Results of different covers on new vegetable plantings in spring, and when to remove
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ค. 2024
- We use covers on new spring plantings of vegetables. Most commonly 25 to 30gsm fleece / row cover, to convert surplus spring light into the mossing warmth.. This fleece is made from plastic but I have not found an alternative, yet.
See an earlier video we made about using fleece in spring, • Fleece to speed growth...
Now it's the last week of April. The weather is warming at last, so I ask myself how long to leave the covers on. In this video I show you many different vegetables whose growth has been mostly good under the covers.
You see the difference on growth, between a range of covers. How for example the thermacrop is less warm than fleece. However it gives good wind protection during the winter.
Mesh is good against insects, but mine is old and slightly damaged. Hence the flea beetle holes in radish leaves.
00:00 Introduction
00:41 Info on ‘Heart and Soil’ summit on 3rd May, and Earthed Project
01:24 Different types of covers - fleece and Thermacrop - temperature differences
02:07 No dig retains warmth in soil
02:30 Thermacrop over three trial beds - I explain the trial
04:16 Woodlice damage on spinach leaves - a result of wood in green waste compost
05:52 More on the three-strip trial
06:31 Multisown Tokyo Cross turnip, F1 hybrid
08:19 Mesh cover over radish - flea beetle damage (holes in fleece)
09:05 Carrots 9F1 hybrid Miami) sown with radish - poor germination, possibly due to slugs
09:30 Fleece staying on for time being, to protect against rabbits
09:47 More carrots sowings, different variety - early Nantes - better germination in comparison
10:03 Harvesting radish, Rudi variety
10:43 Cauliflowers under fleece, with some pest damage
1140 Cabbage and broccoli under fleece, to be replaced with mesh against pigeons
12:17 Celery under fleece, 25 GSM - my preferred thickness
13:09 Fleece on hoops, over lettuce - very little pest damage
14:04 I demonstrate picking outer leaves of hearting lettuce, Parris Island
15:00 Summary of different covers and their uses
Heart and Soil Gardening Summit free ticket: www.heartandsoilmagazine.com/...
Earthed crowdfunding page: • Become a Founding Memb...
Links for purchasing fleece in the UK:
My affiliate link for 30gsm fleece, thermacrop and mesh at Gardening Naturally
www.paidonresults.net/c/57860...
Here's an eBay link for 25gsm fleece www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1331840045...
More on using covers in this Knowledge Pack: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/...
Filmed 28th May by Nicola Smith, at Homeacres, Somerset, England.
You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:
/ @charlesdowding1nodig - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
When you tell us about your failures they are as just as informative and useful as your successes 😇
THANK YOU 👍
My pleasure! Kind of 😂
Wow, 600k+ subscribers. Wonderful to see your channel grow so much, Charles. If anyone deserves it, it's you. My gardening's taken a back seat (had some rough years there) but I am getting back to it this year. All the best.💛🙏
Thanks and I wish you well 🌱
People I know have taken a break from gardening this year. I call it stress fractures. Not me or my spouse. Still growing strong. Glad you are getting back to it. Can't believe how expensive veggies are now. USA
I can't believe that anyone would take a break from gardening! I hope they won't regret it 🥦
Minty goes where she wants! 🐈⬛😻
Is true Heather! And then she disappears 😮
Thanks for another great video and talk Charles.
i love seeing those data based trials that show you forked vs undug. Excellent work!
Thank you Charles and kitty:) Taking soil temps, weather conditions and all the cover types with and without hoop is very educational. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Praying for much success for all of us.
Thanks Charles! Great video.
Woodlice! I didn't know that and wondered what that was... too much water this April. - Thank you, for making me cleverer :)
Really interesting video. Thanks. May I say how beautifully kept your garden looks. You and Adam do a wonderful job. Everything very precise and orderly
Thanks Charles, an interesting overview and a great start to the NoDig growth season.
💚
Always look forward to and enjoy watching your videos.....learn so much and as a beginner they've been of such value...thankyou!
Thanks Clare, that's nice to hear
Thank you 💗 i always appreciate your helpful videos 😎
Thank you for motivation!!! This is the first year I will use row cover even though I have known of it since the 1980s.
Ah great
Just when you thought these videos couldn't get any better, this FRIGGIN CAT comes in being SO SO CUTEEEEEEE
😂 she will love that
Thank you for this. Your previous comments and advice regarding has help extend my short growing season, which I have shared and recommend your TH-cam channel. I’d also like to pass on my thanks for recommending Seaspring seeds for chilli and pepper seeds, I have 10 quality plants growing and looking forward to trying them.
Cheers Jamie. Hot summer for you!
Thanks so much Charles. We learn so much from you and we have been gardening for a long time. You especially inspire me to keep trying new varieties of veg plants to grow (like those turnips). It is easy to grow what you know works year after year. I have 7 types of chicory growing this year because of your inspiration. We are going into winter now so I am interested to see how they handle that.
Thank you so much, and good luck with the winter! Those seven types of chicory will surely help brighten the days, it sounds fascinating
My feb planted cauliflowers are just starting to develop curds, a few weeks from harvest and I’ve just started harvesting the new season celery : all the best - Steve
turnip greens are a delicacy! You can also use them in your salad bags!
Thank you so much for your great channel. Love your cat ❤
That is nice Sue!
Utah way behind in spring, 2 to 300% of normal snow this year, I’m in Arkansas now cool there too! Cheers my friend.
Sorry to hear that Gerald, hope the sky turns blue for you
all looking lovely
Thank you
Good morning, Charles, from Windermere, Florida zone 9b 🇺🇸
Thanks for the walkabout 👍
Your weather is warming up, finally! Pigeons, Rabbits, Cats!
We are having 80's, high humidity, Squirrels, Rabbits, Armadillos, Raccoons, Aphids, etc. Hell has many places and different faces🤣
And yet, we Gardeners keep trying 🌱
Take care, My Friend
❤Peggy❤
I hope you're good Peggy and not too hot yet!
We here in Ohio USA have had a cold wet Spring so far. We have 3 blocks of field corn that was all started in our green house, One block is in a cold frame, one block is under fleece and one block is un coverd, All started and planted out the same day, The cold frame is growing faster than the fleece covered and the fleece covered one is out growing the uncovered block. Bloody Butcher dent corn, the same undug ground. Very exciting to watch the diff!! It will be interesting to see how it yields in the end, indeed!!! Very Good video Charles as ALWAYS!!! WE DIG NO DIG!!!! Mia,
Thanks Mia.
I love that you are doing that comparison. Results will be different every year depending on the weather, it sounds like this year it's very worthwhile for you to have the fleece!
Thanks for sharing the video. I was sowing parsnips yesterday and the soil was noticeably warm to the touch. We are in Shropshire
Great to hear. Spring wonders :)
so reassuring to see that its not just me with a "failed" carrot crop this spring! will have to re-sow. ( south Devon UK) odd as the parsnips are up and growing just fine. I have switched to covering seedling crops with fleece now moving onto mesh covers totally agree that the damage is reduced especially by the marauding pigeons. I am trying draping loose nets around the base of the wigwams to try and keep the local cats off any bare soil and can whip off easily once the beans get up the sticks.
Much less weed on the no dig beds this spring - yay! thanks for all your inspiring videos.
Thanks for feedback Lena, nice jobs you are doing there
As a gardener in Scotland I'd be happy with Charles worst results in this vid you know. I've grown Tokyo cross it grew small was delicious and did go woody quick. I saw the crows tear holes up in my fleece like the holes in yours, I think they took it for nesting cause they flew off with it.
Good comment! And yes for nesting, guess it's warm :)
I love watching your experiments come to conclusion. My gardening is ALWAYS an experiment, I do no dig, but I mostly do no weeding too! Haha, this year I am weeding only around the plants out to about 8 inches. I need the "weeds" for my summer garden as it is just so sunny and hot in my garden spot that my veg literally cooks in the sun! So far so good, growing really good now that it's a bit warmer. Planning my summer garden now. Oh how I love my garden though.
Learning a bit of herbalism this year too. So "weeds" are now medicine and food. Earth is really a great planet! :)
If you don’t have a slug problem you could replace you weeds with a pale mulch like sugarcane or straw. The pale colour reflects the light and heat.
So lovely to see this, especially how involved you are!
@@JoMU0511 I live in Florida, and we have the sugar cane patch of the US. And Big Sugar 🔥 burns the cane. I have emailed the person in charge, and I feel like I’m just hollering into a void. The folks near the sugar fields are having serious lung issues. But they are poor and most work in the cane.
Oh dear, that is so upsetting, in every way. They are growing a non-food and trashing the environment, giving people bad health twice over!
Good information I learned a lot thanks👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you sir,and also nice cat
😀 cheers
The Turnips look similar to snowball turnips I sowed last year was very tasty too
Hi again. We had 2 separate pvc pipe lines from house.
One pvc pipe line is for electrical outdoor safe on it's own circuit at the circuit box just in case of a serge or other electrical problem. We were also able to hook up electricity to a shed for lights. You won't want to overload so an electrician should do it. Safety first.
For the Scare Crow.
One pvc pipe line with the water hose in it. Connect outdoor faucet to the Scare Crow.
I’m still In Pennsylvania and tonight (May 18) and it’s going down to 34 degrees. Mother Nature must be angry with someone. It’s only hitting low 70’s during the day.
All in all, your gardens are so beautiful even with the damage.
Cheers Mike. We are now seeing massive amounts of trails in the sky and the Sun has become quite pale so the days are not as hot. I hope that your night was above freezing!
Ugh, chem trails! I love to wake up very early just to get a glimpse of the natural blue skies. Best wishes to you!
Your garden looks great. I did not bother with fleece, partly coz of the storms we had. I did use a coldframe though and lots in there (lettuce, radish) are harvestable and some volunteer potatoes have grown to pretty big plants already, in spite of the recent frost. No weeds in my coldframes
Nice to hear Ed :)
Would be interesting hearing Charles talk about or with someone like Yannick van Doorne or Matt Roeske about electroculture, next level growing.
Electroculture can help everyone to increase their harvest substansially
gosh those radishes really are nice.
Thank you
Taking my fleece off the onions and mesh off the garlic on 1st May. 😃👍🏻The RHS says the allium leaf miner flies about laying eggs in March and April. So, 1st May on the dot it is! 😂
I suspect the ALM got into gaps in the mesh covering my garlic last October/November. Hoping the coffee grounds tea helped to ward them off. They look ok but won’t be able to tell until harvesting and separating the bulbs. Worked on the leeks, though.
Hi Charles, thank you for sharing your new comparisons and covers!
May I please ask you, what you would recommend to put on a ploughed and harrowed field wich I recently got (it‘s been grass before).
There‘s some not completely green waste compost abailable and I ask myself if it works to put it on the surface as a mulch in between the plants or would it be better to wait to autumn to let the compost get ripe on the field over winter time?
Could it do some damage to the plants to put it on right now, like hardly an inch or so?
Everything looks so great well done
Thank you
Hi Charles, thank you for sharing all you knowledge and experiments. If you want to figure out if it is the forking or the compost on top that mostly affects the yield. You could test forking the ground but still adding the compost on top as you do on the no dig bed.
That is exactly what I do! The forked beds have the same amount of compost on top as the no dig ones next to them, and the yield is 8% less over nine years charlesdowding.co.uk/three-strip-trial-2014-2022/
Hi Charles. An update info on my gold fish pond. Last month we had to cover the pond with pond netting because a blue heron came to snack on our fish.
With freezing temps a possibility we could not hook up our motion detector that activates and sprays hungry visitors with water.
We just run a hose from the house to the pond. Then attach it to motion detector called Scare Crow. A pvc conduit can be used to protect the hose so it can be buried from house to pond. It runs on 9V battery. Setting up a pond with filters etc and electrical can be a chore at the beginning.
Good if you know someone you can barter with for the mechanical upkeep.
Thanks so much for the useful info :)
I love your videoes, very informative. I m sorry if already has been asked what are you using as a metal frame underneath the covers, please? Many thanks
4mm high tensile galvanised straightened wire
Still cold at night here in the South East UK
it might seem a bit boring subject, but actually protecting crops especially in spring is really an important aspect of gradening, that can make a huge difference. weather wise, spring ,in england, is a very challenging season. Being organized with the right covers is essential.
Itd be weird if someone made a youtube video about that
Always insightful, learnt so much on your channel - thanks. One thing you could enlighten us on, is how do you stop the cat pooping in the beds? Mulching with Holly is tearing me to shreds!
Thank you, that's nice. It's a good question but she is quite light and I've not yet seen more than a couple of holes caused by her and I'm coping! There's enough space here for her to expend a lot of energy and poops, elsewhere.
We call those Hakurei turnips (white)
Yes I am growing the Japanese turnips now in Melbourne Australia. The seeds come up quite quickly. Have them planted around the snow peas.
Burning question
My seed potatoes grew 8-12” shoots…
How would you handle the planting depth (or clipping shoots?)
TIA
Charles! Lovely as ever! I volunteer at a school greenhouse, zone 8, and we just got infested with aphids. Why? Too warm? Not enough watering? You add a lot of pest information with your explanations but I have never heard you speak of aphids.
Oh dear. I don't mention aphids very much because I find them not a big deal. Except in this one month of mid to late spring when they multiply fast, which creates a large enough population for the newly arriving predators such as ladybirds and hover flies, to have plenty to eat and survive themselves through the summer.
It's a phase you have to go through by watering as you say, knocking them off maybe and any other simple method.
I found aphids on my overwintered Chard in the greenhouse this morning, and removed it because we need the space soon for aubergines and peppers
I put some fleece down to warm a piece of ground, in readiness for planting my onion seedlings. It was only there for 3/4 days, but it has been ruined by (I think) mice. One edge has been "nibbled" and there were at least a dozen or so holes in it, golf ball size. Thankfully the sun is out now, so I'll let nature warm it up.
Ah shame, maybe birds for nesting material. May your onions be good!
A lot of good information the re different covers Thanks for your experience info ,Cheers Where do you purchase the wire for the hoops and how wide are the beds please
Thanks, sharanya.co.uk for wires and 1.2m / 4ft
weri gooooood❤❤❤❤
thank you 🙂
Wow nice 👌👌♥️
New subscriber From Arunachal Exotic Flowers and Pots 🌿🥀🌱
Thanks, and your place looks amazing. Also I heard that in Anders Pradesh there is a lot of organic farming going on, encouraged even by the government. !! That sounds so impressive. I've started to pay for Hindi subtitles on my videos in case that helps
I wonder should they make fleece in a black colour rather than white as it absorbs sunlight whereas white reflects light. End result more warmth.
Black will absorb thermal energy at the level of the fleece but it will also radiate out more heat. Ideally, uncover when it is sunny and cover up for the night . But that's just too much work forme😂
True but black takes away more light
Do you worry about using green waste compost? I worry what pesticides and herbicides may have been used in other peoples gardens. What are your thoughts?
That is a serious concern, yes.
Shade cloth is black, and it is designed to assist plants with more sun and heat than they can take. It works out.
A great and very informative video, thank you. What do you mean when you refer to forking a bed?
Thankyou, and we push the fork down to 10 inches/25 cm, then lever to loosen but do not invert the soil, details here charlesdowding.co.uk/three-strip-trial-2014-2022/
Looks well good! What metal wires do you use and where do you get them from? I got some 2.5mm garden wire but it’s a lot flimsier than yours!
It's 4mm high tensile galvanised and straightened, from wintwire.co.uk
Hello Charles, thanks for the content. I’ve just ordered the fleece. Have you got a link for the hoops please. Keep up the good work ;)
Thanks and yes sharanya.co.uk
I have some grey weed block cloth that looks similar to the material, maybe a little heavier. I wonder if it would work? Would the darker color warm things up to much?
Actually not because dark excludes more light, and it's light (infrared) which converts to warmth
1:51 I really don't get how the temp can be lower under that covering than the outside temp with no covering 🤔 6:03 Astounding to see the difference between your forked beds and the others, I wouldn't have believed just a verbal description ! I think I will stick to H.Fleece for my little patch, especially as I have just bought some new !! Thank you for the video.
Thanks, yes it's all so interesting!
Likely you would see the results reverse in the evening/night. Dark colours (soil) absorbs light, white, reflects it.
@@kellyevans9682 Good thought /observation 👍
Do you know if these fleece products are available in Australia? Heading into winter in Tassie and probably a similar climate to yours. thanks 🙏
I don't Kirsten and I agree that in your climate, they would be very useful
I have some portions of my veggie patch (made by a previous owner of the home) that are quite firm... potatoes grown in those areas don't produce much whilst the potatoes in softer soil produce quite well. I'm debating if I should get in and break up that soil at least once to aid future produce or if there's perhaps a plant or two that I can sow to help break up the tougher soil? I've only been adding mulch/compost/manure on top of the veggie patch as it was when we bought the house (and removing junk, bits of asbestos) I'm trying to practice no dig... but would love your advice on how to tackle that tough soil. Thanks for any help and the lovely videos both instructional and calming to watch.
I’ve tried no dig for several years, but I’m on clay and my beds vary as to how much organic matter has passed down the soil column. The potatoes did seem to be sitting on a hard pan last year. The parsnips however had some enormous roots (Hollow Crown). The broad beans keep getting destroyed by aphids as though they are under stress. I’ve forked compost and pelleted chicken manure into the beds this year and will see if growth improves and if the worms are more abundant in the Summer.
Thankyou.
Sounds like a problem area, and deep forking could be worthwhile to 10in / 25cm. 2 years alfalfa could improve structure
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you so much for that. I'll see how the last lot of seeds do then look at giving it a deep forking and possibly sowing alfalfa. I really appreciate it (and all you do for the growing community!).
The grasshoppers eat holes in my mesh. I just bought some new mesh that's black, hoping it will help cool as well as stronger to protect from pests.
Oh wow, crazy insects!
I have have lived in SE London for 37 years and havent seen such a long and cold winter yet! I miss "global warming"! 🙄 Thank you Charles, I am trying to educate my family in Poland about "no dig" and I am looking to buy some farmland. With the shitshows and 15 min cities I think I want to be "free" elsewhere...sadly
I can relate to those comments and I hope your move works out well. It's great that you are explaining all this to your family, I believe there is a lot of No-Dig in Poland.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I will do some searching for no dig in PL, thank you.
I use scaffolding net to a small degree but it lasts so much longer than fleece fleece blows away and disintegrates
Mine lasts 4-5 years, 1oz/yard
Could you provide a link for the fine mesh used please?
Here you are, veggie mesh www.gardening-naturally.com/ultra-fine-veggiemesh
Interesting you still have fleece on certain crops. I appreciate our last frost date is end of May, I wonder if you would consider swapping fleece for mesh now?
Yes this week Martin, on carrots and brassicas, against pests. Fleece is against wind too and for general warmth.
Lovely video, Charles. May I ask what kind of wire you use to make your hoops?
Cheers, 4mm high tensile galvanised and straightened charlesdowding.co.uk/shop/gardening-products/
The Italians eat their turnip tops, it's a speciality of Puglia
Cheers Jason, we are too :)
I hope you don’t mind me asking questions, but I think I did something wrong with my first no dig bed, I’m growing garlic which is going well but it’s also growing jelly ear fungus, I can’t ask any allotment neighbours as they’re all diggers! I don’t know why and is it a problem, I’ve seen it can be eaten when cooked but why’s it appeared? Thanks x
Cheers Lucy and that sounds no problem at all. It's a fungus which appears on decaying wood and it's either from the wood in raised bed sides, or in wood from compost. There is more of it in wet weather and it's not bad.. Beneficial in fact.
Flea beatle is my bane
❤
With no more frosts forecast would you consider putting the Sweetcorn and tomatoes out early or do you never do it?
You can do that! However, our last frost date is 16th May and none of the forecasts go that far ahead, reliably. However, between you and me we planted a few tomatoes outside yesterday just to see.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thanks for the response Charles, you're the best
On another site referencing no dig, they said the cardboard should be wet prior to laying it down. Do you concur?
No because it depends, there is no one size fits all, no "should".
In damp conditions, it wets naturally and 95% of what I lay is dry, unwatered, soon picks up moisture :)
mksrter charly💖 me deberias de mostrar como pones esa malla, para protejer el cultivo...me encata tu hermosoooo gato😻..yo no conocia ese tipo de rabanos😮
El gato es Mintie!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig mister charly...ese nombre de gato estaria perfecto para un cuento.!. mintie es un gato muy obsevativo de ojos muy brillantes que a lo lejos puede ver a tres ratoncillos muy traviesos jugando en el huerto de mister charly..quieres saber las aventuras que puede tener? no te pierdas a mitie !yo que tu,le pondria un rojo cascabel😽
😂 😂
¡Ella es tan linda!
Hi i have a question, how many days in a row should i water the new transplanted tomatoe plants and how should i water them after they root? what about new transplanted/seeded greens? thanks a lot
If it's not going to rain, I water all new transplants, and again after two days. After that maybe not for quite awhile.
It depends on the weather and how hot the sun is. In hot sunshine tomatoes, maybe every day for three days but if it's cloudy, say once in three days, it's hard to make a rule
Hi Charles how do you cook and eat the Tokyo cross turnips please?
I like them raw, or roasted :)
Hi Charles,
When do you recommend sowing summer squash and cucumbers outside? Zone 6B
Nights have been in the 40’s and days have been in the 50’s
Oooh that is too cool for outside sowing, nights need to be 50s and days 70F or so, hopefully soon.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig
Do you start cucumbers and summer squash in pots?
Or direct sow?
Yes, in module trays in fact and then pop them into 3 inch pots, being careful not to overwater especially cucumbers
Hi Charles any tips on moles that are digging in my no dig beds?😢 thanks Nick.👍🏻🤠
Moletrap worked here
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thanks, pretty obvious really.😂👍🏻
@@nickthegardener.1120 It's a shame that moles don't see well, otherwise you could hang a sign that says that it is not allowed to dig 😁
@@insAneTunA very true!😂👍🏻 I’m putting a few bamboo canes in the ground with bottles on first, moles don’t like the vibrations apparently!😂👍🏻
Would it be an idea to let some ducks go after the snails and such? I hear that duck do a very good job at that without the destruction that chickens cause. And How is the pond doing? Has the leakage become a bit less, or is it still the same situation? I would loooove to see an update about that. And I sincerely hope that you have not given up on the idea of creating a pond. A huuuuge 👍 from the Netherlands.
Thank you. The pond is too depressing for an update, not holding water but we made a new one which you will see in a later video or on a tour. I kept ducks once and got so fed up with treading in their poo everywhere, plus it's a lot of management, plus we have foxes here which would eat them. Many, many reasons not to keep ducks.
I can absolutely tolerate the level of slug damage here, is very low and I use it for teaching more than anything
I‘m sorry for the leaking pond😔.
I hope you will find a way to seal it.
I also wondered if it was better.
Ducks are hard work, they're very messy, they need fresh water daily to clean their nasal cavity or they get sick
I've heard milk 🥛 is good to attract slugs and snails though not a nice end for them 😬
@@funkarola If you use dark beer in a plastic cup, I guarantee you will create an overnight mortuary.
How u warm the green house in winter, for tomato as example
I absolutely do not because tomatoes give much less growth in winter than salads which are far more valuable.
Charles, what do you do with all your food?
Sell it to Spar and Chapel in Bruton, Three Horseshoes Batcombe and the village
Definitely slow grow in zone 6B in America. Ohio. Last year I had harvest already. About 2 weeks off this year.
Yes, and it's now quite cool for 6b and has been for the past 10 days. I do have some hardy tomatoes that volunteered earlier in March when it was in the 70's and 80's. I potted up about 5 and set the pots into the soil in my white 55 gallon barrel that I use for planting. It's about 1/2 full of potting mix, keeps the plants cozy enough to grow a bit in chilly weather.
aww so sorry about your caulis. The same thing has happened to me. - caulis p;anted, under fleece hoops and 5 of 6 have been eaten, i found, when i lifted the fleece to look at them this morning. A whloe crop gone in one night :-( Is it too late t sow more to replace them now? Thank you
Thanks, oh bother, and there is certainly still time to sow again!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Oh that's great. Thank you. I will sow again today. :-)
I am concerned about using the city green-waste compost. There is no knowing if what is in it has been treated with herbicides. Have you found any differences?
Yes you are right, it does vary and most batches here now are much better than they were a few years ago. The only way to find out is to get hold of a small amount and see what it's like in your area.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I do not know if it is logical but I am less worried about the city supplied wood chips (free). Here in California I think the herbicide use is too common on lawns and shrubs but not likely on trees. (wood chips). I have a small, no-dig garden for the last 10 years that supplies our home uses out of a standard city lot. Safe, non-herbicide compost materials consist of gathered leaves in fall, weeds from neighboring lots (cut just before they set seed), grass clippings from lawns I know are not treated. and my own yard and kitchen scrap waste. I am surprised how few people are willing to use cut weeds as mulch and compost. I have absolutely no problem of weed regrowth using them as mulch or in the compost. I resort to more sheet-mulch because of 1) our dry climate in summer 2) not enough compost. Still good results and no-dig. Love your channel and information.
Thanks, nice to hear and that is a very sensible approach
It is time to start rabbit season! 😀
Do you worry about using green waste compost? I worry what pesticides and herbicides may have been used in other peoples gardens. What are your thoughts?
It's not perfectly clean, but very few inputs are and mostly I find it good. I do not use it a lot, mainly when starting out as first dose because it's cheap in terms of large quantity
What wire do you use to make those hoops?
4mm high tensile galvanised, and straightened wire. The straightened part is important because otherwise it keeps springing back to a coil, the length is 2.5 m, see sharanya.co.uk
Thật là tuyệt ❤❤
Great video again, huge fan. I wonder What exactly are you using as hoops?
Wire pushed in the ground & bent over, I saw a video Charles has on this subject, very interesting.
4mm high tensile galvanised and straightened, sharnya.co.ik
Thanks!
What's the name of the white sheet?
We call it fleece www.paidonresults.net/c/57860/1/1762/0
Thanks Charles, I avoid fleece because i don't want to add plastics to the soil. Are there any worthwhile non-plastic alternatives?
Good point and I tried muslin but it has a less warming effect and cost five times as much
@@CharlesDowding1nodig maybe something you could manufacturer & sell..?
I was going to try cheese cloth, that is relatively, cheap next year. Cheaper than linen anyway. I buy it from a local material shop for use on the kitchen & preserving
@@lat1419 interesting idea, thanks 🙏
I have found covers to be a pain in the backside. I did an experiment last yeat, one bed with an insect cover, one with a fleece, and one with nowt at all. The uncovered bed turned out the best, with less slug and snail damage as I was able to easily find them and other pests. No covers at all for me this year.
Here in South Germany we cannot work in early spring without covers for frosty nights that often bring damage otherwise.
There are cultures that don‘t need them like brassicas, but some need them and I‘m happy to have the opportunity to reap a little sooner and have less frost damage
@@DaraRich We also get frosts here in North East England, so I only put in stuff that can stand them, such as some spinach, mizuma and so on. Otherwise I grow from seed in the greenhouse and plant out after the last frost date around 15 may.
As Dara says, earliness is a result - I harvested the first new turnips three weeks ago. The other advantage is keeping all pests off. But sure, it's your call and that's the beauty of gardening
I have peas with and without fleece here (poland), and they look so much better with. First time I tried this, and I am impressed
@@tomarmstrong5244 so do I😊.
Mizuna is a great salad adding by the way! Only potatoes and similar things are really happy of being protected in spring. Last year we had frost of -3 °C in late may and the cover helped the leafs a lot i think, only few got frost damage.
Interesting comparisons, the different composts. On that subject, my local recycling hub has free soil improver in a huge loading bay where you can help yourself. I assume it's the result of composting all the green bins of South Cambridgeshire but I note they don't call it compost. It's dark and friable but smells horrible. The smell goes away after it has been incorporated into the soil. Do you think it's basically a good addition to the soil or is the unpleasant smell a warning ? It's not a smell of rotting veg matter so much as a slightly.........industrial smell, is the only way I can describe it.
Thanks Tom, and that is a good description, I'm sure I know that smell. I think it comes from the high temperatures they generate with frequent turning. And the process is a kind of composting but not as high quality compared to what we do at home. It's organic matter however and I would not add it to the soil, but just leave it on top. Air can then get to it and it slowly improves, is worthwhile in say a 3cm layer.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks so much for replying so quickly that issue. I'll do as you suggest and just leave it on top.
Charles have you ever tried duct tape on holes in fleece or netting? Its not ideal, but I have put duct tape on holes in fleece, worked for me .. of course too big a hole might be a problem for tape. The duct tape lasts at least a season, you wouldnt want to keep it on there more than that anyway.
Thanks Ted, mine washed off!!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I was using drip tape, maybe thats why mine stayed longer
Interesting!
Charles how often do you water your lettuce?
What you see here, once so far. If no rain, twice a week
Hi Charles, I have converted so many people to no dig, and your channel that I feel I deserve to be a partner. My wife tires of me talking to all the strangers in the garden shops/centres, but I spread the word. Seriously though No dig has taken my own garden to a new level. BTW my rows aren't as straight as yours, once I'm in possession of a dibber, nowhere is safe. Great video again Charles. BTW doesn't the cat dig here and there?
😂 The dibber comment, same here
@@annashiegl Yes I'm dangerous with a dibber🤣🤣.
Great to hear!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig really curious to know what you use for the arches to keep the cobers off the crops. Everything ive tried either breaks or is plastic.
4mm high tensile galvanised wire
So, to recap; winter= thermacrop w/hoops
Early spring = fleece, no hoops
Mid spring - summer = mesh, finest grade (w/hoops?)
? Do I have it right?
Can someone help me out, here? Do I have it right? I don't know if I understand correctly or not.
Seems right, and the insect fine mesh also with hoops.
@@DaraRich Oh, thank you so much!! 😘
Nice summary Joyce
@@CharlesDowding1nodig 😘
Had to take my mesh off today. There was a ton of flys down the whole bed 😩
sadly some pests inhabit the soil like potatoe beetles😪. Therefore I have to do some controls when they start to surface to take the fleece off at time.
I hat really good protection from cabbage white caterpillars which fly really much here.
But otherwise the fleece helps me a lot!
👋
First 😎
I know you don't like to use plastic, is that the only reason you don't use plastic covers to make mini poly tunnels?
A fair question but actually these covers are made of plastic! They are much easier to use than low plastic tunnels because they self ventilate and self water, mostly
How’d Charles ignore that cat for so long, I’ll never know.
She takes over otherwise!
I really don’t like fleece, if I have to use it I choose Thermacrop. I wonder how long you’ve been harvesting those lettuce for, I’ve been harvesting whole heads of big plants for 4 weeks now off this years plants, picking new season carrots now and my new season spinach has been harvested for well over a month and will soon be finished and replaced by peppers. That’s the difference continuous vented poly low tunnels and coldframes make compared to fleece. My polytunnel is of course further ahead, but that’s not a fair comparison.
Your garden is amazing Steve.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thanks Charles, but our objectives are just different, mine is to efficiently grow a rich and varied year round fresh food diet for a big family, that's quite different to yours. So many great gardeners inspired what I do, it used to be routine, I definitely don't have time to do anything amazing : All the best - Steve