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No Dig and Hügelkultur.
For some time now I have been giving more and more thought to the “No
Dig,” principals of gardening. The TV Gardeners have been extolling its
virtues for years now and I have always stuck to my old ways of digging
to weed and to dig in soil improvers be they Manure, my home-made
Compost, or sometimes, the “Spent,” Compost out of my Greenhouse at
home. The main ideas behind “No Dig,” are well accepted with the
preservation of the soil structure, (The Crumb Structure) and the
preservation of beneficial soil-based organisms such as Bacteria and
Fungi that can easily be destroyed and lost with constant digging and
the resulting drying out of the soil. Indeed, the ideas are now becoming
“mainstream,” with a few Farmers reducing the amount of ploughing that
they are doing and simply sowing following crops directly into the
stubble of the preceding one.
More and more of our Plot Holders are thinking along the same lines of
“No dig,” with different people trying out different variations. One has
decided to almost follow the Farmers ideas and is just giving her plot a
bit of a hoe between crops before re-planting. Indeed, she pointed out
to me the other day that her plot has almost no weeds on, whereas the
Plot next to hers, which is regularly rotovated- is a sea of weeds!
Other Plot Holders are covering their Beds with old Cardboard and then
putting either well-rotted Manure, or fresh, bought, compost, on top. I
do have some reservations about using Cardboard like this though,
because a while ago I was involved with clearing a neglected plot where
this had been done and the soil was full of strands of the plastic
packing tape that had not been removed from the Cardboard when it had
been put down. Admittedly, the newer type of tape is paper based and
will rot down, but there is still a lot of the older type being used.
Personally, I have not adopted either method yet, but I am convinced
that a better way forwards with our seemingly drier Summers, is to use
“Mulches,” a lot more. Not only does a Mulch suppress weeds, but it
helps keep in moisture and over time, it will improve the soil both with
increasing the fertility and increasing the fibre content. I have always
used a good quality “Woodchip,” around my Fruit Bushes and Trees to walk
on and make it more pleasant to pick them instead of walking on mud, but
I have started putting my homemade shreddings around things such as my
Strawberries and Sea Kale which are both, more, or less, permanent
plantings as well. I intend to use the Autumn Leaf Fall, from all of my
many Fruit Trees and the like, to mulch around a lot more things like my
Asparagus and Flower Beds which I am hoping will suppress the grass that
can be a problem when it grows amongst them. I have also persuaded a
friend to bring me all her Grass Cuttings, on a regular basis, that come
from the lawns at her home. These I will use as a mulch around my
Gooseberries in particular, because they are shallow rooted and don’t
like you weeding round them. Not only will the grass cuttings suppress
any weeds, but they will act as a feed for the bushes. With all of these
ideas for “No Dig,” I do feel though, that you really need to start with
fairly clear, weed free Beds, as some of the tougher weeds like
Dandelions, Nettles and Docks will not be controlled with just this and
will be a perennial problem otherwise. If they are dealt with first, you
won’t need to worry about the ordinary Annual Weeds as mulches will deal
with them and it will then be easy to adopt any of the ideas.
A variation on the “No Dig,” idea is to make a Raised Bed using the
German method called a Hügelkultur bed. Over the last few months I have
seen several short gardening features extolling the virtues of this
system and so recently decided to give it a try. One gardening program
in particular, said that it was probably best to construct your Bed in
the Autumn to give it time to start and settle down before planting it
up in the Spring. I made mine in late October after I had carried out a
lot of late Summer pruning on various Trees. I had cut back my Fruit
Trees in particular only recently as you can’t really do it until the
Fruit is well formed and then you can see where to cut without losing
any fruit. If done correctly this will make “Fruiting Spurs,” that will
give rise to fruit the following year. Cutting back the excessive growth
at that time also allows light and ventilation to get at the Fruit which
will improve ripening and help prevent disease problems. It was a little
late in the season, but I also decided to “Pollard,” the rampant
Eucalyptus Tree at home. I do cut it hard back from time to time as it
would quickly go skywards if I didn’t. The timber seems very hard to
cut, but it should rot down given long enough. Furthermore, at that
time, I was clearing a lot of things like Squash, Courgettes, Tomatoes
and Runner Beans, as well as an abundance of weeds. So, with all of this
fresh rubbish, I decided October was a good time for me to make the
Hügelkultur Bed. On the other hand, you might think that if it is done
in the Spring, the heat generated from the then fresh waste vegetation
will provide some extra heat which will give the roots of any Plants
planted in it, a boost, at an otherwise cold time. One thing that might
help you to decide which time is best for you is to think about when you
are likely to have a quantity of waste wood, or branches, to go in the
bottom of the bed and that will depend upon your pruning activities.
Figs are best pruned in early Spring and Hazels, Willows and Grape Vines
can also be done then. Stoned Fruit Trees should only be cut when in
full leaf whereas most of the other trees can really be done at any
time. However, one component of the Bed is a good layer of Leaves that
will only be available at certain times - usually the Autumn.
To make the Bed you need to make a thick layer of old wood and Branches.
If you really want to you can put in real logs such as you might cut up
for household log fires, but I didn’t! Old, broken bits of edging
boards, that I had gradually been replacing, on some of my many beds,
and branches pruned from my various trees, were piled up. The TV program
suggested that firstly you might like to excavate the area a little to
give you some soil to help add the covering layers later in its
construction. I did this, but I must admit I also removed some of the
soil altogether to be used later in potting! On top of the layer of wood
you should add a good layer of Leaves and smaller Twigs which are then
covered with a layer of soil. After this you just keep adding on layers
of any compostable material that you have got. This can be Straw, Grass
Cuttings, Dead Plants, Weeds and any other vegetation, but not I would
suggest, perennial weeds.
In fact I emptied my Compost Bin to make the heap. Between each thick
layer you should add a covering of the soil that you dug out before
continuing to mound it up. It is suggested that you should aim for a
height of between 3 – 5 feet which sounded a lot to me. I made mine as
tall as I dared, but within a few weeks the Mound started to sink
considerably. So, I would suggest that it should be made as high as you
reasonably can, because it won’t stay that way for long!
When Spring comes you can plant directly into the raised Bed and then
let things happen. According to the recommendations you should mulch
between your Plants regularly after planting to suppress weeds and this
will remove the need for any weeding, or digging. What you will have
then is a Raised Bed that uses the “No Dig,” method to maintain it. I
guess you can’t really plant Potatoes, Carrots or Parsnips into it
because that would mean digging deeply into it, but I suppose pretty
much anything else can go in over time.
The thinking behind the Hügelkultur Bed is that it creates a Raised Bed
utilizing waste wood that might otherwise be difficult to dispose of.
Furthermore, this wood acts as a sponge holding onto moisture in drier
spells helping maintain moisture levels and support plant growth above.
The wide variety of materials that can go into the bed’s construction
will also help support an enormous amount of “Creepy Crawlies,” and
Bacteria/Fungi of one sort or another which should reflect in benefits
to the Plant life that grows in it. Obviously, given enough time, and it
will be a number of years for the wood in particular to break down, the
whole Bed will gradually sink back, almost to ground level and the
resulting Soil will be far better than it was before the bed’s creation.
As I was constructing the Hügelkultur Bed I initially decided to use it
to Plant my Courgettes and Squashes, etc, and I was reminded of the old
English idea that Gardeners of old always swore by and that was to plant
Squashes and the like in their compost Heaps as they are greedy plants
wanting rich and moist soil. We sort of do that at the Charity where I
work because, they make lots of long ridges, on the planting field, in
the Spring, of part rotted compost and then they plant their Pumpkins in
them. With this in mind, I decided to make to make a traditional English
Compost Heap on the other half of my Bed, next to the Hügelkultur Bed,
planting both up similarly and I will then compare the two results while
the plants are growing and then, later on, compare the final results
after harvesting.
Whatever happens with the Plant growth, after some years, the soil level
in my bed will have been topped up and the soil improved, and I will
have had a lot of FUN!
 
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