Is no dig gardening a CON? The REAL COST EXPOSED as a BEGINNER

Hi all 👋 Apologies for the hour late upload... the truth is, we were in fact, working until the very last minute today in the rain with a hired Timberwolf TW 230HB wood chipper to also finish this video.

Anyway - when I first shared a tour of our new 4 acre farm last year, I talked about growing vegetables using Charles Dowding's no dig gardening for beginners. And ever since then, we'd been saving cardboard to suppress weeds.

But I had quite a few people chime in at the time to say a no dig garden bed wasn't economically viable with the constant upkeep of buying more multipurpose compost, sorting pathways, protection, and any hidden costs.

So I talk about how I give it a go for the first time to create over 30sqm (maybe more like 40), and give you a breakdown of the costs it incurred to hopefully help you make up your mind, and whether you'd prefer getting a rotavator, and what areas you can save money.

And as always, let me know what you'd do differently!

Here are the Charles Dowding No Dig videos I recommend watching:

THINGS I USED:
*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through links.
➡️ Greenwaste (ask your local green waste recycling centre)
➡️ Organic peat free compost (Scour Facebook marketplace)
➡️ Wooden garden stakes - B&M

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[TheCarpentersDaughterUK]

What are your thoughts on no-dig gardening? Have you tried it before?

[Carls_Garden_Veg]

Been doing no dig for 7 years with incredible results

[stevenmoran]

I grew veg and sweet corn in a no dig plot years ago with great results. Just cardboard and compost. No prep at all, just put the cardboard down and covered with compost and watered regularly. The truck of it is, the cardboard holds the water and the plant roots grown down through it.
You are over doing the fear of weeds through the flaps as they won’t be lifting once compost is on top of the cardboard and well watered.
You do need to edge the plot with something though as the bed will fall away.

[pman]

As a new sub, I've never seen someone pack so much hardwork in a garden. Love it😊

[VonL]

No dig is definitely the way to go, in my opinion, Vikkie. Also, not sure if I mentioned it before, but you can also try seaweed as a fertiliser.

[warriormonk]

I have to award your patience by putting that together. I'd have gotten fed up so quickly. Everything is an adventure in growing and if you decide it's not for you moving forward at least you can say you gave it a go!

[gmorgan]

I'm in my second year of allotment gardening and even though i had manadged to make a huge ammount of decent compost ( after watching loads of you tube vids i might add lol ) i have still spent a lot this year on netting, 6x2 planks and soil ( probably around £200 ) The key is to get those compost bays up ( at least 3 good size ones ) and get producing, soil just isn't cheap.
Have greenhouse, poly tunnel and 10 raised beds plus adding chickens in next few weeks, it has been great fun though to see the plot flourish and am really enjoying it. Just need the yellow thing in the sky to shine a bit more....

[mitchtillison]

Thanks for providing this content. You have put a lot of work into this project, and it looks great. I use no dig methods myself, and I want to share one recommendation that is based on my own experience. I suggest you remove the weed barrier you placed underneath the wood chips. A 4 to 5 inch layer of chips on bare soil will work just as well to prevent weeds while allowing earthworms and others to integrate the decomposing wood chips with the soil beneath.

[jhoddytreeservices]

Glad you got a decent woodchipper much more cost effective than smaller diy ones. I would recommend leaving your pile of woodchip for a month or two in a big pile before using it on your paths and beds it becomes much better mulch after a few months as a big pile

[andrewriley]

Keep an eye on your wood chip, it can get pretty hot and even self combust at times😊

[borntomay]

Hi. Esther Deans wrote a no dig book decades before Charles Dowding got started. I read it and created a no dig garden in 1983. Since then I've created new gardens, moved to a new place in 2009 and learned how to adapt no dig to suit conditions and resources in Auckland, NZ. The only time I've dug is to remove invasive weeds, like couch grass. Nowadays I bury scraps in our gardens, bucket by bucket, including under paths, because it works in our setup. Otherwise no digging. I only buy compost to start seedlings, and I also filled large potato pots. Once filled, I continue adding new kitchen scraps, so never have to replace the compost in the pots. I've made a few raised beds because of torrential rain washing gardens away, and the wood was free from skips and from the beach. Not digging costs me nothing. Every era brings new personalities, who write books and add new methods, but probably no dig always existed. It's fun to watch gardeners, but there's nothing like using what works in you own garden, using available resources.

[Bananaskin]

I follow the no dig method and the one thing I would say is the first year/bed prep is the most costly, after that I just use farmyard manure on the bed surface to refresh the soil once per year. I been doing this for 5 years with no problems.

Also I would just use a small amount of BF&B in the planting hole only rather than scattering it.

[TTAI]

Two tips:1. To plant small seeds, mix with dry sand and pour them straight into your garden bed. 2. For pests I suggest you read up on Companion Planting. I love what you do and how you present it.

[chrishenderson]

Well done on your beds! Looking great. We've used no dig on our allotment and its really helped both reduce weed growth, so it only needs looking at once a week or so, and helped improve the soil which was heavily clay and compacted.
As with anything garden related, its taken a couple of years, but made a huge difference for us.
From my experience, the weed fabric isnt worth the cost: since its a plastic woven mat, eventually it frays, or the persistent weeds just push through it. We used etiher heavy dpm sheets, more cardboard, or newspaper, which worked really well

[suecollado]

💕I learnt from a lady that planting everything at once is chaos as it produce’s to much of the same at once💕Instead she sow’s seeds with a 2-4 week interval only sowing 12 of each at a time then choosing the 10 strongest whilst leaving the other 2 in the seedling tray💕It works as she had a continuous crop cycle without everything growing at once💕She started her seedlings early using her conservatory as a big greenhouse to begin but later she added a small heater inside her greenhouse💕

[JesusRisen]

Love watching your projects come together! God bless you and your husband may the Lord lead you both to success and keep you guys protected.

[FortyFreedom]

100% no dig! Created my last vegetable garden that way and it was amazing and so productive, minimal weeding even after two years. Just moved house and today put in two no dig beds

[andrewstandley]

Well done looking good and what was the decision on the boat

[stuffbyneilsmith]

personally, I've been loving the outdoor jobs you've doing to transform your land

[dianahenderson]

Two more rows and you'll have yourself a farm! It is impressive how much you two have accomplished since ya'll moved in.