No-dig beds; are they any good?

I was keen to try no-dig beds, as they seem an ideal solution for opening up new garden areas without the considerable effort of hoeing and digging over new soil. My first efforts have not been entirely successful, although I’m still working at finding a method that works for me. Here are a few tips if you’re thinking of giving this method a try.

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And more compost.

The dry weather means I’m not digging beds so much, and as I mentioned in my last post, my thoughts turned to making more compost. My friends Phil and Lindy have a most impressive setup, with masonry bays, chutes and what have you, but they have a lot of animals and a big family. For me, it’s just important to get started, and I can upgrade later. My resources are; waste hay from the chicken pen, hay from slashing, and muck from the bottom of the dam. To make the whole…

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Compost – dam, slashing and chickens.

The soil in my vegetable beds could do with a lot more organic matter, so I’ve been on a compost mission in preparation for the next warm season planting. I had dug in some alpaca manure (very like sheep manure) for my beets, tomatoes and tomatillos, but wanted something more like a soil conditioner for the next bed. Another task was clearing some of the dam. It is very overgrown, and in order to launch our little boat to get out and fix the pump I first had to clear a…

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