Where do you get all your No dig Material?

[Chestnut]

I use some home made compost, comfrey leaves from the plot, lots of cardboard from work and supermarket, woodchip delivered to site, leaves (tree lined road 500 yds from plot, plus large wheelbarrow), donkey manure free from friend of workmate who bought a house which came with 2 donkeys, mixed/mostly cow manure from a local farmer (£15 for a tip up load- much easier than barrowing it from 5 miles away), prunings from communal areas which the council no longer maintain around the site, and coffee grounds from local coffee shop.

[veggiechicken]

I didnt think there was a lot of value in horse manure as it has a very low nitrogen content

It doesn't really matter when its being used as bulk to fill a raised bed or as a mulch.

[bikermike]

My original raised beds are a bit odd, as I have lowered the path as much as raised the bed, ISWIM.

The newer ones, I am not filling too full in the first instance - my original ones have no freeboard at the top, so every time I mulch them, stuff falls off the sides. I'm not making that mistake again

I have to admit to buying compost this year (4x175l bags for a raised bed where I am filling entirely from bought). I am hoping not to need to buy compost for this purpose when I've got all the beds up (I buy a bag or two for the greenhouse

Otherwise - compost - my neighbours on both sides let me take their garden waste bin every week. that ends up being on average 1 full wheelie bin per week (allowing for gluts/missed weeks etc). I have a 2 bay compost bin at the plot each bay one pallet wide. Those two bins keep one bay filling (the other one is rotting down).

I have a dalek in the garden for my own garden lawn-mowings, prunings, uncooked kitchen waste etc. About half a dalek a year goes to the plot

I gather "roadkill" leaves once a year (we live on a quiet road) - I've only got two bin-bags so far this year - last year I gathered eight. This was helped by working on a site with grounds last year, and getting some bags of leaves off the maintenance staff.

I use woodchip. We get it delivered to the site (I don't know where from). I tend to cover unused beds with it, but to fill the new raised beds a bit, what I did was scraped up the chip that has been down for about a year as paths, and put that in.
Spent compost and growbags go on as mulch

I think the answer is really just "by any means necessary" - don't take leaves from natural woodland though - that's just robbing their nutrient cycle.
Don't forget to wee on the compost - every little helps

I am debating asking my local curryhouse if they'll keep veg west aside for me, but then you have the problem of not collecting it. My coffeeshop is on the station and not open on weekends otherwise I'd ask for their grounds.


I hope too get some bocking-14 comfrey in as well.

[4Shoes]

You hear so much about horse manure - some say it doesn't have enough nitrogen, others that you can't use it fresh as it's too hot, others say it's a perfect carbon to nitrogen ratio for composting, some say you need to add browns to compost it - you wonder who to believe.

In prior hears I used stable sweepings and it worked great for the spuds in buckets and for the giant pumpkins. This year I've got pure paddock pickings and it's breaking down in the bin - got really hot the first few weeks with turning so must have enough nitrogen in it for that to happen.

Only thing I can add is

Horses don't chew the cud so the feed has more seeds in the muck. It is better to get horse muck from a stable with free range chickens and to hot compost.


Found this....

Manure Matters: How Manures Measure Up


There is a table with values for Chicken, horse and cow manure

As a very rough guide Rabbit has 2.4% nitrogen, then just half each time for Chicken, horse, Cow

[bikermike]

are diary cows really well organised?

Thankyou for the figures. Do you know how do those figures compare against compost btw? and are those rotted or un-rotted figures?

[4Shoes]

are diary cows really well organised?

Thankyou for the figures. Do you know how do those figures compare against compost btw? and are those rotted or un-rotted figures?

Expect diary cows figure has more to do with type of feed.

Note Steer in this country would be beef cattle - same nitrogen content in muck as horses.

Figures I believe are fresh - uncomposted

Garden compost is around 1% according to search engine.

[Jay-ell]

Only thing I can add is

Horses don't chew the cud so the feed so more seeds in the muck. It is better to get horse muck from a stable with free range chickens and to hot compost.

The additional stomachs in cows that help digest the seeds as well. This is why I turned the pile for the first couple of weeks. Two weeks at 60-70 degrees centigrade is going to kill off any seeds and unwanted bacteria (e-coli) and turning it makes sure that all of it gets hot, not just the centre. After that I've just left it to break down itself.

p.s.

Horse manure has a carbon to nitrogen ratio of about 30:1 which is the ideal ratio for composting.

[Snadger]

I don't think the point of no-dig is to add nutrients?Nutrients COULD be an added bonus depending on what mulch you use but organic fertiliser can also be used prior to planting time. when it will be more beneficial.

My idea of no-dig is to mulch with some form of organic matter to keep down weeds and to improve the structure of the soil by the worms doing the work of a spade.

Having said that, in my case I always dig once before adopting a no dig regime. The reason for this is that I don't know what has happened on the plot before I got it?

It would be pointless practicing no-dig on a compacted bonfire site or on any other surface that had been used as a dumping ground for glass etc.

I don't actually mind digging but can see no point in doing it after the initial dig. Cardboard is my preferred mulch material but I will utilise whatever organic material I can get.

[Snadger]

Forgot to answer the question posed in the thread title!

In my case I have just moved home and all my stuff was and in some cases still is, packed away n cardboard boxes.


The allotment benefits every time I empty a box.

[rary]

Easy to say that, but some people are traditionalists. Raised bed - 4 wooden sides .

Traditionally raised beds were made by removing the topsoil from the paths and putting it on top of the beds, that way you are not using good soil to walk on, also providing a lower area for excess water to drain out the growing bed, and as the sides of the beds were soil not providing an ideal area for slugs to hide,

[rary]

in the winter I cover my raised beds wit cardboard and empty my compost bins (2 wheelie bins) on top of the cardboard, if I don't have enough compost to give a good covering of all my beds I try to spread enough over them all to hold down the cardboard, over the winter, any compostable waste that can safely be exposed (not attract vermin) I put on top of the bed I think would benefit most from the compost

[4Shoes]

Thanks for all the information. got a lot of work to do if going down the no-dig route.

But as a start....

Reading between the lines.

I've dug bed. I was going to lime and then cover with Grass cuttings.

Advice is to cover with cardboard / boxes and then grass cuttings?

Collect as much material as possible and chip any wood based waste.

[bikermike]

That's pretty much my take on it...

[rary]

Meant to say also, start by using whatever you can that's free or cheap

I like that idea, must try it sometime

[SarrissUK]

I've seen a few videos by Morag Gamble who has done no dig for many years. Not only is she lovely to listen to, but she seems really good at this no dig malarkey.
She recommends putting the paper/cardboard on top with just enough to hold it down, so that it doesn't separate the ground from the brown and green material you put on top. Sounds reasonable to me I suppose!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Wq32IRrPQ