Page 37 - ALG Issue 3 2023

WHAT DO YOU NEED?
The big question is how much compost to apply when starting out. A layer can be any amount from 3 to 15cm deep. Using more will make subsequent work easier and quicker but using just 3cm is entirely possible. It depends on your budget and the availability of compost.
The compost can have lumps in, and you do
not need to sieve it. Compost can be any type
of decomposed material: your own compost, purchased ‘green waste’ or mushroom compost, animal manure that has been stacked for a few months, leaf mould and old wood chip.
You need cardboard if starting with a lot of weeds, especially perennials like couch grass.
places for slugs on sunny days, and then they emerge at night to eat!
Wooden sides also build populations of woodlice and ants. The former eat low leaves of seedlings, which show as serrations of leaf edges. The latter secrete acids which damage roots.
An exception to this, and only when starting out with say 10 to 15cm compost, is that you may want to use temporary wooden sides to hold compost in place. Remove them within a few months once the compost has settled.
HOW DO I CREATE A NO DIG BED?
Beds and paths can be on any unused space, with grass and weeds left in place. Just dig out any woody stems you see, otherwise they grow through mulches you lay. If the surface is lumpy and uneven, it is worth using a sharp spade to level it, or to bring in soil to fill the hollows.
If starting with more than a few weeds, cover them with overlapping pieces
of cardboard. Remove all tape and staples from the cardboard, and in dry conditions, wet it. Use only matte cardboard, not shiny pieces which are perhaps coated in plastic. On top of the cardboard, spread your desired or available amount of compost.
If weeds are especially vigorous, lay two layers of thick cardboard. This can save a lot of time at the beginning. Then after 2 to 3 months you will see shoots of perennial weeds pushing through. Keep removing them until the old roots die
in the soil below. This requires trust in the process – those old weeds will die. Couch grass with strong roots takes a year, bindweed two years as long as you keep removing the new growth.
Cardboard is a temporary mulch only because it decays within 2 to 3 months. After that, weeds can push upwards, and the roots of your plantings can travel down into the soil below any compost you put there.
If there are many weeds and you wish to plant / sow vegetables or flowers
When starting out, the most common and easiest path mulch is cardboard
immediately, you need more compost on the cardboard. About 10-12.5cm measured after firming it with your feet.
If the ground is not weedy, you do not need cardboard and can start with
as little as 5cm compost. If you find a few large annual weeds, you can pull
or twist out, or hoe these off. Remove them to the compost heap and level the surface. Spread the new compost at a sufficient depth to prevent germination (5cm) of all the weed seeds which will be near the soil surface.
Even if that compost is poor quality,
this can succeed when you transplant rather than sow direct. You can set plants deeper than seeds, meaning their roots are in the soil below and are not affected by the low quality of compost such as new green waste, which may still be warm and immature.
If you have many vigorous perennial weeds, there is another option! Lay a polythene cover on top of them. Just before doing that you can spread
any kind of organic matter, including undecomposed leaves: this provides food for soil life such as earthworms underneath the plastic, while the weeds are dying. Also in the first growing period, you can plant through polythene while weeds are still dying underneath.
PATHS:
It is important that you mulch any pathways around as well as between your new beds. Otherwise, weeds in the paths will just spread back into your beds.
When starting out, the most common and easiest path mulch is cardboard, held down with either a very thin layer of woody material in small pieces, or a little rough compost.
After 2 to 3 months you may see new shoots of perennial weeds pushing up through the decaying card of pathways. Simply repeat the process with more cardboard on top of them.
HOW DO I MAINTAIN A NO DIG BED?
After the initial feeding of compost in year 1, just one feed of 2.5cm a year should be sufficient for two plantings each year. It feeds soil life, which does the work.
Charles Dowding
More information on getting started with no dig can be found on the ‘Get Started’ and FAQ pages of my website: https://charlesdowding. co.uk/start-no-dig/
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 37