Make a 'no-dig' vegetable garden in less than two hours

A no-dig vegie patch is extremely easy to set up - and quick! And, of course, there is no digging involved. No hard work at all.

• Requires very low on-going maintenance
  
• Saves on water and fertiliser
  
• Has the potential to fully recycle kitchen scraps and garden waste
  
• Can be built over grass or rock, even over concrete!
  
• Can be built with or without a retaining wall, to any size
  

To build your no-dig garden you'll need a patch of ground that will recieve about 6 hours sunlight per day.

Your patch can be on grass, rock or even concrete! If you're building your garden on rock or concrete you'll need a layer of gravel or scoria at the bottom for drainage.

You'll also need:

• Some piles of old newspapers (not glossy paper)
  
• Some buckets of water to wet the newspaper
  
• A few bags of compost or manure
  
• One or two bales of lucerne or pea straw
  
• One or two bales of straw or sugar cane mulch
  

You don't necessarily need to form any walls for your garden. I used 4 old railway sleepers simply because I had them, but many folk start their garden straight onto the ground. They tend to hold themselves up, so if you don't have the material for the walls, save yourself the expense and start building anyway.

1. Preparing the base
Make sure you have a flat surface to start on. Cut down any grass or weeds and leave them there to decompose. Add a layer of gravel if you think drainage might be a problem.

2. Newspaper
Soak some newspapers. Get them sopping wet. Put down a layer of newspaper covering the entire area of your garden. Make sure the sheets overlap and make sure the whole layer is about 6-8 sheets thick.

3. Lucerne or pea straw, compost and poo
Now the idea is to alternate layers of fine and course compostable materials. Start with a layer of lucerne, then a thin layer of cow manure, then a layer of compost. Repeat the layers until you run out of materials, or your patch is approaching 30cm high. Finish with a thick compost layer.

4. Straw or sugar cane mulch
Top the whole lot with a generous layer of mulch.

It's best to raise your seedlings in trays (or buy them straight from the nursery) and then plant out into your new no-dig garden. Push aside the mulch and trowel in some potting mix or fine compost. Plant your seedlings and water in well.

As the seedlings grow and the layers rot down, top up with more layers of manure and compost.

Make sure you maintain a good thick layer of mulch around your seedlings to help them stay cool and moist in the coming summer heat.

If you're on this page, I guess I don't need to tell you how important it is to grow our own food. Chemical free, fresh and natural food is not a luxury, it's the way food is supposed to be.

Here is a little ebook I just love that is a wonderful guide to creating your own organic food garden - even if you know nothing about organic gardening. (Your new worm farm will be a big help :)

It's written by Julie Villani who lives in the beautiful Barossa Valley in South Australia. If you ever get a chance to visit this area, do so! It's a gorgeous corner of the world and by chance or design, it is full of people who seem to be devoted to fine, organic food. (I could talk for ages about the foodies of the Barossa, but really I'd like to convince you take a look at this book!)

I purchased Julie's book about a year ago now, and this year I have 8 different varieties of tomatoes growing, 5 different cucumbers, 6 different watermelons, and the rockmelons and pumpkins will be going in very soon. (Spring is just kicking off down here.) My point is, Julie's book convinced me, and showed me, how to do more than just grab a few wilted seedlings from the nursery.

Gardening is about love and passion. If that's too romantic for you, then think of it this way. Growing your own food will reduce your impact on the environment, and give you and your family the best chance of living long, happy and healthy lives.

If you want to read more, visit Julie's page on
Organic Gardening here.