It's Easy to Grow Vegetables the No-Dig Way

No more excuses for those wannabe gardeners out there. There is a way to grow things on top of cement or bad soil, or weeds, and in little space: it is called No-Dig gardening!

No-dig gardening has been around a while but has recently got lots of attention from the general public, probably because of the rising prices of vegetables, the economic downturn, or maybe we feel like reconnecting with a natural way of living.

If you have never grown your own vegetables, you will never know how it feels to see the plant grow and actually get a fresh juicy tomato from the vine and bite into it or crunch into a fresh radish. . .yummy. . .!! So if you have a little bit of space give this method a try.

The No-dig method allows nature to do the heavy work, no more digging, soil preparation, weeding and all the heavy work with the spade, just use this lasagna methods and layer all the ingredients combining kitchen left-over (veggies), leaves, hay, compost and old news papers. This method will build the soil up with the help of bacteria, fungi and worms with less pests and weeds. Moisture is also retained more efficiently under all the mulch than on the surface of bare earth, allowing slower percolation and less leaching of nutrients.

Step 1

Find a sunny spot, you can contain the area with scrap of wood or other materials but you actually do not have too. The height of the heap depends on what you plan to grow or on what is underneath, if you have soil underneath, the roots will eventually penetrate, if you do not then the heap should be deep enough to give the vegetable roots enough height to grow into it.

Step 2

Place cardboard or several thicknesses of spread out newspaper on top of the surface and wet thoroughly. The layer should be rather thick up to 3 or 4 inches. It will eventually decompose. Place a layer of straw, (a bale of straw from a feed store will cost few dollars), break it up from the bale and build a layer of one or 2 inches or more.

Step 3

On top of the cardboard, newspapers, and straw, make a thick layer of vegetable scraps, either collected from your grocery store or saved up from your kitchen. You can mix leaves, tree trimmings, grass trimmings and all sorts of green stuff and brown stuff. Beware: if this layer contains seeds, these may germinate!

Step 4

Now build a good thick layer of manure, sprinkled abundantly with organic fertilizer (bone and blood meal).

Step 5

A thick layer of good organic compost and a layer of straw will top the heap, then thoroughly wet the whole thing. If the heap is not high enough, do another layer on top and so forth until you reach the desired height. Remember that the heap will settle and decrease in height once the materials start decomposing.

Step 6

Let this heap rest for a couple of week and then get ready to plant your little seedlings or plants.

Step 7

Dig little holes with your fingers, place a handful of organic compost, place the plant in it and water it. Now you can rest up and watch you plant grow, the straw mulch on top will keep the moisture in, so water only when needed. Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza provides more detailed and excellent instructions for novice gardeners.

Maddalena Serra has a master degree in environmental studies from Cal Poly Pomona Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies. In addition, she is a University of California Master Gardener.