Creating a flower bed via "no dig" method

[AntiqueBooks]

Hello Gardening Wizards!

Me again! You all very kindly made suggestions for flowering bushes I could put in my front-garden's flowerbed when I create it. (It's currently just grass)

But now I want to ask about the creation of the bed itself. I think it will be about 3m x 2m. South facing.

I'm planning to put down newspaper and pile compost on top.

Have any of you done this? Do I need to create a trench/border round it eg with bricks?

Should I leave it until Feb/March to start? Or will microbes still get to work this time of year?

How much compost will I need?

Is this doable for a clumsy moron like me?!

All (blunt!) advice welcome! Thanks

Personally I would use cardboard rather than newspaper unless you can put down a really thick layer of them. If using cardboard boxes remove all the plastic tape or it will haunt you forever ( from someone who didn't!) I don't think you need to make a trench or edge with bricks. Compost wise you need at least 4"/10cm. That's 100 litres per square metre so for a 2x3 bed that's 600 litres.

The more compost the better and doing it now will be good as although it won't do much over the winter, it will be ready to go as soon as spring starts.

Thanks! Helpful to have the practical tips!

Dear God that's a lot of compost! About 40 of the bags I usually buy! Better get a delivery!

Couldn’t you just dig it?

@MaxandMeg I couldn't personally as I'm as weak as anything. This "no dig" method is all the rage so I hear.

Digging damages the soil structure and the little cute microorganisms and fungi

So I’m told. But Kiftsgate, Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, et al perhaps didn’t get the memo.

I watched a great instagram reel (katy in the garden* 13 September post) where she showed how she made a no-dig garden from an area of lawn. Worth a watch. She lifted the turf and piled it back on upside down, then (from memory) overlaid it with cardboard and topsoil.

Screenshot attached so you can find her on instagram. Mumsnet won’t allow the right formatting.

Honestly, if you're lifting turf, which is hard work, and going through all that palaver, you might as well dig it over. Maybe the fungi do take a knock back but personally I love to see my companion robin dealing with all the slugs eggs, eelworms, leatherjackets and vine weevil. Plant roots need oxygen and there's nothing like an open well-nourished loam.
@AntiqueBooks I'd nip up and do it for you if I hadn't killed my wrists (not by digging).
I've seen an awful lot of fads come and go over the years.

I would cardboard and mulch now, to kill grass etc off over winter. Did this last year and it worked well. Didn't use anything like 10cm of compost, but more is always good if you can.

A good way of avoiding needing so much compost is to put your cardboard down now and then spend as much time as possible collecting fallen leaves from your local area. The streets, parks, verges and lanes around here are full of them.
I bring them home in sacks. Pile them up on your cardboard as deep as you can, then heap compost on top.

You can buy compost in bulk dumpy bags. It's much cheaper. Our allotments have an advert pinned to the shed for a woman who will deliver in dumpy bags. It works out less than half the price of individual bags from the garden centre. Councils often sell it cheap too.

I know you said you don't fancy digging but I'm a gardener by trade and if I was doing what you are I'd start by turning the turf over - cheapest method.

@MaxandMeg you are welcome anytime even just for tea!

Thanks for the ideas everyone, I will think on it some.

Yeah there’s never enough compost. Get one of those massive 1 m cubed bags

Get brown thick cardboard, not printed or glossy, and as pp remove any tape.
Cover with any fallen leaves you have to hand, and put compost on top. You will need a lot of compost.

If you haven't got one, get a compost bin and put it in a sunny spot in the garden.

When we say compost here, what do we mean? Because Compost and Compost are not quite the same things.

I'd use an all purpose compost.

Thank you all! I'm glad to have a committee on hand!!

Ok. I imagine you might eke it out with garden compost or leaf mould to make it go further, if you had such a thing to hand.

Get your hands on plain cardboard and chuck it down on the grass and water it . Look on FB marketplace and see if you can find free manure and chuck on it along with any fallen leaves you can find.

If you have any evergreen bushes that need pruning do that and chop it up and whack it on. See if anyone is getting rid of straw or hay , that can go on. If anyone has any windfall fruit left you can get your hands hands on that can go in. Leave to rot down over the winter adding whatever free stuff you can, I have put veg peelings on before. Then in the spring top with compost.

You can leave it piled up or make a surround with bricks or wood or anything else you can find. if you can be bothered turn the turf over first, a digging hoe is helpful for this.

That's a helpful and comprehensive post on how to do it, OP, and I like the recommendation of a digging hoe too. Much of my garden-making has been done with Nepali hoes as His Lordly Sherpaness always insists on demonstrating when any cameras are nearby.
My soil is mostly a wet grey shale or non-existent as we sit on bedrock so I ought to love no-dig, but somehow I don't. I think it's because I see the process of making a garden as part of the allure and the aesthetic.
Hope you make a lovely border. Did you decide on a planting shortlist?

Hello all,

Thanks for all the thoughts and tips. I have some issues which mean physically the no-dig option is very attractive to me!

This is my shortlist of my most favourite plants suggested on the other thread.

Holly
Roses – orange/yellow/white
Pyracantha
Berberis/Cotinus
Forsythia
Crocosmia

Pyracantha - very prickly.
Berberis/Cotinus - very prickly.
Holly - mine is variegated and produces one berry a year, usually at the back.
Forsythia - fast growing, nice in flower

I wouldn't plant those unless you want a hedge.

Yes to roses and crocosmia.

crocosmia comes in red and orange and spreads quite quickly so you could have a whole row of it. it dies back to nothing over the winter. so that spot will look quite bare then.