Hotel chef creates amazing garden
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- Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
- Chef Darren Stephens took the opportunity of lockdown in 2020, to start a no dig garden. His learning came from my online teaching, such as this video • No-Dig Gardening for B... .
Within a few months he was intensively cropping a quarter acre / 1000 m² of grassland.
He is a motivated and hard-working man, with just two days help per week.
Since 2023 he has expanded the area, using compost covered by black plastic on the surface. To grow pumpkins and squash initially.
His results are impressive - huge harvests, and a beautiful space for work and pleasure. The garden produces micro greens and flowers as well as vegetables.
The climate is similar to Homeacres: oceanic temperate, zone 8 winter and zone 5b summer.
The land is owned by Homewood Hotel, near Bath in Somerset UK. 31 rooms and it's a venue for weddings.
See a different kind of hotel garden, Raymond Blanc's which also is no dig, • Charles with Raymond a...
My module trays which Darren is using are from Containerwise in the UK containerwise.co.uk/product/c...
Worldwide distributors are on my website products page www.charlesdowding.co.uk/stor...
Find garden products to help you achieve top results more easily, on my Crocus page www.crocus.co.uk/products/_/v...
Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding 21st May 2024, in a wet and relatively sunless spring.
00:00 Introduction
00:59 Darren explains how he changed from being chef to gardener, and why he chose to go no dig
02:01 Creating the veg garden at the start, and the compost he used
03:21 The compost bays, what goes in them and how they’re managed
05:19 Salad beds
06:06 Asparagus
06:23 Black membrane on beds to suppress weeds
07:21 My advice to add more compost
08:44 Strawberries
09:06 Beetroot
09:15 New area of garden, created in January
09:56 Pumpkins and cut flower garden
10:04 Fence, against deer
10:25 Squash, and potatoes - Charlotte and Pink Fir Apple
11:23 Propagating plants, Darren does this at home
11:47 Raspberries
12:32 Type of ground
12:48 Mint
13:16 Big blackberries
13:42 Beetroot
13:47 Spinach, with chard to follow, or dwarf beans
14:01 We discuss planning, and being fluid!
14:41 In the polytunnel - nasturtiums
15:38 Communication with the kitchen
16:34 Garlic planted between salads
16:42 Woodlice
17:03 Melons
17:36 Hotel guests visiting the garden
19:03 Outro
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Хобби
It’s an absolute privilege to work at such an amazing place. I am one of the young chefs that Darren speaks of, and his knowledge is extremely valuable. It is a pleasure to work with him. And you a really can taste the difference.
Wow lovely to hear this, I'm so happy you're benefiting from his work
Love hearing this. He has a very calm demeanor. What a gorgeous garden 🪴 Top notch content once again Charles
@joeellis-tyler5118 How wonderful it is to hear someone show their appreciation for this novice gardener! Actually, he’s no longer a novice, he has learned so much through trial & error & his wonderful successes!! You are lucky indeed to work in a beautiful environment & with the produce that Darren cultivates so well! Much success to you!!
I am a chef at a farm to table restaurant in the small town that I live in. Our menu changes with the seasons, our produce comes from a local farmers market for the most part. I've been collecting green waste to make compost on my homestead for the last 2 years. I have two other restaurants on board, but I'm starting to reach out to the rest of the town. It's fantastic compost, and soon I will be growing vegetables to sell back to the very restaurants that provided the green waste to make the compost in the first place.
And thus continues the circle of life.
If you're picking up the food scrapes you are saving them the cost on trash pickup. Nice.
Well done that sounds amazing 😊
Rock on brother 💪😎! Making it happen
I love how Charles says "Asparagus, 3 years old?" And was totally right lol.
I caught that too. He can guess the age of asparagus as if it were a child. Too funny!
Well it would be, wouldn't it? In a 3 year old garden!
@@rubygray7749 no not necessarily...
A delight to watch. Congratulations to Darren for creating Homeacres #2 - I love the fact that the hotel guests are invited to experience what has been created, too. Thank you, Charles, for recording and sharing this with us. A fantastic story.
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
If I lived in the UK I'd be booking into the hotel just for the home grown food. Amazing
I love that he is a producer who understands his 'customer' so well.
Excellent example. Imagine having Dowding come to inspect! Terrifying. Excellent example!
😂
You learn from his videos, do your assignment then, the professor comes to inspect your work. 😅😅😅
Terrifying !! 😂😂
@@sharon8723 Nah. Charles is a nice guy., I felt that he was picking up tips while he was there.
What an amazing achievement Darren! Such an impressive market garden💯
WOW what an amazing garden!!! At first glance I thought I was seeing Home Acres!
Me too. Perhaps it will become known as the Charles Dowding template. A great system
Superbe reportage Charles 👏
La personne est douée,son potager est déjà superbe au bout de 4 ans 👍
J'aimerais bien être à sa place😁
Pépé JP de ch'nord de la France
Cannot properly express how much I enjoyed watching this...
As new gardeners who have built a 350m2 no-dig allotment from pasture over the past 6 months, we appreciate the difficulty with not having enough compost. Our beds which had 6" of compost (gifted from a friend who worked for a nursery) have had far fewer weeds than the bed where we only added 3" of compost. I think realistically we'd rather the weeds than the weed barrier, but each to their own and that's certainly a beautiful garden!
Interesting and I agree
Absolutely brilliant.I have been doing no dig for about 5 years thanks to Charles Dowding.
Plus making my own compost.
Not only are the results brilliant but it is far far easier.
Thank you so much.
Lovely to hear!
Your guests must feel like royalty Chef Darren. Wonderful gardens. Great job and a lot of hard work. Thank you for the tour. Inspired by Charles Dowding. Thanks Charles, Darren and crew.
What an inspiring young man. Well done
What a busy guy! Loved seeing another man's garden plots...thank-you!
What a great garden. For so many restaurants/hotels a kitchen garden is window dressing. It's so good to see Darren making this work on such a scale. Thinking of the amount of work that's gone into it makes me flinch. Loved this video.
Absolutely brilliant - so glad I discovered no dig gardening, its changed my life. Great interview and another amazing garden.
This is wonderful…here in northern California we have brilliant chefs at Meadowood who practice similar “garden to table” techniques. I’m motivated to stay at this hotel when I travel to the UK. Thanks for the tour!
Sounds great Lynne!
Glorious! The French Laundry in the US is a Michelin star restaurant doing the same, with a gorgeous vegetable garden
What a joy to watch... I hope you return again Charles so we can see the harvest in afew months 🤞
He really dove into gardening! 4 years and wow amazing gardens 👏🏼 👏🏼
Loved the video and definitely a hard working man!
I love the message to the guests. This is where your food comes from. It's worth the efforts
This is just a great video, to show other example of permaculture farmers....keep doing this type of videos
Such a beautiful and productive garden! And in only four years. Thanks for this video.
What a wonderful video! To see Charles taking in all the garden beds, crops & composting system was a pleasure! He was smiling, analyzing, & offering other possible options for Darren to consider!! Both men are extremely DYNAMIC!! How wonderful it is to see such a stunningly beautiful garden!! Love & a tremendous sense of pride is definitely a motivating factor here!! Wishing Darren much continued happiness & success!!
Thanks so much Sonia 💚 and Darren will be happy
So impressive! I used to single handedly grow and care for the ornamental gardens and green houses at a private country club and golf course in Utah. It would have been interesting to have expanded a bit with a kitchen garden. This place is simply beautiful and amazing to my desert accustomed eyes. Thanks for taking us along!
Wow, so different!
Only 25 minutes since video published and already 11 comments ... how can I ever be first 🤣 About to watch with eager interest 💚to you Charles
4:51 thought he said 'we've got tortoises in the field' 😂
I also heard that!
I heard horses. I love 'em.
There are many ways to compost! 😂🤓
I have immense respect for anyone how grows their own food (I’m beginning to on a very tiny scale)! I had to do a double take of the intro because it looked so much like Homeacres - what a huge compliment to you, Charles. Thank you for sharing this lovely chef-turned-gardener and his beautiful garden with us. 🥬🧅🥕🧄🍅
Thanks and I hope this works for you :)
I am practicing wandering compost heap. I put all green on the heap, not too high, let it decay during winter, ready to go in the spring. People are starting to get curious about it. No compost turning needed, no spreading out. Some weeds removal needed but manageable. First results are encouraging. Nice black top soil.
Fantastic, thanks for showing us around 😊
You have like 1000 times the area I have, just so unbelievable.
😮
I like how the conversation bounces between these 2, great vid
Excellent video with valuable information Charles and Darren. Thank you for sharing. Best wishes Jason from Melbourne Australia.
Cheers Jason
Amazing been a chef my self many moons back 😅 it’s very satisfying taking from fork to table in matters of minutes can’t beat the freshness, there’s some hotel that Hugh done a film on them but I is in Wales.
The so called membrane is what allow places for slugs to stay and they come up at night and do their work. I do use surface landscape fabric on the walkways to prevent weeds, but I grow in raised beds and using bare compost as mulch only. With mulches and leaves debris intermingled with the vegetables the slugs love that.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. It is so lovely to see how you have inspired Darren even down to his polytunnel. Wow, he has worked so hard and must have been so honoured to have you there to look at his amazing work. Well done Edward for the filming too and editing you create such a wonderfully relaxing video, despite it being such a dull day. Do you remember back in the day, our beloved Geoff Hamilton used to visit small and large gardens alike getting tips and tricks to share with his viewers. If you enjoyed this, it would be great to see you visit more people and get a peek into how others have benefited from all your experience and wisdom. Thank you Charles and Edward 👏😄
Thanks Tina. I should love to get out more but time is the constraint.
We were very happy to see what he has achieved, and he's a lovely guy
🌱💚
The movement continues to grow & thrive. Beautiful to see. Each one teach one 🌀
Darren well done, you’re brave but knowledgeable.😊
That is a really great story, and look at his extensive food-producing gardens - after only 4 years that's amazing.
I too re-ignited my passion for growing my own food during lockdown, I started by digging up some of my lawn (before I'd heard about no-dig). I now have half an allotment plot (just got it at the end of March), and have dug some of the beds but I am trying no-dig on some new beds now. It's just wonderful to have the extra space at the allotment and it's great to see how other people do it too.
Thank you for this inspiring video! 😊
Dream garden...for a home gardener, too! 😊 I think Charles was a bit jealous. 😂
Wow Charles what a fantastic garden that chap is working in! I would love to start my own market garden and I’m going to one day!
Best of luck!
Fantastic video, well done Darren
What a lovely insight to hotel kitchen garden, sometimes I can relate, I grow food in my allotment and I’m the one that’s always cooking and my menu at home always changes every season 🤣🤣 Just love it!
Mini home-hotel!
Hello No Dig family! Charles, as always, great job on this video. What a beautiful behind the scene look at a well loved kitchen garden. Thanks for sharing with us
Glad you enjoyed it
Discovered Charles Feb 2020 also. It has been an upward
trajectory of learning, growing and eating well. But you've booted the proverbial ball out of the park Darren! What a grafter.. and another feather in your hat Charles. The sharing of your knowledge has literally changed lives. Thankyou both
Well said, thanks
This is amazing. More garden tours, please😊😊😊😊
Congratulations to the wonderful chef(and now gardener),inspiring!
OUTSTANDING! !
That has been one heck of a learning curve, and your achievement is truly remarkable.
I agree, that with more compost the beds would be much easier to keep clean and you could easily give up the plastic.
Bravo! !
How WONderful! So exciting. What an inspiration you are, Charles, for the younger generation. Keep up the good work ❤ 🇨🇦
Thank you so much
A credit to him!
Wonderful garden!❤ You look like a proud papa here, Charles! My daughter is a chef. She's finally got the gardening bug from me!
That is awesome!
Wow.
Truly a labor of LOVE!💖💖 Thanks for the wonderfully refreshing tour, Charles and Darren. If I were in England, I would COME AND SEE, taste and absorb the beauty and results of your efforts. You are feeding far MORE than mere physical bodies with nourishment: connecting with the Earth energizes you with the JOY of GARDENING, as well as those privileged to visit your garden and eat what it produces. Thanks, again.🤗❣❣
Thanks Marie 💚
It is so hard to calculate the cost benefits of this garden because the benefits are much more than the sum of any numbers. Beautiful garden and I hope the higher ups keep it around for a long time. Great job!
I really really hope that the Hotel management realise this. IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT MONEY❤ Brilliant video❤
Charles Dowding sayesinde 3 yıldır kazı yapmıyorum, artık bahçe işlerim çok daha keyifli. İyi ki varsın, seni çok seviyoruz🌿
Başarınızı duymak harika Funda
It is the first year for me trying No Dig and module trays, using your videos as inspiration. And I’ve been growing food at my allotment for 18 years and this year things have never looked better. I mulched with horse manure last autumn and it has made the clay soil underneath so soft and crumbly, I’ve never seen so many worms in my soil! Can happily say the broad beans, peas, lettuce and beetroot look the best around.
Lovely to hear, despite a difficult spring
There are many veg that I dont eat much or any of except when I grow it myself ... part is bc I get satisfaction from eating what I grow, yes, but also much of it is bc the freshness makes all the difference in the world ... idk of any restaurants in my area that grow their own ingredients, wish I did, I will keep looking. But what if there was a certification for restaurants similar to the "organic" certification (which I have issues with, but another topic) where the restaurant gets the certification if a certain high percentage of its ingredients comes from its own garden? I like that idea. This Chef is amazing, Charles, glad you two hooked up.
I know what you mean @tedbastwock3810. Crickets are organic protein too and don't have to be listed in ingredients. Probably the same for cricket flour.
@@smas3256 Yes, thats def something organic I would not eat 😝
Increíble!!! El poder de Charles Dowding hace magia en la gente de todo el mundo ...No Dig.. 🌎🌎🌎🥰🥰🥰♥️♥️♥️🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷
Gracias Andrea
Bravo Darren. Your garden is rockin.
fantastic garden charles
That's the key perennial problem of No Dig; finding compost.
To do it in the easiest and most productive way.
You can have closer to a 'normal amount of weeds' if using less.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig following on from your advice, a thin layer on my mixed flower borders on Boxing Day makes a huge difference to plant health and vibrancy. I gave up on the veggies, which are so cheap to buy. Mixed salad bags are just a delight when you find a good source (such as yourself, of course) but getting enough material to make compost is difficult.
@@steveelkins52 thanks for sharing and that makes sense. I’m only disappointed that the vegetables are so cheap to buy! Great for you, not good for the producers.
This is fantastic, lots of work and it's beautiful. Charles you're such an inspiration; I love my 8 no dig beds and no dig greenhouse. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the world.
Thanks Lynn
Compost is the crucial part of the whole mix - if you are short but have been no-dig for several years, the beds lacking new compost show visible deterioration of outcomes even in year 1 of shortages. I'm increasingly concluding that all the planning, seed sourcing, sowing, transplanting and weeding is all very well, but without good compost, it's just as much effort for less output.
Community. I share what I can. If I need kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells I know people around me will help. I only have one neighbor that gardens. He brought us a big bunch of radishes today. He's planting 50 tomato plants. He'll be getting to taste our Galahad and Brandy Wine. Another neighbor brings us extra fresh caught fish. Another friend cans his extra fish and he gets carrots. You are so right about compost. Charles inspired us to keep gardening at our young age of 75ish.
Super, bravo!
Wow! What an amazing experience. I really like how Charles asks such expertise questions. Thank you for sharing!
Nice to hear :)
Impressive! Thanks for sharing.
What a great video, wow! So much hard work has gone into creating this amazing produce. That you Charles for asking the viability question. As someone who would love to do this full time it’s always the concern.
Glad you enjoyed it Lisa, hope you are well
Just WOW! So cool! Thank you for sharing, was really something to enjoy.
Fabulous. And, as usual, little pearls of wisdom sprinkled here and there.
💚
Watched this more than once but listening to your conversation it comes across that you two are amazing but humble men.
So enjoyable. THANK YOU.
SO enjoyable to watch 😇 thank you 👍
Wow, thank you
Thoroughly enjoyed this video
I am glad Kelly 🙂
So great to see, hope more hotels will do that 💚
HUGE garden. Great tour, thank you.
Amazing!
Wow impressive, I recently went on a gardening course down the Grove in Narberth (wales) hotel, not as large a scale but same principle for their own kitchen & they are new and expanding. Was a great experience
That is truly incredible!
Great that is!
I am an amateur chef and gardener and I live for these videos whether they are the ones where Charles is the Chef or whether he is meeting other Chef's. I can't put a price on what I do in the garden. To me, the health benefits, the reduction of flying miles from paddock to plate, and the ability to use one's backyard as a lab for experimentation is all I need. Of the experiments to come, I am planning on testing the playing of Classical music (I am an amateur musician) and reading poetry e.g. Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. There is something real and tangible that happens when walking through the garden in bare feet.
Lovely comment Craig.
I never thought of reading poetry, that's a great idea, and I have a feeling that big plant benefit would come from the feeling we have when reading, that rising energy of love and appreciation.
He mentioned Kuri squash! I LOVE Red Kuri squash as I've mentioned to you before, Charles. Can't go wrong with them. Loads of squash on a single vine and can eat everything, including the skin. I love what he is going for there and the fact it is being used in the hotel/restaurant industry. It makes me just want to come on over and volunteer my time there.
That's nice to hear!
I have been growing and recommending Kuri squash for 40 years, for its great flavour, but more than anything. It's fast growth and early maturity, so useful in our climate here of summers not hot.
Wow amazing
So good! I love seeing more people take up quality food growing and do it well.
I am so proud of you both for your wonderful achievements!
I am still a strong advocate even tho it seems to fall on deaf ears at most!
My garden is at its best this spring as to balance of soil.
Rich with earthworms and lush foliage! An emotional experience!
Lovely to hear Connie and thanks
Wow this is fantastic
Fascinada con esta historia! Charles, eres una inspiración para tod@s!!!❤🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱
💚
living the dream!
Beautiful
Awesome, love the fact that many places are garden to plate with fresh ingredients
How fantastic! I wish more restaurants did the same! Well done.
I loved this episode! So inspiring!
What a marvellous story of success. Well done to him - and anybody who works hard to create such a great growing space.
This is truly amazing success!
What a beautiful garden and what an excellent idea-recycling kitchen scraps and things like coffee grounds to make compost to feed the garden and the garden to feed people. I would like to see more of these kinds of endeavors.
Nice!
Wow what a wonderful building and garden. Such a gorgeous no dig plot - loving those compost bays. Useful reminder Charles about adding more compost if the soil is quickly ‘eating’ it up! Thank you both for a great video 🙂
Well done Darren you have created such a lovely growing area. 😊
Loved this video
Amazing work! What an incredible garden, hotel and idea! xxx
Hi charles great video very interesting seeing such a successful change from chef to head gardener of course both brilliant jobs but great to now be outside in the fresh air and seeing the the benefits ❤
Charles, how proud were you, after seeing such a marvel and hearing that it was born straight from you youtube videos?!? Well... my garden got alive and lush just in the same way. Thank You for spreading your knowledge and wisdom!
Thanks and yes, I am thrilled, also to hear from you