My allotments are both no dig and my garden is becoming that way too. I too find that shrinkage is an issue, plus getting enough material initially. My main source of OM is wood chip, dumped for free. FYM is like gold dust. I might buy some this year, £50 delivered. Bindweed comes in with the woodchip, as do perennial nettles. Several plot holders still rotavate their plots endlessly but it is interesting that few farmers now plough in autumn. Most seem to direct sow into stubble so I don't think that 'no dig' will be a temporary trend. It works for me, a bit hit and miss sometimes. Awful onions this year!
Clumber Park walled garden us no dig for veg. I spoke to one of the gardener's a few weeks ago. The dry weather was a big problem but most things had been saved by no dig and the thick piles of mulch.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
If you have heavy clay, you can see real benefits in leaving the clods for the frosts to break them down over winter.
Hmm.. but how do you end up with clods..by digging heavy clay in the first place. No thanks. Don't dig - no clods. Don't let me stop you digging (which essentially became gardening folk lore because it gave under gardeners something to do in early winter) and the frost may indeed break up the clods but it will still be wet clay come the end of March. Much easier to throw an inch of manure on the surface & save my back.
But from where do all these self-styled experts, TV guys and journalists find all the compost they need? You need to start with at least 1 foot and add say 4 inches each year.
Well, given that Charles Dowding basically introduced No Dig to Britain in around 1983 and has written over 12 books on the subject, I don't really think you could call him a "self-styled expert". In the video above, Charles discuss where he sources his compost. He has been featured on GW as one of the fathers of No Dig, so with a thread like this, he is a good point at which to start exploration. He was featured at Chelsea this year.
Alan Gray has cultivated the 32 acres of East Ruston gardens for 50 years (anniversary coming up). He and Dowding work closely with the RHS to help run trials. So I don't think really counts as a "self-styled expert either".
If you watch the video above, Dowding explains his use of compost and mulching. He makes a lot of his own and buys in some. He says you don't need much compost to get going. It's not an "all or nothing" system. You can choose elements.
I've used no dig methods for ten years - literally just not digging exept to put in plants - I don't 'turn soil over'. But I don't grow veg so there would be no need for me to do that anyway. I add on manure each year and that's about it.
CD says one inch of compost enough to keep cardboard down to block out light, if you are creating a new bed. Adding manure is fine - any decomposed material - woodchip, old mushroom compost.
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Bindweed comes in with the woodchip, as do perennial nettles.
Several plot holders still rotavate their plots endlessly but it is interesting that few farmers now plough in autumn. Most seem to direct sow into stubble so I don't think that 'no dig' will be a temporary trend.
It works for me, a bit hit and miss sometimes. Awful onions this year!
Not sure it makes any difference
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Don't dig - no clods.
Don't let me stop you digging (which essentially became gardening folk lore because it gave under gardeners something to do in early winter) and the frost may indeed break up the clods but it will still be wet clay come the end of March.
Much easier to throw an inch of manure on the surface & save my back.
CD says one inch of compost enough to keep cardboard down to block out light, if you are creating a new bed. Adding manure is fine - any decomposed material - woodchip, old mushroom compost.