Posted in Projects to Make, Making it Happen Tips, Garden Ideas |
The “No Dig” Garden
August 19th, 2006
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Although I love gardening, I am not that wild about all the “prep” work that it can take to prepare the ground for garden planting. I can be lazy about some of that kind of stuff, so finding a way to get around all the digging and weeding and root removal is my cup of tea. Enter the “no dig” garden.
This recent one started out looking like the photo at the left. (Click on the photo to get a bigger view.) It was a true jungle. In the rear of the photo, you can just barely see my cherry bush where it battles for food, water and sunshine with all those weeds.
The “no dig” garden takes very few “tools”. 
You’ll need:
* A pair of clippers
* Newspaper
* Cardboard
* Compost (my city gives compost away for free at this time of year so I go get bucketfuls)
That’s it. Ok, what do you do now?
* Start by using the clippers to cut everything that’s in your way down to even with the ground. You can just drop the stuff where it falls, or clear it out - whatever you feel like. I just left my clippings where they fell.
* Cover your clipped area with sections of newspaper. I used a thickness of two sections stacked together - about twelve sheets of newspaper. Make sure newspaper completely covers the sized area you want your garden to be.
* Then cover the newspaper with sheets of cardboard. I just used shipping boxes from online orders I placed.
* Lastly, dump your compost on top of the cardboard. Mine was about three to four inches deep. 
Wait “one season” to plant. Since I put this garden in during the summer, I have to wait to plant until the fall, which is fine because that’s when stuff gets transplanted and bulbs get planted, anyway. You can cover the area with a tarp to keep stuff from growing if you want. I just walk by and pull out any seedlings if they appear.
In that “one season” the newspaper and cardboard will decompose, making even more good compost. And the vegetation underneath will die off. This may sound to good to be true, but this is the fifth garden that I have made this way. I have a rose garden, a vegetable garden, one that has just ground covers in it, and flower gardens. The key here is to be patient and let the garden “become”. Patience I got. Desire to do all that weeding and digging work, I don’t.
Your Frugal Decorating Diva,
Nancy
Daniel on 10 Sep 2007 at 9:55 am: 1
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