Home & Garden Highlight: No Dig Gardening

Written by Rebekah Gonzalez

Minimum work, maximum payoff - That is what no dig gardening is all about.  Sometimes referred to as "Lasagna Gardening" or "No Till Gardening," this simple technique can be used in any size garden and creates an environment for beneficial organisms and microbes to thrive.  The result is healthy, nutrient rich soil that grows organic produce and effectively smothers weeds.  Suitable for beginners and experienced gardeners alike, this technique is worth a try, especially if your native soil is not naturally conducive to growing crops.

Recommended Reading

No Dig Year-round Harvests: Grow Food All Year in Your Garden, Allotment or Homestead by Stephanie Hafferty

Co-author of the best-selling, award winning No Dig Organic Home and Garden, Stephanie Hafferty explains how to grow your own fresh and organic vegetables, herbs and fruit in any sized garden, whilst creating healthy, carbon sequestering soil and a wildlife-friendly and happy space.

The Complete Guide to No-dig Gardening: Grow Beautiful Vegetables, Herbs, and Flowers - the Easy Way by Charlie Nardozzi

The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening is a warm and friendly, yet science-based, guide where readers learn how to grow a healthy, productive garden without ever turning over the soil.

Charles Dowding's No Dig Gardening. Course 1, From Weeds to Vegetables Easily and Quickly by Charlie Dowding

An in-depth course for experienced gardeners or those new to no dig gardening. This book is for anyone wishing to learn the no dig method from the beginning, or to consolidate what they already know: it helps readers to see the simplicity of no dig, why it works so well, and how much time they can save. The course has six modules and totals 18 lessons, each one packed with easy-to-understand theory and practical advice. The lessons are beautifully illustrated with fully explained photos from Charles's no dig gardens. At the end of each lesson there is a multiple-choice quiz to consolidate learning, with answers in the appendix.

No Dig Organic Home & Garden: Grow, Cook, Use & Store Your Harvest by Charles Dowding

No dig organic gardening saves time and work. It requires an annual dressing of compost to help accelerate the improvement in soil structure and leads to higher fertility and less weeds. No dig experts, Charles Dowding and Stephanie Hafferty, explain how to set up a no dig garden. They describe how to: Make compost, enrich soil, harvest and prepare food and make natural beauty and clean ing products and garden preparations. These approaches work as well in small spaces as in large gardens. The Authors' combined experience gives you ways of growing, preparing and storing the plants you grow for many uses, including delicious vegetable feasts and many recipes and ideas for increasing self reliance, saving money, living sustainably and enjoying the pleasure of growing your own food, year round. Charles' advice is distilled from 35 years of growing vegetables intensively and efficiently; he is the acknowledged no dig guru and salad expert both in the UK and internationally. Stephanie, a kitchen gardener, grows in her small, productive home garden and allotment, and creates no dig gardens for restaurants and private estates. She presents truly delicious seasonal recipes, made from the vegetables anyone can grow. She also explains how to use common plants you can grow and forage for to make handmade preparation for the home and garden.

Home Gardener's No-dig Raised Bed Gardens Specialist Guide by Alan Bridgewater

Home Gardener’s No-Dig Raised Bed Gardens is the essential guide to gardening successfully with the minimum amount of digging and weeding. For those without the time or stamina to spend hours maintaining a garden, horticulture experts Alan and Gill Bridgewater show how to make raised beds, build up layers of soil with mushroom compost, cover weeds with mulch, protect plants with nets and plastic, and much more. The text is thoroughly practical and advocates using organic methods where possible. This book is a must for busy gardeners everywhere. It is ideal for first time gardeners who want to learn the basics, and it is perfect for busy and older gardeners looking for simple, no-nonsense gardening methods.