No Dig
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My allotment is based in Nailsea, North Somerset on the Whitesfield Road allotment site.

It is a small (43 sq.m) plot on which I'm intending to have 10 no-dig beds 1.2m x 2m. Currently I've laid out the first 5 beds.

- Bed 1 is planted with shallots and garlic

- Bed 2 is planted with onions

- Bed 3 will be sown with spring onions interplanted with carrots.

Brassicas and tomatoes to follow

I am growing veg for self-sufficiency and I'm spending the weekend at Homeacres in April to learn everything I can from Charles!

You can follow my journey via Instagram @plotw7e

My email address is: svejk1969@aol.com

The Woldtuin is a No-Dig CSA farm with 2500m² of No-Dig vegetables located on a 4.5 hectare permaculture farm called Verbaarum.

We give our vegetables to our members from May to December, and we grow everything from spinach to aubergines to outdoor-melons. We can't afford a greenhouse (yet) so we specialise in outdoor growing of tropical crops such as paprika's, peppers, tomatoes, melons, aubergines, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and more.

We grow most of our crops within a 1 hectare food forest that was planted in 2020 so we're also beginning to harvest lots of berries and nuts and also the first apples and cherries.

Instagram: @de_woldtuin

Website: www.dewoldtuin.nl

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We moved from Britain to Sweden in 2017. And in 2020 we bought a tiny farm of 2.1 hectares, Ålunden. In the 70s it had been a strawberry farm. When we bought it it was a field of compacted clay which flooded in spring and autumn and was like concrete in the summer.

Luckily I found Charles and no dig .Living in zone 4 with snow and temperatures of -20, I had to learn a new way of gardening and sadly many plants I grew in the UK will not overwinter here! My bay trees and globe artichokes are favourites. I have even tried winter gardening, which involves using snow and boxes to germinate seeds. It sometimes works!

We have a big greenhouse and various beds made of compost, well rotted manure, grass clippings, leaf mold and sand. We add a lot of grass clippings to keep the moisture in, the weeds down and provides a bit of extra warmth and nutrients.  It seems to work really well as we seem to grow ginormous veg! Our veg grows in amongst huge sunflowers and other flowers which pop up everywhere. We grow without fertilisers, pesticides etc and rely on my happy toads, ladybirds and ground beetles to sort out my plants problems.

Now 4 years later I am growing fruit, veg and herbs and selling my produce to the local community from my little honesty shop and directly to customers as part of a local producers network.

Our website is alunden.se

Our email address is info@alunden.se

My wife and I do no dig vegetable gardening in Elizabethtown Tasmania

We live on a hectare and are currently using about 400m2 for vegetables and expanding. We supply most of our own food as well as a local market at Parkham.

We have about 30 chickens and a horse and we make our own compost which is 1 cubic meter each week. We're able to do this using Geoff Lawton's quick compost method.

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The photo shows a top garden near the house which is one of 4 vege gardens.

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We don't know anyone in our area doing no dig, and it would be nice to meet others if possible – our email address is: warrenconnors333@gmail.com

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In 2020, I left behind city life, moving from Dublin to my hometown of Portlaoise, where I became the custodian of a weedy pasture on the death of my father.

Since then, on a steep learning curve, I've been converting it into a productive, no-dig, suburban vegetable garden.

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Email: kate@kateheffernan.ie

IG: https://www.instagram.com/kateheffernanstagram/

I have been following Charles and his philosophy for No Dig for three years.  We are 600 feet up a hillside in a lovely little village. I make my own compost which is very good.

I am a firm believer in No Dig as it has saved me lots of time in weeding!  Useful as I am a keen grower of herbaceous plants and we have opened our garden twice under the NGS.

I am 70 years old this year and can still manage to look after our one acre garden of woodland plants, trees, perennials, vegetables and large lawn (husband mows though).

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It's a very exciting year as I kick start my no dig venture 😊

The photo shows my new beds at the start of Februray 2024, stlll with a bit of bed edge straightening/more manure/paths to complete!

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I’m a No Dig gardener myself (both in my garden and allotment) and have recently started a community grow-your-own project here in Coventry.  I’m calling this the Community Green Growthers and we’re setting up plots to grow fruit and veg within communities who are being hit by the cost of living crisis the most and could really benefit from locally grown, organic free food.  My pilot site is at Stoke St Michael’s Church in Coventry, which has an active food bank and lunch club so we know when we do get a harvest, it will be going directly to those who need it most. I’m also in touch with a potential second site, who are concidentally another church, in another part of the city also dealing with a variety of social issues.

Our volunteers are a mix of experienced gardeners and those who have never touched a garden spade before. They have now all been introduced to No Dig, if they weren’t aware already, and I shall be using this on any future sites too.  There is lots of organic material on site and we’ve been planning and creating our composting area and have now created our first 3 No Dig beds.  We had a work session today and volunteers have gone away with packets of seeds and various growing containers with instructions about getting these germinated on their windowsills, so we have something to sow in the beds in a few months time.  We do have a small, but enthiusiastic, core of 5-6 regular volunteers but I’m hoping we can get more people on board as the plot grows and the weather warms.  We also discussed some ideas today about how we can get the local primary school involved and I’m enthused about the suggestions the volunteers are coming up with.  Whilst I might be supporting them in setting this up, I’m very clear that this will be their area as I feel it’s important they have a sense of ownership as they’re more likely to keep this going as a long-term project.

I’m now in the process of setting up a CIO as I know there are grants available for projects like this and I want to be able to bring some of these resources directly into communities who could benefit the most.  Our pilot site (and what will be our registered business address) is Stoke St Michael’s Church, Walsgrave Road, Coventry, CV2 4BG, and would be very happy to be put in touch with anybody else in the area who’d like to know more and/or get involved.  I’ve also been invited to be part of a steering group the LA are setting up, called ‘Coventry Grows’, so I’m also linking in with other local groups and contacts who are trying to green the city.

The photo was take in February 2024 – I'm in the cowboy hat on the left with a couple of our volunteers, and our brand new beds.

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We have an allotment in Newport Pagnell, 10 minutes from our home and have been using the No Dig method since we saw Charles at Yeo Valley a few years ago, using his book and calendar as guidance.

We are pleased with the results so far and also enjoy reading Charles’ news and advice each month.

We live half a mile from Sheffield city centre and are fortunate enough to have about a third of an acre of garden. We have a productive fruit and veg garden which is fully no dig, powered by our own compost.

We are permanently improving and adjusting what and how we grow things as we learn and the climate changes.

Photo taken in January 2024 - a very wintery garden!

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Although I have had my allotment for seven or eight years, I started no dig three years ago in 2021 and I am now reaping the benefits of increased yields for less work which is wonderful as I still work part time.

The pallet bays of home made compost provide a plentiful supply of compost.

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We are a Charity based in Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire.

The Charity is The John Burns Foundation and we offer lots of services for the local community and I work on the horticulture side of the charity.  

So we have groups and individuals of all ages who come and volunteer in the garden and we teach other groups about growing their own food.  

We have a teaching kitchen on site and use as much of our produce as possible and the surplus vegetables are taken home by volunteers and staff.  

We have a small area of raised beds at the moment and a polytunnel.  For this year we have a larger area planned for more vegetable, fruit and flower production which will be no-dig.    

The photo is of a school group in our raised bed area.

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We are a school allotment, started in September 2023, using no dig.

This is a very new project, that we hope will grow into something really wonderful for the school and community.

I started No Dig nearly three years ago. After great success with vegetables, this year we put flower beds in and have had fantastic dahlias, sweet peas and cosmos.

Propagation and compost making have been significantly improved this year after attending a Homeacres course.

We still are eating homegrown vegetables at the end of January and have lots remaining.

I have been following Charles' teachings for the past 5 years and even wrote an article for our local Braidwood Garden Club and did a demonstration our establishing a bed at a meeting.

With my encouragement, my sister in Crieff, Scotland also now follows Charles' approach.

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I have now been a no dig gardener for 5 years and love it. I especially enjoyed listening to Charles when he gave a talk in Dorchester.

My mom and have been using Charles's sage advice and method since spring of 2022. I never thought growing lettuce would be possible - and I became known as the "lettuce lady" in our neighborhood. We are in Oregon, OH - a suburb of Toledo, OH, about 6 miles (10km or so) from the southwest corner of the Great Lake of Erie. Our soil in the southern basin of Lake Erie is so very very fertile and loamy, that we don't have to do much to grow about anything - except wine grapes! They don't struggle and love the soil, so they don't get the complexity - though people are trying!

I greatly appreciate Charles and his team - the energy, camaraderie, and pace are pure magic. Thank you.

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I have two no dig beds in my garden.

I only started following the no dig method last year but I did get a really good first harvest, continual salad through the summer, good size pumpkins for autumn and have learnt lessons.

It’s only a small space but I have more plans for this year.

Picture is from May 2023

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I'm a huge Charles Dowding fan and of course a no dig practitioner.

I've started my garden 6 years ago when I've had the opportunity to use a piece of land near my home. Initial I've used dig method but soon after I discovered Charles's YouTube channel I've started to use this method and I'm using it ever since with amazing results.

In 2018 I've started with 3 raised beds 1X2m and now I have 16 raised beds of various sizes. I keep my garden free of any pesticides or other chemicals, I make my own compost and I make my own plants from  biodynamic and organic seeds. You can get in touch at darius23cj@yahoo.com.

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My garden is a challenge as it's on a steep southwest-facing slope on the side of a hill at almost 1000 feet above sea level overlooking the village. The soil is very shallow, not even a trowel depth before you hit mountain rock. No dig is the only option. Any meaningful edible growing has to be done in raised beds.

I'm very interested in soil health and how it can affect plants, particularly the way soil life interacts with edibles and eventually ourselves. I try to push the boundaries to see what can be grown here and when. Anything I transplant into beds isn't kept in formal rows. I'd rather mix the edibles which confuses pests.

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We started our new life and garden in 2016. We were not aware then that we would become pioneers of a rather unknown way of garden cultivation, start a company, not to mention about us opening the garden to the public.

On many occasions we have been carried away with a burning need to find solutions to problems. Now, in the year 2023, we are cultivating with the NO DIG concept for the second year and our main crop is Tallbacka Mix salad mixture. We have also started to have groups visiting. Our garden has become a way of life and a dear workplace that gives structure to life. We firmly trust in the NO DIG-method, but there is still much for us to develop and new things to learn.

The changing climate is a concern to all gardeners and friends of nature; but we think that NO DIG will be the best choice for the future. The compost and compost making is central to a NO DIG gardener. Throughout the season we work to gather enough material for a qualitative compost that we can spread on beds to secure the crop for the next year.

We also want our beds in the garden to be neat and beautiful. In the spirit of an edible forest garden we have mixed vegetables, bushes, trees, herbs and flowers.

We prefer old traditional spices and look for those with the best taste. Many rare berries and edible perennial vegetables grow in our garden and it's a great joy to find new, and sometimes even old, species for the garden.

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This is my Pacific Northwest no dig garden, zone 8b, on a .3 acre lot. Our growing conditions are very similar to those in Britain, so following along with Charles' planting at Homeacres is especially fun. Lately our pattern is a dry, hot summer followed by a wet, cold winter - we ask a lot of our garden plants! I enjoy growing a range of vegetables, berries and other foragables in my "suburban hedgerow", a few fruit trees, and citrus in my greenhouse. To me, making homemade compost is just as enjoyable as growing plants, and my chickens are happy to contribute!

Lake district independent hostel, with organic no dig garden growing fruit veg and natural dye plants.

Overlooking Ennerdale Water. It is uniquely peaceful, and I think the most beautiful smallholding in the country.

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Ever since discovering Charles' work, I've adopted no-dig methods in my garden with great success. The weeds are few and the harvest plentiful! I also have two young boys who enjoy planting and harvesting alongside me, and I'm happy I can teach them the easy way to garden.

Email: nickcgrow@gmail.com

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We are based in southern Hungary and relocated here to a small old farm dwelling three years ago. The land was awful, 4 hectares in total and whilst the house was being renovated I set about the garden and potential growing spaces. Last season gave us over 500 kilos of produce so all my learning of a new climate (originate from UK) paid off.

The majority of our work is no-dig but we have to adapt and it works. Make our own compost and, like Charles, also buy in green waste too.

If you'd like to get in touch, here is my email address: sadams589@gmail.com

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We've been working with the blessing of the former school's Trustees at a disused school in inner city East London for about a year, with a group of volunteers from marginal sections of the community (people who have had issues with criminal justice, homelessness, addiction, social isolation, mental health or have come from the refugee community). We are trying to build a community composting project that will take in waste food and green waste from the local area and compost, then use the compost to grow vegetables on site on a no dig, organic basis. We have cleared the site, build new beds, are installing a native hedgerow, small orchard and will be experimenting with mycoculture and hydroponics, as well as growing leaf vegetables and herbs for local consumption from a series of raised beds. It's early days but we hope to make something magical at the site. We'd like to thank Charles for donating a starter delivery of compost (which we hauled onto the roof) that helped us to grow our first harvest of squash and kale. The food grown was donated to a local food bank, to a group of women dealing with chronic mental and physical health issues and a local refugee centre.

We have been working on the garden at an inner city secondary school in East London for about two years and renovated the space implementing no dig on all the growing areas. The children have weekly sessions where they learn how to grow their own food from seed, about rewilding, conservation and the waste cycle. The children have a composting area (where we do compost waste food as well as garden waste), a greenhouse, two ponds (which the children built), fruit trees, and a polytunnel. We also have an apiary and are training up a new generation of junior beekepers. We've had two years of great harvests, taught the children about how food and nature can co-exist (and given them a taste of yummy greens they'd never eaten) and had a lot of fun. Charles has been very supportive with his advice and won plenty of young people over to the no dig movement.

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I’m a gardener and have been gardening as No Dig at a number of gardens : my local community garden where I am a member, in France in Kitchen Gardens, and recently installing No Dig raised beds to share the minimal till method with with clients.

I really love No Dig and minimal till as a way to make food with living soils.

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When we lived in Austin, Texas, I was gardening mainly in containers since the ground was caliche (a type of limestone hardpan with 2-4" of soil on top, and sometimes there is no soil). The one thing we could grow on the land was native wildflowers since they had adapted to the caliche. We had one section, 40x20 feet, that was native sunflowers that grew to ~10 feet without water or fertilizer (planted once and then they self-seeded each year); the birds loved the small nutrious seeds and flocked to the flowers during the summer. Really loved watching them. The other section in front, with a deeper pocket of soil, had perennial natives such as asters, asclepias, and succulents. This area was also no dig and was only given organic, non-animal based rock powder at planting and then occasionally organic liquid fertilizer a couple of times during growth.

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This is our school allotment, which was given a mention by the school Ofsted Inspectors who recently awarded Infants an Outstanding.

We have some real highs (winning an award) and real lows (our green house blowing away as it was being built)!  Our maintenance budget each year is less than £300, but we have Parent Power and apply for PTA funding for new projects, so have built incredible support!

We are looking forward to 2024 as we continue to expand and offer more activities with the staff and children 💚. (Just finished making the Christmas Tree bug hotels).

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During mid summer it is very hot here. Over 30 degrees some days and heavy thunderstorms.

Everything grows well in these conditions, including weeds.

I am 81 years old and have been an organic gardener for many years. Love getting new videos from Charles.

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I converted to no dig since last year. The first job for to change over the composting process to the 3 bay system. Next job remove all timber for raised beds in tunnel & outside veg area. Now I’m in process of removing all the gravel & putting compost on soil without digging - planting areas will be 1.2 by 2m …. Work in progress

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My wife is Kathleen and I have twin boys Brian and Michael who are 6 years old. They go to a small school called Meentogues. Kathleen and me decided to put in a raised bed in the school last year and I call there on Fridays to teach them all about vegetable gardening. The teachers and the kids love it. We started our own garden at home 3 years ago and it has been great watching the magic of nature. I have attached a few photos of before and after of our garden and a photo of the school raised bed.

I use inexpensive local farm compost and free woodchips from tree surgeons.

Email: stevencram@gmail.com

We reclaimed our former farmhouse potager from years of neglect in 2020 and went no dig in early 2021, with great results. We grow very many varieties of vegetables, fruit and herbs, underpinned by our obsession with compost-making from the never-ending supply of prunings, trimmings and weeds from our land plus our ponies’ endless ‘offerings' in the fields. The weather’s challenges have stimulated our goal to achieve resilience through diversity of planting, timing and species so that we have year-round supplies. The extreme slope of the land (south east exposition) keeps us fit, meanwhile! A facebook page at Snippets From A French Garden documents our labours of love :)

Email: cbarbone@mxc.co.uk

The Garden Project is a third of an acre space at Felixstowe School, and a partnership between the school and the local charity Boost. The Garden Projects includes an allotment area, using the 'no dig' approach, a grass labyrinth, wildlife pond, and an orchard. The Garden Project achieved Level Five of the RHS School Gardening Awards in 2023, and has won 'Best School Environmental Project' in the Felixstowe in Flower Awards for the past two years. Students can take part in the free Garden Club during lunchtimes, and volunteers are encouraged to support the maintenance during school holidays.

My friends in Sheffield, amazing gardeners, are great fans of a no dig garden. I always learn something from them and they enjoy sharing new information. As it happens I follow the “no dig” philosophy, mostly because I have to use my time wisely in order to look after flower beds, hives, backyard orchard, new trees planted on property for wildlife, and pastures for hay (has to do with maintaining green belt status). I live in Hamilton, Montana where the growing season is short, summers very hot and winters very cold (in general). Attached is a snapshot of part of my veg garden. I of course have compost piles which to be honest are a bit unmanageable. This year I may have to dig one row for carrots and parsnips. They are always very stunted.

I have an organic garden company, I start in 2012 helping people. I help them creating, maintenance and advance family orchard in her homes, company’s, schools around the Island. Using alway no dig method. For me it’s the best and only option to take care of the soil, plants, biodiversity…

I have build more than 200 veggie garden since I start.

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These beds are made with eucalyptus forest compost taken out from the forest in front of my father's house!! People: Make a lasagna of cardboard, dried grass, and compost on top of the place where you want to start growing. 100% sure that if your land has a full belly, it will grow up some great crops!

Email: santiagoportanova@gmail.com

We have set up our community garden to follow the No Dig movement, we are a not for profit community organisation called Stepney Hill Eco Project based in Scarborough, UK run by volunteers and working with the community also schools.

We also have our own personal allotment ‘Lost The Plot’ which is no dig. We used this as our pilot before we rolled out our community project which is situated close on a farm. The farm is working with us now to hopefully become a social farm for our local community.

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I have 300 square m of no-dig garden for over 3 years now.

Thanks a lot for popularizing no-dig! It made my life easier and my ground healthier, crops are getting better every season.

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I took on this 300 square metre allotment in February 2023 and spent the Spring & early Summer clearing, digging and planting in the traditional way.

Then I came across Charles’s videos and gradually converted, first mentally then practically, to no-dig.

I’ve restructured the space into 5ft beds with woodchip paths, beefed up the compost operation massively and am ready to go 100% no-dig in 2024.

Most veg did pretty well in my year zero but I’m excited to see how much better the harvests can be in year one, with a bit less backache!

Email: andy@polestar-research.co.uk

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We are in mediterranean climate and probably zone 9. I would like to see on the world map how we are categorized. Our soil is red, a lot of iron in it, hard and very stony. I managed to make a garden on a hill with bought soil and to enrich it with sheep manure and some sand to make it less claylike. After 10 years of conventional trials last year I started nodig. In summer we have temperatures up to 40 celsius and not much rain. Sometimes there is no rain for 3-4 months. I wonder how nature and my work will bring some fruit.

We got the plot of land in 2019 and have loved making it into our haven. After fighting weeds for a couple of years in the veg bed, I learned about no-dig; what a turn-around point!! I now have no-dig vegetable bed, fruit area and no-dig polytunnel. I just have to remember to not let the hens into the areas, as they seem to ignore "no-dig"!

My garden patch is approximately 0.03673095 of an acre--yes, rather small compared to your parcel. I have been transforming the space into an edible garden over the last four years. The majority of the land is devoted to fruit trees, berry bushes and grape vines (represented by about 55 different varieties), but I also have annual vegetables interspersed throughout. No dig, through exposure to Charles, has been added to my gardening philosophy. I've included a photo which really doesn't show much, for it's impossible to take it all in through a single snapshot.

I started my no dig plot in 2021. I've been given a plot which wasn't in use for years and had lots of rubbish in it. I didn't mind as it was perfect for no dig. Since then a new member joined, who does no dig too.

I took on my allotment in Jan 2023, and simply followed Charles' advice as much as I would manage. I was surprised how easy it seemed - and I'm very lazy - but the barrows of veg, fruit, and flowers that I wheeled home showed a great return for not too much effort!

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I am creating a no dig garden - 4 years into the making. So inspired and learning every month! Happy and excited to connect with anyone learning and growing this way.

The attached photo shows a no dig mixed flower, herb and veg bed summer 2023

I started no dig gardening in my kitchen garden in 2019 with two beds measuring 1,5x3cm. The results were so successful that I grew the no dig garden plot bigger and bigger every year. Today, I have over forty beds, two polytunnels and a greenhouse. The garden continues to develop.

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We started our small no-dig garden in 2023 on clay soil, and had wonderful results in our first growing season. We plan to gradually make it bigger to become more food self-sufficient.

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Started in 2018, our small no dig urban homestead in Zadar gets better and more developed every year. Part of it we set up as raised no dig beds for intensive rotation of staple annuals, and the rest as a food forest. Every year we love it more and more :)

Conatct details:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lana_ujdenica/

Email - mailto:lana.ujdenica@gmail.com

We are a rural coffee shop located beside the beautiful Glencar Waterfall, Co. Leitrim, Ireland. We are on very heavy clay soil and initially created some raised beds but have since started beds just on the weedy ground, following the no-dig principal, trying to reduce slug damage now with woodchip paths. We grow the majority of our salad leaves for the coffee shop utilising the techniques shared by Charles for harvesting which we are also educating our staff about. We compost as much as we can from the teaSHED with used coffee grinds a great addition in raising the heat of our composts piles.

I'm a horticultural engineer from Northern Germany. In 2017, I planned a school garden for the elementary school in our village and planted it with no dig beds. With my educational project "Lotte and Krabi in the Garden of the Northern Lights", I show both the children and their teachers how to grow vegetables intuitively and easily. This year, the school garden will be expanded to include a dyer's garden and I will also be creating and looking after a school garden with no dig beds at the secondary school in the neighbouring village.

My email is: christina.koeppen@naegelmitkoeppen.com

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I have built a no dig-garden on part of a meadow/old orchard in the Taunus Hills (550 M elevation). Phase 1 (three 120cm beds + 2 straw potato beds) is complete and has been cultivated for 3 seasons. Phase 2 is ready to go as soon as spring arrives adding 2 more 120cm no dig beds.

During winters I have been thinning and extending a tiny area of woodland within the old orchard using self/bird propagated seedlings harvested while thinning as well as adding new apple trees and restoring old neglected fruit trees (pear and plum).

I make my own (hot) compost from veg garden/kitchen, shredded hedging and woody pruning/grass and hay from the meadow and manure from local animals when available.

Last but not least, I have one of Charles' books and watch all his YT videos.

In the neighbourhood there is one no-dig market garden (with members) and one private no-dig garden in the next village .. there could be more.

I've been no dig for about 10 years here in our garden. Attached is a photo of our veg garden in early spring as we were laying card to create new beds.

I've been following Charles and No-dig for a while but only got the allotment 18 months ago so it's still a work in progress. This photo is from August 2022 but shows one of my new No-dig beds being created.

I started a no dig garden last year and also attended one of Charles’s No Dig day courses. The attached photo was taken in January 2024. Not much to show here at this time of year- except a few broad beans under cover.

I have included a couple of pictures I took today. Not much to show here at this time of year- except a few broad beans under cover.

I started last year following Charles' advice covering the ground with cardboard and piling on plenty of compost and using wood chippings for the paths. Compared with what I had achieved before last year, it was very productive under the new regime. However this is still early days. I used temporary wooden boards for the beds which I am now taking away as I put more compost on for the coming year. I am trying to get the compost production going although my view of the compost heaps looks a little forlorn! I would be happy for any no dig neighbours to get in touch; simonbrookpenhow@outlook.com

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My name is Marianna and since 2022 I've converted a small part of my garden into a no-dig kitchen garden.We have a very hard clay here, with clear signs of hydromorphism, and I was rather skeptical this method could work here, but I'm very happy it did!!! In summer I mulch my beds with a thick layer of straw or dried clipped grass in order to minimize evaporation, and every fall I add to the beds 3cm of my home made compost. My major issue are slugs in fall and winter, but sowing in modules and chasing slugs overnight (together with frogs and other creatures) makes me able to save up 70% of the harvest. My neighbours really laughed seeing me working in the lawn with large pieces of cardboard and compost at the beginning, but now they are very pleased by the results and they come asking advice.

I built a house in the middle of a field four years ago and had to start from scratch with my garden and veg patch. I rotavated once (because the ground had been compacted by construction vehicles) and then went straight to No Dig. I got my cardboard from our local bike shop and create most of my own compost by using horse muck and straw mix. If I am lucky, I get some leaf mould from a family member, which is greatly received. When I see a wood chipper in the village, I ask them to give me their wood chip, which they seem happy to do.

Two years ago, I also took on an allotment which used to be a chicken run - overrun with nettles, dock, etc. I went straight to No Dig and now coming up to my third year, it is all very manageable. I have very little fruit besides rhubarb, raspberries and strawberries, so this year I have taken on a ½ plot full of fruit trees and bushes, and asparagus which had been neglected. I am currently working on clearing and making paths, hoping to be ready for some decent pruning in the Spring.

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I am a no dig gardener and love watching Charles' videos.

We are Ripened in the Texas Sun Farm, a small farm in Canton, Texas! We have been following no dig for about 2 years now and have seen a tremendous increase in soil health and crop production. We are excited to be a part of the no dig community!

The pictures provided are a few months old. The plot is about 21.6 feet by 36 feet roughly. I plan on adding at least one more bed on the left side. On the far right side I will put a 6x10 foot roughly polytunnel when weather permits.

The site has a water to the plot but they offer nothing else. Everything has to be carried to the plot not car access.

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We have a very small garden at the back, with plenty of containers and also some garden beds on the roof of our shed! Small poly house. It is very shady that’s why we want to expand to front garden as there is only a lawn with wasted space, more sun there so more veggies. We have a two bay compost system at the back of our terraces. Neighbours put out their scraps, lawn clippings, garden waste. And after few month we can use it back to the soils. We try to grow things that we like and things that are expensive in the shop (berries, salads).

We are happy to share our email to no dig neighbours: kamil.olczak@gmail.com.

We are the proud current custodians of the old walled garden. Andrew has always grown potatoes, onions and runner beans in a dug bed for many years. Two years ago I stumbled across Charles and the No Dig method and decided to use a bit of the garden as an experimental no dig patch. I became more interested in knowing where our food comes from and how it’s grown, we were both keen on becoming a bit more self sufficient than we had been. Unlike Andrew I had never gardened or grown anything, I was and still am a proud novice! When I laid out my plans to Andrew he was convinced it wouldn’t work and it would be another fad that I wanted to have a go at- I have a room full of previous fads so his assumption was fair. In January 2023 I got my first ever greenhouse and built two no dig beds using materials I found laying around. I was full of confidence and went at it with a ‘give it a go and see what happens’ mindset. After a bereavement in 2023, this further catapulted my desire for growing and a real appreciation of the healing vibes the garden and my little growing space gave me. Not really having a clue I watched YouTube, read books, followed instagram accounts and signed up for a course at Homeacres. I’ve never looked back and Andrew is a complete convert.Still work in progress, we now have a brassica cage, 9 no dig beds one for herbs, three compost bays (we have had our first lot of home made compost!) and after a visit to Homeacres I’m creating a squash bed for the 2024 growing season. Our little garden kept us fed last year, and I still have a stash of Crown Prince and Butternut Squashes to take us through soup season!

We’ve been no dig for almost 8yrs and it saved my back!  Started a 3 stall compost bin last year and I’m hoping to make enough compost to sustain on my own!

This will be my first full season of ‘no dig’.

I have ten 2m x 1.2m beds prepared with five yet to come on stream.

Photo to follow!

We bought the property in June of 2021 and that fall I started with one no dig 8x4ft bed, which I planted winter crops in. Since then I have expanded to 3 main veggie beds, 16ft by 4ft long. The no dig approach made the set up very easy. I recycled old fencing to use as temporary sides so that I could fill them approx 10cm deep with compost. The initial bed ended up being a mix of compost and soil as that was all that was available at the time. The remaining beds were filled with aged cow manure and green waste compost. I found the green waste compost lacking and added mushroom compost mid season in 2022. I plan to remove the sides this year. The paths are mulched with wood chips obtained from local arborist. Now I add a layer annually of compost, my own or mushroom compost purchased. I have also been creating flower and perennial beds with the no dig approach, using black tarp to suppress the weeds and grasses initially. I have also created a poly tunnel greenhouse with no dig beds the size is 10 x8 ft.

The production has been amazing, for such a small space I produce a lot of food. I don't weigh my harvests but I am able to feed my household all year from the beds, in the summer I barely buy any groceries and in the winter I supplement from the local market or store. Last year we had record drought and I found my beds held up beautifully with some irrigation.

The entire property is 1/4 acre. I have plans to add more growing space eventually but for now my small space does very well. I also find Charles continual planting approach to be very helpful in making the space very productive.

Courtenay BC is also a temperate oceanic climate but recently we have experienced more extreme weather events in summer and winter. The planting zone is zone 7b.

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The photo was taken in June 2023.

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This is my 5 year old no dig allotment. l use sheet composting and compost from my three ' pallet bins' to easily supply all the organic matter l need.

I'm happy to hear from my neighbours!

Email is: tonygray1958@outlook.com

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I started no dig at the beginning of January 2023.

The photo is 3 months after a mild stroke, all labour outside of shed and polytunnnel building my own. What great therapy !! Love, love, love No Dig !!

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I switched to no dig about three years ago on all my kitchen garden beds and the results have been very impressive both from both yield and uniformity of crops.

My kitchen garden was established over thirty years ago and managed in a traditional dig / compost and rotovate pre planting way. What I have noticed since moving to no dig apart from the main benefits is the soil structure is changing to a lighter composition that does not crack when we have really hot weather.

The photo is from July 2023, showing one bed with succession crops.

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The photo shows our pub's no dig veg beds which the public are welcome to visit!

https://lakedistrictfarmersarms.com/our-kitchen-gardens/

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We also have decade old no dig gardens at our artists residency, Lawson Park: https://www.lawsonpark.org/gardens/the-paddies/

The garden has been no-dig for the past 8 years.

We are set here in the Midwest amongst farm fields designated for corns and soybeans. Our soil is a heavy clay loam.

Thank you Charles for all you do! This gardening method is the only way to go!

We’ve just moved house, so I’ve had to give up my large No dig allotment (so no photo to add at the moment), but I’m looking forward to creating my new garden at the new home.

Always happy to chat all things No Dig to anyone local and encourage them.

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My email is: paul@rothwell.co.uk

I started my No Dig potager in earnest in 2022 and have been incredibly happy with the results so far. No Dig is arriving here in France, and I will do my best to help spread the word!

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(Unfortunately I don't have a decent picture of my garden at the moment but will send one through later in the year!)

I would like to share my no-dig garden!

I made it last year as an addition to the old one.The new one is partly shadowed by big oak trees and where those trees stands is also a small slope down towards my garden ending with an old stone wall. I thought it would be good because it would be less windy, more warmth but also some shadow if it becomes really hot. It worked well last summer but I had to water a lot anyway because the oaks leafs came late and the warm weather came early. So this summer I think I shall plant more even in the old kitchen garden really early in the spring.

I also have boxes on the kitchen side of the house where I have tried to grow different kind of plants but not had a great success yet. Only one year when I filled one with meadow seeds - oh wow!!   I have some thought in taking in hens or geese’s too but I am not sure…And I also need to make a new land for my old strawberry plants…But as for today it is 20 cm of snow over everything and snow is falling down.So I am planning what seeds to buy.

My place is called “Stjärnstoffs Gård” (gård = cottage/farm) it is built in the old traditional south of Sweden style. It was built in 1993 and 1996 and they used recycled materials from old houses in the south of sweden. Today visitors belief our house is 2-300 years old.We are trying to make the garden look a little as if it was an old garden. In the garden of the house I lived in before this place I took inspiration of an english cottage and when we moved from it the garden was a paradise…

This will be growing season year 4 in my allotment. The photo is from year 3.

I am the only person on our site doing "no dig". Love it.

Look forward to meeting more like-minded gardeners and growers.

My email address is: wildkookaburra@hotmail.co.uk

I’ve been practising No Dig for about 10 years, and last year also started making my own compost in earnest. (Also finding Charles’ No Dig book invaluable!)

We have a lovely garden and green house, that we manage by no dig.

The picture is of one corner of the land that hosts the vegetable garden.

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Here is our website: vlierhof.org

Having started as a young boy (digging the garden of my ageing grandfather) to the present, where I manage a no-dig vegetable garden with a friend on her farm, and a no-dig allotment in Haarlem, the Netherlands where I live, I've been interested in gardening my whole life. The friend's garden, when overgrown, needed a new approach, and I found Charles' approach the best:it actually worked superbly. I have enjoyed all his videos and newsletters, have learned tremendously from his experience, and am now writing in the newsletter of the gardening association of which I am a member about the lessons I learned.

Two gardens, each 250m2, and we can't eat the abundant produce fast enough, giving neighbours and friends what we can't eat!

And apart from that, there is the rebounding ecosystem around you when you take good care of the land. This is an ever-recurring lesson and experience, as well as a reminder of past and hopefully future biodiversity on the farm. This includes a very active mole, attracted by the worms...

I'd love to share lessons, experience, and seeds, fit for our relatively soggy peaty soils here in the west of the Netherlands.

The name of my gardening association: 'Nooit Rust'

My no-dig allotment is at the Pimp Hall Allotment site in Chingford, London.

I've built up a reasonably useable compost top layer over the last 5 years, overlying a pan of solid London clay, which the diggers on neighbouring allotments have constant difficulty with! We're lucky that since the local authority ceased delivering "brown bin" compost a couple of years back we've had regular supplies of leafy wood chippings from their tree contractor. This, plus occasional deliveries of horse muck forms the basis of my three compost heaps. The plot is situated next to a recently renovated pond which has existed as a watering hole for cattle since the 16^th century.

We have regular visits from local primary school children whom I try to indoctrinate with descriptions of the role of fungi and bacteria; they do appreciate the vital role of poo.

The photo shows surviving Brussel Sprouts.

We have a no dig garden pretty close to Homeacres. We have a selection of rare perennials - asparagus (heritage and modern), rhubarb (including some Icelandic and Australian cultivars) & artichokes, along with seasonal like beans, onion, garlics etc. as well as some Row 7 cultivars. The photo is of last spring.

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I just took over a half allotment in Werrington, Peterborough UK in December. This is my first attempt at no dig and I am looking forward to Spring with keen anticipation!

To date, I have been concentrating on preparing growing beds and have been slightly taken aback at the amount of compost that is needed but I am determined to get off to a good start and am making the investment.  Each of my 3.9m x 1.5m beds needs two builders bags of compost ( 1.5 tonnes approx).  The higher raised bed shown in the photograph also has around 1 tonne of topsoil under the compost.  I have another 2 bags of compost and one bag of woodchip for the paths to complete phase 1.

There are two more similar sized beds to construct but I shall be leaving these until later in the year as currently I have to wheelbarrow or carry all materials from the main gate to my allotment as there is a ban on vehicles using our grass access tracks until the Spring in order to conserve the ground.

I may also have an option to take over the other half of the plot shown in the background of the photograph and hopefully I shall know for sure fairly soon.  This is a retirement project to wean myself away form work, but I think I shall be working for a few months yet to try and recoup my start-up costs which have been fairly substantial given the amount of materials and tools that I have needed to buy. Having said that, I am looking at it as an investment as I hope to be self sufficient in compost before too long.

Coming form a sedentary work regime, it has felt at times like hard graft, but I notice it is starting to take me less time to recover from each delivery and the feeling of well being that I get whilst working my little piece of land and my own speed is simply wonderful.

I've attached a photo of me in my Vej Mahal (a temple to food) with my geese coming in to get some bean leaves.  It was taken in early summer so doesn't look as full-to-bursting as it does just now after a warm rainy summer.

I live in a regional town outside Sydney within the Blue Mountains National Park.  It is a cool climate garden quite similar to those of the south of England, except with snow falls every year.  Nearly everyone up here grows their veggies in some kind of caged area due to the cockatoos and bower birds, which will decimate your crop within an hour.  They are the main pest I have to contend with and this (expensive) solution is my happy place.

My veg garden is on the bed of what once was the River Don.

Townley Hall Walled Garden is a volunteer-run community garden situated in a 0.6 Ha Georgian walled garden within the grounds of the beautiful Townley Hall. The garden was established in 2021 during the pandemic to donate vegetables to people who experience food insecurity. In the past two years over 5 tonnes of vegetables have been donated to the charity FoodCloud.  We want to make delicious healthy vegetables and garden know-how accessible to all.

Our ‘no dig’ garden is organically managed by an ever-expanding team. The garden has two polytunnels, fruit and flower plots, and 70 x 10 metre vegetable growing beds so far. It's a great spot to learn how to grow vegetables and flowers.  We love to work together with the land in a thoughtful and careful manner, teaching and learning as we go. The aim is to enjoy nature, support biodiversity and each other and to encourage creativity and care for the soil.

The 10Ha farm is divided into habitat areas, forestry, old pasture, a small orchard and the vegetable plots.  

The cropping area consists of 1500 m² of polytunnels, 50 x 20m permanent no dig beds and the rest of the vegetable area is currently in overwintering green manure crops.

We are in the process of converting more of our growing areas to the no dig system which we started trialling in 2020 and are now ‘hooked’. We are very impressed with how well the crops grow and have seen huge improvement in quality and yields over the past 3 years. We plan to increase the area devoted to no dig this year.  The farm has been in operation as an organic farm since 1989.

We sell our produce through our farm shop and to restaurants both locally and in Dublin. We also wholesale vegetables to other organic growers. We love to grow many types of vegetables and are not afraid to try unusual varieties and try new crops each year.

I have been using the no dig method of gardening since about 2016. The amount of gardening and self-sufficiency I have achieved would never have been possible for me without this approach as I have no help in the garden and my body would not have managed digging etc. I love the structure of the soil, that I can work on it and stand on it and it doesn't compact and get claggy and muddy. I now have a plentiful supply of veg and fruit year round.

https://www.instagram.com/paddockproduce/

I have always dabbled with fruit and veg growing in the garden, so when friends mentioned that they had a local allotment but they had neither the gardening knowledge or health now to use it fully, I asked if I could help them, with another friend, to start a group growing project.

In my own garden, I have used the “no-dig” method. My aim was to trial this method on the allotment, using local and free or cheap resources, to see what food we could grow together to share, using our pooled labour.Challenges included:

·     the plot being shaded for half the day in the summer as it is next to the Knapp Copse

·     Lots of top soil was removed from the beds by a previous tenant!

·     Grass and weeds had grown through plastic sheeting which was covering the beds

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One year on, we have learned lots, had fun together and shared harvests including salads, beetroots, broad, French and runner beans, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, chard, radish, onions, garlic, courgettes, squash, leeks, herbs, rhubarb and raspberries. We are looking forward to finishing our wildlife pond, and picking winter salads, various brassicas, and early spring crops from our free cold frame!

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Money saving methods have included:

·     Obtaining free woodchip (for paths) from local tree surgeons

·     Finding free stuff (frames, netting etc) on Freecycle and other sites

·     Sourcing excellent manure from a nearby local horse owner

·     Seed saving and swapping/sharing

·     Compost making - sourcing material from others’ gardens to make more of this

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I would be happy to chat to anyone who is interested about using the no-dig method for growing fruit, veg or flowers, and would also recommend Stefan Drew’s website Bitesize Gardening, or Facebook page How to Dig for Victory (UK Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Gardening) as great sources of information.

My email address is: tessbiss@gmail.com

We’ve had black polythene down since Feb and its coming off in Jan to have the 6 months of cardboard, compost and mulch on top. We are starting and very new and a bit scared!

I have about 200m2 of veggie/flower garden plus some spots on other surrounding fields. In addition to this the fields for our horses are no dig/no till as well. I started with no dig about 2020/2021 after noticing how well everything grew in a left pile of horse poo. Since then, never going back again. Thanks to Charles and his Team for all the knowledge and enthusiasm you are sharing.

A few years ago, my father-in-law inherited a big farm garden full of fruit trees in Nether-Bavaria. The area is acknowledged to have the best soil in Bavaria. Apart from a neighbour, who put his beehives there and cut the grass as far as necessary, the garden has literally been left alone for 20 years. It has become a treasure of biodiversity amidst a highly intensive farming area. The family wants to keep it that way, but since none of the younger ones lives nearby, all we can do is two or three people spending one day on the spot every two or three weeks. Filled with mending fences, fighting the hazelnut-jungle and harvesting loads of apples, plums, pears, quince ect.  (my husband put up a harvesting community to come and share from Munich), it felt like all we could manage.

No one had ever thought about reviving our late aunt´s vegetable garden. The soil is clay heavy, packed with weeds; starting all over would mean a lot of digging, wouldn`t it?

When I found Charles` videos on Youtube last autumn, we saw a range of new possibilities.

In early winter 2022  we covered the to-be-bed with 8-fold newspaper, the edges/path around with cardboard and mulched with dry leaves and “compost” from a heap that had accumulated over years out of cut grass, woodchips and rotting apples. Left it to freeze.

First plantings in April and since then it is a pleasure to watch it all grow.  (Just didn´t consider flying pests, will cover next year.)

Second game changer: Propagation in multi-cell-trays. It is so easily done on a windowsill at home in Munich. Then I take them to Nether-Bavaria and pop them in. Water once and that´s it. Sometimes a whole set is gone by the next visit, dryness or slugs, depending on the weather. But others thrive. We decided to plant only things that also grow on the fields around without being watered. But later I popped in everything I had to many plants of. (Like that we harvested for example more than 1 kg of cherry tomatoes from 3 plants; double amount rotted in September during our three-week holiday, so what?)

I really want to encourage everyone to give NoDig a try, especially if conditions are not ideal and time is scarce. Looking at Charles´ videos I realise my little veg trial looks like a real mess. Bed sizes not ideal, no tidy edges, compost quality questionable. But the weeds did not (completely) take over when we were away, and we had a decent harvest in the first year.

Now the bed is ready for next season. Compost on, garlic, onions and kale still there. Looking forward to starting earlier next spring. Thank you so very much!

I have a plot in a community garden in Central Texas. I've been following Charles' no dig for a couple of years and enjoying the benefits over tilling. I'm hoping to convert some of my fellow gardeners too.

The picture is of my garden in December - mild winters allow us to grow a lot of things in the winter and to keep on planting until a freeze.

Charles's books and videos have been unbelievably helpful, instructive and inspiring and I pass on details to all gardening people I know! At the moment I have three books and two calendars - far from finished!

I was already "no-digging" from about 2016 onward in my previous garden on Essex clay, but without the knowledge and experience which Charles and his books and videos provided from winter 2020-21 onwards, in my new garden in Norfolk. (Removers' cardboard boxes, stored since the summer, were invaluable.) His use of multisowing, path/bed proportions, compost-making, interplanting and succession were all novelties for me, and all have worked brilliantly. Course Book 1 was read over and over. Sowing dates and the planning for winter crops in the greenhouse and early spring in and outdoors are the icing on the cake: we just have so much more food from the garden now.

My vegetable plots are one area of 7 x 5.5 m, plus a strawberry bed and a bean row. I'd like more but it would mean losing a beautiful apple tree or some of the ornamental garden.

The photo is from May 2022.

This is year one of our new vegetable garden. Correction: year two. Because unlike what we were used to doing (up to three times), this time we did not start digging and fertilising - but composting.

I used to often feel disappointment in my vegetable garden when my carrots did not look in the slightest like the orange power carrots listed on the packaging. I had a lot to learn about adding the right fertiliser, at the right time, for the right vegetables.

Until I understood through No Dig that with compost, we feed the soil in all its facets and complexity. We bring life to the soil, so to speak.

Point - that's all I need to know. With No Dig, I don't need to know it all in detail. By disturbing the soil as little as possible and working with compost, I let nature do its work.

So last year, Vegetable Gardening began by starting compost bins. Chopping wood, mowing the lawn and going to ask our (surprised) neighbours for more - slowly but surely the bins got filled.

Happy as a child, I watched the temperature rise in the compost bins, how I set in motion something that has been working this way for millions of years. I felt how the stored solar heat radiated 1:1 from the compost.

Insects, fungi a rat that began to set up this heated house - vegetable gardening had begun long before it began.

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When covid arrived in 2020, all my travel plans were put on hold and the empty shelves of the local supermarkets prompted me to go back to cultivating my own veg as l had done for 40 years without chemicals or artificial fertilisers. Raised beds and the no-dig concept were appealing as l was retired and planning ahead realised there would come a time when l could no longer dig. Inspired by Dr Christine Jones and the Biofarm Nots Conference of 2020, Richard Perkins etc. my journey and adventure with no dig began.

I am based in Orkney, half a mile from the village of Dounby surrounded by agriculture and an SSSI to the west of me. l keep bees, grow trees from seeds, have a 2 acre garden and 500 miles west of Richard Perkins 59°N with a 5 month growing season. So far my No dig experience has been a great adventure and still learning. Enjoying Charles's No dig recipe book and calendar.

l am on Facebook as Jeannine Dollé.

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I have been following Charles and No dig since about 2016 when reading about him. I had taken on a garden with raised beds and started No dig.

I was living near Havant at the time and Charles did a talk at Hayling Island Horticultural Society.

I was hooked, I also started an allotment near there.

In Feb 2022 I moved to a village just outside of Bath only have a small garden but managed to find an allotment about a ten minute drive away which I took on in Feb 2022.

Attached are 2 photographs one at the start and one taken later October 2023 a couple of weeks after planting my garlic and onions.

My allotment is at the Hartley Farm Shop, Winsley, Wiltshire. If anyone would like to visit, please get in touch: bennyzin@icloud.com

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I began my gardening journey in 1976 growing a wide range of organic vegetables for my family in various gardens and allotments, digging or forking the ground and turning in cow and horse manure delivered by the local farmer.

In 2007  We moved to the heavy clay of the Blackmore Vale, Dorset, and needed to establish a new garden where there was only grass and some elderly apple and pear trees. Fortunately our free weekly local newspaper had a regular article written by Charles Dowding in which he described no dig and recommended it on heavy clay. I also bought his first book and later in the year visited his garden. Using his recommendations I established a vegetable and soft fruit garden buying in horse manure and green waste compost. As a result of no-dig and making our own compost the soil is now in wonderful shape and produces a wide range of fruit and vegetables. We are now self- sufficient in vegetables and fruit having added cordon apples and plum and cherry trees. Having purchased a hefty shredder we produce enough compost for mulching and have deliveries of woodchip from a local tree surgeon. Our trees provide a wealth of leaf mould.

We have 2 greenhouses for tomatoes, peppers, chillies, aubergines and cucumbers. In the winter they provide salad leaves and garlic.

The rest of the garden is devoted to wildlife and plants for pollinators. I am a natural beekeeper and have been awarded a wildlife friendly garden plaque from the local wildlife trust.

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The F3 Project uses land provided by Chafyn Grove School, Salisbury to grow free fruit and vegetables for those hit by the cost-of-living crisis.

Details on thef3project.org.uk.

We have rainy winters, warm, dry summers in a marine environment. Problems include deer, rabbits, slugs, mildew, and white fly.

I have an acre of alkaline clay on the Herefordshire side of the Malvern Hills and have raised vegetable beds, a 10x12 Hartley Botanic Greenhouse, a small polytunnel and ordinary vegetable beds.

My husband is an enthusiastic compost maker, and we often joke that he could open the heaps to the public. We have fruit trees, soft fruit and grow lots of different vegetables, especially those we really like.

I have saved seeds for as long as I can remember, encouraged by a neighbour whose runner bean seed dated from the1930's. He always told me they adapted to the soil and I've done the same for decades. I also save most of my tomato seeds (not F1), runner and climbing French beans, garlic and potatoes, dill and parsley. I save all the calendula and other companion plants and all my annuals.

We are totally organic, and have always been interested in the soil inspired by our long membership of the Henry Doubleday Ryton Gardens when it was a flourishing concern. Charles is now my guru and I am always grateful for the ongoing inspirational YouTube videos and the amount of knowledge he so freely shares with us all.

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