[jambop]

No not the Hank Williams song but the amazing veg growing techniques of Charles Dowding ! I came across his you tube channel quite by chance and to be honest after viewing only a few of his video's I am going to be changing my ways. While I am sure his methods are not totally unique he does explain and simplify things so well you can really see the benefits of his way of doing things. I already had three raised beds in the garden but I had used a mix of soil and manure for the infill . His method is to use just compost as filler over the top of the soil below... even if it has not been previously cultivated. I have now made a new bed which is 3m x 1.5 m and it is filled purely with home made compost over soil and it is 20cm deep so with the soil below I had a decent depth of soil to work and grow in... so  here goes. The one thing that is going to be difficult is making enough compost to fill the beds, it takes a lot. I am lucky however as I can get as much strawy farmyard muck as I want or free so I am going to make a lot of compost by rotting this down over the autumn and winter. I would encourage anybody to have a look on you tube for his channel not necessarily to go deep bed no dig but to see how easy he makes veg growing for even those who garden using traditional methods. 

[Lardman]

The infamous "no dig" method which involves creating a new 6" raised bed with fresh compost on top of your existing beds each year. 

[Dev]

No-not infamous but famous. I've been a convert for a couple of years now and never regretted it. Not only do you get good vegetables but also less weeds as you're not bringing dormant weed seeds to the surface by digging each year. And if you have a bad back or are getting on a bit and find the digging hard it is ideal. You need a lot of compost/manure in the first year but only an inch or so thereafter. Welcome to the light Jambop!

[bazial]

Charles Dowding No-Dig Site is fantastic ,found it 5yrs ago and converted to No-Dig .Best thing I have done in my 60yrs of veg gardening .Other people on my allotment site have converted to no-dig after seeing my crops and how weed free my allotment is .

[snowdrops]

Yep I’m a recent convert although I didn’t dig too much before although hubby did rotavate every year. I like many used to think you need to double dig etc but on reading CDs books it made perfect sense not to dig & a, bring up the dormant seeds & b, damage the bacterial organisms & fungi going on underneath the soil. I certainly saw a difference last year. I planted the brassicas out in smaller than I usually do & it was like lighting the touch paper, they grew overnight. Ok I didn’t get to harvest much from them as they got infested by white fly & mealy bug but that was nothing to do with the no dig, I feel that was down to epidemic like proportions of white fly & how I had netted them so no predators could get to the plants to eat the bugs.

[mumofstig]

No-not infamous but famous. I've been a convert for a couple of years now and never regretted it. Not only do you get good vegetables but also less weeds as you're not bringing dormant weed seeds to the surface by digging each year. And if you have a bad back or are getting on a bit and find the digging hard it is ideal. You need a lot of compost/manure in the first year but only an inch or so thereafter. Welcome to the light Jambop!

As I always say - it's great if you can make enough compost, or get enough for free - otherwise it's an expensive way to garden on an allotment. Obviously much easier for small plots or garden beds.
wrt bad backs, mine can manage short periods of forking beds over, but really cannot manage moving wheelbarrow loads of compost/muck about. Good luck to those who try, and well done those who continue with the method, but it isn't for everyone.
It's like a new religion, with some people forever telling others how good it is, as if there aren't many different ways to grow things 

[jambop]

The infamous "no dig" method which involves creating a new 6" raised bed with fresh compost on top of your existing beds each year. 

No you do not need to add that much compost every year an inch or two over the existing is enough. I have to say though I am not going BIO or anything like that! I will still be racking a little growmore into the soil and if need be treating bugs with pesticides... I am not busting my hump to let beasties eat the produce 

[Fairy Plotmother]

The infamous "no dig" method which involves creating a new 6" raised bed with fresh compost on top of your existing beds each year. 

No you do not need to add that much compost every year an inch or two over the existing is enough. I have to say though I am not going BIO or anything like that! I will still be racking a little growmore into the soil and if need be treating bugs with pesticides... I am not busting my hump to let beasties eat the produce 

I can’t make enough compost for this system unfortunately, so it’s gentle digging for us.

[rowlandwells]

I tend to agree with MUM I haven't yet been converted although I do read quite a lot of info on the no dig way and I have to say Charles Dowding's method has been proven to work

but as I said before I'm still stuck in my own ways or gardening and that method seems to work most of the time never mind its all food for thought and when I downsize the allotment it could be no dig for me

[JayG]

The only digging I do is to excavate the runner bean trench every year to add organic material, and when planting (and harvesting) potatoes. No raised beds here, so I sometimes have to fork over an area I need for growing which got trampled on the previous year.

Absolutely nothing to be gained by routinely turning over sandy soil like mine - it's the same all the way down!

Not many farmyards here in Sheffield so no ready and plentiful source of manure, just limited supplies of home made compost which is targeted at the growing areas which need it most.

I believe I'm in the 'Dig as little as you can possibly get away with' camp! 

[jambop]

I have only just started and I can understand the compost shortage problem. I am very lucky to have a farm just over the road so I hope to be making shed loads of compost from the strawy farmyard manure I can get in plentiful supply. What I like about this man Dowding is he completely explains and shows everything from sowing to harvest in his video's. He also likes to experient and has busted quite a few gardening myths that many have taken as gospel.

[Lardman]

The infamous "no dig" method which involves creating a new 6" raised bed with fresh compost on top of your existing beds each year. 

No you do not need to add that much compost every year an inch or two over the existing is enough.

Humour me. As part of your processes find a part of your plot with real weeds in it, a few nettles, brambles , couch grass and some bind weed. Cover them with an inch or even 2 of compost and leave it 6 weeks 

I'm familiar with CD's work; you'll notice he can't produce enough compost onsite either and has it delivered by the lorry load. People have been buying in new growbags annually for greenhouse crops for as long as I can remember the only difference with "no dig" is tipping the compost out the bags.

Whatever gardening style suits you is the best for your garden 

[snowdrops]

The infamous "no dig" method which involves creating a new 6" raised bed with fresh compost on top of your existing beds each year. 

No you do not need to add that much compost every year an inch or two over the existing is enough.

Humour me. As part of your processes find a part of your plot with real weeds in it, a few nettles, brambles , couch grass and some bind weed. Cover them with an inch or even 2 of compost and leave it 6 weeks 

I'm familiar with CD's work; you'll notice he can't produce enough compost onsite either and has it delivered by the lorry load. People have been buying in new growbags annually for greenhouse crops for as long as I can remember the only difference with "no dig" is tipping the compost out the bags.

Whatever gardening style suits you is the best for your garden 

Yes I agree whatever style of garden suits you but surely no harm in reporting on your experiences even if it is thought by some to be ‘off the wall’ after all organic gardening was once thought to be very alternative.
As for the very weedy plot, I’ve not had experience of that but as I’m sure you know the advice is to strum it as low as you can, cover with a thick layer of cardboard,wet it well, then add the mulch. Nobody says that perennial weeds won’t grow through, but the advice is to be vigilant, hoe frequently & trowel out the worst offenders.

[Dev]

You are right snowdrops - nobody is being forced to do anything they don't want. If you like the methods that you have been using for years then go on with it. If you have, dare I say it, a more open mind and are prepared to change either because you might get better crops, or you respond to a change in your health etc., then no-dig is a good alternative.
Lardman is basically right - if it works for you then do it. Mind you - he's wrong about how CD would approach the type of weedy plot he describes. You can't kill brambles under two inches of mulch.

[Yorkie]

You are right snowdrops - nobody is being forced to do anything they don't want. If you like the methods that you have been using for years then go on with it. If you have, dare I say it, a more open mind and are prepared to change either because you might get better crops, or you respond to a change in your health etc., then no-dig is a good alternative.
Lardman is basically right - if it works for you then do it. Mind you - he's wrong about how CD would approach the type of weedy plot he describes. You can't kill brambles under two inches of mulch.

I do object to being accused of not having an open mind because I choose not to garden in a particular way.

Of course we should all garden according to our preferences, but please do not stoop to insults.