When I started my garden at our new place this year, I knew I wanted to make no-dig garden beds, but I wasn’t sure what the best no-dig method was. So in preparation for setting up my garden, I did a lot of research.
But after my initial research on no-dig gardening, lasagna gardening, and sheet mulching, I was more confused than ever. It seems like everyone has a different formula for what layers to put down and in what order.
I just wanted something simple that works, that I could put together quickly and easily with materials I already had or could get cheaply. That’s when I went back to the basics and realized a no-dig garden doesn’t have to be complicated.
In this post, I’ll go over how to easily make a no-dig garden, with readily available and affordable materials, step by step. But before getting to the steps I want to explain a little bit about what a no-dig garden is.
What Is a No-Dig Garden?
Just like it sounds, no-dig is a gardening technique that doesn’t require turning the soil, digging, or rototilling. No dig is also known as sheet mulching, lasagna gardening, or composting in place. It is a method of gardening used in permaculture that works with natural processes rather than fighting against them.
Instead of turning the soil each year, with no-dig gardening the soil is built up by adding layers of organic matter. The first year you’ll add the most material, and each year after that you’ll top off your beds with compost and mulch.
No-Dig Gardening is Gardening With Nature
As a lazy gardener, I prefer growing perennials to annuals. But there are still some annuals I want to grow – because my family and I like to eat them and we want to shift to growing a lot of our own food.
But, again, as a lazy gardener, I want to garden smarter, not harder. I’m not interested in spending loads of time weeding, fertilizing, and the like. And, just as with a food forest, I want to grow my annuals closer to the way they would grow in a natural ecosystem. For me, that means growing in no-dig garden beds.
Nature doesn’t dig up the soil before planting seeds. Instead, organic litter falls to the ground and decomposes in place, building the soil and feeding the microbes. Seeds fall on the surface and might be covered by animal activity or falling debris before germinating.
Earthworms are the diggers in this system, and they do a heck of a better job at digging than people do. Earthworms don’t disrupt the fragile mycorrhizal networks growing just below the soil surface, or any of the other soil life. They aerate the soil, creating channels for water and root growth.
Why Practice No-Dig Gardening?
Not turning the garden soil provides many benefits for the garden and gardener. It’s less labor-intensive, has fewer weeds, and has healthier soil biology than conventionally tilled gardens.
So if not turning the garden soil has all of these benefits, why do many gardeners turn their beds each year?
Likely they are doing so because it’s how they learned. Home gardeners may mimic larger farms, applying the method on a smaller scale. Farmers till their fields for the short-term benefits that tillage has to offer.
Why Do Farmers Till?
Tilling breaks up compacted soil and creates a nice loose medium for planting. It aerates the soil, temporarily controls weeds, and destroys many garden pests that overwinter in the soil.
What is the Downside of Tilling?
However, these benefits are only temporary, and the farmer or gardener must turn the soil regularly to keep benefiting from them. Over time, this leads to soil erosion, hardpan creation, and the continued need for chemical inputs of fertilizers and pesticides.
Benefits of No-Dig Gardening
A no-dig bed gets to keep its soil ecosystem intact, making it a healthier, more resilient system
Ironically, even though weed control is one of the reasons for tilling, weeds are less of a problem in no-till beds. The thick layers of compost and mulch smother weeds before they have a chance to break the surface.
Lastly, and best of all, no-dig is a lot less labor-intensive than conventional gardening methods. Turning the soil with a shovel is hard work. Even if you have a rototiller, it’s an extra step with an extra energy cost. And don’t forget the time spent weeding a turned-over garden.
The Best No-Dig Garden Setup for You
The best no-dig garden bed for you, in your unique situation, depends on what materials you have access to, your budget, and what kind of look you’re going for.
Here are some decisions you’ll need to make before creating your no-dig garden bed.
- What will contain or border your garden beds, if anything?
- What organic materials will you layer to make up your garden bed soil?
- Will you include a weed barrier of cardboard or paper at the bottom?
I’ll go over the options for these as they come up in the steps below.
How to Make a No-Dig Garden Bed
1. Plan Your No-Dig Garden Bed Layout
Select Location
Decide where to put your garden bed or beds. Choose an area that gets plenty of sun. At a minimum, the area should get five hours of sunlight a day.
The closer your garden is to your house the better. Vegetable gardens are in permaculture zone 1, which means we access them daily or multiple times a day. If you have to walk far to get to it, you’re less likely to visit it to give it the attention it needs. That said, my veggie garden is at the back of my property because the area closer to my home is shaded by trees.
Decide on Bed and Path Size
Think about what size you want your bed to be. A good width for easy reach of the entire bed is three to four feet across for beds with access from each side, and eighteen inches to two feet for beds against a fence or wall with access only from one side.
For path width, I prefer at least three feet, for easy wheelbarrow access. Some people prefer narrower paths, down to twelve inches wide, particularly if space is at a premium to maximize the growing area.
Put Your Plan on Paper or into the Computer
If you’re making more than one or two beds or laying out a garden that you’ll add beds to in future seasons, It can be helpful to sketch your plan.
Paper and pencil are my preference for garden layouts because it’s quick and easily editable. Some people may wish to draw up their plans in a CAD or graphic program on the computer.
2. Prepare the Ground
Mow the Area
Mow any tall grass or weeds, leaving them in place. It’s also okay to just leave the grass and weeds unmowed if they aren’t very tall. Mowed or not, this will be your first layer of organic material.
With conventional gardens, the advice is often to remove as much grass from the area as possible before putting it in your garden beds. But this is actually discarding a valuable source of organic material that will decompose and add soil organic carbon to your garden.
The worry of course is that this grass will become a troublesome weed if left in place. In no-dig gardens, this isn’t the case, since the thick layers of compost and mulch, and usually cardboard or paper will smother the grass, preventing it from being a problem.
As the saying in permaculture goes, “The problem is the solution.” The problem of grass and weeds actually becomes a benefit to the permaculture garden by providing organic material that builds the soil.
Stake the Corners
Once you’ve planned out your garden bed locations in your head or on paper, measure out the dimensions on the ground. Mark the corners with wooden stakes, rocks, or whatever you have on hand.
Level the Ground at the Bed Locations (As Needed)
If your land is sloped you’ll need to level the garden bed area. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but any significant slope will cause runoff issues when watering.
For this step, you’ll need to dig a little bit. Dig along the high side and put the soil or sod on the low side until the ground is roughly level.
For very steep sites you may need to put in retaining walls to terrace the beds. That portion of the prep work is beyond the scope of this article. I’m going to assume you’re working with level or nearly level ground, or have already terraced the site.
Loosen the Soil With a Garden Fork
To loosen the soil, push a garden fork into it and pull back on the handle a little to slightly lift the soil. You’re only opening it up, not turning anything over.
This step isn’t critical, but it will give your no-dig garden a little boost. Loosening the soil gently with a garden fork doesn’t disrupt the soil life much, but it does aerate the soil and allow water to move through the soil better.
This step also helps remediate any compaction from previous walking or driving over the area.
Water the Area
Once the soil is opened up, give it a good soak with the garden hose before laying down the next layer.
It’s a good idea to water between each layer to prevent dry spots, or dry layers, in the bed. As in compost piles, moisture is important to quickly break down organic matter.
3. Add a Green Layer (0″-2″, 0-5 cm)
Put down any plant-based uncomposted food scraps you have. Just sprinkle it on the surface. Grass clippings or pulled weeds from elsewhere are also good here.
It’s fine to use uncomposted material here because it will be buried under the other layers, deep enough that critters won’t find it and dig it up.
Most food scraps will fully decompose within a couple of weeks to a month. Exceptions to this are eggshells, any kind of fruit pits, and avocado peels. Avoid these things if you don’t want to find them in your garden later on.
This nitrogen-rich layer will attract earthworms to your garden, which will speed up soil generation and improve aeration and fertility.
4. Put Down Cardboard or Newspaper (Optional)
If you want to include a cardboard or paper weed barrier, now is the time to do it. Use one or two layers of cardboard or five or so layers of newspaper. Any paper or cardboard you put down should be free of tape, sticky labels, and glossy coatings.
Soak newspaper and smaller pieces of cardboard in a bucket of water prior to laying it out. For bigger pieces of cardboard that are harder to soak in a bucket, just water them down well with the garden hose before adding the next layer.
Is Cardboard or Paper Necessary in a No-Dig Bed?
It’s okay to skip this step if you plan on making a very thick bed of built-up organic layers. Twelve inches will be plenty thick to smother most weeds. If you don’t have that much organic material available, or if you have very aggressive weeds, then putting down cardboard or paper is a good idea.
Most methods for sheet mulching and lasagna gardening include a cardboard or paper weed barrier, usually at the bottom and sometimes at the top (paper only).
I didn’t put either down inside my beds (I did lay down cardboard in the pathways), but I didn’t have a lot of grass or weeds growing under two of my three beds. I may try Morag Gamble’s method of putting paper on the top if I find I have issues with many weeds coming up.
Why You Might Not Want to Use Cardboard in Your Garden
Remember that this barrier goes both ways. If weeds can’t grow through it, your plant roots won’t grow through it either. Eventually, it will break down, but in the first season, this might be an issue.
To remedy this, when you plant your seedlings, you can dig down to the cardboard and cut a hole or “X” in it for the roots to grow through.
Some people have concerns about chemicals in cardboard from glues and inks getting into the garden soil. I’m not overly concerned about this, but when sheet mulching I do remove tape and labels and I don’t use printed and glossy cardboard or paper.
Even if you don’t use cardboard beneath the beds, consider putting it in the pathways as I did.
5. Install Edging or a Raised Bed, If Using (Optional)
This step is completely optional. A no-dig garden can be as simple as a mound of layered organic materials, composted in place, that we plant into.
If you do want edging or raised beds, you can place them on top of the cardboard to keep weeds from coming up at the edges.
Next week I’ll go into more depth on materials to use for raised beds and edging. I’ll link to that post here once It’s published.
No-Dig Bed Edging
Materials such as bricks, stones, wood timbers, and logs can be used to line your garden bed edge and help to keep the soil in place. For more garden bed edging ideas read, 28 Simple Raised Bed and Edging Ideas for No-Dig Gardens.
Installing a border like this also discourages people from walking through the garden, which is important. Stepping on the garden soil compacts it, and compaction prevents water and air from easily moving through.
If you have kids or pets “helping” you in the garden, edging can help keep them out of it.
No-Dig Gardens in Raised Beds
Raised beds offer even more protection from foot traffic. They also contain more soil and many people think they look nicer and neater than mounded beds with or without edging.
Depending on their material and how they are constructed, raised beds can also offer an edge to sit on while working in the garden.
You can build your own or purchase premade raised beds or kits. Wood is probably the most common material for raised garden beds, but cinderblocks, bricks, corrugated metal, and combinations of these are also popular.
If you build your own raised beds, stay clear of pressure-treated wood and railroad ties because they are treated with chemicals that aren’t good to have next to garden soil that grows edibles. Even the newer products now available, though better than past chemicals used, are still not good for a vegetable garden.
6. Add Your No-Dig Garden Layers
Put down layers of organic materials that will break down over time to create excellent, nutrient-rich garden soil. The idea is to alternate layers of carbon-rich and nitrogen-rich materials to form a good balance of the two. More on that in a bit.
The layers can be thin or thick and you can add as many layers as you want or have material for. I’ve listed rough thicknesses as a guideline, but feel free to deviate from my suggestions. If you want a simple method, follow the bolded sections.
Carbon-Rich Layers (4″-6″, 10-15 cm)
First, put down a carbon-rich layer. This brown material can be straw, shredded dry leaves, coco coir, etc. Use what you have readily available, but avoid sawdust and wood chips if you’re following the simple instructions in bold.
Fall leaves are an excellent free resource to use for this layer (or layers). Straw is a relatively cheap material that works well if you don’t have leaves available. If you’re using sawdust or wood chips keep the layer thin for the reasons discussed below.
You can also use carbon-rich layers near the top of the bed. If you do this, at planting time, make a hollow in the bed, fill it with potting soil or finished compost, and plant directly into that.
Nitrogen Rich Layers (4″-6″, 10-15cm)
Next, lay down a layer of compost. This can be fully composted kitchen scraps or fully composted animal manure. If you have chickens or rabbits, this is a perfect use of their manure. Just make sure that it isn’t fresh and has had at least a few months to compost down.
If you want to use fresh manure or grass clippings (or both) that’s fine, but put these layers near the bottom or middle of the bed. Uncomposted manure will be too hot (have too much nitrogen) to plant directly into.
In this case (if your nitrogen-rich layers are at the bottom of the bed because they are not fully composted), put the carbon-rich layers at the top to form a thick mulch layer and plant seedlings into pockets of soil in the mulch as mentioned above.
Balance Carbon and Nitrogen
Whatever materials you end up using, they should be a good balance of carbon and nitrogen-rich materials. Carbon-rich materials are browns, things such as straw and dried leaves. Nitrogen-rich materials, or “greens” include grass clippings, food scraps, and manure.
Here are some options for materials to use for your no-dig garden layers.
Options for Carbon-Rich Layers
- Straw
- Dry leaves
- Coco coir
- Shredded paper
- Sawdust
- Woody plant trimmings, chopped or shredded into small pieces
- Wood chips
Options for Nitrogen Rich Layers
- Any kind of animal manure
- Finished compost
- Fruit and vegetable trimmings
- Grass clippings
- Green plant trimmings
- Coffee grounds
The Right Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio
With a high C:N ratio (too much carbon), microbes will scavenge for nitrogen, spending their time burning through a lot of material without creating biomass. With a low C:N ratio (too much nitrogen), the soil will become too “hot” for plants.
Ideally, an annual garden bed should have a C:N ratio of 20-30:1. This works out to be about 3-4:1 browns to greens, but this can vary widely depending on the materials you use.
If you use materials that have very high C:N ratios, such as woodchips or sawdust, you’ll need to either use less of them or provide more nitrogen-rich materials to balance them out.
Don’t worry about making your layers the perfect balance of carbon to nitrogen, but do use the chart below to roughly estimate how much of each material type to use.
Carbon to Nitrogen Ratios for No-Dig Garden Materials
Material | C:N Ratio |
|---|---|
Animal manure | 2-25: 1 |
Vegetable Scraps | 15-20: 1 |
Grass clippings | 15-25: 1 |
Coffee grounds | 20: 1 |
Straw | 40-100: 1 |
Woodchips, sawdust | 100-500: 1 |
Mixed paper | 150-200: 1 |
Newspaper, cardboard | 560: 1 |
Getting Compost
If you don’t have free access to a lot of animal manure or compost, then it’s worth it to buy some. If you spend any money on making your no-dig beds, in my opinion, this is where that money should go. I’ve purchased composted organic manure from my local nursery for $45.00 a cubic yard. To fill a 3’x9′ bed with 6″ of compost you’ll need half a cubic yard.
7. Add a Layer of Mulch (4″, 10 cm)
Finish off the bed with a layer of weed-free mulch, such as straw (you can cut it with scissors to make it finer), or fine wood chips.
This layer is important because it holds moisture, protects seedlings, retains nutrients, and moderates soil temperature. The mulch in this layer will also break down over time and improve the soil.
Once you’ve spread your top layer of mulch, your no-dig garden is ready to go. If it’s springtime, you can start planting in it immediately.
If it’s autumn, you can let it sit and break down all of those wonderful organic materials over winter. Make sure the top layer of mulch is nice and thick. Alternatively, you can sow a cover crop for the off-season.
Planting In a No-Dig Garden Bed
When it’s time to plant your seedlings scrape away the mulch in just the area you want to plant and plant directly into the compost layer below.
If you didn’t use finished compost in your garden bed then make a nest in the mulch and fill it with potting soil or finished compost and plant in that.
For direct seeding into a no-dig garden bed, make a groove in the mulch and direct seed into the compost below, or add compost to the groove and seed into that.
If you’re following my article on polyculture gardening and want to broadcast sow your seeds you can still use a no-dig garden bed. Keep the top layer of mulch about 1/4″ to 1/2″ (0.6-1.3 cm) thick and use a fine-textured mulch.
At sowing time, rake up the mulch layer before broadcasting the seeds, then re-spread a thin layer of mulch. When the seeds germinate the small plants will act as a living mulch to provide additional protection for the soil.
Maintain Your No-Dig Garden Bed
Maintaining a no-dig garden is much easier than maintaining a conventional garden.
The end of the growing season in the fall, or in late winter or early spring (about the time you start seeds indoors) are both good times to prepare your no-dig beds. Chop down the old plant material and leave it in place (chop-and-drop). Leave any perennials in place and work around them.
On top of the chop-and-dropped plant material, add 2″-3″ (about 5-8 cm) of compost and 4″-6″ (10-15 cm) of mulch.
Even if you plan to broadcast sow seeds, use a thick layer of mulch on no-dig garden beds. Come spring you can scrape it off to sow the seeds.
Conclusion
Starting and maintaining a no-dig garden bed is easier and less expensive than starting a conventional garden bed. No-dig gardens also have better, more fertile soil for healthier plants without the need for chemical inputs of fertilizer and pesticides.
The process might seem confusing or complicated at first, but the concept is really quite simple. So gather up some compost and mulch materials and start making your own no-dig garden.
If you want some ideas for raised beds or edging to contain your no-dig garden, check out my next post, 28 Simple Raised Bed and Edging Ideas for No-Dig Gardens.
Happy growing!
References
Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture, second edition, by Rosemary Morrow
No-Dig Permaculture Garden masterclass with Morag Gamble
Cornell University Library, Composting to Reduce the Waste Stream – A Guide to Small Scale Food and Yard Waste Composting
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Carbon to Nitrogen Ratios in Cropping Systems
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