Beginners mistakes with no dig

Shelley S · August 2022

Having decided to try no dig on an area of our ‘new’ allotment (new to us but 3 years since previously used) we put down cardboard & manure in that section. With hindsight, there probably wasn’t a thick enough layer of either & with limited time available, the bindweed & goosegrass has ended up taking over again. Suggestions on how to remedy this please. Options being considered: cover it asap with black weed suppressant/ground sheet & leave until the spring; trying digging out the major weeds & then add more cardboard &/or manure/ compost on top; or clear off the existing layer & start again properly.

Any advice welcome. Budget is minimal, so please bear that in mind.

MikeOxgreen · August 2022

Digging them out is the only way. How to deal with what you've dug out is in the last page of the composting thread.
There is no easy way around it.
I've had the same this year with bindweed, docs and horses tail on a new plot. I just waited until they sprouted and dug them out. Next year will be much easier now,

bcpathome · August 2022

I didn’t think you could go in straight away with no dig .I always thought you had to prepare it first ,ie ,take out / clear the plot ,and then ever after it’s no dig …….maybe I’ve got that wrong , but it makes sense to me .

MikeOxgreen · August 2022

bcpathome said:

I didn’t think you could go in straight away with no dig .I always thought you had to prepare it first ,ie ,take out / clear the plot ,and then ever after it’s no dig …….maybe I’ve got that wrong , but it makes sense to me .

I doubt Charles 'No Diggedy' Dowding would agree with you, but I would. Turn the patch over first to get an idea of what you've got, what you're dealing with, pull roots out etc.

Once the soil is 'something like' then do no dig in later years and from then on.
It's ok pulling deep rooted weeds out at a later date, but all too often they come up through the roots of your plants so digging them out disturbs them.

It's a multi year process and just gets a little easier every year if you stick with it.

a1154 · August 2022

Hi Shelley, I think any of your options being considered would be fine. It would be preferable to start again, but if time is short go for the weed suppressant and start in spring. No dig is no dig. It’s not dig it all until weed free, then do no dig.

Hostafan1 · August 2022

I'd kill it with Roundup, then start with a clean plot next year

StephenSouthwest · August 2022

Did the weeds come up through the mulch, or in from the sides?

Shelley S · September 2022

The weeds have very much come up through the mulch! I still feel in a bit of a dilemma about no dig or not. I know the Charles Dowding approach is very much a don’t dig at all but at this point I’m not convinced.

StephenSouthwest · September 2022

If the weeds are coming through the mulch then the mulch needs to be deeper or/and the cardboard needs to be thicker.

My most recent no dig bed was straight onto lawn with couch grass, bindweed and bramble in it:

- large sheets of thick cardboard, overlapped with no gaps.

- at least 6 inches of mulch: mainly manure, but essentially whatever was to hand

One or two tiny weeds have made an attempt to come through, but essentially it's been easy and effective.

If it was a larger area, I'd mulch as above then use a 'clearing crop' of potatoes - shading out any weeds (whether from underneath or seed blown in), and then harvesting the potato crop in the summer makes for a more satisfying check for any escaping weeds.

At this time of year, I'd either cardboard, mulch then weed suppressant sheet (but only if I already had plastic), or I'd cardboard, mulch and sow green manure for the winter.

Beginners mistakes with no dig

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