I've discovered Charles Dowding and the "no dig" school of gardening at just the moment in which I got access to a bit of land where I could do experiments. Good combo.

As I wrote on l'instagram, started my first #nodig garden on October 25 with municipal compost on cardboard. Inspired by @charles_dowding. The idea is that the cardboard smothers the weeds while the compost nourishes the soil. There’s no digging at all. Today we spread out two huge bags of compost on more cardboard to make six new beds with sawdust pathways. I’m starting baby plants in the tropics (Barcelona) for planting here next month. I’m particularly curious to see how the #multiplanting works. Three or four seedlings growing together. Cross your fingers :)

Today: The garden is getting bigger. I've spread the four cubic meters of compost, about 10cm deep, sometimes a little more or less. Well, centimeters, the truth is I haven't really interiorized them. I'm going for six inches, which now that I've looked is reallly 15cm. Whatever.

While touring the garden centers in my new neighborhood, I found some blueberry bushes I couldn't resist. And cranberries (hello Thanksgiving!). And red currants. It'll be interesting to see what this garden can handle. I'm not at all used to the climate. I'm sure I'll mess up a lot because of it.

And mess up because of my impatience, but that's no surprise to anyone. For example, I planted some poppies that I had started in Barcelona (in November :) but there was a hard frost and I don't think they're going to survive. The kale on the other hand is looking great. This year I'll plant it earlier so that I can eat it all during the winter when it's sweetest.

On February 1, I planted onion, leek and strawberry starts that I got locally. But I can't tell the onions and leeks apart (30 of each) so I planted them the same way: in clumps of 4 or 5 and about a foot apart, in diamond shapes. This is my attempt at Dowding's "multiplanting". He says plants grow better when they're with their mates. I like that idea. They might not get quite as big, but they get big enough. We'll see. I always worry my neighbor gardeners (or the people that walk by on the bike path) will think I'm crazy, or dumb, or naive, that I don't know what I'm doing, which is partially true, and I wonder if this no dig will work here in Catalonia on this plot of land. I'm worried more about the sun than the soil, and the lack of water.

Today I discovered Stephanie Hafferty, who co wrote a book with Dowding. She has a new videw filmed about her new garden in Wales. She started from scratch after moving to a new house. And it's beautiful already. But she knows a lot more than I, but she follows the same principles. The question is whether I can follow the principles a bit blindly—and if I'll learn more with time. One of the interesting things that Stephanie said is the difficulty of making enough compost for a no dig garden if your garden is small. She is looking into the effects of different teas—like with nettles—to nourish the soil. I find it fascinating. She also talks about how to get water—and it makes me wonder if there's a way I could gather water from the morning dew in my garden.

I watered on Feb 1 and 2 after planting, but it's really a drag carrying water from the river. Luckily from the washing basin which is easier to get to. But it's so heavy and makes me not want to water very much.

The bulbs that I planted in December are coming up—tulips and crocuses and daffodils. Such a sign of spring and hope. They didn't get eaten up by little mice (if there are ny) and somehow found enough water o grow (it hasn't rained a bit since I planted them) and I don't remember where they are so I can't water them even if I did have the energy. The snowdrops (galanthus) I planted are holding on, just barely.

#sensellaurar #nodig #nollaurar #hortecologic #compostatge