The RHS No Dig Allotment Demonstration Garden

In more detail

• The principle of no-dig underpins the whole garden: a reduced amount of tilling improves soil health, retains carbon and helps support a more sustainable garden with increasing biodiversity
• Plentiful ideas include chainlink drain pipes, an open-sided polytunnel, hot composting and planted up pallets – even a planted wheelbarrow, full of tasty crops and companion planting

About the garden

This is a no dig allotment garden inspired by Charles Dowding’s 40 years of experience pioneering and developing no-dig techniques in four different market gardens and Stephanie Hafferty’s decades of organic allotment growing and running no-dig kitchen gardens.

The garden demonstrates how to grow abundant food year round without digging or disturbing the soil. An annual mulch of compost feeds the soil and soil life for a year, increasing soil biology and enhancing soil fertility.

The garden shows how the no-dig method works in beds, greenhouses, polytunnels and pots, to grow healthy, delicious vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers. We show how no dig means less weeding, produces higher yields and works with nature, increasing biodiversity, reducing pests and locking in carbon.

The no dig allotment is an interactive garden with a community feel. The designers are on hand to answer questions. There are practical demonstrations showing how to set up a no dig garden in different situations, how to grow your own food, make good compost, reduce plastic, increase harvests with module sowing and intercropping techniques, and protect plants from pests.

Supported by: Dalefoot Composts, Gardening Naturally, First Tunnels and Burgon & Ball.

• Download the full plant list used in this garden (924kB pdf)