No-Dig Gardening: A Wonderful Organic Solution to Poor Soil Structure

Organic gardeners are faced with annual decisions to help ensure the well-being of our gardens. One of the best decisions you can make with your garden is to convert to no-dig gardening.

No-dig gardening is fast becoming the norm in organic circles. The idea behind this method of gardening is that the soil is never tilled under. This method may seem counter intuitive as you are probably wondering what the advantages are.

While tilling the soil may seem to mix and incorporate both recycled nutrients and nutrients added from fresh compost, it also destroys soil structure. Roots from plants as well as worm holes can make channels for air and water to travel down.

These holes keep the soil from getting compacted and help in nutrient exchange because the surface area of air and water making contact with plant roots increases.

The decrease in soil compaction opens up more pore spaces for beneficial fungi to grow, which in turn facilitates nutrient exchange between the soil ecosystem and plant roots.

When nutrient exchange is increased, plants grow faster and are more disease resistant and most importantly, fruits and vegetables become healthier as levels of vitamins and phytochemicals increase.

A second advantage to no-dig gardening is the suppression of weeds in your garden. Tilling often brings weed seeds to the surface that were much too deep to germinate.

If you are wondering how this all ties into the bigger organic picture, then consider this: Cover crops don't have to be tilled in to become effective at providing soil nutrients.

A few weeks prior to planting, simply chop up cover crops on the surface and lay them as a mulch in your garden beds.

As they rot they will provide a steady flow of nutrients to your emerging seedlings and you can even top-dress compost on top of the chopped cover crops. This will further suppress weeds and decrease the amount of water your garden requires in the spring.