No-dig gardening for hops

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rexbanner

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If you haven't heard of no-dig gardening, check it out at http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/build-a-garden.html

I thought I'd give it a shot this year for growing hops. I planted 3 rhizomes last year but decided to plant 12 this year. :rockin: Since digging beds for three plants was exhausting enough, I thought why not try an easier way which is better for the environment?

My local nursery stopped carrying manure so I went with just straw and leaf compost. Put down a layer of newspapers, a layer of straw, a layer of compost, and a bit more straw in a 20x5 area. I watered it and put a tarp over the entire thing to speed up the biological processes and keep the stuff from blowing away.

In a month when my rhizomes come in, I'll add a layer of soil and some Dr. Earth and plant them. Has anyone else tried this? I thought maybe some people would be interested. My back hurts today but I can't even imagine the pain I'd be in after digging a 20x5 bed.
 
Next to the "no-dig" moniker, there's a lot of info on the interweb if you search "lasagna gardening." Like BIAB, the lasagna is popular down under, so I hear. I've used a modified version when I set up deep, raised beds on grass. Instead of tilling up all the lawn, I'll drop down some cardboard first, some compost, some newspaper, grass clippings, soil, etc, in alternating lasagna-like layers. The cardboard (or several sheets of newspaper) will smother the grass and its root system and eventually will break down to let your bed plants take over. The layers will decompose and lead to improved soil underneath. It really is a back saver but not quite as foolproof as the old-fashioned, back-breaking way, imo.
 
Taking time to dig up and work the land helps to aerate it and helps break up nearby roots (i.e., competition), and these aren't achieved through the no-dig method. Honestly, though, in the right spot, I think it's the way to go. Part of my problem was that I didn't do enough take care of the grass growing on the side of my beds, so it eventually found its way in. And the spot was right next to a mulberry tree, so there was some hefty roots in the area. Digging deeper would have allowed me to aerate the soil more and eliminate some of the roots. Done right and done deep, the no-dig, lasagna gardening has a lot of potential for improving soil, water retention, and labor...
 
Taking time to dig up and work the land helps to aerate it and helps break up nearby roots (i.e., competition), and these aren't achieved through the no-dig method. Honestly, though, in the right spot, I think it's the way to go. Part of my problem was that I didn't do enough take care of the grass growing on the side of my beds, so it eventually found its way in. And the spot was right next to a mulberry tree, so there was some hefty roots in the area. Digging deeper would have allowed me to aerate the soil more and eliminate some of the roots. Done right and done deep, the no-dig, lasagna gardening has a lot of potential for improving soil, water retention, and labor...

Cool, good to hear. We'll see how it goes. I'll update this thread as time goes on. I just can't imagine if I had done a normal bed that big. I almost pulled a nail out of my finger and I feel like someone beat me up in my sleep.
 
My cousin uses old fridges from the dump for all his raised gardening (A must in Fairbanks). He guts the innards, removes the doors, lays them on their back, and plants different things in the different compartments. He's moderately crippled so this sort of gardening is easier on his old bones.

Yes, his garden is covered (12-15 full sized reefers) but they are all in rows so it's a neat appearance, aside from the obvious "oh my god, he's hoarding fridgerators".
 
..just guessing that "reefers" refers to refridgerators, though I've heard Alaska is pretty lenient. Building large hop mounds is sort of the same as no dig, right?
 
No-dig and lasagna gardening are popular right now, but it isn't clear to me how their effect on soil is any different from tilling.

In no-dig gardening, your goal is to create rich loose topsoil above existing compacted turf. You typically lay down some sort of degradable barrier to help retain surface moisture and to prevent weed seeds from growing. Then you cover with loose topsoil and compost.

In traditional till gardening, you seek to convert the existing compacted turf into rich loose topsoil -- the same type of soil that you ship in to cover existing soil when practicing no-till.

Both techniques seek to address the same problem: our food crops have been grown in tilled soil since the neolithic revolution, sometime between 7-10,000 years ago. Our food crops are adapted to tilled conditions, and they will no longer thrive in compacted turf or a forest floor the way their ancestors may have. Why have humans been tilling the soil all these millenia anyway? Didn't they know about no-till? Well, most plants grow better when they are free of competitors.

As a result, our food crops have now become adapted to tilled conditions, and they kind of suck at growing in compacted turf or leaf litter as their ancestors did. One way or another, you need to recreate tilled conditions for food crops to thrive. You can either till, or buy a bunch of topsoil / compost to simulate tilling.

No-till advocates frequently claim that tilling disturbs the microbial ecosystem, but I've never seen any actual evidence that this is the case. In fact, scientists are just now in the past 5 years beginning to know all the individual bacteria that make up microbial ecosystems. We are very far away from knowing what makes a soil microbial ecosystem healthy or unhealthy. Nobody knows which species even to look for.

Maybe no-till advocates use some other heuristic to diagnose "healthy" vs. "unhealthy" soils? Or maybe there is some indicator of the environment being "bad" in tilled conditions? I don't know.

Anyway, if you enjoy no-till gardening, go for it. It works, and it's fun. But don't think that what you're doing is "better for the environment". Our understanding of soil microecosystems is so basic that we simply cannot know. Remember, this isn't like climate change, where you have physical quantities that are easy to measure, or even the effect of fertilizer runoff, which is drastic. The argument for no-till agriculture is subtle, and in my opinion, relies heavily on ill-defined ideas of what the "natural" state of agriculture used to be.
 
No-dig and lasagna gardening are popular right now, but it isn't clear to me how their effect on soil is any different from tilling.

In no-dig gardening, your goal is to create rich loose topsoil above existing compacted turf. You typically lay down some sort of degradable barrier to help retain surface moisture and to prevent weed seeds from growing. Then you cover with loose topsoil and compost.

In traditional till gardening, you seek to convert the existing compacted turf into rich loose topsoil -- the same type of soil that you ship in to cover existing soil when practicing no-till.

Both techniques seek to address the same problem: our food crops have been grown in tilled soil since the neolithic revolution, sometime between 7-10,000 years ago. Our food crops are adapted to tilled conditions, and they will no longer thrive in compacted turf or a forest floor the way their ancestors may have. Why have humans been tilling the soil all these millenia anyway? Didn't they know about no-till? Well, most plants grow better when they are free of competitors.

As a result, our food crops have now become adapted to tilled conditions, and they kind of suck at growing in compacted turf or leaf litter as their ancestors did. One way or another, you need to recreate tilled conditions for food crops to thrive. You can either till, or buy a bunch of topsoil / compost to simulate tilling.

No-till advocates frequently claim that tilling disturbs the microbial ecosystem, but I've never seen any actual evidence that this is the case. In fact, scientists are just now in the past 5 years beginning to know all the individual bacteria that make up microbial ecosystems. We are very far away from knowing what makes a soil microbial ecosystem healthy or unhealthy. Nobody knows which species even to look for.

Maybe no-till advocates use some other heuristic to diagnose "healthy" vs. "unhealthy" soils? Or maybe there is some indicator of the environment being "bad" in tilled conditions? I don't know.

Anyway, if you enjoy no-till gardening, go for it. It works, and it's fun. But don't think that what you're doing is "better for the environment". Our understanding of soil microecosystems is so basic that we simply cannot know. Remember, this isn't like climate change, where you have physical quantities that are easy to measure, or even the effect of fertilizer runoff, which is drastic. The argument for no-till agriculture is subtle, and in my opinion, relies heavily on ill-defined ideas of what the "natural" state of agriculture used to be.

I understand ya, brother. I'm a total pragmatist when it comes to these things. I only tried this method because making such a large bed without any assistance would have been hell. However, I kill plenty of worms with my shovel blade. I know I disturb my lawn when I cut it to ribbons and haul it away. I'm not saying it is a lot better for the environment, but it's somewhat better. As a point of reference, when the Japanese beetles got bad I nuked them with Sevin. I care about the environment, but in the grand scheme of things little old me is already way ahead of the game, anyways. I recycle beer bottles. :D
 
Nice post, drummstickk...the no-till idea has much zen appeal, for sure, but maybe not as much results...

My farming strives for the best longterm outcome with the least immediate effort. This keeps the till/no-till debate resurfacing perennially. So far, if the frame of reference holds cone production as king, then my experience shows eliminating competing root systems from hops as the best tribute. The no-till method doesn't help as much with beating back competing roots but I live near a lot of old trees. If open land, cardboard, green/brown matter, newspaper, and compost flow easy, then doing the lasagna makes some sense, builds soil health more than doing nothing, and saves your back from doing more. However, if someone mixed all of these same lasagna inputs down deep into the soil--tilled the land--I suspect cone production that year would exceed the no-till method. Sliced any way, what comes out is a product of what was put in. If it goes in faster, then maybe it comes out faster, too. But where do we draw the line?

Then the idea that some plants grown near hops benefit cone production becomes another perplexing thread.
 
An update:

I'm not so concerned about cone production the first year, and I think there will be no major difference the second year. 7 out of 8 of the hops in the no-till bed sprouted and are growing. 5 out of ten of the hops planted in the tilled bed sprouted and are growing. While that's more-than-likely due to the rhizomes themselves, I think the argument can be made that no-till is probably no less effective at this stage.

Also...I think the competing root systems are eliminated. Months of cover kills the underlying turf. If anything, those dead roots provided nutrients to the soil.

And one last thing. Our ancestors tilled the soil most likely because they had no idea what no-till gardening is. Also, they didn't have newspaper. ;)

I don't think no-till is just about the green appeal, it's a great way to make a bed with less work and without buying topsoil that only requires a little bit of preparation ahead of time.
 
And one last thing. Our ancestors tilled the soil most likely because they had no idea what no-till gardening is. Also, they didn't have newspaper. ;)

If you think no-till is a bunch of hippy bull****, fine. In reality, it's a great way to make a bed with less work and without buying topsoil that only requires a little bit of preparation ahead of time.

No-till isn't BS at all. Everyone's goal is to create rich loose weed-free topsoil one way or another. You can do that by tilling and amending the existing soil, or by essentially creating new soil on top of the existing stuff. You can also just re-seed a harvested field with few modifications save a top dressing of fertilizer, which is what many farmers do, especially in developing countries. For them, the loss in yield is more than made up by the savings in the cost of tilling and irrigation.

On a small scale, few people actually do what no-till farmers in South American and Africa are doing. Instead, we do something similar to lasagna gardening, essentially recreating rich loose soil (eerily similar to tilled soil) on top of the existing untilled soil. For hops, even the tillers among us are digging a deep hole, amending it with compost, and topping it off with mulch, essentially creating a lasagna garden in the ground.

I've just never seen a convincing reason to do either version of no-till at home. Of course, no-till is less work if you're comparing it to tilling by hand. Hey, if I didn't have access to a roto-tiller, you can bet I'd do no-till every time! But if you're at a very small scale, like a backyard hop garden, then you can easily dig holes by hand.

As for the benefits to the soil / environment, I haven't seen any rigorous evidence to back up this claim. Moreover, no-till advocates typically don't address the disturbance to soil microbiota brought about by covering the topsoil with cardboard and mulch, which deprives surface microbes (along with the weeds) of oxygen, heat, and access to water. Building up soil vertically essentially moves the soil surface further away, forcing soil microbes to shift upward the way global warming forces plants to move up a mountainside. Neither do no-till advocates typically address the possibility that the soil aeration brought about by tilling actually prevents anaerobic soil denitrification, thereby decreasing the fertilizer requirements of tilled land. But this is just reasoning, not really backed up by any evidence. The only rigorous evidence one way or the other (that I've come across so far), is the clear benefit of tilling to the heart and lungs of the tiller!

Lastly, no-till is not something we Westerners invented in the 20th century. Here is Virgil in part 1 of The Georgics

Then thou shalt suffer in alternate years
The new-reaped fields to rest, and on the plain
A crust of sloth to harden; or, when stars
Are changed in heaven, there sow the golden grain
Where erst, luxuriant with its quivering pod,
Pulse, or the slender vetch-crop, thou hast cleared,
And lupin sour, whose brittle stalks arise,
A hurtling forest. For the plain is parched
By flax-crop, parched by oats, by poppies parched
In Lethe-slumber drenched. Nathless by change
The travailing earth is lightened, but stint not
With refuse rich to soak the thirsty soil,
And shower foul ashes o'er the exhausted fields.
Thus by rotation like repose is gained,
Nor earth meanwhile uneared and thankless left.​

The reduction in yield farmers now see with no-till methods is potentially larger than the yield reductions farmers experienced in Virgil's time (due to intense crop selection in academic breeding programs), so perhaps no-till was even more common back in the day. But the earliest depictions of agriculture by humans clearly show plowing and tilling. There had to be some reason the Sumerians and Egyptians went to all that trouble, and it was likely the same reason people still till their land: yield.
 
Then thou shalt suffer in alternate years
The new-reaped fields to rest, and on the plain
A crust of sloth to harden; or, when stars
Are changed in heaven, there sow the golden grain
Where erst, luxuriant with its quivering pod,
Pulse, or the slender vetch-crop, thou hast cleared,
And lupin sour, whose brittle stalks arise,
A hurtling forest. For the plain is parched
By flax-crop, parched by oats, by poppies parched
In Lethe-slumber drenched. Nathless by change
The travailing earth is lightened, but stint not
With refuse rich to soak the thirsty soil,
And shower foul ashes o'er the exhausted fields.
Thus by rotation like repose is gained,
Nor earth meanwhile uneared and thankless left.​

The reduction in yield farmers now see with no-till methods is potentially larger than the yield reductions farmers experienced in Virgil's time (due to intense crop selection in academic breeding programs), so perhaps no-till was even more common back in the day. But the earliest depictions of agriculture by humans clearly show plowing and tilling. There had to be some reason the Sumerians and Egyptians went to all that trouble, and it was likely the same reason people still till their land: yield.

Sounds like the fallow system to me, but I could be wrong. Anyways, no-till definitely isn't something I'd do for growing grains or anything on a really large scale, especially if I had a plow. Of course if you have a plow or roto-tiller, why bother? I don't.

What I do have is a ton of compost. I had been dumping big bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks in a pile. I was going to wait until fall to mix them with leaves since they need to be mixed with brown compost at a ratio of 1:3. Then it hit me: spent grains are brown compost. So I've been mixing the two and it has turned into a mountain. Once I'm ready to use it I will mix some lime in until the PH is right.
 
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