How to Prepare the Raised Beds for Planting: No Dig Foundations

So it’s the 31st of January and the weather is mild so I am slowly beginning to get the garden ready for Spring. Last year I created a raised veggie plot in the front yard using both the principles of No Dig, championed by one of my horticultural heroes Charles Dowding and square foot gardening, the latter a simple but effective way of dividing up the bed for planting.

No Dig

The basic principles of No Dig is exactly what it says on the tin. Rather than digging up where you want to plant to prep and weed the soil, you keep adding organic matter to your bed to replenish the nutrients taken away by disturbing the soil or of course, harvesting veggies.

Starting my No Dig Bed Last Year

Here’s a reminder what the bed was like in when they were first started. We moved the gravel underneath. We built the frame which I then lined with flat packed cardboard.

Wetting a few layers cardboard helps it to lie flat. Remember that you also want the cardboard to eventually compost down to feed your plants.

To save money on store-bought compost until some of my homemade is ready, on top of the cardboard, I then placed organic matter from my and my neighbours’ gardens and from the lane I live on, that will also eventually compost down to feed the plants. Leaves, sticks, pulled up weeds, dead plants, spent compost from old containers etc.

Square Foot Gardening

Finally, I measured out square foot divisions and secured with twine and screws as a way to optimise the space in the bed.

Square foot gardening is a great way to plant a lot of crop in a small amount of space. For example, in one 1x1ft square you could plant 1 large plant like broccoli, squash, tomato, peppers, cucumbers, melon etc, 2 medium-sized plants like potatoes or basil but 9 smaller plants like onion, spinach, turnips or carrots or my favourites french beans and mange tout.

No Dig a Year On – Step 1

It’s a lovely day here and I had some time between meetings so I thought I would make a start. The veg bed hasn’t been touched since my last harvesting of mange tout and French beans in November. With No Dig, there isn’t much to do until the beds are ready to receive their first seeds and seedlings, but feels good to make a start.

As you can see, with No Dig, minimal weeding needed (mostly I needed to pull up the carrots from last year that didn’t do so well, not deep enough), everything will be suppressed in Step 2.

Related: Comparing the cost: Buying Organic vs Growing Organic