Soil, compost and a no-dig bed

What your soil is made of

Garden soil is a mix of sand, silt and clay, plus organic matter: the rotted remains of plants. Sandy soil feels gritty, drains fast and dries out quickly. Clay soil feels sticky and holds water and nutrients well, but it can be heavy and slow to warm in spring. Loam sits in between: dark, crumbly and the easiest soil to grow in. Whatever you have, the fix is the same. Add plenty of organic matter such as garden compost or well-rotted manure, which helps sandy soil hold water and helps clay soil drain.^[1][4]

Build up, don't dig down

A no-dig bed starts on top of the ground. Mow any grass short, cover the area with plain brown cardboard, overlapping the edges so no light gets through, and soak it. Spread 10 to 15 centimetres of compost on top. The cardboard smothers the grass and weeds, and worms pull the compost down into the soil and break up the cardboard within a few months. Skipping the digging leaves the soil's structure and life intact and brings fewer weed seeds to the surface. Keep the bed no wider than 1.2 metres, so you can reach the middle without stepping on it. Autumn is a good time to start: by spring the bed is ready to sow.^[3][2]

Practice: Squeeze your soil and mark out a bed

1. Take a handful of soil from your chosen spot with a trowel and dampen it if it is dry.
2. Squeeze it into a ball: gritty and falling apart means sandy; sticky and shiny means clay; soft and crumbly means loam.
3. Mark out a bed no wider than 1.2 metres with four sticks and string.
4. Collect enough plain cardboard to cover it, with all tape and staples removed.

1. 1.What does a sandy soil feel like when you squeeze a damp handful?
   Sticky and holds shapeSmooth and very shinySoft and smells sourGritty and falls apart✓ (correct answer)

   ✓ Correct. Sand grains are large, so sandy soil feels gritty and will not hold a ball shape.

2. 2.How do you start a no-dig bed on a patch of lawn?
   Dig out turf, then add gravelCover with cardboard, then add compost✓ (correct answer)Spray the grass, then dig deeplyTurn the soil over, then rake✗

   ✗ Not quite. Cardboard smothers the grass and compost on top becomes the growing layer. No digging is needed: worms do the mixing.

3. 3.How much direct sun a day makes a spot full sun?review
   Six hours or more✓ (correct answer)Four hours or moreTwo hours or moreTen hours or more

   ✓ Correct. Full sun means at least six hours of direct sun a day in summer — from Lesson 1.