[NASH]

A lot of weeds have come out of my manure, the seeds must have been in there as I put a bit of the manure in a bucket and within a couple of weeks small nettles and other nice weeds were growing in the bucket, is horse manure less weedy ?

[NASH]

I picked my first Swede yesterday about 4" diameter which were beautifully sweet.

[The Thin Blue Line]

But you do dig. You can see from the photos.
What you mean is you dont dig deep.

[NASH]

Hi Thin Blue Line, the only thing I dug was a thin trench which I lined with plastic to stop weeds growing into it, then I filled the trench with compost and sowed carrots into it, the carrots are now ten inches long and very tasty.
Everything else you see growing is on top of the soil in pure rotted Manure.

[SAMANTHA MOLLY]

You dig everytime you harvest those potatoes!!!
Its not the roots that break it up....

Looks lovely.

[NASH]

I only break up the manure as the potato's don't penetrate the soil as it is rather compacted.

[compostqueen]

Just caught up with this. Looking good Nash. I think growing spuds does help with breaking up the soil, and they grow in manure just fine.  I think horse manure has more weed seeds than cow muck but it's generally not as heavy to lug about so is preferable in that respect

You were asking about green manures.  Some of the robust ones like buckwheat and field beans need digging or rotovating in so I don't bother with those. I like phacelia cos it looks lovely and the bees go for it.  Not planted any for a while though as I've mulched with manure and home made compost. 

[Salmo]

If your soil is compacted underneath and the roots generally are not peneterating it they are missing out on nutrients and their comparitively shallow rooting system is vunerable to drought. If you could let them go down you might even achieve a no dig/ no watering plot.

Maybe think about sticking a strong fork in and just breaking the compacted soil without turning it over, much like spiking a lawn but a bit more vigorous.

[NigelB]

If your soil is compacted underneath and the roots generally are not peneterating it they are missing out on nutrients and their comparitively shallow rooting system is vunerable to drought. If you could let them go down you might even achieve a no dig/ no watering plot.

Maybe think about sticking a strong fork in and just breaking the compacted soil without turning it over, much like spiking a lawn but a bit more vigorous.

But that's getting away from the 'no dig' system Salmo...

I'm one of those that can't dig (I have Alkylosing Spondilitis), so I'm very interested in how people make the system work. Up until now I have had my kids do the digging work, but they are now grown up and have busy lives of their own which means they can't always come and help when it's needed.
I have a compost heap which is used for the garden, but am trying to secure a supply of horse manure as our heap doesn't really produce enough compost to do the whole job.

Now, as I understand it, no-dig beds are usually started by putting down a layer of straw, then compost/manure and letting the worms do the hard work of burying, or pulling down, the stuff and making the soil usable.
Nash is having obvious success with his/her system, so I'm taking notes and learning.... The weed suppressing membrane is next on the list.....

Good job Nash. I'll keep looking in here to gain from your experience....

Nigel.

[NASH]

Hi Salmo, the word " drought " what does it mean ? ( I live in the west of the UK )

[NASH]

I did not water from the second week of July until this week.

[NASH]

Hi Nigel, I did not use the straw bit as time is very limited as I work away quite a bit, I did not have time to do too much so all I did was place manure over the compacted soil and planted every young plant into the manure, the picture below is of Swede that were grown to 4" high in peat pots at home and then planted into 2" deep manure, now the manure has rotted down even further and the roots of the Swede have penetrated the compacted soil, next year I will plant the Swede plants into the manure but I will put weed control mat over the manure first then cut slits in it to plant the Swedes into lessening further the small weed problem I had this year.
This year I have only weeded my Allotment once, next year I plan not to weed it at all.

[NASH]

Hi Compost Queen how ya keeping ? and thanks for your support, I will put up some more pictures this weekend as it looks different again as the Brassicas are well growing and things like the Sweetcorn and Potatoes have come out ( I had over 100 cobs from 60 plants, most have had to go in the freezer and 200lb of spuds from 10 rows which were each 16 foot long  )

My Runners are starting to toughen up so they will come out this weekend and I will plant some Spring Cabbage.

Speak again soon

Phil

[Trillium]

Nice work but it must be tricky to not constantly stub your toes on those bricks.

[azubah]

I like any idea that saves me doing hard work.
I am using thick layers of newspaper as a weed supressant, and I hope it works as the manure I had last year contained lots of weed seeds.
You have done well, NASH. Enjoy all that lovely produce.