Double digging john jeavons biography

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    • Double Digging

    The Method, and a Quick History

    Author: Barbara Bamberger Scott

    First, some history...

    Click to skip down to The Method

    Strange to tell, but true... One of the most successful methods of basic gardening, a method that can be practiced in the poorest places, that sprang from basic necessity and at times genuine desperation, was brought to America by an aristocratic English actor and artist, Alan Chadwick, in 1967. He observed, codified, and inculcated in the spirits of many young back-to-the-landers the gardening technique known as double digging.


    Double digging was an intensive gardening method that had been practiced for hundreds of years by hearty Gallic market farmers on the outskirts of Paris. They were vying for small strips of land, even along the sides of the crowded streets, to cultivate their wares. The double digging method (aka intensive, French intensive, or raised beds) is organic, surprisingly simple, and space efficient.


    Chadwick saw its potential in the 60's and took his fertile innovative gardening ideas across the ocean to a hip, eco-conscious cadre. He established a training center at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was "organic" long before that word entered the mainstream. The education that Chadwick gave to starry-eyed young gardeners through lectures and his charismatic presence was transmuted by American student gardener John Jeavons into a practical, illustrated book with charts and statistics. That book was How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine. The title says it all.


    The double digging strategy enriches and revitalizes soil by cutting into the earth two "spits" (spade depths) down and systematically inserting composting materials. It rebuilds and energizes soil. If you respect the earth and love to work outdoors, with your hands, avoiding gas and electric powered equipment, double

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      • Double digging john jeavons biography

    Double digging

    Bed preparation is the number one important thing you can do for you plants. Double-digging is a method of bed preparation that aerates soil to a depth of 24 in (2ft). This creates an environment in which plant roots thrive due to a more even distribution of nutrients, water, and air and loose soil so roots can spread out and reach a farther depth.

    When is it necessary?[edit | edit source]

    Traditionally, double-digging was done when first starting a new bed and then repeated as necessary. In soils that are dense, hard packed, or have a high clay content it may be essential to repeat the process every year until the soil has improved. For pre-existing beds every 3-5 years is sufficient. The worst thing you can do to your soil is double-dig when it is too wet.

    Tools needed[edit | edit source]

    • 5 or 6 five gallon buckets
    • D- handled spading fork
    • D- handled spade
    • Digging board (which is a old piece of plywood)
    • Rake

    Advantages[edit | edit source]

    • Deep aeration on soil
    • Minimal disturbance of soil microbes
    • Improves soil structure
    • Plants can be closer together

    Disadvantages[edit | edit source]

    • It is a lot of work in the beginning
    • May upset mycelial networks (see No-till farming)

    How to[edit | edit source]

    This is the technique that works best for me. It is mostly based on John Jeavons methods from Bountiful Gardens.

    1. Mark out the location you are going to turn into a bed.
    2. Water this area well and let it sit for a couple days. I recommend putting a sprinkler on it for a couple of hours to insure a deep infiltration of moisture. This step will make the rest of the process much easier.
    3. Remove weeds. If you are working with a hard soil or lots of clay after you de-weed the area you may want to water it again and allow it to sit for a couple more days before double-digging.
    4. Spread 1 inch of compost over the entire beds surface.
    5. Place your digging board down on the bed to stand on when digging. You will move this along with you

    Double digging

    Double digging is a process of preparing soil in a garden bed for planting. When practicing double digging, a gardener cultivates the soil down to two spade lengths, about 24”, using a spade and a garden fork or a specialized tool called the broadfork. Soil biology normally changes as you go deeper in the soil. The double digging keeps the top layer of soil and bottom layer of soil intact, by shifting the soil from . Typically gardeners only till soil to one spade in depth, hence the term double digging, or use a rototiller that will till to around 8”. This can create what is called "Hardpan," where a hard layer of soil develops just below the typical cultivation depth. The purpose of double digging is to break up the subsoil to allow roots to penetrate deeper. Longer roots systems are preferable because they are less likely to be water-logged or oxygen-deprived, don’t need to be watered as often, and allow more plants to grow in the same amount of space because their roots grow vertically not horizontally.

     

    Double digging was a cornerstone of 19 century French intensive gardening system. This style of gardening was popularized in the U.S. in the 1940s by J.J. Rodale, founder of Organic Gardening magazine and the Rodale Institute, Alan Chadwick in the 1960's and 1970's, at the UC-Santa Cruz garden that today bears his name, and  John Jeavons, leader of Ecology Action and Biointensive Gardening, who recommends double digging in his book, How to Grow More Vegetables.

     

    Resources:

    http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/2873/double-digging

    http://groworganic.com/organic-gardening/articles/double-digging-a-hallmark-of-french-intensive-gardening

     

    Entry: AJ

    Checked:  ma-c, IA

     

    In the previous post I discussed the square foot method of gardening. While I found it useful the first few years I was gardening, the space limitations became more frustrating as I wanted to grow more, and more different kinds, of vegetables over a longer season. Along the way I learned about the next method I’ll discuss, the method developed by John Jeavons and the other folks at Ecology Actionand described in Jeavons’ book How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine(the 8th edition is due out next month; I have the 7th edition). It is sometimes called the biointensive method and I will call it that here, but be advised that Jeavons calls it by a longer name that he has service-marked. I don’t know that I can legally use that name, so I’ll call it the biointensive method instead.

    Like the square foot method, the biointensive method is based on a three to five foot wide bed so that all of the bed can be reached from one or both sides. Unlike the square foot method, the biointensive method is a whole-system method developed especially for people who have little or no money or access to outside resources to begin a garden. About all that one needs is the desire to garden.  The biointensive method is built on deep soil preparation; composting; intensive planting; companion planting; carbon farming; calorie farming; and open-pollinated seeds. It is all these factors working together that create a sustainable garden or farm, according to Jeavons.

    The biointensive method is especially good for people who want to raise substantial amounts of plant foods, foods that offer a lot of calories as well as foods that contain lots of vitamins and minerals. Salad crops and greens offer good nutrition, but little in the way of calories. In order for home-grown plant foods to become a large part of your diet, you’ll need to grow foods with a lot of caloric value: root crops like potatoes or s