no dig – The Pretty Homestead

The No Dig Method of gardening is something I learned from Charles Dowding on his Youtube channel. It’s excellent, you should check it out! As the name implies, you plant your garden without digging or tilling.

Benefits of No Dig Gardening

Under the soil is a metropolis of life. Microbes and earthworms and all manner of healthy soil lie undisturbed. Once you till or dig or turn that soil, the microbial life breaks down and your soil loses health.

Soil erosion is the movement and loss of topsoil. By tilling, you are causing soil to deteriorate. Let’s remember that we need to feed the soil, not the plants in order for our gardens to feed us. Tilling is taking away from the soil, not feeding it.

Also among the soil under our feet lies a bunker full of weed seeds! Most people think that tilling will help eradicate weeds, but this is a misconception. Tilling, digging or turning your garden soil will not help with weed control. Indeed, you will find yourself pulling more weeds when the seeds are woken up.

How to Start a No Dig Garden

Supplies:
Cardboard, newspapers or paper bags
Compost

Directions:
Lay at least one layer of cardboard, paper bags or newspapers four pages thick where you want your garden bed to be. Be sure there are no cracks or grass or weeds will come through. Then cover the newspaper or cardboard with at least 6 inches of compost. Then plant away!

Roots will be able to penetrate the cardboard, so don’t be concerned about restriction. If your compost was processed correctly, at a high enough temperature, you shouldn’t need to worry about weeds more than a few here and there. If your compost does have weed seeds in it, you’ll want to mulch. I recommend mulching with old hay (the more rotted the better), because it breaks down wonderfully and continues to feed your garden.

This is the “before” picture. I decided to plant popping corn opposite the raspberries.

Make sure you don’t use cardboard or newspaper that is glossy or shiny. This won’t break down.

I actually went in later and straightened out that far end a little more.

Here’s a load of composted horse manure that I used. This spent the last year composting and is now ready to feed my garden.

Apart from the excellent vegetables, my favorite part about the no dig method is that when faced with the question “paper or plastic” I always choose paper, knowing that it will benefit my garden and keep a little less plastic out of the landfills. Also, not breaking my back trying to strong-arm the tiller is a plus!

Charles Dowding has experimented with identical planting of two beds, side by side: One with the no dig method and one with tilling. His results show better yields with the no dig garden bed. Even if the results were the same, why wouldn’t you choose less work over the alternative? If you’ve tried a no dig garden, let us know how it worked for you!