When digging the soil, the idea is to remove weeds, to loosen and aerate the soil and to add compost or manure. But in digging the soil, we are actually waking up the dormant seeds and, hey presto, the ground is alive again with yet more weeds! Every time we dig into the ground we are unbalancing a stable environment that comes alive to heal itself.
When left undisturbed soil has less need to recover and therefore grows fewer weeds. No dig soil, if fed by a top layer of compost, maintains its structure and is full of beneficial organisms and microbes which helps plants to find nutrients and moisture.
For the gardener it means less weeding and healthier plants.
How to create a no dig bed
- It is best to start small, with just one bed. It’s easiest to create this on an area of grass or annual weeds. But if using a plot with lots of perennial weeds, such as docks and brambles, it is best to dig these out first.
- Alternatively you can use a layer of polythene, but in this case put down the manure or compost first.
- It will take 2 to 3 months to kill off annual weeds, but perennials will take up to 6 months for their roots to die.
- Create a path around your bed with cardboard, which can later be covered with wood chips to suppress the weeds.
- After the cardboard or polythene membranes have done their job you will have a clean surface to sow and grow into. If you have used cardboard, you can sew or plant directly into the compost layer, as the cardboard will have rotted underneath.
- If using a polythene layer, you can either remove it altogether or, if weeds still need suppressing, cut holes in it to plant seedlings.
- Seeds will germinate and plants grow initially into the compost layer, then root into the undisturbed soil below.
You can learn more about this method from the pioneer of the No Dig method: Charles Dowding.
Andy Colquhoun runs Linden Lea Gardening Services
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