[Plot 6B]

Some people advise that you  leave your soil in big spits and then let the winter weather break it down.
Then others advise that you cover your soil up to stop the leeching of nutriants.

Is any method correct and what is your opinion?

[Nikkithefoot]

Depends on you soil type and whether you follow a no dig policy.

Broadly speaking if you have a heavy clay type soil you should dig in the autumn / winter leaving big lumps for the frost to break down. If however you have light sandy soil you should leave any digging until the spring, otherwise the winter rains will compress the soil, and leach out nutrients. You'll only be doing it again before planting.

[mumofstig]

I don't like digging in spring on my light sandy soil.............it seems to open up the soil so that it dries out too quickly at that time of year. Any deep digging (I'm working on a hard-pan layer  is done in autumn, so that it can settle back down quickly and absorb the winter rain.
In spring a gentle fork over of the top couple of inches is all that's ever really needed here.

Years ago on my first allotment, on clay,  I did lots of rough digging with clods left for the frosts

[sunshineband]

My soil is river silt with stones. I cover up the beds that have manure or compost on them, once they are 'ready to go' so that the worms are cosy and do their job 

A quick zhoosh in the spring is all that is needed, and any perennial weeds can easily be seen (white!) and dug out, and seedlings of annuals just dug in.

Werks fer me and my soil 

[New shoot]

Horses for courses in my view.  My plot is heavy clay so I autumn dig and leave clods over the winter.  I find if I don't autumn dig, it is murder to try and turn over in the spring.  If I cover the soil over winter it gets very green on the surface and is soaking wet come spring, so I have given up on that.

The main nutrient that leaches is nitrogen and that only hangs about for 6 weeks or so anyway.  On areas where I'm planting bigger tougher stuff like squash, I empty the compost bins in the new year and dig in all available material. For areas where I'm growing smaller stuff I dig over and level in the spring, adding pelleted chicken manure.

I'm slowly turning my soil from something you could make bricks out of into good stuff this way 

[Babstreefern]

I dig mine in autumn and just leave it for the weather to soften and break down.  In late November, I throw on BFB and then in spring, I put on Bone Meal and some seaweed stuff (I forget what its called), but it helps to feed up the soil for your planting.  Also, where I'm going to put in my brassicas I cover it over with lime (as well as using it at the time of planting).

[sunshineband]

What a differenec a few miles can make New Shoot -- not that far away, and how different 

[azubah]

I just dig mine when the weather is suitable and I have an area with nothing  planted in it.
This is mostly this time of year when crops are being harvested and things like beans taken down.

[totalnovice]

I'm with New Shoot here, very heavy clay which i (try and)dig in the autum leaving it in large clods for the frost to break down. I find that if i leave it until spring to dig it is too heavey, too wet and there is no hope to get a decent tilth (is that the right word?) for seed sowing, in fact the smallest i can get it is golf ball sized chunks!!! I broke two spades the first year I got the plot and started digging in late march.... :blink:
However my mums ground is pretty light and sandy and so she dig in spring as it is no work at all.

[aelf]

I will go over mine with the rotavator early Feb when I spread my compost, BFB and chicken pellets. Have to wait till there have been a few dryish days in a row or the rotavator just clogs up. I have sandy clay and clayey sand in equal measure on my plot  and it sets like concrete when very dry

[Gareth J]

I have almost finished my digging, I am blessed with loads of marestail so I have no option other than forking over soil after I have dug it to remove as many roots as possible. I think it will be back next year though  What do you think?

[Willie_Eckerslike]

I have almost finished my digging, I am blessed with loads of marestail so I have no option other than forking over soil after I have dug it to remove as many roots as possible. I think it will be back next year though  What do you think?

I wish mine was that neat and tidy. 

I have got about 3/4 of mine dug but it is quite heavy. Just waiting for a few dry days and I'll start spreading the manure. The winter weather can break it all down and then hopefully just a light fork over in spring.

[mumofstig]

. I think it will be back next year though  What do you think?

This stuff is almost impossible to get rid of all together, all you can do is keep it under control and learn to live with it.

Hoe it off as soon as it shows through, and you will weaken it.
As Aunt Sally says "never let it see a Sunday"

[Ralphy]

. I think it will be back next year though  What do you think?

This stuff is almost impossible to get rid of all together, all you can do is keep it under control and learn to live with it.

Hoe it off as soon as it shows through, and you will weaken it.
As Aunt Sally says "never let it see a Sunday"

I'll agree with that, for the first time I've managed to get to the plot often enough to hoe it before it gets more than a few inches high, and the first few beds i've dug this autumn are clearer than I've ever seen. 



Don't get me wrong though, It's still there, just less of it...and it's just waiting for me to slip up and relax 

[DigIt]

The traditionally held view on digging heavier soils is to dig in autumn/winter to allow the frost to break it down.
But having worked on a commercial scale farm, they adopted a different view based on their knowledge of the soil and that was to spring plough (dig for you and me) because otherwise, with the soil being particularly biased towards silt, it would just settle back solid. So it was plough and cultivate in quick succession.

And I have to say that I use this here in Cornwall and at a previous very heavy location near Nottingham (which at this time of year would be nearly undiggable, being near to a canal and this would last through to the end of April!).

So it is very much about getting to know your own particular soil, which can take a period of time and trial and error. 

Might be worth trying autumn digging on one part and spring dig another part and see if there is any benefit/difference.