Thursday, 20 February 2025




 Giving the soil a tickle. The loose soil on the surface of this bed had hardened to a crust which reduces the soil porosity so I gave it a 'tickle'. A lady who happened to be passing said she thought that topsoil shouldn't be disturbed. Interesting that the 'no-dig' approach advocated by Charles Dowding and others has become a commonplace.
 There's a lot to be said for it -soil is a self-sustaining ecosystem- but my approach is low-dig on the whole. There is a saying in permaculture that "everything gardens". Soil is constantly"gardened" by micro-organisms, invertebrates, mammals, the weather etc. sometimes quite deeply, for example when the roots of a falling tree lever up a large amount of earth. So I don't think ruffling the soil is disastrous and can be preferable to doing nothing.
 In fact we will probably seed this bed with grass seed in the spring to extend the adjacent lawn. But for now the bulbs are coming through so it may as well look like a tended border. And there is no point in sowing seed on a compacted surface because it will not take. A bit more tickling will be appropriate when the time comes.