Converting to no dig part way through year

[JacquiParticipant]

I have been growing organically for a few years in deep beds surrounded by wood. I saw the article on Gardeners World and decided to convert to no dig as having problems with arthritis in knees so digging it getting painful.
I had sown one of the beds with a green manure mix which I was going just about to dig in ready to plant out Brassicas in June which I am growing from seeds in modules. Since seeing the program I have cut off the plants at the base and covered with black plastic compost bags.
Will they rot down in time to plant out? Should I cover with compost?

If you keep adding compost/manure to the beds each autumn , what do you do when the soil level reaches the top of the wood sides. I cannot remove the sides as they are quite deep (about 1ft in depth) and I have paving slabs paths. My husband built the deep beds and would not speak to me if I suggested removing them!
There is nowhere else in the garden to grow vegetables due to flower borders. I have attached a photo of part of the garden

[Don FoleyParticipant]

Hi Jacqui,
The compost you add on top of your beds rots down/gets brought down by worms over the course of the year such that by the time you come to add a layer for your next crop little if any is left of your original layer. Even an initial layer of 6″ over grass pasture, which you would do with new ground you wish to cultivate, will have been reduced to little more than an inch after 9-12 months.
In your own case you will only need to add 1-2″ of compost on top of your current beds and this will rot down and be incorporated into the soil very quickly, 6-9 months.
I don’t know if you previously dug in compost to your beds but no dig is simply (very simplistically) a different way of applying compost and getting the worms to do the digging for you.
Don.

[charlesModerator]

Yes And no dig is also about allowing fungi to work with roots, it’s a wonderful and complex system, enabled by us leaving alone.
I can’t answer your green manure question as you do not say what the plants are. Nor do you say what proportion of your bed is filled with soil.
If it’s all soil then I would scrape some off
Before adding compost.
Otherwise as Don says, compost consolidates to a small volume, quite quickly.

[JDParticipant]

Hi Jacquie
I would be tempted to add the green manure foliage to your compost bin. If you leave it in situ it could well attract a lot of slugs, particularly covered with plastic bags as they’ll love the dark and damp. This would not be a great start for your new brassica plants! I would cover with a layer of well rotted manure or compost instead and leave your green manure to rot down into lovely compost for use at a later date. Good luck

[Author]

Posts