No dig disappointment

[Snoop Puss]

^Good point, Rary. I've already decided to buy another, one for my field patch and the other for my terrace patch.

[Thelma Sanders]

There is another point that folks need to remember if you are going the no dig gardening, the hoe is the best garden tool to keep near at hand

I hoe quite a lot as it is, to stay weed-free. I thought that one of the major points in favour of no-dig was that there was a lot less weeding to do. So hopefully less hoeing required? (I'd already dismissed no-dig as a bonus because wheel-barrowing all that manure/compost is much more effort than gentle digging/forking over for me.)

So, in reality does no-dig just mean that you dig/till less, but move more compost, because people believe it is better for the soil? When adding manure and digging/ploughing have worked for thousands of years?

That's my quandary....No-dig it seems, is like a new religion to some people - the new gardening phenomenon

[toomanytommytoes]

You still get weeds with no-dig, but they are easier to remove since they root in the looser layers of organic material instead of the soil. By not digging you also avoid bringing dormant weed seeds to the soil surface where they can germinate.

Ploughing has helped the world lose a heck of a lot of topsoil via run off. No-dig (the Charles Dowding way) is impractical on a large scale, but there are farmers practising no-till by crimping and rolling cover crops then sowing in between.

[Thelma Sanders]

I think it was changing from manure to chemical fertilisers that made the soil so easily lost, not the ploughing per se, dust runs off or blows away, organically fertilised soil doesn't.

I read recently (sorry can't remember where to link) that specialists were advocating the return to mixed animal/crop rotations to save the world's soil in the long-term

[rary]

I can see how chemical fertilisers could alter the soil structure and add to erosion problems but it can still happen with traditional farming methods, one of the better known examples being the dust bowls of North America and Canada of the 1930s when the deep cultivation of the soil caused the destruction of fibrous roots which held the soil together and of course the same thing happens in this country with farming methods where all the hedge rows are removed to make larger fields for more "economical" farming, personally as I don't have a large garden and at present I can suppliment my garden compost with bringing in seaweed (replaces manure) I can follow the no dig method organically, but I think in the future when I am unable to collect the seaweed (when I reach the age of VC) I will garden using garden compost and chemicals and I think I should still be able to stay no dig, while writing this I have had the thought that some new gardeners think no dig method means organic, which of course it's not

[SarrissUK]

(when I reach the age of VC)

I think you may be so brave today that you might not!!!

[veggiechicken]

To reach my age rary would have to turn his calendar backwards.

[4Shoes]

You still get weeds with no-dig, but they are easier to remove since they root in the looser layers of organic material instead of the soil. By not digging you also avoid bringing dormant weed seeds to the soil surface where they can germinate.

Ploughing has helped the world lose a heck of a lot of topsoil via run off. No-dig (the Charles Dowding way) is impractical on a large scale, but there are farmers practising no-till by crimping and rolling cover crops then sowing in between.

To add balance...
There are some areas where because they are not ploughing a grass (think they called is Black Grass) is taking over.

Many people should look at no-dig like health. All of it in moderation and take action when needed. Sometimes you might need to did

[toomanytommytoes]

I am just waiting for the AI controlled drones which can spot and target individual weeds.

[veggiechicken]

Excuse me tangentising a bit - but I've been sorting my gardening books into themes. There are 20+ that tell me what to do every month of the year. Do I do what they say? No chance - I make up my own way that suits me and my garden.
I have most of CD's books and his diary - do I follow it - No chance - for the same reasons - his garden is not like mine and I don't have his needs or resources.
However, I've read what he and the other authors have written and picked from each the bits that appeal to me and tweaked them when necessary.
There is no best way to garden - nobody has the same soil/climate/time/money/resources as anyone else - least of all the professionals who garden for a living. We read, learn, adapt and devise whatever works best for us.
There is no right or wrong way. Garden with an open mind and don't be brainwashed by perfect pictures of plots. Real life isn't like that.
Pick and mix and do it your way, whatever way that may be.

[mcdood]

Life would be very boring if we just followed rules.

[Snadger]

Fruit and veg don't read books anyway!