S4:E128 – How No Dig Liberates the Soil, and Us - Charles Dowding (The People's Reset: UK)
On September 27, 2024, Charles Dowding spoke at The People's Reset: UK on the theme Permaculture & Food Independence.
Digging and turning soil are old-fashioned ways to manage what looks like a difficult issue of starting plants without weeds.
On a farming scale of say more than 2 acres, it’s not easy to avoid some kind of cultivation. However, as gardeners growing intensive vegetables on roughly one acre, 4000 m² or less, it’s feasible to mulch the surface to smother the weeds and then to leave soil undisturbed while growing our plants. This preserves the soil ecosystem and does not kill any soil inhabitants.
The wonderful success of this method has led me and many to question why we are instructed to proceed in certain ways. And the essence of that last sentence is what I want to explore a lot in my talk, after I give a brief how to.