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Has anyone tried no-dig beds as recommended by the Henry Doubleday research people? Has anyone tried them? Any hints or advice gratefully received. Thanx.

trisha wrote:Has anyone tried no-dig beds as recommended by the Henry Doubleday research people? Has anyone tried them? Any hints or advice gratefully received. Thanx.

My land is mostly rock with a little soil, which is mostly glacial grit from the ice age. Creating no-dig beds is far easier than digging through that lot and on my back.

A trip to the supermarket gets me all the cardboard I need to cover the closely cut grass/weeds. I use my own compost to build up the bed by 6 inches and surround it with old wood for a year until the root system develops and holds it all together. Boards make a good home for slugs so I make sure to move the boards after a year.

The following season you start again on top of the old bed. No need to weed it.

See http://the-goodlife.blogspot.com/2005/0 ... o-dig.html

I worked for a veggie grower once who used that system for some crops - worked very well. However, I would make the beds small enough so you can reach everything from the sides without having to trample around in them (or balance yourself on slippy boards...). If you surround it with wood like a cold frame, it's also easy to cover the beds with fleece or netting if necessary.

Ina

I was once present at a demonstration by Esther Deans, who developed the process. I have never used it, I didn't see the point in buying everything and putting it over the top of perfectly good soil. If your soil is no good then I definitely see the point!

Nev

I think they're excellent - I have 10 beds, and it makes looking after the veg garden very easy. It raises them above most of the slugs, and if you have a framework with insect mesh to put on top, it cuts down the caterpillars etc too. Don't make them more than 4 foot wide, so you can reach both sides easily, but I would say make them as long as you can. Even though it's a bit of a trek going down one side and up the other, it's a much more efficient use of space than going on the 4' X 4' framework often recommended.

Here's some links that should help:

http://www.squarefootgardening.org.uk/
http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/garden/square.htm
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/schools ... sqfoot.htm

Important points are:
Once you've got the framework in place, prepare the bed by double digging (backbreaking, but you only have to do it once).

Many sites recommend putting in a layer of cardboard at the bottom to help water retention and supply extra nutrients. On top of this, pile all the soil. Add a good thick layer of compost - any sort, doesn't really matter. Plant into the compost.

Once they're built, never, ever step on them - the whole point is not to compact the soil. Similarly, don't dig and don't hoe more than the top half-inch (once it gets going, you shouldn't even need that; the few weeds you'll get come out very easily).

In general, it works best if you raise the seeds separately and plant into the beds, but otherwise use a dibber and plant two seeds at the spacing given on the websites (some of them don't always agree on the spacing, so probably best in that case to use the wider one - I've certainly found that leeks need more space that 16/foot, for instance).

Keep any bare soil covered, either with landscape fabric or a green manure. Use phacelia (shoo-fly plant) or mustard if it's to be followed by legumes; clover for anything else. One American site (which unfortunately now seems to be gone) recommended planting directly into the green manure, whereas others recommend just turning it over into the top layer of soil.

Keep to a rotation, so nothing's in the same bed two years running - worth using a chart for this, as you will forget!

Worth having a separate permanent bed for rhubarb, asparagus and perennial herbs.

HTH

Dear all, many thanks for the replies. I had intended to make my "no-dig" beds about 5ft. but will follow Tawny owl's advice and make them longer. I have a very heavy clay soil, Nev and angina, so I thought maybe, if I dig only once and never have to do it again I might last a bit longer. I visited your blog James but couldn't stay long, more power to your back. I start digging for the last time on Saturday! Bye now.

Trisha,

If you have heavy clay and a bit of time, application of gypsum (calcium sulphate) will help brak down the fine structure of the clay into more open peds, which drain better and let the roots into the soil!

Nev

been away..just got back....nearly all of my beds are raised and I use the no dig system, and it's true you only need to dig it once and the weeds really do come out easily. mine have been covered but I am just uncovering them all now and piling on the homemade compost, potash from the lottie bonfire and any other organic stuff I can find. The beds aren't all that high at the moment but I am gradually building them up with whatever I can get and I had wonderful crops this year...and it was my first year..so give it a go