Do / No Dig - Advice Please

[broadway]

Hello Folks

After the euphoria of skimming the top layer of weed/grass from a section of the allotment this week reality has kicked in.

When trying to rake/level said area it soon became apparent that it was almost concreate like in its density!

My initial thought was to level it, bung some cardboard and compost down and plant on/through it. I’m now thinking I should at least give it one dig and clear as many weed roots as I can. I’m thinking with all my veg growing in modules I probably have a month to clear as much as I can before stuff needs to go out? Obviously the digging is tiring and time consuming but it’s not like I have much else to do!

I could then revert to no-dig next year?

As always your views are very welcome

I have included some pictures which show the before and after skimming plus what the soil looks like after I've put a fork through it.

[Aberdeenplotter]

hard going but my advice is to spend around fifty quid and buy a Wolf Terrex auto spade. It doesn't dig like a conventional spade but it does break the ground up very effectively and importantly is very easy on the back. Usually plenty of them on Ebay.

[burnie]

Will wetting it/waiting for some rain make it a bit easier going before you do dig it(and yes I would dig it), remember for no dig to work you really don't want to be walking on it, so maybe leave a path down the middle and then do it in two halves.

[broadway]

Thanks Guys

I think I will dig initially.

AP, do you think the item below would work?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kikka-Digga...r%2C161&sr=1-1

[SarrissUK]

I wouldn't dig it - why give yourself all that work? I'd spread well rotted 'whatever you can find' and plant straight into it. To me it's no contest at all.

Compared to spending hours sweating and digging, and then have to weed a LOT more often than if you didn't do all that, and just spread something on top of cardboard? Well... the choice is yours :P

[broadway]

I wouldn't dig it - why give yourself all that work? I'd spread well rotted 'whatever you can find' and plant straight into it. To me it's no contest at all.

Compared to spending hours sweating and digging, and then have to weed a LOT more often than if you didn't do all that, and just spread something on top of cardboard? Well... the choice is yours :P

Thanks Sarriss

I think I'm going to initially go with dig for the following reasons, doesn't mean I may change my tune along the way....

- The current climate means I don't have much else to do

- I'm trying to take positives from the current climate and feel I'm getting fitter day by day

- I'm hoping an initial dig will set me in good stead for moving to no dig next year. (this may be nonsense but ha ho)

As I said that could all change after a few days digging

[SarrissUK]

You sound like you enjoy the digging I never did, but I absolutely respect your wish to dig. The urge is strong, and it was deep seated with me too.

Though I'm not afraid of getting stuck into hard work, I never enjoyed digging so much, I am quite happy not to. And when I do anything like that, I tend to break whatever forks I buy lol

[Logunner]

I’d dig this year as part of the prep for moving to no dig next year. It allows you to remove any perennial weed roots and breaks up the compacted ground.

Once it’s dug cover with cardboard and plant through that.

My plot is currently 50/50 dig/no dig, ime you cannot rush straight into no dig it takes a lot of prep to make it a success.

[mothhawk]

If you enjoy digging, then go for it. personally i would not dig, partly because you're giving weed seeds somewhere nice to grow and you'll then have to deal with them later on. But also because digging will break up such habitat as the invertebrates and fungi in the soil have so far created.

If you have it, bung on a thick layer of compost - whatever you have, doesn't need to be well rotted. Grass clippings, leaves, shredded papers, old manky straw or hay, cover it with cardboard, then put any better compost over that and plant into it.

Under the cardboard the worms and invertebrates will work hard churning all that compost about, tunneling and aerating (which digging destroys), and breeding in it as well, increasing your workforce.

And as it settles and decomposes to humus-y soil it will be easy to rake level.

My garden is/was heavy clay and after the winter used to look as if a steam roller had driven across it. Now after a few years of no-dig and spreading compost every autumn, come the end of winter the surface each year looks as crumbly and fluffy as if it had been dug and harrowed and raked. In a mini way it has. Just not by me.

[rary]

If you feel the ground is too compacted and want to loosen it why don't you go over it with a garden fork, dig it in waggel it about to loosen the soil, then pull it out, all the benificial microbes are in the top 3 or 4 inches of the soil and if you are turning the soil you are burying them, after going over the plot you can cover it with compost then cardboard then leave the worms to do the digging

[broadway]

Started digging today, elapsed time probably 2hrs, probably a 3rd of the section complete. I think the initial dig is the correct option as I'm finding a hidden path built from roof slates!!

Now although I say I think digging is the correct option I may change my mind if I can't walk tomorrow

[broadway]

Update

Well this has taken me more time than I thought due mainly to my energy levels, however I feel I'm getting fitter and leaner

I'm at the stage now where I feel I've done enough digging / weeding. I now intend to breakdown as many lumps as possible, and have then decided to put down membrane before planting. (Is it worth putting a layer of cardboard down as well??)

Comments most welcome, good, bad, indifferent

I will then start the same process on the next section, if I can get half the plot completed this year I’ll be happy.

My intention is for this and all areas to be no dig next year.

[Logunner]

Ditch the membrane. You will be thankful in the long term

[broadway]

Mornig Logunner

Why??

Still use the cardboard??

[mothhawk]

membrane will be plastic based. You can plant through it but at some stage, even if years down the line, you WILL have to lift and remove it. Cardboard does the same job, and will simply disappear over time. Any mulch on top of membrane, again, you have to shift it to take up the membrane. Mulch on cardboard becomes part of the soil. With cardboard, more cardboard on top, more mulch, any time you feel like it, no lifting, moving, digging, just plant through the lot and your bed gets deeper and richer.