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Hi Rebecca, a very late reply to your question, sorry work has been manic leading up to Christmas!
I used neither. It had been rotavated so I marked out the growing beds, lightly raked it over and put a mixture of homemade compost and bought compost on them. I left paths in between and as the summer was so dry they just got trodden down as I worked from them. I have kept on top of the weeding without too much work and continued through the year with second sowings too.
Today I harvested lettuce, beetroot, parsnips and carrots. I was also thrilled to see my Romanesco has started to heart (nearly gave up on them so pleased I didn’t!) Also have kale and cabbages to harvest soon too. All going really well!
I think once the layer of compost went on the weeds do get weaker over time. There was a lot of bindweed on one end of my plot but that has weakened a lot this year.
Have a great Christmas and enjoy your plot!Hi Rebecca, congrats on getting your allotment! I know how it exciting it is as I only got my allotment last May. My plot was rotavated before I took it on so I immediately went into ‘no dig’ mode and planned the growing beds and paths using well-rotted manure mixed with bought compost. I have had a fantastic yield of vegetables and was very proud to be awarded a Certificate of Merit by our committee at the recent AGM. I can’t tell you how easy this method is and I bore everyone talking about Charles’s methods, this informative website and how productive this way of growing is. I still have lots growing at this time: carrots, winter cabbage, lettuce and beetroot (just coming to an end), parsnips and a few varieties of kale. Second sowings have worked really well and I would encourage everyone to look at the videos on that topic, super use of all the space you have available. All the vegetables I am harvesting now (expect parsnips) have been second and third sowings, just by adding another very thin layer of compost and planting through with no disturbance to the ground.
Best wishes to you, Jan 🙂A photo of a section of my allotment a week ago 🙂
Last year (2017) I sowed a section of carrots (in August) using the no-dig method and was amazed at the germination and wonderful carrots that grew right through until February this year!
I was fortunate to be offered an allotment this year and although it was rotavated before I took it over I have used the no-dig method throughout this year and have had an abundance of vegetables and successful second sowings too with a thin layer of compost (due to cost and availability)!
The carrots I planted there and at home in my garden have been a huge success again through the no-dig method and I am certainly a convert to such an easy method of growing and do try and pass on Charles’s methods to my allotment neighbours.
Although they do look at me as if I am a bit mad! But time and my lovely allotment will tell!Hi, I would be very interested to know if they do any damage too!
I had them last year on top of my black plastic compost bins which contained horse manure and the garden waste.
These are situated near my raspberry canes and I did see a few tiny worms (maggots?) in some of the raspberries and wondered if the tiny flies were responsible!! 🙁
Jan