No Dig Gardening – Russell Attwood

Our June speaker Russell Attwood gave a strong argument on the No Dig Method of gardening. He had been converted to this method eighteen years ago and has been very successful on his allotments in Northamptonshire. After a career in teaching Russell now enjoys lecturing garden clubs.

The No Dig method consists of layers built up much like a lasagne to form a thick mulch. The best time to prepare a patch of ground is in the Autumn.  On the bottom layer cover the earth/weeds with cardboard or newspaper. This will supress the further growth of weeds. The next layer is compost, made up of garden waste, grass cuttings and leaves. Ideally this layer should be up to 15cms.The worms in the ground will naturally help to mix up all the layers over the winter months. In the Spring the ground should be ready to plant up. Push a hole through the layers of the lasagne add a small amount of fertilizer then place your plant in. One of the great benefits of No Dig is that the moisture is retained and therefore no or very little watering is required. It may sound an easy way to prepare the soil, but effort is still needed to collect all the necessary materials. Don’t throw your cardboard away, build up your mulch over the rest of the year.   

Russell also has a passion for growing pumpkins and at the end of his talk asked the audience to join in with his tuneful tribute to the pumpkin.

Heather Scally

This entry was posted in 2024. Bookmark the permalink.