Tee hee, Panseyface, I can imagine the forced marches . We were all excited last week because we got to go into the newly built horticultural building/classrooms....only to discover it has a white floor (!) and is more like a school classroom than a place where you can take cuttings, etc. We were doing our pest IDs, opened the plastic bag and poof! Whitefly escaping everywhere
I think I would go for double digging (once, maybe) and it was compacted, but I much prefer the idea of leaving the soil be, putting manure on top for the worms to take down and then just giving it a bit of a fork in the spring; mind you, the soil right at the back of my garden is hard clay, when I am digging to plant/get rid of things, I get great big lumps coming up. I wish I knew how to use a kiln.....
If you Google Charles Dowding you will find trials over many years comparing a dug bed with a no dig bed. The latter is at least as productive if not better. He gardens on heavy clay as do I. I get straight carrots, parsnips and salsify although my root parsley was wonky. One parsnip was 18" long so not digging seemed to not harm it. My first parsnips were harvested in early July, and were carrot sized.
FWIW I double dig, or at least bastard trench a plot when getting it into cultivation for the first time. This breaks up any hard pan and also gets rid of stones, rubble and perennial weeds and allows incorporation of organic matter deep down straight away.
In subsequent years I only dig when essential because of neglect (!) or to get more muck in for spuds or squashes. Otherwise I spread compost on the top and let the worms do the work. None on the root bed of course.
Yes I think Dowding mentions that the first year on hard clay is not so good but it soons improves, so presumably an initial dig helps speed things up. Good point about removing stones, I dug the bottom of my garden, but I had to locate disused septic tanks, and fill them with the huge flints from the soil. I think Dowding states that digging is not needed for tatties and squash, just apply compost in winter.
It'd be interesting to see controlled trials comparing dig and no dig with a well defined pan.
Hi. I appreciate that this is an old string, but I am hoping for a bit of basic advice on double digging. I am in the process of double digging the back garden in my new house (it is a blank canvas so I am starting from scratch). With the manure that I am putting in and the general aeration of the soil, the surface has gone up a few inches. Do I need to wait for it to settle before planting anything? Is there a particular stage before I can do this. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Perhaps Jim could do a little trial on Beechgrove, Hosta. Why don't you contact them! I think he might get Mr B to do it though....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Tee hee, Panseyface, I can imagine the forced marches
. We were all excited last week because we got to go into the newly built horticultural building/classrooms....only to discover it has a white floor (!) and is more like a school classroom than a place where you can take cuttings, etc. We were doing our pest IDs, opened the plastic bag and poof! Whitefly escaping everywhere
I think I would go for double digging (once, maybe) and it was compacted, but I much prefer the idea of leaving the soil be, putting manure on top for the worms to take down and then just giving it a bit of a fork in the spring; mind you, the soil right at the back of my garden is hard clay, when I am digging to plant/get rid of things, I get great big lumps coming up. I wish I knew how to use a kiln.....
If you Google Charles Dowding you will find trials over many years comparing a dug bed with a no dig bed. The latter is at least as productive if not better. He gardens on heavy clay as do I. I get straight carrots, parsnips and salsify although my root parsley was wonky. One parsnip was 18" long so not digging seemed to not harm it. My first parsnips were harvested in early July, and were carrot sized.
FWIW I double dig, or at least bastard trench a plot when getting it into cultivation for the first time. This breaks up any hard pan and also gets rid of stones, rubble and perennial weeds and allows incorporation of organic matter deep down straight away.
In subsequent years I only dig when essential because of neglect (!) or to get more muck in for spuds or squashes. Otherwise I spread compost on the top and let the worms do the work. None on the root bed of course.
Yes I think Dowding mentions that the first year on hard clay is not so good but it soons improves, so presumably an initial dig helps speed things up. Good point about removing stones, I dug the bottom of my garden, but I had to locate disused septic tanks, and fill them with the huge flints from the soil. I think Dowding states that digging is not needed for tatties and squash, just apply compost in winter.
It'd be interesting to see controlled trials comparing dig and no dig with a well defined pan.