Hello! .. from Pontypool

hello!

the first answer is "it's a lot ******d hard work", so there are no effort-free answers.
That being said, no dig *should* reduce the amount of effort (or rather improve the return on effort).

The first thing is to stop digging. (I personally would say that it's worth finishing digging too get rid of deep-rooted weeds, but that is not canonical).

The next thing is cover - weeds won't grow where the soil is covered.
Membrane - lasts, but needs removing before you grow on it
cardboard - free (if you ask around), but biodegrades, so it'll only do you for a season. Which is fine if you want to grow stuff there.

In a nutshell, no-dig is topping up the soil with new material, and allowing the ecology of the soil to sort it out. So where you want to plant next year, put down cardboard and start building up compost on top.

What I would suggest is a compromise (unless you have access to a lot of organic material (compost or rotted manure). Plastic over the areas you aren't going to get to in a hurry, pegged/weighted down and covered with woodchips to prevent UV degradation and for aesthetics.
where you intend to grow next year, put down cardboard and as much organic as you have (the ideal is 6" new in all growing areas).

If you don't have enough to do all your proposed planting areas, do as much as you can and plant in the soil for the rest.

Don't dig the soil over next year, keep weeds down with a hoe - if you dig, you disturb (and activate) weed seeds. At the end of next growing season, repeat the cardboard and organics trick.

Mike

Croeso Tomo from Cardiff.
I won't try to advise you on the allotment but leave that to those who know better than me (that's virtually everyone here )

Hello and welcome to the vine Tom, I'm a back garden grower with just a few un-raised beds so I'm not much help in how to tackle a whole plot.
You've had some excellent advice from Mike.

Welcome to the vine

Hello and welcome
Yes to what Mike says
Also trial and error will help you along the way, well atleast thats what I keep telling myself

Hello!
Your mention of Pontypool has just brought back happy memories of a family holiday - I must’ve been fairly young because the highlights were the penguins on the wall round the little pool at the baths, and a park with a 4 seater roundabout which was set on a 45 degree slant so it went up and down as well as round in circles

Good advice from Mike on the no dig system.

I am only in my second year, but have discovered I get less weeds when the ground is covered/smothered by plants... In some ways it’s obvious, natural competition for the weeds, but I didn’t work it out til about 22 months in to my allotmenting efforts..
I made some fixed paths , smothered in 3 inch layer of woodchip, and hoed once in a while to defeat any seedlings that think they might try to grow through the woodchip (We get truckloads of free woodchip delivered to site by the council tree pruning team, so costs nothing). Beds are just under 4’wide which is narrow enough I can reach the centre from one side or the other. Depending on your height/arm length, you can customise to your preference ;-)
Then I planted all my veg using ‘block spacing’ rather than ‘row spacing’ = no space to walk between rows = Much less bare ground for weeds.
I only did a few beds like this last winter, but will be adding more this winter

Hi tom and welcome to the vine.

What mike said.

Hello Tomo, welcome to to the vine I grew up just up the hill from Crumlin

Once you've got rid of the docks, nettles and other perennial weeds that have established themselves another option whilst you're getting to grips with the allotment is to cover the plot in long term crops that will help to suppress the weeds.

If you planted spuds and put a thick layer of straw over them the spuds will grow through the straw and you can get on with sorting out the rest of the garden. By the time the straw has broken down and is thin enough for weeds to poke through the spuds will be big enough to shade them out.

Pumpkins and winter squashes are another option as they go in May-ish and stay in the ground till October/November. The vine types can cover a large area and smother any weed seedling once they're established. You can mulch the area with cardboard/newspapers then cover these with straw/grass cuttings to keep the weeds down whilst they're growing and it will all rot down and improve the soil.

Hello Tom.
Welcome to the Vine and Well Done for all that digging. I have no idea about lotties but there are many on here who will help and advise you.

Welcome to the forum Tom,i can vouch for covering up the ground not being used,especially in the winter,all the best with what you grow.

Welcome along...

Charles Downding is probably most well know no-diggity dig dig digityy in the UK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIojWdJz0RE

or course he's got experience, its his job, he pays people to work for him and he's a scale or two up from the average size of an allotment plot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIojWdJz0RE

but its worked for me this year on 3 beds (roughly 3ft by 8ft) with cardboard to supress and only a couple of inches of mixed soil and (spent) compost. I've just 'built' another 2 simple raised beds and am trying to up my home-made conmpost production... Aiming to get to about 85% no dig next year.

Thank you all for taking time out to view and reply to my post , much appreciated.

Looking at the various suggestions in this thread, it makes sense for me to take on the good advice and cover an area of the plot whilst concentrating on the part that I can devote my time and energy to at this moment.

I am in a fortunate position via my work that cardboard and materials to make raised beds < albeit unconventional ones> are readily available. As for the amount of compost that will be required for such a plot...well, that’s probably not logistically possible right now.
However, as Mike suggests: a compromise is required. With this in mind I shall make a few beds this next few weeks and split between conventional and no-dig approach. I think that just by making a few beds and implementing paths will make the plot less daunting than a big piece of land crammed with weeds!

One question that I have regarding the no-dig beds:- After covering with cardboard and compost, do I then need to cover them again for the winter or leave them uncovered?
I suppose this could even relate to the traditional beds also....Is it best to cover these also for the winter?
This is something that. Confuses me a little....I mean, even after suppressing the initial weeds, what stops new seeds getting into them next spring and starting the process again?

The idea of not planting in rows intrigues me and makes a lot of sense in the ongoing Fight against weeds. I shall return with more questions after I become more au-fait with the preparation aspects!

Apologies for the elementary level questioning!


Once again, many thanks to you all.

Tom.

Chestnut - Yoour memories would I imagine be of Pontypool Park; still very popular today and a nice place to take a stroll.

Scarlet - I am familiar with Crumlin, having grown up over the SirhowyValley (Cwmfelinfach). As I approach 50, I look back fondly at the times I spent having a few Pints with friends over the Railway and Navigation pubs.......sadly, a few pints these days means near-terminal hangovers, so that aspect can remain in the past!

One way to stop the weeds coming back over winter is to grow stuff - e.g. leeks, autumn planted onions, garlic, broad beans, brassicas can all be grown over winter. Hoeing the soil regularly when it isn't wet will cut the seedlings down and it's a lot easier to hoe a bed than remove mature weeds.

You can also use a cover of green manures such as field beans or mustard to soak up extra nitrogen and cover the beds chopping them down in spring a couple of weeks before planting crops.

Using a mulch also stops the weeds from growing - this can be black plastic, cardboard, grass cuttings, straw, compost, well rotted manure or grass cuttings. If you can get hot compost going then the heat will cook off any weed seeds in the compost and a 2 inch layer of this acts as a mulch. Same thing goes for horse manure. Compost and manure also help build up the soil and add fertility back to it. Manure can also be applied in the winter to let the worms dig it in for you.

In spring a good hoeing gets rid of any weeds then you mulch with whatever you have.