Hello from SW Virginia!
Last year I PLANNED a 20 x 20 garden, started seeds, bought fence, bought pots and plants and the thing never got planted due to everything else taking priority.
SO, this year I have a 20 x 20 yard area with fence posts in, and not one bit of turned earth.
Realizing my limits, I’m wondering if I can put down weed barrier, buy plants in a few months, and cut holes in the fabric to put the plants into - without having to go till up the whole plot.
Anyone ever tried that or witnessed it? The ground here has less clay than I suspected it would - we’re about 500 yards uphill from the Roanoke River, maybe that means something.
Anyway, what do you think, anyone? No Till Gardening worth the effort?
I have used cardboard to do what you are intending...just bury it well with good soil (thick newspaper works, too)
I have raised beds and I only (lightly) till them every three years when I’m working in some compost.
So, yes. Put down a weed barrier of some sort - even a thick layer of straw (my favorite mulch!) will work, and plant away.
Take a look at ‘Lasagna Gardening,’ either the book or various websites. Lots of people swear by it. No till.
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-make-a-lasagna-garden-2539877
You Tube choices:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lasagna+gardening
I’ve done it that way. Look for the thickest, strongest weed-barrier fabric you can find. Don’t fall for the thin stuff just because it’s cheap, it’ll start deteriorating before you even get it down. I’ve even used carpeting as a weed barrier, and it had weeds coming through by the second year.
If the weeds are well-established, lay some cardboard down first. The broken stems of an established weed can poke right through your fabric.
Try and give the fabric as much time as you can manage between laying it down, and cutting through to plant it. Fabric breathes well enough that it takes a while for the weeds underneath it to die.
Lastly, have something you can put around the plants after you get them in the ground. The hole you need to cut in order to plant through is going to be big enough it’ll take a bit for the plant to fill it in. In the mean time, you’ll have weeds fighting to grow in the gap between the plant and the fabric. One trick is to take any extra fabric and cut it into pieces at least 1 foot wide, then wrap one around your new plant like a scarf. Make sure you pin it down on at least 3 sides, otherwise the wind will use it to pull your plant over.