No-dig gardening, does this work for clay/stony soil?

[ToriTheStoryteller]

I have a very neglected garden and back/knee issues! The soil is a nightmare, it's clay so there are small windows of opportunity after light rain when I can work on it but even then, its so stony that a fork doesn't get further than 5cm before hitting pieces of flint.

Once I have cleared out all the weeds and old plants (which i know is going to be a real pain initially), is there an easy way of maintaining a garden with this soil?

No flint here but I’ve definitely found that the no dig method improves our London clay. The only issue, depending on the size of your garden, is having access to enough decent compost to mulch it with.

Annually adding compost will improve the soil over time.

It does over time. Alternatively can you afford to get Some raised beds put in, that transformed my gardening. It was so much easier!

I found that the stones never ever stopped rising to the top so I used them to build paths between the wooden boarders of the beds. The thing that thrived the most was nettles.

No dig is no dig, even initially, so you don't dig out the weeds. You cover them with 2 or 3 layers of cardboard, wet it, and then add a deep layer of whatever organic matter you can get. Then plant into that. By the time the cardboard rots the weeds will be dead or at the very least severely weaker.

The main issue is getting hold of enough organic matter at a price you can afford and in a condition you can handle. You will need much, much more than you think to put down a 10 cm layer, which is the minimum you need. I alternate between digging out well rotted manure from a huge heap at a local stud, which is free but hard work, and buying in from Apsley Farms, which is lovely to use but costly. But overall it's a brilliant method and I'd never use anything else now.

I got a load of spent mushroom compost delivered. It’s relatively light to handle and you get free mushrooms.

Thanks all. Unfortunately there will be a lot of work to do first of all to remove brambles, buddleijas and overgrown, really woody plants so I need to get their roots dug out to make room for other plants.

I'm definitely planning for raised beds to help my back and knees, and it's good to know that no-dig will be feasible long term: I just need to get through the short term pain of clearing down all the overgrown stuff first!