tilth in one hit, the rest of the year the weeds are either hoed or strimmed and left on the surface to decompose. most stuff is started in pots, i think its only carrots that get sown direct, so i dont need a vast area of fine seedbed.

[Jenny Green]

Can I ask what problems you experienced through not digging Barney? I have to say I've only ever done the no dig on fixed beds which don't get trodden on. In this scenario the soil doesn't get compacted. It's loosened sufficiently just through weeding and harvesting vegetables. When I grow carrots I sometimes drive a fork into the ground along the row before sowing. This seems to prevent forking.
It seems a huge effort to dig the whole plot to create a fine tilth for sowing, when comparatively few things are actually sown direct these days. Of course, some people love digging and more power to their elbow. I'm just so weedy and pathetic I have to avoid as much hard labour as possible (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).
Orgasmic Fred
...actually, I quite like the sound of that

[Allan]

The answer as usual is somewhere between the two extremes with a matter of personal judgement coming into it. One critical parameter is the fact that it is necessary for plant roots to breathe, as important in its way as that air can get at the leaves. One can achieve this either by use of large amounts of organic matter, not always possible to achieve, where you are in effect creating a new layer of a different form to the basic soil, the other way you aerate the soil by breaking it up into small particles either manually maybe also using frost to help you or by mechanical cultivation or a rotovator can be extremely effective in producing a very fine tilth if required. You have to bear in mind that this way is not permanent as the soil will eventually compact, also there are no nutrients being added from the breakdown of organic matter so one has to supply these seperately in the most effective way possible to optimise the growth of the plant.
Many gardeners and farmers end up using a blend of the two extremes.
It is also useful to bear in mind the necessary depth for the particular crop that one wishes to grow, not all crops have a root system a full spit deep, some roots are capable of penetrating the untouched depths on their own. I instance there some carrots that I grew this year, the cultivation depth was only 2 or 3 inches in the last two years and the subsoil very compacted, yet many carrot roots had grown 8 inches long.
All of the above may seem rather an academical way of putting it, really I think it amounts to the same as other contributors have already said but in a different way. I must congratulate them on their shrewdness as it has taken me a lifetime to really sort this out for myself as a coherent whole.
Allan
Allan

[vivie veg]

My field is pure clay, having been close grazed by sheep for generations.

In May 2005 (trying many ways for preparing plots) I covered part of the grass with black plastic and left it until May 2006. The result was lovely, two passes with the rotavator and she was up to her wheel axils. However the soil next to this plot had been left as grass, with two applications of Glypsophate (I must learn how to spell this correctly!) and it was a bu**er to rotavate, 6 or 7 seven passed were done and we had not got down as deep.

Next year for my Squash plot I will try mowing a virgin grassland several time and leaving the mowings in piles 3 metres apart and plant into these in early and late May (frosts are rare in May but just incase I'll reserve half, but also keep an eye on the temperature). As a few of the pumpkins and marrows strayed onto the grass this year and came to no harm Also ducks will have free until the young plants go out.

[Monika]

Why on earth would anyone not WANT to dig, other than with a physical disability? Digging is the most satisfying, soothing allotment occupation I can think of and it teaches you a lot about your soil, too. Certainly beats hoeing, mowing and scything.

[Cider Boys]

Hi Fred

I am a great supporter of the ‘no-digging’ system. For some years my eldest son used to haul manure a dump large quantities on my allotment. After about a year he would then clear it and the soil beneath was always in a wonderful condition and needed no digging to produce a fine tilth. However the soil was a light red sandstone type.

I think the HDRA did some research in the seventies and found that the method of ‘no-digging’ produced excellent results for seven years after which I believe productivity dropped. I do not know what the latest thoughts are on the method. We also rent some very heavy silty clay near a river that you can only get onto after dry periods and deep ploughing in autumn has always been the most effective in producing a friable soil for planting in spring.

At the end of the day ( I never thought I would use that cliché) all the woods and forests seem to thrive on the no-digging method so it obviously has nature on its side but the traditional plough or digging has many benefits too.

All the best

Organic Bernie

[cevenol jardin]

Organic Bernie i really thought like you that there is no such thing as digging in nature until i came to our current spot in the world. Come the rains in autumn all the grassy land and everything else for that matter get dug up over night. Not garden pixies but 'wild boar'. The boar are troughing up the soil in search of grubs and effectively turning the soil.

Despite seeing nature in action, (well these boar are not actually wild but crosses of wild boar and domestic pig bred by hunters and fed by them in order to increase the numbers for sport, but that's another story). So what we see is not completely natural, however i still favour a no dig to a degree. We have light sandy soil which can be reduced to desert dust by digging it at the wrong time of year i.e. spring-summer which is what i did our first year opps. However i dig land to start with in autumn/winter, then create a slightly raised bed and then just add organic mulches and top dressing to the surface as i go. Result the soil structure and fertility improves over time as the worms take the humus down into the soil. If the bed becomes tired or i think it is harbouring some soil born pests i will dig it again during the rainy months, but generally from then on its a no dig bed, a simple hoeing down of weeds a few times during the growing season and that's it.

If i am sowing direct a draw a drill or hole and put sieved compost in the base and sow on that (also because he soil is very stony.

[Hopalong]

Hi Cider Boys,
I used a no dig method for many, many years before I made raised beds (which by nature are generally no dig). I have never found a problem with it though yes, you do need to be a religous compost maker/user.
The results are worth it though.
Hopalong

[Allan]

I have recently purchased a book "Weedless Gardening" by Lee Rich which is in effect no digging, bed system. ISBN 0-7611-1696-6. Apart from the basic idea which to me obviously has its merits in the right circumstances I am learning quite a lot of little snippets which are new to me.
For instance, mache is the USA name for corn salad which as its name implies is a weed of cornfields and is best propogated by self-seeding. He states too that the feeding roots of plants are near the surface which I realised must be the case as otherwise ring culture of tomatoes would be nonsense.He dismisses trench celery as old hat which I don't believe, my finest flavoured celery is red trench celery, no self-blancher can imitate its unique flavour.
I was pleased to see that he advocates indeterminate/cordon tomatoes as giving the best results but of course a lot depends on the purpose for the fruit. The method of quoting sowing and transplanting dates is based on average spring frost date, some figures are weeks ahead of this date, which means that you would have to draw on past experience to work these out.
For the UK price of £6.90 it is a good read but I still have to face the reality that there are some crops that do well even without all that dedicated material so I shall carry on with a mixed system. The new Honda tiller-cultivator will certainly not be left out to rust away, nor the shredder be short of jobs to do.
Allan

[Piglet]

I have one plot down to raised beds which is obviously a no dig but it does get a light forking over in the winter mainly to open it up a bit as even though I dont tread on it it still managed to compact itself down.

My other plot is turned over as semi permanent beds which whilst I try to keep off do get trodden on occasionally. I find that these beds work much better if dug over as whilst well manured the soil is still quite clay like and again will compact down. Also if you look whilst digging its amazing how many bugs and unwanted things like snails eggs (especially in our warmer autumn / winters) you uncover for the birds to clean up.

If you have open loamy soil I should imagine that you can get away without digging so much, clay however justs converts back to a hard layer if left.

[Marge]

Personally I am also a fan of the no dig school of gardening. Apart from the fact it is just too much bother (and I have a manicure to think of ), I just don't see the need for it.

I do realise if you have a new garden or allotment plot and it has not been touched by a gardeners hand (or should that be spade?) for some time, then naturally it will need a decent dig and probably serious deweeding.

I have a mixture in my garden of one section light and sandy soil and another area heavy clay. I did an initial dig years ago, I try and keep on top of the hoeing etc, but I don't do a major annual dig at all and everything seems fine to me.

If you want to dig then OK, go ahead and enjoy yourself .... just remember to do some yoga or Pilates stretches afterwards and look after your back