Do I need anything more than old newspaper and weeds for no dig?

[Samuel1988]

Evening all,

I thought about trying the no dig method for a section of my plot and was wondering if just using old newspaper and weeds I have cleared (so brown and green) would be sufficient? I've seen examples of the no dig and it seems as if I would need to save up lots of old grass clippings, leaves etc in addition to already layering in quite a bit of compost and all I have to play with at the moment is newspaper and cleared weeds.

I know (from what I have read) that if you want to plant straight in you need quite a bit of compost and soil which I can not get atm (due to transportation issues) so I can leave a few sections for a while to plant in months to come. I was just wondering if it is possible to do the no dig just using old newspaper and cleared weeds?

Many thanks,

Samuel

[rustylady]

You can lay newspapers or cardboard on the surface of the soil and plant through them (make a hole with a trowel or bulb planter). Obviously you can't use this method for sowing seeds.

[Two_Sheds]

Samuel, I think you're getting confused between no-dig and lasagne beds. What you're describing is a lasagne bed (with the layers).

Are you making raised beds? Or are you planting into the ground?

[Samuel1988]

Ah yes maybe I am confused.

I wish to plant into the ground.

Could I ask for a clear definition of no-dig and a lasagne bed? For some reason I can not easily define them.

Could I simply layer a thick mulch of newspaper and put compost underneath and on top (to stop it blowing away when it dries up) and plant through it? The only digging then would be to put in the desired plant and let the mulch kill off the weeds and give the worms a loverly home.

I have tried using other stuff as a mulch (e.g. old leaves, grass clippings etc) when I did some garden work round my nans and I came back to find the plants stripped of their leaves and I was wondering if newspaper will increase the amount of slugs and if I can do anything to help reduce this? Maybe, after cutting holes through the mulch to plant in I can put soil around the plant/hole so that the slugs will find it harder to get out from under the mulch to the plant (I hope this makes sense?) or use an old plastic bottle and cut it to surround the plant.

Samuel

[Jonthefish]

I did find, when i started laying cardboard down it was a great retreat for small slugs, so i started putting slug pellets down. Then i got to thinking hold on i dont want pellets on my soil im using to grow veg, so i removed the cardboard, what i do now and again is roll up pieces of cardboard push them in the ground, hoping this improves the soil a bit.

A bit off the topic of what Samuel was asking sorry, but yes Slugs were a real problem for me.