[Rich72]

Morning all. I am digging over my beds as I empty them from this season. My plot neighbor advised me to dig over leaving big chunks so the frost can break them down over winter. However, after reading this months GYO magazine, there is an article referring to 'putting your plot to bed'  eg covering it over. It says if you just leave it to the rigors of winter then by spring, you will have a lovely patch of concrete. Which is best way to go on this?

[mumofstig]

there have been a few posts about this lately, and it depends on your soil to some extent what you choose to do
look here
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=99254.msg1101331#msg1101331
and here
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=84651.msg941970#msg941970

[rowlandwells]

 
 i can only speak from experience from my farming days i always plough my Lottie as near to winter as possible because i have found more weeds tend to emerge if the weather stays mild

i also plough my ground rough about seven to nine inches deep and  let the winter elements do there job then come spring i harrow the ground that has a fine tilth to work with

i did the silly thing one year of not ploughing the ground till spring i had great difficulty in getting the ground down to make a good tilth

that's my advise for what its worth good luck

[Trillium]

My mother is a great believe in rotovating her garden every fall. And every following summer she's swamped by all the dormant weed seeds she's turned up by rotovating. I've tried to explain the relationship to her but she refuses to believe it as she spends hours chopping and pulling weeds. She too was a farmer and believes veg gardens must be 'farmed'.

I believe in less work and simply cover my soil in fall with a nice layer of manure and leave it for the worms to work for me. I'd never cover with plastic or such, but cardboard will help keep soil soft as it too is a natural product (aside from glue). Come spring I can just loosen (not turn) the soil with a fork and I'm ready to go.

Some people simply can't get past the idea that soil must be worked to be usable, so if you have the time to spend, then do what you feel is best.

[m1ckz]

for me...its dig over an muck up,then rotovate in spring   

[compostqueen]

No digging or rotovating on my plot 

if you do cover parts of the plot with muck and leave it, you will find in spring, the soil underneath is in good, moist order. Not at all like concrete. Similarly with heavy duty woven sheet mulch. Both also help to keep weeds suppressed too

Your plot, you do as you like 

[Rich72]

Thanks for your replies. Think I will be barrowing a load of manure up the hill on my next visit then.

[compostqueen]

I'm getting mine delivered 

[Carollan]

I would love the `no dig` solution,but the list of weeds I have puts that to bed! Couch grass,mares tail,nettles,bindweed,brambles,docks.......I have tried lots of ideas and the best so far has been covering with a good 3 inches of stable manure,then a black plastic cover for 2 years.Everything underneath died except a few brambles which managed to ,pierce the plastic and come through. 

Where I dug in the winter and left for the frost to break,I got more weeds than I could get rid of.

Where I covered with manure and left open to the elements,I got lots of weeds,but they grew loose in the manure and were easy to get out.

Since I don`t have enough black plastic to cover all my plot,I shall carry on mixing and matching .

[compostqueen]

The black sheet mulch is very effective for weakening brambles too. I had a plot full of them and was struggling to physically get them out so I covered them with the heavy duty stuff and left it.  It weakened them to such an extent that I could just lift out the rotted, dead roots. The top foliage soon gave up the ghost.  Clearing the plot with mostly sheet mulch does work but you just have to allow it time to do its thing.  What I liked about it was that there was no thatch whatsoever left to clear off the soil surface. It all disappears which has to be a boon 

As I'm plotting on my own I've used this method to clear most of the plot. Several years on, if a patch gets too weedy I just put the sheet mulch back down, well secured, and leave it.  The manure under the sheet mulch is good I agree and I like to do that over the winter where I want to grow the greedy veggies in spring.  You find the soil in very good order too.  If the muck is in the way I scrape it to the side or plant through it. Saves digging

[Nikkithefoot]

As I clear beds, I lightly fork over pulling out any big or perennial weeds, then cover with a thick layer of manure and top it off with heavy duty weed suppressing membrane.

Come planting time off come the covers and a light forking follows to turn in any remaining manure. I keep the ground covered in this way until planting as it helps keep it warm, moist and weed free. Subsequent watering also is reduced unless spectacularly dry.

[Babstreefern]

Every year, about from now onwards, I dig my plot over (I actually like this part) so it forms large clumps and I let the weather get to it, and by Spring its softened down and is good to work with.  I also put in my fertiliser = usually a mixture of BFB, chicken pellets, etc, and also lime the soil where I'll be putting my brassicas, so everything gets washed in over winter, but in February/March, I again put in fertiliser and its then ready.  If you can, always let nature do the work.

[Plot74]

I enjoy a bit of digging but not all crops like loose soil so some area will be just hoed over and left to rest over the winter with a black plastic membrane  covering .
As I have a good soil it is not hard to turn over plus I am forever going over with a hoe wich keeps the ground farely loose.
John

[bigben]

I found that is can be an advantage to leave the beds to geminate weeds and hoe them off on a weekly basis. Particulraly on beds where I am not planting till April/May like squash. By the time I plant the squash most of the weeds have germinated and been hoed off.

If I dig in spring then plant - the stuff I plant comes up at the same time as the weeds and I can never tell which is which.

[allotmentann]

I too like to allow the weeds to germinate so that I can remove them. It has taken me longer than it otherwise would to clear my plot, as I have dug every bed over and left it at least three times before planting it up. I hate weeds growing through my plants that I can't remove without upsetting the plant. Personally I think it has been worth it as I have not had a problem with weeds this year other than a few self sown annuals which are easily removed. I am hoping that digging over again now disturbs as much as possible so I can get the beds as clear as possible before next seasons plants go in. Also, I have clay soil and I like the frost to get at it. But also on some beds I have used green manure, on others I have dug holes and made a compost heap and buried it and on others I will add manure.