[WG.]

... adding compost or manure onto the surface of the plot. Diggers do that as well!

So the distinction between diggers and no-diggers is largely a matter of when the work gets done?

Are we saying that a digger turns over all vacant space during the winter months?  And a non-digger hoes or otherwise aerates the soil prior to planting?

Hardly seems worth debating.

[Axe Victim]

Digging is not the odorous task that most people assume, and it gives total control of your patch.

I think you meant 'onerous'....but, judging from the chicken manure I'm currently digging in...maybe you are right!

 

[milkman]

You don't have to be sorry to disagree with me Ertistic - I was just going by all the moans and groans about backs on this forum, which are generally coming from people after they've been digging....

[muntjac]

i know i said , my aching back when i did the digging of my plot pics but seriosly my back was fine i dig an hour only ,  

[Eristic]

I think you meant 'onerous'

I stand corrected. :roll: Mind you I have huge bags of horse manure all over the plot so maybe I was right.

As for digging in the winter, this is a matter of convenience as the conditions are favourable and there is lots of space. Digging is not efficient in small corners or between existing rows of crops so in summer it is usually better to fork over these patches before following on with a second sowing or planting.

[muntjac]

nah diging i winter is fun , it gone onfor thosands of years .man dug in the winter with a deer antler ,, why do cave women never get depicted as werking like men do in cave paintings . we chase the blooming efalumps we kill em drag em back . you dont see flaming pictueres of them washing the pots or cooking at the fire do ya ,blooming women god them mans rib n then they thought well i got that may as well take advantage n do * al else as well . so taht why you never saw flippping cave women working ........... now where was is . oh and diging in winter helps break up the soil  

[shaun]

i'm a digger but howard helps me sometimes
dig deep my friends

[WG.]

I have no chance of no dig method, soil type we have has every damn nasty perinial weed going, horestail being the worse, I have adopted a french method but cant find the web site I read to convince me of it, basicly I am digging the plot over again this year to clear as much root as poss, my veg will be spread over a slightly larger area with bigger gaps between the rows and a little bit bit bigger on the spacing, also this year I am not growing main crop spuds, now the theory, have invested on a little rotovator I will muck in turn it and plant, the roto will be used between crops to encourage the weed seed to come up and germinate, according to the site plants use energy form the seed/root upto 3 inches high from this point they then put energy into the root so if u turn over the weed at 2 inches youwil gradually expend its stored energy, the idea this year is to keep the ground moving, so as my summer brassicas are being harvested the gap between them gets filled with the winter and spring crops and where the summer ones have been get turned over, again same with my spuds, they will be staggerd so they are not all ready at once, over a course of about 3 years this method uses up a lot of the weed seed bank and converts it to green manure.

Has this French system worked well for you then Aidy?

[Annie]

I`m a rotational digger ie a thorough digging over of beds when the potatoes come out

[Zippy]

I`m a rotational digger ie a thorough digging over of beds when the potatoes come out

I'm a rotational forker  as I don't want to bring a load of subsoil up with a spade I just fork through the potato bed as it travels around a four year rotation.

[DD.]

Well you certainly magnaged to dig this thread up from 2 years ago, Zippy!

[NASH]

This is a no dig Swede photographed today, should be 12" by Christmas.