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Hello,
I’m a complete novice so would appreciate any advice.
Our New house has a sloping garden which has been neglected for many years.
It has an incline and is convered in what I think is couch grass and a few other weeds.
I’d like to make a few no dig beds but having read charles’ book on how to create a new veg garden I still have some questions….Due to the large lumps created from grass which has pushed up I’m unsure if I can just lay cardboard and manure over the top as the cardboard wouldn’t lay flush on the ground.
Should I dig out the clumps of grass? should I put manure down first to help level off? (The garden is accessed up some steps so getting lots of manure up there will take time). Should I lay some plastic down first to try and kill the grass to give a flatter starting point?Another question is about the slope in the ground, is this ok or should I create raised beds that are deeper at one end and therefore level?
Sorry for all the questions, like I said I’m new to this and I want to get it right. Time is short with a young family and it’s a bit daunting starting from scratch with such a big space!
I’ve attached some photos which hopefully will help.
Any advice would be gratefully received!
Rose
It looks good and I would use a rotary lawn mower over the area with a final pass on the lowest setting to make it level.
Run beds up and down the slope and no need to level anything.
Maybe start small tooI have the same situation at my house and have been wondering about these two very questions. Thanks for asking! If you end up having pointers for how to manage a no-dig garden on a slope, Rose, please share them back.
Hi Rose , I have an allotment in the Peak District at an altitude of 800 feet. It is also on a south facing slope(good) about 8 feet higher at the top than the bottom. I do not seem to have any problems caused by the slope itself other than pushing a wheelbarrow up. I run my beds (4 feet wide) up and down the slope and it seems to work well. I converted to no dig last year and for the first time in 40 years of growing veg I never had the hoe out and the plot is 25×12 yards. I use well rotted horse manure for compost
Allan that is so good to hear, well done for being open to trying different methods after 40 years.
Thanks also for the up-and-down confirmation, something I always recommend, except for super-steep slopes where terracing is an option.Thanks Charles. Iknew the standard system I was following was failing Year on year. When I discovered your methods on social media last year I knew it must be the answer. I converted the whole plot last February with 5 tons of composted manure and had the best year ever. Thank you for that and the ongoing videos
Hello, and thank all of you for this information. I have a related issue, not the slope, but starting no-dig on a bumpy ground, or wavy I would say, from ploughing it into furrows with a tractor. The bumps are about 30 cm wide and 20 cm deep. Should I level off the surface before spreading the compost, or just spread directly enough compost to fill the furrows and then put the “normal” layer of compost on top?
Thank you!
Hi Javier – the drawbacks of ploughing!
Yes I would level the soil before mulching, because that means you need less compost and will give a more even result, since compost quickly sinks and your wavy profile would reappear.
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