Manure

[lainey lou]

My soil is heavy clay, the initial dig was very hard work but very necessary.
I am amazed by the improvement this spring from what I added in the autumn. No dig is deffo the method for me.

[Eyren]

And the last thing you want on heavy clay is to be walking all over it, which you would have to do in order to dig it. Mine is clayey loam, and it really sticks to your wellies when it's wet (and goes rock hard in summer), but the no-dig beds are just fab - really good-sized carrots last year with zero effort!

[Eternal Sunshine]

I'm too old to have grandads any more, but the old boy on the next plot occasionally looks at me askance, and when I asked about the previous tenants (the plot had been abandoned for several months), he told me some details then added "It was well-cultivated - he knew what he was doing" - implying I don't!!

We're also using the "no-dig-smother-everything-in-horse-manure-and-straw-method" on our plot and I think the other plot holders are quite bemused. One guy a few plots away thinks we're like the Goodes off The Good Life!

Hopefully we'll prove them all wrong Lainey Lou & Eyren!

[Eyren]

From what I've seen so far, couch grass does not like to be smothered in horse $#!^ - which is good news for me! No brambles or horsetail on my plot thankfully, but it's a constant battle to keep the grass under control. Luckily I now have a (literal) windfall of 40-odd fence planks, some of which I'm going to sink into the soil to stop the runners from spreading...

[Eternal Sunshine]

We have couch grass, bind weed, nettles, dandelions, buttercups and DOCK LEAVES. Last year was our 1st year & in a couple of places horse tail came up. I immediately dug any traces of it up but does this mean it's on its way or just that it was some random bits?

The plot at the other end of the row to me has loads of it (9 plots away) and he is always digging it out & burning the bits with a blow torch, but nobody in between seems to have any.