No Dig

[derbex]

Anyone tried it?

Due to a bad back (honest guv, it's not just terminal indolence) I'm giving this a go. The home veg.beds and the first few on the allotment have been dug over once, not that you'd know it by the number of thistles there yesterday :-\

I have some others -with spuds on- that have been covered with cardboard and mulch in the hope that this will kill off the weeds and produce a crop, any chance?

Jeremy

[derbex]

[Hugh_Jones]

There are quite a few of us on this site who have been "no digging" for many years - in my case for the same reason as you - although one has obviously to make an exception where harvesting potatoes and parsnips, and the removal of very deep rooted weeds is concerned.

Assuming that your soil is in reasonably good heart to start with, there are actually two different methods of "no digging", and in both you start by  spreading your manure/compost on the surface in late autumn, then with method (a) you use a cultivator (on of those things with a long handle and several curved prongs at the business end) to work it into the top few inches of the bed, while with method (b) you simply cover it with black polythene/cardboard/whatever, and leave it for the worms; with this second method you simply plant/sow directly into the friable surface which you will find come spring.

Both work

[allotment_chick]

...and to add to Hugh's reply, I find with the mulching method (b) that the soil condition and texture is so much better - I just break it up lightly with a rake and plant away!
Thistles are a nightmare because their roots go all the way down to the centre of the earth.  I find the best thing to do is dig up as much of the root as you can with a long trowel, but of you can't bend, just be vigilant in hoeing them off as deeply as you can.  It'll take a while - but they should eventually give it up!  

HDRA factsheet on No Dig Gardening can be found here - it is a little on the short side IMHO, but hey.....

http://www.hdra.org.uk/factsheets/gg2.htm

AC

[trevody]

One way of tackling those pernicious weeds without digging is to leave the plot covered for at least two seasons, the first season under black polythene adding plenty of compost able material and the second season a porous cover like old carpets, (as long as it blocks out all the light it does not matter) through which I grow squashes, marrows etc.
This will kill off the dandelions and thistles and leave you with clean and friable soil.
I try to incorporate this method in to my plant rotation, covering area of my allotment each season.
8)

[Garden Manager]

I have recently become a convert to method 'a'. As I found I was digging my raised beds when I didnt have to. Perhaps the old digging habits were hard to break but, by diging i found the beds were overflowing and had to remove soil from them once a year (reomoving in the process the best soil).  As  result i have virtualy banned the fork from the veg patch, only the 3 pronged cultivator and rake will be used to work the soil in future (oh the hand fork, trowel and hoe will still be used as well - I am not going totaly no dig ;D).

[derbex]

Thanks all -it looks like I'd better get a 3-pronged cultivator for my birthday ;D

I used cardboard as the removals company didn't come back to collect the boxes -we have dozens of them, but thistles just seem to be able to find the gaps even under several layers of mulch.

Still the spuds are starting to come through.

It's interesting how different these beds are to the ones at home -which I made from a bit of the lawn. The lawn beds are virtually weed free, but the allotment ones are an interesting study in bio-diversity :) -if only there were a market for thistles.

Jeremy

[Ceri]

has anyone found a positive effect on mares/horse tail and no-dig - I'm keen to adopt no-dig as the soil on my allotment is very light, and I think overworked for many generations!  Digging outmares tail roots as far as I can seems to be the same as pretty deep digging as they wander all over the plot!  I had the plot under dpm from August to Spring which killed off annuals, but didn't touch thistles and mares tail.  I'm hoping to apply heavy mulch after each bed is harvested this year - i.e. cardboard followed by loads of compost/manure.  Would this just make it more difficult to keep having a go at the mares tail next year?

[allotment_chick]

Hi Ceri
Here is another HDRA factsheet on marestail:

http://www.hdra.org.uk/factsheets/wc1.htm

Doesn't fill me with hope, as I too have loads of it coming through on No 2 plot!  However, I have promised to be vigilant and pull up each shoot as I see it with as much root as it is possible to get with a trowel.

I suspect this stuff will withstand a nuclear attack - although my neighbour has managed to bring things under control after a year of regular applications of round-up.

AC

[Ceri]

thanks ac - heavy mulching meets two of their suggestions - shading it out and adding organic matter.  I've got some agricultural lupin seed which I think I'll sow soon as a green manure and then heavily mulch in autumn and see if its better next year!

[allotment_chick]

Let's compare notes next summer, C!  

I did a bit of digging yesterday and took out a fair bit of root.  I'll be interested to see how quickly it re-shoots.  The soil is strangely inconsistent on the new plot, being very wet and sticky and back-breaking to dig in one place, but two spade widths along the same row was lovely and dry and a pleasure to cultivate!  It is going to be a project that plot, right enough!
AC

[Tenuse]

Our plot is clay, damp and has not been worked for 3 years. When we took it on in September the top half (which is slightly shaded and damper) had been covered in carpet for 2 years. When we started removing the carpet and digging down, we found billions, millions and squidillions of horsetail roots all creeping along the line where the subsoil meets the topsoil. They went for metres and metres until they found a patch of soil uncovered then up they shot making hundreds of miniature xmas trees.

We are digging the plot over slowly - it will take us a couple of years - and pulling out as much as we can. However I fully expect to be living with this pernicious weed for the rest of my life!

They're full of silica by the way - make good impromptu scrubbing brushes...

Ten x