Cost of no dig.

[ohfook]

I just wanted to hear people’s thoughts because I’m not sure if I’m missing something, but at the minute everyone seems to be really in favour of no dig gardening. I do understand the benefits but so far I’ve been unable to do it because I can’t see a way to do it cheaply. With the best will in the world I don’t make enough compost to fill a load of beds and buying it would be very pricey.

Has anybody else found that or is there a cost effective way to do it that I hadn’t quite thought of?

You build up. You don’t necessarily need to build raised beds.

Cardboard, then logs/branches, twigs, leaves, kitchen waste and garden compost/soil over the top. There are a few good facebook people to follow. One woman builds as she goes- starts a bed, and adds continually to the end of it. She puts shred for the paths between the beds and then rakes it up to form the top cover of the next bed the following year- so her bed sort of travels around the plot.

Look up lasagne beds.
The sticks and wood act as sponges then decay over time adding nutrients to the bed. The leaves, grass clippings and kitchen waste make the compost layer. Shred and soil or potting compost/manure/ etc on top.

The local dump - sorry, recycling centre - has soil/ compost, and are only too happy for people to take it away for them.

That's how a friend filled her raised beds, along with her own kitchen compost, and twigs, cardboard etc

That sounds more like Heuglekulture. No dig you just mulch as you go. I don’t dig and I add organic matter, mostly home made compost, as I go. I do rake the leaves onto the beds in autumn.

It’s not necessary to have raised beds. I just added to the existing ones.

You can make your own compost and use that to mulch or use bark chippings. As the beds get fuller, you need less mulch.

With the best will in the world I don’t make enough compost to fill a load of beds
You are not alone. I believe that Charles Dowding encourages his neighbours to supply raw material so that he has enough to make sufficient compost for his plot!

I think it's like a lot of things in gardening: you can either do it quickly or you can do it cheaply. It's not often you can be quick and cheap.

There are places to get cheap medium but obviously you need to be careful what you are getting (importing weeds, getting fresh manure which will scorch plants, etc). If in doubt, make it the bottom layer and put your good stuff on top. You can get stuff on freecycle and (I assume) FB. Soil improver from the local tip (some give it free, I think). Farm / stable manure. Bark chippings from tree surgeons.

Buy 5 horses. You will never have to dig again. 😁

Not round here you can’t! It’s about £100 a 1m3. Think small 40 litre bags were about £5 last time I looked about 5 years ago.