Clearing weeds no dig, time-saving results over two years

We transformed a weedy pasture into an easy-to-manage market garden. Here is how.
It can be hard work at first, removing regrowth of perennial weeds with a trowel. After two years, we have clean soil and productive beds requiring little management time.
See this playlist of the first year in 2021 • New Area of An Acre, a...
Filmed at Homeacres, Somerset, UK by Edward Dowding 24th May and extensively edited by him.
edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/po...
Adam Wood has a channel, / @myco_ad
00:00 Introduction
01:15 I explain the ‘new area’
01:47 First work done on the area - a new bed
01:55 3-pallet compost bay
02:25 How we cleared the wild growth
03:00 Apple trees
03:17 A rosemary hedge
03:48 New pond, just made
04:04 A sunberry
04:29 Apricot tree, and how to protect from frost
05:05 Main garden area from the land purchased two years previously
05:44 I demonstrate removing field bindweed
07:14 A bed with mustards just finished, soon to have beans, plus overwintered spring greens
07:25 Broad beans soon to finish, to be followed by purple sprouting broccoli - some spottiness (Botrytis fabae 'chocolate spot') on the leaves - plants were covered with mesh
08:16 Fleece over ruby chard, very few weeds, homesaved seed
08:55 Purple sprouting broccoli just cleared
09:22 Another type of cover - Thermacrop over celeriac and interplanted spring onion seedlings
09:59 Wood on the beds - from homemade compost, not woodchip
10:39 Courgettes/zucchini, survived a slight frost (covered with fleece)
11:22 Polytunnels with tomato plants (was winter salad)
12:04 Sideshooting a Sungold tomato - how to know which are sideshoots
13:03 Garlic interplant, and when to harvest
13:23 Changes made to one top the Homeacres boundary edges - a bed, a cabin and a new hedgerow with ornamental seedlings
14:14 Veg that were under Thermacrop - peas for shoots, overwintered spinach Medania plus new plants - I harvest some leaves
15:20 Lettuce - plenty of cropping
15:54 Beetroot Boltardy transplanted end of March, fleece removed a week previously
16:58 Asparagus, planted in a bed originally full of perennial weeds, and a newer planting of asparagus - great results from the plants grown from seed, Ariane F1
19:!4 Rhubarb in area originally mulched with black plastic and woodchip, an experiment
20:07 An area of bed with woodchip removed - was cabbage, now potatoes
20:24 Trees - grafting on rootstock, I explain the process
21:45 Kale gone to flower - stem covered in aphids
22:10 A compost corner - cow manure, mushroom compost and green waste compost - I explain how much compost we use at different times
23:15 An experiment to protect against carrot root fly (and removing bindweed), and advice on filling a deep bed
24:53 New beds, made last spring - I describe the dimensions
25:22 Kohlrabi and cauliflower - growth affected by nearby ash tree, lack of moisture
26:02 Rye plants for making bread
27:31 Flowers - ornamental alliums and lupins
28:10 Potatoes in ground that was covered in black plastic last year - how we use plastic repeatedly - squashes grown here previously
28:54 Potatoes earthed up with cow manure because of late frost - wood in the manure from bedding
29:54 Area currently under plastic, with squashes and sweetcorn growing
31:32 Another new bed, mulched with cardboard and compost
32:23 Other new plantings in this area - hazel and birch saplings, wild flowers, willows
33:17 Hawthorn, also called ‘may’
33:47 The old pond, and bees
34:31 The wormery, and new shed
33:25 Outro
See my web shop for new offers on bundles of my online courses charlesdowding.co.uk/product-...
#weeding #nodig #nodiggardening
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/ @charlesdowding1nodig

[@computingananswer766]

Dear Mr. Dowding, you are spoiling us with this, yet another recent and much appreciated upload. You have our thanks good sir. Yours with best regards, your followers.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

We are! Glad you appreciate it all.

[@janecarver9672]

What is the third sister? Corn, zucchini, ? Pumpkin, corn, beans?

[@nathalieforde4205]

A little question, off subject, I am establishing a new garden. My comfrey plants were gone overnight last week. Eaten away! Growing again but I want to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Rabbits, maybe?

[@lolaseymour1532]

​@@janecarver9672 corn, beans & squash.

[@lara-nikkiramsey9415]

@@janecarver9672 corn, pumpkin, beans. 😊

[@jcking6785]

It’s always a treat to get a new video from you, Charles, but this one was extra special with so much detail of the newest areas. The flashbacks dramatically show how much things have changed in such a short period of time. The drone shots are my favorites - I pause the video and study each area, familiarizing myself with all the different gardens, sheds, ponds, compost bins and meadows so that when you show a garden from the ground perspective, I can see in my mind’s eye exactly where you are. I look forward to all your videos; they are so inspiring and informative. Thank you! 💚

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

How lovely, thanks 💚

[@Anonymous-km5pj]

yes... i do. Amazing vid and joie de vivre Charles, thank you for sharing

[@anapaulacrawford5837]

I never get tired of watching and learning from the paradise you have created! 😊

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@CiiseBashiir]

So nice place do you’ve any garden anna-?

[@margaretmcallister5422]

I always think of a weed as any plant that is not put there intentionally. In a lawn, the finest flower shoot is a weed. In a flower bed, a clump of grass is a weed. In a meadow - well, anything goes, so none of them are really weeds. I miss the vibrant multicoloured meadows I remember as a child in the 1960s - and my mum (born 1924) remembered them having even more varieties and colour for sweet nutritious hay. Good to see you are nurturing a patch of pure nature. Love this video.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thankyou Margaret. Yes the word can be interpreted many ways!

[@maryschrier651]

I've been, selectively, eating my weeds. I let the purslane and the goosefoot (I can't remember it's name.) get 4 - 5" and then harvest/weed the bed and eat the weeds for supper as our fresh/free vegetables. I shake a mature purslane over the bed later in the season for next summer. It grows well with most vegetables and makes a nice ground cover until the desired vegetable gets big enough to shade the soil.

[@barkershill]

Where are you from Margaret? I grew up on a farm in the fifties and sixties and can never remember seeing one of these vibrant multi coloured meadows

[@margaretmcallister5422]

@@barkershill I'm sorry your area didn't have them, but ours did. Northern England.

[@shervin6711]

I appreciate your aerial views. Your videos are so well done, they give the natural idea your gardens are larger ( and to some might feel, unachievable) than they truly are! Motivating!

[@4theloveofcookin]

WITH NO DIG, WE NOW ACTUALLY PICK MORE PRODUCE THAN WEEDS !!!!!! THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT WORLD !!!!!!!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Fantastic! 💚

[@sjnealeservices8549]

Thank you again for another look at the new area. I dont see any problem of the use and reuse of black plastic. I've been using it myself for three years in my vegetable garden. After seeing your video I think I am going to have a go at growing asparagus next year. Its time for me to concentrate on perennial vegetables and fruit.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Sounds promising :)

[@OriginalRaveParty]

Your videos and production quality just get better and better. Homeacres is looking incredible. Brilliant work 👌

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Many thanks

[@lolaseymour1532]

Go Adam go! Always happy to see the complimentary additions you add.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@ThatBritishHomestead]

I have honestly seen the results. I went to see my friends who digs and my word.😵‍💫 so many weeds!! I have less and less each year

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

😀🏆

[@patjoyce7247]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge so enthusiastically and generously Charles. I will watch this several times and then forget at least half! So educational for us very part time allotmenteers. My fellow allotment neighbours scoff at my efforts to apply "no dig" where I can. But they are puzzled when they see I'm getting results that challenge their cherished methods rotovating the guts out of the soil. Meanwhile I'm growing hefty leeks from holes through the cardboard into the hard ground. They're not amused.😂

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

This is great 🙂

[@dianneleon2522]

I ❤ watching and being inspired, your sharing is truly a gift. Thank you!!!😊

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

That's great to hear Dianne, thank you

[@kevinmackfurniture]

When I grow up... I want a garden like yours.... Just looking at the garden esthetic perfection you have created lowers my blood pressure. I can only imagine what it would be like to spend time there. I hope heaven is as gorgeous as your little farm.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

What kind words, thank you 🙂

[@dstyslinger]

Beautiful. I have a 12 by 12 foot garden, in Maryland we have hot summers and the Tomatoes have finally started to take off. The melons, cucumbers and beans are just getting started. Potatoes are almost ready to pull. Plenty of rocket, lettuce, kale, collards all just about done. Thanks for your inspiration.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

That sounds impressive! I had a couple from Maryland on a course here and it was fascinating to swap notes. Although your climate is different, the end results are quite similar!

[@juanjosesilva7164]

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm! Because of that I am loving gardening. I have a wooden sign in my garden that reads; "Gardening is better than therapy, and you get tomatos".

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

😂 love it

[@slaterdomain]

My new allotment is a no dig. Got bindweed and couch grass growing through the mulch. Will have to dig them out i reckon

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

But use a trowel, it's not an overnight result with these weeds and I seek to show hear. We removed maybe 30000 bindweed shoots from this area :)

[@annemcguire7792]

It looks so tranquil. Probably smells heavenly too. Great job!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@GARDENER42]

My dad always said "a weed is a plant in the wrong place". I believe he was absolutely correct.

[@livus3787]

oh yeah we are spoiled with such a long, tasty seasonal update 🤩🌱

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🙂 🌱

[@iteerrex8166]

Thanks Charles for the inspirational tour. I also don’t weed the grasses, chemically or physically, so they’ve been invaded by a verity of plants. But I mow them short, which keeps them in check, and looks great.. well nice and green lol

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂 🙌

[@byjamie-hillierrubis]

Hello Charles, long time. We have issues with cabbage white butterflies laying on our purple sprouting, I'm thinking of building a 6' high netted cage, they're relentless until the first frost. Decades ago my father had a jungle of globe artichokes we grew up on. Once he noticed a strange attack leaving brown holes in the main stalks. He scratched his head for weeks until eventually he realized my older brothers were shooting them with an air rifle from their bedroom window. Pests! ☘ 💖🙏💫

[@dominic6055]

Wasps prey on them

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Hi James, nice to hear from you and check this for caterpillars www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275880776769?hash=item403bc69441:g:eL4AAOSwVORg2tkT&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8MP2hzwKn%2BFo0sA1aFwlVVlkaRYPcO1Ds%2FHHTKyyPhxScK%2BtaBghqDPzCijMHwvL8pXSuNH33iQcfx0gYHLDJYTWQEKRhDzwB3OYUc1eYndBIIpx5gYLZL5xnIlNltg6WHPq%2Bdwlbm1749E8QmeSG7260F2uE0uJSUZL2FEVxVpyB%2FKRmYm0fsy4JTGKKxNJHH2gjBnFJI%2Fk%2Btc9cSuFiEXXd%2BGWRaChWCsGZduC7LqWcYZmxO0MYi8DCWvxDP6ZiqtuPRsbPhPv0J1jM1cvXgv4IHUmHzu3S5nCjQ08z6RwJvtsIGm1l68hjtacl4nN4w%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5iy88yQYg

[@angelad.8944]

So, I myself only grow 8 green and 8 purple cabbages every year. If you are not growing many, just put some stakes of any kind in the ground, around your plants and just cover them with any kind of netting. I just put tennis balls on the tops of the stakes so they don't rip the netting. Just cut a slit into one side of the ball and you can squeeze it so it will pop onto the stake. I choose netting that lets light and rain through but the cabbage moth can't lay eggs. I get perfect cabbages every time. I have even used screening from an old screened tent that I got for free. I have even used those tents you put over your food. They just pop up and cover, tada! We can get large ones here, 60cm/2'x90cm/3' sized ones. They can stay on for the whole season. ☺

[@stevendowden2579]

great video charles

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Cheers Steven

[@MizzAugust7]

I will be doing the cardbord, but I have only a car, so I wont be hauling too many boards to make any growing boxes. : ) Thank you for all the wisdom you give. I know everyone appreciates it ! I sure do.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Lovely to hear, and nice that you are not making boxes!

[@julianhazell]

I have been following your channel for the last decade and watching your videos is not just restorative for the planet, but gives hope to the soul. It is an antidote to the six o'clock news. You show how people around the world are using people power to bring life and hope! A very sincere thank you. Your videos help get me through my zone 4 winters!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Ah that is great Julian, thanks. It's very much my hope to share a healing message, with enough people to make significant differences. Best of luck for winter!

[@aname5267]

Stick a bench next to that pond and invite me over for a cuppa please ❤

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🙂

[@mitalenfai]

Hi Charles. I am glad to see you too like the Lupins, i love them, they kind of are full of summerbeginningsmell and new life. Here where i live now they seems afraid of them. I realy admire you, you have a beautiful garden.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you for your kind words 🙂

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

How lovely, thanks

[@dosquats]

Thank you CD! Love the tour videos and really well done with the edited in historic clips. Garden looking great 👍

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Edward spent time on this, nice you appreciate it.

[@gratitude1]

My disabled neighblor has a yard full of brambles --that try to creep into my fenced growing area. I have found the brambles really hard to get rid of. For me the cardboard sheet mulch has not worked very well but perhaps I've not done it right. If I understood how to get rid of them I would volunteer to help my neighbor remove these. Also I had read that just nipping the green tops of bindweed, not digging, would eventually starve the roots off. I've been trying with mixed results! The theory was that if you dig (and break) the roots they spread from the bits left.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Well, I'm always saying this about brambles, to dig around any stem you see poking up from the ground and remove about 4 in/10 cm of its root. It's quite quick because you can do quite a large area quickly if your spade is sharp and you do not need to dig out every root. But you're right, they will otherwise grow through any mulch on the surface. And that's a muddled version regarding bindweed, it's much more effective to remove the small amount of new root which I show you to take out. That's why I use a trowel but I am not attempting to dig out the main root deeper down.

[@carolineholland4178]

What a brilliant way to start a new bed and use the space for growing squash. Love the way that in the autumn, the cardboard, mulch, the spent compost in the grow bags, and even the remains of the plants can become part of the material being used to fill the bed. Very cool!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Cheers Caroline

[@carolineholland4178]

@Charles Dowding So funny, I got a bit distracted and thought I was commenting on Erica's little Welsh garden video. Oh well, love your videos as well, Charles. Especially when you share the lovely flowers that you're growing with us. 🌼

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

😂

[@raysouth1952]

We’re just going into winter here so it’s lovely to see the burgeoning spring growth.

[@farmstrong5434]

I feel like Ive grown up reading and watching your videos! They always have a nostalgic feel watching you grow! Love from Morocco 🇲🇦

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

That is so lovely to hear thank you

[@jenniferward5216]

Your property is absolutely beautiful. Everything is so green, it's a different green than I have ever seen here in the US in homesteading.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks. I hope there can be a similar green in states like Oregon where coastal locations might have the same maritime rain on a regular basis! And less summer heat.

[@jenniferward5216]

@@CharlesDowding1nodig The US is a hot bed presently. I normally grow on my patio . Not this year so I will wait until Fall in my inferno in Florida.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Oooh sounds horrible.

[@kit2130]

We have bindweed here in Kansas too. It gets ahead of you very fast!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

‼️

[@equisader]

I hope you will experiment with a walipini on your new land. Would be fascinating!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Not sure we have enough sun in winter, it's so gloomy and 51st parallel too = Nova Scotia

[@angelad.8944]

I am soooo jealous that you can grow Sichuan prickly ash!! I keep saving seeds (and trying to stratify and germinate them) from my purchase's in hopes that they were not roasted before export. We actually have a native North American species that I was so excited to find, a little patch on my property two autumns ago. I have been attentive to it ever since. I am hoping to get something from it this fall but it will not be quite as tasty as what you have. I hope you include it in a future update so we can see the seed clusters, if its mature enough to produce, etc. It is such a nifty plant! Planting is in full swing here. Our spring season had some crazy weather, swinging high and low. We had a week of 33C weather and now we have woken up to a 7C morning, lol. I have decided to put it all out and let nature decide. ☺ Your market gardens are so lovely and the expansion is coming along so well. Thank you for sharing them with us.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

I'm glad that you are planting now Angela. Mornings here are also cool and we had 6 C this morning. Forecast is warmer by next weekend. Sorry you are having that difficulty, it feels like a weed here! And I shall feature it in a later update

[@cherylbertolini3140]

Beautiful!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you

[@clarereynolds9607]

Blooming wonderful ! Thank you.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@justyves]

In his quintessential book “An Agricultural Testament”, Sir Albert Howard has an intriguing section about the detrimental effect of grasses on fruit trees, including apple trees. I would keep more of a distance between the young apple trees and that wild grass. Something tells me you have that book on your bookshelf.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

You are right and that is probably a factor, I was curious to mulch a smaller area! Such a noble man!

[@justyves]

@@CharlesDowding1nodig Perhaps an opportunity for an experiment? Half the trees surrounded by grass, the other group surrounded by alfalfa and top dressed with manure? 🙂

[@beverleymellor]

Just wonderful 🤗 thank you

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@melody5437]

So beautiful! I'm loving the new area and it's so fun to watch it evolve!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@katelemon2750]

Just heavenly. So inspiring. X

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@robertling9872]

Beautiful video, thanks for sharing Charles.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🙂 thank you for watching

[@dramatriangle]

I’ve never had a Sunberry nor even heard of them! In the Pacific Northwest, we have so many blackberries! Now I am thinking about introducing Sunberries in the wild areas of the property.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Sounds a lovely idea

[@maudschoenaker5109]

This is fantastic learning, Charles. It is unbelievable. So much to apply in my garden. Love your time specifications. Am in New Zealand, gotta start now for the coming season. Thank you for sharing all this.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Glad you enjoyed it Maud and my pleasure 🙂

[@cornish_360excavator]

Amazing video, enjoyed that so much. Thank you Charles

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Glad you enjoyed it 🙂

[@robinlj5767]

Absolutely loved this update!!! I always learn something new I value listening to you! Homeacres is incredibly lovely!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚 thanks

[@glassbackdiy3949]

You packed a lot into this one Charles, good show, cheers

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🙂

[@carolewarner101]

Your garden is absolutely resplendent!!!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

thank you 🙂

[@kenrushing7945]

Wow! Charles, everything looks so fantasticly beautiful, thank you for allowing us on your journey.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@mygardenofthings]

A truly amazing journey😊👌

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@steveo_o6707]

I love to see the progress of the new garden. I'm starting one on my property, ground all weeds(previous owner didn't do anything but mow weeds). I'm doing a lasagna style garden, tarping black plastic over the mounds and will plant in it next season. I'm adding microbes to heat the mounds so the weed seeds will die. fingers crossed that happens,... LOL!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Best of luck, not sure about heat though!

[@paulking54]

Amazing!!!!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks

[@denisebrady6858]

Charles another amazing video & display of how "No Dig" is the only way- (for Me) to grow. My trial with a tomato called Paul Robeson is amazing I have never ever had such success with any tomatoes. All my Autumn/ Winter vegetables are looking amazing. Thanks to You Charles. Cheers Denise- Australia

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

That's great 💚 🏆

[@sherlockstu]

I managed to keep a pepper and a chilli plant from last year. Brought it in from the garden. Kept indoors over winter. Currently have lots of golfball sized peppers already. 👌💪

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Fantastic 🙂

[@mariolacultivaycocina2644]

Maravilloso video, gracias

[@kayerhoads3444]

I wish I had met you long ago. I love my 2 acre garden which I live in each summer. Yes I dig trenches for wood chips and use the old wood chips for nutrients each year. New wood chips go in every year. But this method has transformed old pasture into great soil for growing vegs. Your beautiful garden is an inspiration to me. My garden has lots of pernicious weeds, that I try to use to my advantage. If not seedy, weeds become mulch. So, I work with nature to the best of my 70 years. Best garden ever this year!!! Love your videos!! Thank you, Charles!!!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

So good to read this, nice that age is not stopping you embracing new methods 😀

[@user-ce7uo3jk4q]

Love the way you grow.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🌱😎

[@livewell2215]

Thank you very much Master Gardener Charles. I have learnt much from you!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@dilrubaakhter2608]

I love your pond😊

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@GordonjSmith1]

For many years I have been enjoying your journey, and I continue to do so. Bravo.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Cheers Gordon

[@fortunate22]

Beautiful garden

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@pama1]

Amazing Charles! It is impressive how it all has evolved.

[@HighWealder]

I have the same problem where it first invaded the lawn from a field hedge and now the edge of the vegetable garden. I continue to try to dig out anything I see but I have read that it can survive in grassland even when frequently cut.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@jeshurunfarm]

Thank you Charles. You make it look so easy, but we all know you work your bottom off.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

😀 and love it! Thanks Justus

[@itsmewende]

I ssssso enjoy seeing you and your garden, love every second of every video you share. Must say, the drone footage is gorgeous.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks and Edward does a great job

[@atroutflycrazy8057]

Thankyou charles for another video, grear to see how your new acre is doing. This was the 1st yr i tried no dig and i have had great results ,its amazing what you can grow in an 8 x 4 bed . Weeds are an issue always in gardening but with no dig i have had v few , i just keep pulling them when i see them .

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

So good to hear 🏆

[@colleenturoczy]

Wow! This was really fun and interesting to watch. So informative and an inspiration to new veg gardeners like me. Thank you

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you glad you enjoyed it 🙂

[@spritzpistol]

We love your videos Mr D & Adam, we are both novice ‘allotmenters’ and practice no dig, there and at home. We’ve had fabulous crops from early on, and our varieties are ever growing. We have an abundance of all sorts now, and still trying new ones. Still fighting couch grass and they are gradually weakening, but happy to say, hardly any bind weed now🎉. Hubby brought me your book at Christmas and I’m dipping in and out all the time. Thank you for sharing your wonderful knowledge, experiences and experiments. 👍

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Ah great and thanks, see Adam at www.youtube.com/@myco_ad

[@kangtani_indonesia]

Very beautiful and modern farm place is very inspiring for my farm

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

I am glad you are inspired 🙂

[@dudeusmaximus6793]

Nice looking spread!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@iamchinny3]

Only a few days ago I was googling "Charles Dowding Weed Advice" and now a wonderful video with lots of information to take in! I used no dig initially a few years ago to clear a newly reclaimed space at the back of the garden. Last year, I didn't really do any vegetable growing but this year I'm trying and have felt quite demotivated by ground elder coming under our neighbours fence (everyone says that haha!). I've taken to just hand picking off the leaves as much as I can before the frustration kicks in but today I started putting down some more cardboard for No Dig round 2!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Perfect, great timing 🙂 Keep going 🙌

[@iamchinny3]

@@CharlesDowding1nodig I will, thank you!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🙂

[@berbaniavargas9037]

Saludos Charles como siempre es un gusto ver tu maravilloso trabajo. Un gran ejemplo a seguir. Pura Vida

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Ah bueno, gracias

[@NannaCarlstedt2]

Hi Charles, The spinach/Medania has been such a joy during a couple of months, during the first period, May-June. I put it in compost from well burned horse manure mixed with some coconut coir; partly in shade, behind the huge black currant bush. That was before I let the currant branches down from the strings I have it holded back in before it set flowers and before I let it down and the huge currant completely took over the space. Now when I am writing this, July 6, the spinach is pulled out and replaced with sowed beetroots in front of sowed French dwarf beans in lovely purple. Could have presowed them but this time I didn´t. Thanks so much for showing us the way, teaching us all how to do this. You are such an inspiration Charles; you have such a nice tone of voice as well as looking good and, of course, have a very pretty, aesthetic, garden. Always a joy to look at your videos; thank´s again. Allotment, 80 sqm; Sweden/Stockholm, Lat 59 N, Lon 18 E.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

So nice to read this, thanks Nanna, and I'm impressed by your gardening

[@lindadykes4040]

Your gardens are always so beautiful. God bless you and your family ✝️💖

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Linda 💚

[@nagashg60]

I love it.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

💚

[@MeusPaisMeusAmores]

Marvellous, as always, Charles and Anna. Wonderful tips and a great view about a No Dig life. Je Vous aime! Keep on doing it. A great and tender hug to you all, Charles and Anna, and to all your families.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Our pleasure, thank you

[@geraldcroft9020]

Charles, I don’t know if you are going to read this comment but I’m watching a World War II documentary and there was an Air Chief Marshall, Sir Hugh Dowding who was in charge of the defense of Britain, quite a lot of praise on the man on the wonderful job he did organizing the air defenses in Britain. My question is, could you be related?

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Sadly not! He was an admirable man in many other ways too.

[@geraldcroft9020]

@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you for the response. You are adding to the Dowding good name. 👍

[@wyominghome4857]

Although I have been a flower gardener for many years, this is my first experience with enough property to grow a big vegetable garden. Last night my husband and I had our first salad of spring greens from the garden and it was so flavorful. I am hooked. Getting rid of weeds will be a long-term project for me as the past year has involved a lot of construction on our property. "No dig" it wasn't! The weeds have taken over, especially brambles and something the locals call "Russian White." Fortunately, I've already located a source of cardboard. :)

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Glad you are enjoying your harvest 🙂

[@bridgetplunkett7630]

What a wonderful video . I have a large field which has briars tall grass etc and ive been trying to reclaim. Daunting sometimes but youve re ignited my enthusiasm. Many thanks.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Go for it

[@jenniferhershey8621]

I just got another load of compost after doing no dig successfully last year. Excited to work on expanding my garden space. Love your videos!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Nice to hear Jennifer

[@Sky-Child]

Great video. I am encouraged! Setting up a new growing space on a garden we have just moved into. It has been sadly neglected so is a lively mix of nettles, jaggies, mint, grasses and brambles! Have put down black fabric and cardboard and it is already making a difference. This evening I am finally putting down a layer of compost to plant into (I am very late in the year but better late than never!)

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Good luck!

[@thomaseissler]

Great Video! Thanks

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@hesketh42]

Thankyou for posting this georgie I really understand the self doubt i feel the same every year I know it will work (probably) but that doesn't stop it

[@berthaperez8010]

Hello Charles, what a great garden, congratulations, how much work, thank you for sharing and teaching, God bless you, I send you greetings and be well

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you and to you 🙂

[@toneyjohnson8910]

Such a beautiful place. I try each year to become for like you as a Gardner. thanks for sharing I always learn something from your videos. .

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you for your support 🙂

[@turtle2212]

Always amazing to see how no dig works! My garden is now getting there with full growing potential. Unbelievable that the fertility is growing every year with increasing havest and less work. I love it, thanks so much Sir Charles!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Sounds great! 💚

[@zimmermanlandscape9287]

An alternative to removing the top out of your tree. Use an excavator to root prune by digging a trench and just fill it back in.

[@barkershill]

😂

[@woodworks2123]

Great update video Charles, these videos will come In handy as after squeezing every inch of my half plot size allotment to grow including this year vertically on the back fence I have been given another full plot next to mine but it's the usual 3ft high weeds. But I do love a project and as I have a passive solar greenhouse on my plot, this plot will just be all beds.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

fantastic exciting times ahead!

[@sonnyamoran7383]

Thank you so much. I use the cardboard method in my garden. I still have to build up my beds because of drainage issues. It's not going to change due to ground level muck. I'm still getting good harvests and each year, it seems to improve. I will be working on new ground soon.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

sounds great 🙂

[@mojavebohemian814]

Thank you!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🙂

[@goblindreams]

Fabulous! Bees are a commitment, especially this year, as they all seem to want to swarm at once! I'm in East Devon, and it's sooo hot in my sheltered veg garden. Only have water butt's so no chance I can drench the soil, but so far, all my no dig beds are doing well :)

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

That's great 🙂

[@equisader]

I'm jealous of your spinach. Mine bolted weeks ago here in sw france.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

😮

[@susannedeubzer8114]

Lovely video and awesome garden! ❤ There is one thing I'd like to tell you, though, about the box you made for the solitary bees. I am by no means an expert on the topic, but I read several books about creating habitats for solitary bees. The way yours looks will either be uninhabited or even worse kill the bees (which I guess you wouldn't want). You have to file all the raspy bits off the holes or else the spikey things will damage the bees' wings when they enter, which will inhibit their ability to fly and find food, thereby killing them slowly. Good habitats are holes in blocks of hardwood with all the raspy bits filed off, bundled up bamboo sticks (again raspy bits filed off), special clay bricks with holes made for bees or even cardboard "straws" in a sheltered box. Thanks so much for all your videos, I really enjoy them 😊🧑‍🌾

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Cheers Susanne. Thanks for the guidance, we shall check this and remedy

[@johnspark8095]

Superb video, I envy you sir, keep up the good work with tireless enthusiasm.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@euRitaAraujo]

It's amazing to see your farm growing so nicely with your method of no dig. I finally feel that I'm not alone on this fight against bindweed! I've been struggeling with bindweed for 3 years on my backyard, unfortunately digging for the roots and disturbing the soil, but this year I'm doing more maintenance by picking the leafs as soon as they show up and I hope it works long term. All the best!

[@rubytrotter3766]

I bought a house with 1/2 acre in north central Missouri-one part literally infested with bindweed-been fighting the noxious weed for 7 years now. Good luck in your endeavor

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

This method works for sure but you need to be persistent and catch it weekly through the summer, that's not always straightforward but it does work, using a trowel helps as well to lever out a bit of root each time

[@henryatkinson2083]

Small thing the binomial put up for sunberry is another plant - one in the potato family also called sunberry in fact!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Yes confusing and sorry, I found it here www.blackmoor.co.uk/sunberry-p447

[@riot.9]

That's a nice development. I hope to see it in my garden as well.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

🙂

[@Pwecko]

Inspirational.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you 🙂

[@shineyrocks390]

Charles Downing you are my hero Sir ❤

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

How nice thanks

[@jeuandavidjones]

I return always to Charles' videos for inspiration and advice. I am building our no-dig plot gradually; 6 beds are complete and planted or are being planted. We have already started harvesting caulis, cabbage and beetroots, from the first plantings in March. Areas for 8 more beds are under black plastic awaiting their deposits of compost and wood chip paths. Weeding is exactly the same: a brief chore every morning or evening with a narrow trowel to hook out persistent perennials. As we are in Central Portugal, we can attempt the 3 sisters and I'm looking forward to trying it out. Everything is an experiment as growing here is very different from what we were used to back in north Wales!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

How amazing and yes so different, I wish you more success

[@jeuandavidjones]

@@CharlesDowding1nodig It's so very different from growing back in north Wales! We are about to experience the seriously hot dry summer months , so watering becomes a whole different ball-game. I'm keeping notes of the winners and losers, trying to adapt to these new conditions.

[@bewoodford2807]

Thank you Charles for yet another inspirational video. Really interesting.Having run out of room, in my garden, to grow everything i want/need, I am hoping to be offered an allotment soon- no doubt it will be covered in weeds, and I want to use it as a no dig space to cultivate fruit, vegetables and flowers and will follow all your information, tips and advice, Thank you again :-)

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Good project! 💚