No dig methodology?

Question

My backyard has just been cleared of convolvulus ( field bindweed ), and native bush/trees exposing what used to be a lawn a decade ago. I'm thinking I would like to try the no-dig method of layering down some newspaper, putting some compost on top, mulching on top of that, and then planting.

I just wonder if there's any benefit from using a fork to loosen the soil ( not turn it over ), before I put the newspaper down. This would be the same as the second step when double digging. I do understand that it is claimed that vegetables are shallow rooting so don't need this step, but others claim that they're shallow rooting because the soil has not been double dug!

So, does anyone who does no-dig gardening have any experience?

Or should I just double dig and get out as many convolvulus roots as I can?

Answer 1

One thing - you've mentioned field bindweed, or Convulvulus. Whether the bindweed you have is Convulvulus arvensis or Calystegia sepium, I'm afraid you will need to disturb the soil, certainly annually, to try to keep it under control. I strongly advise you do not use a rototiller or cultivator or any kind of machine that turns the soil over where this weed is present - as I'm sure you're aware, regrowth will occur from a tiny fragment of its root, and any machine that turns the soil over will break up the roots and distribute them more or less evenly over the plot, making the problem worse.

It sounds like you're intending to grow edible plants in the area, which effectively rules out the glyphosate solution (where you insert canes when you see bindweed appearing, let it twine up those to the top, then spray thoroughly with glyophosate, which is a reasonably effective method to control or actually destroy some of it), so I'm afraid it sounds as if the only thing you can do in preparation is to thoroughly and carefully hand dig the whole area, extracting bindweed roots as you go. Or as much root as you can, anyway, but there will inevitably be regrowth during the first year, because some root is always left behind, and more and more in the second and third years and so on...

The presence of this particular weed means that area is probably not well suited to the no dig method of gardening, I'm sorry to say.

Answer 2

I came across this video from Charles Dowding which addresses this issue. He says this is method one of preparing a no-dig vegetable garden. The video then goes on to show ground that is covered in grasses, weeds including bindweeds, thistles, dandelions etc.

He covers the whole area with black plastic for a month to kill the plants growing underneath. He then rolls back the black plastic and puts down a layer of manure, and compost so that he can no longer see the dead weeds. And then he replaces the plastic. In the video, three weeks later he then makes holes in the plastic and plants some marrow plants.

The video doesn't go into detail as to whether the plastic remains in place for another year. They usually say it takes 3 years to exhaust the roots of bindweeds so that they die. And of course in the no dig method, the channels left by the decomposing weed roots are open to the plants you're growing.

https://youtu.be/Mmv2zGfhG8w

Note that this technique is not solarisation as the rhizomes of bindweeds are often too deep to be killed by that method. This appears to work by depriving the roots of any place to send leaves above the ground to sustain themselves.

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

Answer 3

The first time new plant beds, vegetable beds are created, YES one needs to dig and turn over. If you have sandy sandy soil then rototilling is ok. If any clay forget it. Simple to DOUBLE DIG. I've always gone as deep as a foot (actually more but that was a different story). Start at the head of the bed, remove a good 2' length of soil down at least a foot. Then dig and turn the rest of the soil over beginning just behind the removed soil, replacing that soil and then replacing the soil you just removed. At the end take the first removed soil and throw it back onto the bed. I've had beds 4' high, raked down and compacted for planting and it was back down to 1 1/2 ' and soon 1' or less. The less manipulation with clay the BETTER! At the same time I add decomposed organic matter. This is the last time I mess with manual digging and turning of the soil. I always have 'raised' beds without any boards or blocks. A trench along all of the sides between the walk and bed.

Why the newspaper? For weeds? Forget it. That soil is so full of seeds no barrier in this universe will stop weeds from growing. Turning the soil over is HEALTHY. No dig is just plain SILLY. Make your beds the right way the first time will be the last time. This no dig stuff is nonsense. You don't want any barrier, even newspaper to hamper the soil organisms from coming up to the top to eat decomposed organic matter and then go back into your soil profile to poop it out and do the mixing of organic matter into your soil with no manual help from you. Get used to pulling weeds, so easy, such a non-issue I wonder about people that are afraid of WEEDS. Mulch the tops of your beds and that will reduce any germination of weed seeds (which are by the millions in your soil).

Mulch IS compost. Depending on who is trying to talk. What you want is DECOMPOSED ORGANIC MATTER as mulch/compost. Otherwise you have to wait for non-decomposed matter to be decomposed by the decomposers. A year, 2 years...depending.

You WANT to dig into your soil, turn it over and just keep going. Do it right the first time and you'll not have to do it again...depending on what you grow, how high you allow your 'beds' to be and what your soil composition IS. The only ONLY ONLY way to improve soil is by the addition of DECOMPOSED ORGANIC MATTER. Nothing else! After this first time to build your beds, all you have to do is add compost to the top of the bed.