I've got a decent sized community garden plot and went in with a high-minded no-till strategy (first timer here!), but am afraid I need to change things up because I got my ass kicked by bindweed this year.

I didn't till, obviously, but did try to dig up any obvious weeds in the early spring. I laid down rolled corrugate, completely double layered most of it, then covered with compost/mulch in rows per all the beautiful youtubes. I could only afford a weeding a couple times a week, but oh man, this bindweed wiggled it's way FEET between layers of cardboard to pop it's head out. I was able to keep most of the plants free of the weed in their immediate vicinity, but completely lost the battle elsewhere.

Any recommendations on how to approach things next year to clean things up?

I am just curious if there are any plants that are best to fully remove, and if so, is there a full list anywhere? I tried googling it, but wasn't seeing a ton

I was speaking with a guy who was adamant that no-till couldn’t work with potatoes. Is this true?

I want to use forage radishes to decompact my soil a little, just for a small no till garden area, but being that I've never used any form of cover cropping, I am unsure what to do after the plant grows. I understand that letting the roots die through the winter will help the soil decompact, but what am I supposed to do with the greens? Do I just cut them to the soil level and leave it as a green mulch or so I just leave it alone and let nature figure that part out? What is the best way to proceed?

Hi there. We have really rocky soil, so I've been using raised beds for years, but recently have been watching Charles Dowding's videos. I am out of space in my raised beds and can't afford another one at the moment, so I thought I'd try a couple no-till beds. I did one with just cardboard and compost, but my husband insisted on digging the ground where I want to put the other because he thinks it's too rocky. When I say rocky, I don't mean pebbles btw - he was pulling out some big rocks 5 or 6 inches across.

Anyway, now I have bare dirt surrounded by grass. I'm thinking the best course of action now is to skip cardboard and just cover it with compost and plant, then maybe use cardboard and mulch along the sides of the bed so the grass doesn't encroach. Does this sound right? Thanks for the advice!

I am looking for some advice for my new allotment. I have no experience with gardening but have just acquired a small patch. It is completely covered in weeds. My partner and I started pulling out each weed individually by hand when my dad suggested we just rake over the soil (turning over the top ~3-5cm) and then it would be much easier.

Would this significantly disturb the soil? We have heard a lot about how important it is to take care of the soil.

We would like to be able to plant some vegetables like courgettes this year, otherwise we might have tried the technique of putting cardboard over the soil to smother the weeds.

We are based in Switzerland (in case that is important).

Thank you!

Seeking advice: I'm in zone 8a and about to remove my spring carrots. Before planting broccoli and kale in July, I'm considering a quick cover crop for about 2 months. Any recommendations for a cover crop that can be easily tarped and solar-killed to prepare the bed for direct planting?

I'm in zone 3b, southwestern Alberta. It's about time for carrot sowing, and I went today to peek at my beds. These raised beds were new as of last year, so I haven't had the experience yet of prepping them in the spring for growing- I just filled them last year. The soil is workable, but I realized there are a ton of thin roots in there already. I had pulled up the plants in the fall (zucchini, nasturtiums). There may also have been some mint in a corner of the bed (are the roots mint?!). No till wise, should I just pile my compost on top of the soil as is, or should I just pull up the roots so they don't interfere with my future plants? Not close to any trees, so not tree roots or anything.

I recently started gardening on a property and am making beds in an area that had been tarped off for three years.

The spinach and field pea cover crop I have going seem to be doing fine, but I have direct sown radish that are turning yellow-brown, and cabbage and broccoli transplants that have taken rather severe damage on their outer leaves, which have browned out and dried.

Previous to being tarped off, the area was an abandoned peach orchard that had been taken over by grass and bramble, so while nutrient deficiency in the soil is a possibility, I'm skeptical.

Would 3 years of a large, 100ft by 100ft area being tarped off cause the soil microbiology to be severely out of whack? I'm wondering if a hefty addition of compost and compost tea is the answer here.

I'm a new farm manager coming onto a sizeable farm (~4 acres) with a badly weeded asparagus patch. wasn't able to determine where the rows were & mulch appropriately until they started coming up, so I let some fern out to visually ID the boundaries of the patch. It's producing pretty well but I'm concerned I won't be able to keep up with the weeds and will damage the success of the patch long term. Would it harm production for the rest of the season to flame weed at this point in the season? I am ok with sacrificing a few weeks of market product for successful long term weed management, but I don't want to cause long term damage to the plot.

Hi! I’m new to no-till gardening, having just built my first bed last year. I’d like to build a second one this year to provide a home for the strawberries my SIL gave me.

My question is this: I have some peat I’ve been hanging on to for years and years. I bought it before I knew how awful peat cutting was for the environment. I think it would make sense to layer it over the cardboard, because my soil is heavy clay and probably somewhat alkaline.

If I do that, can I plant my strawberries in the bed right away? Or did I need to do this last fall to give it a chance to decompose?

TL;DR: will dried peat burn my strawberry roots if it isn’t rotted in?

Im planning to tarp an area for 8-12 weeks to create a garden and landscaping. There's one or two fire ant hills that I've killed in the area that will be in the tarped area.

It got me wondering what happens to fire ants under summer silage tarp?

Is it creating an environment where they thrive? Or does it create a poor environment? Given the lack of light and killing of the plants, I’m hoping it is a poor environment.

I don't want to take off the tarp after a few months and discover it has become fire ant central.

I'm finally not living in an apartment anymore and I'm just starting my first garden. I've read a lot about the no till methods, and the way I was planning to do it was cardboard, compost, and then mulch. Unfortunately my compost pile is not big enough (or ready yet) and I did not realize how expensive compost is. Am I able to use garden soil or top soil in place of compost? Or even as a supplement to lower the cost? I imagined potting soil would be too different? I tried to do some research but don't really understand why compost is used instead of soil. Thanks in advance

Hi there,

I’m looking to expand my grow area without tilling. I just bought a broad fork and a wheel hoe, and the plan was to lay tarps down and then use a tiller to expand my growing area (I currently have 16 30’x3’ beds and I’m looking to double that). I’ve seen no till farmers lay those rolls of cardboard and lay compost and mulch on top. Has anyone tried this and if you liked it, why? If you didn’t like it, why not?

TIA!

I have a lot of weeds. A lot. And I'm considering no-till but I have some questions:

Where do you get mulch/soil and do I need it? My soil ( other than weeds) seems great. Dark color, earth worms, well drained, ect. Do I need to put compost on top of cardboard to get started? Or are there other, less expensive methods to hauling in garden soil and compost? (I have a compost bin but it's not enough to cover the space I have).

I guess I'm a bit confused about the exact methods that are available to use. I understand cover crops for nutrients, but I've heard about doing this for mulch. Is that a thing and if so, what crops and how is it done?

I apologize if any of these are completely stupid questions.

Hello! I’m going to try out my first no till cut flower garden, but I have questions. We are in zone 7a.

Do I need the cover the cardboard immediately after wetting it down with compost and soil?

How thick should the compost and soil ideally be?

Also is adding mulch on top of this compost and soil necessary or highly recommended? If so, what’s everyone’s favorite mulch type.

So I just moved into a new apartment and I'm a little constrained by space/smell, so I need a 2x2 maybe 3x2 set up.

My question is basically how plausible is a 2x2 no till grow? Could I realistically use a 10gallon for a plant that would need so little space?

Could I maybe get away with a flat bed and like four small plants in a kind of sea of green set up?

Or should I just plan on synthetic nutes 3:

I recently watched a video on building soil. The lady in the video claims to have a phd in soil science. She also claimed that no-til gardening methods don’t require any additional fertilizer if done properly. The only draw back is having to add compost to feed all the soil organisms.

Is it possible to grow crops without adding fertilizer to the soil using no til methods? Has anyone actually had success with this?

Anyone know of any organic farms / farmers near the Warsaw area?

Sorry if off-topic, but was having a hard time finding organic vegetables and meat around Warsaw, Poland (I live a few miles south of the city).

I wanted to connect with some local farms to buy organic produce from them, and possibly even help somehow perhaps (I have a few years experience in no-till organic gardening).

I googled online but there's little info, I feel like it's maybe more or a word of mouth thing.

Coming from a city in the US where it's a lot easier to find organic options, in Poland you can find some non-perishable goods and some very limited options that are organic, also very expensive.

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So i have a small hugelkultur bed for my veggies and it's second season has just passed. I've got woodchips as a mulch and there are some legumes i left in there to act as a cover crop. Snails and slugs have been a bitch this season and yesterday i saw what i think were cutworms, but A LOT of them. So what is my best course of action for the winter? I wanted to plant a decent cover crop to go through the winter but wouldnt i just be feeding the snails and cutworms with it? I'm thinking now to just remove every plant from the bed and add more mulch to basically starve the pests. Are there other things i can do wich dont involve buying new products wich might cost me alot? I do have some stuff on hand like neem oil but i don't know if that will make a big difference. Also there's always been alot of ants in there and that in combination with aphids is just a nightmare to control. Any advice is appreciated Thanks ✌️