If soil is a giant ravenous beast, digging into its material can throw it off its natural intelligence, disrupt its chemistry, shrink its pore spaces, and weaken the spirits of nutrient-rich microbes crawling inside it. Too much digging can leach the soil of its nutrients. Also called “no-till gardening,” no-dig gardening is a cultivation trick that prepares the soilbed for plant or vegetable growth without disturbing the soil through digging or breaking up.
“No Dig enriches the soil without disturbing it and reduces labor and weeds by using compost spread on top of the soil. You plant into the compost and let the roots find their way down into the soil beneath,” an expert explained to Saveur. The best time to start a garden with no-dig technique is during spring when the soil is not waterlogged, preferably late February or early March, according to the RHS. The No.1 Rule: Don’t disturb the soil.
Starting a no-dig garden from scratch isn’t that tricky. All you need to pay attention to is how you layer the greens (nitrogen) and the browns (carbon) and how you soak each layer. According to the Botanic Gardens of Australia, there are numerous recipes for creating this garden. Commonly used ingredients include a newspaper or cardboard, pea straw, lucerne, hay, manure, compost, blood and bone, sugar-cane mulch, seaweed solution, leaves, lawn clippings, and shredded paper or plants. It takes just five simple steps.
Find a suitable location, preferably one bathed in ample sunshine. Aerate the ground to trigger the colonies of nutrient-rich microbes lurking within. Lay a thick double layer of water-soaked cardboard or newspaper without leaving any gaps for weeds to push through. Experts at RHS suggest against using shiny or fancy cardboards for this purpose. Plus, make sure to remove any staples, paper clips, or tapes sticking to the pieces before laying them out on the bed.
Despite this being a no-dig method, it’s absolutely okay to dig a few holes, as long as you make sure not to disturb the soil’s natural intelligence. Dig your instrument into the thick mulch to make space for planting bushes, trees, flowers, or potatoes. Make sure, however, that you don’t end up digging the whole bed.
