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Hello All
I recently gained a plot at a small allotment, which is very traditional, social and connected. I explained that I already grow and I am from a agricultural background, so they assume I know what I am doing. They use the “dig” word in almost every paragraph of exchange, I currently smile and nod, and skirt around the “dig” swear word, as not to rock the boat.
They are currently impressed by my efforts, as it looks like i’m digging. I am cutting out the paths and dumping the soil (clay of sorts) onto where my beds are. I have a delivery of 7 tonnes of municipal compost (manure in the future) scheduled for next week which will go on top, and will then seek for large amounts of cardboard and woodchip for the paths.
At some point fellow allotmenteer’s are going to become aware that I am not going to be in the traditional majority, digging and incorporating manure. So I want to be prepared for this moment, so I asking has anyone had experience, good or bad, with dealing with diggers on allotment sites.
Hi Gary,
I am in a similar predicament (nice to know I’m not the only one!), but slightly further down the road than you.
I’ve got 11 8 x 4 beds, where I just dumped compost straight on top after removing as much bindweed root as I could (my plot has significant bindweed issues). My next door neighbour saw the compost being delivered, and evidently tongues got wagging, as the next time I went to my plot (after having created the beds), a fellow allotmenteer a few plots down was asking me questions about it!
He said that in his opinion it would sink into the soil, and implied that what I was doing was a waste of time. I’m not sure why compost/nutrients sinking into the soil is a bad thing anyway, but I listened to what he had to say politely, and just went about my business.
So I’m playing it much the same way you are. I kind of avoid gardening method discussion (I just listen), and talk football instead! I figure that preaching no-dig will not achieve much other than get me into arguments and get everybody offside. Like you I have found that the digging mindset is completely entrenched, particularly in the minds of the powers that be!
What is interesting though is that in recent weeks, several people have come up to me and complimented me on how weed free my plot is. So my theory that if my plot continues to look good, and I grow plenty of healthy vegetables, then people will eventually ask me questions about how I got there.
And it’s at that point I’ll start talking no-dig with them. I figure that once they see what I am doing works, they will be more open to hearing about the different methods used to get there, and I’ll be able to talk about things a bit more freely!
That’s the plan anyway. I’ll let you know how I get on. Let me know how it works out for you as well!
I found that it wasn’t so much the no-dig concept per se (which I have not mentioned, except to a lovely old chap called Arthur who is a fantastic gardener and owns both an open mind and a golden heart) but rather the large quantities of compost/ manure at the start of my project!! I’m sure a few thought I was rather over doing it, but even the odd sour has come around to being friendly enough now. Good gardening speaks for itself and I enjoy it!
Hi Gary
Out of interest, how much does 7 tonnes of compost cost?? Many of the ‘sources’ around where I live are around £70 a tonne, inclusive of delivery, which is really quite exorbitant. I”ve found my own free source of horse manure, but transporting 7 tonnes in the back of a car sounds a bit unrealistic!! We’re managing to make about 1.5 tonnes of home-made compost now, using that horse manure, grass clippings, cardboard, food waste and general spent crop material, and we get about 1 tonne of horse manure a year through a few days dedicated to shovelling, hauling and driving to and fro, but another 4.5 tonnes would have to be found elsewhere.
I experienced similar scepticism initially, however on the whole I have found that people are open minded, especially once you start growing good crops and sharing the bounty!
A few weeks ago, amidst the clamour of a rotavator and that hollow rattling sound of slug pellets being emptied from their container into blue drifts around the place, I was approached by a new allotment holder. “We chose our plot’s position as it is next to yours and it gives us something to aspire to”.
That was a new experience for me!There are probably few experienced gardeners at my allotment site, and although I may say I’m practising no-dig, they kind of don’t hear it. It is SO ingrained in most people: an essential part of gardening IS digging.
On the plus side for me, the nature of the allotment site (rented out in a quite relaxed fashion by a farm business) means there are no committee members whose approval needs to be sought, nor any archetypal ‘old-timers’ proffering advice or admonishment, so I don’t visit my plot in fear of being lectured.
Essentially, if there’s compost/manure spread over the beds and you have a zero-tolerance approach to weeds, your plot is going to look pretty presentable.
Just one last point. Hugh’s earlier post: “…the digging mindset is completely entrenched…”. Literally, that means to be in a trench, so I guess they must all be double digging!
Yes the language of no dig is fascinating. When I feel lonely about it (luckily not too often!) its like ploughing a lonely furrow. A harrowing experience. John Stewart Collis has a brilliant piece on word usage like that but his book is titled “The worm forgives the plough”!
Sounds great Gary, well done. I would just add that when adding so much manure in such a thick layer you would be wise to tread down the first half, lower layer, before adding the the top half and treading it down firm too. This is just to ensure that the crops you grow don’t dry out when the top layer of composted manure dries out as manure does. You want it quite firm, just not compacted. I have converted quite a few people on my allotment site and there will be more no doubt. I do sometimes give them a few reminders, like treading down their manure based beds. At first people were sceptical, then complimentary about the lack of weeds and then something amazing happened, I won the best new tenant in the Cheltenham borough council allotment awards. (800+ plots) A fancy ceremony with the mayor and a nice silver trophy covered with names dating back to the 60s. Then a story in the local newspaper about me and “my” no-dig method. After that happened I gained a lot of credibility and many people on our site took notice and ordered record amounts of horse manure from my manure supplying farmer. He ran out of horse manure and started collecting it from other farms, ha ha. I will be putting up a thread on the no dig part of this forum when I’m not quite so busy. I doubled the size of my no dig plot this year and made it hard for myself by starting late (March), almost there now though. I found my old thread on this forum about how I started but the photos are not there any more as I think Charles has changed the forum software since then. I have the whole thing documented with photos though so hopefully I can get them up here soon. Keep it up Gary, good luck mate. :O)
A very interesting post. I realised too late I should have compressed the compost after spreading. For later sowings of carrot I used a board to press down the compost.
I have a humble garden plot, ~20 square metres of plants, and thus far I am impressed by the no dig method, few weeds, and healthy growth. The only annoyance is all of the frames and nets I have to use, but that is nothing to do with no dig.
Yes sorry about your lost photos Phil, I am sure we all want to see how things are growing now.
Congratulations on starting again too on a new area – hey that means you could win another silver cup!
Thanks for posting all this and Leif too, I share your feelings about the pest covers we need to use. At least black netting is unobtrusive.
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