Dig v No Dig first month of growth 2023
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- Опубліковано 23 кві 2023
- Year 11 of trialling growth in these two beds, side-by-side. Both beds grow the same plants and seeds and they receive the same amount of compost once a year in December.
The only difference is that I dig the left-hand bed, every December. The compost goes into the 20 cm/8 inch trenches. I dig those as I move along with the spade.
In 2022 the dig bed gave 97 kg and the no dig bed 111 kg of harvests. This year again, growth so far on the no dig bed looks stronger, see what you think.
You can find also many details on this webpage about the trial
charlesdowding.co.uk/no-dig-t... - Навчання та стиль
No dig is king
I dig it baby
2 seasons ago I took what I have learned from you and “ built” a no dig raised bed. I made my box 4”x4” added shredded leaves,wood chips grass clippings/ garden waste shredded cardboard sea weed and chicken manure. I have added to it again this year it has been growing potatoes. The “soil” is amazing. I have rich dark earth that has seemingly appeared out of scrapes of nothingness. I am now growing 90% of my garden in the same fashion and getting great results. Thank you Charles for all that you do in and for the gardening community!!
How wonderful to hear this Dan, and so good that you've done all that
I don't have the space.
I have no experience in gardening.
What keeps me listening to him is his soothing voice 😂
Ah thanks. I hope one day you may garden!
If u have a window sill or balcony u can still 're grow herbs. Coriander spring onions leeks garlic ginger
Thanks Charles, what a difference between dig and no dig beds. Great stuff 👍
Love this so much!😁💚🌱
Charles I really appreciate the education you give all of us. One thing that has been on my mind though is I wish your trial here was no dig vs using a broadfork. Digging every season is definitely hurting the soil structure, but using a broadfork to lift it gently doesn’t totally destroy the structure yet helps get some more air into the lower reaches. I use a broadfork that has 18” long tines and regularly harvest carrots that are 16-24” long. The parsnips are even longer up to 40” long. You probably don’t want to change your trial at this point, but I think you would find that especially with longer root crops the broadfork is superior. Thank you for all you do!
Thanks is interesting. That's a long fork!
I do run a trial to compare forking and harvests are 8% less over 9 years, it must damage the mycelial network charlesdowding.co.uk/three-strip-trial-2014-2022/
The interesting thing about mycelial networks when you gently disrupt their network they sporulate at the ends of their hyphae. I have a friend that has actually photographed it under a microscope. Rototiling pulverizes it but a Broadfork can actually increase the spore count in the soil. If you have the proper food available like Ramial Chipped Wood they will be even more aggressive and available. Thank you for the link and thank you for what you do.
I wish I could send my pics of my garden! You are soo right! All thanks to you I'm getting there. God bless you. From Eastern NC USA ❤
Nice Melizza
Again Mr Dowding,
Another example of the benefits of no dig. I marvel at its sensible approach, and the rewards, it willingly gives. Thank you for your endless sharing of it’s ability, to enhance a growing method. That I, and others unequivocally benefit from.
So nice Eleanor, thanks
Better result with less work and saving time, while not killing off soil life. It is beyond me why people keep digging. Thanks for doing these trials! 🌱
Simple but incredible, , 🎉
Thank you
Great ! Thanks u
I just realized I need a garden blazer. 😊
😂
Quick question, I tried to use fleece for the first time but the slugs realy took a number on my beetroots. (Sowed a new batch last week as replacements). The slugs really loved it underneath the fleece, what do you do to prevent slug damage underneath fleece with seedlings?
good question. i struggle w slugs also
Sorry to hear that. I do nothing in fact, I am relying on seedlings being strong and the soil being top quality. No dig helps by allowing survival of predators such as Beetles. Notice also there are no wooden sides to the beds which can be habitat for slugs
.
No dig is supposed to really improve with time but mulching plays a big role in it. Not wood mulch but leaves, straw or anything that sits on the ground to feed the microbes and bugs that feed the plants.
Great comment which I would write as
No dig improves soil with time and mulching plays a big role in it. Using any mulch including compost, wood, leaves, straw or anything that sits on the ground to feed the microbes and bugs that feed the plants.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you 🥰. I can have a hard time communicating. You simplified it so more people can understand and learn! Best response I've had on UA-cam in years.
That is nice Sam! 💚
Thank you for your enlightening comparison. Is it possible we need an additional step of firming plants in when digging a bed in order to achieve the same rate of growth?
Not sure about this because diggers say they dig to loosen and aerate soil so roots can access it. Always when transplanting, we push the rootballs in, to ensure firm contact.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you for your warm and informative response. We all profit from your work and your shared experience. It seems unlikely that firming plants in is a practical confounder here. (Here comes my rambling rant to help you and others help all of us and say what's on my mind.)
I and others have a great appetite for short-form videos which warmly and succinctly present a video-abstract of experimental findings, protocols, conclusions, and ideas for further research, as peer-reviewed journals have learned to format content but with supplemental attractive warmth and social grace which prefers a soothing kindness of tone to superfluous verbosity as ironically ostensible nicety: none of us want our life's time wasted to get information we might not immediately recognize as worth taking. The applicability might not occur to us until years later when we are frustrated by the toil of working against the nature of our ecosystems. Short, high-impact reports infect viewers with knowledge that might be initially resisted because of cognitive dissonance because everyone is apparently tilling their soils, thus evidently soil-disturbance is the supreme agronomy.
GMOs are intellectual property that can pollute copyright-infringement into organic farms' whole gene pools through pollination, meanwhile GMOs are engineered to withstand spraying transient supplements which sicken whole ecosystems.
Professor David R. Montgomery reports on many of these issues and how people regenerate entire farms, observed as organic matter content in souls. There's often a couple years of reduced yields when switching to regenerative practices. This experiment makes me wonder if that time is caused by tilled or dug soils' need to recover the actinomycotal population or the mycorrhizal network to support plants' prosperity. Dr. Elaine Ingham could likely provide some insight about performing microscopic analysis of your soils, perhaps showing us how no dig supports prosperity in your experiment.
Thanks.
It's the two year drop in harvests which stops farmers switching :(
I have had microscope analysis of my trial beds, v different results
When you employ the row covers, what happens if a heavy rain falls? Are the young plants crushed at all?
Seedlings resist! Always impresses me
33 days of growth in your dig bed is way better than in any of myne. RFA🇿🇦
Ah nooo! Sending you grow vibes Justus
The whole no dig thing makes sense, but how Em I suppose to get so much compost every year
The use of compost to grow vegetables is not exclusive to No Dig and as I say/show in this video, you need less than when digging. Vegetables are demanding plants to grow. If you can't access or buy much compost, just do a small bed and I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results
These fleece ase costly.
I always feel like April is a slow month of growing regardless of weather, even slower than October growth when the sun is weaker.. I hypothesize it has something to do with the slow waking up of the soil life..what do you think Charles?
I know what you mean! It's two things, residual warmth in the soil and much warmer nights often. Plus that plants have an extensive root system which has already grown in the warmer months so that can power more new growth. Whereas in April they have to make new roots as well as growing the leaves et cetera
Dud you put compost on no dig and then turn soil then plant
That's what I did on the dig bed. On the left.
No dig on right has the compost on top
I mean... i don't dig it?
😂 yes our language is biased towards digging!