Aubergines in cooler summers, no dig and no fertiliser or feeds, two stems each
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- Summers here at 51N in our oceanic climate average 21-22C/70-72F by day, and 12C/54F by night. It pays to grow heat loving plants under cover, in this case in my greenhouse.
You see how I train them to two stems each, then side shoot them like tomato plants.
We water by hand rather than drip line, .to encourage surface rooting. The no dig soil is weed free, bouncy and full of air, as I demonstrate. The abundant soil life means I don't need any feeds or fertilisers. We simply spread about 5cm/2in compost once a year in May, which helps to feed winter salads as well.
My plug plants are grown by Delfland Nurseries, you can buy them here www.organicplants.co.uk/acata...
I recommend Delfland's plants, all organically grown and not always the largest on delivery, but strong growing, as with these aubergines.
Filmed 29th July 2019 by David Adams at Homeacres, zone 8 climate.
I mention Felix Hofmann, no dig grower in Germany near Mannheim not Weinheim, who is felix.hof on Instagram, and I am charles_dowding.
Follow me also on FB and @charlesdowding on Twitter.
For deeper knowledge of growing vegetables no dig, see my online course from my website which contain many unique videos, not available elsewhere - this link is for Course 2 Growing Success charlesdowding.co.uk/product/... 
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You can tell when aubergines are mature is when the surface just starts to loose this glossiness and becomes a bit matte. This is an indication that they have to be picked cuz if left further they start becoming bitter.
Sorry Charles meant to say mine are grown from seed & I have given some very successful seedlings to friends & theirs are thriving too, so I am very proud of myself. Cheers Denise - Australia
Hey Charles, I plan on pruning my eggplants to two stems this season. It would be nice if you did another video on eggplant, following along the process every 2 or 3 weeks or so, showing planting, pruning to two stems, training up the the string, harvest, etc. It would helpful to illustrate the process in more detail.
Dear Mr. Charles, I am new at gardening. i purchased a house with quite big backyard and i decided to start vegetable garden for my family. i have no idea if I am even capable of growing anything but you Sir, your videos give me a positive attitude towards it. I want to thank you for what you do, what you share with us here. The way you preset it all its enchanting. You love what you do and it shows every second in every video. Thank you.
The only luck I ever had growing aubs was with a couple of grafted plants. They were absolutely incredible. It seemed that every time I strolled out into the garden there were 3 more massive fruits. Highly recommended!
Charles, you are a beast! I love your videos and wish you were my grandfather. Stay safe!
I appreciate that Alex
So much great information. Growing on 2 stems (graphed too). Very informative.
Oh Charles it was wonderful to see your Aubergines growing so well- after taking your advice a couple of years ago with mine I have had such amazing abundance & success ( actually if I ever see another one I will scream hahaha), no I can them for my pantry & everyone elses/ give them to neighbors/ cook amazing meals (lasagna etc) with them.
It is actually the one most successful fruit I have ever grown & as you know with our current sub-tropical humidity I am having problems in my garden & am not planting anything until after February. Cheers Denise - Australia - ps: The weather is so weird over here at the moment but I am so Thankful for No Dig Gardening as little weeds just don't seem to grow.
Nice feedback Denise except for your difficult weather.
We have had an easy winter but expect a storm tomorrow, high winds.
Nice to hear of aubergine abundance :)
The best hands, the best veg garden i see in youtube💚
Many thanks
Absolutely beautiful Mr. Dowding!
Your so informative and I love how I can follow exactly what you mean . Thank you so much for all your videos.
You are so welcome Sowayba
Fantastic, Charles! Even until October you managed to harvest, beautiful.
Thanks Andrew - we had a warm autumn!
grazie Charles per i tuoi video, sono molto importanti, sei veramente un grande insegnante.
Thanks for the video Charles, I always learn something.
All the best
Kit
Fascinating. Where I live eggplant is a difficult plant to grow! We are on the Canadian border in northern Minnesota, zone 3a. To be honest I've never eaten one. Looking forward to starting seeds soon! My garden is still under 3-4 feet of snow but I'm am having visions of sugar snap peas dancing in my head 😁
Northern wisc here. They grow well under slight cover. I grew many, but didn't know what to do with them. They are quite tasty & I now love using them.
@@fourdayhomestead2839 you can bake them. Sliced with salt and pepper. Put them in jars with grated garlic and cover with olive oil. Keep in the fridge. Have as salad later with a bit of apple cider vinegar. Yummy!
Please look for vegetable growing at a scandinavian woman. she can get huge amounts from her garden in a month. You may not be able to understand her. but you can also pick up a lot by looking. good luck
Thanks as always Charles. If time allows i may try the 2 stem approach. I have pruned very lightly in the past, but as you mentioned i end up with more plant than fruit.
I love the 2 side shoot idea. Will most definitely try it. Love your programme. I can't wait for your updates. You converted me to no dig. I get a lot of compliments for my lack of weeds, tough i like it rather for it's mulching purposes. It is genius. Enjoy your day.
Great to hear Gert 😀thanks
Definitely going to give them a go this year, it will be something new and interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Mr. Dowding, you made me give gardening another chance. I always wanted to grow my own good but I lived in a very cold climate and the garden we had was managed by my grandmother. Now me and my fiance have a house with a huge garden with old fruit trees and bushes and I tried to garden last year but I became quickly overwhelmed with new beds, ridden with weeds and trying to balance it with caring for my little son, the rest of the garden and the house. This year we are building raised beds and doing your no dig method and I can already tell its gonna be a completely different experience. I already started growing my plants at window sill following your advice and they are doing great. THANK YOU. I will buy your books with the money I save on vegetables this year. Be safe and please dont stop with the videos.
Thanks Adela I am happy about your enthusiasm, it does need to feel fun and be amazing
Don't get disappointed if everything doesn't work out right away, learn to be satisfied with what works. after a few years it is already a lot easier.
Never use land again if you can handle it yourself.
you must be able to check the new ground every 10 days. So every year a bit more is sometimes better personally.
Good luck, and this men explains things very Well!
You're lucky. I envy your garden space. I vegetable gardened a lot as a kid but have lived in big cities my entire adult life.
@@dergluckliche4973 its a blessing and also a curse. We have around 30 trees that need pruning every year, quite a big chunk (16x6m) reserved for vegetables and we have many fruit bearing bushes, vines, and I am also planning to get bigger with my kitchen and tea garden. And in the next few years we have plans to make part of garde reserved for games and relaxation, with flowerbeds and rest areas. We also renovate the house and have a small son. We are lucky to be in our 20's but let me tell you, sometimes after a long day of work I just sit down and remember how nice it was to have just a few pots of herbs and balcony varietes of fruit in my flat. :) Right now I am doing just that after coming back from the garden :) I am honestly worried how that all is going to work out after I go back to work but I just cant let the land go unused. Maybe look around your city, in my country most of the bigger cities have gardens for lease, my friend rented one of those with her friends so she was able to calm her itch for gardening. Or maybe you find out there are community gardens in your area. You never know until you look.
@@hermaklok-dijk8286 thank you! I only have issues with the vegetable garden. It gets a little big hectic with trees and fruit bearing bushes in the spring, when I have to prune them all (they are all used to spring pruning for years, sometimes decades previous owner is a family member so we know) but I can do that before I even plant veggies. My herb garden never had problem with weeds so when they started going crazy in my new vegetable garden I was shocked. Not that I was not expecting that, but the amount of weeding I did was really too much. I could spend few hours a day weeding and before I got to the end of my garden new weeds started growing at the begining. Also many seeds and plants got eaten by slugs. I managed to get some veggies from the garden and I was happy for them but more than a half of my efforts were empty. Thats why the raised beds and no dig. I hope to have less weeds, less slugs and save time.And also money because I bought all the seeds equipment for propagating them just to have them eaten by slugs and having to go to the store and buy new ones.
Another informative video! Learnt so much from you channel ✌️
I’ve never heard of eggplants being called that until watching ur channel. I will def be growing a few different varieties this year. 😉
Really helpful- thank you. Elizabeth.
Charles I used your string support and dual stem method last year and we had too much eggplant to use. Lots and lots of pickled eggplant in olive oil, great recipe! Thanks for the great tips and sharing your knowledge.
Ah cool thanks for sharing this Jason, and it's a lovely 'problem', too much!
I love the name Aubergine so much better than our name of Eggplant. I have given up growing them because they always fail in my garden. Now I'm encouraged to try them again this year. Thanks for the info!
Beautiful plants. What a great idea burying the trellis strings!
Great video, really informative as always ... Many thanks 👍
Thanks for another great video! Seeing this reminded me to water mine! We brought two aubergines inside before frost last fall. One is called Patio Baby, and the other is Black Beauty. They're both in pots. Normally I have not had success with them due to flea beetle eating all the leaves, but last year we decided to try potting them instead of growing them in the garden. We actually got a few fruits! I hope to eventually be able to grow them in the garden in the no dig beds. Our trial of no dig has convinced us to completely switch over to no dig. Thanks for your videos. You're a true blessing.
Thankyou Janet and I wish you success with that :).
Yes no dig is the way.
Just sowed my black pearls today - am going to graft 2 onto tomato rootstock, saving the other 3 from the packet to grow without. Did a couple of black beauty on rootstocks last year and they gave me the most fruits I've ever had.
Thanks for producing these one species start to finish videos. I find these the most useful.
Nice work and thanks
I have never heard of grafted vegetables much less grafting eggplant onto tomato rootstock! Nice.
I do my tomatoes with 2 vines. Learned about it through J.M. Fortier.
Ah a local one for me. JMF is a great teacher. I buy his produce when I go to the local market in Montreal.
They have suckers like tomatoes. I grow 4 eggplants this past summer and I did not notice the suckers or that I should pinch them out. Great tip. Thanks
Mr. Dowding,
It is an extreme pleasure to watch your videos and apply them to my garden here in Douglasville, GA, USA (zone 7). I have learned a lot. Any comment or feedback or research as to how well your no dig method works with container gardening. I do have to raised beds but 70% of what I grow will be in containers. This will be the 1st year I'm trying your no dig method in both raised beds and in containers. Thanks for you expertise and knowledge and keep the videos coming!
Thankyou George, it's my pleasure.
I use the same approach in containers, filled with compost only and well firmed down.
Small ones say less than 12-15in diameter need new compost every 2-3 years.
I grew my first ever aubergines in a mini polytunnel last year, didn't think they'd do well but they ended up making so much fruit! They were Hansel and farmers long :)
@@GravefriHave You definitely should! I was at the point (early june when it was so cold last year) where I though they wouldn't make it but they ended up being big strapping plants!
fantastic veg great video
I tried to do the two leaders-thing with my aubergines last year but I think I grew a bushier variety because the plants just laughed at me and divided into like seven stems and would not listen to reason at all.
And then there are the bloody spider mites I never seem to win over, not even when I kept the plants super well watered and showered the leaves (was worried about the tomatoes rotting/getting blight at one point there because they dont like showering) and sprayed them with neem-oil. But I refuse to give up, this year I have new varieties and will try training them. And then just... idk... pray for a lack of spider mites I guess. 🙈
Thank you for your videos that keep inspiring me even when I fail miserably! ❤
Ah sorry, but also good that you return with optimism 😀and yes you maybe had a dwarf variety, no chance of two leaders.Red Spider are horrible and problem with neem oil it kills beneficial insects too, best of luck!
Wonderful video
i love that at the end the music was kiss from a rose by seal.
Here in NY zone 6b, we can get them to grow if it isn't too wet. This year I may build a T-type Trellis with hanging lines down. Some up-front cost, but hanging lines works better than almost any other support. Those Eggplant/Aubergine plants look very healthy Charles, nice work!
Thankyou and this sounds a plan. Your summers are hotter than here but it sounds like you have heavier rain too :)
love your garden
I love your vegetable garden. :)
Thankyou
Ah mate its always such a joy to catch up with your work. You are and will always be Master Charles. I have been working my butt off, my garden is complete, I have 500 cells sat next to me in my room, 1st batch, protecting the babies. I ordered a plot yesterday 334m2, its going to be pre fab from here, all lined up and clinical beds. Dug out and removed all debris from the front now ive just cut loads of lavender, rosemary and lemon balm thyme. Its will be sweet. Making a page soon so people can see the two year project complete. Been following Tanya from GW, ah mate she has a dream there. Lightwork for the world. Im so super excited to plant out my garden, ive really worked hard on it blood sweat and tears and im only getting warmed up.
Cheers Dan and it sounds great. Sweat is good sometimes :)
He is the man....
Here in Australia I completely forgot your advice. Lucky I checked now before it's too late. I have six strong eggplant plants, various flowers and no eggplants. I am going to thin out tomorrow as best I can and manually pollinate flowers the way I did last year. I did not even remember my own hand-pollination advice (below)!
I now have around twenty very tiny fruit formed, after I thinned each plant to two stems and hand pollinated the flowers, so all's well. Luckily the weather's warm so there's been a lot of natural encouragement for the eggplants to grow. I'm looking forward to cooking my famous ratatouille recipe with the eggplants when they mature. :) Cheers.
👍👍very interesting video
Wish to work there 😍😍😍 one of the most clean and beautiful garden ive watch and i wanted to work thank u for sharing your garden more more videos 😍😍😍😍😍
Many thanks Jenny
Im bless and glad you replyed me sir have a wonderful day god bless 😃 watching from philippines 🇵🇭
My dad LOVES his egg plant we grew ours from seed mostly this year and they’ve taken over the garden here in Australia but the weather has been all over the place maybe not hot enough but they are doing well considering
How lovely, despite the weather!
Perfect
Living in the US, I thought this was something new to me with that name. Found out it was just a common Eggplant as we know them.
Yeah, I've been surprised by it in the past :) ! So, in case you haven't heard these others : I've learned that Europeans also typically call zucchini : Courgettes ( not sure on spelling, it's pronounced with a soft G, like zshhh sound ) & at least in Britain, rutabagas are called " Swedes". Those & the eggplant name, are the only differences I know of so far ( some folks everywhere call corn maize, I guess, but americans know that one, or should ).
Cool!
And sorry to disappoint you @RBT 😀
RBT..there are many names for the eggplant. In India it is called ‘brinjal’ or ‘baigan’, in the Caribbean it is called baigan or melongene, in the U.K. it is more often referred to as eggplant or aubergines. The first time I heard it being called an eggplant I was looking at the small egg-shaped variety in white or purple. In the same way there are many varieties.....thin, fat, long, short, round....just thought I would share.
Nice
Hello and God bless. Your life!
Wow amazing beautiful
So nice
Muchas Gracias por SUBTITULAR EN ESPAÑOL
Wish I could Garden as organized as you.😌
Perhaps you can 🌈
I wish you would do a video on your greenhouse layout and changes during seasons. How much space you devote to seed starting and how much to growing. Plus info on the marigolds and other flowers you plant in the understory. thx love your info.
Thanks, and you can see that in this and other videos, my propagation space is just a quarter or so of the space, see melons video too
Planted my eggplant and pepper seeds last week. Still waiting for them to pop up. Did not know eggplants could be grafted! That’s wild! Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants thrive here in California. It’s the other, more tender plants that sputter out too soon, or don’t grow well at all here. I don’t have any shade over my garden.
I am growing California Wonder sweet peppers this year 😀
Felix Solawi Weinheim? Funny I lived and worked in Weinheim many years. Beautiful little tourist town.
Thank you for this glimpse into aubergine growing. My first year in the polytunnel, I had so-so success, but last year, with two consecutive heat waves (not to mention snow 30 May), I had no luck. I will use your tips--and cross my fingers for the weather--to attain greater yields this year.🍆
I wish you the best
I LOVE your videos! And, by the way, they help me to improve my english. Thank you so much! Greetings from Germany!
Sehr gut danke schon 😀
A god amongst men... Literally
I praise and thank God. None of us is God at all. Only One God Exists. God Is The Creator of all of us. God Is not Created. God Is not a human. God Is The Creator of all the humans. God Is The Only One Who Creates the plants and Only God Makes the plants grow. I love God. So Glorious God Is!
Next year I think I’ll train them up two stems, mine are busting to now.
First class video Charles, I must try two leaders this year. I always find it quite difficult to find string strong enough for the job, without going over the top. Steve...:)
We use baling twine from our round hay bales. If you don't have any yourself, perhaps a farmer has some to share. We always have a lot of baling twine, and it looks like the same stuff Charles is using in the video. It's quite strong and must be cut with scissors or a knife. Your local feed store may carry it.
We also use the wires that are wrapped around a hay bale.
You can also buy on a very large spool at an agricultural store. Welkoop or horticoop in the netherlands.
Go to a horse riding school and ask for a few threads of hay bale threads. much cheaper.
Dear Charles, thank you so much for all your videos, all your tips - they always seem to come up right when a question pops up in my mind! May I ask how you deal with crop rotation (or not) in the greenhouse?
You are welcome and I don't do a rotation in there
I wish I'd limited my eggplants to two stems. Here in Melbourne I have six plants growing in a raised bed in the open and they all got mildew fairly quickly back in December. They are sprawling in all directions and it is far too late to try the two stem approach. They are growing in tomato cages which at least helps to keep them sort of upright. Huge pumpkin stems are encroaching on their space as I didn't realise how much room pumpkin plants take. I am learning each year. I still have managed to get eggplant from around half the flowers, using the hand pollination method (children's paintbrush), but I think eggplants need a lot more shelter as in your setup. Thanks for this video.
You are learning :) and it sounds ok!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Well I am trying again, here in Melbourne Australia. I purchased two eggplant starts that are now around five inches high in small containers. The roots are already showing through the bottom of the containers. We have a cool temperate season here but with spring progressing they are both shooting up. Should I pot them up to larger pots and wait to plant them out or just go for the raised bed planting? I want to try your two-stem approach this time. :) I would be so grateful for your help.
Very informative, my thanks. Your vlog did however spark one question in me. Why would you not train a tomato up two (or even three) strings in the same way as you have for the Aubergines?
Good thought, see comment by Terry Canam, maybe spacing would be wider. I find it easier to have one tomato stem, they grow faster than aubergines.
Thank you for this video. The music is so peaceful and pleasant these dark winterdays🌈💕. Would you recomment other plants to be bought trained and grafted on better stems, like f.x. melonplants or maybe other vegetables to help the growth in a colder climate? I am in Denmark, and hopefully maybe I could find a gardencenter that does that.. Thank you😊
Thanks Marias and probably not, and certainly not for winter.. Funnily enough my success with grafted plants is only aubergines
Thank you for your information. I will try with fewer stams this year on some plants. Last year I had 4 plants - Ophelia. I did let them grow wild and they did provided at least 20 fruit each! I did help them to pollinate because the last summer in Norway was not good and not many insects on rainy days... Looking forward to see if there will be any difference between pruned and wild plants :)
A bit different - Ophelia is a dwarf aubergine, so smaller plant and probably fine with many stems
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you for your information. did not know that :)
Thanks Charles, I'm giving this a go with the same grafted variety - as well as a variety I've started off myself. What do you think of 3 leaders instead of 2, is that just plain greedy?
I suppose the prime average picking time would be the same as summer squash, like yellow crook necks. Any bigger than about 6 inches and the seed gets big. I never was able to grow these vegetables successfully. Different varieties vary, I would say. The ones that were grown for the restaurants when I was younger were very large.
I love eggplants and I plant them in plenty in my garden. Sadly it got virus, most of them died. Need to replace soon
New to you&thank you. Quick??? No do/layer of mulch..How do I add veg. Compost? Do I push over mulch ,then cover back up??
Cheers and no need to move mulch around, all old plant material on compost heap
Hey Charles. Thanks for another wonderful video. What kind of spacing do you use for aubergines?
20in / 50cm
Hi Charles - any tips on what to do for overwintering aubergine plants? Mine are just about staying alive in mild, December, indoor conditions in the UK (apologies if this question has been asked already).
Hi Simon and I am not trying this, not easy! suggest keep leaf and stem dry, underwater so they hibernate, good luck
Thank you for all your videos. a question: what polinates these plants in the greenhouse ? THX
Insects fly in
If there are no pollinators around, you can always pollinate by hand. Use a children's paintbrush and rub it gently in the centre of an open flower, to collect pollen, then rub the paintbrush around the rim of the flower. Be careful of prickles and hold the flower gently or it can break off. I have used this method successfully.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig We leave our polytunnel open and the tomatoes are fruiting like mad but our eggplants haven't fruited at all. Flowered profusely but no fruit. We are 43 degrees South and have up to 50 degrees C in our poly tunnel. Might have to try the manual pollination next year but any other ideas as to what might be happening?
@@PermieCulture I am in summer in Australia and forgot my own advice, above. None of my six eggplants have produced fruit and now I know why. I've been using the paintbrush method but just moving pollen from one plant to another. Something made me check here as I vaguely remembered posting something here a year ago. So now I know to rub the paintbrush first in the centre of the flower and then on the rim. Tomorrow I will be doing that. I suggest you do that next summer.
Last year in my temperate maritime climate I successfully grew lots of Millionaire F1 outdoors both in-ground and in raised beds, only covering at night when the temps went below 45F/7C. Just for home use. Have had zero luck with matti gulla/petch siam (the round green spotted types) ones though. We are only a few miles from the coast, and get a good bit of morning fog rolling in, and are about 50km/30miles from temperate rainforest.
This year will do a better job of keeping them covered and warm, I had too many to eat fresh last year, but want to see if I'll do better this year and do more preserving as Asian types are harder to find in the shops here.
Much prefer Asian eggplants/aubergines to Italian types, they are so much easier to work with in the kitchen, but that's just a personal opinion.
Thanks for sharing this Banhit
I praise and thank God. I think that this is the first time that I saw one of your sharings. God Has Blessed you! Verily Only God Makes the plants grow! So Glorious God Is! I thank God, I live near Philadelphia, USA. The house that God Blessed me with has a 10 foot by 20 foot garden. In year 2000 I planted two fig trees, amazing trees Created Only By God. God Blessed us with many figs and the leaves are delicious as well. So Glorious God Is!
Beautiful. How do you ensure pollination in a closed environment like this?
Open door, insects get in and out.
Fantastic crop, Charles.. I bought grafted plants this year for my new greenhouse… the plants are strong and vigorous with good flowering (I’ve done the two-shoot as here). However, the fruit are rotting off at the start of growth, before emerging from the sepals. I am watering every day, so not sure where I’m going wrong. The tomatoes next to them (same bed, well-composted, going into soil) are healthy with loads of good fruit. Any ideas folks?!
A shame despite your good work, and I wonder if you are overwatering, try every three days
Hi Charles, very interesting video. On the grafted plug plants, have you ever tried doing your own grafts?
No, Partly from lack of time + extra heat needed for earlier sowing, and cheaper for a few plants to buy them
Hi Charles, another great video thanks. I have a bit of a question if you happen to see this. I moved into a new house in october and have been doing the hard landscaping to set up a new veg patch in my garden with raised beds which I am going to do the no-dig method for. I am going to fill the beds with some organic matter, then topsoil from an old veg plot, but I don't yet have enough home made compost to top them all off with a few inches for final dressing. Is there a specific type of compost you would recommend for this purpose if I order a few cubic metres to be delivered? Thanks!
Hi Jack, sounds like you need a fair amount, and either green waste compost or (better) mushroom compost are good, or old manure if you know a trusty farmer. Don't overdo the amount of soil in proportion to compost.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks for your reply! 🙂 I'll have a look for some. Are you saying mushroom compost is the best?. I reckon within the 9 inch deep raised beds, soil will account for about 1/3 of the material in there, is that too much? I'm going to not fill to the top to allow space for more an more compost over the years.
Hello Charles. I have a question about the variety of eggplant you grow. All the eggplants I've grown in US have been shorter, bush-type plants. Are the vining type eggplants a specific variety? Thanks!
Black Pearl F1, see info charlesdowding.co.uk/seeds-and-varieties/
You've got to love an Opinel knife. :)
They are so good
How are they pollinated?
Any chance you could tell us a bit about where you buy your seeds & which types of seeds are your favourite thanks.
Yes Rob, I say a lot here charlesdowding.co.uk/seeds-and-varieties/
Hi,
Do you tie/leash the two thread to the eggplant stem?
I start with the approach of not digging thanks to you.
Thank you maestro
Upper galilee, israel
Hello Ron, nice to hear that no dig is happening in Galilee.
Simply place the knotted ends of TWO strings in the planting hole,
In your climate I imagine a great aubergine harvest.
Brilliant, thank you
.
And yes the aubergine harvest and taste are great.
Can you tell me if planting fruit trees in the dry season in Vietnam I need to do how to survive it.
Ah lovely question! Not sure really…
Plant a little deeper and straw or dry grass over the hole 🍎
Have you ever thought about using bio char in the greenhouse for water retention
I am not needing extra water retention, compost does a great job
Dear Charles, did you say "Weinheim" talking about that Felix's market garden? That'd be just around the corner from where we live. Do you by chance know under which name to find him? Thank you very much!
Yes Felix Hofmann, he sells vegetables on CSA, actually near Mannheim
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you very much
Hello Charles, there's a specific reason for plant flowers with the tomatoes/auberginies? Love your content, trying your tips here at Brazil
Thanks Lucas, and three main reasons:
they keep soil covered more
the marigolds secrete limonene which deters aphids
they look gorgeous!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks for answering! Good to know, I will plant them right now!
Hi Charles, my aubergine plants are nice, big and healthy but there are no flowers, any idea why this is the case? I have white Casper and the standard aubergine plant
Question please...if you have a market harden aa you do... how many aubergine plants do you have/sufficient for you?
Thank you
Cropping like these, one, or two for large family.
Their cropping season coincides with all the other summer vegetables.
Hi Charles, I'm wondering if you can help me. I've lost about 30% of my polytunnel lettuces to stem rot this year, when I look at your photos you don't seem to loose any, do you have any tips. I leave one of the doors open in the polytunnel most days to ensure it's well ventilated and try to keep on top of harvesting leaves. : All the best - Steve
Sorry to hear that.
I have not watered mine for 7 weeks so that helps, dry stems.
I always have some ventilation both ends.
I think lack of watering is key, after a thorough wetting in autumn
That sounds like something to try Charles, I've watered mine twice in the last 7 weeks, I think I need to trust that although the surface is dry, there's enough water deep down : All the best - Steve
Sir - would you take some time one day to explain how you maintain such a beautiful lawn paths in high traffic areas? My goodness. Do you feed compost to your lawn as well? How do you keep weeds out? Thank you!
Same reply as for Winter Garden.
Thanks Monika and it's native grasses/field or pasture grass which were here when I arrived, very straggly and space between clumps of grass and weeds.
Since then:
1 Regular mowing say 7-10 day intervals makes it grow horizontally and fill gaps with new growth
2 Bits of compost fall from our boots as we walk from and to the garden and composting area.
3 The grass is richer and stronger where we walk a lot, than in parts of the garden where there is less foot traffic.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you very much, you make my day when you reply.
Hello Charles, I want to grow vegetables so I am looking for a bit of advice regarding how deep to make my no dig bed. The problem is it will have to be on concrete. Therefore how many inches of compost would I need to get to before I can plant? (Depth wise) ? I have bought 50L of multi purpose should I get a second? I have never grown before but I now have time to devote myself. Hope you dont mind me asking. Your videos are inspiring, very detailed but simple to understand. P.s I live near Leeds. Thanks.
Thanks Niki.
About 8in! Which is a lot of compost, more I expect than one 50l bag. Concrete means there is nowhere else for roots to go, is why you need more. Hope it works out.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks Charles, me too. I appreciate your help.
My eggplant is Growing in a greenhouse on the northern California coast line (9b).About a week ago I noticed that some of the leaves were fading in color, becoming limp and curling. Can you suggest anything?
Sorry am unsure Tamra, sometimes I have the odd one do that
Hi charles I grew mine from seed last year and transplanted them to my greenhouse when the weather was warm ,even though I started them indoors early they never flowered last year so I overwintered 5 large plants in pots and they all survived I gave them a new topping of manure and compost ,but still no flowers they are now about 4 +foot tall and very healthy but I have no idea how to get them to flower any suggestions would be appreciated
That is a labour of love Christina and I am not sure! I do notice that some varieties are better at flowering and fruiting and hope that it's not a problem for you. Maybe water less, to stress them a little
Charles, in several of your videos I noticed marigolds planted all around. Are you using them as an insect deterrent?
Partly yes, they deter aphids, also they protect soil from sunlight, and above all they look lovely!
Charles - can you share where you purchased the plug aubergine plants from.
It's in the video description William
Hi Charles,
Not really a question about aubergines but one of no dig generally. I'm about to take over a garden which has been landscaped and beds made for vegetables/salads. The soil has been greatly disturbed. Should I start just adding compost to the surface and leave it or work some of it in? Is there a transition period with soil which has been disturbed where you should incorporate the compost a little? I live in a cold climate with snow on the ground until April.
Many thanks for all your hard work. Inspirational!
There is no waiting period in terms of sowing and planting, Soil organisms need plant roots to help create structure, air and food for them. They do that better than you can, in any attempt to ‘work it in”, causes more harm than good.
Dug soil will recover in time, but measuring that is impossible as there are so many variables and yardsticks. Within a year of adding a compost mulch, growth will normally be very healthy.
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@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks for the reply Charles, greatly appreciated! Ok, I will begin with the application of compost as soon as the snow goes. Excited to see what happens over the coming months. Thanks again, keep making your extremely helpful videos.
Do you cut them down at the end of the season or do you overwinter them for a second season? They are perennials(but not frost tolerant)
In a warm climate it could be feasible to cut them back for growing after winter, but in our climate that is not an option because it always freezes at some point. Furthermore the plants do not thrive in winter cold, damp and darkness so they rotted the one time I tried it
Another great video. I just transplanted my aubergines outside in the UK. For outdoor growing would you still recommend let it split to two leaders?
Thanks, and no, they have less time to grow and justify that
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I found another video of yours where you grew aubergines on a hotbed outdoors along with chillies and melon (will be trying melon next season). Correct me if I’m wrong the black pearls looked like it had two stems….
When I am growing a new vegetable I first check your calendar for growing times and then search youtube and your website on how to grow them. Me and everyone else truly appreciate the wealth of knowledge your sharing.
@@Dindoes I'm very happy to hear that and yes you can grow aubergines with two stems, especially if your son is quite hot and long!
I am wondering how far apart the two strings are placed?
Plants are 20in/50cm so strings are 10in/25cm apart on top wire