Weeding – truly the bane of the gardeners existence!  They steal the nutrients from the soil meant for your other plants, they grow prickles to sting you, spread fast and frankly are a pain in the posterior!  On my last farm I had a 23m x 7m giant veggie patch and while it went great guns the first few years, I spent the last couple of years managing the weeds more than I grew food for my family.

So here on our new farm I’ve decided we are going to be weed free and to that end I am installing no-dig gardens.  I’ve started with two plots for plants I am transplanting from my old farm that need to get in before spring – Asparagus and Comfrey.  The whole idea of a no-dig garden is exactly how it sounds – no digging!  No digging plots in the soil to plant in and no digging endless weeds out over the years.

Though time consuming, no-dig gardens are simple to create and they save a lot more time in the long run as well as providing a nutrient rich patch ready for planting.  I have outlined the step-by-step process I went through below.

 

Note: This process goes through at minimum 5 layers.  I like to do one layer a day.  This means I can give each particular layer a good soaking which results in the new garden getting a good soaking 5 days straight.  This aids immensely in it breaking down quicker.

 

Step 1: Choose your site.  You can really build a no-dig garden anywhere (even on grass or concrete) but I chose a spot that was dirt and fairly bereft of weeds to begin with.  Then your plants have the option of burrowing further if needed down the line.

 

Step 2: Cardboard and barriers.

A lot of people use newspaper but I prefer un-dyed cardboard.  Firstly it is much thicker which means it is much harder for weeds to grow through from below, secondly it will take longer to disintegrate and thirdly there are less dyes and inks to seep into the ground.  Lay your cardboard down in the shape you want your garden to be and then use logs or bricks to make some walls around it.  Soak the cardboard.

 

Step 3: Put down a fairly thick layer of straw.  Lucerne is best and pea straw isn’t bad.  Personally I have acres of stubble so I just mowed a ton of that and stuck it in. Wet it down.

 

Step 4: Put in a layer of fertilizer.

Chicken  manure is certainly the best as it has all the nutrients a new garden will need.  I like to mix it up a bit with some cow manure as well.  Put down a nice thick layer and once again water.

 

Step 5: A second layer of straw – this time a minimum of 20cm thick, 30 if you have the resources.  Wet the straw down.

 

Step 6: Another layer of fertilizer.

At my last farm I had a never-ending supply of fresh animal dung but here I am having to buy it (until my goats and poultry drop enough for my gardening needs) so I went a cheaper route and mixed it with a bunch of potting mix specifically intended for raised garden beds.  Once again water.

 

Step 7: Let all this break down.  The longer the better.  Personally I only had a week to let mine do so before my asparagus started coming back to life and needed to get into the ground.  But even in that short period you will see the height of your no-dig garden lower as the straw starts to decompose and it will be ready for your plants.

 

And that’s it!  If you would like to add more layers feel free – the more the merrier!  Personally I will be adding some more potting mix around my plants when I put them in and then some straw around that to act as a mulch which will result in 7 layers all up.  But to start off, simply follow the above instructions and you will have some nice new patches ready for planting.  Once again, you can build anywhere you like and the best part is you don’t have to lift a shovel or pull your hair out over weeds down the line – happy gardening!

 

Got any other tips about no-dig gardens?  Would love to read them in the comments section below!