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Hello Charles,
Have you tried gardening in perennial cover crops, e.g. red clover, Roman chamomile, etc? It seems to have all the benefits of not digging, plus more.
But what are the cons? Perhaps not easily being able to pick out trouble early enough, e.g. couch grass amongst the cover crops? Thanks and all the best, PeterI have seen this and not been encouraged to try it, as I want high yields from a small area. I think its appropriate for large areas where you need less harvests, and even then its easier said than done – the couch you mention and other spreading perennial weeds, slugs living in the cover crops then coming out at night, moisture taken by the perennials’ roots from nearby crops. Also suitable for larger rather than smaller veg. Perhaps someone has a nice photo of its practice?
Peter
One thing I’ve heard of is a grower in Henley called Tamsin who uses clover along with her beans during rotations and also uses a 2 year clover ‘ley’ in a 12 year rotation, which she clears out using pigs – the clearance of the clover is part of fattening up the pigs before they go to the butchers – along with any other weeds that may be in there at the time. I think it’s her way of trying to restore nitrogen to the soil without having access to any FYM or the like, in other words trying to be as green as she can possibly be. She may be worth looking up if you are interested……..
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