I'm knackered, tell me about this no-dig gardening thing.

[Pancho]

Not really. Don't believe in that permaculture lark, either.

But I have really worn myself out this afternoon.

Doing the usual February thing and digging. And digging. And digging. Trying to catch up before everything gets going and needs planting in March.

I'm sure it'll all be worth it but I'm currently dreaming of an acre of tarmac.

[Welsh Man]

Its like getting back on the bike or into the gym after a lay off ! , hurts like hell but always worth it.

 

[Palinurus]

I ought to have started that today but I convinced myself that the soil would be "too heavy" and stayed at home.

Maybe next weekend.

[Wowbagger]

If you are serious about it there's a book by a guy called Shewell cooper which I've read bits of but never put into practice.

[Pancho]

I'm too much of a residual Puritan to believe that you could have reward without sweat; all this no-dig, forest gardening and permaculture lazy gardening just has to be nothing more than wishful thinking.

But I ought to put it to the test to see if my cynicism is justified. I could run two plots alongside one another (conventional v. permaculture). Maybe I should read up - just for the science.

[Tail End Charlie]

No dig can work, but you've got to have a plot which has no perennial weeds, which of course needs digging to get rid of them. Once they're gone, then the planting of things is enough disturbance for the soil.

[Wowbagger]

I'm too much of a residual Puritan to believe that you could have reward without sweat; all this no-dig, forest gardening and permaculture lazy gardening just has to be nothing more than wishful thinking.

But I ought to put it to the test to see if my cynicism is justified. I could run two plots alongside one another (conventional v. permaculture). Maybe I should read up - just for the science.

IIRC the back-breaking work is getting on your hands and knees and pulling weeds out.

[Pancho]

One of the difficulties seems (from a quick internet browse) to be the sourcing of sufficient mulch materials.

Which wouldn't be a problem for me. I have oaks which are feet deep in rotted leaf mould mixed in places with decades of lawn mowings poured on top. It'd be good to remove some of this fire hazard.

[Feline]

My dad got so fed up of digging his allotment that he bought a 2nd hand rotavator and can now do both his plots in an hour!

[Si]

I've found that copious weeding through out the year pays dividends when it comes to digging time.  The ground is both largely free of weeds (it's the repeated bending down to grab hand fulls of couch roots that does me in) and is a lot more friable.  Took me only three visits to dig my plot over this year.

Oh yeah, also found a bit more of the bike that I've been digging out of the plot for the last four years - got a stem and handle bars now!

[Pancho]

Oh yeah, also found a bit more of the bike that I've been digging out of the plot for the last four years - got a stem and handle bars now!

There are times, usually involving cycling uphill, when I too give serious consideration to condemning  my machine to a shallow grave.