Why we dig the way we do

One of the things that surprises modern, organic, no-dig evangelist vegetable gardeners is that we persist with distinctly old-fashioned methods when digging our vegetable patch.

We follow the traditional pattern of digging the ground in autumn or spring, incorporating organic material as we dig, removing stones and other rubbish, aerating the soil and liming as appropriate.

In our first year we employed double digging for all the beds, while in subsequent years we have employed single digging.