No dig garden construction

[Cimberlyengel]

Ich bewundere Euch immer, dass mehrere Leute zusammen gärtnern.

[MykRushton]

@Cimberlyengel Thank you, work together is very important and something we are not spending enough time on learning how to do

[Jayrock37343]

I like this method of gardening because it puts to use the organic matter people usually pile up on the streets. But i'd much rather add a layer of compost to the soil. Cover that with newspaper. Then add 3 inches of compost and plant directly in to that because it required far too much organic material to create that bed in the video. Nevertheless, excellent video.

[MykRushton]

@Jayrock37343 Any organic matter resources can be used, including compost if you have it. At the workshops all materials were sourced at the venue or provided by people who attended the workshops

[jjsjeffjjsjeff]

Wouldn't this garden need to be watered more than a conventional garden? In this garden it looks like there is no way for runoff water to run into the garden.

[MykRushton]

@jjsjeffjjsjeff All gardens need watering due to evaporation and transpiration. However, the the high organic matter content, the high orginal water content and the mass of the bed shown mean that the whole bed acts like a sponge both absorbing/holding water and also attracting water. ultimately the bed will need less water than a conventional one. Run off is undesirable and minimal whilst the bed can still absorb and hold water

[TheBushdoctor68]

Looks like a great garden bed. I have one question though: With all the fresh grass mixed in, doesn't that heap heat up tremendously? Won't that affect the roots of the plants?

I wish you a good harvest!

[MykRushton]

@TheBushdoctor68 Providing the layers are kept thin <10cm they do not have enough mass to heat up to any great degree. if the layers are thicker they can heat up. Ideally the beds shown are for creation in the autumn for use the the following spring - This time period allows for the bed to mature (flora and fauna, decay/release of nutirents wise) and reduces the chances of any composting heat to damage roots, regulation of pH etc...

[TheBushdoctor68]

@MykRushton That makes sense. Thank you for the explanation.

[sabramarcroft]

I love the video. It's really inspiring. This method could make many more school gardens possible.

[flyattic]

This looks ace, but man surely that takes a lot of energy, not talking about the actual construction but the collection of materials. If you think about the amount of energy this took in terms of actual petrol to collect/buy the cardboard, mow your lawn, buy straw , buy or make compost, clay, rock sediment. That bed without oil probably would have taken many many many man hours. Ace whilst we still have the energy elves (oil) working for us though. might try it . well done A+

[MykRushton]

@flyattic My own no dig - cardboard, free from any supermarket or outlet that receives boxed good; straw, dried: grass clippings/maize/sunflower/sunc­hokes produced onsite or collected from friends; compost, bokashi/kitchen waste and garden maintenance - dead heading/weeding/pruning; soil/clay, collected on site and from friends. Leaves collected from park maintenance depot. Apart from minimal transport not sure how I could have produced a nutrient rich sustainable garden with the energy elves?

[flyattic]

@MykRushton I'm not dissing it, it's great, just saying next time try and do all this without using oil and see how much energy it takes out of you. IE walk for the cardboard and other ingredients rather than taking the car or having friends drop the stuff off in their car. Essentially what i am saying is this is great whilst we have the surplus energy and lots of left over waste from globalisation. I would highly recommend as many people as possible do this NOW and not wait. thats all :-)

[MykRushton]

@flyattic I completely agree, we need to be building our soils and investings in our future using the resources available to us now rather than waiting until the end to start

[buglover3599]

I would rather do a dig garden because that looks like a lot more work! Although it is pretty cool.

[MykRushton]

@buglover3599 Scenario: First fork over the whole area to break the surface pan/root mat, then dig with the spade, killing any fauna and inverting the soil structure, dig over again breaking the larger sods and clumps to get a finer tilth, rake over area to provide a bedding for plants etc, from experience that would take more than the half an hour taken to implement this garden and alI that has been achieve destruction of the soil structure and no nutrient increase - very agricultural ;o)

[hardoff]

@buglover3599

the initial work is more maybe, but the later work is not so much. i have both dig and no dig gardens here right now, and i can tell you for sure the dig gardens eventually need more work. The other thing which i think is often overlooked is that if you do a dig garden, you need to re-cultivate the soil pretty much every time you put a new crop in. But with the no dig, you can just throw a bit of compost in for nutrient and away you go with the next crop.

[soundoutIrl]

just dig

[Katzenjammer58]

Lord that is a lot of work for not digging a garden!! Why are we adding soil when we are making soil to start with?? Not very sustainable.

[MykRushton]

@Katzenjammer58 30 mins from start to finish, excluding collection/assembly of the materials. There is a big difference between the organic rich 'soil' created by this process and the soil used (desiccated, no humus, no biological life etc). As the method creates a rich environment to grow plants organically (which feed us) and the soil is improved (not destroyed) the process is sustainable. Happy to review your ideas for sustainable garden production over the method demonstrated in the video

[memberson]

Hello I like this idea. However. You can do the same thing with just putting the season the compost pile or plant goes compost piles as we know are just leaves, grass, kitchen scraps. Hey oh whatever. Essentially you build a compost pile.

But still a good idea

[MykRushton]

@memberson Correct, such a installation is commonly called a windrow or berm. A no dig bed is not a compost pile; the ratio of C:N is far to high. Left alone for a season the result would be similar to cold pile. The beds shown can be planted immediately so negate the requirement for management or standing for a year as associated with a compost heap/windrow/bearm etc

[citruschicken]

awesome video thanks!! where did you get all that organic matter.

[MykRushton]

@citruschicken Thanks for the feedback. All the materials used were locally sourced on site and provided by people who attended the workshop

[MykRushton]

All the materials used were locally sourced and provided by people who attended the workshop. The 'straw' was actually weed free hay mown from the field out of shot to the right. You can use anything available that is weed/seed/herbicide free including organic pea straw, wheat straw, barley straw and leaves. Avoid any thing that mats down to heavy when wet and causes anaerobic conditions

[9aspengold5]

What kind of straw do you use?

[tdcweb]

Thanks, the clearest video I've seen on this.

[jpreia]

GREAT VIDEO... THANKS!

[MrGreenbudha]

that was awesome!!

[samann95014]

nice 'layered' music. i love nodig gardening.

[TheMysteryGardener]

very good vid.

[susiejive]

brilliant... we are collecting all our "lasagne parts" to start this soon too

[stuzaza]

now i know - therefor this vid is an absolute success. great production, pity others trying to teach things cant K.I.S.S.

[MykRushton]

@stuzaza I rate the principles of simplicity and achievability very highly when embarking on a project. the more complex the project is the greater the chance of in-completion!

[ThanksgivingWalk]

Loved the detailed info. So much explained and demonstrated so quickly.

Very nice job!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the making and posting of the video.

[kyjialu]

brilliant video... excellent filming & great team work... very educational..Thanks.. Dr Yashu

[MsTansy]

can i do this even when i got Couch grass

[MykRushton]

Couch is one of those plants that can grow happily sideways like Convolvulus (bind weed) so it is not smothered by the garden like other weeds. It just grows out from under the garden. If you are going to attempt a garden where there is couch then remove as much of the grass and root mass as you can before hand and remove any new shoots as they appear to wear the plant down. Don't waste the grass or roots - drown them in a bucket of water for a few weeks and then add them to your compost heap

[luminaia]

Great video!