[doubledug]

Yesterday i went to visit my sister and her latest husband. He has been growing his vegies in beds that he never digs over for thirty years. his advice was never walk on the soil and it wont get compacted. And you could push a fork in and turn it over with one hand. I've got to give this a go.   

[Ice]

You could try raised beds or lazy beds.  As long as they are no more than four feet wide you can reach to the middle without walking on them.

[peapod]

This is used in permaculture a lot...the beds arent walked on to stop compaction. Any manure/mulch is placed on top for the worms to work it in and green manure is grown when not in use. Our local permaculture site uses this method and has good yields

[woodburner]

I think no dig is brilliant.
Weeding is easy too, as the soil is loose.
Beds don't need to be raised although with the annual addition of organic matter they do tend to rise anyway, apparently. If you have drainage problems or heavy/clay soil, lazy beds (or raised beds) do help.

[paintedlady]

   Might be an idea to dig the first time to improve drainage, especially on compacted clay, and it will also improve the worm population as you start adding matter to the top.

[CHRISDONOHUE]

At last, a forum I can say something good about.   I dug an allotment for a friend who had dug 10% of his half-plot in 3 years.   It had been covered in carpet and was full of the two kinds of bindweed.   Today, I use part of it, avoid weeds by mulching with well-rotted manure, fresh manure, grass cuttings and carpet in order of priority.   I get very few weeds and those I do get - generally small pieces of grass - I try to pull out by hand without disturbing the soil.   For potatoes and parsnips, I dig but only to remove stones - the ground is very stony - otherwise I do not dig at all.

It works!   I have virtually no weeds.   The mulch warms up the soil and encourages weeds to germinate, but they cannot survive without light and die.   The soil improves year by year as it benefits from warmth, the manure and the action of the worms the rich soil encourages to occupy my ground rather than other people's.

[doubledug]

This all sounds very positive to me , I intend to rotovate this year because time is moving on and i have a lot of plants i need to plant out soon. The soil on my plot is very good , been allotment since 1930s and before that the kitchen garden to a large house, so no raised beds for me just mark them out and no more diging. 

[woodburner]

I hope you haven't got couch grass or bindweed.
As paintedlady says, it's a good idea to dig (or fork) over once, to break up the existing compaction, and remove perennial weed roots.

[realfood]

And of course, it will not work if you have flat worms which eat all of the earth worms.

[out4nowt]

So, how to you plant or harvest without walking on the soil?

[peapod]

So, how to you plant or harvest without walking on the soil?

Make sure the beds are small enough for you to reach across to do both, Im not a non-dig gardener but I dont walk on my beds so I make sure they are small enough for me to reach across and short enough so I dont be lazy and take a shortcut (its been known for me to be lazy  )

[woodburner]

So, how to you plant or harvest without walking on the soil?

For most people that's about 4ft across, as Ice mentioned.

[lacewing]

I stopped digging three years ago after reading an artical in a gardening magazine about the disadvantages of digging. I now manure a third of my plot every year and cover all ground not in use with weed controle fabric. I use scaffold boards to mark out the beds and for walking on. I now have a virtually weed free plot, no hard work and good crops.

[Robin Redbreast]

i love the sound of this. no digging, no work, :blink: and abundant crops heheeeeee!!!!! someone tell me how to start or not as the case may be. its not that im lazy just reallyt into conservation! (of my energy) 

[crowndale]

But I like digging!  Its theraputic, its the reason I wanted a plot!!  well, that and growing lots of vegetable babies to a good harvest.  My soil is in no condition to be left undug and the theory of not digging not compacting is not true on my very heavy and poorly drained soil, it certainly doesn't turn easily as witnessed by the second dig I did to a small bed yesterday (first dig about 2 months ago).  but maybe after years of careful nurturing and improving I could try it (not digging), would be better for my back even though I really do enjoy digging.  Its going to save me from the doldrums once foster bubs moves on, sniff.