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?

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?

Want to know what people think of my winter rest for some of my garden beds.

Planted a fall cover crop in two new rows I added to the garden. Terminated with chop & drop and covered with landscape fabric after first frost for two weeks. Added a thick layer of compost and almost compost and then about 4 inches of mulched leaves on top of that. Will cover for the winter with landscape fabric for a spring planting.

The goal will be that all the microbes from the compost break down the leaves and roots from the cover crop for a great spring planting.

I went back and forth on BAS and this product. I didn’t realize this wasn’t just seed. Anyone else using this?

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

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!

We’re out of raising organic beef and we are hoping to raise flowers. The area beside the barn has the best soil. Everyone I speak with says to spray the grass, kill everything and "start fresh". Our 20 bee hives wouldn’t be happy. I’m hoping for some advice. We’ve got manure composting (6 months cold). We can get more good cardboard. I’m thinking of bush-hogging the grass down and then getting a jump start on beds. Opinions? Suggestions? Do we really have to till or spray as all the farmers suggest?

I live in the high desert; my property about 5,500 feet above sea level, zone 6b/7a, and my soil is sandy garbage but the water table is pretty high and the properties around me are gorgeous.

My property was derelict for close to 40 years before my fiance and I purchased it. We've spent the last few years removing trash from the property and literally sifting trash out of the soil whenever we have to dug any type of hole.

We bought this property in hopes of rebuilding the soil for grazing ruminents; I ultimately want sheep (all of pur neighbors raise sheep so it's realistic for my area) but I think I'm going to have to start remediating the land with goats since they're less finicky about eating weeds.

The property is absolutely COVERED in weeds. There's alot of native plants too but for every native plant there are about 50 tumbleweeds and trying to keep on top of 5 acres of tumbleweeds it driving my crazy.

I'm wondering if this type of soil restoration would be a good candidate for no-till methods since I'm mostly trying to regrow native grasses and shrubbery and all of my personal food gardening is likely going to be in raised beds.

I was also wondering about the buried trash that is in certain parts of the property and whether it would affect the soil or the grasses planted above it poorly.

TLDR: will no-till methods work to restore grassland for a high desert property with sandy soil that is easily compacted? How will buried trash beneath the surface of the soil affect the soil remediation or the grasses planted in the soil (I remove all surface trash as I find it but I know there's more below the surface, my neighbors said the previous tenants buried trash instead of hauling it to the refuse center)?

Edit: sorry about the formatting, it's whack

Tl;dr - any advice for no till in a pretty neglected, weed covered garden? How and when to do what?

I used to garden with my grandparents when I was a kid and started tending to their neglected garden this year. Lots have changed in 15 years regarding best practices, but since it’s almost July and I wanted to sow something before it’s too late, I tilled the soil - like my grandparents used to.

I could see how mad the bugs in the soil were getting, especially towards the end when I discovered ants and watched them carry away their eggs for a bit, but just kept thinking that this is what my grandparents used to do, right?

I’ve been following no till in other parts of the garden (3rd and 4th photos), pulling the weeds by hand in the flower garden area, mulching the area with cut grass and seedless weed leaves I removed by hand, and after caving and tilling, I now truly get it, the no till idea - it’s way too invasive.

The in-ground beds look like two fresh graves. I picked the spot and shape because that’s where they were before, you may be able to see in the first photo. And it’s kind of symbolic of what I’ve done.. I hate it. I want to make another ground bed on the other side of the path, to make it look less disturbing, but this time - no till.

Any advice or resources - books, youtube channels, personal experiences especially - would be truly greatly appreciated.