Does anyone practice "no dig" gardening?

This spring I was so tired from digging new perennial beds that I planted most of my annuals using the "no dig" method. I put newspaper on the ground and covered it with complete soil mix. Then I planted seeds or, in the case of the impatiens shown here, seedlings.

I don't want to jinx myself, but so far it's been a success. Even though it was a pain to lug bags of soil, it's still less work and weeding for me when compared to digging new beds. Since my "no dig" annual beds are thriving (knock on wood!) I definately plan to do it again next year.

I haven't seen discussion of the "no dig" method on DG (though maybe I missed it -- I've only been a member for a few months) so I'm curious to know of others' experiences using this method.

Never heard of this method, but the proof is in the pudding. Great looking flowers.

Its very rocky here and I'd read about "The Lazy Way to Garden" in one of my magazines. After trying to double dig a new flower bed, I decided TOO many rocks! I cut the grass as short as possible, layered several sheets of newspaper (even thought of using cardboard!), and kept a hose handy to spray the paper to keep it in place. I put a good layer of compost (from our pile) on top of the paper and then put mulch over that. When I planted there, all I had to do was dig a small hole, add some extra soil or any other ammendments, then plant! BTW, I buy plants in small pots for a reason! My moongarden is the 1st bed I did this way. I started it 2 or 3 yrs ago (maybe more!). The bed is about 40-50' long, and the widths wary form 15-30'. Its a big bed, but there was nothing there ('cept wildgrasses to mow). It gets a lot of sun and is farthest from the water source. I've planted drought tolerant plants there, and its growing good! I have one white crape myrtle out there (supposed to be 2), trailing purple & white lantana, southernwood (artemesia), Texas sage, mealy blue sage, and the santolina I have out there I'm shaping into the 4 phases of the moon...the new moon was the easiest!
I just started another bed, the same way. In that bed I have purple coneflowers, oleander, lemongrass, shrimp plant, agastache, patchoulli, and an antique rose. And there's still lots of room for growth!
This is the only way I garden now, unless its in a pot!
The newspaper is like a magnet to worms, its a low maintence bed (even for a big bed).I fertilize my plants on a regular basis and my beds look so good, without all that REALLY hard work.

Dogmansis,
Interesting! How many inches of soil have you used for your "no dig" perennials"? I focused on annuals because I didn't think I could build up enough soil for perennials without going to the trouble of creating a traditional raised bed (i.e. walls to hold in the soil), plus I figured that's a lot of soil to lug.

I did it in the fall on a fairly large scale. We bought a new house and I had close to 500 daylilies to move plus other bulbs and perennials. I begged all the cardboard I could get and brought several Uhaul trailers of it to the new house. I laid down 2-100 foot trails about 5 feet wide. I also used it around my pond and around four big trees. I then had four dump trucks of dirt brought in and the driver was able to straddle the cardboard and dump and drive. LOL I rented a bobcat to move dirt to the other beds. I ran into one snafu that was not obvious until spring. The new dirt was FULL of weed seeds. I've been pulling since April. :( That kind of defeated the purpose but slowly and surely, I AM winning!

I just added 3 new beds. This time I killed the weeds on the ground with Roundup. Then I tilled the ground and mounded on good soil from a DIFFERENT dirt guy. I won't use the first guy again!

Here is a recent pic but it's still under reconstruction. :)

I wouldn't think the daylily roots/tubers would be able to penetrate the cardboard layer and get the room they really need. I guess if you are digging them back up to sell soon, this may be a beneficial and really easy way to go!

Aahhh, it's a lasagna bed! I do them too and have several. Here's one I finished recently. A great time (and back) saver,

I am glad you guys have had luck with the lasagna. Here on my glacial moraine we also have many rocks and clay. So to use the lasgna method we would have a barrier of sharp interface between the top soil and the clay. I have had to dig, pry, rototill, and break my back to get the native soil to accept the ammendments to produce a deep and root happy soil. Your soil underneath must have good drainage and soil structure.
I was working off line so didn't get the pictures. Now I have. Looks like you have lots of room to garden behind your house. Nice! I like your big burley cat telling everyone to stay out of his new litter box. LOL

This message was edited Jul 25, 2006 1:11 PM

Angie, the dirt is mounded a foot tall or more. LOL My daylilies are flourishing and blooming well. I had three double axle dump truck loads of dirt put in just those two beds. The new three beds are not as tall but they are tilled down into the ground.

The first beds I put in are filled with lilies, perennials, bulbs and hems and all are doing wonderfully. The soil here only has about four inches of top soil and beneath that is very loose clay. It falls apart when you dig in it.

I still only see all the things that still need done but it is nice to see how many cars slam on the breaks to look and lots of people stop to ask about the plants.

Here is a pic when they were first put in.

It looks great chele and defenitely has that 'hey is that a nursery?' look from the road! :)

I have used that method on heavy clay and found it to be excellent and the interface between the newspapers and the clay just disappears as the worms aerate the whole area.

Badseed your gardens sure are pretty. I have never used the paper/cardboard method but would sure like to try. How do you keep that much soil from washing off in a hard rain storm? You mentioned the dirt was mounded a foot tall or more. Our landscape is on a slight slope so I might have a problem with the dirt washing away without some type of timbers or something.
This method sure would save a lot of hard back breaking work. ;)
Lin

Another success story here, too. I have horrible clay soil and got tired of ripping up grass. I couldn't afford a truckload of dirt so went an even lazier way that still worked. I put down one layer of cardboard and about 2 inches of orgranic peat and manure. In the fall I collected every leaf I could find and piled them on top of this mix. It ended up being a 3' high mound of dead leaves just before the snow hit. Looked terrible but, wow, what a great area this spring. I just added a little more peat and manure which left it about 8" high and planted lots of stuff including rose bushes for which I had to dig a pretty deep holes. The soil underneath the cardboard was ten times better that what I started with and the plants in that bed are huge compared to the rest of my garden. Lots of fun on a budget.

Badseed, your garden looks great and I am so envious!

arachide, photos please?

I love this method & now use it whenever I want to make a new bed (I'm a grass murderer). It saves so much time cutting & getting rid of sod. Plus, the earthworms love all the decomposing grass, cardboard, & paper. I have only used about 3 - 4 inches of manure or biosolid product on top of my cardboard or paper so if I want to have perennials the first year, I dig a hole in the sod just for the larger plants, plant them a little high and then add the paper/ soil layers.

In my first lasagna bed I used cardboard left over from my move. That wasn't as successful for me as the cardboard still isn't completely decomposed even after a long, wet winter. The little worms had to work harder than with newspaper I guess. The newer ones this year I used just newspaper and they broke down much faster. The latest I piled sod I'd removed to enlarge beds, covered with newspaper, soil and mulch and there were worms galore in just three weeks. The down side, it attracted a family of moles, probably from the woods across the street.

This sounds right up my alley:) I like less work. Okay, got a question.
If I am understanding this tread correctly, You don't have to remove the grass and weeds? you just lay the NP or CB down where you want your bed to go, and then place your new soil down?
Say for example I would use an organic mix, (trying to figure out how to word what I want to say/ask) I hate to weed as much as the next person, So I guess what I am trying to say is, how much weeding would there be involved in doing a bed this way, than doing a bed by removing grass and weeds? Does the NP or CB destroy the grass and weeds thats under it? Very curious here :)

Connie

Hi Herpst, DH and I will be in Oak Harbor in just over a week to visit my son and grson hopefully, if not in Aug then in Sept for sure. Any places you recommend visiting?

This message was edited Jul 26, 2006 8:22 AM

Connie, yes. The grass/weeds under the NP is blocked from getting sunlight and dies. It begins decomposing which attracts our buddies the worms. When the worms are finished doing their thing... lovely rich soil.

Thanks KatyMac, Will have to try that with the new beds I have in the planning. Got plenty of NP and can get CB by the truck load if need be. My brother in law works for a place that makes CB boxes, so I can get any size I need. Think I will try the NP first tho. Much easier to shape and fold than to try and cut the CB to shape. I like less work rofl

Connie

OK I'm going to try it on my Glacial Lake Missoula soil and will report the success. I have a hard time that white clay can be penetrated by worms. But here I go. Now news paper....

The lady that wrote the Lasagna Gardening book says to use soaked newspaper and plenty of it. Several years ago I had an area that did not have irrigation or a feasable way to get a hose to it so I put down at least 6" of soaked newspaper and 6" of a compost/peat/grass clippings mix and then several thinner layers of the same. I immediately (she says in the book you can plant right away) planted a banana and it thrived even though we had little rain that sumnmer. It never got a drop of water that didn't fall from the sky and that banana is huge today. The soil around it is the best I have anywhere. These days I layer the dead banana leaves with grass clippings and that tree is just soooooo happy.

Six inches? Wow, I never thought of going that thick but I have plenty of newspaper saved so I'll give it a try. I've very carefully limited myself to ~six layers. LOL I won't be so stingy next time.

Thank you for the compiments. It is a never ending work in progress. I'll keep doing it as long as I am physically able though, as I absolutely love the labor of it all!

I did my pond (which you cannot see!) garden the same way. Unfortunately it was done with that same nice weed seed filled dirt. I ended up extending the beds around the pond quite a bit by ripping off sod and tilling in a ton of peat. You can still see a big tuft of weeds from the seedy dirt on the right. I've gotten most of the rest of it cleared out and replanted. This is from the side. I guess the whole bed, 10x15 pond included, is about 40x30 feet.

I would like to see more pictures from you guys too. :)

Hi KatyMac: I don't have a digital camera but am going to borrow one from work, hopefully tomorrow. Thanks for asking.

It's amazing how well this works for everyone.

Great pics!
Here is one of my "no dig" aka "lasagna" beds: zinnias.
I put down a thin layer of newspaper (about 6 - 12 pages), dumped a couple of bags of complete plant mix, and then planted the seeds.

I did a similar thing around our addition and deck. Was very lucky to have a generous neighbor with a huge compost pile and an old tractor. I used the tractor to pile the compost in a 4' boarder around the addition and deck. I didn't bother with anything under the compost, put it on top of the grass and rocky fill. It was 8 to 12 inches deep, then put down soaker hoses. Rolled on some weedblock fabric and covered with mulch. I was thinking the grass would die and compost itself. Shrubs and deep rooted plants should find there way into the ground below.
Dave

Connie, I live in Greenbank, south of Oak Harbor - what kinds of things are you interested in? Do you want to stay on the island or go out and about in the area? One thing for sure, don't miss Deception Pass - close to Oak Harbor and absolutely breathtaking!!! It's a bridge that connects Whidbey Island with the mainland (on the north end). On the south end, we are connected with the mainland by ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo.

If you like history, Fort Casey is great. And if you have the time, take the Pt. Townsend ferry (from Whidbey Island where's you'll already be - it's located in about the center of the island) and visit that wonderful town. Lots of history there and great shops and restaurants. I would recommend walking on the ferry as opposed to driving - the wait can be awfully long and the ferries don't run all that often. And be sure to check the tide information as occasionally the ferry can't run because of a low tide.

Let me know if I can help, okay? Glad you're going to see our part of the country!

As for lasaga gardening, it's the greatest! I wish I had the patience to do the minimum 18" recommended by Patricia Lanza in her book (as well as the funds to buy all the recommended items), and I'm mighty impressed with anyone who would do 3'!! But I've had success doing the minimum as well. The garden on the left was simply newspapers, kitchen scraps, manure, and topsoil - I did it three years ago. The "soil" underneath was hard pan - I had tried to use my rototiller and it about threw me backwards!

Forgot to include straw, grass clippings, and ashes from the wood-burning stove.

This message was edited Jul 31, 2006 6:19 PM

And this one was done also with just a relatively thin layer of newspapers and some semi-decent topsoil. It was done two years ago.

Stunning photos, Murmur. I don't have the Lanza book. What is considered the minimum amount of soil, anyway?

Ms. Lanza recommends 18 to 24" which will of course break way down into lovely, crumbly soil. In her book she shows what a side view of a lasagna garden might look like. From the bottom up, she has sod, newspaper, peat moss, barn litter, peat moss, compost, peat moss, grass clippings, peat moss, chopped leaves, peat moss, and wood ashes. She obviously believes in peat moss - I didn't use any at all. She sometimes "cooks" her lasagna garden over the winter by putting black plastic on top and weighing it down. She does state that you can plant directly into your lasagna garden instead of cooking it if you want to. She also recommends that you use four times as much brown (high-carbon) material as you do green (high-nitrogen) material. She suggests each layer be four to six inches, and add a sprinkle or organic supplements such as wood ashes, bonemeal, and lime or sulfur (if need to adjust the soil's pH).

Hope that wasn't too much information - obviously she has really done far more than most of us ever would!! If I lived on or near a farm, I probably would use barn litter.

Thanks, Murmur. Wow, that's a lot of work!

It sure is a lot of work - which is why I've never done it properly!!!! But it seems any form of it, however small, has a lot of success.

I'm hoping to approximate some of that this fall for a spring flower bed. I want it larger than my energy and pocketbook will allow.

I sure do understand that one. Lanza's book is really good, but goes into too much detail for my mind and my bank account!! Great ideas, though, and available at libraries.

WOW! I am darn near speechless at the thought of not having to fight with my adobe soil. I was going to spend the money and make raised beds next year as I thought that was my only option. I am surely going to try this method!
So ya'll are saying that I can put newspaper right over my heavily thatched much hated sod? Then layer the other stuff? WOW what a concept! Thank You all so much for the lesson!
~Dayna

Yep, lasagna gardening is the best way to improve soil, especially my Georgia RED clay.

For immediate use of a new bed, I lay newspapers down (the more the better) then pinestraw, cow manure/humus and bags of topsoil & and top that off with pinestraw. Usually I don't have enough money to buy enough bags of the cow .manure and topsoil to cover a complete bed at one time ( I used about 10 40# bags each which doesn't go very far even in a 5x5 bed). I just use the majority of the bags around the actual plants as I'm planting them and fill in the other areas with fewer bags of dirt but use mostly compost. The compost/mulch will break down in time.

For flower beds that I want to use next spring, I lay :
cardboard down,
then lots of newspaper sheets (the more the better) & wet it good to keep the wind from blowing it away while I gather up the next layer which is the mulch, ie.,
From then on I add grass clippings, leaves, pine straw, Kitchen veggie scraps
I try to add green compost, then brown compost, until I'm satisfied that the bed will be deep enough by spring planting. This should make it's own dirt because with lasagna gardening, the worms do most of the work.
This technique is pretty much what has been mentioned in the above posts.
It really works well for me. Edit: What I've learned about no dig gardening has come from reading DG members' posts.
Deborah
Edit: can't believe I spelled my own name wrong#?@

This message was edited Aug 3, 2006 5:10 AM

This message was edited Aug 3, 2006 5:43 AM

What is pine straw? Could I use old ( I mean really old ) hay from an abandoned barn?

LOL! Sorry dwerland, no offense intended, it's just really funny when someone that isn't from Georgia doesn't know what pine straw is. ;)

It's just the dead pine tree needles that fall to the ground like leaves.

Dwerland, yes, hay will work fine. Anything organic should decompose well. Large limbs, pine cones or any bulky organics need to be shredded.