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  • From: "E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Multiple digging without so much work.
  • Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 06:10:32 -0500

OK, so if I'm not going to double-dig, is there anything else of value in
Jeavons' book? I can't keep up with reading, either, but don't want to miss
anything.

E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.biz
----- Original Message -----
From: Loren Davidson
To: permaculture
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 9:26 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Multiple digging without so much work.


At 9:50 PM -0400 5/30/06, Keith Johnson wrote:
>Jeavon's book entered my gardening library 31 years ago. Ruth
>Stout's mulch books were my first. I did them both....a lot.... and
>now for the last 20 years I don't double dig, or even dig, if I can
>avoid it.

I'm with Keith on this.

I've done my share of double-digging in the past. Somewhere along the
line, I think I figured out why the Brits call this "bastard
trenching." :)

These days, unless I'm planting something like a tree or shrub, I
don't dig. I try to follow the Pc principle of "letting Nature do the
work.) For a quickie garden bed, I'll put down a layer of cardboard
or newspaper, cover with several inches of compost, and just plant my
seeds or transplants into the compost. I'll usually make a cut in the
paper/cardboard below each plant. When I have time to plan ahead,
I'll build a sheet mulch bed, let it rot for 3-6 months, and then
plant into that. I like Toby's sheet mulch recipe from _Gaia's
Garden_; it really *is* bulletproof.

If I'm planting into heavy clay, I usually fork into the soil before
layering stuff on top of it, just to provide some starter holes for
roots. I don't dig, I don't turn or lift the soil with the spading
fork; I just wiggle it into the ground with my weight on it and pull
it out again. Once I've done this, I let the plant roots and the
worms and other detritivores start mixing my layers of stuff with the
underlying soil.

Now if only I had a no-dig solution for my shrubs and trees...

Loren
--
Loren Davidson listmail@lorendavidson.com
Music with tropical attitude - http://www.lorendavidson.com
"There's just too much to see waiting in front of me, and I know
that I can't go wrong" - J. Buffett
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