When I finally got a garden a couple years back, I tried learning about how to manage it. From all the clashing information sources on the internet it was hard to choose how to work the garden. Eventually I chose your channel as a guiding channel, because your arguments were strong and your garden seemed to do well. Now I harvest a lot of food every year, and can give loads of food to people around me. This while the maintenance is very low. Thank you very much!
Charles, what do you do with the cover crops you grow in the no dig beds? I have grown mustard this year, where the crop was small, the frost has killed it completely and I just mulched it as normal. I have a bed where the mustard strongly to 4', the frost stopped it but there are still strong stems. I'm planning to chop it up, then mulch, but would appreciate your insight. I think I might have to use an alternative crop as I suspect the mustard is making my club root worse.
I saw a popular RUclipsr discussing mulching in spring but I think when in doubt, just follow nature. The leaves mulch the ground in autumn ready for the new spring growth. We should do that too! Also Mother Nature doesn’t have a spade and did just fine before these “traditional gardeners”.
And here you are, knowing it does damage, and takes more time and effort just to SHOW people the way to do it with less time and less effort. Kudos to you, Charles. Your methods are simply the best! My freezer is at full capacity again this year and I also added medicinal plants! My pantry and I thank you very, very much!
I was sold on no dig years ago thanks to Charles. The biggest obstacles is finding a good source of quality compost in a large quantity to start. It takes some searching depending on your location. Once the beds are established then you don't need as much compost to replenish them each year. I can't collect enough materials to make and use my own compost yet but I'm working on it. Thank you Charles.
I used to think the same and then got busy with the searching. Farmers and stables often are willing to donate dung, every autumn leaves fall all across the country, all summer the councils cut amenity grass, tree surgeons move woodchip on the roads daily, the list is endless. Time to innovate! Good luck 🫡🫡🫡
Making enough of my own compost is also something I find can be challenging. I need about 2.7m³ of compost annually & only manage that through all my own plant waste, cutting 300m² of lawn, plus scrounging grass clippings, weeds & debris from other plot holders & seaweed from the shore. Then there's about 200kg of shredded cardboard & the same of old wood chippings as the high carbon component... But the end product & subsequent harvest make it all worth the effort.
Thank you Charles for introducing me to no-dig. As someone with back problems I find the less digging I need to do the better for me and my allotment. When I explained it to someone recently, I used the example of the forest and I asked him who goes around digging and planting? Follow what nature does and we can't go far wrong.
Thanks to guys like you and Paul(Back to Eden) I’ll never till/dig again. Heavy mulch(woodchips) are the answer - everything needs a covering. God bless you Charles!
❤I love hearing the science behind garden soil! It’s amazing to me. My original field of study in college was animal science, but my daughter is a microbiologist. Our conversations make me think of how my studies would have developed over the years.
I know what you mean, my best education has been in the last 15 years, discoveries I've made in the field and on the Internet, and in books. Great you can chat to your daughter
I have no choice. My subsoil is hardpan ancient silt deposit and needs a pick axe to loosen up. Drainage was nonexistent - except sideways. It would take me a whole hour to dig two of the trenches that Mr. Downing so effortlessly dug up. No dig is the only option. Over the years the 2 inches of top soil has built up to over a foot of dark loose well draining richness.
Less permeability might be the reason for the moss round the edges; the rain runs off the dug bed & keeps the edges more moist compared to round the no dig bed.
For more decades than I care to remember I did traditional in-ground gardening. Rototill in the spring, plant the bed, weed and hoe all summer long until the final harvest, rototill again in the fall and plant a cover crop, then the next spring start again by rototilling in the cover crop to prepare for planting. Always good crops, but a lot of work. Five or six years ago I covered that garden with free wood chips and put raised beds on top of it, then filled the beds with homemade potting soil made of mostly compost. The beds are no dig by design, and are much more productive than the larger in-ground garden ever was. Love the ease of no dig, and never looked back.
My beds have been no dig for years and they just keep getting better year on year. Also, most of my crops seem to be quite pest free. Thanks for posting Charles.
I also had my questions about that video! What Huw says sounds plausible, but it is contradictory to what people say about compost that it does not wash out! Thanks for the explanation Charles!
@@gerardhuiskamp9660 If Huw mentioned this about fertilizers I would agree with him, since practically every fertilizer contains forms of nutrients that are readily available. These can wash out more easily than their inorganic counterparts. This probably happens with compost too, but too such a low degree that I wouldn't worry about it as much as fertilizer. What Charles mentions about the soil life benefitting from the compost throughout wintertime is probably more 'worth it' than the miniscule loss of nutrients by weathering.
What a GORGEOUS garden you have created Charles! having attempted several times to have a garden as beautiful, healthy and generous as yours, I honestly can appreciate the love, effort, passion, knowledge, curiosity poured down into yours. Thank you for sharing your journey with us, it is a blessing.
3:51 Might use WE instead my friend. Everyone's love for the garden shows in our intent our energies. I was shocked to see a shovel ...Great solutions thanks for sharing... No diggity no doubt
Thanks for continuing to inspire me with the no dig ethos and with the variety of different crops you grow. Whilst slugs destroyed almost everything I planted outside to overwinter (except bizarrely for red leaved lettuce), I am beating them with salad crops in pots in an unheated greenhouse and am loving picking fresh leaves to eat through the winter. Here's to an easier 2025.
Interesting video thank you. I have been hearing lately about different times to lay down compost on other people’s videos on no dig beds but have always remembered you saying autumn time and now you’ve mentioned it again when you think about it nature does the exact thing at autumn every year. All the leaves and dying plant life break down on the surface in a thin layer and gets worked in ready for the spring so this confirms what you are saying 👍
I was thinking recently about the trees dropping their leaves on the ground during autumn and how they're essentially contributing to feeding and forming new top soil.
Charles you have incredible soil. Years of cultivation would allow anything to grow. Most of your audience has terrible soil compared to what you have . It doesn’t matter if you till or if you don’t. Your soil will grow any crop. Also remember your soil is loaded with microorganisms that rearrange themselves quickly after tilling.
Thanks and this happens to be true. I don't see it as an issue though because when I farmed in France 1992-1997, the soil is white clay there, called "boulbène". It's incredibly difficult to work if that's what you do, the paysans do not value it, but no dig was highly effective.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Charles a video suggestion. Make a video with absolutely crappy soil and show your audience how you’re able to improve that soil towards what you have in your garden. My suspicion is you will have to till to improve awful soil. As you can tell already I’m a huge fan of tilling and improving my soil into the future. I’m a five year gardener and love to see my soils move into the future.
Interesting to see the moss growing on the bed you dig every year. I built a greenhouse in my garden this year which meant some areas around and inside it had to be dug for the foundation and I noticed that in those patches moss is now growing, whereas in the no fig parts of the beds in the greenhouse there is no moss but some mushrooms coming up.
Advancing Eco Agriculture has fascinating podcasts about soil microbe/plant interactions, especially concerning the communication between roots and microbes and the transfer of nutrients between all the elements of the soil biosphere.
Only one question, Charles: WHY am I only discovering you NOW??? Where have I been? Love your channel. I live in America's Midwest and I love no dig gardening--I grow mostly flowers and herbs and pollinator friendly stuff. But I love the look of black kale (looks like something dinosaurs would have eaten) so I'm going to plant some this Spring. Thank you for be so inspirational 🤩
Hi Margaret, I'm glad you did find me! Maybe RUclips are not promoting this channel a lot. That's great you like no dig and I hope you can grow more vegetables
I need to move a no dig bed, the top soil area part of it. I know lifting the soil, putting it into a barrel and placing it on the new area is disruptive, but ….. I don’t want to leave behind the lovely soil and so it’s necessary. I’m sure others have done this. Any comments on Moving no-dig beds….are most welcome 🤗
I am doing that in another trial and the yield reduction from forking soil with compost on top, is 8% over 10 years. I've not made a video about it recently. 2019 ruclips.net/video/u0V-5qXQz9U/видео.html
No one digs the jungles, yet they are the most lush green and vibrant of places on the planet. Profits have led us to all the wrong places, but the good healthy and rejuvenating, and not only in the food industries.
Cada día se conocen mas factores que demuestran que el "No DiG" mejora la calidad de nuestros cultivos y aportan los nutrientes necesarios como tambien protegen de las enfermedades.Los nuevos estudios sobre el comportamiento de las raíces y las conexiones mediante túneles que dejan las lombrices,raices de plantas etc..para crear un perfecto ecosistema en nuestros huertos.El mayor trabajo en nuestros huertos es crear compost y entenderlo 😂😂 Saludos desde Tenerife!!
Sí, es emocionante, Manuel. El tiempo que ahorramos cavando lo podemos emplear en hacer compost, y eso es algo muy constructivo, en comparación. Espero que más jardineros de Tenerife utilicen estos métodos.
Hi Charles! It's clear how no dig works better than digging, I think that it would be very interesting now to see what happens to the dug bed if you stop digging it every winter. The amount of grown vegetables should increase by 15/20% in a few years
No dig : evidence. My only exception : nettles 🥴 I have a 1000m2 nettles garden and the only solution is to take them off (grelinette is perfect for this use), make compost with and the following year, I have compost an no dig beds 😉 . Second year with this garden : I can use 1/3 of the garden now ... Thanks a lot for your helpfull vidéos Charles 💚🌱💚🍀✨
Really interesting about the moss growing, I wonder if that’s due to the drainage not being so good in the dig. I have noticed the weeds are better (less) in my no dog beds too! 💚
Good question! I think it's because the surface is more claggy and less porous. I see very little moss growing in the compost mulch of any no dig beds. I'm glad your weeds are reduced!
I'm more used to a "dug bed" being the compost get dumped on top then hoed, raked or cultivated/rotovatered to mix it up. I only do no dig myself these days
So you dig a trench in the dig bed and add compost in there, but also spread on top? I collected so many leaves this year and bought a mulcher to grind them up. I’m expecting some nice compost next year. Nice overhead view of the garden. It always looks beautiful. 😊
That sounds promising and thanks. I do not spread any compost on top of the dig bed because it's all in the trenches, which is the older, traditional approach here, before rototillers at least.
Hi Charles I am a self confessed digger. However I no longer put manure/compost the trench like my Father did. When you think about it the goodness has a spit of soil on top so the plants would grow that deep to access it. I do therefore spread compost on as a mulch after digging in winter letting the worms work on it and then plant direct in to it each season adding mulch around the plant if required. Do you have any comparisons and what are you thoughts on this method?
Yes, it sounds more enlightened than burying compost, although another person here has mentioned how that works very well for sandy soil. What I don't understand in your comment, is why you do the digging!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I guess I enjoy it and for me it works in controlling perennial weeds like bind weed, doc also blackberry and raspberry from my neighbours plot.
Of all your videos I found this one hardest to watch. Thank you for persuading me not to waste my time with all that backbreaking work. If the rain does leach nutrients, where do they go - into the soil below? I do have a bit of moss, so I reckon that probably means I need to put a thicker layer of compost on those bits from what you just said.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig that makes sense - so they're assuming that compost woks the same way, which we know it doesn't because it needs to break down in order to make nutrients available, which is a much slower process.
It’s so much hard work digging those trenches, what a waste of time and energy, there’s a chap on the allotment next to me and he digs his plot over every year to bury the weeds, his soil look like concrete in the summer, now he’s got a very bad back and is struggling with his pain, I get weeds too mainly from where the moles have made their hills, but I don’t mind them because I get such fabulous results with no dig, Best wishes, Lisa
Petit conseil charles si je peux me permettre : Attention à ton dos Charles quand tu ratisses ta terre avec ton râteau, c'est plus facile avec un croc à 4 dents où les dents sont recourbées . Tu peux finir d'égaliser la terre avec ton râteau mais qu'à la fin😉 Pépé JP du nord de la France et qui aimerait bien avoir du soleil !
Well spotted and probably they are green manure, but I do have the option of removing some to thin them out, if I'm thinking by late February that I need more plants for cropping
So I'm a new gardener. We bought a house recently on half an acre. I was in a rush early in the year to start growing veg so I dug the first 2 vegetable beds and found out the hard way I made a mistake. We have dense clay and the beds just became soak pits when it rained. The next few beds I tried no dig and the difference was very obvious. The first two beds are recovering from my mistake and I have them topped with compost for next year. Going into 2025 a little wiser and more prepared. Hopefully 2025 is a bit more gentle though 😂
Question: Is this what is considered double dig? I've seen other examples of double digs, but they didn't seem to be as extreme as this. I grew up & still live in SW Virginia with everyone plowing their gardens in the fall, then disc-ing in the spring followed by tilling prior to planting. I've got raised beds now (great for achy backs & knees!) that are pretty undisturbed with compost added. They are only a few years old so trying to get soil right for what I'm growing.
Re: Compost addition timing. Seems to me No Dig is mirroring the Natural processes that occur in a forest. Such systems are highly evolved, and stable, with all organisms well adapted to the system. Given that, I would expect that leaf fall ought to be the best time to add compost, as you do. Don't know if any comparison tests would be measurable, but I find what you are doing very interesting, so thought I'd (wood) chip in. Martin Coleman
What is the Soil type you live on Charles? I mean originally I reckon those garden Beds are something else by now😂? I Live on Clay soil here in the Netherland and I find it kinda annoying to garden in 😅
It's silt over clay, the nicest soil of four gardens, I have created. First one on stony soil, second one on white clay, third one loamy, yellow clay, and now this one. No Dig was brilliant on the white clay!
Hi Charles. I love your experiments and trials. What would be the result if you now swapped the dig and no dig beds? Would what you plant in the adjacent beds make a difference to the yields? As you have said the trees next doors affect the small garden, would cabbages effect the dig bid? Does the proximity of the glasshouse have any effect on yields. Just some of my mad ramblings. Thanks for the videos, great and informative as always. Steve
It matters not how many times i make a new bed using no dig, grow beautiful straight carrots with no forking, people still insist that they must broadfork their carrot beds.
I have found that those that dig their allotments on my site, only trench dig for runner bens, otherwise they just lay the compost on the top of the soil and then dig it in. have you tried that way for comparison too, Charles? I would be interested to see what the results would be in comparison. happy growing 🙂
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you Charles for the great info. I have had a no dig garden for the past 10 years and know how well it works. I hardly ever have to weed my garden or allotment- saves me so much time and back ache Thank you for such a brilliant channel . Your calendar is on my prezzie list this year and am keeping my fingers crossed my other half or daughter will buy for me. Happy growing 🙂
Cavar el suelo está en la cultura.Cambiarlo es "casi" imposible. Todos mis vecinos y alrededores siguen cavando y con monocultivos (patatas) ,además de aplicar plaguicidas y abonos sintéticos.Sin Cavar,espero llegar a los 80 años😅 por el poco esfuerzo que requiere.Saludos desde Tenerife!!
Hey Charles! What advice would you have to those gardeners who are advanced in age or may have sustained a back injury to keep their no dig garden going? I ask because although I have retired, I have had a sedentary office job which has led to back problems. How can I keep my no dig dreams alive? Cheers!
Ah shame, sorry to hear that Craig. Craniosacral therapy helped me a lot. My back used to be frequently bad, and now it's mostly feeling very strong. Look for the upright posture whenever you're not bending over, shoulders back and head forward. I don't do any exercises, but I'm very aware of my posture, and actually have a standing desk! But I don't use it all the time, because it's tiring my legs 😮
Question Charles? I know you weigh everything that comes out the two beds throughout the year, do you see the dug bed catching up, in comparison, later in the year, compared to the Spring? Because, its had time to "settle back down" and some of the structure comes back.
Hi Charles , really enjoyed your video as usual. I was wondering if you could give any advice on growing shallots from seed you have saved. I’ve been growing my own garlic and shallots saved from the seed of the year before for around 6 years now. My garlic gets better and better each year I save it, where as my shallots have gotten smaller and smaller each year to the point where I’m going to have to re-buy sets for the first time in 6 years. Is this something that tends to happen with saving your own shallot as seed or have you have more enduring success with saving your own shallots for seed? If you have any experience to share on this I would be most grateful.
That's a good question. I'm no expert on shallots but have noticed myself a lack of success from keeping shallots to plant and I've not had time to look into it. Partly it's because I'm so happy with my onions and the seed I save from them
@ thanks for your response Charles. I’ve heard keeping your own seed potatoes can lead to increasingly poorer yields each year but I haven’t tried that yet. From my experience the same happens with keeping shallots as seed. I’ve never grown onions from seed (I’ve always used sets) as I haven’t had much indoor space to start the seeds off, but this summer I bought a large Polycrub so I’ll give it a try early next year. Keep up the great work!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig that’s really good to know. I should give it a try. I know potatoes are easy to grow but there’s very little gives me more satisfaction than growing my own potatoes. You can feed the family on them nearly all year and they are so versatile. Thank you.
No dig is better I agree but if you have bad weed roots for example bind weed like tree trunks you need to dig for the first few years to get it all out. But after that no dig is the way forward 👌🏻
Thanks. I've had that in different places, really thick bindweed and did not dig it out, but needed to keep removing regrowth with some root, for which I used a trowel, over two years. By September of the second year it is 100% finished.
I try to practice minimal disturbance but like to use my Madeiran potato hoe to skim the surface, which has no more impact than the oscillating hoes which are popular amongst no diggers. I have to deal with a weed bomb problem as a result of the unkempt allotment plots adjoining my own.
Common sense would be that a layer of compost on top in wintermonths protects and feeds the soil. What does "wash-out" mean anyway? Dissapearing into nothing? Logic would be: straight into the soil underneath.
The idea is that bare compost, without plants on top or other methods to contain rain water, would bring nutrients in the soil into solution and they would flow out of the bed. This is only a problem on large commercial farms who have to pour on heavy doses of synthetic fertilizer to make up for their poor soil health.
Interesting that you say (at 1:30) you get around 12% more from your no-dig beds. That's a remarkably small improvement. In fact, too small to be measurable without the kind of specific, multi-year trial you're conducting. It must surely be dwarfed by the effects of climate, weather and the general skill of the gardener.
It's significant in the context of requiring two and a half hours less work every year, and not depleting soil fertility (carbon 18% v 14%). The other effects are same for both beds.
my compost and now my garden is infested with an indestructible weed that every little fragment roots and becomes a new plant.. “bushkiller vine”… if anyone knows how to kill this stuff without herbicide please help.. if you put a tarp over it, it will just pop up on the edges of the tarp no matter how big.. crazy stuff
Hey thanks for your response! Scientific name of this plant is cayratia japonica for anyone in the Southern US who needs to know… just learned it has medicinal properties at least! Maybe it could be marketed to Chinese Herbal Medicine practitioners. The short wikipedia article even mentions that composting it is not recommended because of its ability to root from stem fragments.. whoops! I do a lot of garden maintenance for a living and used to bring ALL of the garden waste home with me to compost which is how I got my new forever friend..
So you have been burying the compost that deep all these years ?? In my tilling areas.....I only work in my organic matter into the top 4-6 inches.....
@@CharlesDowding1nodig though my shallot and garlic bed is really kicking it with no dig, have a tomato bed also no dig but outside...sauce tomatoes last season and was an amazing crop☺️
Like to see what you do and glad it works for you and others, but it’s not practical in my garden. The amount of compost you put on that small area is more than most can create in a year. I have two very large gardens in comparison to most. I tried no dig in a small area that was only forked and the tomato plants didn’t do well and it probably couldn’t have been a worse time as we had a year’s worth of rain by July. We have sandy soil and the rain didn’t bother other areas because we either turned by hand or tilled and more air was allowed. Sand can compact like heavy soil. Were the roots shown at the surface in a no dig bed? Maybe they liked all the compost. Here the roots need to go deeper because it dries out quickly here. I want the roots to go deeper. It’s similar to why permaculture wouldn’t work here as well because the roots from trees and shrubs would rob moisture and sun from the vegetables. I like my sandy soil as it’s easy to work with and root crops come out clean, it is just that nutrients drain through quicker than heavy soil. The heat in this hot micro climate can eat up compost quickly and if laid on top would dry out to a crust. A Ruth Stout method would only increase living quarters to a rodent problem and recently a vole issue. Also in the no dig area I noticed what appeared to be root knot nematode nodules I’ve never had before. Tilling helps get rid of them. I see a lot of clay allotments on RUclips and they look so wet and adding tons of compost and practice no dig and I say, give it some air because the plants look weak. Farmers here don’t till in raw manure for a couple of reasons-because the ground is frozen and because it holds the soil in place. They general won’t plow areas that are wind eroded as well. Raw manure needs to be aged at least 3 mos to prevent ecoli and parasite issues so it makes sense to spread in fall/winter. I till and cultivate and there are mushrooms and worms. The only place we have moss are in shady areas near trees in the lawn. I don’t use a high RPM tiller as those will harm soil. I want organic material mixed in and down where I want the roots to go so they don’t dry out at the surface. If the roots are at the surface that’s a sign of watering too shallow. Our onion roots go deep. Everyone has to do what works for their garden and location. I’m not saying no dig doesn’t work at all, it just doesn’t do well here and it is impractical. I do in ground gardening and some areas are slightly raised with hugelkulture to retain moisture and the paths are deep with arborist chips all to help hold moisture/nutrients. I do enjoy your videos and observing.
Thanks, it's fascinating to read your different perspective. I'm glad that you are using woodchip in your paths because that's adding a decent amount of organic matter and is part of the reason I reckon why your plants are growing well. Regarding shallow rooting, I wanted to show how many roots there can be at the surface, where as you say it's natural that organic matter is more concentrated from it being added there. In that leek bed, I have not added any compost or organic matter for a year, and with no dig, the surface is always nicely structured for roots, which also go deep when it's drier. They are at all levels.
@ we have chickens and I use leaves, straw ect when mulching. The paths I dug down and added the wood chips and threw the soil on 3’ wide long beds and low boards to hold all in place. It works well.
Yes quite a lot don't do either of dig with a spade/ fill with manure ,or no dig/add mulch , but just turn the top layer with a fork and leave it at that perhaps adding fertiliser during the season.
@@monikamona5271 I think the other typical way of doing things nowadays compared to "no dig" is to spread manure/compost and lightly fork it in. Would be interesting to trial this against pure no dig.
Extra carbon in the soil......In my "simple" world, does anyone on this channel have any info about,,,,....., Is it is anything to do with the extra microbial lives in the soil ?? and is it this microbial life that is the the beginning the middle and the end when we are trying to achieve fertile soil ????
Kind of, but I look at it the other way round, how digging/killing loses carbon through oxidation into CO2. With no dig, there is no need for any specific measures to increase carbon, except for one which is the surface application of organic matter. In my case, that's compost.
So, no doubt that a dig vs. no-dig year after year is going to favor no-dig even when you're working in good quality compost into the soil with the dig bed. The evidence from people doing soil analysis and plant health have shown this enough times that it's becoming more widely accepted. I can't do no-dig where I live. The best I can do is dig once. But the soil quality is too poor in that it is heavy clay that turns into almost rock in the summer. Proper watering helps to mitigate that but still the soil is very heavy and I don't think it's worth amending the soil or trying to grow anything simply by adding compost to the top of it and I don't even have good access to quality compost that I could trust to support healthy plants. So, to me what makes the most sense is raised bed gardening. If I had a decent quality soil underneath that drains properly I'd think about in ground gardening and doing a one time dig to work in a lot of organic material, and then no-dig from that point on as regenerative farmers here in the US are doing, and that makes perfect sense to me, using a one time, deep tillage and working in material, and then adding compost each year.
Thanks for sharing this and it's good you have a solution you're happy with. I have gardened on clay soil such as you describe, in the 1990s. And I found that compost of any kind, including old cow manure on top, amended it through the action of soil life below, such as earthworms, which come up to feed all the organic matter, and then take it down, creating channels in the soil, even though it's clay.
That's a very bizarre way to dig a garden so i'm unsurprised the results are poor. Most people throw compost on and dig or fork it over or rotovate it to thoroughly incorporate it into the soil. What you've done is double digging, the soil and compost aren't mixed, they're in separate layers. Whilst I agree that a compost mulch laid on top of good quality, healthy soil in late Autumn, then left is the way to go, your mistake has always been to sling cardboard and compost on top of unchecked and possibly difficult ground. It doesn't solve problem ground very quickly, if ever. There are different methods of no-dig and a much better way is to evaluate the soil and amend accordingly straight away. Dig out any unneeded plants/grass/weeds, incorporate compost and grow. It doesn't matter if rotovating or digging is needed initially. After the soil is visibly and effectively fixed then apply no-dig from there on. This is because (as you point out) soil does repair itself quite quickly from being disturbed. I used this alternative no-dig method (my ground was grass, weeds, compacted clay with a lot of stones and rocks). It was hard work initially to sort the soil out, but has been worth it as my carrots and parsnips are actually better than yours and in a fraction of the years spent waiting for the soil to improve. Still No-dig for the win though 👍
do you think theres still people who would not believe in no dig ? who would be like well maybe in his conext once but i need a study that shows your bs is viable ? if so then yes he needs to keep it up
I see your point, but it's teaching me and other people about the value of No-Dig, and for example, how it keeps carbon in the soil, compared to when soil is disturbed
@@CharlesDowding1nodig if you ever decide to stop, it would be interesting to me to know how long it takes the dug bed to recover to be equal to the no dig bed.
When I finally got a garden a couple years back, I tried learning about how to manage it. From all the clashing information sources on the internet it was hard to choose how to work the garden. Eventually I chose your channel as a guiding channel, because your arguments were strong and your garden seemed to do well. Now I harvest a lot of food every year, and can give loads of food to people around me. This while the maintenance is very low. Thank you very much!
That is awesome! Happy for you.
I hope those people truly appreciate it.
Bom dia Charles estou avisando que o meu teclado não apareceu mas dei meu joinha adorei obrigado ❤
Charles, what do you do with the cover crops you grow in the no dig beds?
I have grown mustard this year, where the crop was small, the frost has killed it completely and I just mulched it as normal.
I have a bed where the mustard strongly to 4', the frost stopped it but there are still strong stems. I'm planning to chop it up, then mulch, but would appreciate your insight.
I think I might have to use an alternative crop as I suspect the mustard is making my club root worse.
I have a question Charles, I've been to allotment and laid my cardboard and no dig compost ,but have I done this too early ,? Should I wait ?
I saw a popular RUclipsr discussing mulching in spring but I think when in doubt, just follow nature. The leaves mulch the ground in autumn ready for the new spring growth. We should do that too!
Also Mother Nature doesn’t have a spade and did just fine before these “traditional gardeners”.
I really admire your dedication, Charles. Nothing would convince me to go back to digging. I reckon you'll eventually be the last gardener doing it.
😂 cool thanks Paul
I love no dig gardening ❤It's very much appreciated to have you do this experiment to share with us, Charles. Thank you.
Glad you enjoy it!
And here you are, knowing it does damage, and takes more time and effort just to SHOW people the way to do it with less time and less effort. Kudos to you, Charles. Your methods are simply the best! My freezer is at full capacity again this year and I also added medicinal plants! My pantry and I thank you very, very much!
Glad to help Sue and thanks
I was sold on no dig years ago thanks to Charles. The biggest obstacles is finding a good source of quality compost in a large quantity to start. It takes some searching depending on your location. Once the beds are established then you don't need as much compost to replenish them each year. I can't collect enough materials to make and use my own compost yet but I'm working on it. Thank you Charles.
Exactly the same experience here.
I used to think the same and then got busy with the searching. Farmers and stables often are willing to donate dung, every autumn leaves fall all across the country, all summer the councils cut amenity grass, tree surgeons move woodchip on the roads daily, the list is endless. Time to innovate! Good luck 🫡🫡🫡
Scrounging is good!
Thanks for sharing, glad you made it
Making enough of my own compost is also something I find can be challenging.
I need about 2.7m³ of compost annually & only manage that through all my own plant waste, cutting 300m² of lawn, plus scrounging grass clippings, weeds & debris from other plot holders & seaweed from the shore. Then there's about 200kg of shredded cardboard & the same of old wood chippings as the high carbon component...
But the end product & subsequent harvest make it all worth the effort.
Thank you Charles for introducing me to no-dig. As someone with back problems I find the less digging I need to do the better for me and my allotment. When I explained it to someone recently, I used the example of the forest and I asked him who goes around digging and planting? Follow what nature does and we can't go far wrong.
Thanks to guys like you and Paul(Back to Eden) I’ll never till/dig again. Heavy mulch(woodchips) are the answer - everything needs a covering. God bless you Charles!
Many thanks
❤I love hearing the science behind garden soil! It’s amazing to me. My original field of study in college was animal science, but my daughter is a microbiologist. Our conversations make me think of how my studies would have developed over the years.
I know what you mean, my best education has been in the last 15 years, discoveries I've made in the field and on the Internet, and in books. Great you can chat to your daughter
I have no choice. My subsoil is hardpan ancient silt deposit and needs a pick axe to loosen up. Drainage was nonexistent - except sideways. It would take me a whole hour to dig two of the trenches that Mr. Downing so effortlessly dug up. No dig is the only option. Over the years the 2 inches of top soil has built up to over a foot of dark loose well draining richness.
Less permeability might be the reason for the moss round the edges; the rain runs off the dug bed & keeps the edges more moist compared to round the no dig bed.
For more decades than I care to remember I did traditional in-ground gardening. Rototill in the spring, plant the bed, weed and hoe all summer long until the final harvest, rototill again in the fall and plant a cover crop, then the next spring start again by rototilling in the cover crop to prepare for planting. Always good crops, but a lot of work. Five or six years ago I covered that garden with free wood chips and put raised beds on top of it, then filled the beds with homemade potting soil made of mostly compost. The beds are no dig by design, and are much more productive than the larger in-ground garden ever was. Love the ease of no dig, and never looked back.
A great history, thanks for sharing, and so much work!
My beds have been no dig for years and they just keep getting better year on year. Also, most of my crops seem to be quite pest free. Thanks for posting Charles.
That's great tropical feedback!
Thanks for including my question about Huw’s video!
I also commented there, I thought it was a bit of a bizarre video.
I also had my questions about that video! What Huw says sounds plausible, but it is contradictory to what people say about compost that it does not wash out! Thanks for the explanation Charles!
Huw has lots of theories but never any trials or evidence to back it up
@@gerardhuiskamp9660 If Huw mentioned this about fertilizers I would agree with him, since practically every fertilizer contains forms of nutrients that are readily available. These can wash out more easily than their inorganic counterparts. This probably happens with compost too, but too such a low degree that I wouldn't worry about it as much as fertilizer. What Charles mentions about the soil life benefitting from the compost throughout wintertime is probably more 'worth it' than the miniscule loss of nutrients by weathering.
@@TCFr97 Thanks for your extensive answer! Appreciated and yes I agree!
simply amazing! i love the fact that you're keeping track of all the harvests and doing it so thoroughly!
Thanks Pascal
What a GORGEOUS garden you have created Charles! having attempted several times to have a garden as beautiful, healthy and generous as yours, I honestly can appreciate the love, effort, passion, knowledge, curiosity poured down into yours. Thank you for sharing your journey with us, it is a blessing.
Thank you Ema, and you are most welcome
So nice thanks
3:51 Might use WE instead my friend. Everyone's love for the garden shows in our intent our energies. I was shocked to see a shovel ...Great solutions thanks for sharing... No diggity no doubt
Thanks for continuing to inspire me with the no dig ethos and with the variety of different crops you grow. Whilst slugs destroyed almost everything I planted outside to overwinter (except bizarrely for red leaved lettuce), I am beating them with salad crops in pots in an unheated greenhouse and am loving picking fresh leaves to eat through the winter. Here's to an easier 2025.
Nice to hear and well done Susan!
I have found they do not like read letters, so that's a bonus.
My garden is no dig and this is thanks to your advices. Thank you Charles.
Lovely to hear Marzena
I love them little beds well marked out with string, i hope i can do something similar next year.
Go you Christian
I've watched this comparison for many years now. It is quite amazing the things that are discovered. A no dig garden is the way to go!
Glad you enjoy it James
Cant wait to get started on my allotment with this method ,ive got a dodgy lumbar ,so no dig sounds more to nature and better on my back thank you ❤
I hope it goes well
Interesting video thank you. I have been hearing lately about different times to lay down compost on other people’s videos on no dig beds but have always remembered you saying autumn time and now you’ve mentioned it again when you think about it nature does the exact thing at autumn every year. All the leaves and dying plant life break down on the surface in a thin layer and gets worked in ready for the spring so this confirms what you are saying 👍
Cheers Steve
I started a compost pile and stopped digging three years ago. I'll never going back, no dig wins!
Good to hear Dan
I was thinking recently about the trees dropping their leaves on the ground during autumn and how they're essentially contributing to feeding and forming new top soil.
Good thought!
You inspire me to do better for the soil. Thank for sharing your experience 💚🌱
I am glad Gris, lovely to hear this 🌱
Hello Charles,
50°F this morning 🌄 It's been a chilly December with mornings in the 40's F!!!
Take care and Merry Christmas 🎅
Oh wow Peggy, global cooling! That's the same as here, almost 😮
Hi Charles, thanks again for sharing🙂
You are welcome Francis
👍
Charles you have incredible soil. Years of cultivation would allow anything to grow. Most of your audience has terrible soil compared to what you have . It doesn’t matter if you till or if you don’t. Your soil will grow any crop. Also remember your soil is loaded with microorganisms that rearrange themselves quickly after tilling.
Thanks and this happens to be true. I don't see it as an issue though because when I farmed in France 1992-1997, the soil is white clay there, called "boulbène". It's incredibly difficult to work if that's what you do, the paysans do not value it, but no dig was highly effective.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Charles a video suggestion. Make a video with absolutely crappy soil and show your audience how you’re able to improve that soil towards what you have in your garden. My suspicion is you will have to till to improve awful soil. As you can tell already I’m a huge fan of tilling and improving my soil into the future. I’m a five year gardener and love to see my soils move into the future.
Ha ha, I need to find some terrible soil. The clay I mentioned was without tilling. Let's see
I know it would be a waste, but I'd love to see you dig a small part of a well established no dig bed and compare the deep structure to the dug bed.
Interesting to see the moss growing on the bed you dig every year. I built a greenhouse in my garden this year which meant some areas around and inside it had to be dug for the foundation and I noticed that in those patches moss is now growing, whereas in the no fig parts of the beds in the greenhouse there is no moss but some mushrooms coming up.
Fascinating! Moss does some mending partly
Please tell Adam to continue posting on Mycoad channel. I find his videos very instructive !
I shall pass that on and we were discussing it yesterday
I truely value your authenticity! 😊❤
Thank you Stefan
nice video charles
Glad you enjoyed it Steven
Advancing Eco Agriculture has fascinating podcasts about soil microbe/plant interactions, especially concerning the communication between roots and microbes and the transfer of nutrients between all the elements of the soil biosphere.
Thanks
I am always interested in hearing talks about these two garden beds......interesting!
I am glad you enjoyed it Michael
Only one question, Charles: WHY am I only discovering you NOW??? Where have I been? Love your channel. I live in America's Midwest and I love no dig gardening--I grow mostly flowers and herbs and pollinator friendly stuff. But I love the look of black kale (looks like something dinosaurs would have eaten) so I'm going to plant some this Spring. Thank you for be so inspirational 🤩
Hi Margaret, I'm glad you did find me! Maybe RUclips are not promoting this channel a lot. That's great you like no dig and I hope you can grow more vegetables
I need to move a no dig bed, the top soil area part of it. I know lifting the soil, putting it into a barrel and placing it on the new area is disruptive, but ….. I don’t want to leave behind the lovely soil and so it’s necessary. I’m sure others have done this. Any comments on Moving no-dig beds….are most welcome 🤗
I would do exactly as you describe
It would be interesting to try a third variation of traditional digging, then composting on top.
I am doing that in another trial and the yield reduction from forking soil with compost on top, is 8% over 10 years. I've not made a video about it recently. 2019 ruclips.net/video/u0V-5qXQz9U/видео.html
In nature organic matter always gets added to the surface nature never dig's it in , love your no dig method, it's the only way I grow veggies now
Well said!
No one digs the jungles, yet they are the most lush green and vibrant of places on the planet. Profits have led us to all the wrong places, but the good healthy and rejuvenating, and not only in the food industries.
💚
Cada día se conocen mas factores que demuestran que el "No DiG" mejora la calidad de nuestros cultivos y aportan los nutrientes necesarios como tambien protegen de las enfermedades.Los nuevos estudios sobre el comportamiento de las raíces y las conexiones mediante túneles que dejan las lombrices,raices de plantas etc..para crear un perfecto ecosistema en nuestros huertos.El mayor trabajo en nuestros huertos es crear compost y entenderlo 😂😂 Saludos desde Tenerife!!
Sí, es emocionante, Manuel.
El tiempo que ahorramos cavando lo podemos emplear en hacer compost, y eso es algo muy constructivo, en comparación. Espero que más jardineros de Tenerife utilicen estos métodos.
Hi Charles! It's clear how no dig works better than digging, I think that it would be very interesting now to see what happens to the dug bed if you stop digging it every winter. The amount of grown vegetables should increase by 15/20% in a few years
Thanks 👍 and I partly agree, but having it as an ongoing trial is so brilliant for teaching, and demonstrating why no dig is so worthwhile
It's weird to see Charles holding a shovel!
No dig : evidence.
My only exception : nettles 🥴 I have a 1000m2 nettles garden and the only solution is to take them off (grelinette is perfect for this use), make compost with and the following year, I have compost an no dig beds 😉 . Second year with this garden : I can use 1/3 of the garden now ... Thanks a lot for your helpfull vidéos Charles 💚🌱💚🍀✨
At least nettles mean fertile soil! Thanks
Really interesting about the moss growing, I wonder if that’s due to the drainage not being so good in the dig. I have noticed the weeds are better (less) in my no dog beds too! 💚
Good question! I think it's because the surface is more claggy and less porous. I see very little moss growing in the compost mulch of any no dig beds. I'm glad your weeds are reduced!
Interesting I always thought dig was turn soil over with compost included or turn over then add compost on top
It can be that as well.
When I started this trial in 2007, this was a common way
I'm more used to a "dug bed" being the compost get dumped on top then hoed, raked or cultivated/rotovatered to mix it up.
I only do no dig myself these days
So you dig a trench in the dig bed and add compost in there, but also spread on top?
I collected so many leaves this year and bought a mulcher to grind them up. I’m expecting some nice compost next year. Nice overhead view of the garden. It always looks beautiful. 😊
That sounds promising and thanks.
I do not spread any compost on top of the dig bed because it's all in the trenches, which is the older, traditional approach here, before rototillers at least.
Hi Charles I am a self confessed digger. However I no longer put manure/compost the trench like my Father did. When you think about it the goodness has a spit of soil on top so the plants would grow that deep to access it. I do therefore spread compost on as a mulch after digging in winter letting the worms work on it and then plant direct in to it each season adding mulch around the plant if required. Do you have any comparisons and what are you thoughts on this method?
Yes, it sounds more enlightened than burying compost, although another person here has mentioned how that works very well for sandy soil. What I don't understand in your comment, is why you do the digging!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I guess I enjoy it and for me it works in controlling perennial weeds like bind weed, doc also blackberry and raspberry from my neighbours plot.
I would be interested to know the difference in organic matter % between the beds not sure if that came back during the analysis.
Its 14% carbon in the dig bed, 18% in no dig
Once you have dug the trench, just use a fork to loosen another spit deep of soil, not turn it.
Of all your videos I found this one hardest to watch. Thank you for persuading me not to waste my time with all that backbreaking work. If the rain does leach nutrients, where do they go - into the soil below? I do have a bit of moss, so I reckon that probably means I need to put a thicker layer of compost on those bits from what you just said.
Glad I could help! I reckon that leaching is mainly of synthetic fertiliser, and those soluble nutrients can wash right away into ground water
@@CharlesDowding1nodig that makes sense - so they're assuming that compost woks the same way, which we know it doesn't because it needs to break down in order to make nutrients available, which is a much slower process.
The first thing I notice is that there are weeds arounds the dig bed but NO weeds around the no dig bed.
Interesting views on adding compost pre winter v post winter 😊. Do you have a link to Adam's channel please?
I think this is it, I have been looking myself🙂@adamynyrardd
In the description @myco_ad
@myco_ad
Thanks 😊
I cannot find Adam's channel. Could you please post a link to it?
I think this is it, I have been looking myself🙂@adamynyrardd
I can’t find Adam’s Chanel either !
@myco_ad
Wonderful!
Cheers Charles. Thanks.@@CharlesDowding1nodig
It’s so much hard work digging those trenches, what a waste of time and energy, there’s a chap on the allotment next to me and he digs his plot over every year to bury the weeds, his soil look like concrete in the summer, now he’s got a very bad back and is struggling with his pain, I get weeds too mainly from where the moles have made their hills, but I don’t mind them because I get such fabulous results with no dig,
Best wishes, Lisa
I bet he says he enjoys it, right?
@ it’s an annual habit that’s hard to break I suppose,,
Yes summer concrete! The soil needs worms and your moles
Petit conseil charles si je peux me permettre :
Attention à ton dos Charles quand tu ratisses ta terre avec ton râteau, c'est plus facile avec un croc à 4 dents où les dents sont recourbées .
Tu peux finir d'égaliser la terre avec ton râteau mais qu'à la fin😉
Pépé JP du nord de la France et qui aimerait bien avoir du soleil !
Merci JP.
Le soleil me manque aussi!
@CharlesDowding1nodig
C'est déprimant 😥
Looking at the bed above the dug bed, are they broad beans as a green manure or will you grow them that close together to get a crop?
Well spotted and probably they are green manure, but I do have the option of removing some to thin them out, if I'm thinking by late February that I need more plants for cropping
So I'm a new gardener. We bought a house recently on half an acre.
I was in a rush early in the year to start growing veg so I dug the first 2 vegetable beds and found out the hard way I made a mistake.
We have dense clay and the beds just became soak pits when it rained. The next few beds I tried no dig and the difference was very obvious. The first two beds are recovering from my mistake and I have them topped with compost for next year.
Going into 2025 a little wiser and more prepared. Hopefully 2025 is a bit more gentle though 😂
Wow you ran quite a trial there! Glad you had the no dig 😊
Question: Is this what is considered double dig? I've seen other examples of double digs, but they didn't seem to be as extreme as this.
I grew up & still live in SW Virginia with everyone plowing their gardens in the fall, then disc-ing in the spring followed by tilling prior to planting.
I've got raised beds now (great for achy backs & knees!) that are pretty undisturbed with compost added. They are only a few years old so trying to get soil right for what I'm growing.
All sounds good. Double dick would be if I put a fork in the trench soil and loosened it before adding the Compost.
I have search for Adam's channel a few times when you have mentioned it, but I've never been successful. Could you please post a link.
Have tried without success too. A link wou.d be appreciated.
www.youtube.com/@myco_ad/videos
Oooh sorry it's @myco_ad
@myco_ad
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you for that.
Re: Compost addition timing. Seems to me No Dig is mirroring the Natural processes that occur in a forest. Such systems are highly evolved, and stable, with all organisms well adapted to the system. Given that, I would expect that leaf fall ought to be the best time to add compost, as you do. Don't know if any comparison tests would be measurable, but I find what you are doing very interesting, so thought I'd (wood) chip in.
Martin Coleman
Thanks Martin, nice 'chip in'!
Think how natural compost forms
What is the Soil type you live on Charles? I mean originally I reckon those garden Beds are something else by now😂? I Live on Clay soil here in the Netherland and I find it kinda annoying to garden in 😅
It's silt over clay, the nicest soil of four gardens, I have created. First one on stony soil, second one on white clay, third one loamy, yellow clay, and now this one. No Dig was brilliant on the white clay!
Hi Charles. I love your experiments and trials. What would be the result if you now swapped the dig and no dig beds?
Would what you plant in the adjacent beds make a difference to the yields? As you have said the trees next doors affect the small garden, would cabbages effect the dig bid? Does the proximity of the glasshouse have any effect on yields. Just some of my mad ramblings. Thanks for the videos, great and informative as always. Steve
Hi Steve, thanks, it's like - I want to keep it simple!
From the looks of that soil it would produce no matter how you did it !!!
Even the dig bed grows great vegetables :)
Hey charles!
How often do you do cover crops per bed, you think?
Much appreciated, Gary 7th generation 1st fleet convict from Australia 🇦🇺
One year in three or four, often briefly only, in October
It matters not how many times i make a new bed using no dig, grow beautiful straight carrots with no forking, people still insist that they must broadfork their carrot beds.
Yup it's strange 😮
Do you pull out weeds in the no dig before compost on top?
I did, they were small and it was quick. If you have more than you can handed, cardboard is an option, compost on top of it
@ thank you 🙏🏻
I have found that those that dig their allotments on my site, only trench dig for runner bens, otherwise they just lay the compost on the top of the soil and then dig it in. have you tried that way for comparison too, Charles? I would be interested to see what the results would be in comparison. happy growing 🙂
This would still unnecessarily disturb the beneficial fungal networks that no dig dies not do.
Yes, I have another trial where the beds are forked to loosen soil and then compost is placed on top. Result is 8% less harvest
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you Charles for the great info. I have had a no dig garden for the past 10 years and know how well it works. I hardly ever have to weed my garden or allotment- saves me so much time and back ache Thank you for such a brilliant channel . Your calendar is on my prezzie list this year and am keeping my fingers crossed my other half or daughter will buy for me. Happy growing 🙂
@@martinasmales2634 I agree
Lovely to hear, thanks
Cavar el suelo está en la cultura.Cambiarlo es "casi" imposible. Todos mis vecinos y alrededores siguen cavando y con monocultivos (patatas) ,además de aplicar plaguicidas y abonos sintéticos.Sin Cavar,espero llegar a los 80 años😅 por el poco esfuerzo que requiere.Saludos desde Tenerife!!
Tienes toda la razón, y es preocupante que algo destructivo sea una parte aceptada de la cultura. ¡Cultura! ¡Es un mundo loco!
Hey Charles! What advice would you have to those gardeners who are advanced in age or may have sustained a back injury to keep their no dig garden going? I ask because although I have retired, I have had a sedentary office job which has led to back problems. How can I keep my no dig dreams alive? Cheers!
Ah shame, sorry to hear that Craig.
Craniosacral therapy helped me a lot. My back used to be frequently bad, and now it's mostly feeling very strong. Look for the upright posture whenever you're not bending over, shoulders back and head forward.
I don't do any exercises, but I'm very aware of my posture, and actually have a standing desk! But I don't use it all the time, because it's tiring my legs 😮
Question Charles? I know you weigh everything that comes out the two beds throughout the year, do you see the dug bed catching up, in comparison, later in the year, compared to the Spring? Because, its had time to "settle back down" and some of the structure comes back.
Yes exactly. Spring growth is erratic, autumn much better
How long do you think you'll keep up the no dig bed Charles? I love your approach to observation and truth 👌🏼😊
Good question! I had never thought to continue this long, but it's been well worthwhile
12 years of consistent data... how long do you plan on continuing this trial?
I don't know! Somehow, it keeps getting more interesting, like a small, but consistent drop in harvests from the dig bed
Hi Charles , really enjoyed your video as usual. I was wondering if you could give any advice on growing shallots from seed you have saved. I’ve been growing my own garlic and shallots saved from the seed of the year before for around 6 years now. My garlic gets better and better each year I save it, where as my shallots have gotten smaller and smaller each year to the point where I’m going to have to re-buy sets for the first time in 6 years. Is this something that tends to happen with saving your own shallot as seed or have you have more enduring success with saving your own shallots for seed? If you have any experience to share on this I would be most grateful.
That's a good question. I'm no expert on shallots but have noticed myself a lack of success from keeping shallots to plant and I've not had time to look into it. Partly it's because I'm so happy with my onions and the seed I save from them
@ thanks for your response Charles. I’ve heard keeping your own seed potatoes can lead to increasingly poorer yields each year but I haven’t tried that yet. From my experience the same happens with keeping shallots as seed. I’ve never grown onions from seed (I’ve always used sets) as I haven’t had much indoor space to start the seeds off, but this summer I bought a large Polycrub so I’ll give it a try early next year. Keep up the great work!
I've grown from my own potato seed for five years now, and always with good results
@@CharlesDowding1nodig that’s really good to know. I should give it a try. I know potatoes are easy to grow but there’s very little gives me more satisfaction than growing my own potatoes. You can feed the family on them nearly all year and they are so versatile. Thank you.
Perfectly shown reasons to go No Dig.
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@CharlesDowding1nodig
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No dig is better I agree but if you have bad weed roots for example bind weed like tree trunks you need to dig for the first few years to get it all out. But after that no dig is the way forward 👌🏻
Thanks. I've had that in different places, really thick bindweed and did not dig it out, but needed to keep removing regrowth with some root, for which I used a trowel, over two years. By September of the second year it is 100% finished.
I try to practice minimal disturbance but like to use my Madeiran potato hoe to skim the surface, which has no more impact than the oscillating hoes which are popular amongst no diggers. I have to deal with a weed bomb problem as a result of the unkempt allotment plots adjoining my own.
That's a fine solution at least, and super annoying
Hi charles, what is adams channel called please ?
@myco_ad
Common sense would be that a layer of compost on top in wintermonths protects and feeds the soil. What does "wash-out" mean anyway? Dissapearing into nothing? Logic would be: straight into the soil underneath.
The idea is that bare compost, without plants on top or other methods to contain rain water, would bring nutrients in the soil into solution and they would flow out of the bed.
This is only a problem on large commercial farms who have to pour on heavy doses of synthetic fertilizer to make up for their poor soil health.
Interesting that you say (at 1:30) you get around 12% more from your no-dig beds. That's a remarkably small improvement. In fact, too small to be measurable without the kind of specific, multi-year trial you're conducting. It must surely be dwarfed by the effects of climate, weather and the general skill of the gardener.
It's significant in the context of requiring two and a half hours less work every year, and not depleting soil fertility (carbon 18% v 14%). The other effects are same for both beds.
my compost and now my garden is infested with an indestructible weed that every little fragment roots and becomes a new plant.. “bushkiller vine”… if anyone knows how to kill this stuff without herbicide please help.. if you put a tarp over it, it will just pop up on the edges of the tarp no matter how big.. crazy stuff
Sounds horrendous, sorry cannot help
Hey thanks for your response! Scientific name of this plant is cayratia japonica for anyone in the Southern US who needs to know… just learned it has medicinal properties at least! Maybe it could be marketed to Chinese Herbal Medicine practitioners. The short wikipedia article even mentions that composting it is not recommended because of its ability to root from stem fragments.. whoops! I do a lot of garden maintenance for a living and used to bring ALL of the garden waste home with me to compost which is how I got my new forever friend..
So you have been burying the compost that deep all these years ?? In my tilling areas.....I only work in my organic matter into the top 4-6 inches.....
Needs another trial!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig though my shallot and garlic bed is really kicking it with no dig, have a tomato bed also no dig but outside...sauce tomatoes last season and was an amazing crop☺️
Watching you dig makes me twitch 😂😂😂
😂
❤❤❤
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Very few things in life are all one way. I find it odd that you never mention any drawbacks of no dig - are there really no drawbacks?
That's a good point, and yet, I'm not aware of a drawback
Seeing Charles digging is like seeing Michelangelo painting a white wall. What a waste of talent! 😁
Nice comparison!
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Like to see what you do and glad it works for you and others, but it’s not practical in my garden. The amount of compost you put on that small area is more than most can create in a year. I have two very large gardens in comparison to most.
I tried no dig in a small area that was only forked and the tomato plants didn’t do well and it probably couldn’t have been a worse time as we had a year’s worth of rain by July. We have sandy soil and the rain didn’t bother other areas because we either turned by hand or tilled and more air was allowed. Sand can compact like heavy soil.
Were the roots shown at the surface in a no dig bed? Maybe they liked all the compost. Here the roots need to go deeper because it dries out quickly here. I want the roots to go deeper. It’s similar to why permaculture wouldn’t work here as well because the roots from trees and shrubs would rob moisture and sun from the vegetables.
I like my sandy soil as it’s easy to work with and root crops come out clean, it is just that nutrients drain through quicker than heavy soil. The heat in this hot micro climate can eat up compost quickly and if laid on top would dry out to a crust.
A Ruth Stout method would only increase living quarters to a rodent problem and recently a vole issue. Also in the no dig area I noticed what appeared to be root knot nematode nodules I’ve never had before. Tilling helps get rid of them.
I see a lot of clay allotments on RUclips and they look so wet and adding tons of compost and practice no dig and I say, give it some air because the plants look weak.
Farmers here don’t till in raw manure for a couple of reasons-because the ground is frozen and because it holds the soil in place. They general won’t plow areas that are wind eroded as well. Raw manure needs to be aged at least 3 mos to prevent ecoli and parasite issues so it makes sense to spread in fall/winter.
I till and cultivate and there are mushrooms and worms. The only place we have moss are in shady areas near trees in the lawn. I don’t use a high RPM tiller as those will harm soil. I want organic material mixed in and down where I want the roots to go so they don’t dry out at the surface. If the roots are at the surface that’s a sign of watering too shallow. Our onion roots go deep.
Everyone has to do what works for their garden and location. I’m not saying no dig doesn’t work at all, it just doesn’t do well here and it is impractical. I do in ground gardening and some areas are slightly raised with hugelkulture to retain moisture and the paths are deep with arborist chips all to help hold moisture/nutrients.
I do enjoy your videos and observing.
Thanks, it's fascinating to read your different perspective. I'm glad that you are using woodchip in your paths because that's adding a decent amount of organic matter and is part of the reason I reckon why your plants are growing well. Regarding shallow rooting, I wanted to show how many roots there can be at the surface, where as you say it's natural that organic matter is more concentrated from it being added there. In that leek bed, I have not added any compost or organic matter for a year, and with no dig, the surface is always nicely structured for roots, which also go deep when it's drier. They are at all levels.
@ we have chickens and I use leaves, straw ect when mulching. The paths I dug down and added the wood chips and threw the soil on 3’ wide long beds and low boards to hold all in place. It works well.
Many people dig and do not add compost
Yes quite a lot don't do either of dig with a spade/ fill with manure ,or no dig/add mulch , but just turn the top layer with a fork and leave it at that perhaps adding fertiliser during the season.
@davidshinn6501 I wonder what the results would be if we compare these options
@@monikamona5271 I think the other typical way of doing things nowadays compared to "no dig" is to spread manure/compost and lightly fork it in. Would be interesting to trial this against pure no dig.
Yikes, more work coming! It would be interesting
Extra carbon in the soil......In my "simple" world, does anyone on this channel have any info about,,,,....., Is it is anything to do with the extra microbial lives in the soil ?? and is it this microbial life that is the the beginning the middle and the end when we are trying to achieve fertile soil ????
Kind of, but I look at it the other way round, how digging/killing loses carbon through oxidation into CO2. With no dig, there is no need for any specific measures to increase carbon, except for one which is the surface application of organic matter. In my case, that's compost.
So, no doubt that a dig vs. no-dig year after year is going to favor no-dig even when you're working in good quality compost into the soil with the dig bed. The evidence from people doing soil analysis and plant health have shown this enough times that it's becoming more widely accepted.
I can't do no-dig where I live. The best I can do is dig once. But the soil quality is too poor in that it is heavy clay that turns into almost rock in the summer. Proper watering helps to mitigate that but still the soil is very heavy and I don't think it's worth amending the soil or trying to grow anything simply by adding compost to the top of it and I don't even have good access to quality compost that I could trust to support healthy plants.
So, to me what makes the most sense is raised bed gardening. If I had a decent quality soil underneath that drains properly I'd think about in ground gardening and doing a one time dig to work in a lot of organic material, and then no-dig from that point on as regenerative farmers here in the US are doing, and that makes perfect sense to me, using a one time, deep tillage and working in material, and then adding compost each year.
Thanks for sharing this and it's good you have a solution you're happy with. I have gardened on clay soil such as you describe, in the 1990s. And I found that compost of any kind, including old cow manure on top, amended it through the action of soil life below, such as earthworms, which come up to feed all the organic matter, and then take it down, creating channels in the soil, even though it's clay.
That's a very bizarre way to dig a garden so i'm unsurprised the results are poor. Most people throw compost on and dig or fork it over or rotovate it to thoroughly incorporate it into the soil. What you've done is double digging, the soil and compost aren't mixed, they're in separate layers.
Whilst I agree that a compost mulch laid on top of good quality, healthy soil in late Autumn, then left is the way to go, your mistake has always been to sling cardboard and compost on top of unchecked and possibly difficult ground. It doesn't solve problem ground very quickly, if ever.
There are different methods of no-dig and a much better way is to evaluate the soil and amend accordingly straight away. Dig out any unneeded plants/grass/weeds, incorporate compost and grow. It doesn't matter if rotovating or digging is needed initially.
After the soil is visibly and effectively fixed then apply no-dig from there on. This is because (as you point out) soil does repair itself quite quickly from being disturbed.
I used this alternative no-dig method (my ground was grass, weeds, compacted clay with a lot of stones and rocks). It was hard work initially to sort the soil out, but has been worth it as
my carrots and parsnips are actually better than yours and in a fraction of the years spent waiting for the soil to improve.
Still No-dig for the win though 👍
You are well sorted!
Спасибо большое, Чарлз !!! Ссылка на Адама ruclips.net/video/5_9cJX-u_vo/видео.htmlsi=BQZZihoGHPNTMAym
Это мило с твоей стороны.
Он www.youtube.com/@myco_ad
let the empirical evidence do the talking, Charles!
👍
супер++++
💚
what a waste of two hours, 😂😂
With 12 years of data is there any need to continue with the digging?
do you think theres still people who would not believe in no dig ? who would be like well maybe in his conext once but i need a study that shows your bs is viable ? if so then yes he needs to keep it up
I agree but it has use for teaching, and learning more such as the carbon loss
@@CharlesDowding1nodig OK, that makes sense. As for the nay sayers it probbably wouldn't matter if you had 20 years of data, 😄
It's time to stop digging. I think you have proven your point already.
13 years of trial isnt enough to convince the vast majority of people who think no dig is bullshit
Yeah, which is craziness, the reduction in work from weeding would have been enough for me even without the raise in yield. @davidakerlund6296
I see your point, but it's teaching me and other people about the value of No-Dig, and for example, how it keeps carbon in the soil, compared to when soil is disturbed
@@CharlesDowding1nodig if you ever decide to stop, it would be interesting to me to know how long it takes the dug bed to recover to be equal to the no dig bed.