No-Dig Vegetable Gardening

Preparing your soil for planting the No-Dig way

Following the moon calendar guide for garden tasks certainly streamlines your ‘to-do’ list each month.

It’s March 20th today, the start of a 4 day soil preparation window. Traditionally we would be cultivating the soil - loosening or breaking up the soil by tilling or ‘turning-over’.

For some years now I have been gardening the NO-DIG way…

No-dig gardening has made the task of soil preparation a little kinder on the back, instead of digging heavy soil we now practice the layering of various organic materials to build a nutrient-rich mix base in which to sow and plant.

By layering a blend of straw, grass clippings, aged manure, dried leaves, wood chips, coffee grounds and homemade compost we are creating a growing area full of goodness (and very few weeds if we’re lucky)

Two of my favourite No-Dig gardeners are Charles Dowding @charlesdowding and Stephanie Hafferty @stephaniehafferty - their instagram accounts are very motivating and educational.

Over the next four days, I will be working on supplementing my vegetable patch with goodness in readiness for the fertile Sowing and Planting stage of the month which begins 24th May and continues through to 4th April.

The seeds I sowed in trays at the beginning of the last sowing period, back in late February, are coming along nicely and will be ready for planting out in about a week. Lettuce, spinach, coriander, parsley, cauliflower, leeks, silverbeet and an artichoke, all have roots which are now visible at the base of the seed trays.

I will continue succession seeding during the up-coming fertile period. The hardy winter veg will be slow to grow, but will provide the most delicious crop for late winter/early spring harvest.