Hi Mallybills -- I use a serrated knife to cut the plants (especially big ones like tomatoes and broccoli) off at the ground level. That way I can put the plants, vines, etc, into the compost, and the roots stay in the ground and the soil isn't disturbed. If you layer lots of organic materials over top of the soil this winter and/or spring, I'd suggest still parting the materials and planting either your seeds or seedlings into the soil underneath. That's the way Ruth Stout does it :) As mentioned above, use newspaper if you've got lots of weeds to kill. Just use mulch if not so many weeds. No-dig is great because you can have things growing all year round, and harvesting all year round. Also, everything I"ve read says it's better for your soil (that's what you've been reading too, I'm sure.) I love the self sowing too -- each year you get crops that you never planted.

I sent the link to some fellow Arizona gardeners and one replied that it isn't as important here to have mature compost... supposedly the desert makes things different? Here is what he said exactly: eh, i disagree, if you are putting the right things into your compost, ie, not cistrus in this climate, you can use non mature compost no problem in az, if you burry it under your soil, it will decompose quickly and helps growth! this is supposing of course you are not box gardening, which is less than ideal here anyway, ive also heard this can be good way to revitalize "bad soil" in less than a year.

katnip....Are you planning on putting in any paths between beds in that area? I think I would want to create the paths and the beds before winter set in and mulch the beds for the winter. Some people would add lots of chopped leaves to the top for the winter. Getting your soil tested would be the best thing you could do. It could be you might need to adjust the PH and if so, doing something in fall is better than waiting until spring. If you head over to the Organic Gardening forum, there are a lot of vegetable growers there with a lot of very specific recommendations that could help. Good luck! :-) pm2

"You've got to be careful. There are some clays that you don't want in your topsoil. They are so stiff that air can't get into them. They create anaerobic conditions which leads to the methane odor. You can't break them up with a tiller. They are extremely unpleasant to deal with in the garden. They stick to your shoes and won't come off, even with a strong jet of water. Nothing will grow in them. If you've got that stuff, I recommend that you either truck it away or bury it with good topsoil" If I had clay that dense, I'd just build a kiln outdoors, and make my own terra-cotta planters. When life deals you lemons... ;-) But on a more serious note... I've gardened in sites where heavy clay was close to the surface. While it was hard to work initially, the clumps of clay would weather & fall apart when brought to the surface. I added gypsum and plenty of organic matter to keep the soil loose, and after several years, it was easily worked. My home gardens are heavy soil with fairly poor drainage, and I'm in the process of adding sand to remedy that. It's slow going though; it takes a lot of sand - several tons - to treat 1500 square feet.