Hi Charles, I'm in Wales and we get a lot of rain here, around 2500mm (compared to your area at around 708mm) . Have you heard of anyone having problems with such high rainfall and the no dig method of just laying compost on top (especially as a lot of the land here is quite sloped). Many thanks for your videos they are very encouraging and informative.
I am not aware of a problem. Last year we had 1040mm, and 2/3 of that since August, much washing-through of compost, as in other years of higher rain, causing no problems.
I am green with envy, watching you harvest in the middle of winter, while my zone 6a garden is burried under several inches of ice and snow. Thank you Charles for sharing your wealth of knowlege. Because of you, I changed from doubble digging to organic, no dig several years ago. The only regret I have is not knowing about it 30 years earlier, when I planted my first garden.
My husband says something similar, but I am learning such a lot from Charles I have to talk about it :) and go out and do it It is so great alles very encouraging
Mid west Canada - we have a blizzard here today. A very cold weather snap on it's way- maybe minus 34 Celsius including windchill. I'm dreaming of gardening until April or May. I'm enjoying watching you do what I love. Thank you.
In my area, we are getting ready for the coldest month of the year. In February we can easily get to -10F (-23C) at night. I watch your videos to daydream about when Spring will arrive and I can get outdoors in my garden again...Thank you for the great content.
I love to see your gardens in action. I think my favorite part of this video in particular was "I'm still learning." I hope to always be open to still learning. What a boring life it would be if you ran out of things to learn. I began no-dig gathering last year when my tiller broke and I couldn't fix it. Now I plan on never owning another.
Our previously quarried, stony 1 acre field (FULL of creeping thistle and common hogweed) has really benefited from your methods over the last 12 months Charles. I will have hopefully created about 65.5 square meters of no dig beds in time for spring, more than doubling last years area, and I’m really going for it this year. I’m determined that my propagation game will be strong 💪🏼 Thanks again for sharing the knowledge 😊🌱
I've learned so much from gardening. For example, with your comment about the veggies being "dense food and not watery like from the market"... Normally I would have thought you were comparing your swede/rutabega to something like a corgette/zuchinni. But now that I've tasted home-grown I KNOW you're meaning a watery version of the same food. Bell peppers from the store make me want to cry, they are so bland and watery! Can't wait to have them from my garden again this summer. Thanks for all you do. I've got a couple of your books and they are a fabulous resource!
An old time saying in my area is, “February 1 is half your meat and half your hay.” Hence halfway through winter! I can still see Santa’s sleigh tracks in the deep snow! Enjoying your beautiful gardens! Thank you for your great works!🌱
Love your thoroughness and the way you anticipate questions so we don't have to ask them. Like the flowering spring on the rocket, my very thought was is it edible. Then you slipped the little comment in there saying it is indeed edible. Thank you.
We had a rainy 60 degree F day here in the Midwestern US, so I got out and cleaned up my garden, started a compost pile, and added to it from the chicken coop - all because I've been watching your videos and I'm now inspired to do things your way. Thanks for the education!
I so appreciate your offhand comment about not leaving decaying plant matter as that might encourage the slugs. I've been reading a lot of permaculture materials lately and was considering a chop and drop approach. I hadn't given any thought to how that might affect slugs. I find that you encourage a lot of good critical thinking in your videos, and I think that's really quite special. You teach us new ways to think about our gardens. thank you!
Thank you for highlights of the small space! I think most of us viewers are in the position of wanting to garden but not having very many square meters to work with so it's very inspiring to see so much veg coming out of such a small space. For example I only have 3 beds totalling about 4.5 sqaure meters. First year growing so hopefully I can expand that
@@GravefriHave Digwell isn't alone, I've never tried it either, it would never have occurred to me to do so. Doh! Roughly when would you sow/plant them out, do you know? I live in Kernow (Cornwall), we have much milder winters than England, though quite wet so I imagine they'd be OK in the polytunnel?
Sooo looking forward to having more winter crops this year! At the moment I have 2 leeks, a couple of borekole(?) plants, one Cavolo Nero and some beetroot. Oh and my first yar full of dry beans, wonderful! But potatoes, onions, more leeks, winter salads etc...yup lot's to wish and plan for. Thank you again for another inspirational video!
Very nice Charles always everything you plant is beautiful. I’m still working on my compost to build my no dig garden. Thank you for your video it such an inspiration.
I've got lambs lettuce in the greenhouse, broad beans, onions and garlic growing. Next year I will do more as it was a new garden. Could do with less rain, as I'm sure you are aware as I'm about 5 miles away. I have a few peas in the greenhouse but they are weedy.
I really enjoy all of your videos. Nothing but consistently good content. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us, especially when things don't turn out as desired.
In the south we've barely had a winter so far. I always reckon that February is the worst month for snow. I never bother storing carrots and beetroots, they're both hardy. I just cover them with straw and pull them fresh.
I have to tell you, I really do appreciate that you mention what was harvested before, what was in the second harvest, if that makes sense. This yr I'm going to watch your videos again before I plant, that way I can have early veg an later planted in the same area. Thanks again for sharing.
Lovely time of the year for us to on the plots ,we're not to far from you (Dorset) onions popping up, potatoes starting to chit ,parsnips still being dug and the days are getting longer. Have a great gardening year.
Thanks Charles. Always a pleasure watching your videos 🙂. My allotment is starting to take shape thanks in part to you & your advices...Hope all is well for you. Take care 👍
I've been watching your video's this past year and you've greatly inspired me to get the veg plot really filled up! So naturally I ordered your calendar and book and will be expecting masses of harvest ;) Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and experience!
Happy New Year! Looking forward to another gardening year and applying what I’ve learned from your videos in the past year! Thanks for all you’ve shared. 😃
Watched all the videos, done the online course, read all the books. Roll on 2020 and my first ever time growing food on a half sized allotment 💪🏼 I’m copying Charles to the letter and hoping for the best! Thanks for everything Charles, the gardening people out there love you #FanBoy
The spinach looks to me to be two different varieties. different leaf shape, I don't know the word for the "bubbly kind of surface vs the smooth. That said... you got more spinach than I have been getting. Getting more excited about this coming growing season... keep me encouraged =)
the bubbly kind is usually called "savoyed" or "savoy" The smooth is called "smooth" : ) (Savoy was a Sardinian kingdom -- I guess their spinach and cabbage grew wrinkly?)
@@CharlesDowding1nodig interesting assessment. I had pondered growing my own sugar snap peas. It worked. Seed from the first year grew excellent... but I had always thought I would need to sort of renew the strain by buying seed every 5 years or so because of just that reason. But life happened and I never went more than the 2nd year. an experiment for another day.
gorgeous. I want to weigh my veg next year, but I'm not sure I'll keep up with it! I fear that's the task that will be forgotten when the season gets busy.
First video for 2020! Happy new year to you and your beloved ones ❤️✨🍏🥕🌶️🍋🍎🌽🍈Also to your viewers 🍉🍓🍋🥝🍍🥔🌾🥕Thank for your efforts and care towards ecological gardening. It is a bless for everyone to be able to pafticipate in your courses, no matter what the level of participant is. With deep respect, Happy New Harvests!
Charles, thank you for your instructional videos. I read through your veggie diary last night and am anxious to get started. I'm in zone 7b USA where we had a horrible, long, dry summer 2019 and totally overrun by weeds (and volunteer zinnias - which wasn't that bad, except, it was out of control). Discouraging year, indeed. Raised beds installed end of summer. Adding some free-form beds using your no dig method for this spring. Excited to give this a try. Weeds be damned!
Go for it Elizabeth. You will have a better year, and I know how frustrating it is when weeds are rampant, 1987 was my last time of that, a little in 2013 here with bindweed. But zinnias, how amazing!
Just had 48C here in Aust ( near Sydney ) - gives new meaning to sun-dried tomatoes ... but Kale and other Inter planted greens underneath are still doing ok - as inspired by your vids 👍
Charles, one year in, having read and re read and made notes of two of your books and watched every single video on YT and practised in the field) Successive and progressional sowing isn't sinking in. ie: You follow outdoor tomatoes with x, I'm never growing tomatoes outside (year 2 thoughts!) even less than 200 miles down the road from you! Please, please please can you do a book (UK first mind!), charts probably. month by month, what to sow indoors (multi choice and note multi seeding), planting out (new or inbetween) when and what it will replace/under storey (multi choice.) I know it sounds a lot but I really think it would be easy for you if your team could come up with the format and it would save my brain ache! I know it sounds prescriptive but I don't think I'm alone in wanting that to start with. The current online thought of getting your successional et al planting suggests three years. Heck, do I really need brain ache for three years when you ached yours for more than 40?! Ultimately. it could be a Dummies Guide. Just a thought ...
Hmm thanks. Some of this is in my books, some on the website (Sowing Timeline). Sounds like you want condensed info on sowing and planting times. Shall see but not this year :)
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you for replying. Yes and more. I shall go to your website and send a sample spreadsheet/fuller explanation (assuming possible) when fully thought through. I hope that would give you/your team a better idea of what I mean.
I've been trying to grow leeks (Carantan and Musselburgh) for 4 years now and just cannot get them to grow. Nearly had tears in my eyes looking at yours :-)) Maybe this year as I follow your garden diary, I'll have better success.
@@GravefriHave Hello, Gravefri. I'm going to follow Charles' advice for my leek seeds this year, but your idea to plant leek bottoms/roots is really interesting and I love to experiment, so I'm going to try this as well, to see what happens. Thank You !
I really enjoyed that video it was good to see the timings for things how long you can keep them in storage how long they can stay in the ground etc. Good to know when you're learning the ropes.
Hi Charles. We've had already a few days over 40C but garden still going strong and recovered. I made a big mistake planting a non-red beetroot that grew great but ended up whole bed into compost as not any good for cooking. finally got some commercial grade fertilizer with good amount of phosphorous and the rest, garden growing like crazy. All our box store fertilizers are very poor on phosphorous. This is fine if you just want native plants on our phosphorous poor soil, but not for anything else. With all the fires around here, the goverment will be forced to take climate change more seriously. keep warm, we try to keep cool.
With your spinach being different, I was wondering if tomato seed I collected would come out different. I have squashed a few different types of tomato some growing quite near to each other. One particular type my wife likes is “Vittoria” bought from our local supermarket. Great video Charles!!
Charles Dowding thanks for getting back, your diary I bought is slowly filling up with a sowing plan for the coming year. I will be doing a few trials throughout the year as you still do. It’s in my nature to do this being an Engineering Technician during my working days. I am filling a good number of hanging baskets with the yellow variety of Tom Thumb Tomatoes as I find these a lot sweeter than the Red type. Speak later in the year, cheers
Charles, great stuff, as always!! I'm also surprised to see how different the 2 types of spinach look (home-grown vs store-bought seed), if they are indeed the same variety. I realize the small odds of the student helping the master solve this puzzle, but allow me to try anyway :) 1. The spinach from home-grown seed looks a LOT like the Medania-type of spinach (from store-bought seed) that you've been showing in videos such as Small Garden (2). Including the bites in the leaves (which you mention in that video at 6:50) 2. The spinach from store-bought seed seems to have leaves of a different shape (less round, more arrow-point-shaped) and a paler color. I'm not a spinach expert but they remind me of the very early varieties that need less warmth to grow but go to seed earlier. In any case, this spinach looks like a different variety to me. Thanks again for the great content! -Frederik from Belgium
Thanks Frederik and I agree. The original seed packet description is "Medania type". I suspect that Medania is more generic than a precise variety or cultivar. Just possibly me seed has even more genetic variation, because a few plants elsewhere are much stronger.
Great series to give inspiration for small backyard gardeners. If only you could grow corn on the cob. You inspired me and we've just created new veggie beds ready to go. Don't the slugs and snails love the pathway woody bark? I thought you said in a previous video not to use wood in the garden area. Thanks for your videos.
Thanks Jennifer and I could plant some corn to see, but fear the badger will find it. I now put a little wood chip on the paths, no more than 1in thick and once a year.
Hi Charles, I'm in Wales and we get a lot of rain here, around 2500mm (compared to your area at around 708mm) . Have you heard of anyone having problems with such high rainfall and the no dig method of just laying compost on top (especially as a lot of the land here is quite sloped). Many thanks for your videos they are very encouraging and informative.
I am not aware of a problem.
Last year we had 1040mm, and 2/3 of that since August, much washing-through of compost, as in other years of higher rain, causing no problems.
I am green with envy, watching you harvest in the middle of winter, while my zone 6a garden is burried under several inches of ice and snow. Thank you Charles for sharing your wealth of knowlege. Because of you, I changed from doubble digging to organic, no dig several years ago. The only regret I have is not knowing about it 30 years earlier, when I planted my first garden.
Thanks Anne.
I notice that really useful and time saving knowledge is often hidden :)
My husband said if I put a dollar in a jar every time I said “ Charles Dowding “ I could quickly afford a big enough garden to feed a small country 😂
Cool !!
My husband says something similar, but I am learning such a lot from Charles I have to talk about it :) and go out and do it
It is so great alles very encouraging
Mid west Canada - we have a blizzard here today. A very cold weather snap on it's way- maybe minus 34 Celsius including windchill. I'm dreaming of gardening until April or May. I'm enjoying watching you do what I love. Thank you.
Yes dream of spring :)
I am getting a education in bed and it's fantastic for when I,have enough energy in the morning to work in my small garden thank you.👍💐🍀🌹🍓
Go for it Norma 😀
I love how honest and transparent you are, Charles. Thanks for the update.
In my area, we are getting ready for the coldest month of the year. In February we can easily get to -10F (-23C) at night. I watch your videos to daydream about when Spring will arrive and I can get outdoors in my garden again...Thank you for the great content.
Thanks Ed and I hope you snd your garden come through that well.
I appreciate our good fortune here, happy to share it :)
I love to see your gardens in action. I think my favorite part of this video in particular was "I'm still learning." I hope to always be open to still learning. What a boring life it would be if you ran out of things to learn. I began no-dig gathering last year when my tiller broke and I couldn't fix it. Now I plan on never owning another.
I like this and yes, learning is fun 🌷
Lambs Lettuce! Such a wonderful nutty flavor and cold hearty plant, they survived -20 last winter under two-layer of cover. Amazing!
I’ll need to find some seeds for this! Do you have a resource?
@@SalongirlGardens also known as mache I believe (could be wrong) try looking for that and reading up on it?
It’s also goes by mâche and corn salad. In the USA check out high mowing seeds for mache. It’s my 5 year olds favorite. 🤣
OrganicBackyardGardening thank you!
@@SalongirlGardens Victory seeds in oregon also carries mache.
Our previously quarried, stony 1 acre field (FULL of creeping thistle and common hogweed) has really benefited from your methods over the last 12 months Charles. I will have hopefully created about 65.5 square meters of no dig beds in time for spring, more than doubling last years area, and I’m really going for it this year. I’m determined that my propagation game will be strong 💪🏼 Thanks again for sharing the knowledge 😊🌱
That is cool Kelly, nice ambition
Love to see the progress on the garden! I can confirm that even with a smaller garden you can get a lot of veggies out :D
Cool!
Gordon Ramsey has the most superb recipe for swede soup - it's on CZcams and it's the sole reason i grow swedes... This is such a great project.
I'll check it out, thanks
I've learned so much from gardening. For example, with your comment about the veggies being "dense food and not watery like from the market"... Normally I would have thought you were comparing your swede/rutabega to something like a corgette/zuchinni. But now that I've tasted home-grown I KNOW you're meaning a watery version of the same food. Bell peppers from the store make me want to cry, they are so bland and watery! Can't wait to have them from my garden again this summer. Thanks for all you do. I've got a couple of your books and they are a fabulous resource!
Nice to hear Barbara
An old time saying in my area is, “February 1 is half your meat and half your hay.” Hence halfway through winter! I can still see Santa’s sleigh tracks in the deep snow! Enjoying your beautiful gardens! Thank you for your great works!🌱
A good one.
My father used to say how Candlemas Day is just half way through the winter, sobering thought but less true now.
Love your thoroughness and the way you anticipate questions so we don't have to ask them. Like the flowering spring on the rocket, my very thought was is it edible. Then you slipped the little comment in there saying it is indeed edible. Thank you.
Nice you noticed!
Thanks for the effort you put into these videos.... living the dream!
We had a rainy 60 degree F day here in the Midwestern US, so I got out and cleaned up my garden, started a compost pile, and added to it from the chicken coop - all because I've been watching your videos and I'm now inspired to do things your way. Thanks for the education!
Great to read this Laura, your garden is underway for 2020
I'm itching to get started with the new season.
Clare Love Me too!
I live in northern US. I have to bide my time and binge watch all of Charles’ and self sufficient me’s videos until the winter ends.
Thank you again, Charles!
I so appreciate your offhand comment about not leaving decaying plant matter as that might encourage the slugs. I've been reading a lot of permaculture materials lately and was considering a chop and drop approach. I hadn't given any thought to how that might affect slugs. I find that you encourage a lot of good critical thinking in your videos, and I think that's really quite special. You teach us new ways to think about our gardens. thank you!
Many thanks Briny and yes I think that chop & drop needs a dry climate, for vegetables!
Great video. Thank you for all the info.
This is my dream 😀 for now I kill even cactuses 🤦🏻♀️ one day though 🤞🏻
well done!!
Thank you for highlights of the small space! I think most of us viewers are in the position of wanting to garden but not having very many square meters to work with so it's very inspiring to see so much veg coming out of such a small space. For example I only have 3 beds totalling about 4.5 sqaure meters. First year growing so hopefully I can expand that
I wish you fine harvests!
We love watching your videos. You are such a calm and gentle teacher. Your experience and skill are an inspiration. Thanks!
Cool!
Wow...all that harvested from that small space...
For us snow bound folks these videos are a welcome sight. Keep them coming. :-)
Hard to imagine here, happy to help :)
Miss your vlogs and your garden plants as well
I love You Charles Dawding ARGENTINA 💪
Your the sunshine man !
I've never tried overwintering Spring Onions, Charles - cheers!
Great video!
Steve
@@GravefriHave Ssshhhhh - Mum's the word! Thanks for the tip 🙂
@@GravefriHave Digwell isn't alone, I've never tried it either, it would never have occurred to me to do so. Doh! Roughly when would you sow/plant them out, do you know? I live in Kernow (Cornwall), we have much milder winters than England, though quite wet so I imagine they'd be OK in the polytunnel?
@@GravefriHave I sow Spring Onions every 2 weeks so that I can be sure of some good looking ones for the Vegetable Shows
Your gardens always amaze me.
Thanks for the upload Charles, another interesting video. I like the fact that you trim the roots off as you go and leave them in too.
Amor puro para ese gran hombre .para su amada y respetada tierra ..Amor del bueno...
Muchas gracias
Sooo looking forward to having more winter crops this year! At the moment I have 2 leeks, a couple of borekole(?) plants, one Cavolo Nero and some beetroot. Oh and my first yar full of dry beans, wonderful! But potatoes, onions, more leeks, winter salads etc...yup lot's to wish and plan for. Thank you again for another inspirational video!
Sounds good Debbbie
Very nice Charles always everything you plant is beautiful. I’m still working on my compost to build my no dig garden. Thank you for your video it such an inspiration.
I've got lambs lettuce in the greenhouse, broad beans, onions and garlic growing. Next year I will do more as it was a new garden. Could do with less rain, as I'm sure you are aware as I'm about 5 miles away. I have a few peas in the greenhouse but they are weedy.
I am learning so much. As I build my garden this winter I find myself dreaming of my garden and what it can become thanks
I was like that in 1982!
Well done Charles, from just a small area a lot of veg and lots of different types too,Thanks again your updates are super.Cheers Jimmy.
The compost make the diference!! Hermoso trabajo el suyo Sr. Dowding...
Gracias
you are helping me so much with coming to grips with planning harvests for as long a growing season as possible. Thankyou.
That is great Izzy and thanks for joining up.
Parece mágico , pero la realidad es que es resultado de conocimiento, dedicación y paciencia-- Gracias por su vídeo
Inspiration :) This year going to plant my own dense food :)
I really enjoy all of your videos. Nothing but consistently good content. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us, especially when things don't turn out as desired.
Ooooh lambs lettuce! I need to find a source for these! They look like an interesting addition for my garden. Cool way of growing kale!
In the south we've barely had a winter so far. I always reckon that February is the worst month for snow. I never bother storing carrots and beetroots, they're both hardy. I just cover them with straw and pull them fresh.
I have to tell you, I really do appreciate that you mention what was harvested before, what was in the second harvest, if that makes sense. This yr I'm going to watch your videos again before I plant, that way I can have early veg an later planted in the same area. Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks its helpful feedback for me 😄
Lovely time of the year for us to on the plots ,we're not to far from you (Dorset) onions popping up, potatoes starting to chit ,parsnips still being dug and the days are getting longer. Have a great gardening year.
Gravefri Have ,yes potatoes sat on window sills all over the house chitting away lol . All the best to you.
Gravefri Have ,the smell of hops must be lovely.
Magnifico video, igual que todos los suyos!!! Gracias.
Gracias Carmen
I'm a simple man. I see a Charles Dowding video, I click. :-)
Profound 🌈
Love this small garden. Great perspective to see what you can grow in such a small space :)
Thankyou 🥕
Spinning and spinning... CZcams is acting up again tonight... will watch it tomorrow, hopefully
Brilliant , you,ve done really well ! Lovely to see what you do :)
Thanks Charles. Always a pleasure watching your videos 🙂. My allotment is starting to take shape thanks in part to you & your advices...Hope all is well for you. Take care 👍
Wonderful 😀and all is good thanks
Thank you so much, "I appreciate the videos."
Thanks for the video. It is a pity that we have a slightly different climate/atmosphere. We don't have winter this year. Greetings from Poland.
I've been watching your video's this past year and you've greatly inspired me to get the veg plot really filled up! So naturally I ordered your calendar and book and will be expecting masses of harvest ;)
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and experience!
Well that is lovely to hear Irene and I wish you fine harvests
Irene De Boer I’m waiting on my book and calendar now, so excited!
@@Just-Nikki they are sooo good 😁
Irene De Boer I can’t wait!
Happy New Year! Looking forward to another gardening year and applying what I’ve learned from your videos in the past year! Thanks for all you’ve shared. 😃
Watched all the videos, done the online course, read all the books. Roll on 2020 and my first ever time growing food on a half sized allotment 💪🏼 I’m copying Charles to the letter and hoping for the best! Thanks for everything Charles, the gardening people out there love you #FanBoy
Thanks Luke and I wish you an exciting year
Happy New Year to you and yours, Charles! Love watching the year's progress in your Small Garden ❤️
Many thanks Rita
Oh Charles, i wish I was able to teleport myself to your garden. Here in Atlantic Canada there is no such thing as a winter garden. God bless
Come to Victoria, BC 😀️. Exact same climate as Charles. I think Zone 8a officially? Wet winters, maybe even a bit more light. 48.5 degrees north.
Ah shame Sherry, I wish you a good spring!
The spinach looks to me to be two different varieties. different leaf shape, I don't know the word for the "bubbly kind of surface vs the smooth. That said... you got more spinach than I have been getting. Getting more excited about this coming growing season... keep me encouraged =)
the bubbly kind is usually called "savoyed" or "savoy" The smooth is called "smooth" : ) (Savoy was a Sardinian kingdom -- I guess their spinach and cabbage grew wrinkly?)
@@wendysgarden4283 aaaaahh now i remember. Thank you very much.
Yes I think it's inbred, expressing new and depressed traits! Tastes good though :)
Interesting
@@CharlesDowding1nodig interesting assessment. I had pondered growing my own sugar snap peas. It worked. Seed from the first year grew excellent... but I had always thought I would need to sort of renew the strain by buying seed every 5 years or so because of just that reason. But life happened and I never went more than the 2nd year. an experiment for another day.
Another wonderful and encouraging video. Thank you, Charles!
You're an inspiration! Thanks so much for your insights :)
💚
Good work, Charles's..👊😎
Awesome work!
gorgeous. I want to weigh my veg next year, but I'm not sure I'll keep up with it! I fear that's the task that will be forgotten when the season gets busy.
Develop the habit :)
Amazing as always. I cant wait to get down the allotment again this year.
First video for 2020! Happy new year to you and your beloved ones ❤️✨🍏🥕🌶️🍋🍎🌽🍈Also to your viewers 🍉🍓🍋🥝🍍🥔🌾🥕Thank for your efforts and care towards ecological gardening. It is a bless for everyone to be able to pafticipate in your courses, no matter what the level of participant is. With deep respect, Happy New Harvests!
Many thanks and I wish you well
Tack och Gott Nytt 2020!
Charles, thank you for your instructional videos. I read through your veggie diary last night and am anxious to get started. I'm in zone 7b USA where we had a horrible, long, dry summer 2019 and totally overrun by weeds (and volunteer zinnias - which wasn't that bad, except, it was out of control). Discouraging year, indeed. Raised beds installed end of summer. Adding some free-form beds using your no dig method for this spring. Excited to give this a try. Weeds be damned!
Go for it Elizabeth.
You will have a better year, and I know how frustrating it is when weeds are rampant, 1987 was my last time of that, a little in 2013 here with bindweed.
But zinnias, how amazing!
Just had 48C here in Aust ( near Sydney ) - gives new meaning to sun-dried tomatoes ... but Kale and other Inter planted greens underneath are still doing ok - as inspired by your vids 👍
Gosh I am relieved to hear you can grow some greens at least, cannot imagine 48C, it sounds close to intolerable.
Thanks very much for the feedback.
Charles Dowding perennial rocket and red Russian kale going strong ... we shan’t speak of the lettuce though ...
Charles, one year in, having read and re read and made notes of two of your books and watched every single video on YT and practised in the field) Successive and progressional sowing isn't sinking in. ie: You follow outdoor tomatoes with x, I'm never growing tomatoes outside (year 2 thoughts!) even less than 200 miles down the road from you! Please, please please can you do a book (UK first mind!), charts probably. month by month, what to sow indoors (multi choice and note multi seeding), planting out (new or inbetween) when and what it will replace/under storey (multi choice.) I know it sounds a lot but I really think it would be easy for you if your team could come up with the format and it would save my brain ache! I know it sounds prescriptive but I don't think I'm alone in wanting that to start with. The current online thought of getting your successional et al planting suggests three years. Heck, do I really need brain ache for three years when you ached yours for more than 40?! Ultimately. it could be a Dummies Guide. Just a thought ...
Hmm thanks. Some of this is in my books, some on the website (Sowing Timeline). Sounds like you want condensed info on sowing and planting times. Shall see but not this year :)
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you for replying. Yes and more. I shall go to your website and send a sample spreadsheet/fuller explanation (assuming possible) when fully thought through. I hope that would give you/your team a better idea of what I mean.
Cracking! And very inspiring.
I agree with you on the side shoots, they're not worth the space.
This is really wholesome, i enjoy your content. :=)
Thanks
Super beautiful garden and we love your vlog Amazing
Thanks Josie
Thank you for sharing your knowledge in your channel Bless you Sir.
That's awesome! Thank you! Happy New Year!
I've been trying to grow leeks (Carantan and Musselburgh) for 4 years now and just cannot get them to grow. Nearly had tears in my eyes looking at yours :-)) Maybe this year as I follow your garden diary, I'll have better success.
I wish you fine leeks :)
@@GravefriHave Hello, Gravefri. I'm going to follow Charles' advice for my leek seeds this year, but your idea to plant leek bottoms/roots is really interesting and I love to experiment, so I'm going to try this as well, to see what happens. Thank You !
I really enjoyed that video it was good to see the timings for things how long you can keep them in storage how long they can stay in the ground etc. Good to know when you're learning the ropes.
always looks great well done
Hi Charles. We've had already a few days over 40C but garden still going strong and recovered.
I made a big mistake planting a non-red beetroot that grew great but ended up whole bed into compost as not any good for cooking.
finally got some commercial grade fertilizer with good amount of phosphorous and the rest, garden growing like crazy. All our box store fertilizers are very poor on phosphorous. This is fine if you just want native plants on our phosphorous poor soil, but not for anything else.
With all the fires around here, the goverment will be forced to take climate change more seriously.
keep warm, we try to keep cool.
Cheers Chris and thanks for your feedback. I hope indeed that the fires serve at least as a wake-up, but there is a lot to change.
I love it
With your spinach being different, I was wondering if tomato seed I collected would come out different. I have squashed a few different types of tomato some growing quite near to each other. One particular type my wife likes is “Vittoria” bought from our local supermarket. Great video Charles!!
Should be fine Steve because unlike spinach, tomatoes rarely cross pollinate
Charles Dowding thanks for getting back, your diary I bought is slowly filling up with a sowing plan for the coming year. I will be doing a few trials throughout the year as you still do. It’s in my nature to do this being an Engineering Technician during my working days. I am filling a good number of hanging baskets with the yellow variety of Tom Thumb Tomatoes as I find these a lot sweeter than the Red type. Speak later in the year, cheers
Nice to hear Steve
Very interesting and inspiring
Compost is Life! ;)
thank you!
Beautiful!
Very nice upload.❤️ I'd like to have a garden like this.❤️ Nice and small. Love it. A new friend. Stay connected.
Thanks Ladybug
I was thinking about you and your garden how it's doing
Charles, great stuff, as always!!
I'm also surprised to see how different the 2 types of spinach look (home-grown vs store-bought seed), if they are indeed the same variety.
I realize the small odds of the student helping the master solve this puzzle, but allow me to try anyway :)
1. The spinach from home-grown seed looks a LOT like the Medania-type of spinach (from store-bought seed) that you've been showing in videos such as Small Garden (2). Including the bites in the leaves (which you mention in that video at 6:50)
2. The spinach from store-bought seed seems to have leaves of a different shape (less round, more arrow-point-shaped) and a paler color. I'm not a spinach expert but they remind me of the very early varieties that need less warmth to grow but go to seed earlier. In any case, this spinach looks like a different variety to me.
Thanks again for the great content! -Frederik from Belgium
Thanks Frederik and I agree.
The original seed packet description is "Medania type".
I suspect that Medania is more generic than a precise variety or cultivar.
Just possibly me seed has even more genetic variation, because a few plants elsewhere are much stronger.
If I weren’t already married Charles would be my soulmate.🤣🥰🥰
Milk And Honey Acreage And mine, smiling.
I would love to have a garden that size. City, HMO, limitations...ugh. small gardening is still productive and satisfying.
@@GravefriHave not accessible. 😉
Thank you, again most useful!
Great series to give inspiration for small backyard gardeners. If only you could grow corn on the cob. You inspired me and we've just created new veggie beds ready to go. Don't the slugs and snails love the pathway woody bark? I thought you said in a previous video not to use wood in the garden area. Thanks for your videos.
Thanks Jennifer and I could plant some corn to see, but fear the badger will find it.
I now put a little wood chip on the paths, no more than 1in thick and once a year.
Amei sua horta sou aqui do Brazil eu também amamos plantar♥
Thanks so much, and happy gardening
Looks great. Good job. Im looking forward to 2020 season. Best regards from denmark.
Gosto muito de plantar.
Good idea
nice
Small plot Lessons to be learnt.
Excellent video!