How to make a no-dig garden

Our veggie garden was built on the top of an exposed hill.  There was no existing topsoil and more mud-rock than dirt making it very hard to dig.  So I thought I was very clever when I built my no dig gardens and they were successful.  Under the circumstances, it was the only option we had at that time.

Well!  I couldn't believe the miracle of watching soil develop at the bottom of the no-dig garden.  After the first year, if you parted all the mulch, there was a definite layer of dirt.  But then I made some big mistakes.  After a couple of years, rather than rebuild the no-dig layers of lucerne straw etc., I just added manure and blood and bone to the soil.  I was feeling pretty cocky because I had caused soil to be created!  Not bad hey!  No soil brought onto the property - just existing dirt turning into good gardening soil.  I thought that was wonderfully sustainable.

our own garlic and broad beans at the end of last year

This year my mistakes became obvious.  We are having a terrible year of drought.  Not only are we getting no rain but the heat is relentless.  If we do get a break from the heat, it's in the form of horrible, soil drying wind!


a bed that I had to let go due to the poor soil

Now it has become quite clear that I should have either rebuilt my no-dig garden beds year after year (not very sustainable because the straw is not produced on our property) or I should have put more effort into improving the soil that had begun to form.  Because I only had a shallow layer of 'good garden soil' the extreme conditions have quickly dried it out.  It looks dry and dead and is completely unproductive.

So if you like to learn from other people's mistakes, rather than go through the disaster of proving it to yourself through your own mistakes, this would be my advice:- Either make a no-dig garden and rebuild it each season or make a well dug garden bed and incorporate lots of compost, manure etc.  If you have a deep layer of well structured soil and keep it covered with mulch, it will be able to retain much more moisture.

a bed that is doing better, but still not as good as I would like

Keep in mind that the above is just a realisation I have come to.  It is not tried and tested yet because I am still madly building my soil.  I won't be able to really prove myself correct until I grow a good crop of veggies next summer.  But I reckon I'm onto something!  ;-)

If you've never made a no-dig garden, they are pretty amazing and so simple! They are a good option if you are not up to the task of digging a bed and probably a good start for a beginning gardener if you're excitedly impatient to have your own veggie garden and want to see it done in one day!

my own coriander seeds

Just cover the area where you want to make a bed with thick layers of newpaper.  At least a half a paper thick.  I just ask at the newsagent and they are happy to give them to me.  Wet them down well and put a 15cm layer of straw.  Spread a layer of manure over the straw and sprinkle a couple of handfuls of blood and bone on top.  Add another layer of straw and more manure and blood and bone.  Water the whole garden thoroughly.  Part the straw to make a little hole, add some compost and plant a seedling!  Water it well.

That's it!  It's that easy!  The better the quality of your straw, the more nutrition your veggies will get.  I tend to use plain straw for the bottom layer because it's cheaper and then I use lucerne or pea straw for the top layer that the plants grow in.  If you have good soil around or some compost you could put it in your little hole in the straw and plant straight into that instead of buying potting mix. 

Don't forget to fertilise with an organic liquid fertiliser or add some blood and bone every couple of weeks.

In my next post I will tell you about the efforts I've made this week to improve the soil in my garden beds.

So to the wonderful people who read here - do you dig............. or not?