Charles Dowding's No-Dig Gardening | Living With The Land | Part 5
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Growing organic vegetables commercially for over 30 years, Charles Dowding has developed a no-dig method of cultivation for temperate climate gardening.
Charles introduces us to Homeacres, his 1/4 acre market garden. Now supplying year-round salad and fresh vegetables for local restaurants, Charles and his partner Steph Hafferty took just one winter to transform it from weedy pasture using mulch and no-dig gardening.
Learn as Charles explains the ideas behind no-dig growing, (replicating nature through mulching and minimal soil disturbance), from his various experimental raised beds, as well as the importance of soil.
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Narrated by Jekka McVicar, broadcaster, author and master herbalist | jekkasherbfarm.com
For more info and resources on the work of Charles Dowding and Steph Hafferty please visit charlesdowding.... and stephaniehaffer...
Produced by Permaculture People | / permaculturepeopleuk
for Permaculture magazine | permaculture.co.uk
Logo designed by HIP Permaculture | hippermaculture...
Camera Mihali Moore | mihalimoore.co.uk and Tom Goudsmit | tomgoudsmit.com
Photos courtesy of Charles Dowding
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Living with the Land | The Films
Living with the Land' is a series of nine short online films free to view and distribute. Produced by Permaculture People for Permaculture magazine the films showcase the people and projects in the UK designing ecologically sound and regenerative land based practices. The films will be released to coincide with the build-up to the 12th International Permaculture Convergence, in London this September | ipcuk.events
To see all nine films see www.permacultur...
I have been gardening more or less successful for 20 years with the old gardening methods I had learned from my mother. Weeds always took over my garden and slugs made it very difficult to stay positive. Have started following Charles Dowding's instructions for the last year and can't wait for the successes of the next 20 years. Can't thank you enough for your wisdom and inspiration, Charles.
Hey Charles, I only just saw this old video surface in my TH-cam feed and my two takeaways are that we can all be scientists (which I think is why I keep a garden diary so hopefully I can repeat my success year to year) but also you say to allow room for flexibillity in your design. For example I was going to reclaim a potato bed until I peeked in and noticed that it was full of very healthy volunteers from last season, so I will amend the soil (or mound up around the potato plants) as you recommend to feed the soil in my raised hugelkultur bed in which they are growing. I also noticed that you have one of my favorite pumpkins on your windowsill. I believe it is the American Small Sugar pumpkin. Anyhow, I have had another great day in my garden thanks to your gentle guidance. Cheers!
Amongst nature is definitely where us humans need to be. There's always so much wisdom in people who are close it.
Thank you so very very much for the fantastic point of view and wonderful film-making that I will watch again and again!
Very interesting, I'm sure my garden would only improve if I gardened more like this. Thank you.
Fancy seeing you here
thanks for the info about gardening and making compose. I enjoy your video bcoz I'm a new gardener myself.
I love your videos and your pragmatic attitude.
Thanks for sharing an informative and thought provoking video.
Thanks!
Informative and the opening was beautifully done, love the view of ur property from above!😊 Also, got a better view of how ur trellis is designed 😉🌿
Cool
"The key to agriculture is the soil". Don't feed the plants, feed the soil.
Great video. Thank you.
Cultiwation 🌿🌿
Fermented veg. Long term storage. No cooking gas required. Just add 3% salt and top up with water.
"Man cannot improve on that" well said.
Such good videos!!!! Love it
You the best my friend.
Beautiful
good...
I'm so torn. Going to move our gardens next year. We presently have raised beds, and I am in a similar, very wet, maritime climate. I like having distinct beds, and I'm afraid that simply having paths and rough beds, they will change and warp and shrink or grow with time.
Has anyone experimented with raised vs no dig?
How do you keep your paths and beds distinct and what about grass edges around the perimeter?
Thank You so much for your help!
Gratitude Ranch I am going to try no dig but I am leavening the boards in place. It would not seem necessary to remove them. I also saw a video where the sides were removed but the ends of the beds were against a wire mesh fence. This man had been doing no dig for many years and when he clears the garden at the end of the season and top dresses with compost he places a string along the edge that was attached to a permanent mark on the fence. He said he was able to keep the beds from shifting very well.
Paula Yates we are going to adhere our beds so they're only 3 feet wide (I've a bad back and 4 feet is too wide). We're just trying to finalize placement, row width, etc.
Gratitude Ranch ??? It's not an either/or... Raised beds, with or without permanent sides, flat open ground, permanent paths and the like are separate things, all of which can be managed with either dig or no dig.
Charles puts in an enormous amount of time and effort and he uses volunteer s as well he does not do this part time so when he says I got rid of the weeds well pinch of salt he's great but makes a lot of us feel inadequate until we realize the truth.
Please !!!! Subtítulos en español
Subscribe to your channel got my first allotment last December
That is a lot of fertility to be adding. Good stuff. Where does the fertility come from? Is it from off site, or is it grown onsite? One common approach is to have the tree trimming services dump their chipped/shredded material for use. It is a waste product for them, but very usable for the garden as free mulch, and free is good.
+Richard Hasting I bet it's wherever they can get it, but imagine all the plant material they could compost after a growing season. I worked for a tree trimming and landscaping company, and they kept all their shredded material to turned into the basic mulch to sell. Still a good thing to look into. We had a huge mound of large logs that were free if you asked.
hey hello I wonder if you may have some examples of vertical gardens/farms... here I am referring to those where we find that the plants are growing on long wide shelf's.. and the shelf's are placed at a certain height... on top of the other... this because as far as I know there is no better way to grow plants.... if you do have such examples... I want to ask you to provide links and to focus on these as to me they are the future and other option can compete with them
how do you deal with rats and mice ?? thanks you :)
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Does Anyone have problems with Deer, Cats, Moles, and Goffers if so how do you deal with them without hurting them?
Bird netting over crops for deer & cats, moles is ok in no dig, don't disturb their runs so they stay in the same ones. Gofers, no ideas, we do not have them in the UK.
What is Bird Netting? And how would I use it so that the plants could grow to their potential?
I use uv treated polypropylene netting, half inch size, is v light so drape over plants when needed and you can reuse it many times
How do you garden in straight compost? I tried growing in nothing but compost and I found that my garden bed had practically no drainage whatsoever. On top of that it attracted a lot of gnats. What when wrong? I eventually added perlite and coconut coir to add that drainage. But I want to learn how to grow in just compost. Someone point me in the right direction :)
Hi Robert, I'd hazard a guess and say you may not have had straight compost - it may still have needed decomposing if it was attracting pests. Compost should have a mildly sweet smell, be moist and dark and have almost a fluffy texture. Drainage should not be an issue in compost and actually it is recommended to add composted material to soils that retain too much water.
I'd recommend adding air to the current mix you have to break it down further. If you have a worm farm, add small amounts of it at a time to get the worms doing the hard yards for you!
I hope that helped a bit!
I ended up mixing in perlite and coconut coir to my mix. It added the drainage that the soil needed
Robert Castro I'll second the other comment that the 'compost' hadn't fully decomposed yet. Compost that is old enough basically looks like soil, no matter what you start with. Even the bulk of most potting mixes nowadays are shredded and composted green waste.
I just ordered some compost and put it down on top of cardboard because of lots of weeds from last year. It's smelly and the pile that was dumped was steaming and warm. I spread it 6 in and watered it down, and am hoping to plant in it in about 2.5 months. Do I just leave it or should I turn it often? I'm hoping it will not be hot for long. Any tips?
I understand that as material decomposes, it needs nitrogen in order to feed those decomposition bacteria. Is this true and if so where does it come from in your garden? Thank you.
+Thom Foote Grass clippings or any green materials (comfrey leaves... nettles rotted in a bucket of water and then watered on top) are a good source of nitrogen.... and urine is also a good accelerator
+Thom Foote mostly I use compost, so already decomposed. However in no dig you can use less or even undecomposed material because its on top, not in contact with soil organisms which it cannot "rob" of nitrogen. In fact a lot of the N comes from air e.g. through azotobacter bacteria.
Moghalgardens imn delhi
Hard to do with 2 or 3 acres of land. Rasied beds coat to much to build beds 165 ft
long by 4ft say.
Please this is just a constructive criticism:
I see the use of cardboard and plastic sheets. It IS possible to make a garden without ever using synthetic or toxic industrial products like cardboard and plastic.
I know there is an open debate about wether cardboard is accepetd to be used under the plant bed to kill the "weeds".
I have been gardening for over 50 years. Never used, never will use any cardboard.
Please watch Dr. Elaine Ingham videos here on YT.
I think it's up to what you have available. I can't afford to buy enough straw to mulch my beds. Right now, working close to minimum wage and working towards my dream of a sustainable farm is difficult. But my workplace can give me a huge amount of clean cardboard, yes there is glue in the board, but to use it for one or two seasons is fine by me. I'm just trying to kill the grass.
+Wilson Newman You are absolutely right - it really does depend on what is available. It is very easy to get a little precious about what materials you use
BUT in the end what matters is that change is effected and a new
direction taken that benefits you what you are wanting to achieve.
Where I live in a semi arid and remote area I do not have the option of
picking and choosing. Sheet mulching provides incredible benefits for my
conditions and the only material available is used cartons from the
local shops (one hours drive away), we don't have a local tree cutting
service because there are no trees to be cut so printed card is fine for
me.
It is surely better to do you best slightly imperfectly rather than not
do at all and just stay reading the books - change requires action and
at some point theorising has to give way to practical reality.
+santsuma - Excellent points! Dr. Elain Ingham's info will be a huge help to anyone wanting to grow ecologically. Anyone who cares about ecological sustainability, or regeneration, should learn just how horridly toxic plastics are - from sourcing the raw materials (Exxon Valdez, the Gulf of Mexico BP oil spill, etc), through manufacture (search Diane Wilson of Seadrift, TX and/or Formosa Plastics, for one), and use (Dr. Mercola's website has a number of articles on the hazards of exposure to synthetic chemicals in plastics in everyday use, including the transfer of of those chemicals via contact with food, beverages, and skin contact), to disposal (areas of the oceans now contain more tiny particles of plastic than plankton- the foundation of the food chain in the seas. Incinerating or the burning of plastics releases highly toxic substances into the atmosphere that persist and are carries far and wide on the winds). While it is difficult to get completely away from plastic in the 1st world, WHY would anyone voluntarily buy the stuff when there are alternatives???!!! Do we really want to put money into the pockets of corporations that have been poisoning us and the planet for decades for profit? See Diane Wilson's books.
Weed a bit, for Gaia's sake, and yours. Jeesh, many of the 'weeds' we revile are edible, anyway! Chickweed, goosegrass/cleavers, plantain, dandelion, purslane (delicious!!!), lambsquarters, amaranth... We could just forget the 'garden' and enjoy the volunteer vegetables.
+Kevin Denton Good, better, best! If we all did the best we could with what we had on hand, this world would be amazxing. Still, you might want to do a bit of research on the cardboard (and plastic if you are tempted to use that) before using much of it. Used aper feed sacks could be an alternative, since you are in a remote area. Still not 'ideal' but will have fewer toxic residues than the cardboard. Best to you-