No Dig Gardening

Home More Questions Web Resources for this page Book Resources for this page

Long before man began cultivating the land, plants grow unaided. Animal droppings, decaying matter and worm action all provided the plants with their needs.  The no dig method of gardening assists nature by assisting in the process.

Experiments to try yourself

The next time you cut the grass place some cuttings onto bare soil, eventually especially after a rain fall you will notice that the grass as apparently been partially eaten up by the ground. Look closer and if you try not to disturb the soil too much you can see holes made by worms.
The worms are eating the decaying grass and in doing so are providing food for the plant after digesting the grass, they are providing a passage for air and water to travel to the roots of plants by making tunnels. The worms travel down in the soil when the soil begins to heat up and thus take the nutrients down with them. Even in their death they themselves rot and form another food source.

Water well an area of soil prior to mowing the lawn. Place about an inch layer of grass cuttings onto part of the wet soil. After a few days with no rain examine the soil with no cuttings on and see how far you have to go to find wet soil, now do the same in the centre of the area covered by the cuttings. The area covered by the cuttings is damper than without. The action is conserving water by reducing the amount of evaporation taking place.

Web Resources

Book Resources