Name: A small no dig bed on weeds, using a pallet collar for temporary sides @CharlesDowding1nodig
Uploaded: 2026-09-20T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: A small no dig bed on weeds, using a pallet collar for temporary sides

A small no dig bed on weeds, using a pallet collar for temporary sides

Charles Dowding 2026-09-20 | A small no dig bed on weeds, using a pallet collar for temporary sides

Compost mulches to improve soil #worldsoilday

Charles Dowding 2022-12-05 | Don't worry, if the compost you have does not look perfect. Anything partly decomposed works well as a mulch on soil, to feed soil life.

Give to soil #worldsoilday!

Filmed, edited by Alessandro Vitale @SpicyMoustache

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Winter Squash and Spinach Stew, Garden to Table

Charles Dowding 2022-12-02 | A winter, warming stew, sweet and full of flavour. The first half of the video is in my small garden and conservatory, gathering ingredients.
See the small garden one month earlier youtube.com/watch?v=ni1_lNybpgA

00:00 Introduction, and I show you the variety of squash I’m going to be using for the recipe - Ute
00:55 Another ingredient - carrots, Flakee variety, some with root fly damage
03:16 Harvesting a third ingredient, spinach - Medania variety
04:15 And a fourth - bay leaves
05:29 Harvests already in the shed, including tomatoes, then picking thyme
06:30 In the conservatory, and stores of onions, garlic and squash
08:27 Showing the recipe in the book, and alternative ingredients that can be used
09:03 In the kitchen making the soup - how I skin and cut the squash
11:18 About saving squash seed
12:11 I continue cooking, peeling the squash - the peel can be eaten, I roasted it later with oil
15:23 Adding chilli salt from @SpicyMoustache - how hot is it?!
16:46 Tasting the stew, the different taste of Ute compared to Crown Prince

The cookbook and No Dig are available from my website: charlesdowding.co.uk/product-category/books

For detailed info on growing squash, spinach and carrots, see my 'From Seed to Harvest' lessons: charlesdowding.co.uk/product-category/fsth-individual-lessons

Filmed and edited at Homeacres by Nicola Smith, 23rd November 2022

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Compost on beds, wood chip on paths once a year

Charles Dowding 2022-11-30 | On beds. I spread compost, just once a year, often in late autumn and to a depth of 2.5 cm/1 inch. I use no fertilisers for feeds.

I spread the same depth of old wood chip on paths, whose soil is used by plant roots for food and moisture.

See options, and the depth of mulch/cover you can spread, no more than 3cm and just once a year.

If your paths are growing a lot of weeds at the moment, you could put cardboard first on the weeds, then the woodchip on top.

Here I am spreading 18 month old, unsieved wood chip. It’s from a birch tree and was free from a tree surgeon.

Outdoor tomatoes from late spring to early autumn

Charles Dowding 2022-11-29 | I'm sharing with you my success of 2022, a dry and sunny summer, just what tomatoes like. Temperatures were above average, around 24 C 75 F in July and August daytime, and 12C 54. F by night.

We start with transplanting tomatoes in late May /end of spring, and continue until autumn. I share ideas for super tasty fruits. The flavour is so much better when you grow them yourself.

See the full video here youtu.be/4b8nP1Y_Js4

No Dig No Feed Tomatoes, temperate climate

Charles Dowding 2022-11-26 | Success is not certain with outdoor tomatoes in damp climates. The previous year to this saw almost no harvest, before late blight arrived in August.
I'm sharing with you my success of 2022, which was a dry summer, just what tomatoes like. Temperatures were above average, around 24 C 75 F in July and August daytime, and 12C 54. F by night.

We start with transplanting tomatoes in mid-May /end of spring, and continue until autumn. I share ideas for super tasty fruits. The flavour is so much better when you grow them yourself.

00:00 14th MAY - I explain when is a good time to transplant tomatoes outdoors
01:07 Ground preparation (tomatoes are a second planting after purple sprouting broccoli) - harvesting, raking (optional), watering
03:16 Then spreading compost
04:59 Varieties of tomatoes for planting - Dorenia, Yuko’s Persimmon x Lilia’s Perfection, Sungold
06:08 Stakes for the cordon tomatoes
06:31 Transplanting the tomato plants, and info on watering, spacing, and late blight
11:07 Now 13th JUNE, tying the plants to the stakes
11:55 Why I take off the end of bottom-most trusses
12:13 The importance of watering at this stage of growth
12:54 Side-shooting (removing suckers)
13:28 My thoughts on feeding tomatoes
13:45 Two plants at the back, closely spaced
14:05 Removing lower leaves
15:15 18th JULY, harvesting some fruit, how tomatoes ripen
16:39 More maintenance - de-leafing, side-shooting
17:31 Taking out the tops, I explain the reason why
19:53 17th AUGUST after hot weather, and the results from just using compost mulch, no feeds
21:07 Coriander and Medania spinach interplanted among the tomatoes
22:20 How much longer for the tomato plants, and a reminder of the ongoing maintenance
22:51 Horizontal top bars across the stakes
23:29 Harvesting Sungold, Uluru Yellow, Dorinia
23:57 17th SEPTEMBER, and info on watering at this stage of growth
24:55 Leaf roll
25:40 Sungold with split skin - the reason why
26:14 Blossom End Rot, and more on watering at this stage
27:24 An F2 variety
28:06 Saving seed
28:24 Some more on ripening
29:00 How to clear a tomato plant, and how to compost

For detailed information on growing tomatoes, see my online From Seed to Harvest lesson: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-30-tomatoes/. The lesson has more information about sowing, raising plants, and about growing tomatoes undercover.

My No Dig book has 6 pages about growing tomatoes - see this offer, with my Calendar of Sowing Dates
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/special-offer-new-no-dig-book-and-2023-calendar

Filmed at Homeacres, Somerset, Southwest UK from May to September 2022 by Alessandro Vitale, @SpicyMoustache

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30 years of writing and 14 gardening books

Charles Dowding 2022-11-19 | I describe my gardening books 1992 to 2023.
They are based on the plants and knowledge I grew since 1982.

00:00 Introduction
00:35 First writing in the 1980s, for gardening magazines
01:31 Three chapters for ‘The Complete Manual of Organic Gardening’
04:04 A chapter in a B&Q book, ‘Outdoor Living'
05:19 How writing my own books came about
07:04 ‘Organic Gardening: The Natural No-Dig Way’
08:57 ‘Salad Leaves for All Seasons’
10:17 ‘How to Grow Winter Vegetables’
13:45 Getting an agent
14:20 ‘Charles Dowding’s Vegetable Course’
15:52 ‘Veg Journal’
16:48 ‘Gardening Myths and Misconceptions'
18:22 ‘How to Create a new Vegetable Garden’
19:32 The move to self-publishing
20:14 ‘Vegetable Garden Diary’
21:44 ‘No Dig Home and Garden’
23:27 ‘Vegetable Garden Calendar’ (now ‘Calendar of Sowing Dates’)
25:55 ‘No Dig Gardening, Course Book 1’
27:25 More about self-publishing
30:16 ‘Skills for Growing’
32:09 ‘No Dig’
35:10 ‘No Dig Cookbook’
37:41 ’No-Dig Children’s Gardening Book’
40:25 Future writing plans!

See this 'Book Descriptions' page of my website for details and links to buy:
charlesdowding.co.uk/content-page/books

Filmed at Homeacres by Edward Dowding, November 2022 and edited by him. See his award-winning film youtube.com/watch?v=_RjyjFBR3cw

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Garden to table, celeriac remoulade with garlic mayonnaise

Charles Dowding 2022-11-16 | The nutty flavour and aroma of celeriac are something else: if you don't have it this year, grow some next year! Sow in trays March with seed on the surface, prick out early April, transplant mid-May and harvest from October. See my half-price offer for the online How to Grow Celery and Celeriac lesson charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-10-celery-and-celeriac

A beautiful morning in November after a huge rainfall! We start this video in Homeacres no dig gardens where I harvest celeriac and parsley. Plus you see cabbages growing and in store, and Adam transplanting broad beans after spreading 9 month old homemade compost.

Now in the kitchen I follow Catherine Balaam's recipe from the book, first making aioli/garlic mayonnaise. Two egg yolks, 3 cloves Homeacres garlic and 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, pulse into a paste and then slowly add 250ml oil. Once blended, fold in juice of a lemon, check the taste, it's amazing. Next I grate the celeriac and chop parsley. I add the mayonnaise and the remoulade is finished. It's so tasty on slices of no knead rye bread and with fresh salad leaves.

The cookbook is available on my website, we ship signed copies worldwide:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig-cookbook
Also online and in UK bookshops.

00:00 Introduction
00:32 Harvesting the celeriac, and I explain how to store
02:14 Quick look at garlic just coming up, spinach, cabbage, Chinese cabbage
03:27 Transplanting module-sown broad beans *03:40 link to module tray page
04:20 Picking parsley, variety Italian Giant
05:33 In the kitchen to make the remoulade, starting with making the aioli
12:04 Preparing the celeriac
13:57 Preparing the parsley (and the benefits of using good quality olive oil)
16:22 A look at the two recipes in the cookbook - aioli and remoulade
16:57 Adding mustard and lemon juice, plus some info on the No Dig Cookbook *Add link
19:00 Adding the aioli to the celeriac and parsley
20:42 Creating the dish - remoulade on homemade no knead bread with seasonal salad mix
22:19 Some info on the next two videos, and Green Friday deals

The CD60 module trays are available in the UK containerwise.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-60-cell
And in North America allaboutthegarden.com/products/long-handled-dibber

Filmed and edited by Nicola Smith at Homeacres, 16th November 2022

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Soil doesnt need to rest, keep growing food

Charles Dowding 2022-11-09 | An example of close succession plantings on one bed, through one year and filmed in October.
I maintain fertility with one application of compost every December, nothing else. Already by mid-October, this bed of 1.5 x 5m (5x16ft) has given 82kg / 180lb harvests this year.

Healthy no dig soil helps you to succeed with new plantings all through the summer and into autumn. Every space is growing new leaves and food all the time. For example, the leeks you see here followed an early summer harvest of 13kg potatoes.

00:00 Introduction
01:01 Why no dig enables close planting of vegetables, and succession planting
01:50 Watering
02:19 I explain how I’ve set up the beds, and then talk you through each planting with dates
02:26 Parsnip, celery, endive, rocket, 3 rows of lettuce
03:00 I harvest a celery
03:49 I harvest parsnips, and explain reason for the slightly disappointing result
04:37 I harvest an endive, Scarole…
05:29 …which followed beetroot, carrots and fennel
05:39 Reason for no rotation
05:49 Salad rocket, and how to harvest for continuing rapid growth
06:18 Chervil
06:34 Kale, interplanted between multisown onions, and how to harvest
07:46 Peas
07:55 Growing options for autumn
08:00 I harvest a chicory, 506TT
09:30 I harvest a bulb fennel, interplanted between cucumbers
11:30 I harvest a carrot from a speculative sowing!
12:02 Amos, Indian mustard, and more examples of plants that grow better in autumn than spring
12:46 Celeriac, interplanted between potatoes and spinach, and the results of growing celeriac in no dig soil
13:48 Multisown leeks planted after potatoes, and how to harvest
14:24 Something to bear in mind when succession planting
14:36 Conclusion – I explain that soil does not need to rest, and why

For more on succession planting, see this £5 'taster' module of my online course, Skills for Growing: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course-introduction-and-module-1-skills-and-knowledge-for-a-full-garden-all-year

And this playlist, Succession Planting and Rotation: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7WDfop74y-nUWZ86xfJcnApH8YwR-oD9

Filmed at Homeacres 17th October by Alessandro Vitale @Spicy Moustache

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Tour of Vegetables and Composting in October - November for No Dig Day

Charles Dowding 2022-11-03 | To celebrate No Dig Day, I'm publishing this as a Premiere on 3rd November. It's a tour of Homeacres on 27th October, one week earlier, in weather which continues mild and without frost.

As autumn draws on, you can see how the garden is still incredibly full, and how we are giving soil its annual mulch of compost underneath plants and before new plantings such as garlic.

00:00 Introducing No Dig Day
00:38 Introducing the garden tour
00:57 Spreading compost at this time of year
01:13 Brussels sprouts, and an effect of planting near trees
01:42 A no-rotation trial with leeks following potatoes, and cabbages following broad beans
02:08 Hoeing tiny weeds
02:54 Calabrese (broccoli) following kohlrabi and fennel
03:40 My main compost heap
04:19 An example of compost spreading on beds after celery harvest
05:02 Something different - garlic and mustard (after borlotti beans)
06:29 Green Luobo winter radish
07:06 Spring cabbage
07:45 Tokyo Cross turnips, with cabbage root fly
09:03 A look at another compost bay
10:38 Chinese cabbage
11:!3 Tomatoes ripening in the store, plus onions and garlic, and hay for the compost loo
12:15 A bed spread with compost and planted with garlic, shop-bought and homesaved
12:47 Celeriac
13:24 Purple sprouting broccoli, following beetroot, recently deleafed and compost then spread underneath
13:59 Savoy cabbage
14:22 More mustard and garlic
14:42 Salads and some kale, after potatoes and leeks
15:08 Multisown leeks
15:17 Recently planted multisown spring onions, which followed rye grain for bread
15:56 Fennel (bulb)
16:06 An area that was weeds and pasture eight months previously, now with mustard and rye (following squash and potatoes), plus some info on wireworms
17:37 Cabbages Savoy and Filderkraut, following a not very successful potato harvest
18:34 Asparagus Ariane F1, two plantings
19:08 Fennel planted around the asparagus
19:33 Chicories - radicchio 506TT
19:56 Chard
20:08 Spinach from homesaved seed
21:12 In the polytunnel – more homesaved seed of Grenoble Red lettuce, plus more lettuce, mustards, endive and salad rocket
21:34 Leaf damage from wood lice, as a result of woody homemade compost
22:32 Chard and coriander
22:48 Newly cleaned polytunnel plastic!
23:44 Oca, and when to harvest
24:19 Kuri squash
24:53 Beautiful flowers outside the polytunnel - echinacea, helichrysum (straw flowers), dahlias, marigolds, self-sown phacelia, small-flowered sunflower
25:57 Chervil
26:32 Zinnias, and more sunflowers and dahlias
27:18 The greenhouse - rye seedlings (with tops eaten)
28:34 Perennial kale propagated from a stem, and tomatoes propagated from side shoot
29:48 Chillies Apache
29:59 A suggestion for No Dig Day celebrations

Full details of No Dig Day on this page of my website: charlesdowding.co.uk/3rd-november-2022-no-dig-day

And see this video about No Dig Day: youtu.be/JW89BBji2U4

Filmed by Nicola Smith on 27th October 2022, SW England 51N, zone 8 climate.
October's average temperature was 18C day and 8C night (64F-46F), unusually warm.

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Small Garden Mid-Autumn

Charles Dowding 2022-10-31 | A space of 25 m² growing 10 to 12 different vegetables at any one time throughout the growing season. It's no dig which makes weeding easier, as well as fertility and succession planting.

Growth is strong with 79kg harvests already in 2022. This despite the soil being not deep, on top of stone and concrete slabs from remains of the old boiler house, for the nursery that was Homeacres in the 1960s - 1990s.

Also the space is shaded and has some tree roots from the neighbours garden.

00:00 Introduction
00:38 Limitations of the Small Garden, including the effect of having nearby hedges
01:08 No dig on stony ground
01:49 Zinnias
02:05 Autumn temperatures, and available light
02:53 Aalsmeer cauliflowers - removing lower leaves to keep tidy and discourage slugs, and using mesh covers
04:54 Leeks Philomene - removing yellowing leaves, and harvesting
05:24 Savoy cabbage, and one cauliflower - again removing lower leaves
06:17 Chervil
06:43 A beautiful flower - Mina lobata, and small-flowered sunflowers
07:13 Parsnips
07:31 Brassicas - Red Russian kale
08:02 Swedes/turnips Gilfeather - the others are Tweed F1
08:37 A look a the rain gauge, and the benefit of keeping weather records
09:19 Carrots Flakkee - I pull one of the large ones
11:18 Spinach Medania, and coriander
12:11 Succession planting - was purple sprouting broccoli then tomatoes, now spinach
12:33 Chicory 206TT Treviso sown 10th July - I remove outer leaves to show the heart
13:45 Strawberry plants, and how to propagate
14:20 Sorrel
14:29 Perennial kale in its fifth year, and the fig tree
15:03 Conclusion, and some info on my 2023 calendar of sowing dates and new No Dig book, including a special offer with a half-price calendar: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/special-offer-new-no-dig-book-and-2023-calendar

See my Small Garden playlist here: youtube.com/watch?v=8pqoe_pCgS4&list=PL7WDfop74y-njULr-6gXPcfyF_VHS4mm5

Calendar of sowing dates 2023 from my website: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-calendar-of-vegetable-sowing-dates-2023-signed

My new No Dig book: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig

You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:
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Enjoy No Dig Day 3rd November

Charles Dowding 2022-10-27 | New!! Have fun with this and I share some ideas for the day. What you could do and what we shall be up to, celebrating this lovely method which inspires and helps so many.

To grow more food more easily. To feel closer to nature and be positive about life.

Details on my webpage charlesdowding.co.uk/3rd-november-2022-no-dig-day

00:00 Introducing No Dig Day
00:47 Ideas for things you could do on the day
00:16 A look at a no dig bed I made 7 years ago, and info on first / second plantings in the bed
02:00 How we’re going to be celebrating the day at Homeacres
02:26 Info on adult’s caption competition
02:48 Info on children’s ‘Create your Dream Garden’ competition
03:30 Ideas for sowing seeds on the day
04:12 Info on free online / digital products offered on the day
05:15 Info on the YT ‘Premier’ video tour that will be happening on the day

My broad bean lesson is charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-2-beans-broad-fava

The free-on-the-day Winter Gardening module is charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course-module-5-covers-and-winter-gardening

The No Dig Children's Gardening Book appears January 19th, you can pre-order and find out more here waterstones.com/book/the-no-dig-childrens-gardening-book/charles-dowding/9781783128686

Discover more about No Dig in my compendium new book which we sell signed charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig

You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:
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Ways to clear old plants with no dig, after they give a final harvest

Charles Dowding 2022-10-26 | Plants grow best when soil is disturbed very little. This allows soil organisms to continue doing their great work.
Therefore removing old plants with larger roots can be a little difficult and I show a few ways to do this, with minimal disturbance.

Sometimes you cannot avoid lifting the soil a little, and in that case it's good to tread it down again. Harvesting bulbs of garlic is an example.

Sometimes it's good simply to cut just below ground level, as with tomatoes and broad/fava beans.

Filmed and edited by Alessandro Vitale @Spicy Moustache October 2022 in southern UK, temperate climate, 51N latitude.

Discover more about No Dig in my book of that name, we sell signed copies from my website
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig

And you can buy online in the usual places.

No Dig Ground Cover 3 options

Charles Dowding 2022-10-22 | With no dig it's easy to keep replanting though the season, so that soil is buzzing with life. We have regular harvests and weeds grow less. Leaf cover is varied and plentiful.
During winter the soil is mostly dormant and has a living cover of compost. There are also some plants which offer winter roots and leaves.

Two sowing ideas for mid to late autumn cover crops / green manures:

1 Mustard Synapsis alba, sow mid September to mid October,and this mustard is killed by frosts below -3 to -4C around 25F; or you may need to remove the weak plants in early spring. We show you an INTERPLANT idea with garlic & shallots - Adam Woods @myco_ad is dibbing into 10 day old mustard, then planting garlic cloves into 8 day old mustard.

2 Broad or field beans can be sown later, even until mid November, but will not grow large in winter, and this is for milder climates only. If they survive winter, cut at ground level before planting in spring.

A third option is to keep ground covered with vegetables. Some grow through winter, and you can also spread compost around / under plants like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. After a final harvest of any vegetable, the soil is mulched with compost and is never bare.

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10 Years No Dig at Homeacres

Charles Dowding 2022-10-16 | Showing the changes that have happened since I arrived here autumn 2012, without a masterplan. It was "space out of doors" with almost no garden, a small house which appealed to nobody, and good soil.

I thought to make a teaching garden, developed another market garden, and created a base for educating through social media.

Every year the expanding garden, the trials, and the new structures have created a more beautiful place, with great opportunities to learn, inspire and share.
Plus you see parts of Homeacres that we don't often show, and some of my no dig market gardening in the 1980s.

Filmed and edited October 2022 by Edward Dowding my son, winner of Paul Mellon Foundation award 2022 edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com

00:00 Introduction
01:38 How I found Homeacres
02:39 How the conservatory happened and was built
03:19 No dig HQ
03:55 My background, from a farming family, becoming a gardener
04.42 Sharing the knowledge
05:14 The first two beds serve as template for the garden - no masterplan!
06:10 Homeacres market garden 1960s, perimeter trees
06:59 Letting in the wind
07:30 Making compost, my learning and sharing
08:13 Confusion of information about how to make, buy and use compost
09:40 How the main compost making structure evolved, started with two pallets
11:32 Creating smaller structures for making compost
12:25 The cabin, why it's here and the inside
13:58 Running out of space youtube.com/watch?v=eW2aVZkjJa0
14:48 A new opportunity
15:54 What to do with the new land?
16:14 Mulching bindweed and a New Area playlist youtube.com/watch?v=bej8vpTm1c4&list=PL7WDfop74y-k1a3lMA0ooD5m8bhiKu5sR
16:47 New shed, pond and bees
18:00 What next? Spreading no dig knowledge and the links to human health

#nodigday is 3rd November every year, do join in on social media.

Music by Jacqui Vincent on Bandcamp, from her song Homeacres. jacquivincent.bandcamp.com/track/homeacres

Which? Gardening magazine subscription, have a look: signup.which.co.uk/wlp-gardening

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My vegetable sowing Calendar 2023

Charles Dowding 2022-10-15 | Discover and be reminded of the best sowing dates for each vegetable. A beautiful Calendar to hang on your wall. Use these dates to help you enjoy a regular supply of fresh produce through all four seasons.

Each month of the growing season has my recommended and most successful sowing dates for each vegetable, to increase the likelihood of large harvests. Every date is based on decades of fine tuning, from observations and learning over many years. Plus for each month, there is a seasonal Homeacres photograph,

As well as sowing dates, I have added a brief vegetable growing summary for every month, to help you keep on track. There are also tips for successful growing using no dig, as well as information on multisowing – the reasons why I recommend it and a table giving my recommendations for multisowing of different vegetables.

The calendar sowing dates are for a Zone 8b climate in southern UK. Oceanic temperate, similar to PNW USA.
You can use this calendar in different climates, with a little adjustment to the dates. If your climate is cooler, sow later by 1-4 weeks in spring, then sow a week or two earlier in summer and autumn, from the solstice onwards.

My recommended dates are not always the same as you will read on the packet of seeds! For some reason, they pay little attention to flowering dates and, for example, I do not recommend to sow salad rocket, pak choi and spinach, as in true spinach not leaf beet, from late April through to late July. That way you avoid their flowering season. By sowing either very early in the year or in August, you are far more likely to enjoy a long season of harvest.

Signed copies are from my website shop charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-calendar-of-vegetable-sowing-dates-2023-signed

In addition we offer a half price Calendar, in a bundle with my new No Dig book. You can request dedications at checkout, charlesdowding.co.uk/product/special-offer-new-no-dig-book-and-2023-calendar

For those in the southern hemisphere, we have created a six-month adjusted calendar for you. You can download it as a PDF using this link: charlesdowding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Southern-Hemisphere-Sowing-Guide-2022.pdf

And for those of you in cooler climates such as Scotland, one of my followers Mary created this very thorough timeline for sowing: charlesdowding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Highland-Seedlings-Sowing-Schedule-1.pdf

Filmed and created by Alessandro Vitale @Spicy Moustache, at Homeacres no dig garden in the UK, zone 8 temperate oceanic, September 2022

Tunnel transformation, summer to winter

Charles Dowding 2022-10-14 | Mid October, temperate oceanic climate with temperatures now averaging 9C 48F by night and 14C 57F by day.
Over many years I have found this an excellent time of year to transplant under cover, for winter leaf harvests.

Four days ago this was tomato plants, aubergines and more. We clear them by cutting stems at or just below soil level, leaving most roots in the soil to decompose and provide food for microbes.

Now we just finished transplanting 3 to 4 week old Grenoble Red lettuce, endive frizzy and scarole, mustards of four types, salad rocket, Claytonia, land cress and a little coriander.

Thanks to no dig, bed prep is rapid. Just tread level and water.

I make holes with my long-handled dibber available here gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463

Then Adam Wood popped plants in, then watered. Trays are my CD60 as in this video youtube.com/watch?v=GmWsM7odmkE

Filmed 14th of October at Homeacres Somerset UK by @briony.plant

Summer ends, pick and clear tomatoes then replant for winter with no bed prep

Charles Dowding 2022-10-09 | Oh no! It's the south of England in October's second week: days are suddenly much shorter and the temperature is falling. Time for changeover.

We still have fine tomato plants in the polytunnel, with not too many fruit any more. I explain how we ripen the remaining ones, and loofahs too!

Then I show you a few of the plants we are going to put in this week, for salad leaves through winter. The soil is no dig and has a compost mulch.

We don't apply any more compost at this time of year, just once a year in May before planting tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, aubergines, peppers et cetera.
There are very few weeds and it's a really easy system for continuous cropping.

See my new No Dig book for more details charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig

Filmed 8th October in Homeacres garden by Briony Plant

No Dig Options for Green Manures or Succession Planting

Charles Dowding 2022-10-08 | Do you need to have living roots in the soil all winter? I show you the options and how to do this also with vegetables.
I'm actually happy to have many beds empty of cover crops through the cold of winter, so they're ready for first plantings, as soon as winter turns into spring.
The soil is always covered in a no dig garden, with compost on beds and woody material on pathways.

Learn more in my new book No Dig pub. September 2022. You can buy a signed copy on special offer with my 2023 planting Calendar
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/special-offer-new-no-dig-book-and-2023-calendar

Filmed at Homeacres no dig garden 8th October 2022 by Briony Plant

4 Compost Heaps in 3 Bays, ready in 6 to12 months

Charles Dowding 2022-10-02 | I want you to enjoy making compost! And it does not need to look perfect - you can do this!
To make great compost is as much of an art and skill as gardening and growing. The methods I show here are easily achievable, but every situation is different, so I explain the variations as well.

There are no firm rules about when compost is ready to use. With no dig gardening the decision is easier, because it's fine to have some woody materials on the surface of beds. If you chose to dig them in, this can cause nitrogen depletion. But that does not happen with surface mulching of undisturbed soil.

00:00 Introduction
00:57 A brief explanation of my 3-bay system, and how easy it is to construct
02:11 Timings of these compost heaps
02:58 Turning a heap
03:50 Wood in heaps, and more on timings
05:29 Reasons for putting cardboard around the inside edges
06:06 Adding a long object to the centre of the heap (eg tube, fence post) to create an air hole
06:49 Guidelines for layering a heap with different materials/ingredients - green and brown
09:06 Adding bindweed to heaps
09:28 Adding seeds including weed seeds
09:59 Temperature (heat) of heaps
10:43 Adding deadheads of flowers
11:04 Adding coffee grounds
11:19 Adding fresh manure
11:28 Trimming larger plants before adding to heaps, and using a shredder
12:59 Adding material to the sides of the heaps, rather than the centre, to keep it level
13:15 Watering heaps
14:05 A brief summary, including how to know when is a heap is full, and then ready to use.

See this page on my website for more on making and using compost:
charlesdowding.co.uk/compost-using-and-making

Lots of info on making compost in my new book, 'No Dig', published by DK:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig

You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:
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September tour of my no dig vegetable garden

Charles Dowding 2022-09-24 | See the beauty of my early autumn garden. It's no dig so there are few weeds, healthy soil means high quality vegetables, and we have sustained good growth in dry conditions with economical watering.

00:00 Introduction
00:46 Cabbages, green Filderkraut, not quite mature, and red Granat
01:15 Asparagus - some grown from seed, and some from crowns (roots)
01:56 A look at an area that was weedy pasture 6 months ago, now recently harvested of winter squash - some with teeth marks from voles
02:51 Bindweed levered out after harvesting the squash
03:16 Plans for next planting in this cleared area - mustards and rye
03:44 Small sunflowers and dahlias with aphid blackfly - I give some info on blackfly
05:11 Beds with multisown leeks, salads and interplanted kale - 2nd plantings after potatoes
05:40 Borlotti beans mostly dry
06:32 Savoy cabbages and calabrese, 2nd plantings after onions
06:52 Purple sprouting broccoli, 2nd planting after beetroot
07:04 A look at one of the harvested Boltardy beetroot from homesaved seed - large but not woody
08:04 Red cabbage Granat, and green Filderkraut, which we shall use to make Sauerkraut
08:54 Chinese cabbages, Yuki
09:30 Spring cabbage, Wintergreen
10:04 Chervil - garlic soon to be grown in-between
10:49 Apple tree, Kidd’s Orange Red - some apples with insect damage
11:42 How to tell if an apple is ripe
12:58 Chicories, Luisa - I cut one open to look inside
14:06 A loofah plant in the polytunnel
14:40 First winter plantings - chard, kale, coriander
15:02 How to ripen tomatoes more quickly
16:01 Snack paprika peppers
16:24 Downy mildew on cucumber leaves
17:30 Helichrysum flowers
17:52 Aubergines, coming to the end of their harvest period
18:29 Weeding, and using a hoe
19:39 The Small Garden - winter cauliflower following squash, multisown leeks, cabbage, swede, parsnips, chicories, spinach under tomatoes
21:03 Squash harvests in the conservatory - Crown Prince
21:48 In the greenhouse are many final sowings - lettuce, endive, spring onions, winter purslane, lamb’s lettuce
22:20 Malabar spinach, an unusual plant
23:12 Rosada F1 tomato plant, and propagating from sideshoots
23:41 Strawberries, and badgers!
24:04 Winter plantings - aubergines, and an agretti plant
25:11 Mizuna after courgettes, which had powdery mildew
25:39 Beautiful dahlias
26:41 Some info on No Dig Day - 3rd November charlesdowding.co.uk/3rd-november-2022-no-dig-day

You can see the other half of my garden in the summer tour of August youtu.be/Nmh0r8JaRDM
This playlist has more about autumn gardening youtube.com/watch?v=2diCDJb73pY&list=PL7WDfop74y-nSEb7mCPDaONn5iiWXt4nO

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Rye from Seed to Bread

Charles Dowding 2022-09-22 | I sowed then transplanted 31 clumps of rye in October 2021, harvested the ears in August, then did all the rest in this video, finishing with the rye bread you see at the end.

For 2023 harvest I am sowing some of this grain at the end of September. Two to three seeds per module in CD 60 trays, to transplant around the middle of October.

I grew up on a farm where we had tractors and combine harvesters, and it felt effortless to grow tons of food.

This process is a perspective on the work needed to grow a loaf of bread, by hand. It makes me grateful for machines! And my mill is electric, whereas if you grind by hand, which I have done, it takes around 20 minutes to have enough flour for one loaf of bread.

On the other hand this is a wonderful way to connect strongly with how our food grows and is processed. If you try it, you will savour every mouthful of the bread you produce!

Sorry we edited out part of the bread making, I felt the video was getting too long. I add one tablespoon approx of starter and 1 level tbsp oil per 900g loaf.

00:00 Introduction
00:24 The harvested grain, and I explain the growing process from seed, harvest help from Heidi Theaker
01:31 Some info on the rye plant
02:28 Removing grains from ears, with demonstration
03:52 Info on the yield
05:18 Winnowing, and I demonstrate an unusual method!
10:24 Milling, with demonstration
16:05 Mixing and baking *The adding oil step was unintentionally edited out* (Charles' fault!)
18:20 A word on (not) adding salt
19:41 The taste test!
21:32 The conclusion

Link to Samap grain mill https://www.samap-eco.fr/en/moulins/Domestic-grain-mill-SAMAP-F100-electric-mill/

Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding freelance filmmaker, August 2022 at Homeacres, Somerset, UK edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio

There is a recipe for my bread in the new cookbook we are publishing in early November this year.

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Faster tomato ripening under cover in autumn before clearing to plant for winter

Charles Dowding 2022-09-20 | Ways to encourage ripening of tomatoes. Here I reckon to remove them before the middle of October because there is so little warmth or daylight by then.
To ripen more fruit, I stop watering tomatoes under cover in the middle of September.

Everything you see in the polytunnel will be cleared within a month and then planted up with salad plants for winter. Garlic too.

This is my No-Dig garden in the UK and we don't add any extra compost before planting the salads. Ground preparation is really speedy.

Is it ready yet? Winter squash, September

Charles Dowding 2022-09-18 | How to decide a good moment for cutting these lovely fruits, for storing through winter and to eat at any time then, or indeed now.
I show you three varieties, Butternut, Crown Prince, and Red or Uchiki Kuri. They are are ready at different times.
I play snowboard or stone on the maturing fruits because their skin is so hard.

This is my no dig gardening Somerset UK.
The ground they are growing in was weedy pasture six months ago. We placed 7cm/3 in compost on top of the weeds and then the black plastic on top of that, in March.
We made holes through the plastic in late May to transplant these squash, as one month old plants.
It's been a dry summer, and no water has been given to these plants. There is a lot of convolvulus here and we have pulled some, where it grows through the planting holes.
The plastic has made it very easy to succeed with the harvest and also with killing many weeds. We remove the plastic after harvest.
See my website for more information charlesdowding.co.uk

Vegetables for winter and spring harvest, sow and plant in early autumn

Charles Dowding 2022-09-15 | In the middle of September I’m showing you what we’ve been transplanting today. How we do it with a no dig approach, it’s quick and simple, At midday this bed was carrots, now harvested and then we spread 2.5cm / an inch of compost, before popping plants into prefabbed holes.

This is spring cabbage, we also planted cauliflower for spring, and then I show you spring onions. All of these will give harvest next March, April, and May. We have some frosts here in winter, down to -6C 21F in recent winters, maybe lower this winter.

We finish in the greenhouse where we’ve been sowing recently, in my CD60 module trays mostly.. The small seedlings are for transplanting in the greenhouse and polytunnel by mid-October.

You can still be sowing a few vegetables for planting outside, if winters are not too cold. See my Calendar of Sowing Dates, available online and from my website signed by me charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-calendar-of-vegetable-sowing-dates-2023-signed
We offer it also at half price when purchased with my new No Dig book, for which (at checkout) you can request a dedication charlesdowding.co.uk/product/special-offer-new-no-dig-book-and-2023-calendar

My dibber is available here gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463
Module trays video youtube.com/watch?v=gK-Gkp_LTPc
In North America, find them here allaboutthegarden.com/collections/charles-dowding-trays

Filmed at Homeacres, Somerset,UK by Nicola Smith on 15th September 2022.

Remarkable differences in growth from same inputs

Charles Dowding 2022-09-10 | The 10th year of running this two bed trial. Growth differences between digging and no dig continue to be strong.
Why are the celeriac so small on dug soil? Why is there more mildew on cucumber plants growing in the dug soil? Why does digging reduce several harvests, even though both beds have the same amount of compost?

00:00 Introduction
00:08 The two bed's only difference, that I dig one every year
00:38 Everything else is the same
00:53 All vegetables here are second plantings pf the summer
01:06 17th year of more harvests from the no dig bed
01:38 Cucumbers, harvest differences
02:10 Cucumbers, mildew differences
03:10 Reasons for differences?
03:20 Perhaps from moisture retention in no dig soil
04:02 Differences in the leeks, after 13kg potatoes each bed
05:06 I hope for further studies to understand more about soil and growth

See earlier growth differences between these two beds in my playlist about this trial, youtube.com/watch?v=Ba0qPjF_wNI&list=PL7WDfop74y-m2wNJolMa2Brum_-DbpzkT

TRIAL DETAILS and harvest totals are on my webpage charlesdowding.co.uk/no-dig-trial-2019-2021-current-year-at-top

Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding, freelance filmmaker edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com

We sell my No Dig book in a bundle with a Calendar of Sowing dates, to keep your garden as full as these beds charlesdowding.co.uk/three-strip-trial-2014-2021

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No Dig Day is 3rd November

Charles Dowding 2022-09-08 | A chance to start no dig. Create a bed like the one you see here.
An opportunity to share the joy, if you’re already using this happy method of growing healthy food and flowers! #nodigday
Why November? It’s the beginning of a new gardening year. Then you have ground ready before spring, enabling you to start early and enjoy the potential of every season.

May this be an opportunity for people worldwide to discover easier growing, in tune with natural processes. We are putting subtitles on this video, by 10th September.

See this page on my website with ideas and details for how you can join in charlesdowding.co.uk/thursday-3rd-november-2022-no-dig-day-nodigday

Also you can join me on a video Premier in the afternoon, British time 1600hrs.

I hope that children in particular will have a go: I have a competition for you which we explain on the website page.
On the date we are giving free lifetime access to the Broad Bean lesson of my Seed to Harvest online course, purchase for free here on 3rd November:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-2-beans-broad-fava

And the same free access when you request access to my Winter Gardening module of the Skills course:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course-module-5-covers-and-winter-gardening

Plus we shall give 20% off all my online courses, purchased on 3rd November.
charlesdowding.co.uk/online-courses-overview

Offer begins 18.00hrs GMT on 2nd November and ends 0600hrs on 4rh November, to allow for time differences. You can continue to access and enjoy the courses after that, through the winter and beyond.

Filmed at Homeacres no dig garden 8th September by Nicola Smith.

Small Garden at Homeacres after Summer 2022

Charles Dowding 2022-09-04 | 25 square metres after an unusually dry summer. Apologies for the sound - we had cabled up but found the sound was down, and our best option then was the phone mic.

No dig soil has coped well with dry conditions. There is no irrigation system, we water just those plants in need, which has been most of them! Up to three times weekly during the few weeks of 30C/86F+ temperatures, and watering takes 10 minutes weekly.
We received 87mm / 3.5in rain in the past thee months, 40% of normal. Summer afternoons were 4C above average, highly unusual. The best bit has been loads of sunshine.

00:00 Introduction
00:11 About watering
00:29 The flowers - zinnias and dahlias
00:59 Squash plants unknown variety and Ute (and a problem with the mic!)
02:19 Multisown leeks Philomene
02:38 Two ways of growing brassicas - one under cover/one not - Savoy cabbage (after beetroot)
03:15 Mesh covers and flea beetles
04:14 Parnsips
04:29 Some of the benefits of no dig
05:19 Red Russian kale, Gilfeather ‘turnip swede’, and normal swede (after onions)
05:47 Succession plantings
06:11 Winter carrots Oxhella from homesaved seed, covered against root fly, after kale!
06:39 Dill and coriander
07:06 Slugs on chicory plants
07:34 Tomatoes, Sungold and Dorenia (standard cooking tomato) - I explain how I stopped the plants and why
08:46 Chicory (after peas for seed)
08:49 Strawberry plants, Marshmello
09:10 Interplant of chicory Treviso
09:28 Perennial broad-leaf sorrel
09:56 Tomatoes in pots, and a word on compost
10:22 The fig tree, showing abundant summer growth

Filmed 28th August - compare the growth with 22nd June youtube.com/watch?v=8pqoe_pCgS4&list=PL7WDfop74y-njULr-6gXPcfyF_VHS4mm5

Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio, on iPhone

See the Small Garden playlist for five years of cropping and minimal maintenance or weeding youtube.com/watch?v=8pqoe_pCgS4&list=PL7WDfop74y-njULr-6gXPcfyF_VHS4mm5

My new book, 'No Dig', by publishers DK, is now available to purchase. More details here:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig

You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:
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Succession planting by overlapping, fennel with cucumber plants

Charles Dowding 2022-09-02 | The outside cucumbers are giving a final harvest in early September. They have powdery mildew which I don't worry about and it can all go in the compost heap.
It's totally normal for cucumbers to have mildew at this time of year, because it's the end of the season and the leaves are dying off.
Once I've pulled up the cucumber plants by cutting their stems at the base, you see my plantings of Florence fennel transplanted 3 weeks ago. And an earlier sowing of carrots.

In my seed to harvest online course, you can buy lessons for £5 to £6.50 which explain all the details about growing different vegetables.

Filmed at Homeacres in Somerset, UK, 12th September by Nicola Smith. Homeacres is a no dig garden but as it happens this is the only bed I dig, as part of my two bed trial charlesdowding.co.uk/no-dig-trial-2019-2021-current-year-at-top

See other videos about this including how much compost? The compost question youtu.be/4APqcvo-gqE

Interplanting Example of New Spinach between Lettuce Still Cropping

Charles Dowding 2022-09-01 | Use this method to create more space in your garden by overlapping your plantings. While one vegetable is still growing and you are still taking harvests, in this case lettuce, you can pop new transplants between them.

You will be surprised if you have not done this before by how fast the new plantings grow. Especially in no dig soil.
That's probably because of the mycelial network, with existing plants helping the new ones. It's cooperation not competition.
My experience with this practice over many years suggests that it can be used a lot more. Soon we shall be interplanting chervil and coriander between French beans and lettuce, and we have interplanted Florence fennel between cucumbers which soon finish.

Filmed by Briony Plant August 2022 at Homeacres garden, Somerset, UK

See my No Dig book for more details, and this offer with the 2023 Calendar gives easy access to timings of sowings charlesdowding.co.uk/product/special-offer-new-no-dig-book-and-2023-calendar

The Second Part of my New No Dig book is How to Grow

Charles Dowding 2022-08-29 | No dig groundwork is the first part of successful growing, before the second part which is sowing and planting, watering, pest protection etc. This story of how my book evolved illustrates these two aspects. Publication date is 1st September 2022, and in German it's February 2023.

To grow lots of food, the important first part is creation of fertile, weed free soil, without disturbing soil or its inhabitants. That has become the book-title. No dig is how to smother weeds in beds and paths, how to make compost and source other materials for enhancing fertility, and ways to use compost effectively.

The second and larger part of the 286 page book is how to grow a wide range of vegetables and herbs, in a temperate climate. There is much detail, based on my experience of trying time and space saving methods you may not find elsewhere. They include how to practice no or minimal rotation, no hardening off, not using feeds or fertilisers, saving seeds and more.

To order a signed copy of my 'No Dig' book please visit this page of my website charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig/.
We offer a discount to channel members, see the August members-only video youtu.be/9YRjtv_NXy8
You can buy the book more cheaply from Amazon geni.us/NoDig

Booksellers WHSmith are offering a discount on signed copies, using code NODIG2022 at checkout: whsmith.co.uk/products/no-dig/charles-dowding/hardback/9780241541814.html.

See @DK Books for more details.

Filmed by Edward Dowding edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio
13th August 2022 at Homeacres, Somerset, UK temperate climate.

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Multisow possibilities and methods in late summer to very early autumn

Charles Dowding 2022-08-26 | Ways to multisow and see the clumps of plants that you can put in the ground, often within three weeks at this time of year. There's a fair number of vegetables you can sow until the about 10th September, depending on your climate.

For growing undercover through winter, you can sow until the end of September. Preferably by the equinox.

Find details in my new book, No Dig published @DK Books 1st September. The book has a lot about growing vegetables, as well as no dig!.
It's available to pre-order geni.us/NoDig

My CD60 module tray is available from Containerwise UK containerwise.co.uk/product/dib-popper-cd60
The trays are available in North America from allaboutthegarden.com
In Europe from thefarmdream.com

The dibber is ash, varnished with Danish oil. Space rings are 15-22-30-35cm, or 6-9-12-14in.
Available from Garden Imports in the UK gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463

See also my website for more about these gardening methods https://charlesdowding.co.uk.
This page has details for multisowing charlesdowding.co.uk/multisowing

Filmed by Alessandro Vitale of @Spicy Moustache at Homeacres on 17th August 2022.

No dig garden in August, new plantings, fruit and summer pests

Charles Dowding 2022-08-21 | We welcome visitors on 4th September at Homeacres Open Day charlesdowding.co.uk/events/homeacres-open-day-sunday-4th-september

From 4th July to 15th August, we had one of our driest ever spells with just 5 mm/0.2 inches of rain in six weeks. Then we had a storm, two days before this video. Now it's dry again!
Summer passes so quickly and often it feels like I am running to keep up. Growth this year has been rapid because of extra warmth, for those plants we have watered.

Tress we don't water. We do water the raspberries and they are Joan J.

No dig is brilliant for conserving moisture and we are not watering everything. The vegetables I show you first though have had water twice a week, applied by hand. They are chicory for radicchio, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, kale, leeks, cabbages, dwarf French beans, and calabrese.
After them I show you new and very small transplants, just two weeks old.

The summer warmth has been great for tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and melons.

00:00 Intro, and a look at Victoria plum tree on St Julien 'A' rootstock, ripe with plums
00:51 Another plum tree - Coe’s Golden Drop
01:16 A look at the grass - dry from drought, and some info on the background of Homeacres
02:22 Some second summer plantings – I explain the progression
04:00 2 weeks since multisown and transplanted today, salad rocket and mustards under mesh to protect against flea beetle, rabbits, butterflies
04:50 A look at an area of soil that is almost white
05:25 Flowers at the end of beds - dwarf French marigolds, Zinnia, Salvia, Rudbeckia
06:07 Asparagus in it’s 10th year
06:35 Broad-leaved sorrel, and sea kale
06:41 Onions for seed are `rose de Roscoff, with some downy mildew
07:47 Buckler-leaved sorrel
07:58 Raspberries in their sixth year
08:44 I explain my water supply
09:13 Borlotti beans for a dry harvest
09:56 Winter radish - tall large ones
10:27 Celeriac, hardly watered
10:57 Watering lettuce to protect against lettuce root aphid
11:45 The benefits of growing endive for late summer and autumn harvests
12:14Chicory to make Raddichio is 506TT
12:34 Lettuce plants just picked, and some soon to be picked - Saragossa, Maravilla di Verona, Valmaine, Lollo Rossa
13:07 Swedes and Brussels sprouts - winter veg
13:17 Carrots under mesh, against root fly
13:30 Runner beans, also for a dry harvest (Czar)
14:09 A look at some flea beetle damage
14:49 Calabrese, sprayed with Bacillus thuringiensis, and purple sprouting under mesh against flea beetle and other insects, also possible rabbits
16:09 Inside the polytunnel – heirloom tomatoes, I demonstrate how to tie to keep upright, then look at sideshoots/suckers
17:30 Peppers, and oxheart tomatoes inc Sonnenherz
18:26 Sungold – I show you how we’ve taken down the stems of this tall plant, and how to take out the top of a plant to stop it growing any more
19:51 Berner Rose tomatoes
20:31 Aubergines, de Barbentane
21:16 Melons, I cut open a Charentais

My new No Dig book is available to pre-order geni.us/NoDig

See my website for more about my gardening methods charlesdowding.co.uk

Watch this video with Bulgarian voiceover youtu.be/kfZsnpFBySo

Filmed by Nicola Smith at Homeacres on 18th August.

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How much, how little compost do you need to grow great vegetables?

Charles Dowding 2022-08-19 | This video is relevant to all gardeners, whether or not you dig/till the soil. There is no right / wrong amount of compost.

My explanations are from 40 years of an organic approach, using no synthetic or artificially manufactured fertilisers or feeds. All fertility is from compost, with best results from leaving it on the surface, as in no dig.

Compost enhances life in no dig soil. Whereas in dug/tilled soil, plants obtain less value from the compost, because of the disruption to the fertility network of mycelia for example.

I answer many questions about this topic. I relate to your uncertainties, such as feeling daunted at the beginning by imagining the huge amount of compost you think you might need to start no dig!

You can use a lot, and it's a great investment in long term fertility.
Or you can use less.

Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding, freelance filmmaker edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio

00:00 Introduction
00:54 Clarification of meaning of compost
01:39 One of my comparisons, the Three-Strip Trial, which started in 2013, and the 2013 results, which persuaded me to modify the trial.
03:02 Modifications to the trial in 2014, and subsequent results
04:23 Results from the third year, 2015
04:31 Amount of compost added to the trial beds each year
05:03 Another ongoing trial, comparing dig and no dig beds, that I have been running since 2012
05:52 Results of this trial over nine years
07:32 The value of compost, and how it’s so worthwhile for growing great veg
07:48 Easy succession planting in the dig/no dig beds
08:41 The watering advantages of no dig, partly from adding compost on top of beds
09:05 The simplicity of the no dig method, and having to add compost only once a year
09:27 The overall benefits of using compost
10:29 Some info on my new No Dig book
The book is available to pre-order geni.us/NoDig

See this web page for more details of the trials I mention: charlesdowding.co.uk/category/trials
And my 'Trials' playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7WDfop74y-m2wNJolMa2Brum_-DbpzkT

See also the 'Get Started' page on my website which includes a beginner's guide, explaining how to start no dig: charlesdowding.co.uk/start-here

And the 'Compost - Using and Making' page: charlesdowding.co.uk/compost-using-and-making

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No Dig Bed Prep and Succession Planting, quick and easy

Charles Dowding 2022-08-18 | It's quick!
Filmed in my No-Dig garden at Homeacres, Somerset, UK by Alessandro Vitale, @Spicy Moustache on 17th August 2022

Uk source of trays containerwise.co.uk
Uk for dibber gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463
America stockist of trays and dibber allaboutthegarden.com/collections/all-products

Store potatoes easily for eating in winter and spring

Charles Dowding 2022-08-14 | Homegrown vegetable store in much better condition and for longer than vegetables you may buy.
In my experience, potatoes do not sprout during the summer and most of autumn. They are programmed to wait until it turns much cooler.
That triggers the sprouting process, here it's often in November.

Therefore it's fine to store your summer potato harvest in temperatures which are often warm, without any need for cooling or other expensive difficulties. I show my Nicola second early potatoes, in a sack at a temperature of 28C / 82F. Harvested a month ago, they have neither shrivelled nor sprouted.

See my No Dig book for details geni.us/NoDig.

And my online course has loads of information about growing potatoes, harvesting and storing charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-24-potatoes

Making compost in a dalek, and how to access it

Charles Dowding 2022-08-11 | Making compost in a 330L / 75 gallon Dalek from mid-April to end July, and how to access it.

It's dry around the edge and nice in the middle. Dry also on top from leafy additions being drier than usual, in a summer heatwave.

Usually these containers hold almost too much moisture. However this summer's dry conditions mean we could have watered the contents a little more.

I just purchased another similar container so that we can continue to make compost in one of these
evengreener.com/products/blackwall-330-litre-green-compost-converter

My No Dig book is available here geni.us/NoDig

We make a lot of compost in larger, homemade pallet and covered bays, see my compost-making playlist youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7WDfop74y-kU7k5avXkfFOxKLTQJA2L4

And compost-making advice is on this page of my website
charlesdowding.co.uk/compost-using-and-making

On Weds 5th October, I run a compost-making course at Homeacres
charlesdowding.co.uk/events/short-afternoon-course-compost-making-wednesday-5th-october

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Tomatoes crop for longer and more easily after you drop the stems of tall plants under cover

Charles Dowding 2022-08-09 | These Sungold tomato plants grow long stems with big space between each truss.
They were pushing against the cover at the top of my 2.5m/8ft high polytunnel.

See how we drop the plants.
Now they are manageable because all the growing leaves are accessible, together with developing fruit trusses. We can grow high quality fruit into September, and it's easier to keep plants free of late blight.

We do this for any variety which grows extra long stems, including some Oxheart types and Berner Rose.

Filmed and edited by Alessadro Vitale, @Spicy Moustache at Homeacres no dig garden, 2nd August 2022

See this lesson, available in my web-shop, about growing tomatoes charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-30-tomatoes

Transplanting Tools, Dib Popper and Dibber

Charles Dowding 2022-08-08 | The dib popper has two sides, one for making holes to sow, one with longer dowels for popping up the rootballs. It's designed for use with my CD60 tray, available from Containerwise UK containerwise.co.uk/product/dib-popper-cd60
The trays are available in North America from allaboutthegarden.com
In Europe from thefarmdream.com

The dibber is ash, varnished with Danish oil. Space rings are 15-22-30-35cm, or 6-9-12-14in.
Available from Garden Imports in the UK gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463

and All About the Garden in N America.

Deleaf Plants for Six Great Benefits

Charles Dowding 2022-08-04 | How to keep your plants healthy and with less disease and pests, fewer weeds underneath, and under cover you can improve ventilation with this approach. It applies also to vegetables such as celery, celeriac, dwarf French beans, beetroot, kale and radicchio, to name a few.

A further benefit is that you the gardener, become more of a gardener. You stay close to and regularly involved with your plants. This maintains a strong connection to, and understanding of what they need at any time.

00:00 Reason for covering cabbage plants
00:44 Removing lower leaves – why and how
02:30 What make a good gardener?
03:05 More on removing lower leaves, of brassicas, and how it affects moisture needed
04:07 Removing leaves from lettuce and endive, both for harvest and keeping plants tidy
05:24 How many leaves can you remove, and why
06:10 Removing weeds in the process
06:32 Picking endive leaves, and I explain tip burn
08:45 Netting against rabbits
08:57 Removing lower leaves from plants under cover – tomatoes, cucumbers and melons in the polytunnel
09:43 Looking after tomato plants, including removing the truss as well as leaves
11:18 Cucumbers – which leaves to remove
12:47 De-leafing melon plants, and some info on powdery mildew
14:10 Two ways of knowing when a melon is ripe
14:39 Mildew on courgette and summer squash, and the importance of keeping plants tidy
15:36 Quick recap on the benefits of removing lower leaves

My new No Dig book has information about all vegetables, of this nature. Available to pre-order for 1st September release. geni.us/NoDig

Filmed at Homeacres and edited by Edward Dowding film-maker edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio

More on powdery mildew in this video: youtu.be/SaGAlOssmqA

More about using string to support plants under cover youtube.com/shorts/j4JetAZ_Q2w

Learn more on this and many other skills in Skills for Growing, available as a book: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-skills-for-growing,
and online course: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course

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Grow and harvest melons, temperate climate polytunnel 11 weeks since transplanting

Charles Dowding 2022-07-31 | Variety Emir F1 sown 30th March in warmth, raised in warmth, plants not overwatered.
Transplanted 15th May in my no dig polytunnel.

Prune sideshoots / suckers until plants are waist high, then allow them to grow, with one melon each.

Filmed 31st July when this plant suddenly has three ripe melons!

Filming & editing by Edward Dowding at Homeacres, zone 8 but summers not hot - warmer this year with 24C 75F afternoons, 11C 52F nights in July.

For a long video about growing melons, see my course lesson charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-29-sweetcorn-melon-and-capsicums

Find seasonal advice for the vegetable garden from my website blog eg this for August 2022
charlesdowding.co.uk/august-vegetable-garden-advice

Growth is quick after you transplant small seedlings

Charles Dowding 2022-07-28 | Seedlings grow really well when you set them in the ground just 2 to 3 weeks since sowing, especially in summer. This gives you a long window of possible planting dates. Sometimes ground is not ready, and they go in as older plants. Then you need to water them more. after transplanting.

It's worthwhile to start seeds in trays under cover, because germination and then subsequent growth in the first two weeks of seedling life are strong and even.
Beds are then full, with all plants at correct spacing.

Set all plants slightly below soil level. Water then drifts into the hole, which you do not refill.

Small seedlings are robust. For example on 20th June 2022 we transplanted 450 lettuce seedlings at 16 days since sown, 447 of them grow very rapidly! I had spares to fill the gaps.

With good tools, planting out can be rapid. I designed a long handled dibber to make transplanting quick and simple, gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463

These are the module trays I designed, so that seedlings are ready when still small containerwise.co.uk/charles-dowding-propagation-trays

In North America, you can buy the trays and dibber from All About the Garden allaboutthegarden.com

Which vegetables most benefit from water and when

Charles Dowding 2022-07-23 | Dry conditions: water and time are limited. I explain how to decide which vegetables to water more, less, or not at all.

Homeacres, Somerset UK 20th July, after 7 weeks with 29mm rain. This temperate oceanic climate normally gives three times that amount.

00:00 Introduction
00:52 Plants that like plenty of water - salad, celery and plants that are cropping now, eg beans, cucumbers, tomatoes
02:04 Watering transplants, and seeds direct sown (eg carrots)
03:14 How a plant’s stage of life/growth informs their watering needs
03:49 Watering needs of winter veg, eg Brussels sprouts, beetroot and leeks
05:41 Watering plants to increase harvests, eg potatoes
06:00 Timing of watering pea plants
06:44 Autumn cabbage as end example of using watering to control harvest times and amounts

More info on watering in this module of my online course, Skills for Growing:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course-module-4-watering-and-harvesting

And more videos on watering in this playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7WDfop74y-nCsn-maI1Og6SZOAfl4IJ-

Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio

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Regrow tomatoes year on year from a sideshoot

Charles Dowding 2022-07-21 | This variety Rosada F1 has delicious cherry plum tomatoes on long trusses, while the fruit texture is firm and fleshy. Because it's a hybrid variety, seeds do not normally grow true.
The seed is now unavailable to purchase because Rosada is now delisted for some reason.

Fortunately you can propagate with a side shoot or sucker, taken in early to mid October. They root easily in a small pot of compost.
The challenge is to keep such plants alive through winter. They don't want to be too warm, otherwise you have large and unmanageable plants. Nor must they freeze, or you lose them.
Sometimes I make new and more compact plants in February, using side shoots from overwintered ones.

Here we transplant them in mid spring, these went in on 25th April. No dig soil with compost mulch, no feeds given.

Filmed 20th July 2022 by Edward Dowding, at Homeacres no dig garden, Somerset, UK.

July tour of new no dig, harvests, pest covers, compost, watering

Charles Dowding 2022-07-14 | Summer no dig garden, why this method conserves moisture. Results of starting no dig, five months earlier.
When to harvest potatoes and onions, how to protect from insects, birds and rabbits.
Tips for making great compost, ways to pick tomatoes.

12th July 2022 at Homeacres, Somerset in SW England, 51st parallel, temperate climate and 30 miles from Atlantic Ocean. Filmed by Nicola Smith.

The garden is 1300 m2, one third of an acre.
It's no dig since 2013, except for one bed of a trial.

00:00 Introduction, and why no dig helps conserve moisture in the soil
00:46 A look at an area that was grassy meadow 5 month previously, now growing potatoes (Estima) and squash (Kuri, Crown Prince and butternut) through plastic cover on soil and compost.
02:38 Celeriac and rye grain - not watered so far
02:51 Potatoes close to point of harvest
03:24 Borlotti climbing plants for dry beans, not watered
04:01 Onions, not watered and I give reasons why
04:31 Beetroot, and deer damage to leaves
05:04 Cabbage, and info on Bacillus thuringiensis (see below)
05:31 Cracking soil at the edge of the bed, and another reason for not digging
06:09 Onions, how to know when they’re ready to harvest, and how to dry them
08:41 A brand new no dig bed, 3 months old
09:15 A look at one of my compost heaps, the pallet three-bay system
10:34 Salad plants example of speed of growth at this time of year
11:29 Peas (Tall Sugar) - for pods and dry beans
13:03 More lettuce, then peas and French beans, which need plenty of water
13:41 Spinach going to seed
13:55 Cucumbers in the polytunnel, also need plenty of water
14:45 The greenhouse with seedlings of chicory / endive, plus brassicas (purple sprouting), watermelon and loofah
15:56 Tomatoes, including an oxheart variety called Sgt. Pepper (see below)
16:48 Two varieties of melon - Emir and Minnesota Midget
17:37 Some tomatoes just harvested, and some info on harvesting times (Joe Lamp’l’s advice - see below))
18:53 My No Dig t-shirt from Teemill, see below

More on watering and harvesting in this online courses module from my Skills for Growing course:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course-module-4-watering-and-harvesting

Videos on compost for propagation trials:
youtu.be/jt4azBLuJrc
youtube.com/shorts/lkLSmILhsV0

Sgt. Pepper tomatoes from Tomato Revolution: tomatorevolution.co.uk

Picking tomatoes at 'breaking stage' of ripeness, see Joe Lampl youtube.com/user/joegardenerTV?app=desktop

Sellers of Bt against caterpillar damage:
ebay.co.uk/itm/275388991028?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQjw_viWBhD8ARIsAH1mCd7T5bwn08lrfAXK_DGFQrsanIIbWsw2NY_g6lSRCHt9swERSfe8hi4aAk48EALw_wcB

You can subscribe to my weekly advice email, the What, When and How, where I give details on all aspects of growing veg for the week ahead – £5/month, with one week's free trial.
manage.campaignzee.com/sAxSigxfrC

No Dig t-shirts and other clothing of my own design from Teemill: charlesdowding.teemill.com

The propagation trays I use are containerwise.co.uk/charles-dowding-propagation-trays

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How different composts affect plant growth after 8 weeks in modules

Charles Dowding 2022-07-12 | Qualities of different composts, see how they affect growth on plants in the modules for 8 weeks. These are kale, cabbage and Brussels sprouts grown in my greenhouse in a mild, temperate climate between mid-May and mid-July.

Here we have Moorland Gold peat free, 3 year old sieved woodchip, vermicast from SD Microbes, New Horizon recent purchase, Dalefoot 6 months since purchased, and lastly 10 month old sieved homemade compost.

Filtrated peat is a waste product of Yorkshire Water, after they sieve water to drink, from a peaty catchment area.

The module trays are 40L from Containerwise, made from polypropylene. They are reusable hundreds of times, without washing, see also my CD60 trays for slightly smaller transplants containerwise.co.uk/charles-dowding-propagation-trays

If you have the means to make your own mix, I would try it. The quality of composts sold is highly variable. You might use one with the same name a few months later, and have a totally different experience from using it.

This is not only from the innate quality, but also their age. Many composts are sold too young and they grab nutrients from plants, to finish their own decomposition.

This long-form video explains in detail the values of a range of compost products
youtube.com/watch?v=jt4azBLuJrc

Filmed at Homeacres SW UK by Nicola Smith, 12th July 2022.

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Interplant and Intersow Makes More of Your Space

Charles Dowding 2022-07-09 | Carrots sown March already have Brussels sprouts plants well established among them. Lettuce picked weekly have carrots intersown as the next vegetable.
No need for new compost in summer, for these second vegetables.

No dig helps the growth because of microbes organising nutrients and moisture. Plus it's easier for us as there are so few weeds.

Interplant is a kind of companion planting. New plants are helped by mycorrhyzal association between roots of the two vegetables.

Filmed 2nd July at Homeacres, Somerset, UK by Edward Dowding edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio

Charlotte potato harvest 8th year same bed and home saved seed

Charles Dowding 2022-07-06 | 6th July 2022and these plants have been in the ground just three months, grown from potatoes I pulled out of last year's harvest sack. They chitted/sprouted on a windowsill from January to April.

It's no dig, so we use a trowel to make a slit and slide them into the ground. A quick job.
In June I "earthed up" using compost, see this video youtube.com/shorts/8OqHLJ5PDmQ?feature=share

See this video for more about my no rotation trial, growing the same vegetables in the same round every year youtube.com/shorts/I6Sy9lfcu3k?feature=share

Next week we shall transplant leeks here, also for the 8th consecutive year.

See my books for more about no rotation, especially Skills for Growing charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-skills-for-growing

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Saving seed! Save your own seeds with tips on storing them

Charles Dowding 2022-07-01 | Homesaved seed can be stronger growing from being adapted to your locality and soil. Your own seeds often germinate very strongly too, partly from being super fresh.
There are some key things to know, and I show you the easier vegetables to save seed from. Plus you see some of my results.
Also how to store seed.

00:00 Introduction
00:24 How I saved seed from salad rocket this year - SORRY somehow wrong caption to this because salad rocket is Eruca sativa, while Synapsis alba features later, is the mustard at 18:01
00:54 Comparing results of the homesaved rocket seed with bought seed
01:10 Age of seed – homeasved and bought
01:42 Different needs of different veg for sowing seed, I list the easy ones, then go on to talk about the more difficult ones
02:34 A look at three types of plant being grown for seed, and I explain the process
03:23 For some vegetables you need lots of plants for cross pollination
04:40 Saving seed from onions…
06:26 …beetroot,
07:47 …and carrots, the most difficult of the three because of cross pollination with wild carrot (cow parsley)
08:59 Homesaved potato seed
09:40 Homesaved garlic seed
10:31 I show examples of seed I have saved, and talk about how to store them:
10:40 Lettuce - Grenoble Red and Maravilla de Verano
11:43 Peas - Hurst Greenshaft, Starlight, Tall Sugar and Alderman
12:15 French beans, soybean, Borlotti bean
12:45 Dwarf French bean - Orinoco
13:09 Broad beans - Aquadulce Claudia
13:56 How I dry the seed
14:06 Tomatoes - the difference between F1 hybrid and open pollinated, and the reason not to save seed from hybrid varieties
15:08 Saving seed from flowers
15:27 Melon - Minnesota Midget
16:19 Spinach
16:51 Coriander
17:18 Lambs Lettuce
18:01 Brassica mustard
18:52 Salad rocket
19:44 June the following year, and a look at the beetroot grown from my homesaved seed

Filmed and edited 2021-22 by Edward Dowding edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio
Thumb photo Emma Kane.

Check out this video from four years ago, on saving seed of the simpler vegetables: youtu.be/ZVb9JIAXJxU

And I explain much more about saving seed in this online module course: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course-module-2-seeds-sowing-and-planting

A good book is Back Garden Seed Saving by Sue Stickland 2009, Eco-Logic books

See also Real Seeds website for excellent advice on saving your seedrealseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html

These are nice videos about saving different seeds youtube.com/c/DIYseeds

Subscribe for weekly advice to your inbox manage.campaignzee.com/sAxSigxfrC. All about growing vegetables, no dig methods, and enjoying success more easily.

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Slug reduction without pellets and barriers

Charles Dowding 2022-06-29 | In damp climates especially, slugs and snails are always present. Just in dry weather, you don't see them very much. Then as soon as it rains a little, they reappear to eat!

You cannot prevent this process, but you can reduce the number of slugs and snails which keep appearing. You do not need to use slug pellets or nematodes.

I show you some of my solutions which include removal of older and lower leaves from plants, removing wooden sides of beds if they are old and rotting, keeping edges tidy, and no dig method herself.

No dig allows soil ecology to flourish. That includes ground beetles and toads, which eat slugs and slug eggs.

Learn more in many of my other videos such as this one youtube.com/watch?v=Nbf7D80j5os

Also in my books, and on my website charlesdowding.co.uk

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Small Garden Harvests and Successions in Early Summer

Charles Dowding 2022-06-25 | Succeed with your second plantings in summer, this is at solstice time. Temperate oceanic climate, 51st parallel, Somerset UK.
Ideas for all the vegetables you can replant after harvests finish of early-spring time plantings such as spinach, spring onions, broccoli, and potatoes.
I show you a harvest of no dig potatoes and then you see me transplant some leeks immediately afterwards. This makes full use of sunlight and growing time.

I share methods to suffer fewer weed and slug problems. No dig helps, as it does with reducing the need to water.
Learn more about all these vital skills in my book of that name, Skills for Growing
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-skills-for-growing

We also offer an online course module about multisowing, seed saving and planting:
charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course-module-2-seeds-sowing-and-planting

It's the 26th Small Garden video and this was the first one youtube.com/watch?v=aUMbt6tLAd0. Since then the 25m2 garden has produced a half tonne of vegetable harvests.

Filmed 22nd June at Homeacres by Edward Dowding edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/portfolio

The lovely music is from a song about Homeacres by Jacqui Vincent jacquivincent.bandcamp.com/releases

00:00 Introduction
00:37 Harvesting and replanting for second crops
00:57 And mistakes I made with carrot sowing
01: 54 A look at Uchiki Kuri squash plants
02:22 I demonstrate how to harvest potatoes, and explain signs of readiness
03:56 A look at options for second plantings - leeks and swede - and I talk about potting on
04:53 A look at multisown beetroot, and options for timings of harvest
05:32 How neighbouring trees and hedges can impact plant growth
06:09 Some info on weeds (willow herb) and the importance of weeding when weed plants are small - little and often
07:04 Parsnips recently sown, just starting to appear
07:44 Three different types of lettuce - Saragossa, Tesy, Valmaine - three plants I’m leaving to go to seed, the rest have just been harvested
8:40 Multisown bulb onions, and comparing with spring onions
09:33 A CD60 tray of multisown beetroot, with a brief demonstration of transplanting with a dibber
10:30 A look at a successful row of germinating carrots for winter, and some info on carrot root fly
11:04 Some flowers, and chives
12:04 Outdoor tomatoes in this climate are a bit of a gamble! But Sungold F1 is early at least
13:42 Some overwintered peas, Alderman
14:17 Strawberry plants, and some info about badgers and hedgehogs
15:28 A brief look at a compost trial - tomatoes in pots
15:41 The fig tree that I’ve pruned (link to video I watched in description below)
16:13 I pruned the perennial kale
16:44 Closing music – I transplant some leeks using a trowel then water

Buy my long handled dibber gardenimports.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-long-handled-ash-dibber/?v=79cba1185463
Info on CD module trays here:
charlesdowding.co.uk/shop/gardening-products

In the USA you can buy CD module trays at allaboutthegarden.com - and my dibber too

Here is a link to the video about pruning fig trees youtube.com/watch?v=RB0D_tuKgtQ

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