Challenge Brassica – Part 2 – Soil Replenishing & The No Dig Method

It’s hard to believe but Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and kohl Rabi all belong to the same family ‘Brassica Oleracea’. This means Wild Cabbage.

Brassica’s are all leaves (apart from cauliflowers) and they need nitrogen in the soil and lots of it to form those rich in nutrients green leaves. These green leaves are an important food source in winter for humans and animals.

Nitrogen comes from compost or well rotted manure, so if you have grown vegetables in the bed prior to this, you will need to replenish the soil to add nutrients, drainage and soil structure to the soil that is already in your beds.

The No Dig Method

The No Dig Method is well documented and is a method by which you lay and spread out your compost on top of the soil and do not dig it in.

It is thought that the worms and soil microorganisms will take the nutrients down into the soil structure and work their magic. Winter rain will also move the nutrients down into the soil structure.

It is said that that there will be more growth in Spring if you use the no dig method in Autumn.

Advantages of The No Dig Method

  • It improves the soil structure as digging takes away drainage channels and disturbs the soil ecosystem and microorganisms.
  • It helps suppress weeds.
  • It gives a long term supply of nutrients to the plants as the worms and microorganisms will slowly incorporate it into the spent soil already in your raised beds.
  • It saves water as the added compost also holds on to moisture.
  • It may keep pests away.

Disadvantages of The No Dig Method

  • It is expensive if you have to buy shop bought compost and don’t make your own compost.
  • Compost has to be replenished as mulch every season due to hungry vegetables using the nutrients.
  • The No Dig Method can compact the soil making it very heavy for plant roots to grow through and not having many air pockets,
  • Compost when wet can attract slugs and snails.

I use the No Dig Method except for this time

To prepare my Raised Bed soil, I add multipurpose compost to the soil in a layer. I break up any lumps and rake it so the surface of the soil is flat and level.

This year with the dry weather throughout the summer the soil had compacted quite a lot and it was hard to break up even the soil surface. Therefore I did dig over the soil in the beds to break up the large clods of earth. Then raked it over and added compost.

Then I was ready to plant my Brassicas Plants in the soil.

Challenge Brassica Series

📕 Part 1 – The Brassica Challenge

📗 Part 2 – Soil Replenishment & The No Dig Method



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