Charles Dowding
Discover and enjoy these quicker and easier ways of growing and harvesting vegetables, based on my 42 years of growing experience.
My speciality is the no dig method, suitable for all soils. It results in fewer weeds, and vegetables plus flowers grow as well if not better than when soil is tilled or dug. And it's good for climate change because no soil carbon is lost in tillage.
Decades of trialling methods and sowing dates have led me to a fine knowledge of best practice, in time-saving ways. My advice in these videos brings you harvests and pleasure in equal measure.
I wish you success in growing and want these tips to be more widely available, so that everyone who wants to grow great food can do so, without unnecessary work.
Charles Dowding
From the greenhouse, garlic planted in October between salads which cropped all winter, until mid-April. Then we removed those plants, and the garlic has grown enormous, very quickly to harvest 22nd May. Before that we spread compost, and transplanted tomatoes either side of it, and dwarf French marigolds between the garlic, which you can just see in this photograph.
The garlic is a 'free crop', needing no extra space and it suffers less rust than outside. Also, it's the 14th year of growing garlic in exactly this same space, no rotation, see my book Grow Together charlesdowding.co.uk/products/grow-together-50-pla… - also it's on Amazon, and please leave a review if you like it!
1 week ago | [YT] | 904
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Charles Dowding
I really enjoyed making this video with Ben Vanheems for the @GrowVeg channel, all about compost – what goes into it, how it breaks down, and the many ways you can make and use it. We looked at everything from wormeries to larger heaps and even composting toilets. You can watch it on the GrowVeg channel, and it’s also on my channel in the Compost playlist or Homepage – No Dig Key Principles and Practices playlist.
7 months ago | [YT] | 321
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Charles Dowding
When we are busy harvesting and enjoying all the food, it's easy to forget the particular times in late summer and early autumn for sowing seeds. Such as salad rocket, spinach, and endive, among others.
I raise them in my own design of module trays, see containerwise.co.uk/product-category/charles-dowdi… and then transplant them small at two weeks old often.
We give them a good watering, and sometimes a mesh cover is really good for Brassica seedlings in particular.
See my new Calendar of Sowing Dates shop.charlesdowding.co.uk/collections/calendar-wal…
9 months ago | [YT] | 688
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