Discover and enjoy these quicker and easier ways of growing and harvesting vegetables, based on my 39 years of growing experience. My speciality is the no dig method, suitable for all soils. It results in fewer weeds, and vegetables plus flowers grow as well if not better than when soil is tilled or dug. And it's good for climate change because no soil carbon is lost in tillage. Decades of trialling methods and sowing dates have led me to a fine knowledge of best practice, in time-saving ways. My advice in these videos brings you harvests and pleasure in equal measure. I wish you success in growing and want these tips to be more widely available, so that everyone who wants to grow great food can do so, without unnecessary work.
Hi Charles your garlic stems always look so thick my are quite spindly ive just harvested my garlic today, theyre not bad sizes, the stems were mostly brown only a little green left but no rust, im wondering when i next plant some what I can do to produce stronger stems?, are we supposed to feed them etc
My plot is small & sheltered on clay based soil in a semi urban area. My garden & house is traditional Victorian style layout inherited from a lovely old man two owners back who had laid it all out including cold greenhouse & old conservatory. I found his walking stick in a cupboard when I moved in so feel I owe him to keep the garden as is- natural not modern austere. I have survived the army of slugs & snails by placing washing scourers around the base of my runner beans (I cut a v shape & pull back the flap place it around the base & pull down the flap ), also done with my courgettes & Monster squash- it failed to work with my broad beans but something else got them. I am no no dig yet - but plan to be. I am proud I got this far - am a natural gardener as is I don't use chemicals ( maybe provadol once or twice but that's it) & I do not like to kill things - it is too much. Saturday nights have been me with torch, bucket & gloves collecting snails & slugs religiously...then they go on holibobs to no man's land which is a designated area away from my small vegetable patch. Since 2020 when I first started gardening proper for the first time I have learned so much. Now ready for No Dig. Thank you for your small garden videos they really help me stay +ve. I am +ve because I am learning so much! I make my own compost too! I feel quite intuitive towards gardening is a more wild/ natural way so No Dig here I come! In the words of my late Mum who adored nature & wildlife & this always guides me...Nature wins! So we have to work alongside it!
My dandelions and clover came back stronger after attempting to smother them. Giant dandelions and giant clover! Also grass that looks like straight up hay lol...
I sowed 8 pots of melon seed in early April with the aim of getting 4 plants. Six germinated but all 6 have been lost (the last one today) to what looks like the stem rotting just below the surface but, on closer inspection, is a lot of small (2mm) pale cream coloured maggots eating the stem. Any idea what this might be? Obviously too late for me to sow fresh seed this season so I'll need to wait till next year to try again but keen to understand what it is that has beaten me this year. Google searches don't really suggest anything other than possibly "seedcorn maggots" but the sound larger than what I've had. I'm in York, UK.
There are also those varieties that make a bunch of flowers when they are 50 cm high and then you have to leave one side shoot because else thats the end of it. People please dont save seeds from those because its annoying and extra observatory work.
Our area has been rough for growing this year but on the other end. We went from frost warning 35F to 90+ for a week within days of each other. Some crops just not coping. We now are at the far end of the heat wave 95F plus and no suitable rain for a few weeks. Abnormal year for us here
Have read that if you collect drunken slugs, well by any method, , let them dry then burn to a powder, usually advised on a full moon. Then use this as your natural repellant thereafter. It is an alchemical solution.!!!!
Am now on my 3rd peas sowing attempt, about my 6th carrot sowing attempt, however got given coffee seeds from Peru , thriving , randomly sowed some galia melon seeds , doing well. Just flabbergasted.
I've done two huge sowings of carrots and not a single plant has made it! I saw one single seedling that had germinated and it was gone the next day - I think the slugs are having a feast.
When I see some of those beautiful vegetables, particularly like some of the broccoli with those artistic twirls and leaves spread out like they're going to ta da!, it strikes me that they're showing off! This is my second comment today I know, I'm having a Charles Dowding marathon day.
Good Evening Charles. What a great selection of vegetables. Everything looks so beautiful with the sun out. Hope you don’t mind me asking Charles, why are you walking bear foot on your veg patch? Lol
I often wonder if I water my plants too much, last year I watered them every day, this year not as much because we've had so much rain but like the last two days we've had lots sun no rain I watered last night so I need to water again tonight
Ok that helps me out a bit knowing not to water too much thanks, cos it takes me ages to go around and water each plant each night. What happens in the major heat ( if we get any this year) like we've had the last few years, I remember watering every morning and night otherwise the plants looked wilted, but must admit I only had a few plants nothing like I've got this year. I will do less watering and I'm sure the plants will let me know when they need a drink. It has been hard with slugs this year, I only had the odd few last year but I'm sure this rain hasn't helped, plus having just slabs on ground I'm forever hosing the garden down after my dogs wee 😊 so that's not helping either, thx for coming back to me Charles I'm always looking forward to your next video
I think squirrels must be able to smell cucumber seeds under the soil. Almost every time I plant them in the garden, the squirrel 🐿️ digs up only that spot. I have to keep on planting more seeds to try to stay ahead of him. Or her. Luckily, I have about 12 that have already established themselves. And the new seeds (that make it) will act as succession planting. 😩That's what I get for not starting my seeds indoors this year. 🤦🏻
I have a few potato plants. Should I pick off the flower buds before they have a chance to open and will that divert more energy into making bigger potatoes ??? 🕊️🙏🏻🥰👨🏻🌾🌱
Always appreciate how much information you get into a "short" video! And there you go... barefoot in the garden. My personal preference as well. Blessings on your growing season kind sir! 🌻🐛Carolyn in Ohio 🌿💚🙏
I bought 72 plug plants '' bumper garden collection , 12 each various , vareitys , from Thompson & Morgan , every single one as died, And were all yellowing , before i even potted them on , never Again ! Also the tomatoe plugs , off them , Sun cherry premium , all dead after two weeks. Home acres looking lush as alway's
Bummer! What's your climate like? Did all of the plugs dry out or rot? Tomatoes do love the heat, especially once established, but same as he mentions for the beans: when they put on flowers for fruit, they respond well to extra watering. I have grown determinate ones like Celebrity and sprawling semi wild ones like Ciudad Victoria in zone 10a, 1200feet elevation, hella sunny Phoenix spring. Indestructible. But they would get very mushy in a rainy cool climate. My kale and broccoli on the other hand, need a shade covering 24-7 right now in zone 7a 6900 feet. Also super sunny and dry, even with supplemental water.
That is sad. It's true that plants arriving by post often look poor when you open the pack. Usually I find they recover, but you may have had even worse quality than normal! Possibly it's related to your compost /potting mix as well, maybe try a different brand.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Good morning Mr Dowding I'm not giving up :) Compost is tommorite 42 litre peat free planter bags but put into pots. The plugs came in little individual cells posted in a largeish enevelope , They looked dredfull and have just not survived m barring about 3 gerraniums :( hey oh only plants . have a blessed day.
@@Neenerella333 Sounds challenging , I'm in the UK and our Spring , as been way below average, this year temp wise , and as hardly stopped raining , Hope you get a fantastic crop from , your vegetables , i'm not giving up :)
Honestly, I will NEVER buy tomato plants, either by post or from a shop - they are so very _very_ easy to grow from seed, even with almost no facilities, and the seed stays viable for _years_ , so after a few years you have loads and loads of different varieties and can give tomato plants to all your friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbours! I am in cool, wet Lancashire and my toms are doing fine; I always grow determinates as they are easier to pamper if the weather's miserable as it has been this year.
'The sun is out, the surface looks dry ...' In what corner of heaven is this? I'm not sure where the sun has gone, and I can 't remember what a dry soil surface looks like ...
Yes, I am fortunate, in Somerset, Southwest UK. We have not seen as much sunshine as normal and normal is not very much anyway! However, the weather here has changed and I think soon, it will be too dry! I hope that you see some sun soon.
Hi Charles, I have a question if you can help? My freind has 3 small tress 3ft growing by her bungalow, they need to come down or they will damage the bungalow. If I take them down at their base, will they die? they wont grow back? she doesnt know what type of trees they are. many thanks
If they are conifers of any type, they will not regrow. Many broadleaf trees will regrow, but at that size, you should find it easy to keep removing any new suckers, and then they will give up. Or even use a sharp spade to cut them out, just the central roots.
The good thing about the miserable, rainy weather we have had here in Denmark is watering is not really neccesary at the moment. Heat loving crops like maize and beans have been struggling to grow in June, but potatoes, peas and celery are doing really well. So its not all bad here after all ⛅️
So many Dowding videos so little time! Beautiful gardens! When Charles spreads the compost I see a few big pieces. I am lucky to be on a farm with unlimited compost materials. I spend a lot of time screening and it looks like Charles does very little.
You are right, I never screen compost before spreading and the lumps break up with time and weather. And as you say, we all have two little time so it's one job less.
Great tips 🙏🏻. I presume our onions, although healthy green leaves, are beginning to fold because they detect at least a week of dry weather forthcoming and shouldn’t be watered? I recall you saying once that they can continue to bulb up during their last throes…..
Thanks and I'm sure there is sufficient moisture in your soil for those onions to swell up some more. Not watering them should improve maturity and ripe quality.
Thank you! Question I was thinking about the other day: do plants that are left for seeds need watering? 👀 eg. I left chards in, their seeds are already showing but do they need further watering along their life to grow goood goid seeds 🤔
I asked this question to Gardener Scott once, and he said yes, to continue watering, because the plant is still alive doing its conversion to developed seed.
Mostly, I would say they do not need extra watering, unless it literally stops raining. Chard is prolific in its seeding, and some reduction in quantity of seed should not actually be a problem! Also, they might mature earlier, which is beneficial, before autumn rain.
