Re: no-til gardening
Barbara Sargent wrote:
>
> I have a small backyard garden in Berkeley and have been attempting, for
> some time, to try no-digging methods. I have the sunniest spot set aside
> for summer vegetables, i.e. tomatoes, beans, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers,
> etc. This year I've put newspaper down and piled what leaves I could find
> on it. Now--do I put compost on too?
Yes, you should add a thin layer ( about an inch) of finished compost
before doing your planting. This should not be left exposed, but covered
with a fairly light weed-free top mulch. This has two functions, the
first is to protect the rather delicate microlife in the compost form
radiation and dessication and the second is to suppress any growth of
weeds from seeds in the compost.
For this task I find grass clippings from my lawns are really good and
use them regularly. They should not be put on thickly all at once, or
they may heat up and damage your plants. if allowed to wilt a few hours
and then applied all over the bed between the plants in a layer not more
than an inch thick they should cause no trouble. They will suppress many
weeds by keeping them from getting the light stimulus many need to
germinate, but the mulch will rapidly thin as microorganisms feed on it
from below, and so it should be topped up regularly, at least every one
or two weeks, so that later in the season it may build up gradually to
about three or four inches thick. If added by degrees as I suggest this
should not cause any trouble. As Ruth Stout (mother of the mulching
method) once pointed out one can smother outbreaks of many small
seedlings simply by covering them over with a dollop of mulch.
If you do not have any grass available, straws of various sorts can be
substituted or such materials as salt hay. I believe ordinary meadow hay
needs to be used with caution however, as it may carry weed problems of
its own. Another effective protective mulch is small soft green hedge
clippings.
>
> (In one place, where I have a rose, I put newspaper around it and compost
> on the newspaper. Now, grass and other weeds are growing in it--not through
> it, just on top.
If the grasses are simply in the top layer, they can probably be pulled
out quite easily without damaging the rose.
I would then discourage further weed growth by putting a second thin
layer (three or four sheets) of newspaper _over _ the compost, and cover
it with a top mulch to keep the paper moist and stop it blowing away.
> And where I have ornamentals, would "no-dig" mean just putting compost on
> top and not digging it in? And what about mulch? Would I then put compost
> on top of whatever mulch I use or just use compost as mulch?
As with your vegetable beds, no digging is necessary. Put compost first
(an inch is plenty) and cover this with mulch. For permanent beds like
this the top mulch could be shredded bark but should preferably have a
paper layer under it as bark alone tends to be a bit too open to keep
the ground light free and discourage weeds from germinating. Unless the
ground is very low in nutrients such an application could last
ornamentals several years before growth begins to fall off.
>
> As you can probably tell, I'm confused.
Hope you can begin to see the light, but please ask for more
information if things are still unclear.
Moira
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand. (on the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
Lat. 41:16S Long. 174:58E. Climate: Mediterranean/Temperate
