The Ultimate Guide to No Dig Gardening

No-dig gardening is a unique style that, to the surprise of no one, consists of gardening without digging. No more planting and sowing vegetable seeds in the ground; instead, you create a bed similar to a lasagne for your produce to thrive in. Having been popularised in the 1970s, this relatively new lasagne-style gardening concept seeks to echo nature's growing methods to turn your fruit seeds into juicy harvests in an entirely new way. 

If you’ve mastered traditional gardening methods or live in an area with soil that's terrible for growing crops, why not try no-dig gardening? If you’re wondering how to make a no-dig garden, then you’re in luck, as Mr Fothergill’s is on hand to teach you all you need to know about no-dig gardening. 

What Is No-Dig Gardening?

Often, in gardening, it is believed that to grow great crops, the soil needs to be turned and loosened. Soil is more complex than what most people are led to believe. It is a living structure of fungi, bacteria, insects, and decaying plant and animal matter. When soil is flipped and loosened often, it can disrupt the networks within the soil and actually harm your soil structure.

If you picture a forest, it is a tall canopy of trees, mid-storey plants, understory, and ground covers. A forest is a natural system in a constant growth and decay cycle. The tree's leaves fall and layer on top of the soil, creating mulch and then breaking down into topsoil.

This lasagne gardening style has been gaining in popularity as it echoes the natural forest process used in nature. Some farmers are turning to this method using ‘’No-Till’’ soil practices to grow crops, too. By not turning the soil, your garden is always protected with a layer of mulch or compost. This is said to improve the soil structure, water holding capacity, and time spent weeding. 

How Do I Make a No Dig Garden?

No-dig gardening may sound complicated on the surface, but in actuality, it's pretty simple if you follow these steps:

1. The first step is to prepare your planting site for your new no-dig garden bed. There is no need to remove grass and annual weeds so long as you mow it short. But if you want to get rid of weeds, check out our weed control guide. 
2. Next, lay down plain brown cardboard directly on top of the grass. Ensure all your edges overlap by a few centimetres to give adequate coverage for the bed to sit on.
3. Choose your cover. Manures need to be well-rotted and a couple of years old. Alternatively, you could use some recycled green waste compost; you want a mature mix that isn’t steaming. Generously apply this compost over the cardboard at least 30-40 cm thick.
4. Plant your vegetable or flower seeds directly into the compost. The roots will quickly grow through this top layer, which helps to suppress the weeds below.
5. If you want to retain moisture, apply a type of mulch, such as sugarcane, around the seedlings; the plants will love it.
6. Now and then, remove any new weeds that pop up in the mulch before they set seed. This will prevent the fresh compost from accumulating seeds (known as a seed bank), which means your crops can grow better without constant competition. Consider installing an edge on the garden to prevent your lawn from creeping into the garden, too.
7. Once you have used the bed for a season, top it up with new compost, about 5 cm deep, to continue feeding the soil life and plants.