Review: Definitive guide to organic gardening
For those of you who are eagerly planning your Autumn planting for over-wintering, or painstakingly gathering seeds or placing orders for Spring seedlings, this is the book for you. Organic Gardening the Natural No-Dig Way by Charles Dowding is a classic guide to organic gardening and has been tried and tested by many gardeners, both new and experienced.
If no digging seems too good to be true, fear not – not disturbing the structure of the earth really does make for a better growing medium with more worms and other helpful organisms to turn the soil for you and keep it healthy. And mulching with compost allows the nutrients to break down into the soil in a natural way, as well as keeping the weeds at bay over the Winter.
The book is intensely practical as well as elaborating on the philosophy behind organic, no-dig gardening. Split into sections on different plants, you can easily dip in and out of the book, looking up just what you need to and finding easy advice on planting times, pests and solutions, companion planting and everything you need to create your organic garden. Even a complete beginner can find the way to create a highly productive garden here, without the use of chemicals. Now is the time to start the reading, ready to plant in November.
I tried sheet mulching on our garden this past winter, but even with all the snow we had, it just didn't break down very well. We have clay soil and it is very dry. I have reduced my digging and tilling dramatically, but it seems I need to do some... or let the garden sit fallow for a year after sheet mulching. Any thoughts?
Posted by: Clea | September 15, 2007 3:42 PM