[freckledbeck]

Has anyone tried 'no dig' growing?  I don't know much about it but it makes sense (wild plants seem to do ok) Any advice would be gratefully received, thanks!

[monsta]

seems a bit to good to be true!

[Swing Swang]

It is

[Goosegirl]

Don't know if this helps but after making my raised beds and double-digging as much as I could with a shallow topsoil on top of silty alluvium, I don't dig them again. All I do is not walk on them and just turn over the soil in winter to incorporate any compost or manure into it. I don't do that with the brassica bed as they like it firm. I think that some people (perhaps if their soil is medium to light) just keep adding compost etc on top and leave it for the worms to pull in. I do think that you will need to prepare the ground first by digging especially if your drainage is poor like mine but that's all.

[Trillium]

No dig growing is primarily done by adding masses of bulk material on top of the ground and letting it rot down while renewing it every year. The idea is to pick a spot you want to keep building up and stay there rather than move around a yard, etc. There's also a new term called lasagna gardening which is the same but some bright bulb called it something new to sell more books. You'd add masses of chopped straw, cut green manure, leaves, compost, whatever else you have that's organic and plant among these. It takes a few years to build up 'depth' but it definitely works, provided you can get the 'ingredients'.

[monsta]

so its basically like turning your garden into a compost heap?

[noshed]

I dug my beds thoroughly initially and since then (4 years ago) I've mainly just added compost and manure on top. I've dug a trench for my spuds though and will line it with compost before planting. I've done bean trenches too but I'm not convinced it made that much difference to just well-nourished soil.
My soil is much better than when I started and now I just tickle it a bit before I sow/plant to get out any weeds. I try not to walk on the beds.
What you start with makes a lot of difference though - heavy clay or very light sand might take a lot more composting before you can adopt the armchair gardening approach.

[goodegg]

thats basically what it is you just keep adding to your raised bed  and not walk on it so it dosent get compressed it works but takes a lot of work to get started double digging so you got good drainage and you just keep putting on compost or such like you get good crops i got two beds like this.

[compostqueen]

I don't dig, I add compost (home made, lots of) and tickle the top if I need a bit of a tilth

Folks only dig if they want to, not because they need to

I don't like digging, digging doesn't like me as I have a dodgy back and hip and I find it excruciating.   I find my lotty soil is breaking down beautifully with all the stuff I've added to the soil since I took it on, shortly after which my back "went" 

I don't rotovate either

[gillie]

Have a look at this:
http://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/

Gillie

[peterjf]

ive always been told plants only use the top 10 inches of soil , but there are exceptions , or ill be told in here lol

[gardener247]

couldn't imagine gardening without digging its just so satisfying

[NigelB]

I tries starting no-dig beds last year because I can't dig any more. (arthritis)
It worked so well I'm taking a full plot on this year, and it will all be no-dig.

[Trillium]

ive always been told plants only use the top 10 inches of soil , but there are exceptions , or ill be told in here lol

Depends what you're growing. Most top growth plants go to a max depth of 10", but long varieties of carrots, parsnips, and spuds will go deeper. I pulled out a few parsnips that had tuber lengths of almost 4 ft, truly odd considering the horrid clay soil that's below my 'better upper soil'. Really mature asparagus roots can go down quite deep. We had to get a backhoe to dig out some that went down over 2 ft with masses of feeder roots.

[freckledbeck]

Thanks! I'm going to try the no dig method, and if it doesnt do well I'll dig next year.
The allotment site we have is in the corner of a field, and its had cows on it for years so we are hoping it should be quite fertile soil.
I read somewhere that to kill off the grass/weeds you should cover your plot in a layer of newspaper, then a thick layer of compost or manure.... ?
Other plotholders are trying different methods (double digging, rotavators+raised beds), so it will be interesting to compare each plot and learn from each other.