Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello all
Well it's soon time to put a bit of poke in the soil,in my case I'll be spreading muck,now I think it's a case of if you dig it in you dig it in,if not, leave it on top and let the worms dig it in for you,though I'm a long way from a no dig gardener, I just think it's better to do that than break your back so far ahead of planting time!
I figure all the goodness will only go downwards,in the rain ect,and you can always put a little more on early in the year then go over with the rotivator.
Has anyone any opinion on this method?,those who strongly agree?,those who strongly disaggree?,I would like to hear from eveyone and see how we all go about doing this.
One thing is for sure though my whole plot needs alott of goodness putting into it for next year,I want to get the maximum energy level into it I can,so maybe someone out there can advise me on that!
All in all I've had a pretty good year though,inspite of the summer that never really was.
All the best-----Bold

I would say - if your soil is heavyish, dig it in now or by end of November anyway - if your soil is light and sandy like mine, spread it now and dig it in later (end of February/early March) so the goodies don't wash away before your plants can reach them.
Are you liming? this should be done about four months assunder from manuring - so think that one through too. Heavy soil - manure now, lime in spring, light soil, vice versa.. in which case just heap your manure while the lime sinks in and spread and dig in during spring. Clear as much right?

or muck - I should say.

We have quite a light stoney soil and although I dig in late autumn/early winter, I've given up manuring then because I suspect that too much of the benefit gets leached out, especially in heavy rain. So now I dig in all the chopped up bean & tomato vines and let them rot down in situ over the winter(except when we have tomato blight)and manure around end January/early February. On the question of worms, I've recently been experimenting with throwing my kitchen peelings and chopped-up dying household flowers straight onto the earth in one border where the soil is quite impoverished, and just lightly forking them into the surface. I've been amazed how quickly they been rotting down and even an inch below the soil surface, many more worms are appearing than I've seen for ages. I suspect this process will slow down as the soil cools, but an interesting by-product of my doing this is that a hedgehog has now started visiting us every night to forage in this border, obviously seeking out the worms to fatten himself up for hibernation.

I'm on clay soil so just shove the manure on the top and leave it. I then lime it and add some calcified seaweed in springtime, around 6 weeks before planting out. Worked ok so far. I don't dig unless I have to

I'm all for not digging too much unless I have to!
I go area by area,when I took on my plot I had to do a great big dig from front to back,so I break it up as much as poss

When we move din 25 years ago, garden soil was heavy with clay 1 metre down and small clay balls in the topsoil.
For 5 years I dug manure and compost in.. And made no real difference.
For the last 20 years ! I have spread on the surface in late autumn after leaf fall (we get so many leaves compost on the surface interferes with leaf collection).

Now the top 20cms of soil is very light and easily worked with a trowel.

I do dig in manure - for bean trenches and when planting new shrubs/rasps etc . But that's it.

As a result my spade is very rusty ... and I suffer no back pain.

We also have lots of worms.. and visiting birds .. and foxes and badgers who also eat worms...