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Post by bekind2animals on Mar 19, 2020 10:05:54 GMT -5
About a dozen years ago, when I converted a portion of my suburban lawn to raised beds, I double dug as per the Biodynamic/French Intensive gardening method. That’s as per Edward C. Smith’s book The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible that I was going by.
I wouldn’t necessarily say that I ran into a crucial hard pan situation at that time, but the local lore is that our neighborhood was an onion farm before being turned into mid-century home lots. I only mention this so as to take in consideration the tilling method of those times. And yeah, the subsoil was a clay that I feel confident was benefited by being broken up.
Does anyone have any knowledge of, or opinion even, as to whether there is any benefit to do it again? I wouldn’t mind the exercise.
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Post by James on Mar 19, 2020 10:27:55 GMT -5
The garden should be tilled in the fall to a depth of about 8 inches. Whether you do it with a tractor, tiller, or a digging fork doesn't really matter. In the spring smooth it up a bit with a rake and plant.
Google has loads of good info too. Just Google your crop and add roots. ie Corn Roots
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 19, 2020 10:55:34 GMT -5
Personally, I don't see any benefit to double digging again bekind2animals , Have you been gardening that site all along or has it laid fallow? Have you added more organic matter over the years? I converted to no-till 3 years ago and have loved it. My soil has improved dramatically and earthworms have increased dramatically. (I started with clay that turns to caliche a couple of feet down) No till has to do with not disturbing the mycorrhiza web that offers huge benifits to soil and plants
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Post by tom 🕊 on Mar 19, 2020 11:00:36 GMT -5
Does anyone have any knowledge of, or opinion even, as to whether there is any benefit to do it again? I have many opinions but very little knowledge. tendingmygarden says that if large quantities of organic material are worked in during the first dig, deep digging is necessary only once.
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Post by davidjp on Mar 19, 2020 11:06:11 GMT -5
I think if the soil in your beds hasn't been compacted then theres really no need to double dig again. You could always try an experiment and dig one small section.
Now I've gone no till and it really seems better for my situation. At one time I used to regularly dig over the garden by hand every winter and with an element of double digging. I actually found it quite enjoyable in a sort of Zen like exercise way. But I think as long as you're not walking on your growing soil then I think its unnecessary.
By going no till you preserve the soils structure and all the fungal networks and mycorrhizae in the soil which should help in getting nutrients to your plants. That way you let the soil food web work for you and by feeding the soil with compost at the surface you should be fine. The earthworms that are now much happier as your not continuously disrupting their burrow systems will do the work for you in taking organic matter into the soil.
But having said that I quite like a little double digging at times if only for old times sake so quite happy to do it when I open up a new area.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Mar 19, 2020 15:13:25 GMT -5
I double dug my garden when I first turned it into workable soil after having been maintained as grass for decades by the family from whom I bought my house. It was well worth it, and I never regretted it...even the backaches.
I didn't have to do it again unless an area hadn't been planted for a few years b/c I couldn't keep up. When it returned to grass, or a blend of unknown green things, I had to start double digging again, only b/c the lack of cultivation had allowed the spread and invasion of a lot of native plants as well as a few invasive species that had previously been kept in check.
I also double dug in compost, primarily b/c the city wouldn't allow compost piles and I didn't want to waste the food scraps. I dug them in generally in a circle around a group of plants, but far enough away that they wouldn't prevent or interfere with root growth.
I think if the soil's friable, there's no reason to double dig unless you want to add more nutrients.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Mar 19, 2020 16:59:19 GMT -5
When I first started the garden, half of it was deep, dark, chocolate-cake loam. The other half was red-brick clay that had to be reclaimed, so I double-dug that area once, and have been adding organic matter over the years. Hard work, but it has sure paid off. I'm now no-till most everywhere now. My back, shoulders, and elbows thank me for the foresight.
Remembering that time always brings a chuckle --- I was down to two feet deep on one bed, leaned over too far, and tumbled into the pit lying flat on my back. The dog walked up to the edge and peered down at me with a puzzled look, then looked toward the house, then back at me again. I got out and back up okay, laughing all the way ... good thing DW didn't know, or she might have come out and covered me up ;) Lost a darn good garden knife at the bottom. My contribution to garden archaeology. "When I was young..."
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Post by bekind2animals on Mar 19, 2020 20:08:17 GMT -5
I thank you all for chiming in. I did fail to mention that I do no till and no walking on the beds. Additionally over the years every autumn I stirred in a crap-ton of shredded leaves into the beds. Six years ago when the soil test came back with a "ridiculous" 12% o c, I decided that I could probably cut back. The soil seemed too friable and didn't support a strong earthworm population.
Interestingly over time the beds have become "dirt-like" instead of "fluff". (If that makes any sense.) There's a lot more earthworms now. Nowadays I just use shredded leaves spread by hand in a thin layer in July & August after I've watered. A lot of it seems to be gone when it's time to water again. Lots of little mouths munching it up I guess.
But back to the o.p. I get the sense that follow-up double digs is not really needed in active beds. Great! Anybody need a broad fork?
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Post by Mumsey on Mar 20, 2020 3:39:32 GMT -5
bekind2animals, Keep your fork, you need it to dig potatoes! I also do no-till. I will shallowly dig the onion bed in Spring, much easier to plant those seedlings. The rest, I just dig holes/rows as I go.
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Post by James on Mar 21, 2020 10:20:51 GMT -5
My garden is about 3000 square feet. Pretty hard to handle without tilling?
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Post by tendingmygarden on Mar 21, 2020 22:56:27 GMT -5
bekind2animals , tom 🕊 , davidjp , SpringRain🕊️ , Wheelgarden , Mumsey , desertwoman , James , My current vegetable garden (2500sq feet) was double dug 22 years ago. One of the main advantages of double digging beds — which only has to be done once in a lifetime (if you keep the beds mulched and don’t walk on them) is the amount of water the soil will hold. (Six inches of water can be held in 24 inches of prepared soil.) I don’t have any means to water (other than a watering can of rain water now and then) and have not watered even during droughts of 8 to 12 weeks. I could count on one hand plants lost over 40 years due to drought. At my previous garden of 20 years — (almost 5,000 sq ft) the beds were double dug when started. Dug through hard pan clay. (I give all the details in my book.) Never dug again. Just pulled back the mulch whenever I wanted to plant. In other words - after being double dug — the garden becomes no till for the rest of your life. I have beds outside my garden that nature prepared for me since I could not dig them at the time. Just takes a bit longer for nature to do it. They’re good beds BUT they’re not as good as the ones in the garden that were first prepared deeply. Here's a picture of one of my garden beds that I just pulled the straw back from in order to plant: Theresa
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