autum/winter/ spring digging?

[Hazelb]

Just wondered what your digging /manuring routine was for the winter / spring.

I think I should aim for autum dig with hand fork..to remove couch grass bind weed or a winter dig with auto-spade. Then a light dig/ tilling in the spring before planting.

I would just spread manure on the surface early spring and dig in later.

Any thoughts?

What do you do?

[Hazelb]

[grannyjanny]

We do the no dig method. remove as many perennial weeds as you can & put a 2-3'' layer of manure in the Autumn. We have bind weed & horsetail & it hasn't as bad as it was. I must say though that before we got to no dig OH double dug the plot & put manure in the trenches. It hadn't been cultivated in many years.

[kt.]

If you have loads of couchgrass etc then you could dig it by hand if you wished.  I do my winter dig with a spade and leave it in uneven clumps. the frost to kill off any weed couchgrass roots that are exposed.  This could save you many hours.  Then give it a more thorough clearing early spring / back end of Feb.  If you are planning manure for brassica areas etc then dig a little in this autumn and lime a week or 2 before planting them.  You only need to manure your area for potatoes when you plant them.  Save you a bit more time over winter.

[davyw1]

I dont make things easy for myself, below is my garden at the moment a bit deeper than double digging but this way i get everthing out from weeds to left over spuds i have missed. This has been limed every where except where next years spud are going whick like KT will be the only place to get manure..
It also helps to get bottom soil to the top

You can only work within your caperbillities, your there to break its back not to break yours

[Tee Gee]

I have made a start and this is how I do my winter preparation;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Soil-Preparation/soil%20preparation%20ss.swf

[antipodes]

I just take out the dead stuff and the biggest part of the weeds and then in end Nov, we get manure delivered - I think I will get a double dose this year and I spread that and let it soak in over winter. Then in spring I dig each section as I need to plant it, just to dig in the manure and weed it.

[Russell]

My routine starts as soon as a crop has been harvested.
Clear the bed completely by hand picking of all leftover crop plant fragments and annual weeds that were sheltering under the crop. There will be some deep rooted weeds left.
As soon as possible go over the bed with a Canturbury hoe. It's a quick way to break up the surface layer (i'm on clay).

[Russell]

... continued.
Then as necessary use a three pronged cultivator which is great for dragging out the shallow roots of couch grass and leaving them on the surface to die.
The main digging routine comes as usual in November or whenever it can be squeezed in, and varies according to need but it is a lot easier with only the deep rooted weeds to worry about.
The best thing about it is that you don't make things worse by burying shallow rooted weeds so that they become deep rooted weeds.