To dig or green compost advice

[bristolsparks]

Hello everyone



Above is a little section if garden im going to grow in next year. Left the photo is where i had my beans growing this year. (Just removed). I put cardboard followed by horse manure. The question is regarding the right half of the picture. I have had black plastic covering it for a year as had lots of weeds.

Do i dig it over and removed the weed roots etc or do i just sow green manure and hope it will work or just lay some more cadboard and manure?

Regards

[WendyC]

Personally I would give it a good digging over in case any of those weeds were perennials such as bindweed and are lurking underground ready to grow again now you have uncovered them. The ground looks quite compacted too so digging would help. You could add either cardboard and manure or sow a green manure. Might depend a bit when you need that piece of ground next and what you are intending to grow there.

Welcome to the Vine. Perhaps you could add you location to your profile, although I suspect your name gives us a clue!

[Alison]

What sort of weeds where they?

[bristolsparks]

Not sure on the weeds. I know pervious owner had things like wild strawberry plants etc. i think for piece of mind ill dig over and remove what i can.

[bristolsparks]

Well sunday afternoon and a few buckets of roots later i have roughly dug it over. The soil was so clumpy and clay like it was hard work. Will leave like this for a few week and see what grows so i can see what i missed. Hopefully the sun will dry it out too
Then ill have to dig in some manure to improve the soil.
Is there anything else i could do?
Thanks again.

[Two_Sheds]

do i just sow green manure and hope it will work

What are you hoping the GM will do ?

[bristolsparks]

Opps no photo.

[Two_Sheds]

ill have to dig in some manure to improve the soil

Don't dig it in, just leave it on the surface as a weed-killing mulch. The worms will work it into the soil. Digging destroys worm tunnels.
If you keep turning over the soil, you will expose more weed seeds to the light so they can germinate

Is there anything else i could do?

sit on your hands

You're dying to "do something" aren't you? You could plant Jap onion sets, and/or broad beans in a month's time

[bristolsparks]

Hoping the GM will give ground cover to help prevent weeds and to improve soil.

[Two_Sheds]

it will, but it's a little late for sowing. Now that days are shortening and getting colder, growth everywhere is grinding to a halt.
If you plant it now, it won't provide much in the way of ground cover, but will get growing strongly in early spring, which is presumably when you'd want to be getting it out for a crop to go in.


To improve the soil, add some mulch: chopped up weeds, manure, coffee grounds etc etc

It's not crucial though: if the ground grew weeds, it'll grow crops

[bristolsparks]

Ok thanks. I have some cardboard left so will cover with that and buy some more bags of manure to put on top.

[BertieFox]

I've been experimenting with no dig and deep mulch for several years now on our heavy clay soil. It works quite well in some places but being in a relatively dry climate we find that the soil under the mulch turns to rock and the plants suffer from drought despite the mulch. In the beds we still cultivate, even shallowly, the plants do far better, using the same methods of covering in compost and then wood chips or whatever. I'm still waiting for those worms which are supposed to break up the soil underneath. They obviously haven't read the appropriate books over here!

[bristolsparks]

So you dig your manure in bertie and find it gives better results?

[BertieFox]

I don't dig manure or mulch in, as I still apply it to the surface, but I find it necessary to cultivate the top six inches or so of soil from time to time.

Despite almost never walking on the beds, I find the ground gets very hard and creates a pan in dry weather and roots have difficulty penetrating to get moisture.

I guess the alternative would be far more regular watering or irrigation, difficult on a very large plot without wasting water, or expensive if you have to install a lot of trickle irrigation. (which increasingly I think I may need to do).

[Kristen]

I guess the alternative would be far more regular watering or irrigation, difficult on a very large plot without wasting water, or expensive if you have to install a lot of trickle irrigation. (which increasingly I think I may need to do).

Bit of a long shot: but do you think if you had good/effective trickle irrigation you could get the same yield from, say, half the number of plants? If that were to be the case maybe it would justify the cost and faff. Assuming that the irrigation-rich plants still produced a tasty crop - perhaps things like Tomatoes would be better somewhat dry-stressed than well-irrigated, although spuds and the like should dramatically increase yield with good irrigation in a hot climate.