I actually came into farming through organic crop production and horticulture. But not finding what I was looking for at ag school, I luckily came across the work of Charles Dowding, and this year it’s been 20 years since I built my first no-dig beds. Things have evolved since then, and I want to tell you more about the Ridgedale method of no-dig market gardening.
Are you doing no-dig?
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Best,
Richard
Thanks, brilliant video on your no dig method which is something I am exploring. One question – do the beds, and paths, get higher and higher each year with the addition of the wood chips every five years and compost every year? Could become a problem in my small polytunnel. Jeanie
Hi Richard, the thing that interests me most about what you do in comparison to say Charles Dowding is that you have a number of other enterprises than market garden and they all compliment each other. I don’t think using woodchips in a nodig setting is particularly revolutionary. I’ve been doing that on my allotment for a while now. Certainly does address the issue with mud. The challenge for you is to replace the less sustainable parts of your enterprise like the use of peat as bedding. Miscanthus perhaps on some of your less productive land?
A man i met uses logs under his woodchip paths