NO DIG GARDENING FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

In this video I explain the no dig gardening method as simply and effectively as I can. I list the benefits and disadvantages of this method as well as show you how to make the quickest and simplest no dig raised bed ever!
Welcome to my allotment gardening channel. My name is Emma and these vlogs are my allotment diaries. 2022 is is my third year on my plot. I'm learning as I go and would love for you to follow my allotment gardening journey by SUBSCRIBING to my channel!
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VIDEO OF MY NO DIG RAISED BED:
• EASY NO-DIG RAISED BED...
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BLOG: www.thepinkshed.co.uk
INSTAGRAM: / emmasallotmentdiaries
FACEBOOK: / emmasallotmentdiaries
TIKTOK: @emmasallotmentdiaries

[@koullakousoulou4640]

Hi Emma the bed that you were demonstrating the no dig method on didnt have enough cardboard. You need to completely cover the ground with cardboard leaving no gaps for light to get through. Thats what stops the weefs growing. Otherwise a great job.

[@tonywarne9238]

Very good content & presentation, only slight issue is that Charles Dowding didn't discover the method, it's far older & than that, he's just promoting it. He explains his role in nodig like this: "I had come across Ruth Stout’s No-Work Garden Book. Her wisdom reinforced my instincts towards no dig. I also found out about F. C. King, a gardener who had practised no dig since the 1940s. There was already a history of no dig methods when I started out. Gardeners like Ruth Stout, F. C. King, Arthur Guest and Shewell Cooper had led the way. Yet no dig had not received much attention in the gardening world."

[@susanpowell7841]

I am, at 63yrs, just starting my adventure of growing my own veg. Im all for no-dig. Thanks for your tips and information for a late starter.

[@yvettemoore1228]

Charles Dowding has a KZbin channel too. Worth taking a look

[@christineclarke1653]

Another 63 year old beginner here!

[@rayh7264]

No longer 63 but started at 63 and a no digger from Brisbane 🇦🇺

[@mrsmop1000]

hi i had a veggie garden for 15 yrs was hard work digging ..... ive downsized my home and its a communal garden ...... so im going down ths root 😂 ....and im 69 this year so yesssssss this is a great idea ...... thankyou ❤

[@CMSCK]

Me too at 63.

[@paulamcgivern8552]

No diggers. No plastic so no compost bags an aspiration. Comfrey grass clippings and wormy weed buckets all part of this journey. Off to cut comfey now. Bravo Emma.

[@audreylittlewood1313]

I'm team no dig. Saved all my 'junk' mail and cereal boxes and used as a base and it does work. Thank you for sharing.

[@meagera333]

I'm a minimal dig person, only when I really need to. Also I tend to remove any weeds and top up my beds around this time of year, so what I add (homemade compost and chicken pellets) have all winter to work in so the soil is in great shape for the new season next year 🤞🏻

[@maureen6710]

Very well explained Emma👍 Another advantage of no dig is that it allows people who physically haven't got the strength or health to "dig", to garden successfully 👍

[@cathgurney6112]

Had my allotment for a year so slowly learning and transforming a now have a few no signs beds and yes learning g the whole time . My no dig salad bed this year was amazing ♻️

[@johnking-ht5ez]

Hi Emma I am a total no dig grower and enjoy your channel.

[@heywood554]

I've only just found this channel and now I'm bingeing on it. Absolutely love it😀

[@TheMrWoodsman]

Hi Emma, I have even started a no dig bed in the middle of a well established lawn and it worked fantastic.

[@Garden-of-weeden]

I remember you doing a video questioning why a woman would be watering cardboard lol 😃

[@lauren460]

Thanks so much for this Emma. I've just got my first allotment (also in S. London) and this has given me an idea for something actually nice I can start on my plot, as a break from hacking away at masses of brambles!

[@fromanjeesgarden]

It’s such a good way to go as it’s so quick and easy to do 🎉

[@creative227]

No dig! I’m fortunate to have enough wooded and grass on my property so I’ve been saving grass clippings and leaves by mowing them with a mower with a grass catcher. I managed to get the company that trims all the trees near power lines bring my five truck loads of wood chips. One definitely needs access to these raw materials to make enough compost. I also started a couple of worm bins in my basement/cellar and that’s creating some wonderful rich castings to add to my raised beds.

[@thatgirlthatgrows]

Thank you so much for this Emma! I’ve found it really helpful!

[@adysveggarden]

Hi Emma, great video. Don't forget no dig day on Thursday 3rd November. To help stop the compost reducing so quickly mix with a bag of top soil (that has been sterilized) this also feeds the bed with minerals.

[@veronicaarmstrong7262]

How do you sterilize top soil?

[@michelleibbitson1205]

​@@veronicaarmstrong7262You buy it already sterilised 😊

[@fareebug8439]

No dig has changed my gardening life. 💖 Thank you form all of us Charles Dowding 💕. It's fantastic isn't it, my no dig areas take no time hardly looking after it. My previous dig beds 😬 so many weeds. Great video as always, Emma!!! I can't wait to grow Jack be Littles next year! 💖

[@irenesmith5676]

Hi Emma I’m no dig I watch Charles his home made compost is to die for ? I don’t have a lot of home made compost when I do I mix it with bought compost! lv your video lv Irene 😘 xx

[@b.yeadon4846]

Your videos are extremely helpful i have started my veggie patch. very helpful thank you. I'm in the no dig crew😁

[@TheJlambe1]

Great video Emma. Thank you.

[@pennythompson4790]

Very informative thankyouxx

[@RachySamples-wp4gf]

I love you videos so thanks. I am just starting an allotment this year so atthe moment I have no preference. After watching your video I will definitely be trying a mixture.

[@joycehennequin8469]

Emma well said lm so proud of you xx🌱🌱🌱💕

[@sharon1615]

Fab vlog Emma, I'm definitely no dig 😁

[@AngelaH2222]

Thanks for the honest assessment about the need to top up the beds, this is something often glossed over by no-dig enthusiasts..

[@moonwrasse]

Expensive to start but we’ll worth doing. 4.5 tonnes in so far,1.5 to finish, brand new allotment plot, but after that the bins will be full of rotting horse manure to top up, team no dig

[@mrsmop1000]

i heard putting sheeps wool is good too ❤

[@ArtistisMe]

I've always been no dig in my raised beds & greenhouse in my garden. But, I really need an allotment plot... jealous of you big style.

[@bryanyeo1745]

I am just doing a no dug beed I go 2 on the go for next year. Wish me luck

[@christineadamson8156]

Thank you for your motivating vlog. It's prompting me to start lots of salad leaves in my conservatory with a heat mat :-) Having watched your video on 'no dig', I'm going to try the approach in an allotment plot for 2023 so will update later in the season. Also, thought I would say that for the last 3 full years I have had two half whisky barrels with lids and holes cut out in the bottom. I prefer these as more decorative compost bins than the big plastic ones. The first year I didn't turn the compost enough but within one year the compost was ready anyway. A long time to wait but it got there in the end. I started my 2nd half barrel compost last spring so it should be ready by spring 2023. I've heard that compost can be ready in a matter of weeks but I have a lazy attitude towards turning it. The compost from my 1st half barrel will be used in 2023 and I anticipate the 2nd will be ready soon after so I'm always at least one barrel of compost ahead. Thank you, really enjoying your vlog.

[@fromanjeesgarden]

Sounds like you’re doing a great job producing your own compost! I’m not great at turning mine either but it still happens . As you say it just takes a little longer!

[@hankwaddingham5025]

hi emma good vidio..thats what i am going to do on my allotment....

[@meapantz1983]

Thanks for reviewing and comparing dig v no dig. We have no digged the whole.plot including the paths and everything has grown late season and there are more worms. The slugs seem to be sticking to the woodchip and not the plants also

[@barbaraallan5954]

Very interesting xxx

[@Pervydachny]

Hello Emma! Thank you for the interesting information. To be honest, I'm used to digging everything up, but maybe I'll reconsider my views. Good luck to you😊👌🌻🐦😹

[@justinarnold7725]

No dig founders were F. C. King Head Gardner of Levan's Hall in South West Morland who in 1946 wrote the book 'Is Digging Necessary' and A. Guest who wrote the book 'Gardening Without Digging' in 1948 for the Good Gardeners Association, Charles Dowding has adapted the Ruth Stout No Till Method for English garden conditions and rebranded it No Dig

[@billnorfolk08]

Emma you need to cover the whole bed with cardboard ,any gaps will just encourage more weeds .As for the compost unless you want to plant through the cardboard into the ground below you need about 6 in of compost if you want to stay above the cardboard the one bag you have put on is not enough . I am not a fan of no dig as you can gather ,I have worked my plot for over 50 years and don’t have a weed problem apart from wind blown which most weeds are and no dig will not protect you from .I dig to break up the soil at least a foot down to prevent a hard pan forming not all types of soil are suitable for no dig ,clay will quickly become water logged if not broken up now and again with a good dig .

[@travisbickle5584]

I prefer no dig but I do a bit of both because its a lot of compost to find to start. I make my own compost but have trouble making enough.

[@brianmorrison9937]

How long do I wait after my carboard and my layered compost is put in place before I plant my garden?

[@emmagudge6052]

Hi Emma, please could you share the name of the seed subscription company that you use. If you have a discount code I’d love to take advantage of that as well 😀👍

[@storytimewithnannyuk8185]

Team no dig here 😃👍🌱🌻

[@lindaphillips7936]

I've done it for suppression of weeds. Didn't know about the other information you gave us. Thanks

[@katiethompson5568]

Team no dig Emma x

[@nineteenninetyfive]

No dig makes a lot of sense to me, but to get going I started by just surface weeding and then at the end of the season when I had built up a good amount of compost that I had made myself I started to add surface mulch in the usual way. You can do this as long as you are very persistent with the weeding. Although weeds can be very tenacious, there isn't a plant on the planet that can survive a gardener constantly removing it on a weekly basis. In this method the benefit is you avoid the big cost with the popular method of dumping bought in compost on top of cardboard, but it takes a couple of seasons to get the benefits of no-dig going and of course there is all the weeding to do at least for the first couple of years.

[@lucybarnard3954]

No dig for me, not an option to dig with my disability anyway. I’ve only recently got my allotment and very excited 😊

[@douglasgosney9172]

Well done Emma for explaining no dig I’ve been doing this for about five years now on my allotment and yes it really does work much better crops. All so look up a plant called comfrey well worth growing it as so many uses in the garden ones again great video

[@yvettemoore1228]

I swear by comfrey tea. It smells like death but it's a fantastic plant food!

[@patriciahawkes386]

You didn't put enough cardboard on that bed, cover all the earth completely with cardboard and overlap the cardboard, that's why u r still getting weeds.

[@debradevine3949]

Team No Dig!

[@chancemiller9340]

TEAM NO DIG is soooo much better than digging. I can't believe that you don't have rabbits (hares) that can pop up into your raised beds and eat everything! So lucky.

[@Itsme-jv4cd]

Does anyone know if this method will keep out Bindweed ? My whole lawn is infested with it.

[@emmasallotmentdiaries]

It will, but not for a long time. It will slowly weaken it, but you'll have to keep pulling it up every time it appears until it finally dies! x

[@Aleksandr-977]

3,37 у вас точно такие же перчатки как и у меня

[@sir.reelcinema]

Team no dig

[@thomasheeley1075]

Hi Emma, I love your videos but damn you get up close and personal to the camera 😂😂

[@Crocs4cats]

I don’t know why everyone credits Charles for ‘no dig’. People were doing it in the 1940’s🤷🏻‍♀️

[@bibi-ev3qk]

Es muss nicht so viel Füllmaterial hineingegeben werden 🙂🖐🏽🌱💚

[@Angie-ci1lp]

Left way too many gaps on cardboard.

[@davidgraham22]

I’m going to disagree there with the weeding part and also you don’t really know what bacteria live in the soil which may result what you pout on the soil

[@Naughty_Squad]

Lol us digging the garden is a fart in the wind carbon compared to companies. Could just cut the video in half talking about same stuff so many times. Good luck

[@dennisrphymurphy7929]

Screw KZbin,.....and help your neighbors with fresh food. Show me a post about how you are doing that, and how you and your family are trying to help people in need.... good people.... hungry people. People in your own state or province are going hungry, mainly because they don't know how to grow food, or they don't have the money for farming, or even growing a few things in a small space, or maybe they live in an apartment that is 14 stories in the air, and they don't have access to soil or any way to help themselves.... you do. YOU DO! Just suck it up and do it. Look beyond yourself. Your grandparents would be so very proud of you. Let the internet go away... help the people that need help. Please ask your contacts to help as well ... we are in sick times. I can't help much, but you can

[@lemunbalm3731]

To Dennis Murphy: She is helping many, many more people with her Internet videos than if she would knock on her neighbors’ doors and offer to help them that way! Also, what’s this about her being able to help and not you? Thirdly, I’m not seeing a lot of hungry people anywhere I go, but I do see quite a few who have an over abundance/excess. Many more are not willing or interested in anyone telling them how to improve their lives. Those who are open to change and improving themselves most likely will be seeking and finding a wealth of information on the Internet. Information that they could never discover just talking to their neighbors.