I’ve tried to do a no-dig garden, but I gave up after a first storm when all the material ended washed all the way down to the orchard. So I deep dig. My hubby helps me when he has the time, but most of the time I’m alone in this and I absolutely hate it. Deep digging is always tough, but deep digging up the hill is a nightmare. Not only do you dig but also you have to keep the balance while moving upwards. 

But it’s something that needs to be done to so today I went to prepare my new onion/leek/lettuce winter beds. I’ve pulled out my tomato and cucumber plants. The tomato season has been a disaster and there’s no point in leaving the plants waiting for them to give me a second harvest. Especially since there were only 2 new tomatoes on the plants. Cucumbers are also done. The ones on the net are still growing but the ones on this bed are mostly dead. I’ve also pulled out beans that were on the top. They could have given me another harvest if left, but there are plenty of beans in the rest of the garden and I need this bed. 

Once I’ve pulled out everything I’ve also removed most of the big weeds that were on the beds. I left some of the friendly weeds on. This way I’m trying to grow friendly weeds instead of the invasive ones that are choking my plants.

And then it was time to dig. The soil wasn’t too hard so I did it in just a couple of hours. Usually, when the autumn rain starts it takes me 2 hours to do one bed (beds are approximately 30m2), but since this is the sunny side I did two beds today without too much struggle. Of course, I won’t be able to lift my hands tomorrow but it was still easier than usual.

Now I’ll leave the beds for a couple of days to dry and then I’ll dig the beds again and sow my vegetables. I’ve left a path between two beds to make the sowing easier and to separate the beds. One of the beds I’ll cover during the winter and the other will stay uncovered.

It’s amazing how small the beds look from my living room window