It takes a real humble person to give a tour of a "catalogue of disasters." Charles you are my mentor and a true inspiration to all gardeners. Kudos sir!
Zone 6 Kentucky last year and it was a disaster. Many neighbors said the same thing. Fruit trees were very disappointing too. Praying for a better year this year.
So helpful to see your garden when it's not at it's peak. It does really give us newbies some hope, haha. I also really appreciate your laid back attitude towards growing vegetables. I often get myself too worked up worrying about not having an exact plan or getting behind on things. Watching your videos helps me recalibrate and relax a little!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig btw regarding the spinach. Idk if you already tried it, but the New Zealander Spinach is a phenomenal plant. It produces a huge amount of tasty leaves. I really can recommend it.
I love the way that you give confidence to growers to 'give things a try'! It is such a supportive statement. Additionally by underlining how little effort 'no dig' is, you highlight that 'giving things a try' is really not the big investment in time and energy that so many gardening 'experts' make it out to be. My thanks.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one to have lost things like Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Cauliflowers & Celeriac due to the hard frosts - if the Great "CD" loses crops then there's still hope for the likes of me 😉
This man is such a kind and caring person, thank you Charles for sharing. Ps my better half brought me your recent book , I’m part way through and it’s brilliant. 🎉
I have had a bad summer in Central Australia, more rain than usual meant an explosion of every pest and I was so unprepared for them as I had never faced them in such numbers. But as you say, I learned a lot from it. I learn more from my failures than my successes. Thanks for another great video.
Those disasters are so refreshing to see in times where people only share successes, that puts enormous pressure on those on the other side that are not familiar with reality. 2023 is the first season for me and the other day I realized how instead of joy that is was supposed to be i felt nothing more than anxiety from overwhelming expectations starting from setting beds, getting compost, planning plans, reading books about the topic in time, growing healthy things, keeping them alive when you are away, and even eating them all before it goes to waste. Unrealistic, I know and I now started working on my expectations :)) Thank you for sharing these fails!
In started 2022 and had the same pressure! This year, I’m keeping expectations low and surprise myself with the results ❤ Still feeling some pressure though - my perfectionist brain just can’t help itself. But I have to say: it’s much better than at this time last year. Good luck for your gardening 😊👍
Thank you so much for showing some discouraging beds. It really does give us hope when we are miles behind you on this no dig gardening. We need not give up because there are less than stellar attempts.
Charles, you should get your local farmer with his tractor mower and cut the rest of that field off and build a mound in the field and then when it regrows think of all that extra compost you can make.
Hi Charles, I finally got my first thousand subscribers so I can only imagine ever getting to 600 K👍 I hope you get to that goal soon🎉 We are expecting 80's to 90° this week and lots of 🌞 Happy Gardening, My Friend 💚🥦💚
Here David, that's actually not the case. The first half of December was bone dry and since mid January it's been dry, with only 16 mm rain in the that whole 7.5 week time. Compared to 190 mm between mid-December and mid-January.
Charles my theory on why we have had so much frost damage is that we had that unseasonal and brutally long cold spell in December and the plants hadn't a chance to build up a tolerance to colder nights. I'm only 6 miles from you but higher up and we literally went went from temperatures of around 18c to -10 or so over the course of a week.
I had a rough Winter with my garden, too. In Texas we had a Hard freeze that wiped out my beets and onions in December. And then we had an ice storm that lasted several days which wiped out the rest of my plants that I had put out for re planting In Early February. I set up my seed trays this weekend so hopefully I'll have something for the Spring. Today it hit 80ﾟF So hopefully the worst weather is behind us.
Thank you Charles, as always. Third time I’ve watched this one. So much useful information for a self taught novice like me, in my 3rd year as an allotmenteer. I’m enjoying reading your new book No Dig, so useful. Please don’t stop your free RUclips vids. I learn a lot from reading but nothing beats being shown visually how to do things and what they should look like. Always so comprehensive. Thank you Charles. Kind Regards Pat Joyce
Thankyou so much for donating to our community garden in Kerry last year. The money went towards putting in a herb bed and laying woodchip on a pathway by a wild life pond.
Truly year round gardening! After having mulched with leaves in the fall six beds are covered here in Michigan USA. New to no till, no dig. Hoping to remove the mulched leaves and be able to rake bed even and take off. Of course weeding .... opening up the beds will be exciting. Thank you for the direction to a new method.
Very nice indeed Charles! Even the failures are success. My dad always said nothing ventured nothing gained. I have celery and onion seeds started now. I love growing plants. You have converted me to no dig also :). I have 3 gardens and two of them are now no dig. You da man!
Strange enough, it is encouraging that you also have failures and not everything goes to plan. Because we 'simple homegardeners' know now that failure is not necessarily our fault and can even happen to Sir Charles. It helps us to not give up and carry on experimenting. This is nature! Each year another crop thrives or fails and yet there is always something to harvest.
❤ Everything is always wonderful! My deepest Thank You, Charles and his Team Working Together. All your work that we can see, all your courses, all your videos, explanations, tables, calendars, books are marvellous! One of the greatest pleasures I've felt and still have the opportunity to feel in my life. Feel completely grateful to Charles and his Team for this unique experience.
Just chucking ideas about Charles. I took off the poly and covered the frame of my poly tunnel doors with green windbreak mesh so the doors can be used normally for access but are are closed otherwise but well ventilated. Saves heaving frames around. I could half cover the doors with poly but haven’t found that necessary. Keeps out critters and larger insects and butterflies I am sure you have good reason to use the method that you showed. I wish I had the space to have a poly tunnel as large as yours-bliss!
My direct sown broadbeans have suffered as well. Combo of much rain, with frost in between. My onions are fine: planted Stuttgarter Giants as set in early november for use as springonions/early onions. Garlic looks great. Oddly though my supermarket bought hardnecks, generally look better than my seedstore bought softnecks. Still have stored pumpkins 500 onion sprouts waiting to go in in 2-3 weeks. All my 'new' (pre-winter) no dig beds look great, there is only one that has dandelions coming through, the rest virtually weed free
My weekly treat! Never long enough. I'm presently feasting on the last of my Tasmanian broad beans which regrew and gave another small harvest after I cut them off, and several varieties of no dig potatoes rummaged yesterday. I've lifted 3 x 20 litre buckets so far, only about 25 percent of my crop. The frequent frosts and predation of bad goats reduced uniformity and size somewhat, but plenty have thrived to feed me through the rest of the year. I preserved many jars of broad beans in my pressure canner, and if anyone is interested, this process turns them from green to kidney bean red!
Always a pleasure to learn and be entertained with your updates. We have had to start again from scratch with some parts of our grounds, as our last polytunnel took flight in high winds in early winter down here in Cornwall. So we have replaced, and made larger our polytunnel, with more emphasis with no dig on our outside space ( all through your simple no fuss advise) This year will be the start of being able to sow, grow and harvest a year through plan to keep the natural soil growing cycle to produce amazing Vegetables. Thanks again for your insightful updates.
Watching a few other allotments on you tube the devastation has been heartbreaking in the UK, i didn’t expect to see home acre to be the same. I am sure this has been as beneficial to others as videos on how to grow and prepare soil. Thank you for sharing the affect the unusual weather has had on even a very experienced grower.
I always get so much from you, Charles, and what struck me among many other things this time was your never-ending curiosity. That and your enthusiasm are infectious and inspiring. I truly appreciate your knowledge and skills, along with experience and a willingness to keep experimenting and learning. We're right there with you. Here's to seeing the back of winter soon...there and here in the northeastern U.S..
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks, Charles. Others certainly have it worse and increasing daylight helps. As does seeing your garden spaces. Gives me hope...as gardening always does.
Thank you Charles for showing all the mishaps you've had this winter,, it's good to see I'm not the only one having issues with the weather,, I'm amazed with how you find the time to answer the couple of questions I asked last week with all the jobs you have to do each and every week, thanks again!
I managed to grow beautiful purple sprouting broccolis this year , they grew tall with lush leaves … I was sooo looking forward to eating the sprouts… and then the frosts arrived … 1 frost wouldn’t have killed them but 3 , 4 , finished them off , they turned mushy … such a shame ! I think that’s why you have lost your cauliflowers too . Constant frost has done it . Thanks for showing us around . Hot bed in the making here too . 😊
Thank you Charles! finally at 41 years I have my lifelong dream of my own garden, and last summer was the first time in my life I have grown some of my own food. Almost all of it thanks to you and your videos! your Veg Journal book is a useful companion. I'm obviously not a master yet, so these kinds of videos are very encouraging.
Here in the US (Virginia) we had a very cold spell just before Christmas, and we lost all our winter greens that were in a greenhouse, some even covered by fleece and plastic row covers. Even our "winter" varieties of lettuce, bok choi's kale etc. It was very disheartening. It got down to zero Fahrenheit for a few nights. Even with our best efforts, things can go awry! Thank you for sharing.
For us, I think it's been the widely fluctuating temperatures. We went from 60 F to -2 F in the space of about 24 hours in December, and it was murder on the plants. It's been a pretty mild winter and I think the plants get soft in the warmer times and are less able to stand the cold then.
Listening to Charles talk about his weather conditions is always entertaining. I enjoy the videos and there are some great ideas, but I often wonder how he would handle a more severe continental climate like the one I "enjoy" in the central U.S.
Hello Charles, I am so excited,I am broke and will be for the next few years and desperately want to get back to growing veg. I cant afford a tunnel and wood for raised beds and all the other things that I thought that I needed. Thank you for all the informative videos, that have shown me that I can do it for free with a little help from my friends. So I am going to go out and "not dig my garden". Wish me luck. I did find a few euro to buy a few of your CD60 trays, they arrive today.... you are an inspiration to us all, thank you so much, Pete.
Once again thank for the video. Last year I did a trial on breaking down wood chips. I took a 24 foot bed 4 foot wide. Put down cardboard on top of weeding ground. Put down a 2 inch layer of wood chips big wood chips. Then a layer of straw and some wine cap mushroom spawn. I then topped it with 2 feet of wood chips. By fall the wood chip were mostly gone and the bed was only 3 inches tall . The mushrooms were very delicious. This year I plan on trying to put some spawn on a larger pile. To see if I can break down an entire truck load Thanks
@@CharlesDowding1nodig No they were about a year old stropharia rugosoannulata is from my reading a more dominant species. My main goal was to see if they would compost wood chips quicker. I adopted this crazy gardening method. I learned is from this man in the uk . It’s the greatest thing ever. If you want to grow amazing vegetables u put compost on the ground plant in to it a next thing you know the best vegetables appear. So I need a lot of compost. I can get wood chips but compost is a bit difficult. I can only produce so much. So if wood chips can be composted in a season or two with a edible mushroom it’s a double win for me thanks again I love no dig
It got down to about -12 on my Smallholding, I’ve lost almost everything I had including kale Brussels and most my spinage, I always thought Brussels were bulletproof Only thing that came through untouched was the garlic, here’s looking forward to a good growing year this year, happy growing everyone
Thank you. I was in the garden today pruning and taking cuttings from my plum tree and grape vines. It's way too early to do much more than that here in Nova Scotia. We expect -17C Friday evening, but I feel it will be an early spring, which means early gardening. Cheers.
I always enjoy your garden tours, some how the fails still feel like a success, a learned success. This yr I'm doing my veg garden in blocks, trapped off the entire area. Also doing an area with potatoes in straw, I've forgotten her name, the gardener I believe was in Vermont. I watch a girl in Italy who had a pretty nice harvest, she mentioned her too.
Hi there, most of my cauliflower, Aalsmeer and 'All the year round' Cauli sown late summer has also really suffered from the cold and I've lost most of them. The Leamington cauli, however, sown in June, is looking really good, not lost a single one. Not cropped yet but looking promising, was very good last year too.
Good morning Charles, I want to tell you briefly about my successes in cultivation that I have made following your instructions. I've been able to harvest spinach and lettuce from my greenhouse since mid-February and it's a real pleasure to have plants ready to harvest at this time of year. I've never had that before! In the fall I sowed winter lettuce (Wintermarie and Rouge grenobloise) and spinach and only threw a fleece over them during severe frosts. Unfortunately, snow and frost are still to come, but we will survive that with fleece. The chickens get what is no longer nice, but only the outer leaves. I have a lot less work now and I can harvest a lot of lettuce and vegetables. Thank you again for your valuable advice! Ursula
Thanks for sharing this great tour Charles especially the things that didn't go to plan. I've been subscribed for years and work from your books and am still learning every time I watch and listen to you on one of your videos. ❤
It's a good time to do some fencing, too. I put the first posts in the ground. Dear deer, no munching on cale here! Although they are playing and they eat all they want outside the fence.
We chip wood on the farm with pto driven machine. It will take up to 8" material, but my point to make is that the coarseness of the chip is less about the size of the chipper unit, but more on how fast the material is run through the chipper and how sharp the blades are. The commercial tree people need to make the most of time, so they are likely to run the chipper @ a faster rate, which makes for larger coarser pieces.
I agree with the comment about the weather Charles. Here in Essex we got down to about minus six. It did seem to be a "different" and far more damaging cold this year than the temperature suggested. Interesting.
Thanks Charles for showing the good and the bad, I nearly chopped my purple sprouting broccoli it had got quite tall and no sign of cropping but two weeks on the purple shoot are starting to form the florets, it’s your , let’s see what happens approach that I find so inspiring and it has worked on many things in the past
What a difference between our two systems Charles, especially this year. I can’t afford failures and have a fraction of your space but that allows me to be more resilient at a bit higher up front cost. Almost all of my beds survived, I harvested every week through winter and they are mostly now replanted with spring crops. We were slightly colder than you too, so I lost my broad beans, but my Jan sown ones are a little ahead of yours now. I’ve taken 14 harvests off my Giant Winter spinach, but we are relay planting into it right now and we have our spring spinach plants just coming into harvest for salads, but large leaves in march. I don’t plant my cauliflower and calabrese out until Feb, so it’s not ready until May, but it looks lovely now and didn’t take any bed space over winter. My Lila is looking lovely, I’ve been harvesting it for about a month. Also my lambs lettuce is way further on than yours and we have harvested 1/2 of it now during January and early Feb, but I sow much earlier than you do. My claret is all fine too , but the early varieties took a hit. Thanks so much for showing us this unusual year, as you say, humbling for all of us and very instructive : all the best - Steve
@@CharlesDowding1nodig always plenty to improve though, I still loose more lettuces to stem rot than you do, it's an ongoing challenge. I think your home saved Grenoble Red lettuce seed is a lot stronger than commercial alternatives now
I get so excited when I see a new video! I learn something new each time and I just love your kindhearted approach to gardening and teaching others. Thank you for sharing your garden, even though not all plants were performing, it gives us all encouragement that gardening is never perfect. Just keep trying and learning from what nature gives us!
I will agree, it is fun to try things to see what may work :-) & find out if what we wanted to work,... didn't :-( but we tried. I feel the older I get, the more I like plants. Thank you so much for your time & videos.
Marvellous and insightful as always. I do feel that one of the problems with our climate is the fluctuations. Over the last year, in London , we’ve had drought , then water logging, then a very cold snap and unusual warmth for the winter too. No wonder some plants just curl up their toes.
I've had good success with the inground garden worm buckets in a very similar climate (zone 9b, southern Vancouver island). I kept thinking as you surveyed the frost damage on your rutabaga and spinach "oh, the worms would love that!" The buckets are sunk into the beds and all you have to do is lift the lid to throw in some organic matter. ~ Sandra
Hi Charles loved the video I think everyone has had disasters this winter ❄️ it’s been a very very hard frost ! I’ve lost hardy plants I was so surprised 😮 had for years (gone) 😱 ! Never mind start again that’s what gardenings all about love it lv Irene 😘 xx
Thank you Charles for the update tour video, really reassures everyone when watching, that someone like your yourself also having failure's and not just seeing perfect veg. Love also what i would call the imperfect "PERFECT" compost. Have a great week!!!
Hi Charles, thank you for this no dig tour. Your honesty over the failures as well as the successes is very much appreciated, and you’re so right it’s all a learning process. On this beautiful sunny day, I followed your advice on saving space and compost to sow my first seeds. I did sow some tomotoes today which have gone on a heatmat indoors but will save the others to follow your advice. Also, just to say that both myself and my partner love your ‘No Dig’ book, its our ‘go to’ now. Thanks! Caroline
I live not too far from you Charles with an allotment in Street & had the exact same issues with my brassicas - I think it’s because it was warm and wet then freezing then warm and wet then freezing; rather than one or the other which is more typical. I think they can cope with a steady amount of weather of either freezing or wet/warmer but this winter has been all over the place in very short time spans! Hoping spring is a bit more steady so my seedlings don’t suffer too much🤞
I am heartened that you have the odd failure or damage as well. I am in the 5th year of my allotment and hopefully this season I will avoid some of the mistakes I have made over that time and produce vegetables that I want to eat and to share. I love everything about your garden and am grateful that you share your knowledge so graciously. Here's to 2023 x
It's a good point, but I feel increasingly now that we have new issues to cope with such as whatever falls out of the trails, which are suddenly so common in the skies
Morning Charles, It’s always a pleasure to get to look around your place. Love how big your compost sheds are. I’ve got my tomatoes started now and that’s about it. We still have Garlic, a few onions and some carrots still out in the garden. Not anything like yours. Thanks for sharing. 🇺🇸
Don’t take this the wrong way Charles, but so pleased to see your swedes! Mine did exactly the same. It is reassuring to see the problems I have on the allotment are not unique to me! Really entertaining and informative - as always! Thanks, from up the road in Chepstow!
Thank you for sharing your challenges! So many of us struggle & scratch our heads trying to sort what went wrong in what should otherwise have been a good season. With your expertise & track record, it's encouraging to me for you to share that you have struggles & head scratches too. Cheers to Spring & a new season
Here in BC, we had the same overwintering experience. For some reason, crops that are normally tough didn't do too well. I suspect lower than normal sugar levels.
Quite relieved in a way to see the problems you've had with some of your crops over the winter. I've lost about half of my PSB, I assume because of the cold nights. The stalks went brown and rotted. Many of my cabbages have struggled. A huge proportion of my broad beans and a fair number of field beans (planted as ground cover as much as anything) also failed to make it despite being under fleece. Even the fleece froze solid. Two years ago I had fantastic garlic outdoors. Last year all of it suffered badly from rust and even removing the affected leaves didn't stop it spreading very fast. For this year I've planted all of it in the polytunnel and greenhouse to try to keep it under control. I was aware that tomatoes could be propagated from shoots and tried it for the first time two years ago without success, but following your short covering it I decided to have another go, growing eight new plants from each of the five varieties I grew last year -- not all F1, but as much for the practice and learning as having the plants available this year. They've done quite well indoors in a cool bay window though they are now quite leggy. Once you've over-wintered the plants do you use them directly for that year's crop, or do you take off shoots once again and grow those on into your cropping plants?
Thanks, I needed to see that it's not just my garden that has struggled with the cold this year and a few weird issues cropping up, and looking generally sad. Yes fingers crossed for some better weather, thanks again
I like the logic of growing mustard with the garlic in hope of dealing with the garlic rust, my garlic last year was really bad with rust just as it reached maturity, will be interesting to see how it works.
I had the same thing happen to my broad beans here in Belgium, autumn sown ones got killed of by the frost, but I've got a now batch on the go and excited to try a spring sowing!
I love the tours of the garden, especially at this time of year when you're getting ready to ramp up the planting etc. Last year I barely got anything from the garden due to lots of rain waterlogging my planting area, and my lack of planning for replacement plantings set me back totally. This year I want to get back into the swing, I have my garlic from last year to plant on (about my only successful harvest from last year 😂) and potatoes to go in the ground in a couple of weeks or so. Here's to a better year!
It takes a real humble person to give a tour of a "catalogue of disasters." Charles you are my mentor and a true inspiration to all gardeners. Kudos sir!
Agreed.
Go Gracefully. Charles said many more frost and unusual. I told him he is getting all my frosty weather from East Coast USA.
It helps to inspire others as nothing is ever perfect and this has been a tricky winter with plant losses.
Zone 6 Kentucky last year and it was a disaster. Many neighbors said the same thing. Fruit trees were very disappointing too.
Praying for a better year this year.
I just love how you waste nothing.... you even stuff a tiny Brussel Sprout in your pocket for later. You are a true gardener. 😇
🏆 good luck
haha thanks!
"a catalogue of disaster" - winter tour! I love this video and how a master gardener humbly admits to his lessons :)
So helpful to see your garden when it's not at it's peak. It does really give us newbies some hope, haha. I also really appreciate your laid back attitude towards growing vegetables. I often get myself too worked up worrying about not having an exact plan or getting behind on things. Watching your videos helps me recalibrate and relax a little!
So nice to see this Jason!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig btw regarding the spinach. Idk if you already tried it, but the New Zealander Spinach is a phenomenal plant. It produces a huge amount of tasty leaves. I really can recommend it.
I love the way that you give confidence to growers to 'give things a try'! It is such a supportive statement. Additionally by underlining how little effort 'no dig' is, you highlight that 'giving things a try' is really not the big investment in time and energy that so many gardening 'experts' make it out to be. My thanks.
Nice to hear 💚
Indeed!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one to have lost things like Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Cauliflowers & Celeriac due to the hard frosts - if the Great "CD" loses crops then there's still hope for the likes of me 😉
The more I watch Charles the less I feel bad about the mistakes I seem to keep making. Thank you once again.
That is nice!
This man is such a kind and caring person, thank you Charles for sharing. Ps my better half brought me your recent book , I’m part way through and it’s brilliant. 🎉
How nice thanks 💚
I have had a bad summer in Central Australia, more rain than usual meant an explosion of every pest and I was so unprepared for them as I had never faced them in such numbers. But as you say, I learned a lot from it. I learn more from my failures than my successes. Thanks for another great video.
Sorry to hear that, hope you all have enough to eat. I feel sure it's engineered weather, happening a lot to you :( and I hope autumn goes better
Those disasters are so refreshing to see in times where people only share successes, that puts enormous pressure on those on the other side that are not familiar with reality. 2023 is the first season for me and the other day I realized how instead of joy that is was supposed to be i felt nothing more than anxiety from overwhelming expectations starting from setting beds, getting compost, planning plans, reading books about the topic in time, growing healthy things, keeping them alive when you are away, and even eating them all before it goes to waste. Unrealistic, I know and I now started working on my expectations :)) Thank you for sharing these fails!
Thank you for sharing that. I also start every spring with low expectations!
And don't believe everything you hear / read, some failures is normal.
70 year old gardener here and still learning. Plus we learn from our mistakes.
In started 2022 and had the same pressure! This year, I’m keeping expectations low and surprise myself with the results ❤ Still feeling some pressure though - my perfectionist brain just can’t help itself. But I have to say: it’s much better than at this time last year. Good luck for your gardening 😊👍
Thank you so much for showing some discouraging beds. It really does give us hope when we are miles behind you on this no dig gardening. We need not give up because there are less than stellar attempts.
`Yes keep going! 🌱
Charles, you should get your local farmer with his tractor mower and cut the rest of that field off and build a mound in the field and then when it regrows think of all that extra compost you can make.
😀
Hi Charles, I finally got my first thousand subscribers so I can only imagine ever getting to 600 K👍
I hope you get to that goal soon🎉
We are expecting 80's to 90° this week and lots of 🌞
Happy Gardening, My Friend 💚🥦💚
Thanks Peggy! Sounds good temp and congratulations 💚
It's not just a colder winter, it's been a wet and damp one and that's what fungus and molds love, i've lost a lot of plants this winter....
Here David, that's actually not the case. The first half of December was bone dry and since mid January it's been dry, with only 16 mm rain in the that whole 7.5 week time. Compared to 190 mm between mid-December and mid-January.
Charles my theory on why we have had so much frost damage is that we had that unseasonal and brutally long cold spell in December and the plants hadn't a chance to build up a tolerance to colder nights. I'm only 6 miles from you but higher up and we literally went went from temperatures of around 18c to -10 or so over the course of a week.
Good point Andrew. We were 5-8C by day for the week before the first -6 frosts.There is more to it I feel
Nice to see a bit of humility
I had a rough Winter with my garden, too. In Texas we had a Hard freeze that wiped out my beets and onions in December. And then we had an ice storm that lasted several days which wiped out the rest of my plants that I had put out for re planting In Early February. I set up my seed trays this weekend so hopefully I'll have something for the Spring. Today it hit 80ﾟF So hopefully the worst weather is behind us.
Sounds vv difficult! These fluctuations are hard for plants and I hope you are right!
Looks like we have more cold on the way here, after all
Thank you so much from Arizona, USA.
Your actions speak volumes in the garden walk abouts!! These visits to the garden are the best!! Thank you!!
Thanks Nancy 💚
Got 3000 seed out to the greenhouse today and needed this after a hard but joyous day :) cheers! Hi from Sweden Charles
Wonderful job Damien
Thank you Charles, as always. Third time I’ve watched this one. So much useful information for a self taught novice like me, in my 3rd year as an allotmenteer. I’m enjoying reading your new book No Dig, so useful. Please don’t stop your free RUclips vids. I learn a lot from reading but nothing beats being shown visually how to do things and what they should look like. Always so comprehensive. Thank you Charles. Kind Regards Pat Joyce
Lovely comment, Pat! Thanks for your appreciation, it helps to keep me motivated!
Thankyou so much for donating to our community garden in Kerry last year. The money went towards putting in a herb bed and laying woodchip on a pathway by a wild life pond.
Lovely to hear Bernadette!
Truly year round gardening! After having mulched with leaves in the fall six beds are covered here in Michigan USA. New to no till, no dig. Hoping to remove the mulched leaves and be able to rake bed even and take off. Of course weeding .... opening up the beds will be exciting. Thank you for the direction to a new method.
Sounds great Wayne
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you Charles!
We have had temps down to single digits Farenheit and our kholrabi was left in the snow. We've harvested half since then and have half still growing!
Amazing!
One of the best YT-channels, and you should have millions of subscribers imo 💚
Thankyou!
Love this. I've been gardening for 20 years and something new fails every year. So many variables but it's all part of the fun. 😀
Cup half full!!! x
I like to say always overflowing 😁
Very nice indeed Charles! Even the failures are success. My dad always said nothing ventured nothing gained. I have celery and onion seeds started now. I love growing plants. You have converted me to no dig also :). I have 3 gardens and two of them are now no dig. You da man!
That is so nice, thanks
Strange enough, it is encouraging that you also have failures and not everything goes to plan. Because we 'simple homegardeners' know now that failure is not necessarily our fault and can even happen to Sir Charles. It helps us to not give up and carry on experimenting. This is nature! Each year another crop thrives or fails and yet there is always something to harvest.
💚
❤ Everything is always wonderful! My deepest Thank You, Charles and his Team Working Together. All your work that we can see, all your courses, all your videos, explanations, tables, calendars, books are marvellous! One of the greatest pleasures I've felt and still have the opportunity to feel in my life. Feel completely grateful to Charles and his Team for this unique experience.
Thank you so much Miguel 💚
Just chucking ideas about Charles. I took off the poly and covered the frame of my poly tunnel doors with green windbreak mesh so the doors can be used normally for access but are are closed otherwise but well ventilated. Saves heaving frames around. I could half cover the doors with poly but haven’t found that necessary. Keeps out critters and larger insects and butterflies I am sure you have good reason to use the method that you showed. I wish I had the space to have a poly tunnel as large as yours-bliss!
Yes I am lucky and thanks for sharing that
Thank you for the honesty of the tour. I need to cardboard and compost pretty quickly.
Glad it was helpful, go go!!
Thank you so much for sharing your failures as well as successes. It encourages me.
My direct sown broadbeans have suffered as well. Combo of much rain, with frost in between. My onions are fine: planted Stuttgarter Giants as set in early november for use as springonions/early onions.
Garlic looks great. Oddly though my supermarket bought hardnecks, generally look better than my seedstore bought softnecks.
Still have stored pumpkins
500 onion sprouts waiting to go in in 2-3 weeks.
All my 'new' (pre-winter) no dig beds look great, there is only one that has dandelions coming through, the rest virtually weed free
You are on it Ed!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig mainly thanks to you
My Welsh Onions are still producing nicely even through the cold snaps, I live in a rural area just outside Glasgow
My weekly treat! Never long enough.
I'm presently feasting on the last of my Tasmanian broad beans which regrew and gave another small harvest after I cut them off, and several varieties of no dig potatoes rummaged yesterday. I've lifted 3 x 20 litre buckets so far, only about 25 percent of my crop. The frequent frosts and predation of bad goats reduced uniformity and size somewhat, but plenty have thrived to feed me through the rest of the year.
I preserved many jars of broad beans in my pressure canner, and if anyone is interested, this process turns them from green to kidney bean red!
All sounds impressive Ruby, nice you are coping so well with the weather
Hey Charles, loving your CD 60s, thank you
Glad you like them Michelle!
My garden looks really sad too. But hopefully spring will start and make it better
Yay!
Always a pleasure to learn and be entertained with your updates. We have had to start again from scratch with some parts of our grounds, as our last polytunnel took flight in high winds in early winter down here in Cornwall.
So we have replaced, and made larger our polytunnel, with more emphasis with no dig on our outside space ( all through your simple no fuss advise)
This year will be the start of being able to sow, grow and harvest a year through plan to keep the natural soil growing cycle to produce amazing Vegetables.
Thanks again for your insightful updates.
Wonderful, grow well!
O I so enjoy walking with you through your garden.
Always enthusiastic.
Thank you Charles.
Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
It’s because it’s been more humid Charles, tonnes of rainfall before the frosts causing expansion in the cells and extreme frost damage.
Watching a few other allotments on you tube the devastation has been heartbreaking in the UK, i didn’t expect to see home acre to be the same. I am sure this has been as beneficial to others as videos on how to grow and prepare soil. Thank you for sharing the affect the unusual weather has had on even a very experienced grower.
Sorry to hear that! It's about more than the weather unfortunately. Hope all is well in your world
I always get so much from you, Charles, and what struck me among many other things this time was your never-ending curiosity. That and your enthusiasm are infectious and inspiring. I truly appreciate your knowledge and skills, along with experience and a willingness to keep experimenting and learning. We're right there with you. Here's to seeing the back of winter soon...there and here in the northeastern U.S..
That is so nice Karen! Appreciate knowing this 💚
I hope you are not suffering the cold which is plaguing W US.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks, Charles. Others certainly have it worse and increasing daylight helps. As does seeing your garden spaces. Gives me hope...as gardening always does.
Loved this tour, little bit of everything 👍👍 thanks for showing us round!
Another brilliant video. So many great ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much! 😊
Thank you so much. I learn something with every video.
Nice to hear
Thank you Charles for showing all the mishaps you've had this winter,, it's good to see I'm not the only one having issues with the weather,,
I'm amazed with how you find the time to answer the couple of questions I asked last week with all the jobs you have to do each and every week, thanks again!
I managed to grow beautiful purple sprouting broccolis this year , they grew tall with lush leaves … I was sooo looking forward to eating the sprouts… and then the frosts arrived … 1 frost wouldn’t have killed them but 3 , 4 , finished them off , they turned mushy … such a shame ! I think that’s why you have lost your cauliflowers too . Constant frost has done it . Thanks for showing us around . Hot bed in the making here too . 😊
Good luck with that Sandrine. It's bad about the weather :(
Thank you Charles! finally at 41 years I have my lifelong dream of my own garden, and last summer was the first time in my life I have grown some of my own food. Almost all of it thanks to you and your videos! your Veg Journal book is a useful companion. I'm obviously not a master yet, so these kinds of videos are very encouraging.
Great job Rebecca, I'm happy to imagine your successes
Here in the US (Virginia) we had a very cold spell just before Christmas, and we lost all our winter greens that were in a greenhouse, some even covered by fleece and plastic row covers. Even our "winter" varieties of lettuce, bok choi's kale etc. It was very disheartening. It got down to zero Fahrenheit for a few nights. Even with our best efforts, things can go awry! Thank you for sharing.
Sorry to hear this and that is man made I'm beginning to think, so abnormal. Fingers crossed for spring...
@@CharlesDowding1nodig yes, I'm thinking the same thing. It was unnatural.
For us, I think it's been the widely fluctuating temperatures. We went from 60 F to -2 F in the space of about 24 hours in December, and it was murder on the plants. It's been a pretty mild winter and I think the plants get soft in the warmer times and are less able to stand the cold then.
Yes, that is crazy fluctuation!
Yes, just this past Friday it was 60 degrees F at 6am. By 6pm it was a mere 30 degree F and 20knt gusts
Listening to Charles talk about his weather conditions is always entertaining. I enjoy the videos and there are some great ideas, but I often wonder how he would handle a more severe continental climate like the one I "enjoy" in the central U.S.
Love the video as always Charles. I lost all my broad beans too, but your admission of losing yours too, eased the pain.
Thanks. Later sowing seems best!
Hello Charles, I am so excited,I am broke and will be for the next few years and desperately want to get back to growing veg. I cant afford a tunnel and wood for raised beds and all the other things that I thought that I needed. Thank you for all the informative videos, that have shown me that I can do it for free with a little help from my friends. So I am going to go out and "not dig my garden". Wish me luck. I did find a few euro to buy a few of your CD60 trays, they arrive today.... you are an inspiration to us all, thank you so much, Pete.
Hi Pete, what a great story, except of course that you are broke! I love that you have an optimism in this, and thanks for being grateful.
Once again thank for the video.
Last year I did a trial on breaking down wood chips. I took a 24 foot bed 4 foot wide. Put down cardboard on top of weeding ground. Put down a 2 inch layer of wood chips big wood chips. Then a layer of straw and some wine cap mushroom spawn. I then topped it with 2 feet of wood chips. By fall the wood chip were mostly gone and the bed was only 3 inches tall . The mushrooms were very delicious. This year I plan on trying to put some spawn on a larger pile. To see if I can break down an entire truck load
Thanks
Sounds amazing. I imagine the chips were very fresh and therefor had no other fungal spores?
@@CharlesDowding1nodig
No they were about a year old stropharia rugosoannulata is from my reading a more dominant species. My main goal was to see if they would compost wood chips quicker. I adopted this crazy gardening method. I learned is from this man in the uk . It’s the greatest thing ever. If you want to grow amazing vegetables u put compost on the ground plant in to it a next thing you know the best vegetables appear. So I need a lot of compost. I can get wood chips but compost is a bit difficult. I can only produce so much. So if wood chips can be composted in a season or two with a edible mushroom it’s a double win for me thanks again I love no dig
Amazing to hear this!
It got down to about -12 on my Smallholding, I’ve lost almost everything I had including kale Brussels and most my spinage, I always thought Brussels were bulletproof
Only thing that came through untouched was the garlic, here’s looking forward to a good growing year this year, happy growing everyone
Yes indeed and thanks
really enjoyed that charles
Thank you. I was in the garden today pruning and taking cuttings from my plum tree and grape vines. It's way too early to do much more than that here in Nova Scotia. We expect -17C Friday evening, but I feel it will be an early spring, which means early gardening. Cheers.
Wonderful optimism!
I always enjoy your garden tours, some how the fails still feel like a success, a learned success. This yr I'm doing my veg garden in blocks, trapped off the entire area. Also doing an area with potatoes in straw, I've forgotten her name, the gardener I believe was in Vermont. I watch a girl in Italy who had a pretty nice harvest, she mentioned her too.
Good luck! Here that can result in slugs. Glad you see the successes!
Hi there, most of my cauliflower, Aalsmeer and 'All the year round' Cauli sown late summer has also really suffered from the cold and I've lost most of them. The Leamington cauli, however, sown in June, is looking really good, not lost a single one. Not cropped yet but looking promising, was very good last year too.
A nice tip, thanks David
This man is a great asset
Good morning Charles, I want to tell you briefly about my successes in cultivation that I have made following your instructions. I've been able to harvest spinach and lettuce from my greenhouse since mid-February and it's a real pleasure to have plants ready to harvest at this time of year. I've never had that before! In the fall I sowed winter lettuce (Wintermarie and Rouge grenobloise) and spinach and only threw a fleece over them during severe frosts. Unfortunately, snow and frost are still to come, but we will survive that with fleece. The chickens get what is no longer nice, but only the outer leaves. I have a lot less work now and I can harvest a lot of lettuce and vegetables. Thank you again for your valuable advice! Ursula
Congratulations Ursula, and I'm delighted to read this. Keep up the great work and enjoy the healthy food, not that I need to say that!
Thanks for sharing this great tour Charles especially the things that didn't go to plan. I've been subscribed for years and work from your books and am still learning every time I watch and listen to you on one of your videos. ❤
Awesome and nice to hear
It's a good time to do some fencing, too. I put the first posts in the ground. Dear deer, no munching on cale here!
Although they are playing and they eat all they want outside the fence.
Charles Dowding the legend! Always look forward to watching your videos, especially the longer ones 😌
Thanks so much
I am willing to bet that they have a very similar chipper. One keeps his blades sharp and the other doesn’t bother too much. Hence the difference!
That is so interesting. The guy making big chips has many employees, the small chip guy is a one man band!
Fabulous as always, and an encouragement to us all Charles. Colder longer than normal here, but Spring is still on the way. Blessings from Oregon .
🌱 thanks
Hi neighbor. (Mid-Willamette Valley) I just discovered Mr. Dowding and really enjoy his style.
We chip wood on the farm with pto driven machine. It will take up to 8" material, but my point to make is that the coarseness of the chip is less about the size of the chipper unit, but more on how fast the material is run through the chipper and how sharp the blades are. The commercial tree people need to make the most of time, so they are likely to run the chipper @ a faster rate, which makes for larger coarser pieces.
Thank you for commenting Dave, and that's really helpful to know. It would never have occurred to me!
Your small garden is so encouraging
WE’RE REALLY INTO CLASSIC NO DIG !!!!!!!! WAY MORE THAN POP-ROCK NO DIG OR JAZZ FUSION NO DIG !!!!!!!!!
🎶 yay!
great great tour of your wonderful garden again and makes us think of the planning of the year ahead merci beaucoup et à bientôt .
Many thanks, chouette
I agree with the comment about the weather Charles. Here in Essex we got down to about minus six. It did seem to be a "different" and far more damaging cold this year than the temperature suggested. Interesting.
More than ‼️ Needs this www.daniellebryant.co.uk/2019/12/30/710/
Thanks Charles for showing the good and the bad, I nearly chopped my purple sprouting broccoli it had got quite tall and no sign of cropping but two weeks on the purple shoot are starting to form the florets, it’s your , let’s see what happens approach that I find so inspiring and it has worked on many things in the past
😂 that is so good ‼️ Enjoy
What a difference between our two systems Charles, especially this year. I can’t afford failures and have a fraction of your space but that allows me to be more resilient at a bit higher up front cost. Almost all of my beds survived, I harvested every week through winter and they are mostly now replanted with spring crops. We were slightly colder than you too, so I lost my broad beans, but my Jan sown ones are a little ahead of yours now. I’ve taken 14 harvests off my Giant Winter spinach, but we are relay planting into it right now and we have our spring spinach plants just coming into harvest for salads, but large leaves in march. I don’t plant my cauliflower and calabrese out until Feb, so it’s not ready until May, but it looks lovely now and didn’t take any bed space over winter. My Lila is looking lovely, I’ve been harvesting it for about a month. Also my lambs lettuce is way further on than yours and we have harvested 1/2 of it now during January and early Feb, but I sow much earlier than you do. My claret is all fine too , but the early varieties took a hit. Thanks so much for showing us this unusual year, as you say, humbling for all of us and very instructive : all the best - Steve
That is amazing Steve, many congratulations, anyone would be happy with those results 💚
@@CharlesDowding1nodig always plenty to improve though, I still loose more lettuces to stem rot than you do, it's an ongoing challenge. I think your home saved Grenoble Red lettuce seed is a lot stronger than commercial alternatives now
I get so excited when I see a new video! I learn something new each time and I just love your kindhearted approach to gardening and teaching others. Thank you for sharing your garden, even though not all plants were performing, it gives us all encouragement that gardening is never perfect. Just keep trying and learning from what nature gives us!
I'm so glad! 💚
I will agree, it is fun to try things to see what may work :-) & find out if what we wanted to work,... didn't :-( but we tried. I feel the older I get, the more I like plants. Thank you so much for your time & videos.
Exactly! thanks
Marvellous and insightful as always. I do feel that one of the problems with our climate is the fluctuations. Over the last year, in London , we’ve had drought , then water logging, then a very cold snap and unusual warmth for the winter too. No wonder some plants just curl up their toes.
‼️ yes indeed
I've had good success with the inground garden worm buckets in a very similar climate (zone 9b, southern Vancouver island). I kept thinking as you surveyed the frost damage on your rutabaga and spinach "oh, the worms would love that!" The buckets are sunk into the beds and all you have to do is lift the lid to throw in some organic matter.
~ Sandra
Great tip Nana thanks
Hi Charles loved the video I think everyone has had disasters this winter ❄️ it’s been a very very hard frost ! I’ve lost hardy plants I was so surprised 😮 had for years (gone) 😱 ! Never mind start again that’s what gardenings all about love it lv Irene 😘 xx
Sorry to hear this Irene!
Thank you Charles for the update tour video, really reassures everyone when watching, that someone like your yourself also having failure's and not just seeing perfect veg. Love also what i would call the imperfect "PERFECT" compost. Have a great week!!!
I appreciate that Neil
long range weather model is showing a low to the South mid March, low confidence as yet but it could get a bit nippy! Good show, cheers Charles
Thanks, I had heard, not good for us!
Hi Charles, thank you for this no dig tour. Your honesty over the failures as well as the successes is very much appreciated, and you’re so right it’s all a learning process. On this beautiful sunny day, I followed your advice on saving space and compost to sow my first seeds. I did sow some tomotoes today which have gone on a heatmat indoors but will save the others to follow your advice. Also, just to say that both myself and my partner love your ‘No Dig’ book, its our ‘go to’ now. Thanks! Caroline
How nice thanks Caroline
I don't feel so bad about losing my broad beans to the frost now I've seen even yours succumbed 😁
I live not too far from you Charles with an allotment in Street & had the exact same issues with my brassicas - I think it’s because it was warm and wet then freezing then warm and wet then freezing; rather than one or the other which is more typical. I think they can cope with a steady amount of weather of either freezing or wet/warmer but this winter has been all over the place in very short time spans! Hoping spring is a bit more steady so my seedlings don’t suffer too much🤞
Cheers Sarah - yes the fluctuations :(
Yes Sarah I agree.Its the fluctuating temperatures. I'm nearby also, a little closer to Bridgwater.
I am heartened that you have the odd failure or damage as well. I am in the 5th year of my allotment and hopefully this season I will avoid some of the mistakes I have made over that time and produce vegetables that I want to eat and to share. I love everything about your garden and am grateful that you share your knowledge so graciously. Here's to 2023 x
Fingers crossed Victoria and thankyou 💚
I have noticed over the years, that extra mineral support.. be it seaweed or azomite... really helps plants survive the extra hard cold spells.
It's a good point, but I feel increasingly now that we have new issues to cope with such as whatever falls out of the trails, which are suddenly so common in the skies
Morning Charles, It’s always a pleasure to get to look around your place. Love how big your compost sheds are. I’ve got my tomatoes started now and that’s about it. We still have Garlic, a few onions and some carrots still out in the garden. Not anything like yours. Thanks for sharing. 🇺🇸
Hi Steven, hope you can start a few more soon & AK weather is ok!
Don’t take this the wrong way Charles, but so pleased to see your swedes! Mine did exactly the same. It is reassuring to see the problems I have on the allotment are not unique to me! Really entertaining and informative - as always! Thanks, from up the road in Chepstow!
Good to know, and not good, that so many are suffering this!
The only time of the year my small plot looks anything like Charles'!
😂😂🌱
😆
Thank you for sharing your challenges! So many of us struggle & scratch our heads trying to sort what went wrong in what should otherwise have been a good season. With your expertise & track record, it's encouraging to me for you to share that you have struggles & head scratches too. Cheers to Spring & a new season
You are so welcome Peg, and thanks
Thank You so much!!! I’m grateful for you and your channel.
You are so welcome
Here in BC, we had the same overwintering experience. For some reason, crops that are normally tough didn't do too well. I suspect lower than normal sugar levels.
Wild rocket looks lovely 👍🏼
Quite relieved in a way to see the problems you've had with some of your crops over the winter. I've lost about half of my PSB, I assume because of the cold nights. The stalks went brown and rotted. Many of my cabbages have struggled. A huge proportion of my broad beans and a fair number of field beans (planted as ground cover as much as anything) also failed to make it despite being under fleece. Even the fleece froze solid.
Two years ago I had fantastic garlic outdoors. Last year all of it suffered badly from rust and even removing the affected leaves didn't stop it spreading very fast. For this year I've planted all of it in the polytunnel and greenhouse to try to keep it under control.
I was aware that tomatoes could be propagated from shoots and tried it for the first time two years ago without success, but following your short covering it I decided to have another go, growing eight new plants from each of the five varieties I grew last year -- not all F1, but as much for the practice and learning as having the plants available this year. They've done quite well indoors in a cool bay window though they are now quite leggy. Once you've over-wintered the plants do you use them directly for that year's crop, or do you take off shoots once again and grow those on into your cropping plants?
Winter brassicas have been tragic!
Yes you can either use original plants if not too tall, or take more shoots now to root again. A versatile method!
Thanks, I needed to see that it's not just my garden that has struggled with the cold this year and a few weird issues cropping up, and looking generally sad. Yes fingers crossed for some better weather, thanks again
Thank you Charles.
Yes sir, plans can't change unless you have one. :)
😂 cheers Jamie :)
Great tour. Thank you.
Food for thought, thank you Mr Dowding 😁🌱☀️
Just received my trays. Very sturdy and they will save a great deal of money. Thank you
Glad you like them!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig 🥰
I like the logic of growing mustard with the garlic in hope of dealing with the garlic rust, my garlic last year was really bad with rust just as it reached maturity, will be interesting to see how it works.
I had the same thing happen to my broad beans here in Belgium, autumn sown ones got killed of by the frost, but I've got a now batch on the go and excited to try a spring sowing!
Go them 🌱!
I love the tours of the garden, especially at this time of year when you're getting ready to ramp up the planting etc. Last year I barely got anything from the garden due to lots of rain waterlogging my planting area, and my lack of planning for replacement plantings set me back totally.
This year I want to get back into the swing, I have my garlic from last year to plant on (about my only successful harvest from last year 😂) and potatoes to go in the ground in a couple of weeks or so.
Here's to a better year!
I echo that and wish you well