No dig bed

[polc1410]

I collected in my car trailer about a dozen barrow loads of pig muck.

U sure you want that? I seem to recall pig muck was a terrible fertiliser/mulch...

[JMCKG]

Starting out no dig - No dig Organic Gardening

[mrsbusy]

No dig working well

Hi.Yes we are doing no dig. We took on an allotment last year in March which was mainly turf that had been kept very short for children to play on. We had some Harrods timber raised beds which we put on the grass, filled them up with free council compost made from green waste. We had a really good crop of beet spinach/courgette/french bean/beetroot. This year we have topped them up with organic cow manure which we get delivered from a local farmer.
We are also making a potager in our front garden - you can see the photos on a different thread - show us your raised beds - for which we made rough raised beds from scaffolding boards just 1 plank high. Again filled with cow manure - now waiting for the next council green compost day which should be in March to top them up. The main problem - as someone else has said - is getting enough compost to make the beds, you do need a lot - you don't have to make a raised bed with boards you can just leave them sloping. In fact Charles says you get more slugs if you use boards as they hide by the wood. He had a huge mound of green waste compost and also mushroom compost but he is running a business. And quite a few compost heaps. We went on a 1 day course with Charles Dowding - highly recommended IMHO.

[ESBkevin]

U sure you want that? I seem to recall pig muck was a terrible fertiliser/mulch...

Hi Polc,
I got the pig muck last spring and mixes it with wood chip and turned it twice. It's very crumbly now and was just a thin layer on the soil under everything else. I got more pig muck but have stacked it for next year even though it's already dark.
I wouldn't pile it on thick as a mulch anyway but was not aware it could be a bad mulch. Any links to more data?

[Molliedollie]

No Dig Bed

The secret is in the preparation, you have to clear all the perennial weeds and roots before you start and the covering of manure builds up the bed. It works for me

[ESBkevin]

Another good source I've just posted about in the youtube thread.
'I Am Organic Gardening' is a chap who is very knowledgable and explains the principles clearly with practical demonstrations. He grows commercially so it works. He shows his successes and failures so you get to see what you might achieve.

[Two_Sheds]

I’ve been no dig on this plot for 10 yrs, and just took on a 2nd

I’ve never used horsemuck, straw bales etc. I do sweep autumn leaves off the bike lanes to grow spuds in (prevents scab)

I use my Chop n Drop method of mulching, based on One Straw Revolution, see also Sepp Holzer
Old crops, green manures and weeds are roughly chopped with Seckies/shears and left on the beds, where they rot quicker than in a heap

Bind weed, couch grass, horsetail are desiccated (dried) on paths until dead, then put on beds. Or drowned in water barrels

I also use dalek compost bins: moved around the beds where I need them. No need to turn heaps or lug barrows around

I have 10 litre pots planted in each bed, for watering straight to the roots. Less evaporation, fewer weeds germinate, less work all round. This year I fitted a 20m hose to my IBC - it flows steady, into the sunken pots, while I get on with other jobs

I use a spade to harvest spuds, plant trees, remove couch grass. Otherwise, no digging necessary

I pull weeds, I’ve never used a hoe (paralysed shoulder, can’t much push, pull or lift with one arm)


It’s less work
I did all this because of my paralysed shoulder, pain and post-cancer fatigue which only gets worse with age. If you think digging is what makes a garden grow - it isn’t - but you carry on, until your back’s got you in the hoppital ��