Bindweed Blues

[Sausage]

I’m a complete no dig beginner. I’m sort of new to vegetable gardening too. I’ve mainly grown veg in containers before except I put some in with the flowers. I want to make a no dig bed in a long neglected area of dry soil, full of perennial weeds, reverted rose rootstock and old raspberry canes from 40 years ago. I managed to get alot out with minimal digging. The big problem is bindweed. The roots are everywhere, all over like a thick, very deep carpet. I got out as much as I can but I can’t clean the area of it all without literally digging out the soil to several feet down. I used to love bindweed as a child but now I could have nightmares about the sight of all those roots. Ugh.

My question is this: should I keep trying to pull out the roots or should I just get on and mulch? If mulch, how should I do it? I had thought of black polythene directly on top but I’m concerned it won’t be good for the health of dry, compacted clay soil. Instructions for woven weed suppressing membrane usually say to mulch with compost or bark on top, but I don’t want to leave the plastic in the soil? I am thinking instead about deep layers of compost and manure, a double layer of cardboard on top and a woven weed membrane over it all to hold the cardboard without using weights, but no extra organic mulch over the membrane. Is this correct?

Another problem is that I have three temporary, moveable (just about) gro-beds of vegetables, which a neighbour kindly let me keep in their garden while they’re away working. They’ll be back in August and I will move the beds back to my garden, but the only place the gro-beds can go is on top of the mulch in the no dig bed. It will only be temporary and the mulch will have had nearly twelve weeks of not being weighted down. Will this be OK? They’re not huge (90cm by 60cm and 23cm deep) and I just don’t have space to put them anywhere else.

I am probably angsting too much about this but I want to start off right.

Thanks

[Neilfrazerm]

Hi Sausage, I’ve a similar problem and have adopted the following:
If planting perennials, then dig out all bindweed roots.
If planting annuals, mulch regardless, but remember to put down extra layers of Amazon cardboard boxes! (it will always pull out through the compost once the cardboard disintegrates) …
BR
Neilfrazerm

[Sausage]

Thanks Neilfrazerm! I’m growing a cardboard mountain already and I think I’ll add more just to be sure I’ve got enough. Do you think it will cause a problem temporarily putting a Gro-bed on top of the no dig bit or is the weight not an issue?

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