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Which brigade are you?
No dig.
Several reasons - it's actually bad for beneficial micro organisms in the soil to be brutally disturbed. You really only need to dig deep once to break up any clay pan to aid drainage and remove deep weed roots and large stones.
We have raised beds for veggies and pile on compost in rotation and then just fork or rake it level for sowing or planting.
When first preparing to convert the former cow pasture round the ex farmhouse to make a garden we found an old landmine. The bomb disposal mob removed it but didn't check for any more so we don't dig except to make a planting hole for new trees, shrubs or fence/trellis posts. A light forking or hoeing or raking does the job.
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I'm pretty much no dig, although I do quite like doing it.
I've never ,ever come across a single scientific, double blind experiment which supports "double digging"
I know all the theory , but I've not found any real proof, other than anecdotal that it's better than any other form of cultivation.
As DD saw on Wednesday, parts of our garden are about 100mm of soil over solid rock, so any form of digging is out of the question in places.
We dug properly to create a veg patch when we moved here and since then we dig when we've had to remove tree roots invading the veg patch. Hopefully that problem is over now, as the tree was poorly and had to go.
Otherwise, a light forking over topped with lots of home made compost
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Really interesting stuff
I have nothing much to add, having little knowledge of this, but to say that having just filled in a large pond and then dug over the area to turf it (80 square metres of the beggar), I've had enough digging for a while
No dig. Bone idle.
Have to dig. Light soil so loads of compost and chicken manure turned in to replace nutrients washed out by winter rain.
I'll dig out any easy to grab weeds, roots and all, but aside from that I only dig to make planting holes. A good smothering mulch and a regular once-over with the hoe generally works OK.
The main issue is there being loads of stones and rocks in the soil - I just pull out whatever's nearby when digging planting holes.
No dig. because I'm lazy
For me digging has it's place but I do as little as possible. If you are making a new border or sowing a lawn or wildflower meadow digging at the outset will be essential to my mind. Any seed sowing needs a fine tilth. How deep you dig is a matter of choice. If the soil is clayey and compacted the deeper you dig and the more you incorporate organic matter the better will be the outcome in the long term. I have never done double digging though and don't think I ever will. I am not sure worms have the mental capacity to be "terrified", nor can they "scamper away", Aym.
I usually fork over a border once in spring, removing any weeds and just loosing up the soil, down to only 3-4". I am a great believer in mulching and once this initial weeding and forking over is done, I will generally add whatever mulch I have be it compost, manure or even grass mowings and let the worms do the work.
Aym, worms come to the surface because the vibration mimics rain falling on the ground - they come to the surface because the increased humidity means that they can move around on the surface of the ground without drying out.
Seagulls and some other birds have learnt to mimic the rain by padding up and down with their feet so that worms come to the surface and provide the gulls with lunch. I frequently watch them do this on a cliff-top cricket pitch near my mother's home.
It is nothing to do with the worms being frightened. I think you must've misunderstood - if not, then Chris Packham's reputation for scientific accuracy has fallen in my estimation.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.