Don’t Dig -

Do you Dig it?

I don’t know about you but I feel allergic to digging. I have a medium size garden on the edge of the sea and I positively hate digging and weeding, so I have organised life so I have to do the minimum of both. Obviously before I did anything I turned everything over with a Rotovator, called Rupert, and I improved the soil with a couple of tons of top cover soil, but after that I stopped digging. I covered the soil up with weed membrane and then on top of that I put a very great deal of coniferous wood chippings, courtesy of my local log man. It seems you can get these chippings for the virtually the square root of no much at all, if you are willing to take them at a moment’s notice like I did. I just left out a tarpaulin on the front and they dumped when I wasn’t there. So now I mulch to my heart’s content.  But it seems I am both ahead of my time as a well as behind, because no-dig gardening which is a non-cultivation method used by some organic gardeners has origins that are based on pre-industrial or nineteenth-century farming techniques. You let nature do the work.

Back to Our Future

It seems that now in Scotland a return to this traditional agricultural method will help Scotland meet its climate change targets. Lots of farmers report healthier crops and profit margins by employing wisdom reaped in the Victorian era. They sow so-called cover crops in between harvests and so they spend less on fertilisers and chemical sprays which as we all know discourage our friend the bee. And having the ground covered rather than bare over winter helps to prevent pollution of watercourses and encourages wildlife to flourish.  Did you know that ploughing breaks up the soil and releases greenhouse gases and leads to soil erosion? It is all news to me. Now farmers are asking for greater incentives to go back to the future. It seems that ploughing is one of the worst things you can do to soil as it kills 75 per cent of worms and disturbs organic matter in the earth. Oh dearie me. It seems that sheer laziness has made me a better gardener for the planet. And I have stopped using pesticides as well. With mulching you don’t need them anyway.

Nesting Instinct

Well if you have better things to do with your time than doggedly walk round the shops or endlessly surf the net for a shred of a gift idea then don’t fret. We here at James Pirie have done most of the digging for you and made a huge variety of Scottish evergreens available at the click of a mouse. Take for example the smashing people at the Just Slate Company, they have some great Made in Scotland nesting copper bowls. They are perfect for snacks and nibbles. I am a sucker for most kinds of nuts and crisps, aren’t you? People also like to put avocado in them too so I am informed. I will accept that as long as it is in the form of guacamole, remember I have a Mexican American daughter in law. The nesting bowls are five star rated by those lovely folks who are our customers.

https://www.jamespirie.com/brands/the-just-slate-company/copper-nesting-bowls.html