[New shoot]

BM is Bordeaux mixture.

I have done a combination of dig and no dig for years. I got my original info from reading stuff by Bob Flowerdew and articles on soil conservation and agriculture around the world.  If I read something interesting, I trial it for myself and see what I think.

One reason I am not totally no dig is that I can’t compost enough to cover my whole plot and I have a large array of compost bins.  Buying in a lot of mulch is costly and there is no vehicle access to my plot.  I could run to the buying if I had to, but I have never felt the need. It depends what you buy as well. Composted green waste is a different matter to anything containing peat for instance.

My soil is in pretty good heart from my combined approach and you could have made bricks out of it when I started 

[John]

BM is Bordeaux mixture.

Thanks for that.

[jambop]

Someone asks a question about the compatibility of growing green manures with non dig, and then a load of posts refer to the apparent polarization of opinions. There were no polarized opinions or religious attitudes until someone brought it up, so why bring it up? All I saw was people responding to the best of their experience.

Yes you are of course correct... the OP is totally new to the subject though it is not in anyway harmful to give a heads up on the matter. There is most definitely a polarisation on the matter... no dig that is... and certainly religion 

[jambop]

"One reason I am not totally no dig is that I can’t compost enough to cover my whole plot and I have a large array of compost bins.  Buying in a lot of mulch is costly and there is no vehicle access to my plot.  I could run to the buying if I had to, but I have never felt the need. It depends what you buy as well. Composted green waste is a different matter to anything containing peat for instance."


Compost is an issue that cannot be denied however with a 4000 sqm and living in a farming community I can get the materials I need. Incidentally having a large area of garden to look after is another very good reason not to be toiling away in the veg plot all day anytime that can be saved there can be used in other areas.

[jambop]

Jambop - what is BM?

Incidentally, I love this 'no weeds grow' stuff - if only the weeds knew

Yes Bordeaux mixture... a godsend! The weeds? They do grow but the very few I have I plucked from the compost with ease. I have gone from hours in baking heat with a hoe trying to control them, if the soil is wet it is impossible because of the mud sticking to boots and compacting a clay soil, to a leisurely hour now and then in the evening with my fingers plucking them it is remarkable how few I have ... and next year I would expect less.

[Nobbie]

Jambop - what is BM?

Incidentally, I love this 'no weeds grow' stuff - if only the weeds knew

I assumed Bordeaux Mixture?

[rowlandwells]

yep Jambot you can't beat a bit of faming material its all good stuff

[snowdrops]

I too am finding the weeds are a lot lot less & that they indeed do pull out a lot easier in my 3rd year of no dig.

[al78]

My allotment is semi-nodig, I don't do any autumn or winter digging, and I cover beds with manure I collect from a nearby field whever I can. The only time I dig is to cultivate potatoes, plant out seedlings/young plants, and control my three worst weeds: bindweed, couch grass and creeping buttercup. The lockdown and exceptional weather has freed up spring evenings to work on my plot which I wouldn't normally be able to use due to commuting then having to cook an evening meal, and I have taken advantage by applying manure and controlling perennial weeds. One good thing I have noticed this year is that despite the arid weather, the condition of the soil is not bad, and is workable, despite being primarily heavy clay, so the application of manure every year is clearly having the effect of improving the soil. I understand there is a way to cultivate potatoes without digging.

[jambop]

My allotment is semi-nodig, I don't do any autumn or winter digging, and I cover beds with manure I collect from a nearby field whever I can. The only time I dig is to cultivate potatoes, plant out seedlings/young plants, and control my three worst weeds: bindweed, couch grass and creeping buttercup. The lockdown and exceptional weather has freed up spring evenings to work on my plot which I wouldn't normally be able to use due to commuting then having to cook an evening meal, and I have taken advantage by applying manure and controlling perennial weeds. One good thing I have noticed this year is that despite the arid weather, the condition of the soil is not bad, and is workable, despite being primarily heavy clay, so the application of manure every year is clearly having the effect of improving the soil. I understand there is a way to cultivate potatoes without digging.

I have grown some lovely spuds this year and not a tool has been used! I had manure spread over the top of the soil and then compost over that. I then put the seed potato in at the bottom of the lot. When the tops were getting quite high I used compost about the plants to simulate earthing up, but not as much as I would have if growing normally. A few weeks after that I applied a healthy load of grass clippings as a mulch down both sides of the rows. I pulled up some the other day and got really nice potatoes about 1.5kg from a plant. I am happy enough with that, if all the spuds I planted out come up with the same yield I will get about 32kg of potatoes from a 3m x 1.5m bed and no fertiliser used at all . The grass clipping are now breaking down and a nice surprise is there does not appear to be and seed germinating from them, I was worried about that happening. When the spuds are out the bed will be getting more manure and another load of compost and the winter brassicas are going in there.