Small garden (2) at winter solstice: the harvests and my plans for 2018
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- Homeacres small garden of 25sqm/270sqft, no dig and compost-mulched.
There are limiting factors such as paving slabs in the soil, the neighbour's shrubs with moisture-sucking roots, slugs in the edges, and shade from buildings. See episode (1) for those details • Small garden (1), vari...
Harvests are coming from plantings made in August and September. As they finish, I twist out the remaining plants and spread 3-4cm/1.5in compost on beds, then they are ready for plantings in early spring. The no dig method means preparation is quick and easy, plus there are only a few weeds you need to pull.
I aim to harvest a diverse range of veg, say three daily from late April to November. The thumbnail is 19th December 2017, three days before we filmed.
I am writing this in May 2018: since filming and over the winter months we enjoyed harvests of fennel, radicchio, spinach, salad leaves of many kinds, kale, leek and parsley. Now the garden is planted for spring, though not quite according to plan - see the third video filmed in April, coming out in late May.
This was filmed at Homeacres 22.12.17 and edited in Edinburgh by Edward Dowding, see edowdingfilms.o....
More about veg growing and no dig on my website www.charlesdow...
I have two online courses which include hundreds of photos and exclusive video content, for more information go to charlesdowding...
Follow me on Twitter @charlesdowding and Instagram charles_dowding
See me on BBC TV Beechgrove Garden, Scotland.
I have written many books on easier + quicker ways to grow vegetables, and you can buy signed copies from my website shop www.charlesdow..., discounted price.
In such an angry world I enjoy your soothing voice talking about salad greens and compost. 😁 rock on Charles!
Thanks Jeremy
Our world would be an amazing place if it were made up of people like him. He just exudes goodness.
I experimented with overwintering lettuce, brassicas, leeks and spinach here in southern Germany, where the climate is a a lot harsher than yours and traditionally nothing is left in the ground other than lamb's lettuce and the odd kale or leek. As my DIY is rubbish, I purchased an inexpensive but durable and sturdy little tent-like structure about 1m high to put over my salad crops. Most survived beautifully, even with temperatures down to minus 14. We had fresh lettuce for Christmas. A precious meal, as you so rightly said.
Ah that is wonderful to hear Louise, aren't they amazing plants.
Is minus 14 Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Charles a big congratulations on being featured on the Beechgrove Garden show!! It's a show my husband and I really enjoy, and learn more than watching Gardeners World. We like that they visit 'real' people's gardens and have folks like you come on to share your knowledge, I wish they had talked about your books and youtube channel.
Thanks Mary, and yes I like their content too. It's a fascinating place, ex nursery with so many sub-gardens and trials/observations, lovely people.
Cool. I never see a video where people mention a failed crop, yet we all get them.
thanks 4 giving both C° and F°!
Yep.
What an amazing series. I have been following and learning from you for a year now and hadn't realised that you had a small garden series! I am preparing for the new garden season and thanks to u will be adding tree kale to my balcony garden. I have had the seeds for a few months and was wondering if it was worth it. Also thank you for the kalbroc broccoli. So awesome. Bedankt (thank you) from the Netherlands on the 9th floor.
Ah thanks, amazing to imagine a 9th floor! May the wind be not too bad.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig It is amazing. And as my main balcony is south facing we also get enough sunlight in the summer months. The wind can be bad but I try and only grow compact varieties.
I wish I was already at least at this stage, getting a smol but precious harvest 😭💚
Always interested in everything you do. I love to follow what you grow and interplant with your veg. Looking forward to what December brings from Home Farm.
one of the nice things that i like about gardening even in my tiny garden is that every time you go into the garden you come away with something to use in your meal.keeping you encourage to continue gardening. in my neck of the woods where there is only two season wet and dry. managing excess water or none at all is the key . my garden is my escape. so happy gardening enroute to freedom.
Ah so true hot peeper, and great that you experience that
You are a wonderful gardening resource Charles, even for folks like me living in Melbourne.Aus (a warm temperate zone). Thank you very much.
Agreed! (From even warmer Adelaide). Thanks for your CZcams contributions Charles.
Thank you 😊 ,
Winter currently in Perth 🇦🇺 and I’m so inspired, I’ve high hopes for the coming summer and hope that some of my winter crops, peas, broadbeans, kale, rocket and onion will do well with your methods (I’ve been binge watching and particularly love your seed raising style), thanks for being so generous with your knowledge and experience.
glad to be helping you, so far away and may your winter be bountiful
Always a pleasure to see you and your garden Charles. Excellent.
Thank you for all your helpful videos. This corner of your garden is about the size of my vegetable plot so it really inspires me.
I love this small garden series! Totally inspiring
Thanks Emily
I feel so calm watching your videos. So unique voice and informative videos great garden. Peace
Thanks ashraf. Gardening brings peace to the world, if only!
Looking forward to the next instalment of this small garden. I seeded 4 types of lettuce on the 17th April and they were all looking good, germinated after just 3 days and then bam!, frost killed the lot bar 1. So I've reseeded them all again yesterday for another try. My space is about the same size so this is very relevant thanks.
A very instructive vid to watch at the the equinox. Thanks, Charles.
Blast - I pulled out my lambs lettuce thinking it had failed, but it's only a tiny little plant! Nice video... thank you!
This made me laugh and yes, it's small!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledege with us! Since I follow your tips my garden (soil and plants) is so much healthier!!!! Big hug and thanks!!!!
thanks! Love your videos and learn so much...truly appreciate your mentioning of the "preciousness" of a fresh meal in winter time...
Great video with a wealth of tips..The crops are always so lovely...Much thanks Charles!🌱🌱🇧🇧
Kolrabi very underestimated crop loves those roasted
Always, good food for thought. Thank you.
Really enjoy your videos and your experiments. Thanks for sharing!
love you mr. dowding! thank you!
thank you to take the time and efford to explain all this! grat complement to go whit the information in the books
This is an awesome video! I like the way you plan things months in advance! I have some potatoes that I bred my self from True Potato Seeds and I left many in the ground and they have survived -7.2c I really cannot believe how many are coming up having endured frost,ice,snow,water logging for months. The reason I mention this, I was going to do a patch of different vege similar to what you done now I have spuds coming up like weeds. Now its back to plan B
Thanks and yes, it's good to have a plan B, sounds promising for the potatoes
Love watching your channel as I find your videos very informative and helpful. Newbie to gardening here and a lot to learn. My first growing season I'm growing Tomatoes (a few varieties) Cuc, Aubergine, Bell Peppers, Courgettes, Pots, Onions, Herbs and Lettuce. I don't know what I'm doing but are healthy and 3 tom plants over 12" tall which have flowers. Tomatoes are my favourite so growing a lot in greenhouse. Very excited. I'm in the process of doing some raised beds for the winter but not sure what your able to grow at that time of year.
Excellent crops you have.
Love your videos, thanks for sharing what you do.
Thanks a lot!
Nice one, Charles. Thank you.
Nice one Charles. Great stuff. Thank you.
I discovered that I was getting slugs from the pottings of my Christmas poinsettias & Easter lilies. The eggs look like little brown fertilizer balls.
That's them
Motivated as always, after one of your videos.
Great!
I also found that Chard came through winter OK and has given several meals in April and early May. Spinach plants persisted but did not thrive in spring this year. Sorrel has been very good also, growing happily in poor soil where little else will grow. I have a tree cabbage equivalent to your Taunton Deane and it supplied leaves as a 10 month old plant from early April. Next year it could be all winter......
Nice to hear Rhys and I am giving the tree cabbage a try
Great series Charles
Cheers Dave glad you like them
Excellent video!
Lovely video.
Hi Charles, I love this new series as well as your How To Grow series. In fact I saw your video on growing radishes from seed to harvest just recently. Unfortunately I can’t seem to locate it now. Would you please provide me a link to that video so I can review it again. I look forward to receiving your help and reply.
Hi Linda, thanks for your message.
Now this is a funny thing, I cannot find the radish video either.
I wonder what happened to it and how it can have disappeared.
I shall look further.
Hmm it is not on YT any more.
Shall upload again and with a new brassica video. Prob. this Saturday.
Charles Dowding Thank you. I look forward to receiving my notice that you have posted that and the one on brassicas. Also, regarding the radishes, I have great greenery but when I went to check on the development of the radish itself I find all I have are long red roots that look like carrots, not really, but you get the gist. I thought I would see little tiny radish balls forming by now. They are only a few weeks away from harvest time or days to maturity. Is this normal? If not, why is this happening?
Linda it sounds that either your radish are planted too close together (most likely cause) or it's a variety bred to have long radish roots.
Charles Dowding Is it to late to thin them now?
another great video well done
I’ve read that salt will get rid of your slugs.
Corn salad aka Mache and try Claytonia- both grow well in cold and mild weather and have a mild taste
Hi Charles, love your garden. Don't look now, but it's already almost Summer! Lol, no worries, ...I've been late with my posts too ~ seems we're somewhat of rebels yah? ;-)
I love the way you are so relaxed about the failure of the onions. Also your statement about the importance of flexibility. How do you keep track of what you need to start in the greenhouse for succession plantings? I had terrible germination in my raised beds later in the season. The only thing I can attribute it too is that the soil just dried out too quickly.
Thanks Dolly.
I raise more plants than I shall need so as to have spares in case!
This sowing timeline from my website is a good year planner for timings www.charlesdowding.co.uk/learn/sowing-timeline-vegetables/
Thank you very much! Now I just have to adjust for zonal differences and I'll be set. If I haven't said it before, I appreciate you being available on CZcams for questions!!!
Great video on succession planting. Have you tried Dragon tongue mustard, oh man it is so pretty and tastes great. I just got my first taste of it this spring when it reseeded from last year and have decided to let it grow everywhere.
Thanks and yes, it's pungent
Good planning, Charles can you tell the difference from male and female spinach plant?
no!!
Hi Charles, following you all the way from ... India. Have been interested in no-dig/permaculture approach to growing for the past 8 months, but only recently stumbled across your site. love the detailed approach to educating us, i learn a lot. Keep it up! a quick question for you - i am beginning to work on a plot of about 1/5th of an acre (different conditions of course), but wanted to know if there is a 'plan' of homeacres and the various sections that you present in your videos.
Thanks Jana, sorry I do not have such a plan
no issues - many thanks again for your wonderful videos
Hi Charles have you used coffee grounds to ward off slugs and snails? At first I dismissed it but I made a slurry and dropped in a few critters and they died within a few minutes, it seems that caffeine is toxic to them, as an experiment I sprayed under a board where they hide, several months have passed and it's still slug free. I have raised beds and trickled it along the edges and it's definitely made a difference. A word of caution though I used it around strawberries and I noticed some plants have died although the slugs stay away. Maybe some plants are affected by caffeine.
Cheers Richard, I tried it and was unimpressed by soil growing mouldy.+ the pak choi were still eaten by slugs. I prefer to put them in compost heaps.
Not sure how much caffeine is still there!
Hello Charles. Thank you for this interesting series. Did you try to use some green manure on the beds by sowing a mix of alfalfa, vetch, clover, barley, faba, mustard during autumn. The aim is to let them grow throughout the winter until the early spring for mowing them in place at that time before starting the season ? It will fertilize the soil with nitrogen.
Thanks but you need to see my garden in November and the beds all full of veg, therefore almost no growing time left in the year to sow winter green manure.
It would be a waste of time and seed therefore and also it would harbour slugs, and be in the way of early sowings and plantings.
Great theory, but the practice is something else. Not practical here, may be in other gardens where there is less late and early cropping.
I prefer growing vegetables all year :)
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I meant sowing these vegs on a compost layer. Maybe by giving each year a few beds totally rest during winter. Here in Burgundy we already had 4 times snow since autumn ; thus it's difficult to consider croping late november to early march without a polytunnel here ; too risky. We probably don't have the same climate.
On the other hand, green manure is rapidly broken down once mown and it should just be mixed with the compost layer.
Have you trided also fragmented ramial wood compost as no dig soil ? I used this for 2 years now on a former uncultivated parcel with some interesting results.
Hi, absolutely love your channel. I am a newbie when it comes to gardening but want to learn how to grow my own food to provide to my family. I have purchased a few of your books and can’t wait to dig in or ‘not’! I’ve watched a few of your videos and you mention a zone of 8b. How can I find out mine? I live in Jersey- Channel Islands. Thank you so much for your informative channel.
Hello Michelle and try a search for USDA zone, then your location. I reckon you are zone 9.
A lot is to do with first and last frost dates. rather less about hot summers and severe winters, although all that does correlate to some extent. I am the same zone as S Germany!.
Hello Charles, thank you for responding. This jersey I live in is Channel Islands U.K. we are a few miles off the north coast of France precisely saint malo. We have relatively milder weather compared to U.K. I just don’t want to grow food that isn’t suitable to our weather. I haven’t found any information anywhere as informative as your channel and hence buying your books to help me understand. Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure Michelle, glad you find my work helpful.
I mention USDA as the zone system comes from them, is US based.
You have a lovely climate for growing, such as long season tomatoes and early potatoes!
Charles Dowding I never new that about the zone system comes from USA, see very much a newbie. I still have tomato plants still producing beautiful tomatoes. X
Thank you for your invaluable information, Charles. Have you had problems with voles, moles and gophers?
Of those Maureen, for moles I employed a mole catcher, for voles I managed to catch them, and we have no gophers here fortunately.
Please make a video about growing the Brassica family plzzzz!
You have cabbage/calabrese already. I shall look at the family as a whole, in another video.
once again Charles nice video, couple of things, what camera/ sound system are you using? I used to grow fantastic outdoor tomatoes when I lived in Kent but back in Wales I have given up after several attempts due to blight any thoughts? keep up the good work, all the best from Marks allotment
Sennheiser and Canon.
Mark it's the climate, more humidity & rain in Wales so outdoor tomatoes are v difficult there. Even blight-resistant ones may struggle.
Can you tell me a little more about your perennial Kale please as your book is quite brief Also do you sell cuttings or ( rare) seeds? many thanks
See my kale video.
I sell none of that, try Pennard Plants
I am doing some thing for my new no dig garden what do you recommend to grow
What you like to eat!
Charles Dowding tomatoes and veggies root
Great video! After watching several garden videos I planted some squares of Sorrel. Do you have any recipes for this green? Thanks !
Tasty raw with other salad leaves, or cooked in omelette
Cool
Wonderful video, thank you Charles. I've watched a few of your videos now where you mention perennial kale and it sounds marvelous so I went off to buy some but it isn't available here in the UK at the moment. Is it a seasonal buying thing as I really fancy giving it a try now?
Thanks and if only... the bitter winds of Feb 28th killed many plants that had survived years if not decades, so everyone is regrowing stock of parent plants
Ah that makes sense, thank you. I shall wait until they become available again.
incredeble edibles in ashburton devon has some
Thank you i've just checked but they have closed their waiting list as its got too long!
That is awesome! I have a few questions for you. I received a load of wood chips and they are a bit bigger pieces that I would like. I thought in putting card board in the back yard and move them over there (they are in the front yard at the moment and it's not a pretty site).
1)To get compost, what else do I need to add besides the wood chips and the carton?
2) And how long it's going to take to become compost? 3) Do I need to cover the pile?
Hi Camelia, thanks and
1 you need to mix in green leaves/urine/chicken manure/coffee grounds
2 up to 2 years depending how fine you wish for
3 only if fully moist, if so worth it to cover though check after 6 months, to be sure it's moist
Charles Dowding Thank you so much! I will write it down not to forget.
I would not mind it like this but my mom does. They don't believe in it or in no til method so I don't bother explaining too much but they had to accept since no one else wanted to til the garden. Thanks again.
Well done on finding your own method
Charles Dowding thank you! ❌🔴
What is the square footage of the beds?
220
Where is east and west on your property? I have a delicious leek soup recipe!
E is to right of shed
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you. I'm 67 and hope to retire in the next few years from my job. I would like to be able to make a little extra income in the spring and summer selling. I want to move to the country instead of this little plot of land I’m on right now. Your teaching is giving me so much hope. Thank you for everything. I just found your channel.
👍👍🇮🇹🇬🇧👍👍
Bit of a noob here. But what is meant by term underplanting???
Putting seeds or plants into the soil near to/under/between plants already growing, to overlap and make more use of space.
Ever have issues with root knot nematodes?
Fortunately not
charles can you please get a mango from the supermarket and try grow the seed and show me how your succesful in just compost so i can forget about all the science about having too much organic matter in the soil? it will be fun come on please :p its gotta be mango tho not avocado cause avocado isnt 2 fussy
Why would he Grow a mango tree in England that wont survive, he's channel is about growing things to eat?
why wouldnt he grow mangos in england that will survive?, mangos are very much edible ;)
Yes I like mangos also but they wont survive long enough to ever produce fruit or even to grow into a tree. They are for the tropics and we import our mangos from tropical countries. Just grow a seed and make your own video but you will not get a tree that produces the same fruit you ate. If you want to grow a particular variety you would need to buy a grafted tree of the variety you would like.
im talking about growing mangos in a pot in pure compost here i dont mean outside through the cold winter in the ground with no protection although id love to see that aswel
You will need lighting in the winter, I have grown small plants for indoors from mango seed only for them to die in winter. but honestly if you want some nice exotic fruit to grow in the UK you would be better off with a persimmon tree they are hardy down to minus 20C° and will give you ripe fruit in December.
If you just want to grow small mango plants that need lighting to keep alive then just keep the seed and crack the shell off and germinate in a sandwich bag and wet paper towel.
If you like mangos go to an Indian grocers now as its the season for Asian mangos and they are far better then western varieties, I recommend Alphonso or Kesar.
I've found something that will completely ruin a garden, no matter what you plant, when or how. Children leaving the gate open so the sheep can enter. Lol
ah noooo