Allotments 4 All

I have dug my plot over and applied WR stable manure. I have just laid it on the top for the moment, but may fork it in lightly.

Will this allow me to simply rake ot over in the spring and be left with a tilth suitable for sowing in? Or do I need to do something else?

are few more details please, it will help to give a better answer. what is your soil type?
mine is a sandy-clay loam, sub-soil is sand/gravel.
how much organic matter was in the soil before you dug it over?

Quote from: Cosmo and Dibs on December 04, 2009, 21:56:24

simply rake ot over in the spring

I hate to say this, but have you come across those things, I think they call them ... err ... oh yes - weeds.  ;)

Thats the stuff - weeds

Grow everywhere.

Grow like crazy.

They espcially like well prepaired beds.

I thoroughly dig my beds over in the autimn (to remove any perennials), then again late winter (to remove anything I missed( and then again just before planting (to remove anything just starting to germinate).

Some weeds have a germination time measured in minutes, ney, seconds. You prepair a bed ready for planting and it i'll have weeds growing away within a week. Give it two weeks and you wont be able to find your plot, never mind your sown crop.

Do you need to do something else? Yes, keep digging.  :(

A lot depends on your soil. You've probably done all you can this time of year, if you've got all the weeds out. You can leave the worms to take down the manure, but if you have a source of bulk organic material - dead leaves for instance, you could cover the soil with these. That'll keep the weeds down, and provide more long-term organic matter, which has to be good for any soil.

I rotavated mine,put manure all over it.Come spring I'll rotavate it all in. I never bother if weeds come up, that's what hoe's are for.

QuoteI thoroughly dig my beds over in the autimn (to remove any perennials), then again late winter (to remove anything I missed( and then again just before planting (to remove anything just starting to germinate).

That is a lot of digging.   :o :o  You presumably keep bringing the weed seeds to the surface. 

Frost break down clods?? If only.
We have had the clods frozen so hard they needed an adze to break them up in the Spring!!

Pleased you wrote that, Tim. I've heard and read this so much and it's never worked for me, either :-\

QuoteWill this allow me to simply rake ot over in the spring and be left with a tilth suitable for sowing in?

What a lovely idea.  Don't hold your breathe.   ;D ;D

You might manage it will a good few inches of recycling compost.  Wiltshire's is brilliant.  No weeds.

The frosts have never broken down the clods here, Corny breaks them down with the back of the fork.    :(     ;D ;D ;D

When I first got a plot it had been covered in plastic for a while and was quite compressed.
I dug as much as I could before the frosts arrived.

The following spring, the bits I had worked, needed digging again, but was managable, and I grew quite a bit, including some good parsnips, but the bits I had not dug earlier I could not plant anyhing other than spuds.

So if you have LARGE clods, then yes, the frosts help a lot, but

QuoteWill this allow me to simply rake ot over in the spring and be left with a tilth suitable for sowing in?

not a chance.

I soil is clay/loam with a clay subsoil.

If you have a clay soil and have dug it over the frost can break it down - its the frequent expansion and contraction with freezing and thawing that does it. However if you cover it with manure then you insulate the soil from that process. But worms will drag material down and that will help make the soil more friable.
Traditionally with autumn digging of clay you would start by taking out an open trench and barrow the soil to where you intend to finish.
When you dig the line next to the trench if starting from left to right. As you dig the first slice you dont throw it straight in the trench but ahead and to the right. The next slice in front on top of the first slice. The next slice, in front and to the left on top of the second. The next slice you throw to the right, the next straight in front and the next to the left.
The idea is that each set of 3 slices is thrown on top of each other.
As you gradually move down the plot you create a series of ridges, giving the soil surface maximum exposure to the frost.

i pre fare my method i dig my beds over throw a hand full of mixed corn over and let my hens out best weed  killer on the market and as for tilling the ground  a fine tilth to be had... they do make a mess of my paths tho 

We're on free draining chalk

We  roughly turn ours over and remove only perennial weeds about now

Leave it well alone over winter

Springtime, pile on deep layer of home-made compost or council brownbin compost or old horsesh*t

Rotavate in for spuds leave the rest to the worms ;)

If you are on a light soil it is best to leave it undug except taking out any perennial weeds. Non  flowering annual weeds can be dug in as green manure in spring. If you can get them sown in time overwintered green manure such as winter tares or winter rye is best. As it is growing over winter it protects the soil surface and helps prevent nutrients being washed out by winter rains. I am also trying field peas this year and they have made a lot of growth that will be dug in come spring. I am going to follow them with brassicas.