Could No-Dig Be Easier?
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- No-dig methods are potentially the easiest ways to establish a vegetable garden, but there can be site or context specific issues that could end up making things a bit more difficult to manage.
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'Time' is an important ingredient when it comes to these natural methods.
I dunno, I built a no dig bed last November and there were hundreds of red wigglers on the surface last night, red wiggler poo is really good for feeding plants and my leeks and onions are doing tremendously well.
Indeed!
Very true
@@wobblybobengland I was just speaking in general. All environments are different, of course. Either way, 7 months passing is still 'time'
Indeed it can be. It really depends on the quality of your native soil, and your climate. I'm in a temperate climate with rocky; heavy clay soil... that sat unattended for 3 years before we bought the house. I am currently sheet mulching the entire southside of my house with cardboard, leaf mulch, yard trimmings, ground up kitchen scraps, and 12"-18" of raw wood chips. I will have about 2 ft of raw organic material cooking out weed seeds, and harmful fungus as it breaks down this winter, and spring. Laying this no till foundation will bring life back into my soil while I am building more compost bins... to make more compost... so that I can achieve the level of balance in my soil that I can implement no dig gardening.
It appears as though you haven't gone deep enough with your initial build. Richard Perkins said that after cardboard, (the thicker the better) in the first year you should be using at least 6" of compost.
Hey, not saying this is the best method, but I've a horse stable next to my house, so I covered all my beds with a very thick layer of composted horse manure + a thick layer of good compost, wood clippings mixed in, and mixed leaves, etc etc etc...
Done this over a whole 1000m2, gardening has never been so easy. The soil is perfect, everything grows well and you just have to add some wood clippings and green matter from time to time, but I have plenty of that.
Living in Belgium, so it's not that far away ;) Just to compare climates.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I am not so fortunate with my proximity to supplies like that. Most of the farmers around here use a slurry pit, and most of the rest use herbicide laden hay which can cause real problems a few years later in a vegetable garden. I wish I lived in a place where it was much easier to get wood chip.
Hey, waar woon je ergens? :) Heb je het versnipperd hout gewoon bovenop gelegd of echt gemengd met de compost? Groetjes! Wij wonen in Landen (regio Tienen, Sint-Truiden) :)
I always love your videos, thanks for being as organized as I wish I were. One thing I can add your list of disappointments with no dig is that I intuitively expected the soil and compost to integrate. I'm at the end of my fourth season and that still hasn't happened. There's a definite transition layer between the organic matter and virgin soil and it's only about 1/4 inch after all this time.
That is interesting to hear that the compost and soil have not integrated in 4 years!
What i gathered from Charles Dowdings approach was that you should probably cover weed-ridden soil with plastic for a few months atleast to kill them off and then go for the cardboard+compost. Love the vids
Great video. Just what I needed to go with my morning coffee 👍🏻
I have recently started tarping after dig or no dig beds and find this to be very helpful in keeping in nutrition and keeping out weeds
Good idea. What do you cover it with? Landscape fabric? Plastic sheet?
@@REDGardens yes black and white 6ml some clear plastic also, and place house wrap on top to keep light down, the biggest gains are when you pull tarps back and only find a few weeds lay down compost and retarp , the weeds are considerably less than without , the moisture is much more consistent,
@@Superstephen1977 I am planning to try using tarp in the future.
No dig with a straw mulch does work here in Tennessee. It draws worms, and softens our red hardpan clay. Sharing this video.
I have never worked with clay soils and I hear they are difficult. How long does it take for the mulch to begin softening the soil? Have you noticed that it continues to improve with time and more mulch, or is there a levelling off of beneficial effect after a year or two?
@@REDGardens I need more time to answer your questions. I recently moved here, and the land had been pretty much destroyed by the previous owner. Unfortunately, I can't even ask neighbors, because they all think alike... till the hell out of everything 3 times a year before planting wheat, corn, and some kind of bean for feeding cattle. However, I CAN tell you that even out of the short time I've been here, everyone is asking ME what fertilizer I'm using. They are shaken when I tell them "None, just rainwater and compost."
It's impressive how you can do so much work on these gardens and never come across as a proponent or opponent of any of them, not even your own. Maybe you should be teaching journalism.
Thanks! I try hard to avoid slipping into favouring one method over the others.
Thank you so much. So good to know the pros n cons. I wànt to establish the raised bed but with no outside i am just building.up dry stuff then green grass. Will.addcow compost n soil mix. Top off with light wood chills..soil.mix and chils expensive. Just a trial.. but hope it works.
Compost should be used as fertilizer to kick-start a plant, not as mulch. You are giving pre-digested food to your soil. The soil needs undecomposed material so all the living beings can start working/eating and structure the soil. Soil doesn't want to be just covered but it wants to be covered by plants. Christine Jones explains this very well in her conferences. Have a look at the serie of David Brandt with Ray Archuleta on RUclips. Let's Grow.
Less watering is needed with no-dig, as the soil dries out more slowly when it's covered with mulch. I also realized that no digging allows you to bury a porous hose in the soil a few inches down and water the whole garden by just turning a tap. I use rainwater from the barn roof, stored in a tank.
A curried porous hose makes a lot of sense.
You need a thicker mulch, like straw, on top, not more cardboard.
With that I managed to suffocate couch grass (btw I don't use cardboard at all).
If you see any weed just cut and drop in place and add additional straw, because its probably too thin there.
I found it impossible to grow in straw, as it became a habitat for too many slugs, the deeper the straw, the more slugs. It seems to be method is not overly appropriate for this climate/ecosystem.
@@REDGardens Yes, our climate is not so wet. We don't have a slug problem, but I heard that a couple of ducks can help with that.
Thank you for your reply 🙂
One simple bit of advice I have is not to get one type of compost and stick with that. Though it's slightly more work, mixing compost from multiple sources tends to dramatically improve its quality. Sometimes I cheat a bit with a tiny amount of slow-release fertilizer like dried cow manure pellets mixed in as well. And yeah, April is not a good month to add the compost. Late fall, after the last harvest, works much better.
I think your idea of mixing compost from different sources is a good option.
Buen video !!!
Felicitaciones desde Argentina.
Good video !!!
Congratulations from Argentina.
Thanks! Hello there in Argentina!
My (extremely limited) experience is a single layer of cardboard is insufficient to prevent persistent weeds, including scotchgrass. I put down 3 layers, and even then o have problems with bindweed at the edges of the bed.
Adding compost in late autumn is crucial also. I replicate your forked carrots with two beds, one with compost added in the spring and one in the previous autumn. Spring bed forked, autumn bed less so.
I had to start the no dig method for 1 sole reason. I have crappy ass back pain so digging or heavy labor is a no no(i leave that to the bf). So I just started to layer compost n build up cuz it was easier for me. Turns out I was on to something🤷♀️ lol soil is soo much better. No dig gardening is where its at💯
you have one of the best youtube channels
Couch/quack grass is sooooo frustrating. Actually have both that and regular grass invading my fenced backyard garden plot.
It is a tough one!
Great video, do you have better results this year?
Surrounding the no-dig with a perimeter of tilled garden or a trench of daily hoeing only about 6 inches wide is a fairly effective method. I've also seen lain brick 4 layers deep in the ground with mortar as an option, the work and mortar doesn't have to be good just tight.
Yeah, those options would work, but I think it would be a lot easier to just dig the weeds out.
Wrt slugs, I found meadow clippings mulch to have no effect, pro or con.
But I think I know why. I put on a layer of compost and set the seeds in there.
When the plants are growing, I put mulch of meadow clippings then.
Hey there, long time viewer, love your work. As an equal admirer of science I think you plot is configured incorrectly for this method. Do you tarp this plot in fall/winter? My gardens are no dig 3.5 foot raised beds on contour with paths of 1.5 to 3 feet. Topsoil removed from paths and placed on beds and woodchips filling the paths. You end up with an underground mini swale in each path that you may walk on. Now if you loose an area to a weed it typically stays in a single bed. Beds are 5 to 25 feet long. Just cover weeds with anything on hand, could be a small piece of cardboard and a rock. It's a silly looking sight but smothering requires almost zero human effort or time.
Interesting. Configuration or layout is important. One of the issues I have is not enough wood chip in the area, even after contacting every tree surgeon in the region.
@@REDGardens understood doesn't fit the context then. Any fast growing trees in you area that you could propagate on site (but outside each plot?)
I think Charles Dowding also uses thinner 3 to 4 foot wide beds, with paths/waking areas. He is pretty strict with dealing with weed and also has context with dealing with couch grass in his gardens, I think his advise is persistence. But due to his bed/plot orientation he doesn't have to start over all of "Homeacres" when a weed overwhelms a bed.
From my observations, I think he just adds more of his ultra high quality compost and gets a food plant growing in the spot ASAP. When not growing I believe he covers with tarps or at least I do this.
I wonder if your context would benefit from allowing something like clover to take over to out compete the couch grass but also easily removed and composted when the time comes to plant, or left partially as ground cover.
The methods at Homeacres require more compost than I can manage to find components for in my current context so I typically hand weed which I def treat as to qualifying as no dig.
In the end I think a hybrid of the polyculture+no dig is my strategy, I have ample access to trees, chips, and leaves, and I'm starting a 30 Poplar tree forest which I will pollard on year 2 or 3 (all the trees are 1 year clones which sprouted from the roots of a mother tree I had felled to open canopy for my gardens and solar panels)
@@REDGardens Muncipalities and electricity providers could be a source.
Have you tried covering section with opaque plastic? You could even plant through it with various crops, but that would probably make watering more difficult. I find the way you're comparing various garden methods with each other. I've just set down my first no dig style bed. In Australia we have couch grass but also kykuya grass, it's far more invasive. I'm hoping it won't be too difficult to keep out
I thought the layer of compost over the cardboard needs to be 4 to 6 inches deep. Yours seemed more shallow so maybe that's why the weeds still popped through?
That is the recommended amount, especially when starting a garden, but I wasn't able to get that much compost, which is a big issue with that method. To do the full garden, not counting the paths, to 6 inches deep would require 13 cubic meters (17 yards) at a cost of €780 from one supplier I use.
My whole business model is based on no-dig, due to it being far easier, work wise. I think you have to have good quality native soil. I’ve had incredible results from my veggie garden so far, and will use this method for my flower farm. I DID poison the weeds initially, using glyphosate. It was just a one off hit, which I didn’t enjoy much but it certainly did the job. I’m budgeting on buying compost in like you did. This is a terrific video!
I have a question. If you just keep adding layers every year, will you not eventually end up with a small hill of a garden?
Not really, as most of it will decompose over time, and the layer will reduce. If I had compost that had lots of soil in it they yes, the level will increase.
Have you tried digging a trench around bed maybe foot deep or so around weed free beds this stopping rhizomes from crossing over into bed
I haven't tried that. In this case it would be an issue as the space between and around the gardens is a public path.
Can i cultivate in any type of soil if i put enough compost for cultivation. How can remove the weed without digging.
I don't know the answer to the first question as I have only tried on the soil I have. It is possible to smother weeds so that they die without access to light, but it can take time, and some weeds are really persistent. Sometimes it is just a lot simpler and easier to dig them out, and then shift to no-dig later if that is what you want..
Any thoughts on a forage radish cover crop to break up the soil? Also, off season cover crop killed by tarp before spring planting
then you use a greenhouse and placed one bag for potato's per week and then same for all other staples and just water collect and replace so try that please.
Isn't using so much compost too costly for gardening?
It can be, depending on where you get it from. The initial investment with this kind of method is significant, but the other growers have wound that the benefits in terms of extra yield and reduced work outweigh the cost. That is what I am trying to figure out.
@@REDGardens Thanks for the reply. Nice channel.
Formaldehyde in the cardboard
The worms don't seem to have a problem with it.
No dig too strict, you don't have to do it by the book. Do what works. Don't stick to rigid processes. There is no "right" way, anyone that tells you otherwise is only looking for attention.
Good point. I try to follow the advice in this kind of context, so that I aan see where it is useful and where it is less optimal in my context. i fund second guessing before I really give it a good try has caused me to end up faltering.
Get in touch with Charles D. to solve t issues! ☺️
One of the most informative, researched, and balanced videos on the no-dig method I've ever seen! Thanks so much!
Thanks!
Never i seen
Q
Theres many studies on notill gardening/farming that have been done by universities
this video is none of these things..no dig is for lazy millenials whp csnt lift a pile of dirt
I think you should not stress so much about never digging in no dig.
Sure you will disturb the soil life and layers. But this will hurt your crop less than having a weed take its sunlight.
Small spots of dug soil in an otherwise healthy bed will "heal" very fast since the soil life can just re colonize the soil from all sides.
maybe it helps to think of your time and motivation as a resource. It does not make sense to expend them at picking small weeds
all the time when you can just get the roots once and be done with it.
So in my oponion you should use what ever digging tool is required to get rid of the weeds as fast as possible.
there are weeds you can't eliminate with digging, they are so deep that is just impossible to reach the deeper root.
@@zambrocca Yes, but those can usually be worn down be repetitive digging/hoeing over a few years.
If you don't let them collect enough sunlight they will have spent all their reserves at some point.
I'm talking about the weeds that can just be dug out like the couch grass he has (although this one might also need more than one digging).
there are diffrenet stages of soil.
1 is dirt (no soil freslhy tilled)
2 is the weed/pioneer stage
3 is the grass stage
4 bushes and shrubs
eventually forest..
A healthy forest soil is the most producing (in biomass .If you where to dig and till forest soil you reduce it to stage one. An agricultural continuously tilled field will never get past stage 2 witch is a bacterially dominant, fungaly devoid soil. It will need fertilizer to keep it going. And plants that will do best there are the plants you dont want. Exactly the reason why people are looking for alternatives..
@@regiodeurse6513 can you cite source? I like what you are saying, but need more info
@@regiodeurse6513 "stage 2 witch is a bacterially dominant, fungaly devoid soil." no soil, no matter how long it's been tilled, is "fungaly devoid". Tilled soil may have less fungi in mass and diversity, but they still in it. "It will need fertilizer to keep it going." amount of fungi in soil does nothing to its fertility on itself. Unlike some nitrogen fixing bacteria, fungi can't fix nitrogen on their own. Only few species can form nitrogen fixing symbiotic relationships with diazotrophs , just like some plants do in their roots. Needless to say that other minerals like K or P have to be added to soil in some form, regardless of soils biodiversity. "And plants that will do best there are the plants you dont want. " thousands of years of farmers in different climates and geographic locations inventing tilling farming, prove you as wrong as it gets.
Good day my friend, I have been no dig farming for 10 years now and I wish to add my experience to your library of knowledge.
I live in the south east united states, where we have a lot of clay and sand in our soils.
To prepare our beds we first dig out the top 6 inches, and mix with organic mater.
We fill in the new trench with cut up debris like hedge clippings, grass, and tree branches before filling in with the soil mixture.
We then add 2 inches of finished compost ontop of the soil mixture to create a raised bed about 8-10 inches tall above the original ground.
During the establishing period we plant the burm with leaf crops first. After the seedlings are 4 inches tall we come in with mulch, a mixture of shredded leaves and wood chips.
1 year old beds are planted with legumes like peas and beans
2 year old beds are planted with squashed.
3 year old beds are planted with new peppers and tomatoes which are left in for the next 3 - 4 years.
Years 4 - 8 are interplanted with root crops like carrots and radishes along with alliums and herbs.
Every season we test the mulch layer to see if it maintains its 4 inch depth, adding more if needed.
Once a year when all the plants either die off, or go to dormancy, we test the soil fertility and add fertilizer if required (normally after year 4 we no longer need fertilizer so long as we keep the mulch layer strong)
The establishing period always has the least amount of yield that gradually builds over time, peaking at year 7 when the decompose organic matter peaks out at 20% composition.
This is what works for us down here, and I'm not sure if it will help out on your project. The key is getting the establishing period done correctly, and the rest of the time is just maintenance. We create 4 new 5x100 planting beds every year.
That is really interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience! I really like your focus on the establishment period, and the phases that it goes through, rather than being a once off event, and to plant the beds each year according to the stage of development. I had heard that tomatoes can be grown as multi-year plants, but peppers could do the same. Do you support them with structures, or just let them sprawl, and do they get pruned back once a season?
Great explanation.
@@REDGardens I think he meant that they plant tomatoes each year for 3 to 4 years. The southeast US still gets frosts in the winter.
Thomas Cook ......Chapeau!
@@REDGardens we usually do 2 methods for our tomato plants. For our annual production we use a mobile steel trellis to make a tomato wall 10ft. We keep them alive as long as possible by using the steel panel to espilar the growing vine until it gets to the top, then we cut the top. To extend its production (usually until early december) we will throw 4 mil clear plastic over it to keep off the frost and retain heat. This is for large slicing tomatoes that need more support.
The second method is a string support like they do in greenhouses. We make a supporting arbor where we tie off twine the height of the arbor to the base of the tomato plants. As the plants grow larger we move the twine down the length of the arbor so that the fruit is within reasonable reach. This we do for small tomato like cherry, grape, or cluster. This method only works with single stem production.
Our microclimate is usually very mild winters where we have tomato plants live about 2 years until production is impossible for how large the plants get.
For peppers, we start out new plants in our greenhouse 4 weeks before winter solstice so that the sprouts can grow as the length of the days grow. They then get transplanted out after winter solstice into their permanent beds. We trim off all flowers to keep the plant producing branches and roots until we have steady 80°F heat during the day. In the fall, after they stop producing flowers we remove 1/3rd of the branch material to clean the main trunk and feed a rooting fertilizer to prepare for dormancy. If the temperature ever goes below 40°F we throw 4mil clear plastic cold tunnel over the plants with fluffy mulch around the rooting zone, usually pine needles. We keep the plastic over the bushes until temperatures reach a steady 60°F or above with no risk of frost.
Peppers, and eggplants, are classified as tender wood perineals. So long as the roots and the bottom 6 inches of the plant are not killed off from frost they will grow back every year for about 4 years, increasing production every year. You can also use the trimmed off branches and propagate the varieties you desire most, I have gotten a 60% success rate just sticking them in the ground during the dormancy period without doing anything.
I am no-dig here in Fenland in England. In the industri-ag fields all around, we can see the top soil being blown away as the once humus dense land is ruined by constant tilling. The summer dust storms was one of the reasons for going no-dig.
The soil level is 20 foot lower than it was 100 years ago. This erosion is down to bad cultivation practices - just like those that created the dust bowl in the US in the 30's. Have a look at Richard Perkins/Joel salatin for what they do towards regenerative agrculture.
Our plot had been a paddock, but but left for 5 years. Weeds had taken over, and we had a fine collection of all the pernicious weeds you ar likely to get in our temperate climate. Bindweed, ground elder, nettles, thistles, teasles, docks and platains and your favourit, couch grass. I had tried digging. Took me a fortnight to dig and "weed" a bed about the size of one of your strips. And digging also uncovered the invasive roots of next doors old xmas trees that had taken.
I still find the odd shoot of couch, and dig it out as best I can. I did the same with bindweed. After 5 years, of carefully teasing out as much as I could, I haven't seen any for the last two years.
Perhaps you could hoe before mulching? No dig is not the same as no work. (especially when, as you say, you have to make LOTS of compost)
There is nothing wrong with making more layers of barrier like cardboard. And we find that once our beds have enough medium to plant in, then that is enough. Now we spread maybe an inch of mulch each autumn. Two key words there - the top dressing is a mulch, and the nutrients are not so important, because the plants should row in the underlying soil.
The other being autumn, which is perhaps the optimum time, but anytime is better than never. Hard to do round over wintering crops sometimes.
I visited Charles Dowdings garden last year. It is knock out - a real treat for any veg gardener. And of course follow his videos on youtube. Virtually the only plants he sows direct are parsnips and carrots. Everything else is started in seed trays. His is leaning towards a commercial mix rather than his own compost. Just seems to get better and more consistent germination.
Of carrots and parsnips, ours are direct sown too. We started out having problems of germination and later forking, but now the difficulties seem to be behind us. Next winter's parsnips are through. This summer's small carrots are a nice green furze. We will sow the winter carrots late August.
As you found, adaption to your local conditions is vital. Slugs in our temperate climate are a pain. To mitigate, we need to be scrupulous in keeping beds clean and removing habitat. Here, no legume seed will survive the rodents. No beetroot will have leaves without fleece against sparrows. No brassica will survive cabbage white without netting. All are a pain to a greater or lesser extent. But necessary.
No-dig is not synonymous with no work. Less work, and work you can perhaps chose your own time for, but weeds will come, as will all the other things of detriment to your harvest if you don't keep on top of it.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Very valuable to hear about what other people have experienced. It is interesting what you say about No-dig not being no-work, and one of the reasons for making this video the way that I did, as so many people are attracted to the no-dig method because of the belief that it will be a lot less work.
@@REDGardens My garden requires far less work than either of my neighbours - primarily weeding - beyond the obvious not having to dig. But there is the compost making, although it is possible to buy in compost in both small and bulk amounts, obviously in far cheaper unit costs.
My garden also is far more productive than the neighbours, despite them spending more time doing drudge work like weeding. Admittedly, they do this very badly, thinking that pulling the top of a weed is sufficient.
When it comes to harvesting, we canjust go and pluck what we need or fancy, without having to de weed first.
Another area of work, here at least is the need to sow indoors first, then plant out later. But this should not a huge investment in time.
On our adjacent plots, our mulched soil retains mositure much better. We only have to water certain crops under certain conditions. One neighbour doesn't water at all. They are surprised when their much larger allotment sized potato bed, for example, produces much less than our 1 kg of seed potatoes in an 5'x12' bed does.
The time spent in the garden depends on how much time you want to be out there. That time being life enhancing rather than a drudge, priceless.
Nick Straw Just curious as to the issue of getting materials down to plant ASAP? Perhaps it’s the region where you live, or something I am missing. My first lasagne bed was lain down the fall before last, and capped with 3-4” of straw to winter over. It was my trial bed. I planted the following spring and harvested an incredible yield last summer. Now I have six beds already planted and thriving in zone 8a. I built cardboard based and soaked bases, then alternation layers of carbon and green. It was so simple here, and I am a bit lazy. Am interested in difficulties some seem to be expressing?
Nick Straw Nick. Here in our temperate clime, slugs and snails are also numerous. The solution I use is to cut a flap in the side of empty pint milk containers, or yoghurt or cottage cheese containers. I then add a couple of tablespoons of cooking oil, and a Tablespoon of Asian fish sauce, folding, or replacing the lids to prevent water intrusion. I then half bury them in the compost, with some straw loosely placed over the top. The slimy critters crawl in for the bait and the oil kills them.
hoeing before adding another layer is certainly something i'll do.
I’m a beginner gardener myself, but what I’ve learned from some other experienced gardeners, is that it’s really important to have your soil covered at all times, with either hay, grass clippings, wood chips, leaf mound.. In Morag Gamble’s no dig method she puts the newspaper layer on top of compost, just below the mulch. Another important thing for the soil fertility is to establish living root, (cover crops, perennials) in order to have microrhizal fungi that are helpful for plants ability to obtain nutrients. Anyway, I just thought I’d share. I’m still learning and trying things myself.
On the second thought, it’s probably not easy to apply these methods on a larger scale... but with some modifications, probably doable.
Geoff Lawton recommends at least 4-5 layers of cardboard. He says most failures are due to not enough cardboard. I believe time is required as well. When I have done this, I usually build the garden one year and plant it the next year.
That makes sense, more cardboard would probably be more successful, and the time would help. I am usually not patient enough.
you can use the bed the first year if you cover with plastic and plant into tiny holes in it.
I absolutely agree with that. I think multi layers are vital under raised beds.
I've done that with strawberries.
@@richedge8667 Most companies (like Amazon) have switched over to soy-based inks for printing on their cardboard boxes, so that's not a problem. You tear off any glue-backed labels or plastic by hand before you use the cardboard. As long as you're using just the cardboard, it's fine.
Thank you for showing us things as they really are. This is priceless, this is true knowledge. Thank you 🙏
My pleasure! But it is only my own experience, I would not say it is how it would really be for other people.
I have couch. It's the stuff of nightmares. I had some success covering intended veggie beds with black plastic sheeting and just leaving it down for a couple of years. Trouble is when I bought my house, the large garden had been allowed to revert to grass and weeds. So when I removed the plastic, the many years of dropped weed seed quickly sprouted. Upshot is I'm now turning the garden into raised beds with paths. As I make each path I cover it with weed mat first, then woodchip mulch. I'm 72 years young. This way is so much easier for me.
Year, couch grass can be the stuff of nightmares! I have used the plastic method a few times, and it can work, if you leave it on long enough.
_Borders_ (rewatch the video of Charles Dowding, it has no dig and / or weeds in the title - see my separate comment, sort for latest). And ONE good and deep dig at the beginning if you know you have a hardy weed (the soil life is not that great yet, it will recover from this "sin" I would not be too dogmatic about it, and you can boost it with compost teas to compensate from straying from the gospel ).
Sufficiently ! high layers (I would also use newspaper and on top THREE layers of carton) and long smothering times - erring very much on the side of caution if you know you have some bad weed.
Again well defined, and easy to defend BORDERS.
Better starting one bed right than 2 beds not quite high enough to smother out the weeds. Plus giving it some time to come together and soil life starting to work - or starting with robust (nitrogen fixing) plants in the first season. Plus starting with seedlings (at least in the first 2 years). Direct sowing is tricky.
ideally (this is an "unnatural" situation as you did it to produce a comparsion video, thanks for the effort) you establish your defense troops (wild birds, toads, certain beetles), that deal with slugs one year before you even start a no dig garden (or a larger permaculture system).
You start an all-you-can-eat buffet and an ideal habitat for slugs. Make sure the habitat for their predators matches that. That you have the animals established that see slugs and their eggs as an all-you-can-eat-buffet.
If you have a garden in an area with enough rain and fields and meadows of farms nearby - you might not be able to control them, they will invade by the thousands during night when dew makes travelling easier for them. Chickens do not eat grown slugs (and they can be really big and fat) and most ducks do not eat them either. And if they eat mostly slugs (not the eggs, but the grown animals) you cannot eat the ducks later. I do not know about eggs, but the meat does not taste good.
You create the niche nature made slugs for when you establish a garden - new organic material (I learned that from a video from Jonas Gampe, in Germany. He thinks that slugs as _pioneers in new systems_ may be as important for breaking down material and creating compost as worms. The snails that used to be native only go after rotting material, do not eat as much young plants, and if they eat into a leaf of salad or a strawberry it is no big deal. They procreate not as rapidly, I let them live if I see them. The slugs from India unfortunately have a taste for seedlings and certain fruits and veggies.
Snakes, toads and other beetles will feast on the slugs (and their eggs) if they can live and procreate in your garden. You created the all-slugs-you-can-eat buffet for them, but food is not enough, they also must find the shelter and their offspring must survive. Dry walls, insect hotels, marshy wet spots, little ponds that are deep enough for them to get over winter (that means also no problem with mosquitos, their larvae is fodder. Ideally some reeds = dragon flies, they are fierce predators. Wasps are controversial in gardens but they feed eggs of pests to their brood (like the moths that go after cabbage. One can also promote wasps that live in the soil - as opposed to the ones that live in hives.
Jonas Gampe and helpers established a small "park / food forest" (one former field - it is open to the public at all times) according to permaculture principles. It is not close to where they live (but it was up for sale, people do not sell land easily in Germany, they do not have to. That field was given up for conventional agriculture after being degraded, so they took it, despite the distance. But they wanted a systems that functiions w/o much input and work anyway, so the distance was no deal breaker. On average they invest now 2 hours per week (after 10 years)
It is a long and narrow strip with some slope surrounded by other fields so slugs used to come in, especially because they had ground cover and more moisture - and the neighbour fields didn't.
In the first years the slugs hammered the plants they had sown into the mulched beds, but they had a relaxed hands off approach and trusted into the power of a diverse system once it had found its balance (so not like in a garden where harvests are expected soon).
They grow a lot of food trees, not that many annuals, also to reduce maintainance, especially in the future once the property is established. They can't have chickens or ducks there (they are not there often) so wildlife had to deal with the slugs - and it did.
10 years and going strong, and the very suspicious, conventionally farming neighbours have relaxed as well. Wild boars, birds and likely predatory insects helped - only the first 3 years the slugs had a blast. they let cleared brush sit in big heaps, and decompose and go down by itself and the wild birds love the cover for breeding and they love the fodder they find in the hedgerows, the ponds etc.
No more problem with slugs. That is no problem if the slugs (their eggs) are an all you can eat buffet for toads or other beetles (unlike birds they work during night and go under mulch).
Another strategy in slug and weed infested gardens would be raised beds for a few years that are intensely used, and to prepare some areas on the ground that are planted with crops that the slugs do not like and that do not make a lot of work. Could be beans - and growing them on trellises.
Patience is a virtue for gardeners ;)
Patience is a virtue for gardeners ;) - Parameters for your success and the ratio of input / output
1) quality & yield
2) passing of time where you let the system work for you (preparing a bed in fall and _waiting_ for the next spring, waiting for the wildlife that will contain the slugs for you).
3) effort & labor you put into it - in the beginning but also later maintainance
4) costs
5) being spontantanuous, proceeding fast w/o much former planning and preparation
6) being well informed right in the beginning versus winging it as you go
If a gardener is good or lucky they have to _make concessions_ in only one or two of those points ;)
I think the video where Dowding stresses the importance of borders is: Start out with no dig, method with card board and compost (from 2020 or late 2019).
What about simply padding a grassy area with cardboard during winter, re-padding it when it decomposes, and as spring arrives you add a layer of compost and then transplanting germinated seeds? Or am I overlooking something?
It is basically that, with a few issues I have found. The cardboard will blow away if not covered with something heavy when if first goes down, and this method will probably not work if you have any of the vigorous perennial weeds. Scutch grass has been the main problem for me. And you need a LOT of compost.
After years of trying all this dig/no dig/ double dig methods. I now just do a hybrid thing.
Dig out the weeds with minimum disturbance to the soil. Then add organic compost.. then sheet mulch.. then top mulch of straw/hay/woodchips..
if weeds come through just keep pulling them until they tire and die.. couch grass however I still dig it out as best I can again without disturbing the soil too much..
Is there a one size fits all answer?
There definitely sent a one size fits all answer, but it sounds like you have adapted a decent hybrid method that works for you.
@@REDGardens I moved to a home a year ago in Texas. I live in a neighborhood that is full of huge trees. Leaves up on leaves in the fall so I mowed the leaves twice covered the garden area with 4 sheets of newspaper then spread the leaves about 4 inces deep. So far so good. A few weeds come through, but mostly easy to pull.
marcus vandell I am pretty much with your techniques.
@@RandyFelts2121 Good use of that abundant resource.
I think your Steve Solomon inspired garden is the best solution for a vegetable garden. And his ideas are very similar to a traditional allotment garden, before all this raised bed nonsense came about
Gardening is hard work and all no dig does is trade one job for another
Now, a year on, I feel this video is really immensely cool. In my new environment, I will skip this method, and look for something new, but I can more or less concur wholeheartedly with you, Bruce, based on my experiences up to now from previous homestead. No dig did not work for me where I had bermuda/kweek grass, and it gave me nothing but false hope and an inevitable delayed explosion of new infestations. Those little root bits that you leave behind, can wait under 2 layers of cardboard and compost until one day... boom!
PS: that root rhizome removal that never stops was like a Tool music video, and incredibly cathartic. Had to watch that twice.
Yeah, those rhizomatic root systems are amazing! They need to be covered for ages, and can just be easier to keep digging!
I find that with my gardens, (now three years old), that tilling with a shovel can deliver results fast and thus justifies the hard work needed. as far as soil biology goes i would say that tilling does harm the biology. worms most of all. but i find that the large amount of organic matter that i till it boost soil biology highly after the spring tilling each year. The boost is large and i think overall breaks even with the disruption in the spring.
I think I would agree with you. Tilling causes damage, but when done well it could significantly boost soil life.
@@REDGardens especially in soils like mine that didnt have much soil life before i came along.
My hubby and I did this with some very compacted and weed ridden soil here in the midwest, US. We just added a hugelkultur method on top of the organic matter/cardboard layers. In August of last year. Still fighting weeds. But I have 2 kinds of peas, 3 kinds of beans, several types of cornflowers, and soon glass gem corn and sun flowers started in the soil. While planting, I saw a lot of worms so I thought that w as a good sign. We may be warmer but definitely very, very humid. In the Ohio River Valley. We will see how it goes! Better than nothing at all is what I always say. lol.
Sounds interesting - lots of worms are definitely are good sign. Hope you get on top of the weeds, rather than the weeds winning!
8:05 - WELL ESTABLISHED BORDERS for weed control (lacking here, and that helps the grass to invade). High mulch / compost levels - it would have been better to do a few beds correctly with the mulch / compost he had and do the rest of the garden one year later.
Charles Dowding recommends to dig out very persistant weeds and deep rooted plants before turning lawn or other ground into a bed
and to have clearly defined and well defended borders between rest of the property (lawn, meadow, field) and the vegetable garden and also between garden paths and beds (If memory serves he covers the beds that allow him to work between the beds with wood chips, but does not use wood chips on the beds). If a weed pops up on the beds or paths he digs or pulls it out (whatever is possible), and since it must be hardy (or it would not come through from the underground) he puts a sheet of cardboard on it for good measure (some more smothering - if it is a weed he knows to be very persistant).
In my opinion when one sets up the bed ONE deep digging followed by intense and longer smothering with cardboard (and newspaper under it, it clings even better to the underground when wet). And a high ! layer of compost and mulch would be in order to prepare a difficult (weedy !) underground. The high carbon content would need some nitrogen fixing in the first year.
Then you build soil life. In the first year the harvest may not be so good, especially if the impatient ! gardener foregoes the usual resting period where the system can settle in and the soil life (worms) can mix it up and bring it together.
I did a one-time treatment with Glyphosate (no chemicals since) and then ploughed my plot, and only then did no-dig. I think Charles Dowding's "Just put 6" of compost on the lawn" work, but is unrealistic for a large patch. UK allotment ("Space required to feed a family of 4") is 250 sq.m. Allowing 10% paths a 6" layer is 34 cu.m. of mulch - probably close to £100 a cu.m. Raised beds? That's nearly 400 M of edging materials, used scaffolding boards are £3/M ... so the Charles Dowding startup cost would be around £4,500 ... gotta grow a lot of veg to recoup that. Unless you can blag it all for free (e.g. pallets and Cannabis grower discarded compost - like Terry King's RUclipss 🙂 )
kGarden I agree Dowding is running a commercial enterprise with income from veg, salads, books and RUclips so is not always a fair comparison to our home grown sites with their issues.
Yep. I think using herbicide is most often the cheapest and easiest way to start a garden.
Digging is a hard work and some people don't have time or ability to do it. And thick layer of mulch can be hard to obtain without spending money in some places.
But even if for some reason you want to dig a sprayed plot then it will be much easier cause all the roots will be dead so after some time you can turn the soil even with a garden fork.
I think with the amount of compost invested in the no dig garden, you could also make a very productive container garden or raised bed garden, which eliminates most problems with weeds, cold soil and slugs. Back before I had a garden space, I used to grow quite a lot of veggies on my balcony. I only realized much later how insanely productive this method was, and in some years I even might have grown more tomatoes, eggplants, hot peppers, salads or beans on my balcony than I did in a couple of dug beds in the ground.
Very interesting and I'm certain this is true.
That makes sense, especially in his climate. I’ve found containers to be more effort in very hot and dry climates because the soil dries out so insanely fast. But the biggest advantage of containers is being able to relocate them if necessary. I had some watermelons growing in larger containers this year, and as the summer progressed into a drought they were getting scorched in full sun. But I was able to move them into partial afternoon shade and they immediately started coming back lush and green, with new blossoms and fruit setting even though they seemed DOA.
This is my second year doing it. I didn’t use cardboard tho, just wood chips. It’s done a lot for the soil. Just from what I put in this last winter , the worms have tunneled through the soul breaking it up, plus lots of wood chips have already broken down. Since my soul is not so fertile yet I will fertilize with my homemade liquid fertilizer I make from scraps and yard weeds and put in a big tub in the yard. David the good taught me that.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and making great videos! Being honest about succes, faillure and mistakes is so refreshing. As a beginner gardener it is very easy to get hyped up by youtube videos about gardening where everything seems to go perfect and is "so easy", while that is far from (my) reality. Very inspiring
You are so welcome! I am really glad that you appreciate my approach with these videos.
I don't think any of these methods need to be all or nothing, and as you say, should be adapted to local conditions when appropriate. After several years slowly expanding my garden on densely packed clay and rocky soil, I've shifted from a strict, no-dig approach to a "double-dig while incorporating lots of compost first season of a new bed, then no-dig the following seasons" strategy. Otherwise, it would have taken many more years for the soil to grow deep and loose and rich enough to support many of the deeper rooting plants I want to grow, and to hold sufficient moisture through the hot, dry summers we often have. I also deal with major bermuda (wire, scutch) grass issues, so carefully sifting the soil of a new bed for rhizomes as well as an 18" weed-free boarder around each bed makes a big difference in ease of maintenance the following years. I have no qualms about aggressively digging the invading bermuda grass from the boarders before it gets to the actual bed. That way I can leave the rest mostly undisturbed.
Soon we will have weather warm enough to start the garden in northern Ontario
I enjoy the much earlier spring here in Ireland! Where in Northern Ontario are you? I spent a lot of time when I was young near New Liskeard.
It’s just to the point here in the Finger Lakes/Western New York region ( we are just on the edge of the 2) that I can n confidentiality plant my brassicas and other cold weather veg. I’m just on the south side of the Ontario lake.
I know the New Liskeard area well, my wife is from there. We are presently in the Sault Ste Marie area
@@Tomhohenadel Nice part of the world. My mother grew up in New Liskeard, with the family farm closer to Hilliardton.
New Liskeard, Englehart area is good farm country. Nice flat clay rich soils. Did you study at the Agricultural college in Liskeard. Great fishing in lake Temiscaming.
A no dig garden (at least in the first years) does better with seedlings, not with direct sowing.
I think the best option IS to go to shop by vegetebles.seeds are expensive and LOT of work around Garden.i am growing for 7 years now.and still having some problems wiht seeds not germinating.its just LOT of work.
Seed germination can be tricky!
In my no dig, we add another layer of cardboard and compost on top where annuals have been and rotate with favas or buckwheat. In perrenial beds we just add compost.
Do you plant the favas and buckwheat through the cardboard, or do the roots find their way through his barrier?
@@REDGardens I add a four inch layer of compost on top of the cardboard and plant the favas and buckwheat in that. By the time the roots reach down it's usually mushy enough that the roots find their way through
@@REDGardens or in the case of buckwheat and other covercrops, the roots are shallow and don't have to go through
This is exactly what I am experiencing with my no dig and low quality compost. High potassium and low nitrogen phosphorus levels. I added rabbit manure and azormite. Bone and blood. It is great for initial weed suppression but I like the control of double dig honesty. It’s hard to beat a good double dig with amended organic methods. My early plants seedlings stunted and I lost entire early crops before I got a handle on what was going on.
I think it oddly be an issue for many gardens that bring in high volumes of compost, as it increases the likelihood of it being very woody and high in potassium, but not much else.
Bruce, I've always admired how you don't adhere to any single gardening dogma, and how your work is pragmatic and empirical. Perhaps it is time for you to start a new plot where you synthesize the best aspects of all the methods you have been experimenting with. My bet is that it would outperform the others!
I totally agree with you on the first part of your comment.
But my conclusion would be that there is no one size fits all. So much depends on the conditions. He will become the best grower in many respects, but primarily on his plot of land. I say this not to downplay what he does, I think he is amazing.
But what I'm trying to say is, that we should let go of the idea of a definitive method of gardening. It does not exist.
Thanks for the video! It's always interesting to see see the various techniques you use and how they work out at your site.
Not sure if I've missed it, but do you do any fruit/ other perennial gardening? I have a relatively no dig garden inside of a food forest garden in Iowa that has worked pretty well over five years. Interestingly though, we don't seem to get many slugs here so definitely the environment is a bit different
Since your last video I started a small garden. Love ya man and keep up the good work!
I'm a no dig gardener. I've started a few gardens this way because it was a necessity on the sites I was on. Had the same issue with carrots. Eventually that goes away in the third year. Some weeds have to be dug. Sometimes when I'm real low in mulch I move little piles of mulch around to kill grass. I mulch that nasty weeds before I dig them out because they come out of mulch easier. The first two years can grow staples like corn and potatoes but other things can have issues. Especially the second year when pests will be at there most abundant before they settle down in later seasons.
Season 1 to weed
Season 2 to feed
Season 3 to succeed
It does seem to take three years - or more!
Possibly part of the drying compost germination problem may be because it didnt look like it had been compressed after application? I think Charles d always stomps over his compost after application:-) he loves spooking that compost doesn't 'compact'like soil haha
That could be an option to try, but I suspect Charles always uses better compost that what I have!
@@REDGardens he certainly does have access to good styff
Haha the online puericulture echo chamber is a big mood. I read and watched soo many accounts of people setting up new no dig permaculture gardens and enthusing about them. But it was only after I tried doing it for myself for several years that I realised how few accounts there were of successful established ones, especially in temperate climates. The slugs were a nightmare for me too. And even though I was growing in raised beds surrounded by paving the perennial weeds were always a problem. All that and poor yields.
My approach now is more of a less dig system. Where I avoid digging as much as possible but don’t shy away when it’s needed. Heavy soils in cool damp climates are way more robust than dry sandy ones and the weeds are more vigorous so I think compromises can be made without damaging the soil. also once you start getting established mycorrhizal fungi the plants might start looking better. Not that I have a garden at the moment so this is all a few years old knowledge now
That sounds like a very reasonable approach to me. I don't believe that the answer to the issues with the "industrial way of gardening" is to not dig at all.
Thanks for another great video. I'm starting the no-dig method and your honesty helps me manage my expectations 😀.
I would imagine that doing a similar cardboard and mulching (but with wood chips or other non-fertility material) all over the perimeter of the garden would help with the weeds crawling in. Is it something you plan to try? :)
Mulching that paths would definitely help, and something that I have thought of doing, but iI have a hard time finding enough wood chip in this area for that kind of area. I've contacted all of the tree surgeons in the region, and there is very little available, except after a huge storm.
The close up shots of his compost layer indicates a 2" thick layer. From my experience, that is too thin...6" is a minimum to control weeds and have sufficient nutrition...IF a mix of both "BROWN" and "Green" sourced composts are used.
@4:15 I don't think that Mulch in Autumn would prevent the weed seeds germinating. I have some Alliums in my ornamental garden, they seed freely but not many germinate ... except the year when I mulched heavily in the Autumn and the seeds thought that was ideal! But weed seedlings are a one-time kill, unlike perennials.
Good point. I think that some of the seeds will only germinate if they are close to the surface. No doubt other seed will germinate regardless.
I think if you kept your rows narrow and used black poly sheets for mulch you would be way better off.
That could work.
I enjoy your very matter of fact videos. I’ve got 6 raised beds I’ve been doing no dig for about 10 years, there’s never enough compost. 18 months ago I made three new beds from scratch just with stuff from the garden, and they’ve been 👍. Where I can’t get compost I do a cover crop or cover with leaves in the autumn, seems to work ok
I was thinking along the lines of cover crops where there is not enough compost, which cover crop would be best or would a mixture of varied types work better?
I never have any luck with carrots in no dig. I have a seperate bed with actual soil and they do fine
I had the same experience, until this year.
Get a cheap Rotor Tiller. You will have it for a long time and less back breaking, faster turning soil and more time for gardening. Try it, you will thank me later !!!
I shift 30-40 tons of wood chips a year to keep up with my "no dig" garden. By hand! "No dig" Ha! Those chips rot down to nothing in just a couple years. Your comments about the down sides is true for cooler, wetter climates. The most effective solutions are: using a trommel to sift the chips after letting them start to decompose over a year; adding last year's compost 30:60 And being patient for the real benefits to kick in. (my 1 acre garden is now 35 years since we started it.) All your advice is well taken. I have a large raspberry bed in the garden. I just pull up the young shoots. The rhizomal grass problem is best addressed with Roundup BEFORE setting up the beds. Yes, you need a certain frame of mind to do this type of garden properly.
1 acre no dig, Wow! And that is a lot of wood chip. Do you add anything to it to speed up the decomposition and round out the fertility within it? the trammel idea is a good one.
@@REDGardens I used to use new chips in garden paths and after a couple years turn them over onto the beds. But then there can be larger chips which are a pain for seedlings. These days I let the chip pile sit for a year, sometimes more. It settles to half initial height and at least doubles in weight from rain/snow accumulation. Then I heave it by ten tine fork into the 3/8" screen trommel. (converted concretee mixer) The screened material goes as a top dressing in the veg gardens (3") and orchards. The big stuff kicked out at the end of the trommel goes as mulch around trees and bushes. Lot of work but the clay swamp is now two foot deep of brown gold. I do use some fertilizer, mostly for seed starting. and transplants. Otherwise the composted chips provide all the nutrition. I also have a large compost pile from the garden and kitchen waste, which also gets the trommel treatment and mixed with the fine chips for the veggie beds. The large pieces go back into the compost pile. Lot of work and I'm lucky in my chip providers. All the local guys know to dump in my back yard.
Thank you for the great content. Would be sweet if you created a Jadam garden.
Hmmm, hadn't heard about that before. i will have a look.
Hope it is interesting enough for you.
I am testing it out on one of my plots this season but would very much look forward to your analysis and commentary.
I've always been skeptical about the more fundamental permaculture principals. A lot of it seems to be "woo-woo." Sure, there's a lot of gardening common sense mixed in, but the spaces in between seem [to me] to be un substantiated at best, and almost supernatural at worst. Would be a lot less work though...
There are some issues with some of the approaches or solutions that have been developed, especially with the appropriateness to different climates. But I have found that to be very much the same in many other realms of gardening.
The problem here was: no tarp, too thin layers compost, mulch, and no borders, plus the implicit expectation to have good harvests w/o any waiting time. - Weeds and expecting immediate good results with slightly demanding (germination, carrot is a known diva) deep root ! vegies like carrots and a very recent system are a challenge.
Carrots may not be your ideal choice for a first crop especially if you do not let the system settle for a few months (doing the tarp, cardboard, compost, mulch routine in fall, and planting in spring).
If you want to move fast you need to get all the other things right, or have less room to take liberties with the other variables. Not yet established soil life, you can pamper that with compost teas. If you give it time you can skip that step, but if you expect fast results, it would be good to give the immature system a boost.
If you have presistent weeds, you have to add one more level of security. Tarp, digging it up ONCE, and then the tarp and then the cardboard and thick layers and immediately the borders around the vegetable garden and also the borders within the system (between beds and paths).
The fundamental principles imitate nature and millions of years of evolution. What do you think does not work, the prairie or forests are very productive - humans might want faster results or do not have the space (or knowledge) about building the defense troops (animals and plants that will keep weeds and pests at bay).
Plus selecting appropriate ! crops, or you have to compensate with a lot of labor and input.
You don't have a slug problem, you have a lack of ducks!
Yep!
My recommendation for the no dig with planting carrots or other root veg is to cut your cardboard when you plant. This is what I did, but I did it with hay.
Put your cardboard down, then your compost, put your garden lines down with string, take your shovel/edger and use it to 'cut' out the section your going to put the root veg in. It takes a bit but it seemed to work for me. The 4 carrots I've pulled sofar look great!
I watch alot of these vids for some reason but still find the easiest method is put a seed in the ground worry only about the ground around the plant and let everything else grow naturally because at the end of the day do you want food or a perfectly manicured garden
Absolutely!! All those compost can go on the natural ground and improve the soil quality.
Those struggling with weeds and other poor results may want to look at regenerative agriculture principles rather than just no dig. There are additional aspects such as cover cropping which greatly improve the process.
Great update Bruce! I've been wondering for a while, what would be your hypothetical hybrid of a garden if you were to take the best bits of your growing areas? I appreciate that this could be a long answer so perhaps a topic for a future video (he says, hopefully 😊). Personally we started with No-Dig on our allotment but that was quickly followed by incorporating Steve Solomon's method (full soil test, COF mixture applied, etc), then bits of Regenerative Agriculture (cover crops and interplanting there of), and soil science ideas from Dr Elaine Ingham, etc., etc. We've certainly found that with everyone's unique set of growing conditions, it's difficult to make one method fit without a few tweaks along the way. I'd be interested to know what you think your morphed method would be given your experience so far and the growing conditions you face. All the best, David
9:00 Did you just place 3 carrot seeds together.???
That was one seed that split into 3 main roots.
Dziękuję. Świetny materiał edukacyjny. 😊
GRRR take the time from pulling weeds to adding more ground cover over that exposed soil. Purpose is to stop sunlight all year round.
👍
@@REDGardens got a little emotional sorry :(
@@Melicoy all good
Yes compost doesn't shelter slugs, but it's a bad idea to do like Dowding and cover your whole garden with it. The main issue is that compost doesn't feed soil life. So you end up not having the benefits of no dig. Compost is already degraded matter, especially the one you use. You need lignin, IE wood, to feed soil life, mainly mushrooms and worms. Overtime, the real soil below compost will become compact (which is why you can't pull out weeds easily, whereas you should be able to). Also, compost is really dry, so you need a lot of water, it doesn't hold water like real mulch (straw, wood chips...). Also, compost is a fertilizer, so it contains quite a lot of nitrogen (not as much as manure of course) and the excess will drain out in the waterbed when it rains, so you pollute it, and then you need even more compost. It's better than chemical fertilizers of course though. Also, pure compost makes your plant less healthy. You get big leaves due to the nitrogen, but that excess nitrogen makes their cells grow too big, and are more susceptible to fungi like mildew and slugs or other pests that can tell which plant is weaker. I experience this in my own garden. Commercial vegetable farmers doing no dig use tarps over the mulch to prevent weeds from growing. It's especially useful for squashes : put a thick layer of mulch (woodchips, straw, hay...), then the tarp, and cut holes with a blowtorch, then plant the squashes in the holes, or saw inside the holes. This method works for anything you transplant or saw with large seeds or bulbs. Yes it's plastic, but here farmers go to people raising cows who have those tarps to store corn for their cattle, they just get the older tarps for free. And to sow small seeds, you simply remove the mulch, add a layer of compost, and sow into the compost. The next year, you rotate and do a crop where you don't use compost, so that you vary the types of mulches overtime. No dig is incredibly effective and productive : after 3 years, you get an insane population of worms and mushrooms (IF you use real mulch, not compost), which are essential for the fertility cycle, especially for nitrogen. They get insane yields, check this video ruclips.net/video/YX2XZ8peBhg/видео.html For their mulch, they usually buy wood chips at their local tip, which is quite cheap. All the people with garden bring their green waste their (branches, leaves etc...) to get chipped. Also, landscape gardeners have to pay to go to the tip, around 200 € per truckload... So they're more than happy to deliver it to farmers for free ! Another IMPORTANT aspect of no dig is healthy plants. The more soil life you have, the stronger your plants are. Farmers who use this method report almost no mildew on tomatoes or potatoes, very few pests, so they don't have to use pesticides. Overall you have better yields, less work, and less pesticides, so better income. More than 95% of the new vegetable farmers in France are no dig. There's zero reason left to dig... Tilling the soil means you destroy its organic matter overtime, you promote erosion, you get sick plants, need fertilizers and pesticides, and you turn your soil into CO2...
PS : couch grass is a nitrogen loving plant. The more compost you add, in such quantities, the more couchgrass you will have because you're causing an imbalance in your system. You can put compost, but usually it's 50 % compost and 50 % woodchips or straw. You're only having a thin layer of cardboard and a thick layer of compost, that's too much nitrogen, which the couchgrass loves. It also loves compact soils, which is why you often see it in vegetable gardens where people till their soil too much (resulting in compact soils overtime). Weeds tell us what type of mistakes we make.
Thanks for another great video.
We set up no dig raised beds last year using 100x30 ceramic building tiles (we're not in a high risk frost area). First we skimmed the first few inches of turf and soil, composted that in builders bags. Added fresh cow manure, covered with double layer of cardboard and topped with bought compost that had fertilizer added (couldn't get it without).
Last year we had a very successful season with the exception of carrots, like yours they forked, but we did get a good weight for what we planted, this year however our direct sown carrots did not fork quite the opposite long and slender, very trendy but no substance.
This year we have sown twice beans and peas and these have rotten in the ground, so we tried plugs and these also died, I put this down to a unusual hot spell (26C) and the dark compost just got too hot.
Thanks again for the videos.
I enjoy and learn so much from our programs since you try out so many gardening techniques. Keep up the good reports!
Here is the one I have had success with for the last two years. I switched to a combination of Lasagna Gardening, Chop and Drop, and using newspaper as a mulch. I just think of it as horizontal compost pile gardening. This combination of methods helps with my clay soil and I can water less unless it is a drought year. Clay county is actually the name of the area where I live and they were not kidding.
Start like you did with a row of cardboard, and then add a mix of as much brown, green compost materials as you can gather. Next you spread a thin layer of manure over the top. I also poke long sticks vertically into the triangular shaped compost pile to encourage air flow. Wiggle them in a circle and then water well.
I started my pile 4 weeks ago just before our Thanksgiving holiday with at least 70+ bags of leaves, 10 bags of cow manure, 2 bags of sugar, and 2 bags of blood meal. The compost pile was 4-5 feet tall in the center, and 20 feet square. The compost pile is now about two feet tall so I need to add materials from the outside onto the center.
All my mom cares about are tomatoes which we plant in May but I can add cool season crops to this garden bed, too. This last year I had only one tomato plant with blossom end rot and very little weeding after using the horizontal compost pile method. If you want to plant tomatoes or another seedling just open up a space with your hands, insert the plant, and firm the compost around the plant.
If you want to direct sow something like lettuce seed spread some bagged garden soil 3 inches wide and one inch deep for each row.
This year I am going to plant potatoes early in the Spring.Wish me luck! I hope you try this method and see if it works for you!
Enjoy your gardening!
I raise all my plants (except Carrots / Parsnips) and plant out; initial hoeing of the bed means that my plants have a headstart on weeds which are starting from seed, and I think small plant resists slugs better than seedlings. Typically I prick-out to small modules and then pot-on to 9cm as that neatly fits in a hole made by bulb planter. I can plant in a deep-ish hole and not backfill to make it easy to water, or to earth up (e.g. vigorous seeds like Beans). Your climate would probably be happier than mine planting out from modules (or compressed-blocks maybe?). Parsnips I chit first; fiddly to plant out but they do then gain a boost against weed seeds.
horsemanure contains Broadleaf spectrum weedkillers. As all of it's food (grains,grasses, both pasture and hay) are heavily treated with this stuff. A single application of horsemanure can completely take out a tomato or potato crop if you're unlucky! It also damages & or stunts the growth of other crops in various degrees. Damage by these weedkillers is recognizable by discoloration and malformation in the newest growth
I suggest you you should try mulch here's an image link, I would skip the pine bark it doesn't break down easily.
blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/pascoco/files/2018/10/Mulch-samples.jpg
Mulch video ruclips.net/video/1lKWlu4RYv0/видео.html
As far as I know , after you prepair your garden with 2-3 layers if cardboard .Then add your compost .Cover with a tarp to blick light.Check back in a few months.You should get positive results.
I’m passionate about sustainability and environmental methods but No-dig or permaculture or whatever you want to call it is not an easy approach, people that say no-dig is easy work are mad. There’s nothing easier than rotovating your plot and add chemical fertilisersbought in store, thats why it is so popular! Even manual cultivation is easier that move tonnes of compost or mulch around. There are benefits of no dig but that is not being an easy job, its time we start to be more realistic and honest, organic farming, permaculture and all that is hard work!
Thank you so much for this informative video...I also lot of slugs and snails in my garden... so I dumped the leaves underneath the hedges to decompose to get leave compost...to my surprise all slugs gathered underneath the leaf compost to eat the leaves and leaving my garden produce for good....I don't use any pesticide or chemical fertilizers from many years...regards from India
Preparation is key, giving the bed some time to settle, and maybe the FIRST harvest should be beans (nitrogeen fixiers), or some robust plants - not vegetables like carrots ??
Tarps are a huge part of a no dig garden. Get you some nice silage tarps and rotate parts of the garden that you tarp when the weather is warm. This will induce weed germination and the occultation of the weeds will smother them. I have 4 x 50ft rows that I treat as no-dig, and if a bed ever gets overrun with weed pressure, I take it out of commission for 3-6 weeks (depending on how warm it is) with a tarp to get a handle on things again.
Maybe try what is called stale seed bedding. Where a new area is mowed short, coved with either a heavy weed fabric or ag plastic.
This creates a germination of weed seed that then starves the plant of light. This is done couple times allowing light long enough in between for remaining seed to pop before recovering.
This is time consuming, but worked well for me.
I have had it work well for new areas of no dig I also have added a heavy amount of finished compost before covering the second time, after a little raking was able sow direct into the end product.
In the end there will always be a few weed's around but much more easy to contend with besides I've found some weed plants to help with insects acting as traps as long as they are kept under control.
The cardboard sort of work for me . except for dandilions... they just lurk no matter what. so I've given into them.. so I fight through a few very happy bees for some veg.
ps loved the ugly carrots.
I am from Australia and I recon that no dig is good for certain things but not good for others I want to know how you plant the seeds without digging maybe I have t much compaction but still. I think that this method is better off being used in broad acre like wheat, corn, soybeans , barley and so forth because you can use a disc or tine to directly sow into the ground with little disturbances but even those blokes plough with an offset disc or chisel plough every 3 or 4 years. I recon its not the best thing for gardening maybe I would try minimum tillage but not no till and I come from a subtropical climate.
if you really want to compare dig to no dig, just use un-amended established soil and dont dig half of it. otherwise you essentialy have by default a dug (filled) soil and you're calling it no-dig. it will become no-dig after a few years, if you add loads of compost. so the results in the first year are largely tainted by the quality of the compost you brought in, and it cant really be called no-dig yet.
the whole point of no-dig is to allow the microbes and soil structure establish.
I believe no dig can be a lot easier simply by not using compost instead just mulching the ground so that it is always covered by organic matter. this is the system I now use. all year round except when its snowing I add fresh green matter to the surface of the soil no hauling compost for me got better things to do. little and often is the way I do it. grass mowings in a thick layer turn putrid but spread them out thinly and the worms will love you and quickly eat them up and another layer can be put down the next week. if the soil surface is always covered it is protected from the sun and rain and the microbes flourish.
I grow food to save money and if I were to be buying in compost I might as well go to the shops for my veg.
for the soil life to flourish it needs living plant roots hence I grow comfrey in my veg beds and other perennials. I simply cut it down chop it up and spread it on the surface around my crops. the living roots grow on, the surface is covered and the crops are fine. mulch is abundant in my garden all year ,grass mowings fallen leaves flower and shrub prunings crop residues etc etc. I only direct sow parsnips all others I start out indoors and plant out when well grown and big enough to withstand slug attacks, though the slug predators keep them In check. feed the birds and dig a pond.
I have nasty weeds as well namely ground elder but it is at the end of my garden and my veg beds are lower down so there is a step of about a foot which divides the two. the weeds do not pass the step as the underground roots meet the air and cannot progress any further. might I suggest you dig a trench around your no dig garden lower than the roots of invasive weeds. this would isolate the area and prevent any further invasions leaving you to deal with the residents by constant removal of everyone that puts a green shoot up .incidentally ground elder makes a good mulch just cut the tops off before they flower and spread it on the veg patch.
I would recommend you read this book. The edge of Eden by Laura wheeler (high yield no till integrated gardening)
excellent channel thanks.