[10b]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for the lengthy post.

I have just took possession of my plot on Saturday and have so far spent a couple of happy hours down there clearing weeds by myself as well as with the kids.

I've been told by one of the neighbours that it has been looked after well by the previous owner. Then at the beginning of the season this year, they rotovated the entire plot before giving it up for health reasons. Basically it's a blank slate covered with weeds (mainly annual).

My eventual plan is to go no-dig, but I am going to dig over the entire plot after I've cleared the weeds to give everything a good start.

One of the perks of our allotment site is that we get free fresh manure and woodchip. After reading up a bit I'm not sure how to make best use of the manure. .
As I will have a large amount of weeds to compost is it a good idea to mix these with manure then let it all rot down for a year? Or should I just make a separate manure pile and leave that for a year to rot down before adding it to my no-dig beds? Some people put fresh manure on top of their beds then let it rot down over winter. What do you do? Do you even use manure? The more I read the more confused I get.

[Subversive_plot]

Hello 10b

I would pile the weeds separately for composting.  Think of that as a long-term composting project. Pile, let them rot down, turn, repeat in a month or two, or even six.  If there are viable seeds, roots, shoots, etc. in that pile, you want to have a good long period of time for that material to completely rot before using it.  I have one large bin with an open base that I keep adding weeds to each year. when it is full, I will let it rot down a while without adding more, then fully turn it over and start a new bin next to it.

As for the fresh manure, these days I usually only get get compost with manure as part of the blend. It is fully composted manure. I don't have fresh manure available to me right now. However, it seems like your plot neighbors have the right idea with putting fresh manure on top of the beds, letting it over-winter, then turning it into the soil.  You can compost additional manure that can be used after the composting process is finished.

[Snow]

There's no wrong answer really, you can do any of that.

I'd make as large a pile as possible with the manure and weeds, you will probably need to add browns as well. Then turn it a couple of times and you could probably spread it in spring when you plant into it.

We get mixed manure that has some well rotted, some new. I tend to give it its own pile to let it mature a bit, then add it slowly to my main compost pile as I build it up. I build up the pile over many months.  So you could also do this!

I do no dig and the mature compost pile goes on top of the beds over autumn and winter as crops come out


If you can get  lot of woodchip it's a good idea to make a large pile of its own too, then you can add it to the compost pile in a similar manner once it's broken down a bit more in 18 months or so. Or use it on paths, but you can use fresh wood chip for that

[mumofstig]

I put fresh wood chips on as many paths as possible, and then, after a couple of years (when it was quite rotted ) - shovel it all onto the beds and renew the woodchip on the paths, to start the cycle again 

[rowlandwells]

 manure delivered to ones allotment  you lucky person that can't be bad and although I'm not in the no dig club we always use plenty of horse manure an the allotments every year  we tend to stack the fresh manure for around 12 months before using cattle manure is the best given the choice

as for the weeds after harvesting the veg crops this year we sprayed the plots with roundup because basically the weeds where growing like mustard and cress and now after a couple of weeks there turning a nice yellow so hopefully the ground will be clean before we plough the plots for winter

[Goosegirl]

I like the no-dig method because weed seeds can be anywhere below ground so, if you leave the top alone and keep on top of the weeds, you will get less germinating. Putting manure on the vacant soil and letting it rot down over winter is basically imitating nature. We get fresh horse manure from a big pile so some of it at the bottom has started to rot down. We put them in empty compost bags or similar then fill up our Daleks with it and leave alone until the following spring when most of it goes on the rose hedge bed, making sure that its kept clear of their stems in case some is a bit fresh. Hasn't done our rose hedge too bad this year!

[10b]

Thanks to everyone for the detailed replies they are very helpful.

By the sounds of it I can't go far wrong whatever I do. And the good news is I have enough weeds to try a few different methods!

For now I think I'm going to get manure from the bottom of the huge pile and make a pile on my plot. Then once I've planned what's going where I can spread it over the top and let nature do it's thing over the winter. I'll let my pile of weeds rot down a bit before assessing further. I also like the idea of woodchip paths so I'll pile up some of that.

I'm already getting a bit ahead of myself I haven't fully cleared the plot yet and now I need to start collecting pallets or darleks.