Start out, Methods, Plant cover, Companion planting, Health from soil Charles Dowding

Your information is really helpful for beginner gardeners like me. Actually fertilizing is also a process that needs to be learned. It's worth learning.

My dad always said a weed is simply a plant in the wrong place.
He even kept a nettle patch for red admiral & tortoiseshell caterpillars.

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Charles your lovely book for children inspired my son who planted his first seeds last spring. He got them in late, but whatever he did he impressed everyone! Managed to grow 9 beautiful sugar baby pumpkins and we honestly owe it to your writing and the gorgeous illustrations. Hes 5 now and already growing better than me haha! Thank you thank you thank you!

So much information soil health=plant health=our health. Sure do need to get a better understanding, I feel closer. Thank you

Ivermectin was found by a Japanese scientist from a soil sample & he won a Nobel Prize!
''Work on ivermectin has seen its discoverer, Satoshi Ōmura, of Tokyo's prestigious Kitasato Institute, receive the 2014 Gairdner Global Health Award and the 2015 Nobel Prize......''

Beautiful ❤

Just taking over a new allotment and this episode is really helpful. Thanks. Our new plot comes with a patch of brambles. What would you advise please? Will cardboard be sufficient to stop them coming back once cut right down?

Hi Charles, thank you so much for sharing all your findings. I'm about to set forth to create a no-dig bed as per your instructions. I'm just a little worried that the ground (currently weedy lawn) is really quite compacted - especially given the wet weather recently and I have quite a wet garden - the water table is high. I am, however, making the growing area in the better drained area, but should i be concerned about compacted soil under my new no dig beds? Thank you again, Beth

I actually grow fennel close to beets and some green onions. I haven’t had any problems. Thanks for the tip.

I have acquired a allotment with raised beds, that have been dug, no weeds as to speak. Can I add a small amount of compost and start my no dig beds on these.

Charles, I have an area that has a lot of goat/sheep sorrel. I want to make a new bed there next week. Will the cardboard with compost on top kill it, or should I dig out all the roots first?

I am now on my 3rd year of no dig (thank you for your valuable guidance) and I can certainly testify to the endless benefits of growing this way. I would be interested to know your thoughts on when to reapply compost mulch on new beds created in July/August. I added 4 new beds in Jul/Aug last year which had a lot of manure & compost when I made them. These beds have grown leeks, tomatoes & squash but I am curious as to when I should reapply compost mulch. Should I do it ahead of this years planting or wait until the autumn? Any advice appreciated.

I planted out last year’s strawberry runners into 2 of these beds in October, which have taken well & overwintered, inter planted with garlic. Interested to know how & when to reapply compost mulch to these too?

Many thanks 🌱💚

My allotment do not like cardboard being used. It’s so frustrating, I’ve had to use black plastic and some digging.

Is your compost home made. I’ve found the quality of bought compost is not great.

I have hard time to belive the card board boxes are safe to use. Where are they from? What kind of chemicsls do they use in the manufacturing process ? Am I just getting paranoid? Are there alternatives?

Hello Charles, Robin here, love your videos. My question for you is,my husband is taking out trees so i have a place to make a foodforest with the three tree,two edible bush layer and edible ground covers. How would you suggest i start after trees are removed? Should we till,then use boxblade to level,then coltapact before adding the compost?
Thank you

Спасибо, сэр Чарльз, за ваши интересные видео❤❤❤!

Charles! Your videos serve as a grounding respite from the survival scramble that is NYC.

Thank you Charles!

HOT Tip: Costco has the best free cardboard boxes. they come in perfect square sheets without slat cuts.

Therein I‘m greatly interested, the connections between the soil and human body biom. Being also an healthcare professional, I‘m convinced our creator has been intetional about combining them to eachother to benefit both of them and make a healthy circle.
… Until people had some harmful ideas that partly continue to the present days.

I‘m not convinced either that compagnion planting makes such a huge difference.

Some might do like carrots and onions, but in my garden a lot of vegetables and flowers grow close side by side and are happy.
The distinction in needs of watering are really important in my beds, especially in the last pretty warm and dry years, rather than the more wet ones, for not wasting water without running water at my plot.

Thanking you Charles again for the most inspiring no dig videos. Im on my 5th year of no dig and seeing the benefits in healthy plants. My neighbouring allotment older farmer who rotivates his plot yearly has started using cardboard no dig in some of his plots, we have a laugh about this as he was sceptical to begin with. The proof is in the pudding so to speak

Ooooleee,me quito el sombrero señor!!!

Hi Charles! Thanks for this video. Question. I’ve been using no till raised beds for 3 years now. I recently had my soil tested. Every year I add compost to fill back beds. I was advised to not add anymore compost for 2 years and refill instead with top soil so that my levels will rebalance out. I apparently have too much compost. What’s your take on this?

Thank you for your video, I found very interesting. I do feel that one cannot make or get too much compost and in fact I take great pride in making mine by including as much as I possibly I can into it, and find so much better quality overall then what I purchased,
but have now found that I have a great many more earth worms and I just like to inquire with you, that do you go out of your way to keep earthworms as you do not seem to have the more closed compost bins to enable you to keep them but the more open type?
I must say that this would enable your lovely cat to be occupied of course, although seen to be following you more and more and just so lovely in your video's.

Hi Charles. Really love your videos and reading your books. I have a quick question about compost. I read that spent compost can be revitalised for use in a second season or beyond, or for it to be used as a mulch etc. Can I use last season's old used compost, from my potato tubs and/or tomato grow bags, as the compost/mulch for the first layer on a new No Dig bed? If so I'm guessing it won't be as productive as brand new more fertile compost but it seems a shame to get rid of it especially as spent compost is meant to be good as a mulch. If usable would feeding or mixing it with new compost help?

Dear Charles, may your wise and peaceful words resonate around our world! I am very intrigued by the microbiome of the soil. Intuitively, no dig corresponds to SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) we find in ancestral fermentation processes. The soil hosts (or is itself) one sort natural SCOBY at different layers. So respecting the layers and just nourishing the top layer, refreshes the existing living community. I bet no dig soils installed progressively (to allow timely succession and positive selection of microorganisms) in different and unrelated parts of the world would develop an analogous SCOBY profile. Just as the sequence of bacteria on the surface of the vegetables produce constant and reliable fermentation process, anywhere in the world and since millennia.
I wonder if you like and produce/eat fermented vegetables. Until this year I used to freeze excess vegetables in abundance periods. Next year I will switch to lactic fermentation as a conservation method.
A sincere and profound thank you for your inspiring exemple. The truth is in the calm evidence of your wonderful reliable results, with bonus of less work and more yield! Respect from France!

Чарльз, видео очень понравилось! Несколько идей возьму на заметку и применю в моем саду!

hello,
I have a question about low beds. I plan to plant beds in my garden in February or March without digging, so I wanted to ask you what you think about this composition of the soil - in the first place, I would put cardboard
on the 2nd, I would spread partially decomposed tree leaves
on the 3rd place, I would spread decomposed animal manure and other decomposed organic waste, and on the 4th place, at the very top, I would spread my father's 10-year-old corn silage compost, which is really nicely decomposed, thanks for your opinion

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Always enjoy your videos, your enthusiasm is contagious and I learn so much.. Thank you.

I love the microbiome talk. I became very sick with Long COVID and when the garden started producing in the summer I noticed some health benefits immediately. Combined with the research about Alzheimers linked to the glyphosate in store bought produce, I figure I have to grow more of my own food.. Thank you for always sharing your knowledge.

Charles - Love your work ! :) Your mention of food and mood reminded me of the book I have by Prof Felice Jacka here in Australia -called Brain Changer - supporting exactly what you're saying - that healthy unprocessed food can be a treatment for depression and anxiety - she done some research and is doing more... its very exciting ... you're helping get the word out :) ... P.s. Thanks for the gardening tips ( I need them ) .. ! 🥦🥦

Thanks for all your advice Charles. I've taken over an allotment with substantial old compost heaps but they are covered in grass and weeds. I was thinking of digging out the compost to mulch the empty beds, but will it be a weed nightmare next year? Should I use a plastic mulch on top once the weeds start to germinate in the spring? Something else? Thanks in advance!

I've recently discovered (when I harvested my last carrots a few weeks ago) that I've got some root-knot nematodes infesting at least part of my garden, and I've noticed a great deal of beetle grubs in the last few seasons -- do you have any advice for controlling soil-born pests like this without disturbing or otherwise harming the beneficial soil cultures? I'm not sure these kinds of things are a problem in the UK like they are becoming in the US (I'm on the coastal mid-Atlantic coast).

Thank you for sharing your skills and knowledge continually. Always some point or difference to try in our challenging environment. Ending spring here and we are now looking at fuller beds with happiness. Getting my compost hotter will be very helpful. Thanks again!

Fantastic info, thank you.

Hermoso y completo video!!! Gracias Charles Dowing 😊

Just watched a program and they had an issue with Himalayan balsam. The trust contacted a lab in London that created a Rust fugal solution that they sprayed on to control the plant. I wonder whether this has anything to do with rust on garlic?

you metion mares tail.
have you ever experienced it?

Hello. Charles! I’ve just started a no dig bed, and planted chard, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach and strawberries. All were in small containers from Lowe’s. We are expecting temps -40 F in Alabama zone 8a. for a few days. Should I cover with sheet or straw? I follow you regularly and I appreciate your wisdom and knowledge!
Thank you!!!

Hello, love the idea for a no dig. My daughter and I have taken on an allotment and its covered in stinging nettles and couch grass would love to do the no dig but we don't have any compost or earth to cover cardboard and we don't have any money to buy bags of compost in. What would you suggest we do please.

How often do you cultivate the beds Charles

How wonderful to hear you talk about the connections between vegetable gardening and health. It rings so true ❤

Hi Charles, I have a bit of a dilemma. I have a new growing space up on a bank in the communal garden I have recently moved to. I want to grow potatoes but the builders chucked lots of rubble and concrete and glass up the bank when the new building was being built 20 years ago. Do you think I need to do an initial dig to clear this rubbish before setting up the new dig bed or start it off with plenty of compost this year and plant over the rubble. On the other beds I have made I have weeded and in the process cleared some of the rubble before cardboard and compost starter layers but don’t potatoes need space for deeper roots and tuber formation?

I want to get rid of boxes. If I take the wood away and spread the compost gently will it kill off the worm life which is thriving? The boxes were built on someone else's advice. He said you need depth of soft soil to grow potatoes. I don't agree.

Again! such an inspiring lesson to watch and learn from "Mr Charles and Team" I started "No Dig" last year, and am still building more beds, composting area etc.
As a trial, i mulched rose beds for the 1st time last November with compost made previously, following years of feeding pelleted products.
WOW!!! what a transformation, "Best Display this summer i have ever seen" By a country mile!!!
NO more shop bought feeds for me.
Particularly enjoyed the Food/Gut healthy eating section, it's the way forward.😉🙂👍

No dig is an amazing way of growing veg. I'm just so proud of my healthy worms.