Digging up a double-dug Deep Bed….

[PerryParticipant]

Sadly I only found out about No Dig gardening after my first bed was created last year using the very British “Deep Bed” method, where a lot of back-breraking effort went into burying a good year’s worth of fine compost 50cm underground! Argh! Now every time I look at it I think about all that goodness lurking ‘2 spades’ down, part of me want to dig it back up!! It did provide some wonderful tomatoes last year though, so not a complete waste of time, and it did give me a good workout too.

On a serious note I do wonder if it will provide any long-term value to the plot, it will be interesting to see how it compares to the subsequent beds that are created with the No Dig method.

[jackieParticipant]

I agree and wonder if in extremely poor soil if digging once might help as long as only the top dressing was used each year after? The time factor is important, how many garden beds can we possibly create and care for with digging? Much less I think than this method.

Jackie

[RhysParticipant]

Perry I guess it will be valuable to any plants which root deep, so runner beans, parsnip, maybe carrot, tomatoes?

The other thing is that worms may eat it and then deposit casts on the surface….

[Author]

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