Acquired allotment recently – is it too late for no dig?

[Neil]

Hi,

I have recently acquired an allotment with decent soil and very few (but some) weeds.

With it now being April, is it too late for me to go for a no dig approach?

I am a total newcomer eager to get sowing so i’m not sure I can manage the wait till June for the compost to do its job.

There are a huge amount of worms in the soil and it seems tragic to go ahead and till, but I’m not sure what my alternative options are. So my question is twofold:

1. Are there any options that I am missing that would allow me to go ahead with a no dig approach now.

and

2. If I go ahead and rotavate will I still be okay to go ahead with no dig properly next year.

Thanks for reading!

Neil

[charles]

Neil no problems, you can start no dig at any time of year.
It sounds like your lovely soil needs just a thin mulch of compost, even 3cm would be enough but 5cm would mean less and easier weeding. You can spread compost, then sow and plant on the same day if the season is right.
And you could sell the rotovator!

[Neil]

Perfect, thought I might have been overcomplicating it!

That was the answer I was hoping for, and that’s what I’ll do.

Thanks Charles!

[Davorka]

Neil,
I had to wait for several years to get this stage of soil like yours!

I started my garden in summer 2010 on weedy, rock hard clay soil. The same tragedy on 300 m2.

I began to dig and stopped after a few minutes. Tried it never again. In the first two years it was not possible to sow any seeds, just planting seedlings. The solution was compost and more compost. And cpmpost again!

Happy gardening!

[Author]

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