No Dig Gardens - How to Build One

The no dig garden is exactly what it describes...a fertile garden bed with no digging at all. It involves layering clean, organic materials that will literally compost around your plants as they grow.

The No Dig Garden is built on top of the ground, so you can build a garden anywhere. This makes it extremely attractive for those sites that have poor soil or are weed infested. It's also a great method of gardening for those that can't (or don't want to) dig a garden patch!

The site you choose for your garden must get at least 5 hours of sunlight a day. Drainage will be good because of the materials that will be used in making the garden.

If you are planting over lawn or weeds, mow them to ground level. If you are planting on a hard surface, put down some cushioning organic material first (like seaweed or leaves).

To build your no dig garden start with a layer of newspaper (no colour printing), at least 6mm (1/4 inch) thick. Surround the garden with some sort of border material. This can be bricks, logs, planks or rocks but should be at least 20-25CM high (8-10 inches) to contain the organic material within.

Lay down a layer of lucerne hay leaving no gaps, to a height of 10cm (about 4 inches). Layer some good organic fertilizer on top to a height of 20mm (1 inch). This can be just about any sort of good quality material like chicken, horse, cow or sheep manure.

Add another thick layer of straw to the garden 150mm (6 inches) and another layer of fertilizer and then top it off with a 100mm (4 inches) of compost.

Water the garden until it's soaking and let it settle for a few days before planting.

Seedlings do better than seeds in the no dig garden.

Here's what will happen. The seedlings will get a kick start in the rich, compost top soil. The fertilizer underneath will start the 'composting' of the lucerne hay and straw. The composting will generate heat and biological activity that will really kick along the seedling growth. The roots will further break down the straw and hay and it in turn will become solid enough to support the growing plants.

The newsprint is thick enough to discourage weed growth through the layers, but will deteriorate enough to allow earth worms to chew their way upwards.

Continue to layer mulch, straw and compost as the garden bed matures. Never dig this bed over, just layer more and more material as required. Rotate your crops and add fresh compost regularly.

Your garden bed will deliver consistent, spectacular results season after season.

Judy Williams (http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com) splits her time between being a media executive and an earth mother goddess. No Dig Vegetable Gardens represents a clean, green way to grow your own food. The site covers all aspects of growing, cooking and preserving your harvest.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judy_Williams

Other Articles

Landscaping - How To Mulch Around A Tree

It is very common nowadays for mulch to be used to accent your landscape. When mulching around your trees you need to understand the pros and cons of mulching. Here is a list of practical dos and don'ts for mulching around trees.

Lawn and Garden - Grow Herbs in your Garden for Pleasure and Profit

Herbs can add a touch of magic to your garden with their supernatural associations and practical uses.

Lawn Care Business - Lawn Care Software For A Profitable Business

Computer specialists have developed lawn care software for lawn maintenance businesses to handle the specific functions of invoicing, scheduling, and cost tracking.

Lawn Care Resources - Lawn Mowing Blog

A new website hasn recently popped up which blogs about lawn mowers. The site is called Successful Mowing. The topics covered include: Lawn Mower Information, Lawn Mower Advice, Lawn Mower Experts, and Lawn Mower Help.

Lawn Care Service - Lawn Care Help Is Available For Everybody

No one is smart enough to know everything about lawn care. Lawn care is more than just maintaining the required height for cutting grass. Lawn care help might just be needed to reach difficult areas. There are companies that offer lawn care help in finding out the soil's acid level and suggest remedial measures.

Lawn Care Tips - The Most Important Lawn Care Key

There are many factors that influence lawn quality: Cultivation, fertilization, irrigation, whether or not you over seed, and how you go about it, and chemical applications all play a key role, as does the type of lawn grass you have chosen, and a few things such as shading, over which you may have varying degrees of control.

Lawn Equipment - Lawn Care Equipment Make Gardening Jobs Easy

In the United States, preserving a lawn can be an enjoyable hobby to some who are garden enthusiasts, but a chore to many others who do not have enough time to tend to their lawns. There are those who become desperate at not attaining their ideal lawns despite exerting precious effort, time, and money in maintaining one.

Lawn Fertilizers - Is A Fertilized Lawn The Best Option

So, with a fertilizing lawn care system for your grass, what are we talking about then? Well, it's about artificially providing nourishing chemicals that will make the best of your lawn. In some cases this can be combined with weed and moss killers that will remove those pests, all in one application.

Organic Lawn Care - Website: Clean Air Gardening

Clean Air Gardening Features environmentally friendly lawn and garden supplies including manual reel mowers, compost bins, container garden planters, garden tools and more.

Pests and Insects - How To Get Rid Of Garden Ants & Bugs

Insects are incredibly adaptable creatures and have evolved to live successfully in most environments on earth, including deserts and even the Antarctic. Insects are generally regarded as bad creatures but they are extremely useful to humans, pollinating our crops as well as flowers in meadows, forests, deserts and other areas. Insects are vital to the immense cycle of life, furnishing food for other creatures and breaking down natural materials to chemicals and nutrients for recycling into new life