If you regularly read my “Diary of a Rocket Gardener”posts you’ll know that last year I decided to convert to a no-dig approach to my veg plot. It’s been really successful, and this year I just have one half of a bed that is not strictly no-dig (because I ran out of compost).
You can see the bed in the picture here – to the left is the half that is “no dig” and to the right, with the potatoes is the half that is “dig”. I wanted to post this pic as it really demonstrates the difference in the number of weeds that pop up. In the “dig” half, I have quite a lot of persistent weeds whereas in the “no-dig” half I have small shoots of bindweed and very little else. It is SO much easier to keep on top of things in the “no-dig” half – I quickly pull up the bindweed every so often (once a week is realistic) and to date I haven’t needed to do anything other than that. I suspect I’ll need to start hoeing it over the next couple of weeks, but it is seriously low maintenance.
Meanwhile, the “dig” half causes me gardening aggro! As you can see, I’m not really keeping on top of it, and whilst I do try and pull up some weeds as and when I have time (again, once a week is realistic) they definitely have the upper hand.
So, my closing thoughts are, that if you’re not keen on weeds, then going no-dig is absolutely going to be a good move!