Reply To: No Dig on Ground that Floods

[jessifl]

I am in a similar puzzle with the addition of heavy clay soil. I am starting to do a rotation garden to improve my pasture area that was formally sugar cane field for 20 years. Yes farmed traditionally with all the lime and artificial fertilizer and pesticide. Then the land was just field for about 8 years while the property sat around for sale. This did help flush chemicals out at least. We bought it and now have horses, sheep, hogs and chickens rotating through it which it helping fertilize but also helps compact areas even more. Along with this we are a sub-tropic area (9a) and can rain for a month or more at a time. I do compost and tried planting the first year just hand tilling to about 6″-10″ in garden area and composting and this helped some. I had great success with tomato and sunflowers, however a lot of plants where lot due to standing water. I am now trying out deep bedding, I follow John Seymour’s method in his book, ‘The Self-Sufficient Gardener’. I am worried about the soil just re-compacting as I move the garden around. My long term goal is to improve the whole pasture one manageable plot at a time to one day have much better loam that can drain water and retain soil structure and that I can just add compost to and do normal no-dig gardening. I am really wanting some advice because I need to grow food for my family and feed for my livestock to off set cost. Thanks so much for any thoughts you have…