"Stop digging and start to truly understand the needs of your soil for bumper harvests of healthier crops. Charles Dowding has spent a lifetime perfecting his no dig sysem of growing. At its core is an awareness that soil vitality is a dynamic process involving a web of organisms which we can easily feed and support, enabling our plants to grow strong and healthy, in a weed-free environment. With clear, step-by-step instructions on how to set up a no dig plot and detailed cultivation advice for more than 80 crops, this book will revolutionize the way you grow."--Back cover
Charles Dowding, the master of no-dig gardening, developed his highly successful methods of vegetable growing through 30 years experience of growing and selling vegetables and extensive experiments. Through his courses at Lower Farm in Somerset and his three previous books, he has won a keen following. Beginners and experienced veg growers alike find that his methods work and that he opens their minds to new possibilities. Now he has distilled the essence of his courses and ideas into one book. In it you will find out how to grow vegetables the Charles Dowding way. Charles Dowding's Vegetable Course is both a straightforward guide to success and an inspiring source of ideas for achieving a more productive vegetable garden for less effort. Lower Farm, run by Charles and Susie Dowding, has been part of Sawday's Special Places to Stay collection for 12 years.Click the link on the left to visit Sawday's to find out about accommodation at Lower Farm and our other characterful, independently-run places to stay across the UK and Europe. All have been inspected and selected because we like them - what makes each 'special' varies hugely, but common to all are owners whose personality, friendliness and local knowledge ensure a memorable stay.
Focusing on the transformative No Dig system, this guide emphasizes the importance of homemade compost for enriching the soil and enhancing plant growth. Charles Dowding shares practical advice on what to compost, dispels common myths, and offers effective techniques suitable for various gardening settings. By creating your own compost, you not only recycle waste but also contribute to carbon storage and greenhouse gas reduction. The beautifully illustrated book serves as a comprehensive resource for achieving optimal composting results through diverse methods.
How to garden easily and effectively, based on the author's 40 years of
growing vegetables. Advice on setting up your garden and planning what to
grow, ways to sow and to save seeds, planting, spacing, watering, and
harvesting. Plus details of succession planting, winter gardening, and how to
use covers for early cropping and pest protection.
A look behind the apparent complexities of gardening advice, to find easier
and more productive ways of gardening; growing vegetables in particular.
Understanding that can save time, money and unnecessary effort.
It is possible, with the help of this book, to enjoy an abundance of vegetables at the darkest time of year, whether stored or ready for harvesting when needed. It also covers growing for the "hungry gap" from April to early June. Not much grows in winter, but a well-organized plot may nonetheless be quite full. This book helps gardeners plan carefully, and well ahead, sowing and planting at specific times through the year. The main part of the book is an extensive month-by-month sowing, planting, and growing calendar. Further sections cover harvesting--from garlic in July right through to the last of the overwintered greens in May--and storing your produce. Many salads can be grown in winters, especially with a little protection from fleece, cloches, or larger structures. The book includes a whole section on frost-hardy salad plants, explaining how to ensure harvests of fresh leaves throughout winter. The beauty of winter and its produce is captured in glorious photographs from the author's garden.
No dig organic gardening saves time and work. It requires an annual dressing of compost to help accelerate the improvement in soil structure and leads to higher fertility and less weeds. No dig experts, Charles Dowding and Stephanie Hafferty, explain how to set up a no dig garden. They describe how to: Make compost, enrich soil, harvest and prepare food and make natural beauty and clean ing products and garden preparations. These approaches work as well in small spaces as in large gardens. The Authors' combined experience gives you ways of growing, preparing and storing the plants you grow for many uses, including delicious vegetable feasts and many recipes and ideas for increasing self reliance, saving money, living sustainably and enjoying the pleasure of growing your own food, year round. Charles' advice is distilled from 35 years of growing vegetables intensively and efficiently; he is the acknowledged no dig guru and salad expert both in the UK and internationally. Stephanie, a kitchen gardener, grows in her small, productive home garden and allotment, and creates no dig gardens for restaurants and private estates. She presents truly delicious seasonal recipes, made from the vegetables anyone can grow. She also explains how to use common plants you can grow and forage for to make handmade preparation for the home and garden.
Charles shares his organic, no-dig approach to soil and plants and the
techniques that enable him to grow healthy, vibrant crops, with the
sustainability in mind. His success is based on these key principles No-dig
Spread organic matter on the soil surface Clean & improve the soil in the
first year Weed every 10 days when weeds are small.
A practical book to take you through the stages of creating a new vegetable
garden from scratch - using any plot of land. Filled with useful advice and
and guidance, it will help you to realise the full potential of your garden.
Projects based on Dowding's no-dig technique are broken down into easy, step-
by-step processes, designed to be carried out by children. Running throughout
the gardening projects are extra little facts about plants and wildlife, as
well as things to look out for when you are outdoors.
