History of No-Dig Gardening (a crossover with my other blog 'Canterbury Tails & Herbs')

My first introduction to no-dig gardening was on the first community farm where I worked in east London.  A large patch of the farm where work vehicles had been parked when the trainline was worked upon meant that there was a large disused area of compacted earth.  With the help of permaculture garden designers, a no-dig garden was constructed and is now very productive.  Just as it sounds, it is a process of gardening without reliance on cultivation of the land but rather adding organic matter to the top and allowing nature to take its course.  Today's most wellknown promoter of no-dig gardening is Charles Dowding but the origins of the philosophy or practice, as well as actual technique, are still debatable.  

While trying to learn more to experiment with and start a no-dig patch on my new community farm site in west London, I came across an excellent episode from Empress of Dirt podcast: Empress of Dirt's 'A Brief History of No-Dig Gardening Through the Years'.  According to their research, the first no-dig gardening influencer was Edward H. Faulkner of Elyria, Ohio.  His book Plowman's Folly (1943) was written for farmers and is now considered a milestone.  Faulkner was a county agent in Kentucky and Ohio, a Smith-Hughes teacher of agriculture, and a soil and crop investigator.

"Probably no book on an agricultural subject has ever prompted so much discussion in this country."--Louis Bromfield