No-Dig Gardening FAQs Answered: Charles and Mitch at Homeacres 

How kind thanks, here's to health in your world 💚

That’s wonderful, every little helps when you’re finding your feet 👍

I use beer/lager traps for the slugs and snails, but naturally it depends on the size of growing space and conditions 👍

😂 Thanks Gary and I love your humour! I'm so pleased to have helped

What a lovely history, and thank you for sharing this

Stay Primal. What a great testimonial. Nature taking care of itself.

"wild backyard for 4 years" My village council would be all over me like nothing I want. Secondly: I had some areas with grass that I wanted to use again. These areas with grass were ultrahard to dig and plant a tree in, worse than anything else to dig. 3rd: A few years back I tried to improve an area where there were a lot of weeds, so I covered it very deep in mulch. After a few years, I put some cover crop seeds in. While they did sprout in the top half inch of mulch that was left, below that it was so hard that the roots could not penetrate. Sorry, but I call bs on your story.

Awesome! Thanks

🕺🏼 thanks

Glad you enjoyed it! We had fun :)

Wonderful to hear and thanks

I'm in my mid 70's. When I turned 50 I said to myself, that's enough. No fear of anything. Started no dig watching Charles a couple years ago and decided I could do that too. Charles has been a gift.

@@smas3256 Ah great! Go you.

Nice to hear Holly, interesting about your spinach, and here's to spring!

I am intrigued by your growing spinach all winter long under a grow light. I am about to start my seeds for spring, and spinach is among them. Yes, I'm new at gardening. I've never used grow lights before. I grew and harvested 6 containers of broccoli recently. This has encouraged me to get more food growing. Best wishes from Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA.

@@clynthia0510 My husband is the spinach man. We use compost in an “Earth Box”. There is a grow tent, fan and timer for the light. He grows spinach leaves the size of your hand, not that bag of first leaves that becomes slimy in two days. It’s nice to grow it down cellar in a cool environment where it is slower to bolt. A light and a pot full of compost is all you need and is where we started. We like to continue growing it in the basement even in the summer. Give it a try and best of luck. Don’t forget the simplification of no dig! The hardest part was convincing my husband to give it a try 💙

@@hollyjobitner3285 How did you convince him? Trying to convince my uncle to give it a try, but I think just thinks I'm nuts to even do mulch, but he got buried in weeds last year.

@@GoingGreenMom I suppose the idea of not having to till the garden appealed to him. We as humans are naturally lazy. Our carrots for a year or two were challenging. Last year we planted them in April. Our last frost date is approximately Memorial Day. We were pulling carrots and parsnips in November. Pull those weeds and throw them in the compost pile. Throw out some compost and plant. What could be easier. I’ve gardened practically all my life. My dad would use his tiller to make the dirt very fine. He was very fussy about not walking on the dirt. Different ideas are sometimes better and simpler. Happy gardening! 💙

Lovely comment thanks Lara-Nikki

Sounds great! Happy to see this

That is awesome, not one but two, and thanks

Thanks John

Glad you enjoyed it Nick!

Glad you enjoyed it 💚

Our pleasure!

Couldn't agree more 💚

Glad you enjoyed it 🙂

Glad you like it!!

Cheers Gordon

I'm so happy to read this Christina. Also, I'm amazed that your neighbours do not yet know about no dig, clearly there is more education needed! I'm getting strong feedback now from all over the world, but I guess that is still a minority. I hope that your neighbours will see and copy your excellent methods!

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Nice test result!

You are welcome Jessica

Oh thank you John, that's nice

Thanks for sharing :)

Glad you enjoyed it Troy

Fantastic Owen 💚

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Thanks Steven 👍

Thank you. Partly it was the amazing weather we had last summer and they are not always that good! I shall bear in mind your request.

May it grow well!

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Awesome, thank you and that is a fair point!

Glad you enjoyed it Cami

@@CharlesDowding1nodig always do

Many thanks!

I am in Washington State and I think of dirt as the subsoil dug up during construction. Soil is alive and has organic matter, bacteria, fungi, and other biological component organisms. 🌹

😂

Me too!

Yup!

Glad you enjoyed it Denise. I hope you can get through the next six weeks or so, because your spring and autumn sounds pretty nice to me! And I've heard a fair bit from Melbourne, how cool it has been down there?!

Eso es tan bueno, estoy feliz de ayudar 😎!

🤣

😂 that is sad as well!

Great to hear 🍐

Glad to help, may your potatoes grow nicely

Cheers Clive, thanks for feedback and that sounds encouraging

Great job and many thanks :)

So nice to see this! Yes the advancing years!!

How wonderful and thanks for sharing!

That is awesome Frank, nice work.

Wonderful!

Danke schön. In den sagen wir 10 Jahren ohne Graben zieht das Bodenleben kontinuierlich Kompost in den Boden. Es ist nicht so, dass nur eine Schicht Kompost darauf liegt! Die Pflanzen wurzeln also im Boden, und das weiß ich, weil es so schwierig ist, Pastinaken zu ernten, die ohne Ausgraben 60 cm oder mehr in die Tiefe fallen. Außerdem würden meine Grünkohlpflanzen nicht aufstehen, wenn sie nicht tief im Boden wurzeln würden, daher bin ich mir sicher, dass die Pflanzenernährung gut ist.

Thanks Holly, and I keep hearing about Bermuda grass! Several people have got rid of it through firstly mulching/covering and then repeated removal, together with mulching around the edge to prevent it spreading in. They put it on the compost heap and it needs a little water plus regular additions on top in the heap, good luck!

Cool!

Cool!

💚 thanks

Oh cielos, eso suena caliente. ¡Hace un cambio de su frío invierno! Tenemos ese ahora.

Gracias Manuel

Glad you enjoyed it Hope the zone knowledge helps!

Это так приятно, спасибо

This makes perfect sense Andrew, I'm glad it's working for you, and you are building soil!

Same! Rocks and clay. Raised beds are a must. But I just keep adding compost!

Ah great!

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Wonderful! I wish you well 🥬

I realize now (per your diary) that asparagus sowing is next month AND outdoors-your asparagus was such an inspiration! Sowing this weekend-broad beans, spinach, lettuce, peas, onions, parsley and coriander. Love the Diary & the Sowing Timeline/Growing Guide!

Thanks for sharing and how amazing! Yes, I have been there and the vegetable garden was nothing remarkable at that time although I think it has improved since then in the last year or two. She was an amazing woman and I should like to have seen it when you did. East Lambrook Manor.

😎 nice

I love you Adrian, because this comment helps me, convince people whose soil is currently hard! That's a very good description of the amazing work done by soil organisms, thanks.

Happy to see this Pascal, and I'm glad you have the books

Ok cool, changed it

Thanks Craig and I had to look up ChatGPT! Freaky.... big changes so fast. Thank goodness for soil and plants. I gave a talk on Sunday and the stage, was not big enough, with 30 people, shut out! So you're right, online, this problem does not happen! But we miss out on other things. Funnily enough, surfing is something you can do online and in real life!

Love this. I have soil under my nails, or compost! 😂

Wishing you warmth!

This video will help you ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MCftXbye1AA.html and this from my website Weeds (green) include some soil (brown) on their roots, so you can make fine compost from them alone. You can compost perennial weeds too - I add roots and leaves of bindweed, docks, nettles, buttercups, dandelions and couch grass. They break down even in winter’s cooler heaps, and regrow only if left exposed to light. You can save much time by not separating out perennial weeds. Fresh leaves are green and older leaves become more brown, so autumn tree leaves are mostly brown. Tree leaves take up to two years to compost, or one year when added to green/nitrogenous materials such as grass. They also decompose more quickly if chopped by a rotary lawnmower. Diseased leaves are good to compost, such as mildewed courgette and lettuce leaves, rusty garlic and leek leaves, blighted potato and tomato leaves, and also tubers/fruits with late blight. Blight spores, for example, need living plant tissue to survive in, hence they die in a compost heap, and likewise in soil. I spread compost that was made with blighted leaves around tomatoes in the polytunnel, with no ensuing problems. Rhubarb leaves and citrus peel are good to compost - I know from experience. Eggshells bring structure to a heap but decompose slowly, often ending un-mulched on top. Most shredded materials are woody (brown), and their speed of composting depends on size, and whether they have been crushed or simply cut - crushed is best. I keep a pile of shredded branches near to the summer’s compost heaps, for adding to any large additions of grass mowings and fresh leaves. Other brown materials are paper (best crumpled), cardboard (which you can add in large pieces), wood ash (in winter my heaps are up to 10% wood ash), soil and straw, which gives good structure and aeration. Beware of adding too much wood-flake bedding, often kiln dried and very slow to decompose. Not the end of the world, but your finished compost risks looking woody! Fresh manure from any animal is green, and is excellent for speeding decomposition. Should you have large animals such as a cow or horse, their manure and bedding will ‘take over’ the compost heap, volume wise, meaning your compost heap has become more of a manure heap. Old manure is compost, just of a different quality. Chicken manure is unusual because of it’s high amount of nitrogen. In small amounts, say you have 6-12 chickens, I suggest adding their droppings to the compost heap, where it helps other wastes to break down. To use it as mulch, there must have been plenty of bedding such as straw, and then it needs to have decomposed for 6-8 months in an aerobic heap.

@@CharlesDowding1nodig Merci beaucoup for video link and green-brown break down from your website I didn't get to yet!! The journey begins, and this also speaks to @selinang9291 regarding her no-dig attempt solely made with cow & chicken manure compost n hay. Another switch on words, cause I thought aged manure was called and used as a fertilizer or mulch as you put it. (Ever come across the story of Paul Gautsch (US), in his Back to Eden Gardening film documentary (2011)? Preceding you, he's the first I ever laid eyes on doing similar no-till, irrigation-sparse, forest floor mimicing wonder.)

Interesting, thanks :)

Enterprising Vanessa and I wish you success 💚

Good luck! Quite an adventure

Nice improvisation!

Thanks, nice clarification 💚

Nice definition

You are right, that would be a cool title! Thanks for your idea

Great gardening Rhys, you are epic

In olden days it as called humus, the apex of fertility which is not soil, but helps soil to be open and productive. It's not bringing many nutrients, but think of it like a key, to unlock what is already in your soil. Growth will be good, and balanced, healthy

Thanks Anne, v helpful!

Interesting! Since you are mulching with leaves and grass. I don't see you need to dig.