First allotment
Starting a no-dig allotment
The short answer
To start a no-dig bed, cut the weeds down, lay a double layer of cardboard, and weigh it down with 10 to 15cm of organic matter such as garden compost or well-rotted manure. Late winter is the best time. After that, add a mulch of about 5cm a year, in late winter rather than autumn. Deep-rooted perennial weeds take the longest: RHS says keep couch grass and bindweed covered for a few years.
RHS now says double digging is rarely done, and that no-dig or minimal cultivation is best for soil health. Here is how RHS starts a no-dig bed, and where other growers do it differently.
Making a no-dig bed
- Choose the time: any time, but late winter (February or early March) is best, as long as the soil is not waterlogged.(RHS)
- Mark out a bed about 1.2m wide, with paths of about 45cm.(RHS)
- Lay a double layer of cardboard over the cut-down weeds.(RHS)
- Weigh it down with 10 to 15cm of organic matter.(RHS)
- Top up with about 5cm each year, in late winter rather than autumn, to limit nitrogen loss.(RHS)
What no-dig does slowly
- Couch grass: cardboard plus about 20cm of organic matter, left for at least a few years, topped up as needed.(RHS)
- Bindweed: keep the soil covered for a few years; it regrows from tiny root fragments.(RHS)
- Horsetail: avoid digging it; established colonies can take many years to clear.(RHS)
- Cardboard breaks down before perennial weeds die, so Charles Dowding renews it about every two months, depending on thickness.(Charles Dowding)
Where the sources differ
| Question | RHS | Others |
|---|---|---|
| First mulch | 10 to 15cm of organic matter over cardboard. | Charles Dowding: a one-off 5 to 15cm of compost when setting up, then about 2.5cm a year. |
| Covering materials | Cardboard and organic matter. Not carpet. | Dowding suggests old wool carpet, which several councils ban on their sites. |
Next
Clearing the rest of the plot: how to clear an overgrown allotment. Protecting soil you are not using yet: green manures.
Put your plot on the plan, free
Add your beds with their sizes, roughly is fine, and Vercro draws them to scale, keeps a record of what grew where, and shows what each empty bed could take next.
Keep going
Where this comes from
The growing advice on this page comes from the published sources below, each linked beside the point it supports. Where two good sources disagree, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- No-Dig Gardening, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Soil Cultivation Tips, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Couch Grass, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Bindweed: Identification and Control, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Horsetail, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Allotments, Charles Dowding (secondary). Read 19 September 2026.
- Allotment tenant guidelines, Preston City Council. Read 19 September 2026.