In this video I explain the no dig gardening method as simply and effectively as I can. I list the benefits and disadvantages of this method as well as show you how to make the quickest and simplest no dig raised bed ever!
Welcome to my allotment gardening channel. My name is Emma and these vlogs are my allotment diaries. 2022 is is my third year on my plot. I’m learning as I go and would love for you to follow my allotment gardening journey by SUBSCRIBING to my channel!
LINK TO SEED CRAFT SEED SUBSCRIPTION BOXES: https://www.seedcraft.co.uk
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GROW A PUMPKIN ARCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOaCkQYhI7M
WHAT IS AN ALLOTMENT PLOT??
VIDEO OF MY NO DIG RAISED BED:
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34 Comments
Well done Emma for explaining no dig I’ve been doing this for about five years now on my allotment and yes it really does work much better crops. All so look up a plant called comfrey well worth growing it as so many uses in the garden ones again great video
Hi Emma, I have even started a no dig bed in the middle of a well established lawn and it worked fantastic.
No dig has changed my gardening life. 💖 Thank you form all of us Charles Dowding 💕. It's fantastic isn't it, my no dig areas take no time hardly looking after it. My previous dig beds 😬 so many weeds.
Great video as always, Emma!!! I can't wait to grow Jack be Littles next year! 💖
Very well explained Emma👍
Another advantage of no dig is that it allows people who physically haven't got the strength or health to "dig", to garden successfully 👍
Very interesting xxx
Emma well said lm so proud of you xx🌱🌱🌱💕
I've done it for suppression of weeds. Didn't know about the other information you gave us. Thanks
Hi Emma the bed that you were demonstrating the no dig method on didnt have enough cardboard. You need to completely cover the ground with cardboard leaving no gaps for light to get through. Thats what stops the weefs growing.
Otherwise a great job.
Hello Emma! Thank you for the interesting information. To be honest, I'm used to digging everything up, but maybe I'll reconsider my views. Good luck to you😊👌🌻🐦😹
Expensive to start but we’ll worth doing. 4.5 tonnes in so far,1.5 to finish, brand new allotment plot, but after that the bins will be full of rotting horse manure to top up, team no dig
I prefer no dig but I do a bit of both because its a lot of compost to find to start. I make my own compost but have trouble making enough.
Fab vlog Emma, I'm definitely no dig 😁
I'm team no dig. Saved all my 'junk' mail and cereal boxes and used as a base and it does work. Thank you for sharing.
I've always been no dig in my raised beds & greenhouse in my garden. But, I really need an allotment plot… jealous of you big style.
No dig! I’m fortunate to have enough wooded and grass on my property so I’ve been saving grass clippings and leaves by mowing them with a mower with a grass catcher. I managed to get the company that trims all the trees near power lines bring my five truck loads of wood chips.
One definitely needs access to these raw materials to make enough compost.
I also started a couple of worm bins in my basement/cellar and that’s creating some wonderful rich castings to add to my raised beds.
I’m going to disagree there with the weeding part and also you don’t really know what bacteria live in the soil which may result what you pout on the soil
I'm a minimal dig person, only when I really need to. Also I tend to remove any weeds and top up my beds around this time of year, so what I add (homemade compost and chicken pellets) have all winter to work in so the soil is in great shape for the new season next year 🤞🏻
TEAM NO DIG is soooo much better than digging.
I can't believe that you don't have rabbits (hares) that can pop up into your raised beds and eat everything! So lucky.
Very informative thankyouxx
No dig makes a lot of sense to me, but to get going I started by just surface weeding and then at the end of the season when I had built up a good amount of compost that I had made myself I started to add surface mulch in the usual way. You can do this as long as you are very persistent with the weeding. Although weeds can be very tenacious, there isn't a plant on the planet that can survive a gardener constantly removing it on a weekly basis. In this method the benefit is you avoid the big cost with the popular method of dumping bought in compost on top of cardboard, but it takes a couple of seasons to get the benefits of no-dig going and of course there is all the weeding to do at least for the first couple of years.
Team no dig Emma x
Hi Emma I’m no dig I watch Charles his home made compost is to die for ? I don’t have a lot of home made compost when I do I mix it with bought compost! lv your video lv Irene 😘 xx
Had my allotment for a year so slowly learning and transforming a now have a few no signs beds and yes learning g the whole time . My no dig salad bed this year was amazing ♻️
Emma you need to cover the whole bed with cardboard ,any gaps will just encourage more weeds .As for the compost unless you want to plant through the cardboard into the ground below you need about 6 in of compost if you want to stay above the cardboard the one bag you have put on is not enough . I am not a fan of no dig as you can gather ,I have worked my plot for over 50 years and don’t have a weed problem apart from wind blown which most weeds are and no dig will not protect you from .I dig to break up the soil at least a foot down to prevent a hard pan forming not all types of soil are suitable for no dig ,clay will quickly become water logged if not broken up now and again with a good dig .
Team No Dig!
Thanks so much for this Emma. I've just got my first allotment (also in S. London) and this has given me an idea for something actually nice I can start on my plot, as a break from hacking away at masses of brambles!
I've only just found this channel and now I'm bingeing on it. Absolutely love it😀
Hi Emma, please could you share the name of the seed subscription company that you use. If you have a discount code I’d love to take advantage of that as well 😀👍
Hi Emma, great video. Don't forget no dig day on Thursday 3rd November.
To help stop the compost reducing so quickly mix with a bag of top soil (that has been sterilized) this also feeds the bed with minerals.
Charles' garden is my inspiration.
Very good content & presentation, only slight issue is that Charles Dowding didn't discover the method, it's far older & than that, he's just promoting it. He explains his role in nodig like this: "I had come across Ruth Stout’s No-Work Garden Book. Her wisdom reinforced my instincts towards no dig. I also found out about F. C. King, a gardener who had practised no dig since the 1940s. There was already a history of no dig methods when I started out. Gardeners like Ruth Stout, F. C. King, Arthur Guest and Shewell Cooper had led the way. Yet no dig had not received much attention in the gardening world."
I remember you doing a video questioning why a woman would be watering cardboard lol 😃
Thanks for reviewing and comparing dig v no dig. We have no digged the whole.plot including the paths and everything has grown late season and there are more worms. The slugs seem to be sticking to the woodchip and not the plants also
I am, at 63yrs, just starting my adventure of growing my own veg. Im all for no-dig. Thanks for your tips and information for a late starter.