digging techniques

[weekendwellies]

I am curious as to how many different digging techniques are used by Grapes.
For those who have been at it a long time, which is your favoured technique.
For those who have just started, what has caused you the worst backache and the least.
Does anyone do double digging.
Do you prefer fork or spade.
And anything else that anyone would like to add.

[Snadger]

I am right handed and work from left to right. Use the weight of the spade to chop down spade on right of spade width, then push in spade 6 inches back at right angles to first cut and ease back, ad infinitum.............simples!

[geoff]

I'm right handed, and prefer a fork for digging over and weeding, I only use a spade for moving the soil around. Now that I've had my plot for about 3 years I've got the beds sorted out, so theres less and less of earth moving
I put down a lot of newspaper and cardboard as a mulch and use the spade to put a light scattering of soil on top to weight it down. Then I plant through the newspaper
I have divided my full sized plot into quarters, and within each quarter I dig strips about 6 to 8 feet wide, working backwards to a landmark - that stone, this patch of weeds, with frequent breaks for cups of tea. I work left to right, then right to left till the envisaged patch is finished
I've never consciously done double digging, though when I had my plot at first a lot of the weed clearing, muck addition and general sorting probably ammounted to that

I've looked into azadas a few times, and visited websites, and come to this conclusion - If you've got som serious navvying to do in ordr to get the plot & the beds how you want, then a spade and a fork are the things to use Once you've got to that stage, an azada looks interesting, so I might think about one for next year

Straightforward digging/turning over is not so much a problem. The hard, back breaking work comes when you have to pick out weeks at every forkful

Oh! And don't try to dig over the whole plot in one weekend!

[Alison]

I double dug all my beds the first time and am very glad that I did as it's improved the drainage no end and gave me the chance to remove more weed roots etc. I prefer to use a spade but OH prefers a fork. Think it's a bit of a personal preference thing. Don't work to the left or right by preference and tend to work one way across and the other way back but it does vary.

[Snadger]

I double dug all my beds the first time and am very glad that I did as it's improved the drainage no end and gave me the chance to remove more weed roots etc. I prefer to use a spade but OH prefers a fork. Think it's a bit of a personal preference thing. Don't work to the left or right by preference and tend to work one way across and the other way back but it does vary.

I'm a spade person also!

[Jeanied]

I only ever dig with a fork - I used to get so upset seeing chopped worms all the time when I use a spade! Which rather indicates the kind of soil I am used to working with - nice and loam-y. If I have some deep roots to get rid of (comfrey and dock in my case) or I want to earth up - I use an azada.

[zazen999]

I let my OH do it.

If I DO dig - such as a bean trench - i work backwards. With a spade - a small one as I have a dodgy elbow and it hurts otherwise.

Deep roots; I use a long bladed weed 'knife' thing.

[Snadger]

I only ever dig with a fork - I used to get so upset seeing chopped worms all the time when I use a spade............... .

Ah.............chook fodder!

[Bigmallly]

Are generators allowed on allotments or is it an unwritten rule to be fairly hush. I was thinking of rotorvators/tillers......just throwing ideas into the mix.

[Lovage]

My plot is divided into 16 beds, not all of them raised but clearly delineated. I find this helps tremendously for digging
1. the plot is broken into smaller units - it's relatively easy to dig one bed at once and avoid backache by over doing it
2. by not walking on the beds through the growing season the is not compacted and is very easy to fork over

For serious ammounts of digging I find the right spade is vital, some are too short or have the head at the wrong angle for me. I have a favourite well used one with a well worn and sharp blade which goes through anything

[chriscross1966]

Are generators allowed on allotments or is it an unwritten rule to be fairly hush. I was thinking of rotorvators/tillers......just throwing ideas into the mix.

Juast wondering what you need a generator for?.... Petrol strimmers make a fair amount of noise and no-one would moan about them being used on a plot, certainly my small genny (for camping use as much as anything else) makes less noise than my strimmer, most decent rotovators have a four-stroke engine and they don't make as much noise anyway.... if you were plannin gon say runnin ga shredder then your problem will be power output, you'd need at least a 5HP genny and they tend to cost rather a lot......

chrisc

[zazen999]

Are generators allowed on allotments or is it an unwritten rule to be fairly hush. I was thinking of rotorvators/tillers......just throwing ideas into the mix.

I'd let people know that you were planning it beforehand so that if it bothers them, they can avoid that day/evening.

[snuffer]

Don't know how to explain this very well but I'll give it a try. I think one of the most important aspects of digging technique is the posistion of the spade blade. when setting the blade on the soil prior to pushing it into the soil try and make the blade as upright as possible so that it is perpendicular to the surface of the soil. (If you where looking at the spade from the side, where the blade met the soil would form a right angle). That way you use the full length of the blade in order to get as deep as possible. I see many novice diggers making a slope with their spade blades before pushing it into the soil. That means they are moving the same wieght of soil each time but not getting as deep as they could do. Same work and effort but not digging to a full spits depth.

Hope that makes sense.

[Jeanied]

Are generators allowed on allotments or is it an unwritten rule to be fairly hush. I was thinking of rotorvators/tillers......just throwing ideas into the mix.

Hi BM - guess what I have for my lottie!! A nice little generator. Mine is used to run an electric mower to keep the paths nice and neat. But it will be used for drills and saws later on when the wooden edging starts up! It is a lot quieter than the petrol strimmers other lottie holders have - (or my strimmer before it packed up the second year I tried to use it!)

[Bigmallly]

Hi BM - guess what I have for my lottie!! A nice little generator. Mine is used to run an electric mower to keep the paths nice and neat. But it will be used for drills and saws later on when the wooden edging starts up! It is a lot quieter than the petrol strimmers other lottie holders have - (or my strimmer before it packed up the second year I tried to use it!)

I was thinking of electric tools (Tillers, Strimmers etc) when I asked. I grow in the garden so do not have the same problems. My back could not take all of that digging.