July the busiest month, keep up with growth!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- A major month for everything in the garden! Harvests keep you busy and they result in empty spaces.
Soil does not need a rest, so it’s good to keep resowing and replanting. There are many possibilities.
Don’t worry about four year rotation unless your soil is depleted and has soil diseases like clubroot.
Make loads of compost!
Link to my page on Crocus www.crocus.co.uk/features/ins...
Harvest second early potatoes, and onions probably later in the month
If it rains a few times there are chances of late bight.
SOW in temperate climates:
1 In the first week sow dwarf beans, beetroot and carrots (direct only).
2 Until mid month sow chicory for radicchio.
3 At any time sow salad onions, chard, lettuce and endive.
4 After mid month sow Florence fennel, coriander, chervil and Chinese cabbage.
Wait until August for spinach and salad rocket.
Transplant leeks, brassicas, salads.
Pest protection against caterpillars, I use mesh for smaller plants and Bacillus thuringiensis when they are larger. In the UK, it's called "Box hedge caterpillar killer".
My three online courses:
No Dig Gardening: www.charlesdowding.co.uk/cour...
Skills for Growing: www.charlesdowding.co.uk/cour...
From Seed to Harvest: www.charlesdowding.co.uk/cour...
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Second plantings
01:05 Ridge cucumber and multisown beetroot
01:20 Carrots
01:51 Onions, downy mildew - early harvest
02:51 Kale, and when to water
03:20 Potatoes - Casablanca variety, grass as mulch
04:46 Multisown leeks
05:12 Lettuce - young transplants
05:27 Celery - lots of water needed
05:46 French bean, planted today
06:31 Garlic harvest, and rust
07:25 Compost - making, the temperature of heaps, stage of decomposition, rain, smaller compost bins
10:54 Interplanting - Brussels with carrots
12:31 Mesh cover
13:03 Compost bay pallet system
14:30 Multisown beetroot from early planting
15:22 Early July sowings - Savoy cabbage, broccoli
15:54 Pests, be wary
16:15 Lettuce under Thermacrop, and bindweed - how to remove
16:42 Protection against rabbits, and foxes
17:09 Removing covers, and the benefits of mesh
17:35 Bird netting, against rabbits and deer
18:04 Polytunnel plants - tomatoes, problems with growth, and deleafing
19:55 Melons looking stronger, need pruning
20:41 Cucumber plants - problems with leaves, slow to fruit
21:51 Melons in the greenhouse - good growth, and tomatoes - not so good
22:39 Propagation - a lot! - some ideas
23:42 Potting on
24:26 Four-year rotation, not necessary
24:38 Outro
My new compost book:
Signed copies available from my website: www.charlesdowding.co.uk/prod...
And direct from publisher DK: geni.us/Compost
Filmed Homeacres 25th June by Edward Dowding.
Music by Rory Dinwoodie, IG: rorydinwoodiemusic
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
I've been in hospital for some time so my garden has been quite neglected. A new Charles Dowding video is just what I need to get me back in the garden :) 🙏
💚
You've got this. I just hit the 2 month timeline on a broken foot, and should be decently healed although I have a few things in the foot that keep dislocating. It is my first full day without one of the kids being here, and I am hoping to get out and mow a bit. Will be 5 or 10 minutes at a time, but it will be outside and needs done.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig my garlic had a bad spell of rust! And it seems to have spread to my leeks/seedlings, should I just rip em all out? You advice is very much needed and not in the books I've read or throw away crops or keep crops and wait for full maturity?? Please help before I make the wrong move 😅😅
Do you ever grow in containers Charles? Carrots are the only things I grow in an old baby bath because I can raise them up from slugs and carrot flies. I appreciate you’d need very big containers!
I do hope You are Ok now. I am a fan of our DEAREST Sir Charles DOWDING and I want to encourage you to make you feel happy. We HAVE our DEAREST Sir Charles DOWDING in our hands when you have Wifi on. So You do not need an other person to go in your garden. Take your time whilst sitting in your chair with a good big writing cahier and some multycolours pencils. Write down what you want to do. Draw lines everywhere and take a Good look at your place, what you want to change.
Number it. And one day you will begin. But begin always with number one : by making yourself a great veggy and egg dish with a good big cup of Thea. I wish you ALLLLL the strength you need. And number two: always put Your Channel on Our Precious DEAREST Sir CHARLES DOWDING. Listen to him. Indulge in his very soft advice. The softer he Speaks, the Greater the secret is he revealed!!!!
Ok. Iam going now. Ps, my name is Saminem 🌺 and Its a pleasure to play like i know how to do the things better. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🌹🌹🌻🌻🐕🐕🐕🐓🐓💎💎💎💎🦆🦆🦆💎💎🥳🥳🥳🌺🌺💯🫕🫕Our HOLY HEAVENLY FATHERGOD JAHWEH BLESS YOU FOREVER 🌹
Please keep showing us the fails along with the successes, almost every failure with the tomatos, cucumbers etc you've had are exactly the same issues I've had, I think it's best we share the fails so we don't beat ourselves up not knowing the other factors/variables effecting everyone too
Is true!
I agree! Sometimes I literally have to stop watching gardening videos bc they mess with my mental health bc I feel like I do everything wrong in the garden
I love that the tomatoes got a "Sorry guys"😁 I thought I was the only one who apologized to my neglected plants!
I talk to my plants too. 🙂
💚
💚
Actually really appreciate you show the bad ones too, my tomatoes and cucumbers are also far behind and that made me feel less bad about it
I think I've chose the worst year to try these. My sprouts are looking magnificent though x
💚
It all looks great as always. I'm putting in about 4.5 or more hours a day on the allotment. A guy who hardly turns up, family work, says "I wish mine looked like yours". I think people underestimate the effort needed, radically underestimate, even with no dig. It's a lifestyle choice at the end of the day I think. I use it for fitness, growing my own etc.
I'm disabled and often struggle to get out and work but my carers and I still manage to grow. It's not always perfect but I'm so grateful for everything I'm able to do. Charles is a wonderful fount of knowledge and understanding. It's so heartening to understand that even such an expert doesn't always get it 100% right.
Thanks for your perceptive comment! Yes, even with no dig it needs a commitment of time, which feels so worthwhile when the harvests come in. And when your plot looks lovely!
This is heartening and thank you for sharing
Oooh.... it's a brave gardener who leaves their garden mid summer!!! I can hear those slugs yelling 'bon voyage' and gathering their picnic rugs... 😅
He needs some duck buddies for minty, to run slug hunting duty
Don't worry, if the july is dry you will nit have slugs.
I’ve been gardening for over 50 years (north America) and was a bit discouraged with weather etc. This was a great pep talk! 🙏
I am glad it helped Leslie 🙂
Looks like you're having a hard time this year just like the rest of us. Thanks Charles for being an inspiration. X
You are welcome 🌱
People need to remember to hit the like button 1,447 views, 179 likes.
It's free and really helps with the reach on you tube
💚 👍
I think TH-cam suppresses the likes.
I have an allotment in the Welsh valleys but no greenhouse although I have a small plastic one next to my bungalow. This week is the first consistent warm one we have had and although I have managed eventually to get my seeds to germinate once i get them in the ground they go nowhere. Hopefully now the weather has warmed up they will get growing but I have been growing for over 50yrs and this is the oddest growing year I can remember.
That's a neat summary and I so hope that your late sowings will make it
Thank you Charles for still generously sharing your experience and knowledge. I appreciate you are a very busy man with your finger in many pies and you surely must have an ever expanding business, but you still put out these great vids, packed with down to earth tips. Thank you and please keep doing it
Best regards Pat
Thank you for your kind words Pat, and it is my pleasure 🌱
I’ve never heard anyone call powdery mildew “bright & cheerful” 😂😂
😂 comparatively!
Thank you for such an encouraging video Charles. I was recently registered disabled and gardening, especially your videos, has truly helped me come to terms with my diagnosis. No dig gardening is something that can be forgiving when you dont always have it in you. It really helped me to learn to pace myself and not do so much that i suffered a horrible flare up. I really believe that if more people in my position took up gardening they might benefit from it.
Well done you for finding this positive and I'm so pleased that no dig is helping you
Keep praying for what you need.
We've been fortunate. Zone 6b.
We had two tornado watches plus a fast moving storm went through our state. We and garden Tomatoes and 11 different kinds of veggie and herbs. are all good. ....
Planted from seeds under lights and cared for mostly by my hubby. ...
I thinned carrots yesterday. It took me three tries at planting them this spring. I also planted Sorrel for the first time after watching you and yours. Really good. Thank you Charles. Enjoy your visit to the states. Safe travels.
That's a good tip, and I'm so happy you miss the storms
How wonderful your vegetable garden Charles ! I remember when I was a child and helping my paternal grandfather make garlic braids ( Ristra de ajos ) .
Beautiful memories for you Patricia 💚
The carrot situation is ridiculous, I've sown 9,000 seed in batches of 3,000, starting at the end of march and I've got no carrots 😭
Nematodes deployed, night time murder sprees, upside down pots and beer traps for collecting them, the slugs just keep pouring into my garden!
They have even started nibbling my ONIONS after they ate all my carrot seedlings, I've never seen anything like it.
Check out @gardenlikeaviking ultimate slug solution video
I’ve got one huuuge yellow slug that sleeps under the lid of one of my water butts. Every morning I give him a flying lesson into a distant hedgerow. Not sure what he eats at night but he’s back under that lid every morning. 😁
@@amandar7719 hahaha sounds like he needs a nice relaxing salt bath!
@@JohnSmith-pu4jg I need a bigger bath!! 😆
When you grow food and deal with all the elements then you wonder what all those perfect vegetables at grocery stores are..😢
great video. I've had this same problem with my garlic, where the outer skin splits. I've notices that birds digging for worms around my garlic can cause them damage. Your tip of peeling before drying was amazing. Much cleaner and quicker to get them kitchen ready
Loads of tips. I loved this. You dropped little hints here and there about multi-sowing and planting follow on crops. My weakness, thinking ahead about what needs to get started for next plantings. What's getting planted now is great. Please more about looking ahead and timing future next plantings to think about. Timings.
Thanks
These are good points and thank you. I would check out this video which outlines the whole year of sowings, month by month th-cam.com/video/1HtBMfbJ_nY/w-d-xo.html
Finally a new video 🎉🎉. I've been rewatching the old videos all week 😂. Thank you sir 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Hope you enjoyed it! I have been very committed elsewhere :)
Enjoy 🙌
Hola Charles! Aqui.en Argentina comenzamos el invierno y, ayer coseché un ají. Mi huerta está en un espacio con reparo pero el clima está raro y un día está muy templado y al otro tenemos temperaturas bajo cero.
Me encanta su forma de plantar y de no siempre seguir las reglas de lo que se supone se debería hacer. La experiencia vale mucho.
Saludos desde🇦🇷
Hola Laura
Es un placer saber de usted y gracias por compartir esto sobre el clima. ¡Todo se está poniendo extraño y espero que disfrutes no seguirnos a todos!
Loving Charles bemoaning his tomatoes and cucumbers when they’re much much bigger than mine 😭
Oh wow, maybe yours have the quality!
I got one of those compost thermometers recently. It's interesting to stick it in different areas and depths and see what's going on. Mine is up to around 55~60C but that's mostly in the upper area where there's more greens. The lower area is cooler.
😊 great
Whatever your issues you highlight, which is of such great and much appreciated benefit to your viewers, your garden always looks beautiful and healthy. 😍
Thank you for your kind words Amanda 😍
Picture perfect, Charles. Love all the new fruit trees.
Thank you Charles. These timely tours with tips and suggestions are extraordinarily useful. This one prompted me to harvest my garlic, and it was just about OK - much better than last year's miserable walnut-sized crop (terrible rust completely obliterating green leaf). This year I did things differently - planted on 6 March to try and minimise time outside, and doubled the spacings. One or both of those helped. I'm in SW France and have no inside growing space. The garlic is Rose de Lautrec (hardneck), and I was not on top of removing the scapes. Will try a February planting next year. Charlotte potatoes gathered in too - best yield yet: they must have liked the cool wet Spring.
I used to grow that lovely garlic when we lived in France and I'm glad that you are working things out
I wonder if @Charles Dowding do gardening course? I am aware he has a book but a practical no dig course?
Thanks
You can find online courses and courses I do at Homeacres and events on these pages www.charlesdowding.co.uk/education/online-courses and www.charlesdowding.co.uk/events
How interesting to see it all with your difficult growing season. And just love the saying: grow more than you think you need. I will remember that for our spring & summer, thank you!
I am glad you found it helpful Maud 🙂
Considering the chaotic weather, cold temperatures and lack of summer light your plants look healthy. The warmth loving plants i put out a couple of weeks ago and i feel sad looking at them, they need heat and bright sunshine. Ive also noticed a lack of flowers on my tomatoes and had to cut down 2nd early potatoes which got dreaded blight. Oh the joys of it all. Ive also noticed the poor bees are having a challenging time with the weather im not seeing many compared to previous years. Enjoy the successes and put down the failures to the weather, theres always next year😊
Sorry to hear this Iona. You can still plant some kale and leeks, and I hope you have harvest in autumn and winter
@CharlesDowding1nodig yes I've got plenty to put out, followed your advice on sowing plenty variety. Brussels sprouts put in a few days ago and space for winter crops, it's not all bad. Thanks Charles for all these valuable videos, they really help keep us focused.
Thank you Charles . I won best plot again this year thanks a large part to your methods. I work full time so the time saved in weeding and digging has contributed to my plot . I have a small problem in that in drier weather the ground opens up wide cracks which tend to harbour slugs. Mainly the potatoes are affected if not harvested promptly. I use a lot of green waste compost on top of farm manure.
Congratulations John, that's a fantastic accolade. I'm delighted that my methods are helping and your compost combination sounds really good. Interesting about those soil cracks!
I've got a dalek composter and it breaks everything down beautifully, but it doesn't get hot enough to kill seeds, so I get hundreds of tomatoes germinating!
I blame the freezing cold April particularly brutal in Northumberland for all my woes. I think the roots on so many of my plants were hammered and it’s reflected in the leaves
That sounds bad!
Listening to you as I head to Murrayfest to hear you speak!
Same!!
Great to hear 🙂
💚
Wish I was yoo
I had work done in my garden to help with the drainage and wasn’t able to get planting, so this year everything has gone in late and because of the slugs, I’ve lost all my lettuces, so my plan is to go over my bed and then plant again, as I’ve figured all being well I should be able to grow something.
My tomatoes and cucumbers have only just started to germinate, and in the end I had to buy 2 tomato plants. Carrots are doing well but I’ve planted them in big container.
This year I’ve also planted runner beans, peas, board beans, parsnips, swede, winter cabbage and broccoli and all doing well.
This sounds promising Nicholas, despite everything!
Would you be able to show how you create your row covers? What you use for support, how deep the support goes into the ground, how tall to make them above ground, etc. What has worked well and what has not? I’ve seen where the supports cross diagonally on top of the cover in addition to direct across under cover in order to provide more stability. I would love to see how you make yours ❤
A good thought thanks and I shall see what we can do
WE LOVE WHEN SIR CHARLES PROBES INTO A COMPOST BIN !!!!! THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF OUR NECK STANDS STRAIGHT UP WITH ANTICIPATION AS TO WHAT AMAZING WORLDS WILL BE UNEARTHED !!!!!! 🪱🌏
😅
That corn gives me hope. Mine was completely eradicated. I will now try to precultivate it and see of anything survives. The tomatoes go well without anything, but thats likely because the slugs don't harm established plants. In the meanwhile any young zucchini I try to put outside disappears over night.
Challenging! Keep going as you are
Great to watch especially for the composting I think I enjoy this part the best weirdly... I think its twofold because you know homemade is better than ANY bought and its very satisfying when it gets really hot!
Great to hear and I think it's not weird at all! I hope your compost goes well
The year it started being really hard to grow food everywhere 😅
I finally got some of the trays - 16s and 8s - LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Enjoy your trip to the 🇺🇸 and thank you for doing you sir 💕 😊
I am glad you like them and thank you 🙂
Thanks so much!
Wow I wish my melons were as far on as yours Charles. I was late getting them away though, probably was late April early May but they are about a metre high with 2 small fruit on. 1st time grower of them so quite excited to have any in all fairness. Cucumbers also a bit behind but I think thats because we were so cold so late into June. Great to see your garden though and have a lovely time across the pond ❤
I hope they grow fast now! And thanks, it's good over here
The downs and ups of gardening
Nailed it, hope you have a great holiday abroad. Minty the master huntress, garden guardian, made me smile ❤ you left the place in purrrrrrrfect paws
😂 lovely!
Thank you for the Texas tip.
It's 106 today.
Tomatoes are quiting.
Oh no!!
You look great, Charles! (I have been looking for that collarless shirt for a while!)
Thanks so much. The shirt is from original fibres
Fantastic thanks Charles. You need to do some black garlic in those hot compost beds, just needs a good thick jar and some good garlic
Thanks, and I tried it once but did not use the jar, and that was not a success! I shall have another go.
Great idea thanks
My sister Jaclyn will be volunteering at your event in Iowa :)
I'm going there now!
Thank you Charles for another great video.
Your melons look better than mine but this is my first year of growing them and I live up north so on balance it's not too bad, I'll see how they do.
I hope you have a great time in Iowa!! I live in central Illinois about 6 hours from where you will be. I wish I could have been there to meet you. You have inspired me and helped me become a better gardener!
Thank you for your kind words Susan
You were in my state! Hope you enjoyed Iowa.
Still am thanks!
I just got my own allotment a week ago and I'm excited to get started!
It's the rainy season here. Very warm and very wet. I cut down all the weeds and stacked them up. My first challenge is compost!
Exciting! Great to hear Laurie 🌱
Im growing in an old commercial greenhouse in an area that has quite a few panes of glass missing and have noticed exactly the same situation as in your polytunnel, our tomatoes and cucumbers are very poor. I have noticed a difference between melons. The cantaloupe are growing very well but the watermelons have not liked the cold at all. They have some browning on the leaves and arent setting fruit. It just shows you can do everything right but when the weather is so chargeable it cant be helped.
Thanks for sharing this henri and good luck going forwards. I don't foresee any significant heat this summer but it's hard to predict
Thank you for the tips. Your garden looks abundant and beautiful 😊
Thank you and you are welcome Tina
Thank you for all advice, keep learning so many things, we just had some lovely brokkoli and our own potatoes for lunch😊, very tasty and I am so happy it worked out so well following your advice. I love it even if I still keep forgetting to sow at the right time, it is getting better 😊
Great to hear of your success 🙂
Lovely video as normal Charles. Its all looking great.
Thank you
❤Thank you for this video and reminding me that I need to start seeds for succession planting. We’re just coming out of a 2 week heatwave where everything struggled, even me, so I’m looking forward to getting back into the garden more often. 😊
You are so welcome Samantha
Thank you for these videos focusing on the month to come in the garden. Very helpful and good 😊. Interesting how the challenges change year to year..
Glad you find them helpful Meg 🙂
I multi sowed my beetroot in your trays they are great. Loads of my crops are bolting, I spoke to others on the allotment and it’s happening to all of us because of the weather. I have had some lovely snack cucumbers and strawberries, spinach which is now bolting and my potatoes are looking good. I’m not sure about my tomatoes, flowers but not much fruit x
Nice to hear Lucy. Spinach will always Bolt at this time of year, that's normal and you can re-sow in early August for autumn harvests
Always nice to see your cat join you in the garden. Seems to make it in all the videos now.😊
I know, she is quite the companion
I still have outdoor spaces due to the diligent efforts of my slugs and snails. I have limited space for raising seedlings, so I need to sow a little every month, more beetroot and kohlrabi could work. I'm trying to grow flowers, but they take much longer than vegetables, taking up propagation space longer. Everything's constantly on the move, which I guess is how it should be. I have just found a really convenient source for palettes so I want to rebuild my composting area at the same time as turning it. This will be my first year of full production in my square rod of growing space, so I'm accepting the challenge of keeping it productive through the winter! These monthly updates are so useful, thank you so much and have fun in Ohio!
Native flowers are great for native bees and other pollinators so still very worth taking up space. Grow different shapes, enjoy bigger harvests
Good to hear Tim, you're going in the right direction. I am in Iowa in fact, arrived in a thunderstorm!
I for one am shocked 😮 he did not pet the kitty 🐈 @1:40.
Great ! For the first time thanks to all your great tips, I am managing to harvest still in my community garden plot some broccoli florets, parsley and pinch some basil, enjoy the marigolds and gobs of curly kale while waiting for the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zinnias and one vertical zucchini to fruit.. I am just planting my beans (romano) as the sweet peas were just too gorgeous! I am worried though that our Indian summer keeps the warm weather plants going well into Fall that it is hard to put in the cool weather plants in soon enough( space challenges!) .. especially how much room the tomatoes take and they do take eventually 75% of the plot.. last year I put leeks under the tomatoes and they loved it .. will try some other cool weather plants in August.. see what happens..( Northern California, Bay Area)
I am happy to see this and for awhile I was amazed how well you are doing until I realised you're in Northern California! We could do with some of your warmth
I just love watching these videos, thank you so much! I’ve been really getting into my allotment this year & have been taking tons of inspiration from you. Picked my first French beans today and sorted out my compost heap, need to sow some more beetroot before it’s too late!
Wonderful to hear!
I wish i had known you were going to be in Iowa :( if i wasnt working I would stop by and say hello! Your methods have inspired us to no till farm and have been instrumental in the development of our operation
Thanks, and sorry to miss you. I guess I've mentioned it more on other platforms than here in long form video
Thanks for the garden tour Charles! Funny how different it's been over here in my area where we have had very early heat wave in mid June followed by some up and down temperatures this past week but barely any rain in over two weeks now. I'm so tired of watering. But I'm keeping most everything alive and producing with my diligence.
If you're around the Philly area when you're in the States I'd love to have you stop by and see my mini operation. Let me know and I'll give you my address. Otherwise have a good trip!
Thanks for the invite and I suddenly have no spare time! I'm only in Iowa but I'm meeting people from all over the states which is lovely. And I arrived in a thunderstorm!
enjoyable video charles
I am glad you enjoyed it Steven 🙂
Absolutely beautiful there! Enjoyed the visit
💚
Berne Rose tomatoes are amazing, hope they come good.
😊 thanks
❤❤❤❤❤❤I wish, I Live not soo far from your beautiful heavenly farm. Cuz I would come on my bicycle with all my luggage to work for free. To give my Eyes the luxury to indulge in all the most beautiful cellerys and onions and all that is so Heartwarming amazingly stunning for my heart❤: THE GARDEN MADE BY SIR CHARLES DOWDING ❤❤❤❤. Thank You FOREVER for sharing all your PRECIOUS knowledge with the world.
Humble respectfull Grateful Greetings from Suriname 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thank you for your kind words Suriname
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Goodmorning DEAREST SIR Charles DOWDING, It is a pleasure to read your answer, May I be excuses for not have been introducing myself Sir. My name is Saminem Redjomoenawi 🌹 and Sam is Good. I love my country. Every time when I am going to a flowerplantshop, I treat myself with some seeds and plants. And one of these days I am going to plant some of mine leftovers at my neighbour's place. Cuz mine is already fully plant, with trees and I am raising chicks for their eggs. My daughter is already in het own and I am granted with a Lovely granddaughter and she is already 7 years now🥳❤️🥰, I have 3 DOGGS now. And still working 2 days in the week to arrange flowers in a shop. And 4 days I am making Pancakes and other snacks to deliver at a restaurant. And after that cleaning my utensils and my home. But I LOVE to plant vegetables and for a long time I saw the place of this neighborhood just unused.
My favorite time is at home SIPPING on my selfmade lemon Thea with Your Channel on. Lots of things, I can not grow all kind of things without a planthouse in my country because of the tropical weather. Such like pioenrozen, I am 60 years and I feel so much energy Vibes cuz I don't go out in the evening, I have to go now, THANKS FOR learning us every overlooked details that is so important to achieve our dreams. Stay CooL Sir. Humble respectfull greetings from Saminem 🌺🍾🥂
Lovely to hear this Sam and thank you for sharing your exceptionally fulfilling life!
We've found that Savoy cabbage acts like slug bait -- one plant calls them in and is destroyed while the nearby lettuces are untouched. Go figure.
Cool!
Hi Charles...Lovely video and very interesting to hear your comments re tomatoes. This year, I have made the executive decision to give up growing them, as the amount of time involved in maintaining them, far far outweighs the meagre harvests I seem to get each year. I have 6 varieities of cordon tomatoes, started indoors, put outside a few weeks ago and have about 10 flowers / tomatoes formed in total ! I think with gardening, an overlooked skill is to learn and understand what annual vegetables grow well in your situation and how much time they take to look after, especially when working full time. Garlic, raspberries, leeks, peas, beetroot, kale, turnips and swedes under netting, French beans, all been very successful. Broad beans was another I gave best with this year, as planted 15 plants, got about 7 or 8 pods as the blackfly infestation was chronic.
You can grow dwarf container varieties of tomatoes. They are easier. They are small plants with lots of little tomatoes in a short amount of time. Kale, arugula and beets are my winners, but the weather and bugs have been a challenge this year. 😊
@@tinad6812 Thank you Tina...ok you have convinced me to try one more year with the dwarf container varieties !! May I ask, what particular variety have you had success with please? I always ike to go on fellow gardener recommendations. Like you my kale has been superb this year, although I do net those as cabbage whit butterflies normally try to decimate those. Not seen one this year, maybe too early or the weather has kept them at bay. Thank you
@@Steve-dp5ky I’m glad I convinced you and it’s not too late to start them. I use Botanical Interests seeds and the two that I grow are Cherry Falls and Patio Choice Yellow. I grow them in ten gallon grow bags and they work out well for the space in my backyard. Not too big, but lots of little tomatoes. 😊
Hi Tina, thank you ever so much for letting me know. I am guessing that you are in the Good Ol' US of A, however, both of those varieties seem easy to obtain here in the UK. I shall add them to my list to try. Thanks Tina, you take care and enjoy the Summer. 😃
@@Steve-dp5ky yes, I live in Chicago. Weather has been crazy everywhere. Good luck 😊
Enjoy your trip to Iowa in USA 😁🇦🇺
Thank you Rick
That cat is just gorgeous.
💚
It has been a weird season resulting in complete failures. Melons were a total failure. I really want to try watermelons so another lost season. Others I always grow and have few issues with normally such as cucumbers look weedy, French beans poor germination and those rabbits you mentioned were less of a problem must have migrated up here. Sweet Corn I sowed packets and packets of them and ended up with 16 plants weirdly my pop corn has been better and still scratching my head with it. Sweetcorn seeds and tiny seedlings really struggle and rot easy. Counter that with successes where I have covered them from rabbits so your more temperate crops have been good. Garlic has been the biggest success. The lesson learnt even after this many years don't put all your eggs in one basket and invest your time in a wide range of crops so those that give you a win make all the effort worth it. It is harder if you don't have time to fill your head with all the timings and how that particular crop grows and the pests that go for it but it avoids that reflection of why did I bother when you get such poor result.
Yes it can be so demoralising, so I'm happy that you have those successes at least. Watermelons are challenging if you are in the UK and even in a good year they are not exactly abundant. When I saw how spring was going I decided not to grow any in my polytunnel, just one plant in the greenhouse
I have decided this year that fabric pots are the way to go, after all of my early sowings got eaten by some little critter just as I was ready to harvest! I was so mad...and so it's pots, and I am testing a new electric netting system to see if it works on these particular critters...so far so good. I still just use manure compost mixed with leaf compost and so far so good...and now I'll try those cold weather crops again. Wish me luck!
Lots of luck with pots, mine dried out quickly and seemed like more expense
Compost inspiration!! Great video and tips as ALWAYS, thanks Charles.
You are welcome Dora
Ultimate gardens!
Thanks :)
I do wonder how much of companion planting being helpful is the roots of each plant helping keep the soil more aerated, allowing for better/easier flow of water and nutrients between them?
I'm sure those are factors which make a difference
Thank you Charles. I love you are writing to me in wisconsin from iowa!!!
Yes amazing!!
Thank you
💚
Hello, thanks for new video 😊
I noticed that you have got the hot compost bin, and I'm curious to hear your opinion about it.
I got one couple months back and it's constantly got some mold inside.. not sure what quality of compost will it produce..
Yes I was given it to try and I'm not impressed so far. It's not really the right style for my gardening but I am worried how damp it stays in there.
Love the cat
💚
Safe travels to the U.S.! Hope you can make it down to South Carolina someday.
Thanks and you never know!
My tomatoes are not great , this year Even the red alert bush early's types are only just flowering ! Yet , indeterminate varity's '' Sun Cherry premium , are huge , with 5 trusses of small fruits on each , Strange weather , We keep trying :) Have a lovely weekend, And thanks for sharing your lovely vegatable garden.k
Thanks for sharing about your mysterious plants!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig ha strange , , i think the tall types have done , better in big pots , as they are on my balcony floor, behind some thick glass, maybe like a sort of greenhouse, where as the red alert bush type , are in hanging baskets above said, thick glass , as it only goes so far up the glass, on my balconly if this , makes sense.
Makes sense!
70% of my onions rotted away due to 4 months of misery weather. 40% less of a (projected due to normal harvests) potato harvest. cauliflower, i had 18 plants due to weather only 5 survived
strawberries ..+ 300% (already harvested 16.9 kg) .. .and my carrots also are doing fantastic (over 500% then my usual projection)... beets also suprised me with huge bulbs...
so you win some .. you lose some..
but in all honesty ... end of april/ mai and june have been a "sun" and low temp disaster, it seems the garden was asleep .. until last week when temp finally went above 25 degrees C
That's a brilliant result for carrots and strawberries
My melon plants here in Cumbria are about 6" tall...🙁
🐝thanks for the great video🌻
You are very welcome
Yay hello from Texas!
💚 👋
Ive just had three weeks away, ive come back and everything us either dead or gone to seed
Peas are ok
Oh well start all over again
Oh how disappointing. Go for it with July sowings!
over here in CA zone 9b, i'm just not sure when to sow all those summer vegs, like carrots or leeks for example. if i start early July, they'll grow in our very hottests months: July and Aug both average 89F in our highs. and sept is still very hot
I had many similar questions yesterday at the festival. I would advise early September when the heat will get them on the way fast, obviously you will need to water regularly and then they are well placed for the less hot months when growth is slower
Nice one Charles, gud vid...
Glad you enjoyed it Ralph
Wow, so many potatoes in 1 plant, beautiful. When did you plant them?
Middle of March. It's a risk in this climate because we can often have significant frost in late April and early May but this year, there was none!
You may or may not know that you are an idol in the USA. Many follow Jess on R&R and she says you are her idol, so it looks like your gonna be mobbed when you get there. I guess you're there now, people are talking about it... Good luck Charles... hehe
Thanks so much Cath, and you're right I've been getting a strong feeling of that this weekend, and it's been amazing! There were people at the event from 40 different states!
Looks fantastic. Do you ever find grass snakes in/on your compost heaps? Ive had to leave one of my customers heaps as there is a very plump female grass snake looking like she will be laying soon.
Thanks, and yes I saw one the other day running across the garden! We make a habitat for them on a heap of soil which is warm underneath some thick plastic, and there's lots under there! I love having them around.
Charles do you have any thoughts on using sisal rather than bailing twine for things like tomato supports? I assume you have sisal twine there. Its organic, 100% plant material and thus 100% compostable. I don't mind a bit or bunch of it being left in the ground around my garden for this reason. Just noticed over the years you using the synthetic bailing twine and wondering what you thought about the sisal. Thanks.
We have it for sure Ted, and I could use it but it would mean tying the string to the bottom of the plant which is not what I really want to do. I can't bury sisal in the soil because it just rots. I might look at this next year!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I didn't consider that it might rot faster in the soil where you are.
I have a nice strong trellis but accidentally set it up a half foot too high from the ground this year. So I begrudgingly used sisal to get the tomatoes to the trellis. I wrapped around the plants and very lightly tied to main stem. Don't see any ill effects yet. If that changes I will let you know.
Come to Massachusetts! Please? :)
Let's see!
With things like carrots do they grow fine witht the no dig i have started several no dig beds recently and wondered if i could sow in them
Yes you can see here th-cam.com/video/HCHIjxcyciY/w-d-xo.html
@CharlesDowding1nodig can you please recommend a good source for a decent quantity of Thuringiensis? The stuff on Amazon etc is now very small quantities and very expensive.
Great videos as always. Thanks for all you do.
Dipel on eBay, a half kilo. It stores for years
Do you ever come to the east coast in the states? It would be great to see you!!
Thank you William, and after the success of the Iowa event, we are developing some ideas, nothing certain yet
Hey Charles, I'm curious about growing purple sprouting broccoli here in New Hampshire, USA. I am zone 6a, so I dont think it would survive the winter. I do have a greenhouse with a small heater that gets me about 20 degrees warmer than the nighttime lows...do you think sprouting broccoli would grow well in the greenhouse overwinter?
Yes, I'm sure it would and the plants also would get very big! You could seed as late as August I think
Rabbits go good with thyme, you can replace some of the lost food.
Thanks for the vids Charles, I aways learn something or at least I'm reminded of something I over look.
Green house here in Tasman NZ is going slow, Main grow tent is so crowded I found a random pumpkin plant. $4 of power/week for far more greens and herbs than I can eat all in organic living soil beds. Interplanted kohlrabi and beetroot.
Cool, thanks Craig and it sounds like you're managing winter pretty well
When are you coming to Webster Ia.
I am here today and giving one more talk at 12:30 pm, you can buy a day ticket on the door