Clearing a large tilled plot

[Penellype]

**mod note….these are three very useful posts which have been moved from a now deleted thread.**

There is a growing consensus that excessive tilling is bad for soil, disturbing soil life and fungal networks and causing it to dry out and erode more easily. Sometimes it is necessary to dig, for example if you have persistent perennial weeds that need clearing (horsetail, couch grass, bindweed, brambles etc), so what you do next will depend on what is actually there. You might like to look at Charles Dowding's Youtube channel for details about no dig and direct comparisons between dug beds and no dig ones. The no dig always perform better. However, other people in different parts of the country have had slightly different results, so it is always a good idea to experiment. I find in my garden, which has heavy clay soil that has been improved over the years with compost, that no dig works for a few years and then the soil (which floods sometimes) needs loosening with a fork. You may enjoy digging, which is good exercise, so you might like to factor that into your plans.

What I would do in your situation is divide the plot into convenient sized beds with paths in between, so that you can reach all parts of each bed without leaving the path. A standard sized bed is often 4ft by 8 or 10ft, mine are smaller as I find reaching the middle of a 4ft bed difficult, so I have 3ft by 6ft. Whether you create raised beds or just areas of untrodden soil is up to you and may depend on what you can afford. I would then rake the soil so that there are no large lumps and add a layer of compost to each bed. You are then good to go with planting, or you could sow a green manure or cover the beds with cardboard to protect them from the worst of the weather and leave them over winter if you have too much space available now.

As for the future, you could try digging half of the beds every year and using the no dig method on the other half, and see which suits you and your crops better.

[rary]

You have a good sized plot, but like Penellype I would break it down to smaller beds, but that is just a personal choice, you do what pleases you, as for using a tiller I found that it can create a hard pan at the depth of the blades, to combat this you could go over the area with a garden fork and simply thrust it into the ground and give it a good shake and you dont need to be too regimental about it as long as you have some loosened soil in various areas of your plot, I would rake the ground removing any large bits of roots, and then spread (if it is shop bought) your compost evenly over the ground, if not going to sow seeds in the whole area create a reasonable depth of compost where you intend sowing seed, if you are planting the likes of tubers or established plants you dont really need to bother spreading compost over the ground, though if you have sufficient home made compost spreading that over the ground would be beneficial for create microbial activity, the alternative would be to scatter pelleted manure over your soil again this helps encourage microbes. Whatever way you go enjoy the garden, remember all advice is just a guide, not a must do it this way

[rary]

Just to add to the above, in days before the no dig became popular, the method of double digging was recommended for new plots, or every third or fourth year of working plots, you created a trench the depth of a spade and taking the soil to the opposite end of the bed, then spread compost or manure along the trench and dug this in, you then turned the next layer of top soil on top of this creating a new trench then added the compost or manure which again was dug in any perennial weeds were removed as you worked, annual weeds just got turned in, this helped creat a free draining soil and microbes were added via the compost and manure, I work with no dig raised beds, but if i were able I would use the double digging method

[Snoop Puss]

Really useful info, thanks.

I have very deep clay soil with very infrequent rainfall. So your experience of having to fork every few years is very useful, Penellype. Thanks.

I agree totally on the hard pan, Rary. It was this that made me think about going no-dig.