No till gardening

[treeguy]

The idea is that when you dig, you might disturb the good bacteria inside the soil structure.

No. Disturbed earth is going to have more air, more decaying of the elements, and more microcritters processing the soil into usable plant food. Compacted earth of any variety has and is just the opposite: less air, less microbial activity, less usefulness. The only advantage of not disturbing the earth is that buried seeds will stay dormant nearly forever, or until they exceed their warranty. The major force compacting the ground is rain. If you keep a heavy mulch of anything organic/fibrous there will be very little compaction over 12 months, and be easy to turn with a shovel. All this pertains to nice loam, of course. Clay is a horse of another color.

I guess you buy the 5 gallon tomatoes and pop them in the ground?

I buy the biggest I can find in April. Rarely bigger than a quart, and often just 3" pots. They get 3' x 3' x 7' anyway.

 

[alp]

That is the ethics of no-dig: Digging disturbs the inherent good bacteria and / or worms inside the soil. But if it is clay, you really need to dig it and dig it hard. That's what I am saying. No-dig can't really be applicable to clay.

 

[DirtMechanic]

If you till real clay, especially if you add amendments, you make a giant pot which rain will then fill and drown roots, or suffocate them. Its good to at least use a hill type row to keep the plants above the water.

 

[Durgan]

This guy does a whole series of organic no-till (no-dig) gardening.
I hope you don't mind if I direct you there.

As an observation his set up is most expensive IMO. It is very pretty but totally impracticable for most.

 

[headfullofbees]

That is the ethics of no-dig: Digging disturbs the inherent good bacteria and / or worms inside the soil. But if it is clay, you really need to dig it and dig it hard. That's what I am saying. No-dig can't really be applicable to clay.

That's why it's raised beds, Dowding's garden is on heavy clay.
When you put a six-inch plus layer of light, friable material on top of clay, it drains well, the water disperses and evaporates, and this is deep enough for the root-zones of many plants.
Worms love it and aerate it, and after a couple of years of adding more mulch manually, will deepen the light soil by breaking into, and incorporating with it, some of the clay soil underneath.
Now, although clay soil is difficult to work, slow to breakdown, cold and wet, it does hold nutrients well, and its inculcation to the bed means that it's, to my mind, the BEST medium upon which to use this method.
My allotment is heavy clay, and my onion & garlic beds are fantastic.
I'd turn the whole lot over to no-dig if I could afford to.

 

[Durgan]

I consider the concept to be impracticable due to cost and the labor required. Just harvesting the material shown in the garden would take much labor. Labor is very expensive in all developed countries.

I am most interested in what is done with the products grown. Th internet is swamped with growth but always very little about use and or preservation.

Few farmers in my experience don't even plant a vegetable garden. They simply don' have the time and it is more economical to buy externally.

The setup in the video is expensive. Deep pockets are required. There is an internet permaculture forum that reeks of
incompetence. Basically digging a hole and growing some type of squash. Squash is most photogenic. There is a video floating around

which is touted and is simply nonsense. My observation is most growing schemes outside the proven norm verge on the ridiculous.

 

[alp]

That's why it's raised beds, Dowding's garden is on heavy clay.
When you put a six-inch plus layer of light, friable material on top of clay, it drains well, the water disperses and evaporates, and this is deep enough for the root-zones of many plants.
Worms love it and aerate it, and after a couple of years of adding more mulch manually, will deepen the light soil by breaking into, and incorporating with it, some of the clay soil underneath.
Now, although clay soil is difficult to work, slow to breakdown, cold and wet, it does hold nutrients well, and its inculcation to the bed means that it's, to my mind, the BEST medium upon which to use this method.
My allotment is heavy clay, and my onion & garlic beds are fantastic.
I'd turn the whole lot over to no-dig if I could afford to.

I wish I were 20 years old! I would use this method. Even the lady presenter said that the comparison in The Beechgrove Garden was not fair as they had already dug the area purportedly no-dig YEARS before the experiment. It's difficult to get something for nothing. My grass lawn is still waterlogged as I have never dug it and I have been here 23 years. Lovely video and I really admire the aerial view. Fantastic! Thank you for the video!

 

[Meadowlark]

One of the mainstays of my garden soil building is cover crops. I use them 365/24/7. In winter, I rely on legumes to produce N2 , add nutrients, and prevent weeds and on elbon rye to prevent nematodes. In summer, I rely on cowpeas to add N2 and nutrients and weed prevention to soil. I would put my garden soil up against any in the world in terms of health and ease of work. Never use chemicals of any kind.

That healthy soil would be impossible without tilling. No till just does not make sense for me in the garden. I use my small tractor to easily do the work that would be back breaking in smaller raised bed situations and produce far more produce than we can eat, preserve, and give away.

No till is "no go" for me.

 

[Durgan]

I have usually had clay where I lived over the years. I lay in city compost until the soil is perfect. In about 15 years I have mixed about 100 yards about 10 to 15 each year. I have good drainage via plastic pipe in a few trenches. I like clay because when drained it has all the nutrients. I lay on the wood chip mulch after the garden is planted to retain moisture. I get a ten yard load and wheelbarrow it into the garden and work it under in the Fall or early Spring. I do not use cover crop since my season is too short in Zone 5. I pail water using downspout water when available from three 45 gallon drums. I plant my produce close in rows, and space the plants in the row. This means the row spacing is essentially shaded somewhat., with an overhead canopy. Weeding is continuous when the weeds are small but is not onerous in my about 2000 square feet. I use most in my garden and always have more than enough by mostly pressuring canning a slurry or drinkable juice. I consider no till a impractical endeavor.

 

[headfullofbees]

I consider the concept to be impracticable due to cost and the labor required. Just harvesting the material shown in the garden would take much labor. Labor is very expensive in all developed countries.

I am most interested in what is done with the products grown. Th internet is swamped with growth but always very little about use and or preservation.

Few farmers in my experience don't even plant a vegetable garden. They simply don' have the time and it is more economical to buy externally.

The setup in the video is expensive. Deep pockets are required. There is an internet permaculture forum that reeks of
incompetence. Basically digging a hole and growing some type of squash. Squash is most photogenic. There is a video floating around

which is touted and is simply nonsense. My observation is most growing schemes outside the proven norm verge on the ridiculous.

As far as I know, he is, what we in the UK call, a market-gardener.
I think he also has a restaurant attached.
After initial set-up costs, it would cost less than your wood-chip mulch, and the point he makes in one of his videos, is that the mulch used can vary according to what's suitable and available for your area, and that he uses composted cattle manure, home made compost and spent mushroom compost, because he's on heavy clay, & the damp climate makes slugs a problem.
As I've said, your use of woodchip mulch seems to me, very similar, at least philosophically.
He

 

[Meadowlark]

....I am most interested in what is done with the products grown. Th internet is swamped with growth but always very little about use and or preservation.

Few farmers in my experience don't even plant a vegetable garden. They simply don' have the time and it is more economical to buy externally.

We can a lot of our excess veggies...tomatoes, potatoes, beets, green bean, carrots, etc. etc. Our canning skills still aren't anywhere near what my grandparents and their generation had developed...and you are right very little is out there about practical preservation.

To me vegetable gardening is not about economics, its about great taste and healthy eating. If you want to experience both of those, you pretty much have to grow it yourself. The taste is incomparable no question about it and I know for certain that my food has never been exposed to harmful chemicals. That is priceless!!

 

[Durgan]

My mulch comes from a local supplier at 5 dollars a yard and unlimited amounts. It has been composted more than a year probably closer to two. I often get a ten yard load or for small amounts I take a half yard in my van box. Another thing I have observed is bare ground. I consider bare ground showing in a garden to be dead space, hence I close space plants or use mulch. I find mulch has to be too thick to discourage weeds but for moisture retention it is ideal. I tried straw for mulch but found it mats and now never use it. But in general i find mulch to be a godsend. I don't have much confidence in it supplying many nutrients.

 

[Durgan]

We can a lot of our excess veggies...tomatoes, potatoes, beets, green bean, carrots, etc. etc. Our canning skills still aren't anywhere near what my grandparents and their generation had developed...and you are right very little is out there about practical preservation.

To me vegetable gardening is not about economics, its about great taste and healthy eating. If you want to experience both of those, you pretty much have to grow it yourself. The taste is incomparable no question about it and I know for certain that my food has never been exposed to harmful chemicals. That is priceless!!

Several years ago I got concerned about preserving. I read much and experimented. I knew a bit about pressure canning and used it periodically. The internet writing about pressure canning are poorly done. The main concern was the heat 240F getting to the bulk material in a jar, a real concern.. A temperature of 240 must be reached for a few minutes to destroy all bacteria. This is difficult to achieve if the jar material is chunky. So I decided to make a homogeneous slurry of the jar contents, the idea being all contents would reach 240F. I chose 15 PSI for 15 minutes and ran a year of tests. I never had a spoiled jar for around 500 liters, and all the jar contents were such that they could be ingested by drinking. Now I can around 400 jars a year for all vegetable products. All slurry. I don't do animal products.

Further there are good tools available. Pressure canner, I have a 23 quart seven liter jars per batch, perfect hand stick blender, good hand 2mm strainers, propane outdoor burners, double boiler. These simplify the process and it is much easier than in the past.

I use some of the other methods like freezing, dehydrating, root cellar, fermenting, but rarely. I use grains and dried beans and lentils purchased in bulk. Fermented soy beans are a significant part o my diet in the form of tempeh.

I have studied the super market products and found them wanting in many aspects. Many are pure garbage.

 

[lifegardener]

This guy does a whole series of organic no-till (no-dig) gardening.
I hope you don't mind if I direct you there.

Love it! Nothing beats natural fertilizing methods.

 

[DirtMechanic]

For those that preserve: