By Max Sargent

Soil quality all over the Earth is degrading, to everyone’s detriment. Meanwhile, for domestic gardeners and cannabis growers, weeds are a pervasive problem that we tend to deal with using herbicides and/or digging up the soil every season to kill off the year’s growth. Practices such as this are some of the reasons that global soil quality is becoming worse.

Fortunately, for gardeners at least, there’s a simple solution that solves all of the above-listed problems: no-till gardening. This method protects soil, reduces weeds, and generally takes much of the labor out of gardening. Find out more below.


No Till Gardening Technique

What Is No-Till Gardening?

No-till gardening is a method of gardening that keeps soil intact, healthy, and prevents weeds from growing over into your garden. The best part is that it requires less labor than tilling or digging, and simultaneously covers the work of stopping weeds from growing.

If you’re into organic growing, or even just laid-back growing, then no-till gardening might be just what you’ve been looking for. With cardboard, compost, and mulch, you can cover the soil beds in your garden, thereby preventing weeds from growing up through them, all the while protecting the ecosystem in the soil beneath. At the same time, this new bed you’ve created is perfect for growing crops in.

When we till or dig soil each season, as well as tearing up weeds, we disrupt the delicate habitat that is the soil. Earthworms, beneficial fungi, and other organisms that have spent a year making a home out of the soil find it rapidly destroyed. It’s thought that it takes about a year for one of these ecosystems to establish itself. So if you dig it up every year, you can do quite a lot of damage.

By using a no-till method, you avoid this damage and protect the soil.

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No-Till Gardening vs No-Dig Gardening

No-till and no-dig gardening are the same thing, and you may well find the terms used interchangeably. While digging and tilling are slightly different, they serve the same purpose when it comes to turning soil over and weeding, and they do the same damage too.

Therefore, no-till and no-dig both refer to a practice that seeks to protect the soil from seasonal disruption.

What Are the Benefits of the No-Till Method for Cannabis Cultivation?

The benefits of cultivating cannabis with a no-till or no-dig method are numerous, and if you grow outdoors in the ground, we’d really suggest trying it out to see if it works for you. Benefits include:

  • Organic method that protects soil
  • Helps to retain carbon in the soil
  • Less labor intensive than digging/tilling
  • Can result in higher yields
  • Naturally keeps a garden free from weeds
  • Worm castings are naturally retained, improving nutrients in the soil
  • Better water retention
  • Less fertiliser needed
  • Reduced soil erosion (which is a very big problem)
  • Avoids herbicides

No Till Gardening

How To: No-Till Gardening

If you’re thinking that this growing method might be for you, then the following sections will outline how to do it. You don’t need much to get started, and the initial effort is minimal compared to digging and tilling, and much less than constantly keeping on top of weeds.

What You’ll Need

  • Cardboard (enough to fully cover your beds)
  • Compost/manure
  • Mulch
  • Plastic sheeting
  • A spade or a tiller (for the 2-week version)
  • Trowel
  • Bricks (or something heavy)

No-Dig Gardening: Step-by-Step (6-Month Version)

  1. Lay down cardboard over the entire area you’d like to plant. Water until soaked.
  2. Cover the cardboard with about 15cm of compost. Water until soaked.
  3. Cover with plastic sheeting and weigh this down. Leave for six months. This will stop weeds from growing.
  4. After six months, the cardboard layer will have broken down.
  5. Remove the plastic. Plant your seeds or seedlings.
  6. Surround seedlings with mulch, and water well.
  7. Let them grow, treating them as normal (see later section for feeding tips).
No Till Gardening Step by Step

No-Till Gardening: Step-by-Step (2-Week Version)

If you’ve only come across this method just before it’s time to plant, then you needn’t wait until the next growing season to use it. Ideally, laying everything down six months before you plant is best, but you can follow this method instead.

  1. Using the spade or tiller, dig or till the ground that you intend to plant in (this will be the last and only time you have to do this).
  2. Cover the area in cardboard. Cover this in compost.
  3. Water heavily over two weeks to speed up the degradation of the cardboard. Cover with plastic between watering.
  4. Poke through the compost layer with a trowel to see if the cardboard has degraded. If it hasn’t, then poke holes through wherever you hope to plant seeds or seedlings; this will allow their roots to break through into the soil below. Mark where these holes are.
  5. Plant seeds or seedlings above the holes in the compost. Surround them with mulch.
  6. Treat them as usual.

How Long Does a No-Till Garden Take to Work?

As you can see from the two methods outlined, no-till gardening can be effective almost immediately. However, if you can plan in advance and prepare the ground during the winter, then this is better.

How to Maintain No-Till Gardening Soils

During the growing season, the mulch should help to keep weeds at bay. However, once you’ve harvested your crop, you’ll need to cover the area with the plastic sheeting again to stop weeds from growing through during the winter.

Even if some weeds appear while you’re growing, the dark plastic covering over winter should kill them off, and you’ll be back to square one come spring. And every following year, all you’ll need to do is lift off a sheet of plastic, plant your plants, and lay down a layer of mulch. It's almost too easy!

No Till Gardening Technique

Do No-Dig Gardens Require Nutrients?

Due to the improved nature of the soil, and the addition of compost and mulch, no-till gardens require very little in the way of added nutrients. This method creates nutrient rich, self-sustaining soils—much like natural soils. So you shouldn't need to supplement with feed throughout the growing season.

Rather, as each new season begins, you should lay down a new layer of nutrient-rich mulch, which will gradually break down, releasing nutrients into the soil.

No-Till and No-Dig Gardening: A Very Simple Way to Save the Soil

As you can see, this method is really brilliant. Whether your primary interest is to take the effort out of gardening or to preserve the health of our precious soil, no-till gardening offers simple and effective results.

Put a little effort in during the first season, and you can protect your garden from weeds, and the soil from disruption, for many years to come. Maintenance is minimal and the results are very impressive. If you grow outdoors in the ground, you should seriously consider this method.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: