The No Dig Method

At the Feed Your Soul Community garden, we will be upholding a ‘no dig’ policy for our beds. This may sound baffling for those of you that have been used to turning your soil with trowels and spades to achieve a perfectly weeded bed. But there is a method in the seeming madness - a method rooted in Mother Earths innate wisdom. So, what is no dig and why adopt it as your preferred gardening method? 

No dig means two things - firstly, not digging the soil, leaving it as undisturbed as practically possible. Secondly, the soil life is fed by laying organic matter on the surface. This mimics the way the Earth would be structured in the natural world, and the earth would often have decaying matter such as leaves and bits of tree (mulch) decomposing to feed millions of magickal microorganisms below. 
Mother Earth is far wiser than we ever give her credit for, and it turns out that the way she designed things in the first place made a beautifully conducive environment for healthy plant life - who knew! 

There are a number of advantages in no dig gardening, both for us as the receiver of the Earths abundance, and for the Earth. 

No-dig preserves fungi and bacteria that help to feed the plant, and preserve delicate networks that allow plants to spread their fine roots deep into the Earth. Digging generally destroys soil structure, leaving it vulnerable to compaction problems. A no dig method provides a solid structure for the plants, creating fine pores that allow for easeful transportation of water, air and nutrients. It also is better for water retention. 
‘No-dig’ takes far less time, as you won’t need to be weeding or expending any additional effort to cultivate the soil. Why won’t you need to be weeding? Digging encourages buried weed seeds to come up to the surface. No dig keeps them buried, with less likelihood of them germinating, especially with the continual addition of organic mulch suppressing them. Eventually the weeds start to give up, so you may start to find the weeds naturally thin out anyway. 

With your new and improved no-dig soil thriving, you will no longer need synthetic fertilisers, and can adopt more natural ways of reducing pests to support this. 

Perhaps the most wonderful upside of all to note is that with a no-dig method, carbon dioxide remains sequestered in the soil and is not released up into the atmosphere. The solution to climate change really is in the soil, as nature keeps the balance by drawing down CO2 and using it as part of their own processes. Continues turning and tilling of soil prevents this from happening. So buy opting for no dig, you are helping nature help us. She was always going to be the answer. 

If you’ve seen this post, let it be your sign to start adopting no dig in your garden, and see how the Earth rewards you in abundance! 

To find out how you can get involved in Feed Your Soul in the North Essex area, DM us!