Watering through compost

[Steve LD]

I am considering going no dig. My site slopes gently and if I pour water on the ground, particularly dry ground, the water spreads out and elopes down the slope. To avoid this I sow and grow everything in furrows aligned across the slope and the furrows contain the water around the plants. Occasionally repairs are required as the water in a furrow / rampart/ depression breaks the banks. This method preferably requires using a watering-can. I try and gauge how much water to give by digging test holes with my trowel. So in the recent hot summer a 4.5 metres row of carrots needed in the region of 12 gallons of water every 9 days. It may be that after several years my soil will become more porous but what can I do in the interim? With the no dig method how do you know when to water, where the water goes when you do water, and how much water to give? I have thin chalky soil so I can not make terraces.

[charles]

Steve I judge it by how plants are growing, you can practice that, the colour and lushness of leaves.
With no dig the water soaks in more easily and drains through more slowly, from what I observe on my comparison beds.

[Steve LD]

Thank you, it sounds quite an art. Surely by the time you notice a change in the leaves of a plant it is already stressed and this could make all the difference with crops like cauliflower? I suppose the proof of the pudding is in the eating. That prompts me to ask how do you grow Cauliflower which likes rock hard soil?

[charles]

Yes it’s a skill to learn
Cauliflower likes firm not rock hard ground and loves the compost

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