2026 - Good morning, afternoon and good night!

^^^^^^^^ Dig for Victory!

.or as that Dowding man would say "No Dig for Victory!.

I have went off this method of gardenng to some extent. It relies on having lots of cardboard,good stoneless soil to begin with, copious amounts of mulch and seems to breed compaction. It is also quite labour intensive although purports not to be? Each to their own but I like a mixture of trad gardening, no sides on raised beds (causes wood to rot or bed to dry out,) bed widths of  two foot suit me with paths very narrow apart from main feeder path. I do like the cardboard mulch for weed suppression (because it's free) though it is quite ugly if not covered. Just me being me!

I don't dig unless I want to plant something or dig something up. I'm not going to spread my bit of precious compost willynilly over the soil and I'm certainly not going to buy it in, just to throw it on the ground.
I sometimes watch his youtube stuff but after a few minutes of "Buy this, buy that" including "my long handled dibber", which has been hand crafted at great expense (for you, sucker, to buy) I either switch off or fall asleep.
If you haven't guessed, I've put him in the same category as the cardigan and necklace wearing woman!

I'm traditional too. I dig, or more to the point P does.

I don’t dig apart from digging out parsnips, JA’s and dandelions.

I have been trying to do no-dig the last four years or so. Two of those years I've bought in a lot of compost. I'm hoping to switch to covering the ground with free organic matter and cover crops going forward. My soil is really heavy and covering makes it much easier to work. I like digging and sorting out weed roots, to an extent, and I have lots of grass and bindweed that still needs digging in places. As ever, moderation and adjustment to personal needs are the best approach. I used to like watching CD videos but he's gotten a bit into the confidently pseudoscientific for my taste so I rarely watch now

Well I'm hoping to start an experiment tomorrow. In the autumn, I collected some acorns: one big one, 3 medium and a small. .....

This experiment has terminated early. I had potted them up and placed the pots on top of some aluminium staging in a greenhouse. I found the shells this morning. Some steeplejack of a mouse had climbed up somehow and eaten them. I usually put trays of peas/beans in there to germinate. I'll keep them in the conservatory this year while that mouse is at large.

Mice are devil's. Last year I sowed broad beans in modules to get a head start, before the ground was prepared. They were growing nicely 2 or 3" tall then the mice came and chopped the tops off. I initially thought it was pigeons, until I caught the mice in traps. This year the bea plants are on top of a water but out of the way, gasping to be planted.

I used to think the top of aluminium staging was safe from pests but found some seedling broccoli and caulis eaten by a slug. I assume just the 1 is enough. And I left a tray of lettuce seeds on the floor in the greenhouse and remembered about 11pm last night. When I went out to pick them up a mouse had already rummaged through the soil. I assume looking for the seeds?