Read the HDRA factsheets before you decide whether to dig or not.   Which is better than the other?   I leave that to you to choose what works, for you, your soil and your plot.   Me - I enjoy digging!

A couple of digging tricks.

• DO PACE YOURSELF - take it slowly.   Don't overdo it.   Better to do a couple of short turns regularly, than try a huge plot in one go!   Especially at the beginning, when your muscles aren't used to the movements.
• Adapt your style to the job!   Don't compromise on the depth of dig, but try different "slice" sizes, to avoid getting over-tired.
• Enjoy your digging!   Use your spade well!

Digging to clear an overgrown plot

The hardest of all, and it depends a lot on your soil,

• You might be lucky, with quite a light and workable soil, in which case simple single digging with a spade (below) may well be enough; use a fork to remove all the roots of nasty perennial weeds like bramble, raspberry, dock, dandelion and couch grass.
• You may have a very heavy clay soil, like mine.
  • I dig a trench, one spade deep, one spade wide, and 5-6 spades broad - and remove the clods to one side; now the next row, I cut the next trench shape with the spade, and then dig 3-4 inch slices; the idea is that a twist of the spade causes the slice to fall into the empty trench with the matted mess of roots right at the bottom.
  • When I have a couple of slices too many, I cut the 3 inch turf layer off, and pile on the compost heap; and leave the dug clods on top.
  • Work my way down a bed length.
  • And then work my way back a bed length - using the first ternch backwards to fill the last trench forwards; ideally, I arrive back where I started, with several clods ready (from the very first trench) to fill the last bit.
  • As I write, I don't know what the results will be - but I'm hoping the three inch weed layer "drowns" in the poor drainage; while the frost breaks down the "clods" exposed to the air.   People around tell me I'm doing it right - spring willl tell!

Single digging

I single dig most of my plot in autumn;  three "spits" (spade's widths) wide;  middle spit up and over the previous spit;  left spit turned right,  right spit turned left;  middle spit of next row on top of the right and left.   This makes a neat furrow effect, exposing more soil to the frost.   It also allows excess rain to drain off to the side rather than through the soil, taking with it the nutrients in the soil!

• I have 15 beds, 4 feet wide, and 20-25 feet long, separated by 18 inch "grass" paths.   The couch grass, thistle, and buttercup duly send their roots from the path into the beds through the season, so digging allows me to control and remove these invaders;
• I can remove all the deep-rooted weeds like dandelion and dock;
• pests - slug eggs! - get exposed to frost and die;
• I can incorporate any green manure I've planted in late summer/autumn;
• I lay a mulch of farmyard manure, a barrowload for every 3 metre length of bed.

Double-Digging

I plan to double-dig a couple of parallel beds every autumn (but rarely manage!).   Well worth doing when you take over a new plot, though.

• Start by digging a trench, two spits long, one spit deep, the full width of the first bed.   Shift the soil to the end of the second bed.
• Loosen the bottom of the trench with a fork, and incorporate well-rotted farmyard manure or compost.
• Dig the next trench, shifting the soil to cover the first.
• Carry on with this rhythm - loosening the trench bottom, incorporating horse manure, and covering with the soil from the next trench - to the end of the first bed.   You now have any empty trench!

• Start on the second bed, shifting the soil from the first trench to cover that last empty trench.   Work your way down the second bed, and you'll arrive at the pile of soil you started with in the very first step - fill your last empty trench.
• Now - get yourself round the corner to the pub, you deserve a pint of good beer!

In the spring, I'll use a fork to remove any surplus straw, incorporate the manure.   At the same time, I'll add compost from the heap.

My beds are now anything from 4 to 8 inches higher than the original soil level of the paths.   My daughter's explanation went (she was then 10 years old, and she'll be a much better gardener than I am) -

"You grow the soil, and the vegetables grow themselves."