Garden Planning
To help you make good choices about what to plant, where and when, through all the season. It’s easier with no dig, and when you understand parameters such as rotation.
I explain examples from my intensive cropping and intercropping at Homeacres. From May to October all beds are full , except for a few days before planting, and some are double cropped with interplants.
Here is the Sowing Timeline https://charlesdowding.co.uk/sowing-timeline-for-vegetables/
More information on my website https://charlesdowding.co.uk/
in my books https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product-category/books/
and in my online course https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/no-dig-gardening-online-course/.
A year of sowing dates, plus gorgeous photos and no dig advice are in my wall calendar, good to buy even late winter & spring https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowding-gardening-calendar-2020/
Filmed, inspired and edited by Edward Dowding summer 2019 at Homeacres, 1000 square metres of no dig beds mostly cropped twice every year, zone 8 south west UK, climate is temperate oceanic, mild winters and warm not hot summers.
Spanish subtitles by Maria F. Nieto Ramirez
Translte bahasa pls,tks
Thank you so much for this video I am planning for next spring while trying to grow some cooler crops and yesterday I went looking for info on if I really truly need to rotate my crops – and boom this video pops up. I’ll be giving your method a try. Unfortunately I have no extra space to grow seedlings or starters maybe by next year I will come up with something. Thank you again! Oh by the way what zone are you in?
Are there certain vegetables that should follow or precede others.
Thanks for all the videos you produce – I really enjoy watching & learning. I don’t know how you keep so fit considering the time its takes to both garden & make films. I’m only a few years younger than yourself and now get the odd sprain & strain that keeps me out of the garden for a number of days. How do you deal with the inevitable "garden injury" or even the odd illness we all pick up from time to time and still find the energy to tend Homeacres?
This makes perfectly sense. Cabbage – beans is a sort of rotation. The beans provides nitrogen by bacteria nodules, the cabbage is a nutrient demanding crop. As long as you have no disease in the earth (esp. fungal diseases) this can be done for years.
I try and always interplant my sucession crops. When I plant out my transplants I give them a little extra space and start seeds in between. I grow for fresh eating and canning or freezing not a market garden so I can plant a little diffrent wanting small sucession batches rather then wanting everything ready all together.
Gracias por la traducción al español 👏👏👏👏
Thanks to you I love gardening much more,than before.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. It is unbelievable how pretty and healthy your plants are. And I like your videos, especially for showing sowing and planting out dates,it is very helpful for me, always have a notebook watching you🙂
Ciao ho cominciato anch’io a fare l’orto no dig ma e un problema la lingua inglese non ci sono i sottotitoli in italiano su tutti i video
Que genio,maravilloso!!!gracias por compartir sus experiencias, estoy aprendiendo,,,me sirve de guía,,,gracias
Thank you as always. A note on rotation…. Japanese farmers plant 4-5 years of rice then 1 year of wheat. Sometimes they burn off the tops… sometimes they don’t. I thought this might be a good example to highlight your no rotation philosophy.
Hi Charles ; did you watch my video presenting how I grow celery & celeriacs ?
This was super helpful and confidence boosting. Loving growing our own ! Thank you
Thank for good video clip.
Beans are a great crop for testing the non-rotation-ability of the no dig method. After about 4 years of beans, you will get more leaves/less pods for a few years as the beans switch into "Use up the excess nitrogen" mode.
If you have managed 7 years of beans without a problem, it is probably safe to say that rotation is unnecessary with the no dig method
Charles what weight and price are you’re salad bags please ,I would love to be able to grow veggies to sell instead of a 9-5 everyday ,hope you get the chance to reply thanks 🙏
Everyone advocates your method of planting. I have been growing vegetables for four years by digging up the soil but I would like to try your method this year. I’m not certain if I should compact the soil and then put compost on top or just put compost on top but I’m going to give it a go. Thank you for posting your videos. They are helping to teach an old dog new methods.
I just love your lessons. Soo inspirational, informative and you make it sound so easy. As a long time gardener of vegetables, I know it’s not as easy as you make it out to be but heck, you make us think we can conquer the art of growing our own food. It is New Year’s eve 2021 in South Africa and I’m planting. Thank you so much
Idol ko po kayo sir.. God bless you and your family
i am going to have to do your courses i think, but if i understand correctly about intersowing in your 2m x 1.2m garden bed all year long…..at what point do you get to put the compost on?
I always get excited about fall peas tho lol
🙏
I realise that this video is old and no one may read it. But I thought I would share. I am the proud owner of a beautiful patch of garden that has been growing potatoes and silver beet since at least 1949. I bought the house that my great aunty and uncle lived in all their married life. The bed in question has absolutely no attention whatsoever, no intentional watering, since the early 90s when Great Uncle Bob died. I am generously rewarded for no effort. I was even more surprised to find that the potatoes in question are a highly sought after heirloom variety that has not been available for purchase in New Zealand where I am from for many decades. Thought you may find this interesting. Thank you for the great videos. I learn so much from you.
Good day Mr Dowding. I want to know what your view is on companion planting of certain vegetables. Flowers make sense to me, but the vegetables i see alot of mixed results everywhere.
I had so much loss and damage this year from woodchucks. Had I have had plants ready to go, I wouldn’t have lost so much time this season. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Is there any way to slow the growth of my savoys and PSB? I’ve sown them as suggested by the seed packet but I know they shouldn’t be sown until June at the earliest.
you make me feel healthier just by watching your videos god bless you charles
Good day Charles. I have put my mushroom compost on my beds ahead of my no dig season. I plan to grow carrots. I have read or heard somewhere that carrots don’t like freshly manured ground. Based upon my learning from your videos, this should not be a problem. Can you confirm, please? Thanks for another great video!! Paul
👍👍👍👋 Saludos desde Mendoza, Argentina ❤️❤️❤️
Que bom!Em português.
Your garden, sir, is a delight to the eyes ! Every thing is lush and green, and so well organized. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Obrigada pela legenda em português 🇧🇷😉
An old friend of mine grew up in a ‘stately home’ as we used to say, as his father was a butler; the genuine article serving a proper lordship.
Needless to say, he is one of the warmest, most polite and likeable people one could hope to meet, and has a manner much like yourself, Charles.
And so fitting for role you find yourself in, nurturing a natural process; so thank you for your gentle approach to our beautiful Earth.
Hello I was wondering if you can give me some advice please I was wondering if I can grow a crop of potatoes in my polytunnel it is October thank u
Love that quote about Kale: I don’t actually want to eat kale, in the summer time, when there’s so many other things.
For me I just stop at I don’t actually want to eat kale!
What a wonderful farm you have! I love the joy you seem to receive from growing. I enjoy watching my garden grow as well. Your advice is so helpful. I would love to know in your whole season videos the weather at planting, weather at sowing, weather when the plant is taken out. I’m in Northern California and we have such funny weather here. This year we had colder temperatures (55* F at the high) into May and then we had 85-115* F temps for the rest of the summer (zone 9b). Thanks for sharing your knowledge!! I appreciate it very much. 🙂
Great video’s very helpful,keep up the good work.
The lesson from this and your other videos is that as long one keeps replenishing the soil again and again and sow in the right season, then not much attention needs to be paid for succession planting.
Charles, What can you interplant with cauliflower and other Brassicas?
Great video Charles. Question please … in your small raised bed (the one with fennel) when you stated that you have succession and intercropping all year around, please advise when you will put your compost down into the ground. Thanks Paul
Wow I didn’t realize you could transplant french beans (green beans). I’ve always direct sown them. Nice to know.
Hi, Charles! I’m a beginner gardener and I’m from Russia. I enjoy your videos, thanks a lot for your explanation of how to make compost! I have a question about lettuce. Last year I planted different kinds of lettuce and it was quite well, but bitter. We have different climate from the UK, but here it’s also damp and our summers are not very hot. What should I do this year so my lettuce is not bitter?
where’s your weed garden dude? 😀
Thank you Charles! 🤩
Thank you again Charles your videos are always so informative and as a newbie gardener much appreciated 😻
What is your opinion on raised beds vs ground?
I am Nhịp Nguyễn
Việt Nam
👍❤👍❤👍❤
Charles, how old are the rutabagas (swedes) when you transplant them?
Un hombre satisfecho, un hombre feliz jejeje un saludo desde Galicia
Charles, Started watching you this morning and have learnt so much already x