@@CharlesDowding1nodig problem here is with mole crickets infestation. These creatures will destroy all the vegetable and small herbs. We are unable to grow any vegetables properly on our property.
I think adding a go pro to the kitty and adding some clips of that while Charles is doing his tour would be very entertaining! Garden is beautiful as always Mr. Gardening Godfather!!
Good morning Charles. We are wrapping up a nine day vacation, driving north to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia and back home. Along the way, I chatted up No-dig, Worms and Charles Dowding ❤ I'm really amazed by the amount of food and papergoods that we trash. I really wanted to run around the room and collect orange & banana peels, paper napkins, cups, etc. My worms would have been happy! My 1,000 pound ♻️ Challenge this week shows what I collected without much effort 👌 I wish I could be with you for No Dig Day👌I hope it's a Great Success 👍 ❤Peggy❤
I believe your stropharia mushroom bed gets more sunlight than it needs. I grow stropharia in all shaded areas of my garden where most plants struggle. Thanks for your wonderful videos. 🙏
Also stropharia grows best in hardwood fresh wood chips. You should be able to get 2 flushes (spring and fall). They can become perennial depending on your climate and whether they have enough water and food (fresh wood chips).
Thank you live in the Arizona, USA high desert....6500 elevation. I call fall the "second spring" when as you mentioned, the temps are like February. Your garden and climate is a joy to see.
Thanks for sharing from a very different situation, including your latitude also - we are 51st parallel with sunrise 7am, sunset 5pm as of tomorrow, the dreaded winter time
Thank you for the reply Charles! 34th parallel here. I record the weather channel sunrise and sunsets too, and, look outside to see if it is happening. Today the prediction is sunrise at 6:36 and sunset at 5:26. Ten hours and 50 minutes for the length of day. Loretta @@CharlesDowding1nodig
I love your sense of fun, the way you experiment and your appreciation for nature. Well done for highlighting humanure, imagine the possibility if our collective waste system could be redesigned. Thankyou Charles
October 29 apple trees blooming, lilacs blooming so dry this summer now so many things thinks its Spring , I hope theses things we'll at the right time.
Always a pleasure seeing what's going on in the garden. I really like hearing the difference between the no dig and tilled beds, amazing the abundance. For a home gardener growing different food in those 2 sections, what a haul. Must say, I'm looking forward to this winters videos. I even like hearing what people name their property, I bought seeds from one named...hand me down farm, love that.
Hello Mr. Dowding, First I would like to thank you for introducing me to no-dig. It has been a great success in reducing weeds and time spent weeding. I saw in the video that you had some snail and slug problems. I also had the same problem here on my farm in Romania. My 86 yo neighbour gave me tip which works really well. I make a very thin line around the beds with fireplace ash. So far it has worked great. I never tried to sprinkle it around the vegetables as I think it will alter the PH of the soil. Thanks again for all your great advice.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Its actually better if you sprinkle the ash after a rain so it sticks and doesnt blow around. Last year I did it only twice the entire season and I had no issues with the rain. The ash has a PH of around 10 and once it dissolves into the soil I believe that the little band of soil under the ash maintains a high PH which discourages the slugs and snails.
I had to watch this in two bites, so to speak; you came right out with it as I was eating. I knew the results would be compelling and something that makes absolute sense and thing we need to do urgently, but the 21 kilos is incredible. Groundbreaking stuff again.
May I suggest my tip for keeping dahlias in the ground over winter Charles. Cut to the ground, cover with a little spent compost and then place a dustbin lid over them. Job done.
Yes! No putting the garden to bed. One of my favorite quotes from Eliot Coleman is: "That's because there is no goal called "putting in the garden." The garden is in all the time. The goal is to eat well." (in reference to conventional gardens being "put in" on Memorial Day)
Hey Charles, so good seeing all you have going on in the garden. It still looks great. Our garden has a lot of winter plants growing. Just finished a rock job around our cabin foundation. Back to the other garden projects now. Going to give a church class here for people coupled with a Bible reading for next year starting March to help teach and feed folks. I promise your name and techniques will be discussed in the teachings. I still have tons of green tomatoes but I think I’m going to pick them all and bring them inside. Going to be getting cold this week. Freezing temps. Thanks Bubba, love all your videos. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸
Such a lovely message Steven, thank you. I feel honoured to be mentioned in your teachings and that is the most noble work you can do, helping others to grow food. And more than that, by default they will be connecting with nature and all the microbes, and feeling stronger for it.
❤ hard frosts and snow already here in northeastern US, garlic and spinach (under cover) are happy though 😂 That romanesco is stunning! Will be trying those next year for sure and appreciate your advice about 21 June start date WOW to the squash yields! You’re right we all need composting toilets!
We had bad carrot root fly damage but insect netting solved the problem. I also grow a row of carrots in the poly tunnel along side of a row of scallions and that works too.
Dear Charles, смотрю ваши видео как увлекательный сериал. Этим летом уже не копала свой огород благодаря Вам. У нас уже снег, а у Вас зелень, как у нас летом))) Спасибо за знания!
I have seen tomatoes grown above a slowly-leaking old terra cotta sewage line grow to twice the height of nearby tomatoes. Interesting data about the kuri squash and the compost toilet. Thanks.
You might be surprised by your raspberries next year. I put a layer of woodchip under my quince tree and inoculated it with Stropharia. Not only did I get tasty mushrooms, the quince exploded with fruit and has been for the past three years. I put it down to mycelial activity. You'll probably get your first flush in the first summer warmth. Wine caps are a summer mushroom, they like warm temperatures. Please make sure Adam does his due diligence when he harvests his first wine cap. Positively identify that it's the right fruit, then eat only a small piece and wait for several hours to see if there are any ill effects. He's created a nice home for all mushrooms, not just wine caps.
Thanks so much for this encouraging comment. The raspberry plants had looked a little yellow and week this year so I'm optimistic now. Adam is quite an expert on mushrooms but I shall pass this comment on to him.
Charles you are my favorite gardener on RUclips. My personal gardener style is similar to yours. I’m trying hard to master composting and build my soil. This is my second year here on this property and I have raised beds. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I may pay for a class and snag some of your books. I’m in zone 7B North Carolina, USA. I use 7a planting dates because I’m so close to 7a.
Thanks. If your climate is dry, certain green manures might die on the surface after cutting very low to the ground, or you could solarise them with clear polythene on top in sunny and hot conditions. Also sow white mustard, which is killed by -4°C Frost.
Thank you ! Your garden is beautiful and this tour was very inspiring . I have sprouting purple broccoli I'm harvesting regularly now and lots of leafy greens in cold benches.
I am new to the channel and your brilliant no dig gardening! I miss gardening very much but became disabled a few years ago, I’m now getting used to my new normal and trying to learn ways to garden the easiest way for myself. Does your no dig also successfully apply to raised garden beds? Your creative, insightful, and compassionate videos bring light and vitality into my world. Thank you for the wonderful work you do, I continually look forward to the next vid! Garden hugs from America. 😊
Thank you so much and yes if you can get some help to create raised beds you can access, then no dig will make it much easier ongoing. The only soil preparation is to add new compost once a year. Weeds pull out easily. I would look to have a good 8 inches of decent compost as the top layer of any new bed, and have it firmed down and packed in, not loose.
Главным образом это потому, что сейчас мы находимся в условиях такого низкого уровня освещенности, и это делает растения более слабыми, менее способными отпугивать таких вредителей, как слизни и улитки, поэтому ущерб наносится больше. Я не считаю это общей проблемой сада. Это скорее проблема начала зимы. Затем весной, когда уровень освещенности быстро повышается, листья снова становятся здоровыми с меньшими повреждениями.
My raspberries are the same as yours Charles. I had a few berries back in August which I thought odd and now they are hanging with beautiful fruit. I'm picking a small bowlful every day!
If you plant in the same bed one row of carrots and one row of onion and so on, the carrot roots fry do not found the carrots because of onion smell. I have tested it and it really works.😊
Good to hear but for me it did not work! Maybe depends on the year, sometimes flies are not present - this past summer I saw no damage. Then loads in autumn!
@CharlesDowding1nodig yes, you have right sir, maybe depends on the climate to, I am from Romania and we have a little bit different climate. Our summers are dryer and hotter (+35°C) and the winter more colder (-18°C).
Charles i followed you all around the garden, listening and watching your shadow. I was trying to see your preferred direction of planting rows. It looked west to east, then i got lost😅. Looking forward to the upcoming videos you have prepared. Take care
Cool, thanks Naomi the detective. My beds are aligned more according to the garden layout than any preferred direction by the sun. They happen to be lined south south east and west south west, in different areas of garden
@@CharlesDowding1nodig No dig should be taught in schools everywhere, imagine how different the world could be made! Thanks again, Charles, for sharing so many tips and tricks for better, healthier food growing.
Good point. Just five minutes later than you is a comment from someone in Russia saying how well the no dig is working for them, and their season has just finished with snow already.
Though, I'm a huge fan of the channel somehow I cannot go past the use of toilet compost.. No, no need to explain, I get it but it's something I would not use in my edible garden. Still, you continue to inspire me with your growing ideas and methods.
I am all in! Maybe I haven;t seen the right episode to answer this question.... But why not in spring? But my best instincts, are to apply in early spring, to not lose the living microbe population due to drying, and not lose Nitrogen and Potasium, due to winter leeching.
Thanks, and the reason is because compost is not fertiliser, it does not leach nutrients because they are not water soluble in compost. Structurally it's improved by winter weather, and microbes are not killed but they go dormant. Hence the success of my garden.
I sowed some asparagus seed in cells early this year, planted out in May & was surprised to see they're still putting up new shoots as of today. The ten, year old crowns I planted back in March are still mostly green, though definitely coming to the end. They were however still putting up new shoots only a couple of weeks ago.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Needless to say, I've just let everything grow & will at most take a spear or two from the crowns next year & the seed grown in2025.
Un buen vídeo .Aprovechar el suelo para tenerlo siempre plantado en todas las estaciones.Con los días de lluvia hay que aprovechar y cultivar porque con buenas temperaturas se recoge muchas hortalizas de hojas,zanahorias etc.. Saludos desde Tenerife !! 👌🏻🌸👏🏻🐞🥬🌽🥕🌹☔️☔️
Es bueno saberlo y con su clima, puedo imaginar la posibilidad de cultivar cosas durante todo el año. Espero que esos locos incendios hayan disminuido. ¡Estamos a punto de tener un clima extraño!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Empiezo a tener la esperanza que el bosque va a renacer nuevamente.Con las lluvias de hace unos días los Pinos canarios están sacando brotes nuevos 😂😂Es algo extraordinario.Pasaré alguna foto a tu correo para que lo veas.Árboles centenarios renaciendo y volviendo a formar ese manto verde 👏👏🙏🏻🙏🏻Gracias por tus palabras y atención
I can’t get enough of your wonderful instruction. I need advice. I recently moved to zone 6b. The ridge line ground is base rock and clay; we have many groundhogs, chiggers, ticks, and deer. Everyone here hauls in soil and compost und uses raised beds with hardware cloth to keep the pests out. We have a lot of hardwood trees and abundance of leaves. The area I would like to use is on an open southern slope. I am overwhelmed and need to decide what to do and just get started. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
The southerly aspect sounds good at least! All the rest of those potential problems are I can believe, overwhelming! It sounds like your neighbours have sussed it, beds with hardware cloth. I would pile leaves when wet into heaps as large as you can manage, that will turn to compost within about 18 months, maybe two years. You could make lots of woodchip from old branches lying around and that also will turn to compost in 2 to 3 years. Your soil needs it from what you say. Start growing in a small area, keep it manageable and learn as you go.
I know you don't like the statement but I have put my garden to bed for the winter except for some kale, swiss chard and lettuce. We will soon have inches of snow( had our first snow fall today) and temperatures in the -15C range. Not many things can grow in that for 4+ months.
Thanks Mr. Dowding for the amazing videos. I have a question though, how do I remove weeds from a section of a bed? Just one section of the (dig) bed is producing weeds and preventing the turnip seeds germination. Please guide me! Thank you 🙏.
Thankyou, and I don't quite understand because when weeds are following digging, that makes it harder to remove them because they are growing in soil, not surface compost. Turnips germinate remarkably fast so they should appear at least as quickly as the seeds of weeds, maybe your turnip seeds are not viable anymore.
Hopefully that compost was aged long enough. We have a place here that uses it, or at least they used to. They aged it a year. But nice to hear how we'll it works!
From the diet and health of people using the toilet, and the fact of it being 18 months old on average, I reckon there's a ton of beneficial microbes in that compost. There will always be some so-called pathogens but then, what is a pathogen? We have been encouraged to be fearful! There are small amounts of poisons in our bodies all the time and health is about maintaining the balance, both in our bodies and in compost and in soil.
Thanks Charles. I made a note of the Prinz celeriac variety that you like and will try and pick some seeds up for next year in the hopes it does better for me than the variety I grew this year. I grew leeks for the first time this year and have a wonderful crop out still in the ground. I'm not sure if and when I should harvest. I was thinking of maybe trying to leave them in the ground and putting some plastic over them. I'm not sure how well the store after harvested. Any recommendations? I'm in 6b so it can get quite cold at nights in the winter here.
That sounds promising for your leeks and it depends on the variety, I would check the small print on the seed packet because some are harder than others. You could use a trowel to remove some soil with roots, about the size of a tennis ball and keep them in a reasonably frost free place like that, then trim them before eating, for up to a month that can work.
Happy to see you are still experimenting with the compost/gardening recipes. At the 4:15+ mark, you tried cow manure and human manure. The human manure worked dramatically. Maybe the cow manure had some herbicide in it? Did you do the grow beans test in it? Chicken manure would be free from that. I’ve been after you for having a higher/hotter nitrogen compost for higher needs plants. I guess they use human manure in Japan historically. Keep experimenting. Make the good even better.
Thanks Brian, and the cow manure has no pyralid weedkiller, the broad beans grew very well. The only bed of strip 3's six beds to receive humanure was the bed nearest the path, which grew the squash. I don't see it like that, all plants need full nutrition and in a balanced form. Which is provided by compost, without free nitrogen.
@@CharlesDowding1nodigJust trying to find an explanation for the maybe not expected results. I'd like to amend with alfalfa pellets, but don't trust them do to maybe herbicides being in the mix. But Charles, you do have to be persuaded there may be something extra in the human manure that the plants liked. I assume Nitrogen, but it could be more complex than that. Your trials keeps gardening interesting. 🧐😲
Thank you again for such a beautiful video. This year all my carrot seedlings were munched after three plantings. And carrot fly is also a pain. I’m so glad we are able to make enough compost all year round for our no-dig beds. My winter brassicas have not given us heads yet I think I sowed them in July next time I’m definitely sowing them in June. What are your thoughts on using used coffee grounds as part of your green waste compost I. I’m not sure about compost toilets 😅
Sorry to hear about your carrots Meka and that suggests there are slug sanctuaries nearby! Coffee grounds are fantastic for adding to compost heaps and they count as a green, being quite high in nitrogen. For a compost toilet, you need maybe quite a large garden because it's more space taken up, and mine is not in the middle!
We're a bit south of you, near 47 deg N lat., in a similar cool, damp climate. (Near Seattle.) We've had success sowing carrots on 01Aug for a mid-October harvest. We use a quick-growing Nantes type called "Yaya" for that sowing.
6:24 😂 My Mum and her family only had an outside toilet when she was a child. My Grandad was a big back garden veg grower and all the toilet waste went straight on the compost pile.
Question: You cleaned out the poly tunnel. Tomatoes and marigolds can have very hefty root systems. Do you just cut them at ground level, add compost and plant your next crop?
That is correct, or sometimes we twist out smaller plants which means a few of the large roots separate and go into the compost heap. I always want to leave the main rooting system in the soil for microbes to eat
I will try that with my Brussel sprout bed. Btw, I was laughing when you finally talked about your dahlias… I have seen you walking by them and wondering when you were going to dig the tubers. Our low temp can be -20 F. so my tubers have been out of the ground for 2 weeks!
I have to grow brassicas under cover to keep pigeons from pecking the leaves and killing the plants, but you seem to be growing them without cover. Any tips please Charles?
It's simply that I'm fortunate here, that during the summer months pigeons are elsewhere. Then they arrive soon in December, when we need to get out the bird netting and cover brassica plants
Thank you for the tour Charles, I loved it.I grew mixed colour dwarf dahlias from seed early this year, I grew them in pots, will the tubers survive outside or should I move them into the greenhouse in the winter? 🥰
Sounds great and the answer depends on your climate. If winter nighttime temperatures are often below -5°C, 23°F I would move them undercover, even in a shed or cellar, because they don't need light
Charles, I have a quick question about autumn raspberries. When do you cut them to the ground? I usually wait until they drop all leaves, around late December or early January.
@charlesDowding1nodig Thank you so much again for sharing your knowledge and beautiful gardenviews. My question: do you test your soil so now and then? And if so, can you also share those results in a video? And not only pH, nutrients and organic matter percentage, but also the structure of your soil by showing a soilprofile out one of your beds? I'm looking forward! Keep up your very loving work!
Thank you, and I have only done a little testing of my trial beds. Generally I don't believe in soil tests because I prefer to let the plants tell me what is going on. However, I shall see about sharing some of the biological, microscope work I have had done
@CharlesDowding what is the definition of soil when it comes to dig or no dig? Does the no dig beds eventually make contact with the soil below? Happy gardening from Australia to you 😊
Thanks, and soil is always just below or even at the surface because compost is being continually eaten and taken down into the soil, by organisms who enjoy feasting on it! There is no boundary layer between the compost and the soil, after the first month or two.
You could do either, depending how much your soil needs it. If you have no other cover before winter, I would spread it now and it will continue to decompose, slowly, over winter and be softer by spring, easier for planting into that if you put it on in the spring.
Hello Charles! Could I ask you for help please? On the video you mentioned that you will remove the marigolds seedlings as they could be an issue, and we are keeping our plants sharing the space with the winter planting (salad leaves, purple sprout, mustard) thinking that they would be fine while surviving the weather. Should we remove them instead? Thanks SO much in advance!
Actually I thought to have said that I will leave them to be killed soon by frost! That is my plan, only they may get in the way a bit before that! Always in previous years they have been killed by frost in the polytunnel. From the sounds of it you are leaving the parent plants, or maybe you mean the seedlings. If it's parent plants I would remove them because they often harbour slugs and snails - which was not a problem for the tomatoes
Yeah my carrots were coming up clean until last week when they were riddled, thought I was in for a fantastic harvest! I'll be lifting earlier next year maybe.
Thank you for the walk around:) Question. What do you think about horse manure as compost? I have a lot and was going to use it as the compost for my greenhouse this year. Have you trialed this before? Thank you.
I love it! Have used it for decades, and now one tonne a year goes on soil in polytunnel and greenhouse, it comes from my hotbed of the previous spring. I grow tomatoes in the heap first to check for weedkiller, pyralids.
It’s Great. I use nothing else . I admit it is easy for me as my next door neighbour delivers a barrow load every morning and is pleased to have somewhere to dump it . I have five bins on the go and as you would expect always dig from the oldest one . By the time I apply it to the garden it is really well rotted . Very pleased with results
Hi Charles I’ve been cooking up my czar beans today from last year and many have black dots in the middle of them. I’ve no idea what they are and if they are still edible. Is this something you have come across? They seem ok apart from these small black marks where the bean divides down the middle and was only really visible once cooked.
Ist fantastic that I have captions in Polish language, my english is not the best. Thank tou for a great chanel!
Nice to hear. I buy them because I know how many in your country are interested in my work :)
This is my favorite gardening channel on youtube! 👍 keep up the good work!
Great thanks
@@CharlesDowding1nodig problem here is with mole crickets infestation. These creatures will destroy all the vegetable and small herbs. We are unable to grow any vegetables properly on our property.
I think adding a go pro to the kitty and adding some clips of that while Charles is doing his tour would be very entertaining!
Garden is beautiful as always Mr. Gardening Godfather!!
What a hilarious thought! Giddy making at least
Always brilliant to go around the garden with you Charles. A treat
Great to hear John, thank you
Good morning Charles.
We are wrapping up a nine day vacation, driving north to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia and back home. Along the way, I chatted up No-dig, Worms and Charles Dowding ❤
I'm really amazed by the amount of food and papergoods that we trash. I really wanted to run around the room and collect orange & banana peels, paper napkins, cups, etc. My worms would have been happy! My 1,000 pound ♻️ Challenge this week shows what I collected without much effort 👌
I wish I could be with you for No Dig Day👌I hope it's a Great Success 👍
❤Peggy❤
Thanks Peggy!!
Humanure. Shockingly great results. ;) Charles. There is nobody like you anywhere.
I believe your stropharia mushroom bed gets more sunlight than it needs. I grow stropharia in all shaded areas of my garden where most plants struggle. Thanks for your wonderful videos. 🙏
Good to know! We shall see.
Also stropharia grows best in hardwood fresh wood chips. You should be able to get 2 flushes (spring and fall). They can become perennial depending on your climate and whether they have enough water and food (fresh wood chips).
Wow. Love the outcome of the Kurds with toilet compost. Not shocked at all. Impressed 😀
Always a picturesque vegetable garden. Like a living picture that evolves over the year and seasons. Made by a living legend. Thanks for all you share
Nicely put!
My pleasure Caroline
Thank you
live in the Arizona, USA high desert....6500 elevation. I call fall the "second spring" when as you mentioned, the temps are like February. Your garden and climate is a joy to see.
Thanks for sharing from a very different situation, including your latitude also - we are 51st parallel with sunrise 7am, sunset 5pm as of tomorrow, the dreaded winter time
Thank you for the reply Charles!
34th parallel here. I record the weather channel sunrise and sunsets too, and, look outside to see if it is happening. Today the prediction is sunrise at 6:36 and sunset at 5:26. Ten hours and 50 minutes for the length of day.
Loretta @@CharlesDowding1nodig
Nice light Loretta :)
What a great tour, thanks Charles
Glad you enjoyed it Ted
Glad you enjoyed it Ted
I love your sense of fun, the way you experiment and your appreciation for nature. Well done for highlighting humanure, imagine the possibility if our collective waste system could be redesigned. Thankyou Charles
So nice of you Bernadette. Yes an amazing thought. It used to be done in cultures like China until recently. In places still is I feel sure.
October 29 apple trees blooming, lilacs blooming so dry this summer now so many things thinks its Spring , I hope theses things we'll at the right time.
😮 usually it works out
Always a pleasure seeing what's going on in the garden. I really like hearing the difference between the no dig and tilled beds, amazing the abundance. For a home gardener growing different food in those 2 sections, what a haul. Must say, I'm looking forward to this winters videos. I even like hearing what people name their property, I bought seeds from one named...hand me down farm, love that.
Thanks 👍 - my favourite is Neversink Farm!
Great video. Really enjoy watching tours and hearing all about the methods and learnings. Thanks Charles
Glad you enjoy them Daniela 💚
I love your passion & knowledge of gardening ... You have been truly blessed.
Thanks Eloise 💚
🍄’s too ! How exciting y’all !
Yay 😎
Hello Mr. Dowding,
First I would like to thank you for introducing me to no-dig. It has been a great success in reducing weeds and time spent weeding.
I saw in the video that you had some snail and slug problems. I also had the same problem here on my farm in Romania. My 86 yo neighbour gave me tip which works really well. I make a very thin line around the beds with fireplace ash. So far it has worked great. I never tried to sprinkle it around the vegetables as I think it will alter the PH of the soil.
Thanks again for all your great advice.
Amazing, thanks for sharing. Even if it rains is this working for you?
@@CharlesDowding1nodig
Its actually better if you sprinkle the ash after a rain so it sticks and doesnt blow around.
Last year I did it only twice the entire season and I had no issues with the rain. The ash has a PH of around 10 and once it dissolves into the soil I believe that the little band of soil under the ash maintains a high PH which discourages the slugs and snails.
V helpful thanks
This is my favorite gardening❤❤❤
Amazing gardening community Spirit well done everyone involved
I had to watch this in two bites, so to speak; you came right out with it as I was eating.
I knew the results would be compelling and something that makes absolute sense and thing we need to do urgently, but the 21 kilos is incredible. Groundbreaking stuff again.
I love your description of the watching!
May I suggest my tip for keeping dahlias in the ground over winter Charles. Cut to the ground, cover with a little spent compost and then place a dustbin lid over them. Job done.
Nice one, thanks
Yes! No putting the garden to bed. One of my favorite quotes from Eliot Coleman is: "That's because there is no goal called "putting in the garden." The garden is in all the time. The goal is to eat well." (in reference to conventional gardens being "put in" on Memorial Day)
Thanks and how interesting that such a phrase exists for you. I quite agree that Eliot would be the last person to put a garden to bed!
another great video , best veg gardening advice in any medium !
Very kind, thank you
Hey Charles, so good seeing all you have going on in the garden. It still looks great. Our garden has a lot of winter plants growing. Just finished a rock job around our cabin foundation. Back to the other garden projects now. Going to give a church class here for people coupled with a Bible reading for next year starting March to help teach and feed folks. I promise your name and techniques will be discussed in the teachings. I still have tons of green tomatoes but I think I’m going to pick them all and bring them inside. Going to be getting cold this week. Freezing temps. Thanks Bubba, love all your videos. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸
Such a lovely message Steven, thank you. I feel honoured to be mentioned in your teachings and that is the most noble work you can do, helping others to grow food. And more than that, by default they will be connecting with nature and all the microbes, and feeling stronger for it.
I wish my garden will become half asproductive! Beautiful! Blessigs Charles!
Thank you Cami
Great job Charles.
Thank you Rocco
As always, a very good and informative tour of your majestic gardens.
Many thanks Dwight
Lovely garden,,,,,
Thank you Ayesha
Thank you for your amazing encouragement and your wisdom 😊
My pleasure Kathryn
❤ hard frosts and snow already here in northeastern US, garlic and spinach (under cover) are happy though 😂
That romanesco is stunning! Will be trying those next year for sure and appreciate your advice about 21 June start date
WOW to the squash yields! You’re right we all need composting toilets!
Oh wow, I'm happy not to have your weather! Go for it next year on the cauliflowers.
Amazing Charles! Love the compost comparison! Humanure sounds great
We had bad carrot root fly damage but insect netting solved the problem. I also grow a row of carrots in the poly tunnel along side of a row of scallions and that works too.
Nice
Coucou 👋🏻 👋🏻 👋🏻
Le jardin est toujours aussi magnifique bravo 😊
A bientôt
Merci
@@CharlesDowding1nodig 😉
Dear Charles, смотрю ваши видео как увлекательный сериал. Этим летом уже не копала свой огород благодаря Вам. У нас уже снег, а у Вас зелень, как у нас летом))) Спасибо за знания!
Так приятно это слышать, спасибо.
Поделитесь, пожалуйста, хорошей новостью со своими друзьями в России!
Обязательно! Всем рассказываю о Вас с восторгом!
The Butterfly on the dalia is Vanessa atalanta, a migratory species. Nice to see it in tour garden. Thanks for your videos!
Thanks for the info!
Thank you, Charles, your videos are so encouraging
Happy to hear that Amanda
I have seen tomatoes grown above a slowly-leaking old terra cotta sewage line grow to twice the height of nearby tomatoes. Interesting data about the kuri squash and the compost toilet. Thanks.
Thanks Charles, such an inspiration 🌱🌱
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You might be surprised by your raspberries next year. I put a layer of woodchip under my quince tree and inoculated it with Stropharia. Not only did I get tasty mushrooms, the quince exploded with fruit and has been for the past three years. I put it down to mycelial activity.
You'll probably get your first flush in the first summer warmth. Wine caps are a summer mushroom, they like warm temperatures. Please make sure Adam does his due diligence when he harvests his first wine cap. Positively identify that it's the right fruit, then eat only a small piece and wait for several hours to see if there are any ill effects. He's created a nice home for all mushrooms, not just wine caps.
Thanks so much for this encouraging comment. The raspberry plants had looked a little yellow and week this year so I'm optimistic now. Adam is quite an expert on mushrooms but I shall pass this comment on to him.
Awesome video and great information, much appreciated
I am glad you enjoyed Corinne
another great video charles well done
Thank you Steven
I saw you're growing Lion's Ear! I grew some for the first time this year, very cool flower!
I love it, and they self seeded!
Charles you are my favorite gardener on RUclips. My personal gardener style is similar to yours. I’m trying hard to master composting and build my soil. This is my second year here on this property and I have raised beds. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I may pay for a class and snag some of your books. I’m in zone 7B North Carolina, USA. I use 7a planting dates because I’m so close to 7a.
Ah thanks so much Krystelle, lovely to hear.
It's good to sow a little later in spring, as a rule :)
Thank you for all your content 🙏🏻
🤔 wondering
How to incorporate green manure plants without digging 🤔 cut off crown compost rest 🤔
Thanks. If your climate is dry, certain green manures might die on the surface after cutting very low to the ground, or you could solarise them with clear polythene on top in sunny and hot conditions. Also sow white mustard, which is killed by -4°C Frost.
Muchas gracias
Thank you ! Your garden is beautiful and this tour was very inspiring . I have sprouting purple broccoli I'm harvesting regularly now and lots of leafy greens in cold benches.
Lovely harvests!
Thank you , great to hear Maria
Great video❤ I love the cat thats realy keen to stay in the view😂
Thank you Ewa
I am new to the channel and your brilliant no dig gardening! I miss gardening very much but became disabled a few years ago, I’m now getting used to my new normal and trying to learn ways to garden the easiest way for myself. Does your no dig also successfully apply to raised garden beds? Your creative, insightful, and compassionate videos bring light and vitality into my world. Thank you for the wonderful work you do, I continually look forward to the next vid! Garden hugs from America. 😊
Thank you so much and yes if you can get some help to create raised beds you can access, then no dig will make it much easier ongoing. The only soil preparation is to add new compost once a year. Weeds pull out easily.
I would look to have a good 8 inches of decent compost as the top layer of any new bed, and have it firmed down and packed in, not loose.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig 😃Yay thank you for the info Charles!
I have found chicken poop top dressed every year in my greenhouse is very effective. In my test the beds with chicken poop had twice the production.
Impressive
I’ve had problems from those little snails too this year
Strange eh? Like a plague :(
Wonderful video
Many thanks
отличные растения, красивый шпинат, но в листьях дырки от вредителей, как с ними бороться в это время года? у меня такая же история на моем шпинате
Главным образом это потому, что сейчас мы находимся в условиях такого низкого уровня освещенности, и это делает растения более слабыми, менее способными отпугивать таких вредителей, как слизни и улитки, поэтому ущерб наносится больше. Я не считаю это общей проблемой сада. Это скорее проблема начала зимы. Затем весной, когда уровень освещенности быстро повышается, листья снова становятся здоровыми с меньшими повреждениями.
My raspberries are the same as yours Charles. I had a few berries back in August which I thought odd and now they are hanging with beautiful fruit. I'm picking a small bowlful every day!
Sounds great Jenny, I wonder if yours are Paris
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I found the label Charles, they are Autumn Bliss. Producing the biggest raspberries still and it's nearly November.
Ah great!
If you plant in the same bed one row of carrots and one row of onion and so on, the carrot roots fry do not found the carrots because of onion smell. I have tested it and it really works.😊
Good to hear but for me it did not work! Maybe depends on the year, sometimes flies are not present - this past summer I saw no damage. Then loads in autumn!
@CharlesDowding1nodig yes, you have right sir, maybe depends on the climate to, I am from Romania and we have a little bit different climate. Our summers are dryer and hotter (+35°C) and the winter more colder (-18°C).
Charles i followed you all around the garden, listening and watching your shadow.
I was trying to see your preferred direction of planting rows.
It looked west to east, then i got lost😅.
Looking forward to the upcoming videos you have prepared. Take care
Cool, thanks Naomi the detective. My beds are aligned more according to the garden layout than any preferred direction by the sun. They happen to be lined south south east and west south west, in different areas of garden
Thank you Charles, you bright en my day
great to hear Naomi
Great gardening and an adorable cat!
Thank you Shell 🙂
@@CharlesDowding1nodig No dig should be taught in schools everywhere, imagine how different the world could be made! Thanks again, Charles, for sharing so many tips and tricks for better, healthier food growing.
My pleasure Shell 🙂
Thank u
My pleasure
Me ha encantado, enhorabuena por tan hermoso jardin, mucho trabajo sin duda, pero mucha satisfacion a la vez.
Gracias!!
Eso es lindo, gracias.
Happy No Dig Day Eve!
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Speaks more to climate than no dig for such abundance. Tho no dig is definitely the way to go!!
Good point. Just five minutes later than you is a comment from someone in Russia saying how well the no dig is working for them, and their season has just finished with snow already.
Remember remember the 5th of november.. No dig day 🌱🌾
Nice, well 3rd November!
Though, I'm a huge fan of the channel somehow I cannot go past the use of toilet compost.. No, no need to explain, I get it but it's something I would not use in my edible garden. Still, you continue to inspire me with your growing ideas and methods.
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I am all in! Maybe I haven;t seen the right episode to answer this question.... But why not in spring? But my best instincts, are to apply in early spring, to not lose the living microbe population due to drying, and not lose Nitrogen and Potasium, due to winter leeching.
Thanks, and the reason is because compost is not fertiliser, it does not leach nutrients because they are not water soluble in compost.
Structurally it's improved by winter weather, and microbes are not killed but they go dormant. Hence the success of my garden.
Nice one Charles, gud vid...
Glad you liked it Ralph
Be thankful you don't have Allium Leaf Miner! Going to use some sort of mesh barrier next year.
So right and there is just a little here, so far, it worries me
@CharlesDowding1nodig if the leeks are big enough, the outer layers can be peeled off but mush will definitely have to be used next year
Haha yes love mush!!
I sowed some asparagus seed in cells early this year, planted out in May & was surprised to see they're still putting up new shoots as of today.
The ten, year old crowns I planted back in March are still mostly green, though definitely coming to the end. They were however still putting up new shoots only a couple of weeks ago.
Great production!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Needless to say, I've just let everything grow & will at most take a spear or two from the crowns next year & the seed grown in2025.
As always great video! Thank you for the inspiration. I have garlic to plant.
My pleasure Angelique
Un buen vídeo .Aprovechar el suelo para tenerlo siempre plantado en todas las estaciones.Con los días de lluvia hay que aprovechar y cultivar porque con buenas temperaturas se recoge muchas hortalizas de hojas,zanahorias etc.. Saludos desde Tenerife !! 👌🏻🌸👏🏻🐞🥬🌽🥕🌹☔️☔️
Es bueno saberlo y con su clima, puedo imaginar la posibilidad de cultivar cosas durante todo el año. Espero que esos locos incendios hayan disminuido. ¡Estamos a punto de tener un clima extraño!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Empiezo a tener la esperanza que el bosque va a renacer nuevamente.Con las lluvias de hace unos días los Pinos canarios están sacando brotes nuevos 😂😂Es algo extraordinario.Pasaré alguna foto a tu correo para que lo veas.Árboles centenarios renaciendo y volviendo a formar ese manto verde 👏👏🙏🏻🙏🏻Gracias por tus palabras y atención
Estoy encantada de escuchar eso!
I can’t get enough of your wonderful instruction. I need advice. I recently moved to zone 6b. The ridge line ground is base rock and clay; we have many groundhogs, chiggers, ticks, and deer. Everyone here hauls in soil and compost und uses raised beds with hardware cloth to keep the pests out. We have a lot of hardwood trees and abundance of leaves. The area I would like to use is on an open southern slope. I am overwhelmed and need to decide what to do and just get started. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
The southerly aspect sounds good at least! All the rest of those potential problems are I can believe, overwhelming! It sounds like your neighbours have sussed it, beds with hardware cloth.
I would pile leaves when wet into heaps as large as you can manage, that will turn to compost within about 18 months, maybe two years. You could make lots of woodchip from old branches lying around and that also will turn to compost in 2 to 3 years. Your soil needs it from what you say.
Start growing in a small area, keep it manageable and learn as you go.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you, Charles. Will do my utmost!! Appreciate the fact that you actually reply!!🌸
I know you don't like the statement but I have put my garden to bed for the winter except for some kale, swiss chard and lettuce. We will soon have inches of snow( had our first snow fall today) and temperatures in the -15C range. Not many things can grow in that for 4+ months.
Hi Julie-Anne, yes that makes sense for you! I would do similar ❄️ and I hope the kale, chard and lettuce survive.
Thanks Mr. Dowding for the amazing videos. I have a question though, how do I remove weeds from a section of a bed? Just one section of the (dig) bed is producing weeds and preventing the turnip seeds germination. Please guide me! Thank you 🙏.
Thankyou, and I don't quite understand because when weeds are following digging, that makes it harder to remove them because they are growing in soil, not surface compost. Turnips germinate remarkably fast so they should appear at least as quickly as the seeds of weeds, maybe your turnip seeds are not viable anymore.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Yes. I might change the seeds. Thanks.
Hopefully that compost was aged long enough. We have a place here that uses it, or at least they used to. They aged it a year. But nice to hear how we'll it works!
From the diet and health of people using the toilet, and the fact of it being 18 months old on average, I reckon there's a ton of beneficial microbes in that compost. There will always be some so-called pathogens but then, what is a pathogen? We have been encouraged to be fearful!
There are small amounts of poisons in our bodies all the time and health is about maintaining the balance, both in our bodies and in compost and in soil.
Thanks Charles. I made a note of the Prinz celeriac variety that you like and will try and pick some seeds up for next year in the hopes it does better for me than the variety I grew this year.
I grew leeks for the first time this year and have a wonderful crop out still in the ground. I'm not sure if and when I should harvest. I was thinking of maybe trying to leave them in the ground and putting some plastic over them. I'm not sure how well the store after harvested. Any recommendations? I'm in 6b so it can get quite cold at nights in the winter here.
That sounds promising for your leeks and it depends on the variety, I would check the small print on the seed packet because some are harder than others.
You could use a trowel to remove some soil with roots, about the size of a tennis ball and keep them in a reasonably frost free place like that, then trim them before eating, for up to a month that can work.
Happy to see you are still experimenting with the compost/gardening recipes. At the 4:15+ mark, you tried cow manure and human manure. The human manure worked dramatically. Maybe the cow manure had some herbicide in it? Did you do the grow beans test in it? Chicken manure would be free from that. I’ve been after you for having a higher/hotter nitrogen compost for higher needs plants.
I guess they use human manure in Japan historically.
Keep experimenting. Make the good even better.
Thanks Brian, and the cow manure has no pyralid weedkiller, the broad beans grew very well. The only bed of strip 3's six beds to receive humanure was the bed nearest the path, which grew the squash.
I don't see it like that, all plants need full nutrition and in a balanced form. Which is provided by compost, without free nitrogen.
@@CharlesDowding1nodigJust trying to find an explanation for the maybe not expected results. I'd like to amend with alfalfa pellets, but don't trust them do to maybe herbicides being in the mix.
But Charles, you do have to be persuaded there may be something extra in the human manure that the plants liked. I assume Nitrogen, but it could be more complex than that. Your trials keeps gardening interesting. 🧐😲
I could deconstruct boxes and re use as compost bins
A great plan!
Charles que lindo o vídeo obrigado ❤
Obrigado Luisa
Thank you again for such a beautiful video. This year all my carrot seedlings were munched after three plantings. And carrot fly is also a pain. I’m so glad we are able to make enough compost all year round for our no-dig beds. My winter brassicas have not given us heads yet I think I sowed them in July next time I’m definitely sowing them in June. What are your thoughts on using used coffee grounds as part of your green waste compost I. I’m not sure about compost toilets 😅
Sorry to hear about your carrots Meka and that suggests there are slug sanctuaries nearby!
Coffee grounds are fantastic for adding to compost heaps and they count as a green, being quite high in nitrogen.
For a compost toilet, you need maybe quite a large garden because it's more space taken up, and mine is not in the middle!
We're a bit south of you, near 47 deg N lat., in a similar cool, damp climate. (Near Seattle.) We've had success sowing carrots on 01Aug for a mid-October harvest. We use a quick-growing Nantes type called "Yaya" for that sowing.
that is helpful for me in Northern Cal...Bay Area...
This is very helpful, thank you. I've been seduced by the aim of extra large carrots for winter storage, and need to grow them smaller!
Human manure is a great resourse !
Apart from 21 June, is it possible to sow romanesco in spring and have an earlier crop? I am missing this vegetable on your ‘22 calendar 😊
Yes you can, only I find that spring sowings stand less well in summer, I would sow late February to transplant early April
Carrot root flies do not fly above two feet above the ground,so building shade /windbreak cloth screens around your carrots will keep the flies off
Think Charles does videos where he mentions and shows this
I found they flew higher here!
6:24 😂 My Mum and her family only had an outside toilet when she was a child. My Grandad was a big back garden veg grower and all the toilet waste went straight on the compost pile.
Question: You cleaned out the poly tunnel. Tomatoes and marigolds can have very hefty root systems. Do you just cut them at ground level, add compost and plant your next crop?
That is correct, or sometimes we twist out smaller plants which means a few of the large roots separate and go into the compost heap. I always want to leave the main rooting system in the soil for microbes to eat
I will try that with my Brussel sprout bed. Btw, I was laughing when you finally talked about your dahlias… I have seen you walking by them and wondering when you were going to dig the tubers. Our low temp can be -20 F. so my tubers have been out of the ground for 2 weeks!
I have to grow brassicas under cover to keep pigeons from pecking the leaves and killing the plants, but you seem to be growing them without cover. Any tips please Charles?
It's simply that I'm fortunate here, that during the summer months pigeons are elsewhere. Then they arrive soon in December, when we need to get out the bird netting and cover brassica plants
Thank you for the tour Charles, I loved it.I grew mixed colour dwarf dahlias from seed early this year, I grew them in pots, will the tubers survive outside or should I move them into the greenhouse in the winter? 🥰
Sounds great and the answer depends on your climate. If winter nighttime temperatures are often below -5°C, 23°F I would move them undercover, even in a shed or cellar, because they don't need light
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I lived in Wiltshire, not too far from you🥰
I'm jealous
Charles, I have a quick question about autumn raspberries. When do you cut them to the ground? I usually wait until they drop all leaves, around late December or early January.
Any time from now if you want to be tidy, it won't hurt the plants. Sometimes I do it in February, depends on the workload here.
@charlesDowding1nodig Thank you so much again for sharing your knowledge and beautiful gardenviews. My question: do you test your soil so now and then? And if so, can you also share those results in a video? And not only pH, nutrients and organic matter percentage, but also the structure of your soil by showing a soilprofile out one of your beds? I'm looking forward! Keep up your very loving work!
As an example, here is a video of 3 soilprofiles from a garden in the Netherlands: ruclips.net/video/Unax3kAYHRg/видео.htmlfeature=shared
Thank you, and I have only done a little testing of my trial beds. Generally I don't believe in soil tests because I prefer to let the plants tell me what is going on. However, I shall see about sharing some of the biological, microscope work I have had done
@CharlesDowding what is the definition of soil when it comes to dig or no dig? Does the no dig beds eventually make contact with the soil below? Happy gardening from Australia to you 😊
Thanks, and soil is always just below or even at the surface because compost is being continually eaten and taken down into the soil, by organisms who enjoy feasting on it! There is no boundary layer between the compost and the soil, after the first month or two.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you 😀
Great video! Thanks so much😊. Difficult question: my compost isn't really ready..should I turn and let it overwinter in a heap or put it on the earth?
You could do either, depending how much your soil needs it. If you have no other cover before winter, I would spread it now and it will continue to decompose, slowly, over winter and be softer by spring, easier for planting into that if you put it on in the spring.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you!
humanure 🙌
Hello Charles! Could I ask you for help please? On the video you mentioned that you will remove the marigolds seedlings as they could be an issue, and we are keeping our plants sharing the space with the winter planting (salad leaves, purple sprout, mustard) thinking that they would be fine while surviving the weather. Should we remove them instead? Thanks SO much in advance!
Actually I thought to have said that I will leave them to be killed soon by frost! That is my plan, only they may get in the way a bit before that! Always in previous years they have been killed by frost in the polytunnel.
From the sounds of it you are leaving the parent plants, or maybe you mean the seedlings. If it's parent plants I would remove them because they often harbour slugs and snails - which was not a problem for the tomatoes
Thanks a lot Charles! Yes, it is the parent plant, so we will proceed to remove it as soon as possible. 😅
I purchased a bagged compost and it seemed to be filled with root fly and gnats. It destroyed a bed of snow peas and turtle peas.
Yeah my carrots were coming up clean until last week when they were riddled, thought I was in for a fantastic harvest! I'll be lifting earlier next year maybe.
Hard to know isn't it! Sow later, harvest earlier
I've sown field beans as one of my green manures this year and was wondering if they are edible if a plant is left to produce beans?
Yes, both green and more famously as dried beans
🥦🥬🍆Me ha gustado que comentes lo que vas ha sembrar semana que viene, me sirve de guía. Gracias por el video🥑🍓🫛
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Thank you for the walk around:)
Question. What do you think about horse manure as compost? I have a lot and was going to use it as the compost for my greenhouse this year. Have you trialed this before? Thank you.
I love it! Have used it for decades, and now one tonne a year goes on soil in polytunnel and greenhouse, it comes from my hotbed of the previous spring. I grow tomatoes in the heap first to check for weedkiller, pyralids.
It’s Great. I use nothing else . I admit it is easy for me as my next door neighbour delivers a barrow load every morning and is pleased to have somewhere to dump it . I have five bins on the go and as you would expect always dig from the oldest one . By the time I apply it to the garden it is really well rotted . Very pleased with results
VERY GOOD
Glad you enjoyed it Rena
hello, can i plant garlic or sow carrots with the soil wet because where i live it rains alot ,
thank you
Yes you can if drainage is good and the soil does not sit under water through winter
Have you read the humanure handbook? I highly recommend if you haven’t 😊
Thanks Sarah and yes what a great book
Hi Charles I’ve been cooking up my czar beans today from last year and many have black dots in the middle of them. I’ve no idea what they are and if they are still edible. Is this something you have come across? They seem ok apart from these small black marks where the bean divides down the middle and was only really visible once cooked.
I am not sure what that is! They should be fine to eat if they taste good