Farming is hard work, we worry about money, equipment, supplies, all that it takes to do this. I try to remember the grace, enthusiasm, and love for the growing experience this man always has. It is something we strive to remember and mimic.
These episodes remind me of how gardening shows used to be like years ago. Full of advice and actual gardening always expertly delivered. This will be my 4th year No Dig and it's all thanks to Charles Dowding. I only wish i'd converted sooner.
I agree. And I think it’s because Charles is first and foremost a gardener who has sort of evolved into a “Media person” , and not the other way around
I started my permaculture 3 years ago (100% because of Charles), and this year is the first time where i'm actually feeling good at this time of the year. The past 2 years I was SO stressed out, about so many things that could go wrong in my garden, that spring was actually not a very pleasant experience for me, very stressful. None of my worries happened. Moral of the story : 99% of the time, your worries wont come true, so don't worry :)
"Find a balance so that you can live with your pests". That sir, is a profound piece of gardening advice that I will take with me into this gardening season. Thank you.
Such great advice about accepting pests . Charles gave me great advice last year about the brown weevils gobbling up my pea and beans leaves. He suggested that I plant earlier which I did and it worked. The weevils got to munch what they needed and I had a good enough harvest. We were both happy. ☺️
Hearing your voice is like having a friend that I just haven’t met yet to help motivate me to get outside. We had some snow this morning on our beautiful green western oregon grass.
I admire how beautifully kept your beds and property are. It makes it so pleasant to be outside and working. It is something i constantly strive for. Thank you for the inspiration!
Thank you Charles! I love your way of joyfully describing these tasks. It helps me me have a sweet attitude as I head out to tame the wilds of my garden.
Have been watching for 4 years and have learned so much great info and changed the way I garden and its awesome to build the soil and grow organic vegetables ❤
I've been gardening for 30 years plus and have had success many failures but I am so inspired by Charles. I have just bought his No Dig book and his methods seem to be the way to go for me.
Hell Charles , As well as being impressed by your crops at this time of year I am amazed at the good condition that the grass is in . It must obviously get walked on a lot , and I live just a few miles down the road from you and so I KNOW how much rain we have had this winter .
Thanks and yes, wet indeed. I am fortunate that this soil here, although heavy, does drain, and also, I reckon we're spreading a little compost on it from boots, regularly! Woodchip also gets blown off into the grass, improves soil organic matter. And my work on energies helps, see last chapter in Skills book for example.
🎉Mr Charles is like David Attenborough of gardening I'm from Poland and I just love to learn English with Mr Charles and gardening two birds with one stone I'm trying to sold some great ideas to my father in law sometimes it is hard and other time I achive succes it is good to see ideas from England working here thanks👍
Charles, your place looks immaculate. I can appreciate all the hard work that went into everything! You inspire me to be an intentional creator and to run experiments all the time. That's something we all should do. Life is an experiential journey .do you ever add Ash or biochar to your compost? That's something I've been doing, and from what I understand, it creates a great basis for delivering potash and welcoming space for the microbiome to grow. Thanks for the spring fever. I'll pass it on!❤❤🎉😂
Thanks Timothy, for your lovely comment and enthusiasm. Yes, I add both of those, anything really which is available as 'organic matter of the season'!
My grandfather planted sorrel along the flower bed in front of the house. Now, nearly a hundred years later, it comes up like mad all over the place. I always thought it was pretty but never knew you could eat it.I plan to try it this spring.
Oh, those bratty little and beautiful buttercups! We've had such a time with those ourselves. I've put the flowers in arrangements at times, but mostly go after the entire plant when I see them. The plants are poisonous to chickens and sheep, so are no longer considered a friendly plant for us! We got some beautiful soil from the gully on our sister's property. Every spring it washes topsoil and leaf mould down there, and when the water recedes, it leaves gorgeous black soil, with a little bit of wood that is easily picked out. The worms are happily living in it, too! I'm adding perlite to it this year for potting compost, instead of paying for Promix. We're making our own mix. Thanks for all your encouragement and the great videos. My leeks took a hard freeze last month during the polar vortex we had with minus temperatures to 9 below Fahrenheit. I'm hoping they'll come back. It killed all my mustards and left me a few of my lettuces (all were under cover), and my pansies survived nicely, too. Edible flowers are wonderful. You get the beauty during winter, and the food as well! Love that you're coming to the US in June. Wish we could come up to Iowa and see you. Not sure if we can. But it will be a huge blessing to those who do go! Thanks, Charles! --Janet and Dane
It's so nice to hear from you, Janet. You had extreme cold! but I'm encouraged that your leeks may have survived at least. I hope to see you one day if not in Iowa! And I hope the potting soil works well.
Absolutely beautiful! I went outside today and started cleaning up from Fall/Winter (I have started seeds indoors), and it was absolutely invigorating! SO ready for Spring! Happy gardening! 🫶🏽🌱🫶🏽
When doing your compost comparison trays it would be neat to see a small tray with a sub optimal mix.. like no compost or not amended soil just to see how the seedlings handle a less than perfect setting.
I want to say thanks particularly for your onion knowledge. I have 650 onions growing in my city garden all clumped together which makes it so much easier knowing from your guidance that they maybe slightly smaller but it works out more productive. I used to do single onions its so much more work!
I'm glad I had winter cabbage that lived and grew all winter. The soil under is moist and soft enough to dig with my fingers and that bed was never tilled. A lot of worms freely crawling at the top, probably because of the cabbage leaf shade. They have some dead lower leaf drop to eat. I don't know if I'll use it as winter cover over something else, but it did a job. Strong, deep roots and wide leaves. No spring weeds managed to grow under, besides the garlic that had time to shoot up over the shade.
It's amazing seeing how productive your space is already, Charles! However, be aware, Met Office are forecasting minus seven again for the end of the month! Happy fleecing :)
Thanks for the tip Alan and what do they know 😂. I was braced for the -7C forecast for now (and dry), 16 days ago. But it's 11C this morning and 40mm rain overnight. Yes it will cool down
Thanks for the post Charles I loved it. like I've said in the past, you make me miss the UK :) In our cool season here in NE Thailand (35C on average 🤣) I'm harvesting bush beans, lettuce, beetroot, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, snap peas and Chinese radish :) Getting ready for the hot season crops. I have a couple of toads that live in my compost heap that regularly patrol my raised beds looking or food :)
Hi Charles, How lovely to walk through Homeacres with you. Your Garden is Waking up, slowly. We are enjoying another week of 70's/50's 🌞 Take care of yourself ❤Peggy❤
I was so excited to see the water in your pond. This is the first video I've see of it since you built it. I'm taking hardwood elderberry cuttings right now, while I'm listening to the video. It's been in the 20's F here, so no outdoor work for me today. 🙂
Thank you for the smile charles. It's snowing here, so everything is undercover. In my house actually. Wish I could be with you for your talks. Maybe some day you can come to the u. S and I can listen . I got the calendar anyway and i'm just adjusting the timing for the Planting. Have a great day.
So nice of you Lisa. I am speaking at a festival in Iowa, but I think that's quite a long way for you to travel, here are details www.charlesdowding.co.uk/product/murray-fest-midwest-iowa-usa---29th-30th-june
First daffodil flower out at the allotment this morning from the bulbs I planted last autumn (gifts from the council for those showing at their annual Fruit and Vegetable Show) and, like you, my second set of 24 garlics are all through three weeks after the first set, despite being sown on the same date. All now successfully weeded (not knowing where the garlic might emerge is a deterrent to weeding with a hand-held hoe earlier on). It's nice to be able to weed 100sqm+ in under 30 minutes after 4 years of no-dig. Little and often is indeed the mantra for no-dig=no weeds!!
I’ll be watching avidly to see what you do about the allium leaf miner! I’ve had it on my leeks for the first time this year on my allotment and had resigned myself to having to use yet more nets, but I just don’t want to see a sea of nets on my little plot. Another challenge! Thank you for being so brilliantly informative 😊.
Thanks Charles! We got a heavy wet snow early this week that flattened one of my mini poly tunnels where I use plastic piping as support. Luckily I was only trying to warm the ground for an early lettuce and arugula planting so no damage done. More snow coming tonight but more of the fluffy type so the tunnels should be ok. It's a delicate game on trying to get an early start around here without being too early.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Oh ok. I thought heating up the ground a little and stopping it from freezing ahead of time might get things to germinate quicker here since I direct seed a lot. But the things I'm planting like cools soil anyway so might not matter too much.
Thank you Charles. What a pleasure to be in your garden, so green already (at least by New England standards). As always, you are a great inspiration. Happy new growing season!
I follow a lady in Ireland Bealtaine Cottage and she also has the frog eggs in her creek and says it is also a little early, so for me here in North Texas could mean another early hot time to come.
You’ve got me experiencing Spring Fever! There’s still 4’ feet of snow on the ground here in Alaska. But I’ve started some winter sown jugs of broccoli onions and shallots. Sooo close!
It always amazes me that I have the same frost dates as Homeacres here in my neck of the woods (Zone 6 NY, US) but our high and low temps are so very different. The highs will hover around 30 - 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the lows around 19 degrees Fahrenheit all week long. And that's pretty typical at this time of year. Whereas our summers will probably be 10 - 15 degrees warmer than Homeacres. The effects of topography and ocean/lake effects are fascinating!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Nova Scotia! While I garden at a latitude I share with Corsica (I had to look that up, ha!), using your No Dig calendar's sowing dates! It amazes me every time I stop to think of it. So grateful for this beautiful gift of a planet and all its wonders/mysteries. ✨
I do so enjoy your Homeacre catch-ups. Thank you for sharing your ups and downs and tips. Helps to not think we’re alone with our own endeavours. Hope your left hip feels better soon.
sitting here picking out my seeds for this year, I have a very small garden but grow as much as I can, unfortunately we have had so much rain here in Hampshire I cant touch the garden as its under water.
I got a train from Salisbury down to Cornwall a few days back & the level of all the rivers & streams we passed was almost lapping over the banks on all of them. a fair few of the fields were deep under water at the edges. The ground is saturated.
I've six Sungold cuttings from last year's plants. Will need to take cuttings from the cuttings (not sure when to do this) for actual plants & it'll be interesting to see how they do. Onion, beetroot & cauliflower all sown in cells this week & potatoes are chitting. Mizuna is going into flowering mode in the ploytunnel but lettuce, spinach & rocket are all growing faster. Bought your No Dig book & it arrived today & looking forward to dipping into it.
So grateful for this video, seeing the progress at Home acres, especially at this time of the year really helps to motivate me and encourage me to get on with jobs like bed prep, early showings and compost making. I could spend all day watching!
It's really nice to see after all the yrs you've been gardening, you are still in love with it. Your lawn is beautiful, it really sets off the garden plots. Wondering if you throw yellow rattle seed out with the wildflower mix, thinking it may help with your grass control. Have a wonderful weekend.
Thanks. Yellow rattle seed is difficult to find fresh, and when I did sow some, none came up. This method of plastic in winter is for me the easiest method, and certainly more effective against buttercups!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I hadn't heard about yellow rattle til you guys in the UK spoke of it for a way to control a meadow. Til you mentioned fresh seed, didn't know that either. Thinking it would be great if your garden centers should sell that ready to plant.
Hi Charles and crew. Just checking in from Long Island NY. I wish I could sow but cannot due to home situation. Will have to direct sow and buy transplants. We have a long growing season. I’m gonna give Charentais another try. I’m joining a Cornell cooperative garden with large plots. I’m need space for the Romanesco zucchini that I grow for the blossoms with baby fruit. But growing 75% flowers for cutting. Luv you Charles 🍓🍓🍓
Remarkable indeed! Composting with more pine wood chips in two good piles in a three bin set-up. Hoping everything goes well. Really like All your presentations, a visit to Homeacres!
Your garden is so peaceful. But there are still many empty plots of land. I hope you can plant a few more flowers in that empty space. Looking forward to the next video of those flowers blooming. Thanks
My enthusiasm continues! I'm still gleaning bits from your methods and improving on my methods. I have had to tweak the calendar for my much colder zone. There is no sweeter treat than Savoy cabbage overwintered under cover but I've never tried Brussels tops...gonna do that next week! Thanks again for showing the world your methods.
Today I finished my frontyard veggie garden by spreading woodchips on the pathways. Everything is now ready for transplants. This week I started sowing the first veggies in my house. I cleaned the greenhouse so the starts can be moved into it as soon as they germinate. Everything I learned from you, Sir Charles, merci! I am happy😊.
Thank you Charles for showing different ratios of compost and how or why you use them! What would be the best way to utilize compost that still has weeds seeds in it? Thanks!
Cheers, and I don't see any problem or issue with using such compost. However, it depends how many. My compost has some weed seeds and it's quick to remove them when very small.
👏. I can never seem to get my compost that hot. About 40 degrees it reached in winter for about a week and then dropped and held at about 20 for a couple of weeks. Presumably I’m not putting enough greens in there?!
Watching you here in your lovely Homeacres has cheered me because I can now see that Spring has sprung ! Our little garden is still a boggy mess & I have to wait awhile before I can do very much except weed & "tidy". I am totally envious of your lovely mustard and lettuces. Thank you for this enthusiastic & encouraging video 👌
My garden was always wet & cool too long. Then I read a 1911 gardening book that mentioned the importance of drainage. I didn’t have an easy way to create drainage so I dug out the paths to “raise the beds” and the paths do fill like ponds in the spring & fall, but as I add wood chips or mulch to them, over the past almost 3 years, the ground in the paths absorbs more & leaves less puddling. In any event, having a place for the water to go has helped the planting beds dry & warm sooner, so I can plant sooner.
Those are good ideas that you put forward. Our garden ius flooded again today, it will continue so until the dry weather comes back as there is nowhere fot the rain to go now. It would be a major operation to have new drainage & would have to involve neighbours gardens too ! Not a happy prospect !!@@jenbear8652
Enjoy UK spring. In South Africa i'm trying to get autumn / winter veg in the ground. But we are experiencing temperatures from 30 - 34 degrees C and very limited rainfall. Tough going!
There are so many variables. Perhaps your weather has been different, perhaps your soil quality is different, perhaps it's different varieties, these are Duncan F1 and Wintergreen
Marvellous as always Charles. Got great heat in out compost made mostly from grass cuttings and raked leaves but when spread in the pollys loads of seeds germinated, mostly Kale & Chard. We've been using them as microgreens all winter 😅 Thanks for the great idea of a plug pounder! Say hi to my brother Simon when you see him 💖 Blessings to you both. ☘🙏💫
@@CharlesDowding1nodig😂 no, I don't have an opperational device to frequency cloud bust the sky above us so we put up with vast amounts of rain but thats usual for these here Tipperary mountains. Like you there was no pooling of water in the garden. I am taking your advice and removing the boards that make our raised beds. Also the herringbone brick pathways between the beds as slugs can be a bit troublesome, infact they thrive here but without those hiding places all aught to be hugely improved. Some lime mixed in with the woodchip paths may also help, we'll see. The slugs have a whole mountain to live on! 😅 Thank you so much for your wisdom! ❤
I am looking forward to the day when the rain does not pool up in my garden. Thats the consequence of having very heavy clay soil that does not drain. I have poly film on my garden area-to-be and it's been raining so much my supplier cant even *get* to the compost and woodchip so they can deliver and I can set up my beds. I should have done all that late last year but alas, we were busy with our other business then. I'll get a late start this year, but it will be smooth sailing after that. No matter what your native soil type is, this method WORKS 🎉
Well we are buried in snow and will be for a while as well as ground frozen solid so I envy you your ability to be outdoors working! As soon as true thaw hits I have a lot to do 😅 For now, starting things indoors will have to suffice! Thank you for sharing as always
Altijd heel fijn om uw vlogs te bekijken mijn moestuin is sit jaar veranderd in een heuse zwembad het regent in nederland bijna elke dag😢 Uw tuin ziet er prachtig uit ❤
Yep, I’m waiting for the autumn break, soil too hot yet. Sorted my seeds though, ready to sow. Summer tomatoes and zucchs have been amazing this year, am watching pumpkins grow daily. Such fun!
Looks like springtime…lovely gardens! 🙏 It’s a lot of work just trying to keep things from being eaten by all those hungry critters. Those leeks look great btw glad you’re able to salvage so much of it 👍I’m thinking of planting some escarole I’ve started indoors and covering with gallon water jugs with bottoms cut off until they can size up a bit. Then I’ll cover with row cover because we have critters 😏First I have to wait for the snow to melt…had a snow storm @8” and I see the rabbit tracks running all over trying to find something to eat.
Charles, what is the mild brown damage around the tops of your parsnips please? It's like bruising and I get it too, think it's frost, slugs, CRF larvae or something else perhaps? I've noticed that whilst CRF can decimate carrots if left unchecked, they only go so far into a Parsnip so after peeling they're fine. I've actually still got 'nips, Swede and carrots still in the ground to harvest, they've been great to get us through Winter, have made soup and even wine from some of them. As you probably know, but didn't mention; Wireworms (and cutworms) are present in beds which are newly reclaimed (from grassland) and also could be transferring from the adjacent grassed areas too. I'm another one relieved Winter is nearly over, can hardly wait for the end of March when the clocks change. Your 'wildlife' pond is still terrible though, needs some research and adjustment 🙂
It's a disease found in wet soils, called canker. I get it much worse from sowings made earlier like March and April. Not a major problem here. Yes sure I know that about wireworm, I'm intrigued that is the rye suffering more than anything. And I'm very happy with my variable pond!
Lovely to see this episode.. really inspiring, looking at your garden it's giving me greenhouse envy, I'm making do with my south facing lounge window. Your kale is giving me ideas for next winter, thank you, and so pleasing to see you're still thinking about plans and aren't light years ahead of the rest of us. Your new bed looks just like my new beds suggesting I haven't got things too badly wrong. looking forward to your cover crop vid.
Farming is hard work, we worry about money, equipment, supplies, all that it takes to do this. I try to remember the grace, enthusiasm, and love for the growing experience this man always has. It is something we strive to remember and mimic.
So nice of you thanks 😀
Agree ❤
❤
🎉 spring is breaking 🌿🪻🌷🌿
Does anyone else just watch more than once this for the soothing effect?
Lovely to hear, I am glad you enjoy the content 🙂
He is SO soothing!
I am glad 🙂
I have to watch more than once, just to absorb it all.
💚
These episodes remind me of how gardening shows used to be like years ago. Full of advice and actual gardening always expertly delivered. This will be my 4th year No Dig and it's all thanks to Charles Dowding. I only wish i'd converted sooner.
Great to hear Owen 🙂
I agree. And I think it’s because Charles is first and foremost a gardener who has sort of evolved into a “Media person” , and not the other way around
I started my permaculture 3 years ago (100% because of Charles), and this year is the first time where i'm actually feeling good at this time of the year. The past 2 years I was SO stressed out, about so many things that could go wrong in my garden, that spring was actually not a very pleasant experience for me, very stressful. None of my worries happened. Moral of the story : 99% of the time, your worries wont come true, so don't worry :)
99% of the time you'll be hit with a new disaster , i.e blight , leaf miner etc , but you just soldier on .
Nice to see this! 😎
"Find a balance so that you can live with your pests". That sir, is a profound piece of gardening advice that I will take with me into this gardening season. Thank you.
💚
Such great advice about accepting pests . Charles gave me great advice last year about the brown weevils gobbling up my pea and beans leaves. He suggested that I plant earlier which I did and it worked. The weevils got to munch what they needed and I had a good enough harvest. We were both happy. ☺️
Lovely to hear Alison!
Hearing your voice is like having a friend that I just haven’t met yet to help motivate me to get outside. We had some snow this morning on our beautiful green western oregon grass.
That's nice, thank you! And your climate sounds very similar to here, we had a little snow as well, now gone
I admire how beautifully kept your beds and property are. It makes it so pleasant to be outside and working. It is something i constantly strive for. Thank you for the inspiration!
Thanks and it's so true, 'work' turns to pleasure
Thank you Charles! I love your way of joyfully describing these tasks. It helps me me have a sweet attitude as I head out to tame the wilds of my garden.
Ah great, thanks Ruthie
Have been watching for 4 years and have learned so much great info and changed the way I garden and its awesome to build the soil and grow organic vegetables ❤
Glad to help Elijah
❤❤ thanks for recommending this channel Elijah
I've been gardening for 30 years plus and have had success many failures but I am so inspired by Charles. I have just bought his No Dig book and his methods seem to be the way to go for me.
Great to hear Anthony, I look forward to hearing how you get on 🌱
Hell Charles , As well as being impressed by your crops at this time of year I am amazed at the good condition that the grass is in . It must obviously get walked on a lot , and I live just a few miles down the road from you and so I KNOW how much rain we have had this winter .
Thanks and yes, wet indeed. I am fortunate that this soil here, although heavy, does drain, and also, I reckon we're spreading a little compost on it from boots, regularly! Woodchip also gets blown off into the grass, improves soil organic matter. And my work on energies helps, see last chapter in Skills book for example.
the pants and jacket are sick! looking swaggy Charles!
😮 a change from jeans!
🎉Mr Charles is like David Attenborough of gardening I'm from Poland and I just love to learn English with Mr Charles and gardening two birds with one stone I'm trying to sold some great ideas to my father in law sometimes it is hard and other time I achive succes it is good to see ideas from England working here thanks👍
Thank you and great to hear this 🙂
Charles, your place looks immaculate. I can appreciate all the hard work that went into everything! You inspire me to be an intentional creator and to run experiments all the time. That's something we all should do. Life is an experiential journey .do you ever add Ash or biochar to your compost? That's something I've been doing, and from what I understand, it creates a great basis for delivering potash and welcoming space for the microbiome to grow. Thanks for the spring fever. I'll pass it on!❤❤🎉😂
Thanks Timothy, for your lovely comment and enthusiasm. Yes, I add both of those, anything really which is available as 'organic matter of the season'!
bertani adalah sebuah hoby sekaligus pekerjaan. apapun pekerjaannya jika kita nikmati maka hasilnya akan menakjubkan😊
Is so true 😎
My grandfather planted sorrel along the flower bed in front of the house. Now, nearly a hundred years later, it comes up like mad all over the place. I always thought it was pretty but never knew you could eat it.I plan to try it this spring.
Man, and I thought I was psyched for Spring ! Charles, I just revel in your enthusiasm! Thanks for the inspiration and valuable lessons ❤
You and me both then, thanks
Bligh me! Now he's growing frogs!
Excellent encouraging video Charles.
Croak 😀 thanks so much Frank
Life comes to water
Oh, those bratty little and beautiful buttercups! We've had such a time with those ourselves. I've put the flowers in arrangements at times, but mostly go after the entire plant when I see them. The plants are poisonous to chickens and sheep, so are no longer considered a friendly plant for us! We got some beautiful soil from the gully on our sister's property. Every spring it washes topsoil and leaf mould down there, and when the water recedes, it leaves gorgeous black soil, with a little bit of wood that is easily picked out. The worms are happily living in it, too! I'm adding perlite to it this year for potting compost, instead of paying for Promix. We're making our own mix. Thanks for all your encouragement and the great videos. My leeks took a hard freeze last month during the polar vortex we had with minus temperatures to 9 below Fahrenheit. I'm hoping they'll come back. It killed all my mustards and left me a few of my lettuces (all were under cover), and my pansies survived nicely, too. Edible flowers are wonderful. You get the beauty during winter, and the food as well! Love that you're coming to the US in June. Wish we could come up to Iowa and see you. Not sure if we can. But it will be a huge blessing to those who do go! Thanks, Charles! --Janet and Dane
It's so nice to hear from you, Janet. You had extreme cold! but I'm encouraged that your leeks may have survived at least. I hope to see you one day if not in Iowa!
And I hope the potting soil works well.
Absolutely beautiful! I went outside today and started cleaning up from Fall/Winter (I have started seeds indoors), and it was absolutely invigorating! SO ready for Spring! Happy gardening! 🫶🏽🌱🫶🏽
Lovely to see this!
When doing your compost comparison trays it would be neat to see a small tray with a sub optimal mix.. like no compost or not amended soil just to see how the seedlings handle a less than perfect setting.
Surely all that would prove is that the mix was suboptimal?
I want to say thanks particularly for your onion knowledge. I have 650 onions growing in my city garden all clumped together which makes it so much easier knowing from your guidance that they maybe slightly smaller but it works out more productive. I used to do single onions its so much more work!
Great to hear of your success Lewis 🙂 and you are very welcome
I'm glad I had winter cabbage that lived and grew all winter. The soil under is moist and soft enough to dig with my fingers and that bed was never tilled. A lot of worms freely crawling at the top, probably because of the cabbage leaf shade. They have some dead lower leaf drop to eat. I don't know if I'll use it as winter cover over something else, but it did a job. Strong, deep roots and wide leaves. No spring weeds managed to grow under, besides the garlic that had time to shoot up over the shade.
Great!
Thank you Charles, inspiring as always !
I am glad you are inspired Andy 🙂
It's amazing seeing how productive your space is already, Charles! However, be aware, Met Office are forecasting minus seven again for the end of the month! Happy fleecing :)
Thanks for the tip Alan and what do they know 😂. I was braced for the -7C forecast for now (and dry), 16 days ago. But it's 11C this morning and 40mm rain overnight.
Yes it will cool down
Thanks for the post Charles I loved it. like I've said in the past, you make me miss the UK :) In our cool season here in NE Thailand (35C on average 🤣) I'm harvesting bush beans, lettuce, beetroot, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, snap peas and Chinese radish :) Getting ready for the hot season crops. I have a couple of toads that live in my compost heap that regularly patrol my raised beds looking or food :)
Sounds productive and you are very welcome 🙂
Thank goodness for all the rains we have received this winter. The weeds are thriving!!! 🤣😂 I have spent literally days and days weeding!
The good bit i that many weed seeds have germinated!
Hi Charles, How lovely to walk through Homeacres with you. Your Garden is Waking up, slowly.
We are enjoying another week of 70's/50's 🌞
Take care of yourself
❤Peggy❤
I should love a day of such warmth, thanks Peggy
Finally the start of the season is here! Lets gooooo!
💚 🌱
This would be very hard in West Texas 😂 but your garden is just beautifully fruitful ❤
Thanks, and sorry to hear, hope you have some rain
I was so excited to see the water in your pond. This is the first video I've see of it since you built it. I'm taking hardwood elderberry cuttings right now, while I'm listening to the video. It's been in the 20's F here, so no outdoor work for me today. 🙂
Good luck, and that sounds cold. Today was mild, and we had a lot of rain, so the pond is even fuller!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you. Can't wait to see it with the wildflowers.
I am looking forward to that too 🙂
Thank you for the smile charles. It's snowing here, so everything is undercover.
In my house actually. Wish I could be with you for your talks. Maybe some day you can come to the u. S and I can listen . I got the calendar anyway and i'm just adjusting the timing for the Planting. Have a great day.
So nice of you Lisa. I am speaking at a festival in Iowa, but I think that's quite a long way for you to travel, here are details www.charlesdowding.co.uk/product/murray-fest-midwest-iowa-usa---29th-30th-june
@@CharlesDowding1nodig oh how wonderful! It's about 1000 miles. I've done the drive that far before. I'm going to work on planning. Tyvm! 😊
Oooh I wish you safe journey
@@CharlesDowding1nodig ty, I just hope I can work things out in time.
It's so wet,here in Somerset.Just sinking into the grass, walking about.
Today was a nice change! 0mm!!
I've spent all morning in the garden enjoying working in the sunshine. Always a joy to see a new video from you Charles.
Sounds great!
First daffodil flower out at the allotment this morning from the bulbs I planted last autumn (gifts from the council for those showing at their annual Fruit and Vegetable Show) and, like you, my second set of 24 garlics are all through three weeks after the first set, despite being sown on the same date. All now successfully weeded (not knowing where the garlic might emerge is a deterrent to weeding with a hand-held hoe earlier on). It's nice to be able to weed 100sqm+ in under 30 minutes after 4 years of no-dig. Little and often is indeed the mantra for no-dig=no weeds!!
Sounds great Rhys!
I’ll be watching avidly to see what you do about the allium leaf miner! I’ve had it on my leeks for the first time this year on my allotment and had resigned myself to having to use yet more nets, but I just don’t want to see a sea of nets on my little plot. Another challenge!
Thank you for being so brilliantly informative 😊.
Cheers Vicky, we shall see!!
Hey Charles, so you good put your newly seedlings out as soon as they are all up and put them directly in the greenhouse, even that it could be cold 😊
That's the plan _ but what is cold? I'm not sure what you call cold. Here I would say above freezing is okay
🐝Thanks for the great video 🌻 itch itch itch to get all seeds in but not the space
You are very welcome
Thanks Charles! We got a heavy wet snow early this week that flattened one of my mini poly tunnels where I use plastic piping as support. Luckily I was only trying to warm the ground for an early lettuce and arugula planting so no damage done. More snow coming tonight but more of the fluffy type so the tunnels should be ok. It's a delicate game on trying to get an early start around here without being too early.
Wow challenging!
I have found that the main benefit comes from covering after planting rather than before, if that helps.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Oh ok. I thought heating up the ground a little and stopping it from freezing ahead of time might get things to germinate quicker here since I direct seed a lot. But the things I'm planting like cools soil anyway so might not matter too much.
Thank you Charles. What a pleasure to be in your garden, so green already (at least by New England standards). As always, you are a great inspiration. Happy new growing season!
You are very welcome Violetta
I follow a lady in Ireland Bealtaine Cottage and she also has the frog eggs in her creek and says it is also a little early, so for me here in North Texas could mean another early hot time to come.
That's interesting Debbie. I hope you don't have another cracking hot summer.
Thanks Charles
You’ve got me experiencing Spring Fever! There’s still 4’ feet of snow on the ground here in Alaska. But I’ve started some winter sown jugs of broccoli onions and shallots. Sooo close!
Cool, and I hope it warms soon!
We need more humans like him 😅 absolutely inspiring ❤praise god
It always amazes me that I have the same frost dates as Homeacres here in my neck of the woods (Zone 6 NY, US) but our high and low temps are so very different. The highs will hover around 30 - 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the lows around 19 degrees Fahrenheit all week long. And that's pretty typical at this time of year. Whereas our summers will probably be 10 - 15 degrees warmer than Homeacres. The effects of topography and ocean/lake effects are fascinating!
Yes indeed and I marvel in reverse! It's mostly the ocean currents helping us, from the Gulf of Mexico. We are same latitude as Nova Scotia.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Nova Scotia! While I garden at a latitude I share with Corsica (I had to look that up, ha!), using your No Dig calendar's sowing dates! It amazes me every time I stop to think of it. So grateful for this beautiful gift of a planet and all its wonders/mysteries. ✨
I use hot water on my sieved compost to kill gnats etc as i do everything indoors
I do so enjoy your Homeacre catch-ups. Thank you for sharing your ups and downs and tips. Helps to not think we’re alone with our own endeavours.
Hope your left hip feels better soon.
Thanks 😎
sitting here picking out my seeds for this year, I have a very small garden but grow as much as I can, unfortunately we have had so much rain here in Hampshire I cant touch the garden as its under water.
How frustrating!
I got a train from Salisbury down to Cornwall a few days back & the level of all the rivers & streams we passed was almost lapping over the banks on all of them. a fair few of the fields were deep under water at the edges. The ground is saturated.
I've six Sungold cuttings from last year's plants. Will need to take cuttings from the cuttings (not sure when to do this) for actual plants & it'll be interesting to see how they do.
Onion, beetroot & cauliflower all sown in cells this week & potatoes are chitting.
Mizuna is going into flowering mode in the ploytunnel but lettuce, spinach & rocket are all growing faster.
Bought your No Dig book & it arrived today & looking forward to dipping into it.
Nice to hear! I would take Cutting soon from those tomato plants, I shall do it this week probably
New to you Chanel ❤ thank you for all information you bring ❤😊
Welcome Shayla, nice to have you here 🌱
Your gardens are so beautiful as always. God bless and Much love 💖✝️
Thanks Linda
Hey Charles, you can grow Arrowhead in your ponds. Its edible and has a nice flower. All the best!
Good to know!
So grateful for this video, seeing the progress at Home acres, especially at this time of the year really helps to motivate me and encourage me to get on with jobs like bed prep, early showings and compost making. I could spend all day watching!
I am glad you are motivated 🌱
It's really nice to see after all the yrs you've been gardening, you are still in love with it. Your lawn is beautiful, it really sets off the garden plots. Wondering if you throw yellow rattle seed out with the wildflower mix, thinking it may help with your grass control. Have a wonderful weekend.
Thanks. Yellow rattle seed is difficult to find fresh, and when I did sow some, none came up. This method of plastic in winter is for me the easiest method, and certainly more effective against buttercups!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig
I hadn't heard about yellow rattle til you guys in the UK spoke of it for a way to control a meadow. Til you mentioned fresh seed, didn't know that either. Thinking it would be great if your garden centers should sell that ready to plant.
Hi Charles and crew. Just checking in from Long Island NY. I wish I could sow but cannot due to home situation. Will have to direct sow and buy transplants. We have a long growing season. I’m gonna give Charentais another try. I’m joining a Cornell cooperative garden with large plots. I’m need space for the Romanesco zucchini that I grow for the blossoms with baby fruit. But growing 75% flowers for cutting. Luv you Charles 🍓🍓🍓
Thanks for your lovely comment, and it sounds like you're going to have a busy and interesting year! Good luck with the melons
Remarkable indeed! Composting with more pine wood chips in two good piles in a three bin set-up. Hoping everything goes well. Really like All your presentations, a visit to Homeacres!
Thanks 👍 and that may take a while, sounds interesting
Glad to find this video again. Would like to mention a main green is rabbit manure and coffee grounds, kitchen scraps.@@CharlesDowding1nodig
I live in Suffolk! So many people I know love no dig thanks to you,Charles … me included xx
I am encouraged!!
Charles, you have such a calming effect on me!
I am glad to hear that 🙂
Your garden is so peaceful. But there are still many empty plots of land. I hope you can plant a few more flowers in that empty space. Looking forward to the next video of those flowers blooming. Thanks
I am growing food including salad for hundreds, every empty space will soon fill 🌱 and they are empty because it has been winter
My enthusiasm continues! I'm still gleaning bits from your methods and improving on my methods. I have had to tweak the calendar for my much colder zone. There is no sweeter treat than Savoy cabbage overwintered under cover but I've never tried Brussels tops...gonna do that next week! Thanks again for showing the world your methods.
Great to hear and thank you Lucy
I haven't been back since you put in the tiny pond! Its so nice.
Welcome back! We love it
Another tiptop video, good work!
Glad you liked it!
You're off to a great start!
🙌
great vid you are so calm love your vids
I appreciate that!
Today I finished my frontyard veggie garden by spreading woodchips on the pathways. Everything is now ready for transplants. This week I started sowing the first veggies in my house. I cleaned the greenhouse so the starts can be moved into it as soon as they germinate. Everything I learned from you, Sir Charles, merci! I am happy😊.
Great to hear 🌱
Thank you Charles for showing different ratios of compost and how or why you use them! What would be the best way to utilize compost that still has weeds seeds in it? Thanks!
Cheers, and I don't see any problem or issue with using such compost. However, it depends how many. My compost has some weed seeds and it's quick to remove them when very small.
👏. I can never seem to get my compost that hot. About 40 degrees it reached in winter for about a week and then dropped and held at about 20 for a couple of weeks. Presumably I’m not putting enough greens in there?!
Yes that is all, no worries. Mine is usually warm for February, normally below 40C, takes longer and is still good.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig great. Thank you
you are very welcome
❤ Just the best
I am glad Sharon 🌱
Thanks for all your sharing Charles. I had planned on being more ready this year but am still mainly just watching videos…time to get to work!
A refreshing change in the way you had us with you, and tour around your plot!
Thank you, and I'm glad you liked it. I'm looking this year to be more direct and precise, and quicker where possible!
Watching you here in your lovely Homeacres has cheered me because I can now see that Spring has sprung ! Our little garden is still a boggy mess & I have to wait awhile before I can do very much except weed & "tidy". I am totally envious of your lovely mustard and lettuces. Thank you for this enthusiastic & encouraging video 👌
That' nice thanks, and weed + tidy is worthwhile 😀
My garden was always wet & cool too long. Then I read a 1911 gardening book that mentioned the importance of drainage. I didn’t have an easy way to create drainage so I dug out the paths to “raise the beds” and the paths do fill like ponds in the spring & fall, but as I add wood chips or mulch to them, over the past almost 3 years, the ground in the paths absorbs more & leaves less puddling. In any event, having a place for the water to go has helped the planting beds dry & warm sooner, so I can plant sooner.
Those are good ideas that you put forward. Our garden ius flooded again today, it will continue so until the dry weather comes back as there is nowhere fot the rain to go now. It would be a major operation to have new drainage & would have to involve neighbours gardens too ! Not a happy prospect !!@@jenbear8652
We had 17c yesterday in Belgium it is insane!
We have creeping butercup too. nightmare. composts well though
Enjoy UK spring. In South Africa i'm trying to get autumn / winter veg in the ground. But we are experiencing temperatures from 30 - 34 degrees C and very limited rainfall. Tough going!
That sounds a difficult challenge, yet you need to succeed in order to have winter food. So good luck!
I think we here in England must be getting your share of the rain , Christopher. Just had the wettest winter ever .
Beautiful day! so exciting to see everything growing.
It is a lovely time of year 🙂
That is a beautiful empire ❤
Thank you Mark
Looks like I did my spring cabbage identical to you. Mine's all bolting. Perplexed.
There are so many variables. Perhaps your weather has been different, perhaps your soil quality is different, perhaps it's different varieties, these are Duncan F1 and Wintergreen
Many thanks. 😊
Marvellous as always Charles.
Got great heat in out compost made mostly from grass cuttings and raked leaves but when spread in the pollys loads of seeds germinated, mostly Kale & Chard. We've been using them as microgreens all winter 😅
Thanks for the great idea of a plug pounder!
Say hi to my brother Simon when you see him 💖
Blessings to you both.
☘🙏💫
Nice to hear from you, Jamie! I hope you are not too inconvenienced with the weather, unless you have a suitable device to mitigate it!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig😂 no, I don't have an opperational device to frequency cloud bust the sky above us so we put up with vast amounts of rain but thats usual for these here Tipperary mountains. Like you there was no pooling of water in the garden.
I am taking your advice and removing the boards that make our raised beds. Also the herringbone brick pathways between the beds as slugs can be a bit troublesome, infact they thrive here but without those hiding places all aught to be hugely improved. Some lime mixed in with the woodchip paths may also help, we'll see. The slugs have a whole mountain to live on! 😅
Thank you so much for your wisdom! ❤
Great work.
I'm looking at sensor devices.
@@CharlesDowding1nodigsensor devices?
Charles keep up the good work
Thank you
You are very welcome
Great video as always, always learn something and great for inspiration. Love the idea of the planting app - any idea when that might come out?
Thanks, and it's out just now! fryd.app/en
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Brilliant!
Thank you
You're welcome
Would love to see your plans for your favourite spot. I've just acquired a new spot which is a very similar size
I am looking forward to the day when the rain does not pool up in my garden. Thats the consequence of having very heavy clay soil that does not drain. I have poly film on my garden area-to-be and it's been raining so much my supplier cant even *get* to the compost and woodchip so they can deliver and I can set up my beds. I should have done all that late last year but alas, we were busy with our other business then. I'll get a late start this year, but it will be smooth sailing after that. No matter what your native soil type is, this method WORKS 🎉
Yes you need the organic matter on top, I hope the compost and chips arrive soon
Well we are buried in snow and will be for a while as well as ground frozen solid so I envy you your ability to be outdoors working! As soon as true thaw hits I have a lot to do 😅 For now, starting things indoors will have to suffice! Thank you for sharing as always
Good luck with that, and you are right, I can spread the load of work
Cool
So many great tips here, I really love it, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
0:43 It is perfect time for sowing poppy seeds outside in February
👍thanks
So ready for meeting you al Madrid! I am counting days!
See you soon!
Altijd heel fijn om uw vlogs te bekijken mijn moestuin is sit jaar veranderd in een heuse zwembad het regent in nederland bijna elke dag😢
Uw tuin ziet er prachtig uit ❤
Het spijt me dat te horen, ik hoop dat het snel droogt en bedankt, geweldig om te horen Gaia
I've learned a lot from you, thank you.
You are very welcome Chris
It's the end of summer here in Australia and we are starting spring prep
I love the six month juxtaposition!
Yep, I’m waiting for the autumn break, soil too hot yet. Sorted my seeds though, ready to sow. Summer tomatoes and zucchs have been amazing this year, am watching pumpkins grow daily. Such fun!
love your videos, books and advice
Great to hear, thank you Corinne
Great video. Thanks for sharing. I’m looking forward to starting my first garden here in Germany using grow bags. Happy growing 👩🏽🌾🌱
Thanks and best of luck!
Thank you.
Hello Charles, when do you come to Belgium in Wallonia to give a lecture on the no dig of the soil
Vincent
Cheers Vincent, if somebody can arrange it, email admin@charlesdowding.co.uk
Looks like springtime…lovely gardens! 🙏 It’s a lot of work just trying to keep things from being eaten by all those hungry critters. Those leeks look great btw glad you’re able to salvage so much of it 👍I’m thinking of planting some escarole I’ve started indoors and covering with gallon water jugs with bottoms cut off until they can size up a bit. Then I’ll cover with row cover because we have critters 😏First I have to wait for the snow to melt…had a snow storm @8” and I see the rabbit tracks running all over trying to find something to eat.
Thanks that is nice, and your climate is very different to here! Snow is so revealing for that the tracks you see 😮
Thanks for sharing Charles! 👍
You are very welcome
J aimerais avoir des alvéoles comme vous bravo ❤
Charles, what is the mild brown damage around the tops of your parsnips please? It's like bruising and I get it too, think it's frost, slugs, CRF larvae or something else perhaps? I've noticed that whilst CRF can decimate carrots if left unchecked, they only go so far into a Parsnip so after peeling they're fine. I've actually still got 'nips, Swede and carrots still in the ground to harvest, they've been great to get us through Winter, have made soup and even wine from some of them. As you probably know, but didn't mention; Wireworms (and cutworms) are present in beds which are newly reclaimed (from grassland) and also could be transferring from the adjacent grassed areas too. I'm another one relieved Winter is nearly over, can hardly wait for the end of March when the clocks change. Your 'wildlife' pond is still terrible though, needs some research and adjustment 🙂
It's a disease found in wet soils, called canker. I get it much worse from sowings made earlier like March and April. Not a major problem here.
Yes sure I know that about wireworm, I'm intrigued that is the rye suffering more than anything. And I'm very happy with my variable pond!
Lovely to see this episode.. really inspiring, looking at your garden it's giving me greenhouse envy, I'm making do with my south facing lounge window. Your kale is giving me ideas for next winter, thank you, and so pleasing to see you're still thinking about plans and aren't light years ahead of the rest of us. Your new bed looks just like my new beds suggesting I haven't got things too badly wrong. looking forward to your cover crop vid.
I am glad you enjoyed it Derek