I don’t dig and haven’t for ages. I have raised beds, laid so it’s easy enough to reach into the middle. In autumn I spread compost on empty beds then a thick layer of chicken / duck straw bedding. Winter rains dilute the chicken manure and wash it into the soil, the worms work right up to the mulch and aerate the soil, conditioning it better than I can, winds dry the straw not the soil and the mulch helps lock in the moisture In spring I add dried grass clippings and plant through the mulch, any weeds that do find their way through the mulch pull out very easily because the soil stays moist and loose, as long as they are not seeding I dry the weeds on the paths and add to the mulch. Using a thick mulch feeds nutrients back into the soil, smothers most weeds, and prevents evaporation of water in soil. Also when we suffer prolonged periods of heavy rain the mulch prevents erosion of soil and surplus water drains into the paths so plant roots don’t suffer. The first winter we had heavy snow we had so much the cloches collapsed onto the plants and I lost crops. Last year I planted broad beans under a tent frame and covered with enviromesh, they survived very well that way, and my overwintered peas too: the snow just slipped down the tent sides and away from the plants. From what was intractably hard clay,and what was a wild garden that had not seen a gardener for twenty years, I now have deeper, very workable soil. Plants flourish this way. Because the mulch feeds the soil, I use most of the compost i make to make my own potting and seed compost, this saves money and is emission free. When my early peas and broad beans finnish cropping,I will lay the stalks and leaves on the soil and cover with grass clippings or straw that is the start of the mulch for the next crop, the worms take it in gradually over a period of six months
or more.
