What would you do

[rary]

My grandsons are going to make flower beds in ground that has not been cultivated for more than 40 years ( if ever) and I was hoping to introduce them to no dig gardening but the only compostable material I will have along with cardboard and paper is shredded tree branches along with cut couch grass, dockens and any other weeds that grow in former grazing land and the land its self I think will be reasonably fertile as it was used by cattle coming and going to their byre, so would you stick with the no dig or would you dig over the ground?

[roitelet]

I would dig it over first and then do ‘no dig’. It’s going to be very compacted if cows have been on the ground.

[SarrissUK]

I would definitely stick to no dig Get yerself some manure from a friendly farmer or horse owner, and make good use of that cardboard. Compaction would have to be really, really bad for no dig not to be able to sort it out

[bramble]

If it were me I would dig it over.

[Greenleaves]

Definately dig in my opinion

[veggiechicken]

Depends on how much you want your grandsons to succeed and not be disappointed?

I agree with roitelet, dig first and then "no dig" if that's the way you want to go. You may have accumulated enough compost by then to make it doable.
Not everyone has access to mounds of manure and with the question marks over herbicides in animal feed, not everyone wants to use it anyway.

[rary]

I would definitely stick to no dig Get yerself some manure from a friendly farmer or horse owner, and make good use of that cardboard.

Manure is unavaliable as there is no access for vehicles and the only way in is over a 2ft. wide footbridge and definitely unable to barrow or physically carry it over

[SarrissUK]

Manure is unavaliable as there is no access for vehicles and the only way in is over a 2ft. wide footbridge and definitely unable to barrow or physically carry it over

Oh no! Any way to get a cow in there then?

[rary]

I am thinking of strimming then using a weed wand to go over the area and hopefully kill off any unwanted vegetation

[Aberdeenplotter]

Good on the grand kids for wanting to take this on. Cows can weigh up to a ton(as opposed to tonne) so if they have used that piece of ground as a route access way it will be compacted in the extreme. To give the kids a fighting chance I think you will need to break the ground up for them,and a rough dig before the hard frosts should do the trick. A hard frost will break down the most compacted of clods.

[Baldy]

I'm essentially a no-digger...

... but I'd dig that (once)

[Can the Man]

I would say dig, and let the winter frosts do their bit, you could just level out a little plot for them and put some daff bulbs in then they will have some flowers in the spring

[Babru]

I'm making new flower and fruit beds on land that has been under paving for 16 years, so has hard core and sand on it, though the soil itself is basically decent.

I'm doing what I have always done with new beds, dig down about a spade depth, break up the bottom a bit, put plenty of compost or rotted manure on the bottom, fill it in, then plant. I leave the plants to get on with it, no more digging, though I will mulch every few years. I've always had great success with this.

[Dynamite]

I’m no-dig but would dig first on this occasion and then adopt the no-dig method.

Kind Regards.............Rob

[Bren In Pots]

i'm another no-dig but I still had to dig the ground over first to remove roots and make level.