Does no-dig growing really work? How To Manage Your Soil!
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- Опубликовано: 6 авг 2024
- Is no-dig growing really the one size fits all solution it is often presented as? Here, I talk about my own experiences, both good and bad, after five years growing outdoor vegetables on a 1 acre plot.
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My grandad had a small holding in Yorkshire and he and his wife (my grandmother ) lived pretty much off the land and my mum and her two sisters and brother grew up with this lifestyle. During his lifetime the railway company decided that they had to have a track running across his land. He had no choice about the matter. However, he got his revenge - he made one of the tracks slightly bent and as the trucks rolled across carrying coal - the small defect he made in the line meant that there was a small bump as the trucks passed over his land. He never bought coal again as of course a small amount of coal would fall from the trucks!
Same thing happened to my grandparents in Ireland! They weren’t quite as clever as yours to get coal tho! Props to them 😂
That’s brilliant
thats a great example of "improvise, adapt, overcome"
I’m a fan of everything you have mentioned. I have clay soil in the U.S. I’m an old man. I don’t have 7 years to grow soil. Next door cows provided huge amount. I also added truck loads of wood chips on my 1 and half acre. Yes, I have sinned. Tilled them right into manure and clay soil. Winter Rye held everything in place over Winter. I tilled, hopefully, the last time in Spring. Now I am using a hand shovel like a warm knife through butter. What doesn’t mix ...clay and being old. Respects. Loved your presentation.
I really appreciate your pros and cons and levelheaded approach. We are in pure clay in the mountains of Colorado arid and cold climate. There are no live worms in our compact clay. There is no soil breakdown at 0% humidity with 10 inches of rainfall a year. I failed with compost, no dig, cardboard and other weed control methods. We had to literally auger holes into the ground, then tractor till the ground AND we have to start plants in a poly tunnel in early spring, then plant into the ground after 6-8 weeks of growth so that their roots can punch through the clay. We have to weed by hand anything that gets by us. We do do mulch at the base of the plant and allow purslane to grow as a ground cover. We do amend our soil with fish oil, molasses etc. Our clay is PH balanced and has high mineral content, so we don't have to amend alot, just right after planting and before flowering. It was great to hear your experiences.
@@marissaalonzo7997 I read or watched, don’t remember, to put oatmeal in the dirt to attract worms. I found some cheap oats and put them on the ground and put hay on top. I was surprised that within a couple of months there were so many worms. Our soil is better and it is clay that will bake like a brick.
@mominthe209 Thank you for this! What a great idea! I tried mulching by itself and it just fossilized vs breaking down. This should work for both because they oats may mold as well. Good idea 💡
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog look as lovingly at their human as Moss does
🤣🤣🤣
Yup!
k b ,
I like the balanced, experience-based information and your clear, non-verbose presentation. Many thanks and good luck.
These videos will end up in lectures in agricultural colleges on the subject of sustainable farming. They will name some building in your honour, maybe in Galway. We are all looking forward to your videos on the restoration of the cottage.
Amazon prime members have an unlimited supply of cardboard! 😂
If you look at your old videos, and now you are getting younger and more refreshed looking with time...you have found your peace of mind..way to go.
I am here for the dog😊
Moss is a star! 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I really enjoyed this video! About 20 years ago I bought a small tiller like the one you have. The house that I had just moved into had just been built. There was no landscaping whatsoever and heavy equipment had driven across the soil many times. The soil was heavy clay and thus it was compacted heavy clay! Like tilling through bricks, but I managed to get it ground up. I added bales of peat and bags of well rotted manure. My first year garden was not that great. I added homemade compost in the autumn and by the next Spring, the soil seemed not to need tilling. I kept thinking, "I must be doing something wrong! I am supposed to be tilling the soil every year!" But all I did was rake the soil out of the paths and into beds, and then plant. I kept the same beds and paths from then on and my garden did really well with just additional compost and leaves added to the top of each bed every autumn! I sold the tiller and haven't missed it. I had no idea I was practicing no-dig gardening, but that is what it is.
Thank you again for the video!
That dog is a love pit. You can give it everything you’ve got, and he wants more🥰🐕
Literally the kindest face I've ever seen. Ever.
💯
I'm a no dig but I had to dig to get beds in the first place and remove stones, bricks and general rubbish. I do love hoeing it's so relaxing so I hoe the top off of the weeds I don't pull out. It works well in my experience as long as you mulch. I add grass cuttings and the contents of my chickens coops. I'm sure that adds seeds but as I like hoeing it's not been a problem.
I now have polytunnel envy. 😎
I bought a house with, unbeknownst to me, enormous quantities of landscape fabric and black plastic buried under a ton of mulch. There was an electric dog fence wire buried all around the perimeter under plastic. There were multiple layers of plastic and mulch sandwiched between, topped of course by mulch in every bed, and pathways too. I wouldn’t have bought this property had I known I’d be pulling up plastic for a year and more, but I remind myself that I’m here to restore this bit of ground to fertility, verdancy, and the accumulation of organic matter.
Admire your practical approach.
Not all methods work in all enviroments under all circumstances.
Recently had a crazy conversation with someone who thought you could grow a field of wheat using woodchips.
I watch the commercials to help get you that 10 cents.
The lady in your life is extremely lucky.
Beautiful videos, thank you
I wish I could be touching soil in Ireland. TC, stay safe, healthy and happy ❤️☘️☘️☘️☘️❤️
Excellent tutorial. Give Moss a hug from me. He's a great digger. Blessings
Very nice, instructive "Intro to Gardening" type video. I was taught by my mother-in-law, who turned barren red clay into a rich, highly-productive, organic, small vegetable plot for a family of 9. The first thing she taught us was to toss away the shovel and use a mattock for the first soil turning (we have dark, rich clay like yours). It's really good that you are telling people that "no-dig" can be a myth, because soil structure is the key to success.
Important distinction to make between no dig and no till
Good video - one I always come back to
Great video.
I just used my fresh grass clippings for my no dig potatoes. Learned it from Liz who has the Byther farm RUclips channel. Worked a charm even on first year no dig on clay. I don't have as much potato growing as you do however, so during a dry spring like we had, I certainly wouldn't have enough grass clippings for your amount of potatoes.
Using fresh grass clippings sounds bonkers and I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't recommended by an experienced gardener, but I'm glad I took the leap!
So happy to see you. My favorite YT channel.
Your hair is looking great!
Soooooooo glad you posted this! Thank yoouuu! I've got compacted clay garden soil and wasn't convinced about how to improve it until I saw this.
Congratulations on everything you have achieved and thanks for these videos.
Dowding tries to make it clear in his videos that not dig just means to minimise soil disruption. E.g. he specifically mentions in many videos that you have to dig out woody perennial weeds for new beds.
I was so excited to see your new video. I can’t wait to see the next one. Love to you and Moss and all the other animals.
I did my first no dig garden this year and so far, it's worked okay. I used a compost that ended up not being the best quality and things were kind of slow to take off. However, now that we're in mid-July, things are growing quite well. I think next year will be even better since the soil will have had time to fully mature and will be amended with new compost as well.
I just love all your videos I get excited when I see a new one pop up 💚
I am so enjoying your experiments and experiences. Thank you for sharing 🥰
I was just thinking about mossy bottom recently and here comes a new video, great content 👍
Very interesting full of many information. Good luck and a beautiful summer!
God bless you sweetie , love your pup 🐾❤️
Thanks! It’s great to hear both sides of the argument for “dig” and “no dig” . I’ve come to pretty much the same conclusion as yourself. There’s really no need to hold , militantly, to one method or the other....a bit of a mix of methods works well for me!
Thanks for the informative video! I'm very interested in this subject and it was good to hear about your experience thus far with no-dig.
This is an excellent video...….it all begins with soil. I have a roto tiller, a Mantis. With the soil type in my current garden, it is useless in that it pulverizes the soil. Creates a flour like consistency. One month after using it the soil level drops two inches. For the last two to three years, like you, I have been using the log handled, 4 tined fork with wide tines, inserting, moving it back and forth, covering all with an inch or two of compost and lightly raking it over the surface. The compost drops down the holes 6 to 8 inches deep. Structure isn't destroyed. Wonderful ! Thanks again. Continued success to you.
I really love your videos, it’s always a treat when one pops up. They are the happiest videos on you tube 🙂
This video has perfect timing for me as I am just about to take over some land
Very interesting! Love the idea of more videos on permaculture, thanks ❤️🙏
Oh btw, I am a huge fan of the no-dig method and of the person you mentioned who is huge on RUclips 😁
This is so interesting. I'm in no way a farmer but I'd love to keep hearing about the Irish geography. I'm finished my leaving cert and i don't know where else to find this kind of content. it's very unique
Very informative and bang on . Doing very similar stuff on a slightly bigger bit of land . 2 wormeries have added some quality to the soil which was quite red plus lots of sea weed and any other leaf mulch and rotted horse dung . It's our 6th year . I did dig first then adopted mulching working great
Thank you for those tips, I was really struggling with the no dig method and now I really understand why ❤️
Very interesting content. Thank you. I’m looking forward to your next video.👍
So glad I found your channel! Iv'e been thinking about the no dig system and how it would fit here for us. I really value your measured and honest feedback re no dig. Also just love your plans for your cottage! Pat Mossy, for us, love from down under.
Best summary of no till, forking, and tilling a new garden space I’ve ever heard. Thank you! I’m going to place my compost beneath the soil as you did, as well. Go, roots!
Always exciting to see a notification from Mossy Bottom pop up on my phone. A really lovely vid, Daniel. Thoroughly enjoyed your take on things. We have grown everything no dig here in our garden except for carrots/parsnips and spuds and everything has done beautifully. Looking forward to your polytunnel video!
Fantastic and informative video on your experience with no dig. Really enjoyed that one and the place looks great.
Hi, I stumbled over your vid and was hypnotized by your kind eyes and positive energy. I also admire your love and enthusiasm for creating something beautiful.
Also you are speaking from my soul. I am planning to buy a piece of land in the next weeks and live in a caravan with solar and rainwater collection. All the best to you.
Love from Austria 🌼,
Nicole
Extremely important information regarding soil.Such an important aspect of eco system restoration.
Will be watching tonight after a busy day doing our own garden .We watch mossy and your self for any tips we've picked up a lot .We love your videos and channel we love Ireland all so we like to see what are up to you've been our saviour in time of lock down so thank you for all you do . Peace to you both Diane Colinxxxx 🙏🙏🙏 🙏🙏🙏 🌈 🌈🌈
Really great info. Thank you you for talking about the various types of soil.
Your place is beginning to look established and productive. So impressed!
This is great to know, I’ve just got myself an allotment and I have been digging. I am going to try a small no dig bed as well to see how it goes 🙂
Thank you for the update, Mossy Bottom is looking awesome. I know you have some much on your plate, but I'm really looking forward to: 2 year updated garden tour, update on the selling point for vegetables, update on the cottage and granary, general life update and plans for the future year. That strawberry wine looks like a delicacy, enjoy the awesome life outdoors I wish I could live in a place like that. Maybe one day I will. Thanks for sharing.
Very informative video. So jealous of what your doing. Stay the course. You will be better for it in the long run.
I love seeing your hard work for years is paying up! I’ve been following you since the beginning. Your cottage and the surrounding where you live is heavenly! God bless & take care from Hong Kong ❤️
Where your beautiful dog??? He’s so handsome 👍
Good video again Mossy, I have watched loads of videos about gardening here on RUclips but if I'm honest people have made gardening TOO COMPLICATED. I'm 56 yrs old and before I came to Ireland I always had a garden to work in . I had a small vineyard too up in the hills in Hungary. I always dug my gardens by hand how my dad taught me and would never change that method . Manure from animals is always the best but home made can be great too . Back in England I used to take away all the waste from the fruit & veg shops near us they and put it in bins to rot away then dig it into our garden once ready . I used to sell the extra veg to my neighbours for a bit of pocket money . I like the fact that you were honest in this video . Mossy that machine you have in your hands is rubbish it's like a tooth pick in that garden . My relative had 1 made for me it had a 50cc motor bike engine on it and the blades were a meter wide , it had 3 gears but I could only use 1st and that was a job to hold it back. Ye to be honest digging the garden over is the best as long as you use manure or compost and for clay soils you need ash and some sand to mix in . I don't know about you but i've notice that everything as in vegetables are generally getting smaller in the shops and what used to be the normal size is getting called extra large which is a joke . Keep up the vids they're great.
Very interesting, thank you. I hope you enjoyed your time here in Canada
lots and lots of great and usefull information. Perfect!
Excellent advice. We run a smallholding and have had similar difficulties with no-dig on a clay soil.
Brilliant - just the advice/tips I needed - Thanks
Your hair is so beautiful nowadays! 😁
Maybe from all that healthy air and organic nutrition....
🤣🤣🤣
Yes I was just thinking that 😀
Most beautiful hair on RUclips
Its the spring water!
Thanks for your explanations and sharing your experiences. I love Mossy dogs interaction too!
The no dig person you didn't mention who's garden I have visited is just a few miles from me. His site is flat. It used to be a market garden so previously tilled at some point. He adds amongst other things £400 worth of sterile mushroom compost plus manure. Outside of most people's budget. He makes over £12k on salads alone so he compares commercial to domestic. It's difficult to replicate that on a small site and make it viable.
My field is on a hill, over an old coal mine, covered in rocks, stones and broken buildings. It's lovely soil once you find it. It's also inaccessible to vehicles so I can't have deliveries of compost and manure. I try to follow no dig principles but with my own twist and available resources.
Now I have fork envy. Where did you buy the fork? I want one in my life.
Raised beds ? (- if trraces ar possible) containers / buckets ? with a turned around bottle to seep out water so you do not have to water all the time ? Adan Jones in Wales grows hte potatoes in buckets and has lots of raised beds (it is too wet). Huw Richards had a video.
We've got the same soil type and conditions (weeds up to our shoulders in heavy clay soil) ... We are growing spuds in the weeds we cleared (piled up) working perfectly ! - getting a crop from pioneering raised bed mounds ...
We've found that if we dig up weeds (with roots) - we get more coming back than if we snip them off just beneath the surface (leaving the roots behind) . Apparently this is because weeds (as we call them) are actually triggered to grow by digging as they are the soils first line of defence when exposed by the removal of whatever plants were growing in it . Our soil is really well structured though as it had 8 years without agriculture for the worms to create their caverns within it . I'll never dig or leave soil bare ever again for any plant - just grow carrots in deep raised beds full of compost ! - works amazingly ! Get rid of that rotivator ! U don't need it ! Digging generates weeds, breaks fungal networks and causes soil erosion - digging (tilling / ploughing) is humanities greatest act of vandalism against nature - what were we thinking ?? Probably not very hard . The Greeks grew in raised beds and word on the street is that they had thinking nailed ... oh and we're moving now to agroforestry / forest gardening - tending seeds and planting (year after year) is so last century ! ... all the best fella . X 😁
Charles Dowding recommends that as well in one of his videos - Title weeding in a no dig garden or something like that. Borders around the beds and exhausting the weeds if they keep creeping in from the side. He does try to uproot them if he can, but if they have extensive root systems, he doesn't bother.
It has to use extra energy to cover the distance and he says consistency is key. It is not much work once you are set up, but every time they shoot up you take it away and that exhausts the roots over time, they give up ;)
he got rid of most of the weeds in year one and one super persistant one needed another year when he developed an adjacent plot he was able to buy.
Here in Germany we have around 39 different types of worms in the soil. The compost worms Eisenia foetida and E. hortensis are living in different ecosystems than the other worms and will not survive in an average soil. When I took over a garden on sandy soil this year I mulched with cardboard for three months, removed the cardboard and then put vermicompost on top of the dead weeds. Now I digged small holes planted seedlings inside and covered with a modern material (permeable foil which allows air and water to circulate but prevents weed growth, durable for 20 years). Everything is growing fine.
Can you please provide a link to the permeable foil?
Thanks in advance.
I had the same experience laying the cardboard barrier.
My soil is a loamy glacial till, right full of stones.
I agree with you on digging the perennial weeds out first. I just need to lay compost on top after the initial weed (and large stone) extraction.
A great up and coming homestead/gardening RUclipsr. Great job!
Thanks for the info!
Moss is such an affectionate doggy.
Great information, thank you.
Such an interesting video, thank you! Your dog is SO adorable!
Very good! Many very good points and a well thought out and refreshing analysis. You cover issues that most no dig people avoid which is very helpful. Thanks
I would have a blast in your garden. So peaceful
My first year with no dig and I have had amazing harvests. My compost was mainly leaf mold from the massive trees in my garden. I couldn't have done it any other way. Now have lots of good compost.
Lovely & educational about the gardens - must admit I’m curious regarding the building structures-
Great vid - thanks for sharing your experiences 👍
well presented and useful video, thanks
thank you for this informative video :) it made me aware that I probably would not be able to do it on my own...I could probably grow some flowers but that would be about it :) in the future I would probably rely on having people like you around and buy the fruit and veggies from them on a regular basis. And one last comment to what I saw and heard - your dog loves you so much...his eyes are filled with love and joy when he looks at you. And in this experience this love is the most important...the love you give to the soil and your other animals is very important too - without it - nothing would grow :) Your dog's love is very personal and so pure though. I just love to watch him as he is truly quite exceptional :) Love and Light
love the vids mate, your doggie loves you so much, he gave the camera an amusing sideways look in this one "not this again" ❤️
I converted some of my lawn with no dig. I layered it though with green and brown layers about two of each. It worked really well.
Excellent no-nonsense experienced-based information.
Im learning so much from you, thankyou & well done
This was definitely one of the best videos on the topic! As usual you never disappoint, my friend. Having a very clay soil as well I have had the same exact experience as you did. You did forget to mention one of the major benefits of no dig which is that it gives the ability To do succession interplanting using better the growing season. I gave up on doing all the hard work you did and decided to use raised beds, since I don’t grow as large of a space as you do, but now I have the issue that the good soil is leaking out of the beds from the bottom and from the sides and I need to keep refilling the beds a lot every year. On top of that the beds when untreated do not last very long and being timber quite expensive they make the whole ordeal quite expensive. I still enjoy doing gardening but I wanted to share my cons as well. Take good care of yourself!
Very glad to have found your channel and welcome to Ireland 😊
You have answered all my questions on no dig excellently.
As you said it depend on your soil conditions , i like the idea of no dig but with a heavy clay garden that hasnt been touched in yrs i think the 1st yr 2 will need the spade.
A great point you mentioned about plants toppling over due to lack of root depth. No dig n alot of rich manure method the roots dont need to search for nutrients. Its prob a down side to it depending on the plant your growing.
Im sure theres a happy medium between the two methods.
Good gardening tips. Thank you.
Well this was my first time watching your video. You're bringing up some points to consider. Thanks for clarifying the issues about soil. I'm in Georgia USA and clay soil is all over. I planted a garden with the square foot garden method. My problem was that I had no clue how to garden and after 2 years in my square foot garden I let it go. 8 or so years later I came back to give it a go again. I dug up all the Mel's Mix onto a tarp and pulled out the plastic ground cloth. Now I could see the hard clay that I tried to avoid. I'm going to begin another little patch next to this one but this time I'll dig or find someone who can do it for me. Back problems.
Brilliant video MB, thank you
Your gardens look great! 🍀
Again, thank you, thank you, thank you. After 4 years of a very poorly producing garden in clay soil, this old woman finally had decided to break down and rototill one time. Will get someone to do that for me, then compost/manure heavily and be ready to plant in the spring. So glad for the confirmation!!
When you started talking about your potato crop I got really distracted by your doggo, and the way it was gazing at you with a look of total admiration, so I had to rewind! What an amazing companion you have there
Great vid! I grow in a very similar way. I use a tiller or broad fork first, then I go no dig for a couple of years. After that, I dig for a root crop. A root crop every 3rd or 4th year can be the digging, for me. I like Steve Solomon's methods of soil management too, in his book The Intelligent Gardener. I grow on clay soil in Texas.
Thanks for the vid. I love the non-dogmatic and balanced view on roto-tilling and agree wholeheartedly. Roto-tilling has its place. A couple questions. 1. I assume you do chop and drop with the cover crops. Is that right? Also, what do you use for mulch over winter?
This dudes got a full on farm in his backyard
Very interesting and enjoyable - thank you. 🌱
Very sensible approach.
I'm so relieved to hear your experience with no dig as my brother and I have struggled in our garden. Our heavy clay just doesn't seem to respond to the method. We are gardening in Northern Ireland and at present have a lovely big black and white Springer spaniel and are thinking about chickens but I don't expect them to be helpful in the garden
Broadforks. And planting daikon radish for a season. Maybe it is a harvest and maybe it is only soil improvement (leaving it in the soil to rot). Big holes and worm fodder. Chicory is even better. The guys of Cotswold Seeds claim it even goes through hard underground that is clay. But it needs 2 years. Of course one could interplant to not lose one or two years.
Thank you for your candid thoughts on no dig. I have clay, and very established grass, so…this broke my heart (or is it my back?) that didn’t want to dig. But you saved me time in the long run…
The part of Moss digging on command cracked me up.
Would love to see more and your ducks too! Thank you for your video & sharing your story!
Nice video. My first year growing some basics. Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, swede, strawberries and rhubarb. I was converting lawn so had to dig. Hopefully more crops next year and alot less digging.
Omg...Moss and that pig were stealing your thunder a bit at the 16:25.☺😂🌿🍂🙌
Wonderful to hear of your adventures as always .. I was surprised to hear you have clay,, so do I in Northern California and know of your plight with stubborn inaccessible soil.. luckily we have a soils resource that sold an amendment for clay called 'organic clod buster'! Along with organic matter they put volcanic rock particles, (pumice) in the blend to help with drainage and accessibility and not bond with the clay like sand does...clay and sand = concrete! So initially the garden is dug in with that amendment ... then of course you can maintain with just adding the compost per the No dig method.