Double-Dug vs. No-Dig

[catjac1975]

It is lovely soil now, loose, full of earthworms. I just use a spading fork to loosen it up and top dress with compost. Now if I pulled up the brick walkways and tried to plant there, it would be start all over again. I pull up the bricks periodically to pull all the weeds and nutgrass that come up in the cracks and the dirt under them is just as hard as it ever was. I don't mortar the bricks, because someday I plan on moving and I am taking my bricks with me.

Here's a shot that shows my brick walkways, the driveway and the sidewalk. The PVC frame is my greenhouse (that failed this winter, wah )

View attachment 1020

RE the weeds in the walk way. When I get grass in my walkway, I take boiling water out and pour it on them. I do not waste energy dong this. I just use left over cooking water. That way it is not a big chore. Just do it every so often.

 

[AMKuska]

RE the weeds in the walk way. When I get grass in my walkway, I take boiling water out and pour it on them. I do not waste energy dong this. I just use left over cooking water. That way it is not a big chore. Just do it every so often.

...catjac...I have these horrible stubborn weeds that WILL NOT DIE in my gravel driveway. I am so trying this. Even if I only get an inch of it done at a time it isn't harming anything and it might actually get the little suckers!

 

[baymule]

Oh, great idea!! I will try that too!

 

[ducks4you]

Double digging articles I've read and saved:

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/double-digging-how
http://www.doingurbanagriculture.com/?page_id=48
THIS is kinda what my beds looked like before I filled them back in.
http://www.houseplantsguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Double-digging.jpg
This is the article I learned from:
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/g6985

 

[HEChicken]

What a great thread - I've just read it through from start to finish so now don't remember who said what….

Last year I started with nothing. We moved to this property mid-summer the year before and the previous people did not have a garden at all. One day last February I got a call from a neighbor to say that her husband had brought "the big tiller" home from work to till her garden and did I want a patch tilled as well. I had to hurriedly run out and select a garden spot (so much for time to plan!) Fortunately, the spot I picked is the exact same as if I had had weeks to think about it. It gets full sun and there is a spigot not far away for watering. And, its not in the way of any other plans we have for the property, but close enough to the house I can run out and harvest what I need at dinner time.

The area he tilled last year wound up being 16x40. Around that we placed a t-post/chicken wire fence to keep the turkeys, chickens, ducks and dogs out of it (also rabbits and deer if they venture that close to the house). We left about 5' perimeter around the tilled area to allow me to get the zero turn mower in there and mow around the bed.

The problem I had last year was that even though I spent hours crawling over the tilled area removing the clumps of grass that had been tilled under, when spring rolled around, almost overnight everything I didn't catch sprouted and the garden area made a good faith effort to return to the grassy area it had been before the tiller moved in.

It was all I could do to keep a few feet clear at either end and grow greens at one end and tomatoes/peppers at the other.

Mid-summer, I was offered a load of cardboard and accepted it. This isn't your ordinary cardboard. It is from HUGE cartons that had clearly held quite a bit of weight and were about 5x thicker than the cardboard boxes Amazon uses. We laid out a trailer load of cardboard over the entire garden area, hoping to kill the grass/weeds that had been thwarting me until then. That was - July-ish - and when I pull up pieces of cardboard now, it looks like it might have worked. The soil underneath looks rich and free of vegetation.

The question I have now is what to do this year. My neighbor will likely bring the big tiller home again and will be willing to re-till it for us. DH's idea was to remove the cardboard, till, then replace and plant right through it, continuing to use it as mulch/weed block. I believe this is problematic for two reasons. First, the cardboard has been rained and snowed on. The dry cardboard was so thick and so heavy it was unwieldy to handle. Now that it is damp, I think it will be a pretty difficult task to remove it. Second, it is so thick it would be difficult to cut holes to plant through.

When I pointed out those things, DH said we could just till it in. Hmmm… I'm concerned the cardboard is so thick it will not till easily. (When I say big tiller, this is a machine that is pulled by a tractor and could be used to till a field ready to plant acres of corn.) He pointed out that the tiller is built to cut through clay soil so cardboard will be easy for it. I'm just not convinced. If it is possible to till it, I love the idea of all the organic material being incorporated over the next year or two.

I'm relieved to hear several people recommend double digging over no dig for "the first few years". While I like the no dig concept, I'm afraid there are still enough weed seeds (and in this area they blow in regardless) around that no dig would only encourage growth of weeds. My plan for counter attack includes planting every square inch of the garden this year so as to leave little room for weeds.

I'd welcome thoughts from experienced gardeners though, as to what to do about the cardboard?

 

[Smart Red]

I haven't used cardboard, but I have used newspaper and brown grocery bags. Most of the time, cardboard or other weed covers are left in place to degrade under a mulch. How your 5x's heavier-than-normal cardboard would be degraded by spring I can't guess.

Weed seeds can lay dormant for 7 years or more and every time the soil is turned over, more seeds are brought into ideal conditions for germination. If you leave the cardboard on the garden and plant through it, few of the dormant seeds will get up to grow.

All my veggie beds are raised and I haven't tilled them since they were first built. Others with in ground gardens might have a different view of what you should do.

 

[baymule]

My garden was hard dirt. I dug the beds and turned the dirt over, worked in compost, then I covered the beds with paper feedsacks and weighted them down with bricks. I cut a hole in the feed sacks and inserted plants. it kept weeds down and made it easier to care for. Now I work the soil with a spading fork just to loosen it, top dress with compost, plant and mulch.

 

[catjac1975]

I doubt the neighbor would appreciate tilling in the cardboard. I would recommend getting a small tiller to keep up with the weeds between rows and use mulch if you can afford it. I am on my third Mantis in 35 years and could not live without it.There are many good brands out there. You can often find them used on Craigs list. I hope you have been adding organic material along the way. Amending soil is an ongoing thing that never ends. The farmer I met who does not till, did till for many years. Yu might consider a cover crop for next fall. My husband begins tilling as soon as the soil is dry enough. We are in the midst of winter here in Massachusetts but, have had a couple winters where he has tilled in February.

You will never be rid of weeds.

 

[Lavender2]

@HEChicken - Smothering is the easiest method to clear an area for gardening. My concern would be that the cardboard is still so thick and solid that enough moisture may not get through it for even watering. Like Cat mentioned, if you feel you need to add compost or fertilizer, leaving the cardboard in place presents a problem.

Hard to tell without seeing it, but I would be hesitant to till that much uncomposted material into the soil.

 

[journey11]

I'd just pull all the cardboard off. Use it again if you can or use it to line the spot for a new compost pile or throw it away if you like. If it dries up enough, you can also burn it, but you'll have to rip it up a bit. Mulch, mulch and more mulch! I know this is the way to go and always have good intentions... THIS year I'm gonna pile on the mulch right after tilling, before I even plant! Should be quicker and easier to scratch out little holes to plant in than it is to go around little seedlings. That's what I did with the bark mulch on my landscaping anyway. Hay, leaves, grass clippings...whatever you can get your hands on. Stuff like that will break down easier for next year. Although cardboard does a thorough job of smothering grass, I am always leery of creating an inviting home for slugs.