The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening

If you think a little about the title of this book, you will understand that it's mostly about soil, and how to prepare it with the most suitable materials. And so, this is a very good book on compost, nutrients and just about everything else about gardening, including interplanting, succession planting and polyculture.
The book is very informative, easy to read, and has very good illustrations.

The author advises against rototilling, as he says it will cause more of a problem with weeds. He suggests using cover crops such as annual rye grass or buckwheat to fix nitrogen in the soil (plowing under after they have enriched the soil), or using cardboard or newspaper (not shiny colored papers which could leach harmful chemicals into the soil) to layer on top of the garden to kill potential weed infestations. Straw bale, keyhole, and hugulkultur gardening are presented as intriguing alternatives. He discusses direct seeding vs. buying transplants, and suggests for reliable plants such as marigolds, zinnias, and beans, direct seeding is more economical. There are helpful suggestions on soil mixes and container gardening, both outdoor and indoor. Recommended for anyone looking for a new approach to gardening. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is the ideal Christmas gift to all the gardeners on your list. Easy to read, easy to follow, and think of all the time you'll save! I had already been doing some of the techniques mentioned but this is very comprehensive, with instructions on how to transform just about any space into a no-dig garden. Chock full of great suggestions!

#netgalley

What a wonderful book! The timing of this read was impeccable - I've just been given the keys to a new allotment plot and, unlike others I've had in the past, this one is a completely fresh slate. Cue no-dig gardening and the perfect opportunity to implement the techniques from this book!

As a keen gardener, I'd heard of no-dig, but almost dismissed it as too much effort to set up (even though I knew it would save me time and energy later on) - it almost felt like a too-good-to-be-true option for modern gardening. Not having to spend my entire summer weeding the flower beds? As if!

But, as explained early in the book, not only is no-dig much easier to start than I had thought, it's also got so many benefits for the environment and my flower patch! The guidance is very easy to follow and gives lots of options from quick and easy to detailed and hardcore. I personally sit somewhere in the middle, and as I write this my husband is busy outside making raised bed borders from some pallets we got for free via social media!

This book has motivated me to use my clean slate allotment plot to really give no-dig gardening a try, and I'm so excited to get started.

No dig gardening was completely new to me. Charlie's guide had me hooked. Very easy to follow, simple explanations and great pictures. Will give his recommendations a go to see if the no-dig concept actually works. Recommended.

awesome book! Very well explained and detailed. I've been wanting to start a garden and I'm following this book's instructions. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

This is a fantastic garden resource and delivered more than I expected. Nardozzi goes into great detail about all kinds of no-dig gardening techniques from lasagna gardens to keyhole gardens (love those) to raised beds to straw bale gardens and more. There are charts, tips, step by step instructions and tons of fantastic photos, plus information on cover crops, compost, extending the season and more. This is one I'd be tempted to buy, even though I'm on a book diet.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

When I first started gardening, the only advice I was given was to pick a sunny spot in my yard and rent a rototiller. Yes, it worked and I had my first garden, but it was labor-intensive and really didn’t teach me anything about one of the most critical aspects to being successful, having healthy soil. Every spring for four years, I would rent that rototiller again and wonder why I had so many weeds and why my plants weren’t as healthy as I expected. Turns out, rototilling exposes many dormant weed seeds to the sun, and if I was trying to grow weeds, I would have taken first prize. Each year, I wanted a little less lawn and a little more garden, and I started researching raised beds, which, to me, were a game-changer.
As you can tell from the title, this book is all about having a productive garden, and that starts with having great soil. The book is divided into eight chapters: The Benefits of No-Dig Gardening, Soil Considerations in the No-Dig Garden, Building a No-Dig Garden From Scratch, Converting an Existing Garden to No-Dig, Variations on the No-Dig Concept, Containers – The Original No-Dig Garden, and Bringing It Indoors. Every chapter was full of useful information, and the steps and necessary tools and ingredients are spelled out clearly.
The best tips for me: using seaweed in the garden( nutrient-rich and available where I live), trying a straw bale garden, and making your own soil mix that will work in containers or grow bags. There wasn’t one thing in this book that wasn’t a great suggestion. An experienced garden or a newbie would gain a lot from reading this book. This is the perfect time of year( at least in New York)to plan for next year, and I think this would make a great holiday gift.

I really like this idea and am looking forward to putting it into practice. Book was laid out in a logical format, easy to follow and explained very well.

This type of gardening is seeing a lot more advertising because of global warming and some difficulty with over tilled soil. The book offers a variety of methods of no-till that I thought was a wealth of information for any curious enough. I like the idea of gardening and less work.

What did I like? The book offers an idea of how to get started late fall or even during the winter months so you can get a head start on making those no till beds. I like the easy methods and charts that help you start a no till bed in winter so that your components can start the process of rotting for an easier planting in spring. The ideas and how to’s in the book are easy to understand and methodical enough to start as soon or as late as you need. I love the planter section and ideas on raised beds. Overall I found enough information to be happy with such a short book.

Would I buy or recommend? I mark this book as a wealth of information. Simple ideas and guide for an no till gardening method with a variety of ways. Including planters, and hay bales to use for a no till method. Anyone can do this regardless of space, and even an inside guide for those who want to grow indoors. I would definitely buy a copy and recommend to anyone curious of the no till method.

Five stars to the author. I really enjoyed the information received from this guide. I plan on making my beds soon and I was happy to discover I could do this and let the material decompose until spring. Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC to read and I voluntarily left a review.

The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening is a tutorial and technique guide for no-till no-dig gardening written by gardening guru and speaker Charlie Nardozzi. Due out 15th Dec 2020 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in paperback format.

The author has an informal and encouraging style of writing. The information is accessible and presented in a logical way which almost all readers will find useful - there's something here for everyone. The introduction covers the basics - what no-dig gardening is, what it encompasses, and what the benefits are. Following chapters contain practical information about soil, building a no-dig garden from scratch, converting existing gardens to a no-dig format, planting & growing, variations and improvements, containers, and indoor gardening.

The book also includes a nice abbreviated resource list (including online links and channels), and a cross-referenced index (which wasn't included in the review material). The photography throughout is clear, colorful, and plentiful.

Overall, a very useful and well presented tutorial guide, written in an accessible no-nonsense manner. I would recommend it to community garden libraries, public/school library acquisitions, or the home gardener's library. Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is an incredibly readable and informative book about no-dig gardening. Although I already knew a little about the concept this book still delivered new ideas - who knew you could plant into a straw bale?! The information on soil was interesting. I hadn't really thought about how much we disturb the soil when we dig; we think we're doing a good thing, but it's quite the opposite. I particularly found the illustrations in this book to be very good.
I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is an interesting book that I would recommend to anyone who has a basic skillset in gardening. I was not able to get the full depth of the information in this book, but I think someone with more experience would.

This book is absolutely necessary to have to create the best possible garden you can have.

I loved having an ebook copy of this book, but I believe it to be such a fabulous resource that I plan to also purchase a physical copy of this book.

I rate THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO NO-DIG GARDENING by Charlie Nardozzi as 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to #NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book.

Super informative and useful guide on the whys and hows of no-dig gardening methods. I especially liked that Nardozzi included a section on how to convert existing gardens to no-dig.

I found No-Dig Gardening to be much more than I expected. Not only did he cover how to accomplish the basic no-dig garden, he also included several different versions of no-dig gardening including straw bales and rock surrounded beds. Very good for a reference.