[fastmonkey85]

Evening all

I have recently taken on an area of a vegtable garden that belongs to the national trust in one of therir wall gardens at a near by national park. I have marked out where my five beds are going because I want to have a 5 year crop rotation.
I was up there today and the head gardener has said to me that they apply a layer of mulch each year to combat the weeds so you don't have to dig the ground. I investigated under the layer of mulch where I want my potatoes to go soon and it was compacted down hard. My question is will the potatoes be able to grow there or do I break the ground up to allow them to grow?

Many thanks for taking the time to help

Alex

[Y.E.A.H]

this thread might help  http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=51991.0

[noshed]

You could dig out some trenches and plant them in the bottom - stir up the mulch with the soil and fill in the trenches

[Terrier]

Any signs of earthworms in the beds? Could just be the beds a still too wet or the soil is too heavy/clay. I've been using this method for the last few years and don't get excessive compaction.

[Paul Plots]

Let us know what you decide to do and what the results are fastmonkey - it'd be interesting to know how you get on.

Personally I dig...

[Goosegirl]

Spuds are good at breaking up ground as are leeks but definitely dig to get rid of that compaction first. Incorporating the present mulch will help with drainage then you can proceed with the no-dig method as long as you don't walk on it.

[Ivah]

I wouldn't take any notice of the Head Gardener - if you think it is hard it is. Even if you want to adopt the no dig approach you have got to start from a deeply dug patch and then maintain it by not walking on it and mulching it. Potatoes are a good first crop to start you off this way.

[Paul Plots]

I wouldn't take any notice of the Head Gardener - if you think it is hard it is. Even if you want to adopt the no dig approach you have got to start from a deeply dug patch and then maintain it by not walking on it and mulching it. Potatoes are a good first crop to start you off this way.

Good advice!

[bigben]

As a digger I understood the no-dig approach to involve digging at the start and incorparating organic matter then after that piling on mulch and letting the worms do the hard work year on year while you avoid compacting the soil. If the head gardener has been a bit lazy and just piled the mulch onto compacted soil, he will achieve his aim of keeping weeds down but not of getting the soil conditioned to any depth as the worms may struggle. It would be interesting to ask him what he has been growing. It sounds like it may well be stuff that is fairly shallow rooting.
Growing spuds will help break up the ground but it is you who does the work in the original trenching and subsequent earthing up rarther than the spuds themselves. One good years digging should let you go no-dig.

[Paul Plots]

And another batch of good advice....

At this rate I'll be ready for the "no dig" trial myself in a few months 

[fastmonkey85]

When I went to plant the potatoes last weekend I had a dig down and the land was compacted to high heaven. It seemed to me that they had piled on the organic matter without first digging the ground over. I had a fork and just broke up the clods and it broke down really easilly. So I should have a bumper crop this year now they have nice fertile soil and room to grow

Thanks for the advice from everyone on here

Fastmonkey

[mumofstig]

I bet it is wonderful soil now it's opened up a bit...lucky you

[fastmonkey85]

Yeah it seems to be but we shall have to wait and see when harvest comes around

[HugglescoteGrower]

I took over my plot in the middle of last year. After the peas and beans finished I rotovated the whole plot then covered it. I don't plan on digging or rotovating any of it again until the main summer crops come out.

I uncovered the first section last weekend where I am planting an orchard and the soil is, may I say blooming marvellous. Still holding a fine tilth to a good depth, and totally free of weed roots which were my biggest problem. If the rest is the same I shall be well happy.

I was lucky to have the whole plot empty, i doubt that will happen again, but hopefully this will be the way forward for me, with one main pass of the rotovator, ableit at different times for different bits of the plot, and any bare soil covered to keep the weeds back.