No Dig or Double Dig

So what kind of gardener are you? listening to very old Gardeners' Question Time and I am thinking about Fred Loads era, double dig was a thing? But other people are wax lyrical about no dig. So to dig or not to dig, that might be a question?

 

In my 20s double digging was a possibility. In my 70s no digging is a probability.

 

Hi ,

in my new build house it was double dig as the soil as with any new build is compacted .

but only do this the once .

to answer your question yes to start but no ever since

Spruce

 

Think you will find many such things ( but not all) from many years ago are now well proven as rather a waste of time and in some folks eyes doing more damage than good.

Double digging always seemed to be more associated with veg growing, yet today many grow good veg using the no dig method, though suspect many use deep raised beds.

Is it something you are contemplating doing in your garden ?
If so, is yours a new build and what the ground like and what are you looking to grow ?

 

I take the view that Mother Nature doesn't own a spade!

 

I'm a "forker"

 

I had a lovely, big, open, veg plot on heavy soil which was perfect for rotovating because it fluffed up the compaction..like agriculture on a small scale. Straw, manure and annual weeds all got turned in to replace humus. Totally impractical to get raised beds constructed and enough material to top them up annually. What I would have liked to have done was have a big trench dug across one end and treated it as a compost bin, turning over the soil onto the waste each year. The borders that we double-dug in the UK garden (also clay) and incorporated organic matter were noticeably better than the original ones.

 

I've only ever single dug, about a foot down my garden is a mixture of clay and sandstone lumps, it would be a pickaxe job to go deeper.
Probably why lots of people use raised beds these days.

 

I have double dug ground a few times, it's hard work and I only did it if really necessary.
I firmly believe it was one of those jobs given to undergardeners and apprentices to keep them busy over winter; also to keep husbands out of the pub.
I still single dig the veg plots as I actually enjoy it and dont have enough compost to go no dig.

 

Double digging had the purpose of getting the apprentice out of the (greenhouse) way so that magic could be performed by those who knew how.

 

I prefer minimal disturbance as a approach. The benefit of no dig is that it keeps the beneficial soil structure which is destroyed when you dig but you might need to improve the soil quickly in some cases and digging speeds things up. We are incorporating plenty of organic matter into our terrible soil, down the allotment, at the moment but in the coming years with just top ups, we won't have to dig at all.

 

I 'transferred' to no-dig in 2017 when I created a veg plot on a field corner lent by a farmer friend, which had not been cultivated in living memory. The area barely grew grass !, was wet and heavy clay with sheep grazing. There was the option of considerable quantities of free manure; " just needs fencing and off you go," he said .
The intention was to dig it. However it was March, freezing cold and raining. 1 bed was turned over at great personal jeopardy. It would have killed me !
I knew of 'no-dig' and decided it could be the way forward. Mowed off to the minimum. Covered in cardboard, applied 2" of the well rotted manure and planted directly pre grown salads etc.Have never, until this year, dug garden beds again.
Moved here 4 years ago and decided to convert a side area of lawn in the same way but with Pro-grow soil conditioner.
.This year had an area where previous owner had had a rotary dryer, much trampled and solid, which is intended for potatoes and have decided it needs greater depth so polished up the now rusted spade and turned it over. If it produces as many spuds as half bricks ,I shall be pleased !It will likely not be dug henceforth.

 

So how are you going to get to the potatoes? Play a flute at them?

 

With my bare hands !!
Potatoes planted in formed ridges of the worked top soil, a mixture of types from the builders infill, enriched with Progrow 100mm layer 4 years ago and application of FYM as dug. Potatoes planted on /in leaf debris . Outliers will be forked out, and leafy crops planted for autumn/winter (Only grow 'new' potatoes, should be finished by August)