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I recently discovered no dig gardening and I quite dig (hehe) the idea of letting the microorganisms in the soil do the work and not having to rototill. I signed up for a small plot (about 30sqm) in a community garden near me that hasn’t been cultivated in the past couple of years. The plot is full of weeds (a lot of Bermuda grass and some other weeds that I can’t recognize) and the soil is compacted and on the clay side. I cut the grass yesterday and now I’m wondering how to go ahead with this. I’m a bit hesitant to plant directly in the soil without doing anything to it as the few top inches are full of weed roots and the soil is quite compacted. Unfortunately I don’t have access to good compost so layering a few inches of it is not really an option. I’m thinking of covering the whole plot with overlapping cardboard and making a trench in an attempt to weaken the Bermuda grass and plant some tomatoes, peppers, and aubergines through holes in the cardboard. I might get a hold of some straw to use as a mulch on top of the cardboard. I’ll gather leaves in the autumn to make leaf mold but that’s for next growing season. What do you recommend?
Hi Bronc,
Covering the area will kill off most of the weeds/grass but it wont relieve the compaction. Mulching with compost does that. Take a look at Charles’s advise under the No Dig growing Tag above.
Don.
Bronc I don’t think your soil is compacted, it looks healthy to me and the grass growth says so too.
You could try just cardboard but it’s late in the day for killing the grass so I would not do a huge area of planting. Mulch the rest in readiness for autumn and onwards.
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