No Dig: feed the soil not the plants for many, easier harvests and few weeds

[@thenaturalprepper]

I am convinced that this is the way I want to convert my garden and I think this video may one of the best ones to show my husband. He’s very old school and wants to till up the whole garden every spring, which this year made me cringe to watch him destroy the soil structure. It’s baby steps with him…thank you for giving me the confidence and motivation to show him a better way!!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Good luck with that. This method makes sense, and old teachings have ignored the part about soil life

[@beniaminr9587]

I saw the term "no dig" two days ago for the first time. A thought arose to look into it sometime. I just ran into your channel and it's quite a revelation for me really. I will start a new vegetable garden next year and I'm not so scared of all this digging I usually forced myself to. I'm sure the comment section here is full of appreciation but I just leave one more piece of it because you really deserve it. Thank you for this great resource.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Ah that is nice, thanks Benjamin and I wish you success

[@CH-so8tn]

You're a good human. We need people like yourself. Thanks for another lesson.

[@Ladythyme]

You are like part of the living earth teaching us what it needs. 😍🙏🙌🏻

[@1Lightdancer]

Love your side by side demos and explanation of how the no dig method supports the garden and is easier on the gardener. Thank you

[@sourcecreator2222]

fantastic wisdom, especially about the fungi in the soil

[@mmuller1651]

i love his voice, so calming, always put me to sleep when I struggle from sleep deprivation.

[@samnikole1643]

I left compost to rot for 8 months . Now my soil is full of worms and life. The best no dig / plow gardening technique ever. Thank you Charles! Greeting from Bulgaria

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks, good to hear such nice news Sam

[@samnikole1643]

Charles Dowding No thank you. You saved me loads of time and money. Thank you for your teachings and explanation. Even though I am on an extremely rocky acidic soil, your method transformed my ground. Many blessings and thanks to you sir!

[@pavelhajduk4559]

@@samnikole1643 Does the bed height raises every year by adding 5 cm or more compost to the top ? I just can not imagine how raised will be my bed after like 5 years. How it works actually ? :)

[@formerhermit12]

@@pavelhajduk4559 The compost that you apply on your garden each year continues to break down. Charles simply fills his planters to the top of the wood bed edging. Not every year is 5cm, and some are more. It just depends on how much breaks down in any given year.

[@allieb7757]

@@pavelhajduk4559 this was what came to mind for me as the garden beds here are somewhat raised alongside our footpath. But then 5 cm of added soil yearly isn't much at all.

[@maudschoenaker5109]

Just listening to you and looking at the beautiful vegetables that you're growing gives me a happy feeling and a determination to give it a go on all my patches of vegies. Thanks Charles love it.

[@bluebutterfly4594]

So glad I found your channel. You so easy to listen to

[@pelinkayhan]

Oh! What a soft voice is this. I can listen to him all my life. Also, thank you for the good explanation!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thankyou Pelin!

[@jeanneamato8278]

Glorious gardens with the most beautiful compost buildings. Listening to you I become educated and soothed at the same time

[@HoosierBenzo]

Wonderful video! One of my favorites of yours so far. You are a 💎 in the KZbin gardening world.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Ben

[@rmartinie]

I must 2nd your comment Ben, I am just blown away by everything I learn from Charles!! I’m considering taking one of his workshops on site. Airline ticket RT from Omaha NE to Bristol is a reasonable $715!! 😊

[@saen-ernten-verarbeiten6763]

Ben Fricßßk

[@mlee40738]

Thank you so much, Charles! I've been trying to convince my son to stop tilling up his garden every year, so hopefully if I share this with him the message will get through!

[@gardengym496]

Were you successful in it? Thanks!

[@Klanz61]

thank you for teaching me the no dig method My son was diagnosed with cancer and wanting to help him for the best possible recovery I need to go organic we have both seen a dramatic improvement from eating healthier your no dig garden has truly blessed our lives in giving us the nutrients and minerals in our foods that we need to live a healthier and more productive life thank you for being a great teacher and it is so greatly appreciated and I wanted you to know that Sincerely Karen. 🌿🌷🍂🥦🥒🍓🌿

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Karen I am so sorry to hear of his cancer and so pleased that you have found a way to help heal him with growing great food, thanks for sharing and I hope others feel encouraged too, and empowered to take healing into your own hands!

[@trevorbernard5218]

Fantastic advice from a very nice guy. Thank you.

[@GrammaDebsStorytime]

I can't wait to try your methods! I have raised a vegetable garden in WA state, USA on the Idaho border and have had good and bad experiences. This year we have had snow, which is not usual for this area, so I am starting a bit late, but am very optomistic about the outcome this year. Thank you for making these videos public so that anyone can learn from you! Much Appreciated. Deb :)

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Deb and happy cropping

[@AK-hx6nw]

Thank you so very much for all your grand content, you have really helped this garden evolve and so has my land-caretaker abilities. All the best from down under.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Alexandra, good to hear

[@nerllybird]

I use no-dig and find it works very well. It's worth pointing out that, if you have foxes, the cubs will very enthusiastically dig down in a bed to get to manure. Creating beds in early autumn (possibly late summer) onwards is fine, but if you're adding manure to anything in spring, some protection may be needed. I use chicken wire pegged down or hooked over screws on the outside of edging planks. You can also insert short lengths of cane in the soil. Or both...😊

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks for these tips

[@SimoneVPoise]

I love how explanatory and informative this is! Keep up the good work! Greetings from the Netherlands

[@markeagles7383]

The way you explain, started to make sense. Thanks for sharing .

[@nevermore4971]

Hi Charles greetings from Pennsylvania USA. I am starting to get some of my “back 40” ready for a large flower garden next year. I’ve been layering newspapers and cardboard and compost to build up the soil. I love your no dig approach and think it’s so much healthier for a garden. In my other gardens I lay down thick layers of leaves in the fall and till them under in the early spring. So far so good, however I am very excited to try the no till. Thank you for all of these informative videos! You are fun to watch!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Cheers Nancy and sell the tiller!

[@cindyedwards6924]

As always, feel like I've been to Garden University 101. Thank you!!!!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thankyou Cindy for such a cheerful comment

[@annchadwick4613]

So interesting We must always think of our soil. ..... Full of helpful organisms

[@dougmac8904]

I love your videos. I think I'll watch them all

[@wingman358]

Presented lovingly! Great channel. Thanks for sharing the wisdom!

[@ArmindaHeart]

Love this!! I live in California and so wood chip mulch works to keep in the moisture during the long, hot growing season. I do have trouble with slugs in the early spring. Also, it’s difficult to plant tiny seeds as the mulch falls on top of my plantings. I will be seeding under cover and setting out starts to help avoid the slugs, critters, and re-plantings. I could never go back to bare dirt gardening. Mulch gardening is so much easier and beneficial in the long run.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks for sharing your experience Arminda, I like your phrase "bare dirt gardening", very apt. Setting out starts is a good plan.

[@Malcolm_99]

I am, learning slowly and very grateful for your information and lovely smile also! I will watch a few more times just to take it all in as I learn one step at a time!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Nice comment Neil thanks

[@quranquotes9558]

Thank you Charles for your beautiful videos, your channel is one of my favorites. I like the way to explain things. Much love from Iraq

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks I am happy to hear this Quran, from so far away.

[@benneb663]

Let it be known, No-dig takes the throne! Charles is neat and tidy, and his vegetables have come along nicely. Highest level. Woke.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Wow so poetic, not theoretic, thanks

[@jenniewilliamsmural]

Love your approach very much.

[@utooth8114]

Once again thank you for your time spent showing how no dig works.

[@mariuss2014]

Beautiful garden, beautiful crops, and a beautiful person(beautiful gardener) 👌👍😍🙏👏

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Cheers Marius :)

[@ernestt.danquah8581]

My role model. Thanks a million Mr Dowding for all your beautiful, passionate and informative videos on Gardening.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Well a pleasure Ernest, thankyou

[@riverunner9978]

Definitely a positive method on so many different levels. The lesser labor being the top one ☝️!

[@PavalonTech]

Clear and concise, great info!

[@allotmental.]

I think this video really shows us as well that you can sow seeds in late August. I need to get some coffee grounds again!

[@talygovan3054]

Merci beaucoup Mr Dowding Charles. Vos vidéos sont les meilleurs sur le jardinage sans travail du sol dans le monde. Chacun sont excellents les une des autres. J'adore votre sourire et tout ce que vous faites.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Merci Taly je Su is content Le lire

[@gipsyheart6541]

you re such a great legend man not only a great grower! an insiration for me! i wish i could shake your hand one day! all my respect❤🌍🙏🌱

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thankyou Daniele, perhaps we shall meet

[@michelekennedy515]

What a wonderful learning video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. ☺🌱🍅

[@familyalwaysfirst5886]

Wow !!! The way you explain... I love it... Thanks :) You are great 👍

[@simondelaney2958]

I have been trying no dig for 5 months and so far so good

[@jerrylindley9663]

Thank you Charles for another wonderful and informative video, a lovely reference work to add to the collection.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Jerry

[@chaotixcapris7071]

love your no dig garden. all your plants and veggies are magnificent..I'm very impressed . thank you for sharing !

[@greglewis2398]

You have beautiful gardens. ☺

[@BeckyDJD]

Thank you so much for all your videos! Always a joy to watch.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Becky

[@bubbleflower3950]

Why make life complicated 'No dig"is the future💞 Thanks again Charles great video 🤗💓

[@rebeccajosteelman563]

Beautiful way with the soil and plantings.

[@TurbineBorescope]

Very much enjoy your series and have begun gardening in back yard. Thank you. Excited to receive your books over the holidays.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks and nice to hear

[@lunalinguini264]

I started to read masanobu fukuoka and his method of not doing (wu wei) and now watch your videos and i can see for my own eyes that it really work. People dont believe me when i say that not dig is more efficient that thr convencional agriculture. No dig, no fertilizer and pesticides , a passive method but a method that is going to revolutionize modern agriculture. We are mere assistants of nature, she is the one that cultivated. I trust must in her than in human knowledge. Thanks from Chile. 🐸

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Nice to hear Luna 😀

[@cyndiewilley4093]

As an intern in the master garden program I am trying to spread the word of no dig. I do get the look, you know like, I'm crazy or that wont work.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Whoever says that to you is not up to speed. For example the RHS are making the new Edibles Garden at Wisely one third no dig in 2019, and half of their student plots too. The head gardener Jonny Norton of Mottisfont Abbey near Romsey, Hants booked me to run a training day for any National Trust gardeners who are interested to learn more about no dig. The uptake was large, 30 gardeners for all over S England and the Midlands. Many are older gardeners, attracted to the common sense of no dig, and above all by how it saves time.For example we were shown a parterre where no dig mulching has resulted in a massive reduction of oxalis and celandine tubers, which previously had been dug and double dug, but kept growing back.No dig is happening all over the world now and I receive so much positive, happy feedback.And it's good for keeping carbon in the soil!

[@cyndiewilley4093]

No dig opens up gardening to people who thought they needed to have a tiller or thought it was just too much shovel work. You just need compost and desire. Thanks for all you do Charles.

[@abcbcde9985]

@@cyndiewilley4093 'Compost and Desire', you should copyright that! Can I borrow it?

[@KompostLiebe]

Love you and your Garden more and more with every Video! THIS ARE CARROTS! Great work Charles! Liebe Grüße

[@KompostLiebe]

10:55 So nice again, not only u tell one thing, u explaining and you make people understand the whole concept, with alternatives! And I am realy proud of my "new" recycled dibber!

[@adelie8136]

Mister Rogers vibes

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks I am honoured to be compared with him

[@jackmustang8705]

Wonderful work Charles. I very much believe in no dig. Practise and encourage others to look into no dig.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Jack and yes, it's a growing method!

[@patricianunez4025]

Very inspirational. Thank you so much! I am trying to do no dig. First year.

[@Ann-Marielivingonabudget]

How did it go?

[@tanarehbein7768]

My first year too! Can't wait for next year when fertility should be better. Good luck 👍

[@ctgardener6026]

So inspiring. Thanks for your videos. You are truly living in the Garden of Eden.

[@melaniedickson7769]

Heartfelt thanks for the wealth of clear and joyously presented information based on your years of experience. I'm not an experienced gardener; I've tried gardening off and on for 20 years, always organic, with wildly varying outcomes and giving up for several years at a time after poor outcomes I couldn't understand. I had a pretty good fat little corner garden in a small section of my larger gardening area this year and I intentionally did no tilling but didn't mulch as deeply as you recommend and the weeds really came back good and fat too; the larger garden area looks like cardboard Hell just now, and even after chasing pieces, weighting, and patching it for a year the dandelions keep sneaking back around cardboard corners. I'd gotten kind of stuck on what to do next. I stumbled across your KZbin channel last week and got your beautifully organized Vegetable Diary and No Dig Organic Home & Garden books. Because of the information in them, I understand some of the basics now that I didn't know, some likely reasons for some of the "what happened?!" times, and understand that my best successes have come from intuitive trials. That's pretty encouraging! It's also helped me appreciate what I have a bit more and see what I can do with what I have in my yard as it is, right now. I've developed 3 clear goals for moving forward and I'll have my first whack at Autumn and Winter gardening! I'm going to mulch deeply (3 or more inches) in that back corner and keep growing in it, and I'm putting polythene down over the bigger cardboarded area til February. I'm also planning a do-it-yourself compost area design as I've always had crummy results from my black turning compost bin. I feel lucky the climate I live in is compatible with vegetable and growing season information presented; we are 8 or 8b in Portland, Oregon, and I had fun looking up words like "calabrese" and "swede", too! Thank you for being such a great communicator. I know people appreciate your soft-spoken delivery and it's clear you enjoy what you do. Thank you for being a powerful voice in dispelling a lot of gardening superstitions, now I can stand up to bullies, lol. Thank you for making it more fun. Congrats on the super quality of the videos, too! Thank you for providing valuable sustainable gardening information free to people on KZbin. Thank you for all the inspiration.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Melanie I appreciate your comments a lot because I also have had to work my way through a fog of untrue advice. SO it's lovely to know I can help others in a similar position. And as you say there are bullies out there who insist! I wish you every success, and in January 2020 I plan a speaking tour starting Vancouver, then Seattle and southwards, nothing firm yet.

[@dominiquelesbirel3259]

Totally digging it! 'Thank you' just doesn't say enough, but thank you.

[@vc7535]

Best joke ever :) :) :)

[@robc2536]

Very informative, thank you for sharing. Your garden is amazing!

[@batucarumbata]

Gratitude love and care I learned that no dig is the better way. Love the class.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Fifi

[@stevendowden2579]

another lovely video love your compost bins

[@zezo1975]

I really learned a lot from your videos, you reminds me with my grandfather, he was a great farmer

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

That's awesome Ahmed thanks

[@OO_sunflower_OO]

It’s my first time seeing this channel and when he pulled out the compost thermometer I was like OK HES REALLY INTO IT

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

It's true Joanna, and thanks 😀

[@Learning2Grow4fun]

I will be experimenting with these techniques this spring. I can't wait.

[@antoniobuys359]

Thanks for this great video Mr Dowding, what a beautiful garden you've established there. I hope to eventually have one of the same standard someday

[@beverleymellor]

Always like before I watch - you never disappoint 🙏🏻🤗🌱🌱🌱🌱❤️

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thankyou Bevvy and I am happy to hear that

[@lorraineg8134]

Fantastic video, just came across it. No dig is a great way forward in a great adventure in life called gardening. Thankyou Charles.

[@The.blessedbee]

Very informative, nicely filmed and really sweet the way you talk about this

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thank you beebandit very nice of you to say

[@LindaPenney]

Awesome update thank you for sharing Charles and blessing

[@saera2865]

i love people who just like run experiments in their garden for curiosity; these are my people!

[@lorenzocosta3951]

always inspirational, so clear and practical. great video

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Lorenzo and for your feedback always

[@mideallen202]

Great video especially your delivery. A lot more energy and life.

[@timgallagher1761]

Great to see and learn about 2nd planting. Also interesting about myth of nitrogen. Thanks

[@eadjh98]

Like it Charles, 👍 this year is my first No Dig! Last winter I followed your advice of a couple of inches well rotted farmyard manure! Spread over, And so far in my small raised beds there are no weeds 👍and I don’t intend to use any other fertilisers ! I just hope I can grow veggies half as good as you do and I’ll be a very happy gardener! 🤞keep up the good that you do Charles. Love your videos!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Sounds promising David thanks

[@OneYardRevolution]

Wonderful overview of, Charles! I love the no-dig versus dig trial, and it was interesting to see the forked carrots from the dig bed. Your garden is beautiful, as always.

[@johanetalicekriel1362]

Wow, what a beautiful garden and your love for it really shows. Thank you for sharing. If you're ever in South Africa, stop in for a drink with us. 😊

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Johanet 🍇

[@milliosmiles5160]

Inspirational, thank you Charles.

[@2fluffybunn]

This is such an old way of gardening. for a long time, I would question my mother for gardening this way. Now that I've started my own garden, the benefits to NO DIG gardening is making sense. Thank you!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Nice to hear Tu Ho, your mother was wise!

[@sanjeeva311076]

60 years of topsoil left. The thin layer that the vast majority of terrestrial species depend upon. It's a disaster of epic proportions in the making, on the scale of global warming. Your video should be compulsory viewing for farmers and agricultural tutors. National Geographic had an article about mycorrhizal networks and how trees communicate and share resources. Love it! I tend to leave weeds alone, unless they are invasive. I think any roots are good roots. Roots bind and open up the soil, as well as entering into symbiotic relationships with microorganisms, animals and fungi. Let's all love our topsoil. It's more valuable than gold.

[@theCUBE403]

OMG the sky is falling the sky is falling.. bs conspiracy garbage

[@silverhairdemon]

@Somers Farm I think the biggest problem lay with human infrastructures, since on concrete and asphalt on walls and roofs there can not grow any plants. Therein is the biggest treat, because its plant life that regulate climate, moister and cleans the air that we breathe. Unless humankind finds a way to integrate nature onto and into its infrastructures, greening it up. If not.... the future looks bleak for us as a species.

[@silverhairdemon]

@Somers Farm I live north of the Netherlands where there is quite some agriculture still in this small overcrowded shitty little country, and your right, I talked to a farmer and he said its very hard to switch to organic. As for the climate myth, well to be honest there always had been warm and cold periods as you look back over millions of years that is just a fact. Even north and south poles were on a different spot on this world and switched many times, there used to be a time that where the poles are now it was even a tropical paradise long long ago. Due to fossils that can be found there from animals and plants that now live in the amazon today. Anyways I do agree they try to blame it all on the farmers use it against us, they try to get them out of business and off the lands so they can built even more shit than now. And they want to shove us into tiny apartments, like chickens into a small chicken coop. Cutting us off from mother nature and father god, while we live in a over crowed cities working like slaves for the most basic needs in life while we waist our free time away plucked into a virtual reality shit. Not creating anything creative for ourselves anymore. Its indeed a war on farmers, just think of the meat that they try to grow into petri dish, that they want to shove down our throats in the future. They want to take everything away from us that make life enjoyable.... mark my words.

[@sandramcshane1747]

@@theCUBE403 The soil has been depleted. Its been estimated that if we continue farming using monoculture farming methods we will have 60 more harvests left. Then the soil will be so depleted of nutrients it will be barren.

[@SuWoopSparrow]

@Somers Farm Youre silly. You contradict yourself. You admittedly say that cutting down trees is a problem, and yet you conveniently leave out "farming land" in your list of tree cutting expenditures. Making space for more farm land is one of the biggest causes for tree cutting. As far as "farting cows", yes they are a problem, directly tied into your "tree cutting" admission. Cows are heavy consumers, requiring a lot of food and water to grow. I love to eat meat, but pretending that there is no environmental impact in that choice is a problem that will lead to more problems. We need to admit that its an issue so that we can have sustainable practices. We don't need to eat 2lbs of beef a day every day of the week. We don't need to overproduce, overconsume, and waste a third of our food, which is what much of the world, especially America, does. And even if you want to pretend climate issues are nonexistent, then at least improve for the sake of improvement. Farming is hard work. Transporting food is hard work. Stocking shelves at grocery stores is hard work. Lets not wastefully do it.

[@eloiseest555]

Woww ! So happy that they refered you, wonderful ! I love earing your softs recommendations , thank you 🤲🌱🐜🙃

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

You are so welcome

[@dwills135]

Great video Charles, now I feel like going into the garden and not digging!

[@iamkorbendallas]

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and explanation of your garden. Thank you, mate!

[@elaineturpin1064]

What a brilliant video. Amazing illustration of the differences in growth with dig and no dig. Coming from a family of hopeless diggers (i'm trying to educate them by giving them all your book for Christmas) I' really excited to try out your methods. I'm a teacher and this year the digging coincided with a hideously busy period at work and meant i ran out of time for the actual planting in some cases. So I am absolutely excited to try starting no dig next year. I inherited from the vegetable garden from my Mum who passed away a couple of years ago. She always kept it looking brilliant and productive.Thanks for giving me hope that I may be able to not let her down next year. :-))

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks for your lovely and hopeful comment Elaine, great news and yes you can make your mother proud, not to mention your family, have fun with no dig.

[@ИринаСмирнова-д7к]

Как жаль,что я не владею английским языком! Но, даже без него,смотреть ролик одно удовольствие!👍😊👏

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Спасибо, и мое следующее видео про сорняки будет с русскими субтитрами, мы вложили в это 😀

[@ИринаСмирнова-д7к]

@@CharlesDowding1nodig я очень рада!!!😊

[@CyPhi68]

8:05 mycorrhizae - the internet of the soil. What a wonderful metaphor. Thank you for that image.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Yes it's good and I only wish I knew who said it first! There is so much information exchange happening in soil, right below our feet and we barely know.

[@hellopallz]

Charles Dowding first time seeing your conversation and amazed by this fact, im gonna look more into it as I learn this basic skill of life ‘growing food’

[@Neldidellavittoria]

Very interesting video. It challenges our gardening preconceptions and gives food for thought. Thank you.

[@LondonTreeSurgeons-Camden]

Always look forward to the latest no-dig video, the ongoing bed comparison experiment showing 5% difference is fascinating. A great update and overview on no-dig gardening. Mycorrhizal networks in forests are nicknamed the Wood Wide Web. Thanks as always.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Ah that is a good name! Many thanks

[@michelle7371]

@Mark OnTheBlueRidge Absolutely! Waiting for my husband to rototill my garden each year before I can plant is always a frustrating experience haha. This way, I can do it all on my own. Very tempting to try it!

[@plantlady328]

@@michelle7371 Oh my gosh....why wouldnt you???

[@allieb7757]

@@michelle7371 haha I feel you, and exactly my thought. Hmm, I could just start now in patches by adding some compost & dropping in the seeds or transplanting a seedling.

[@arunravi4866]

I am 58 years old and have purchased 9 acres. nearly 15 cows were grazing freely. i have been of the opinion that nature will provide if human beings do not disturb; the only requirement is he has to keep quiet. practically i have zero experience; only patient observation; am about to start mulching my field. what you have accomplished is gratifying and an encouragement.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

I wish you the harvests you need Arun, it's an exciting journey ahead

[@adus123]

I have started using chickens to do my composting. I start a pile of fresh green waste plus wood chips outside the chicken run and let it compost down a bit befor moving to a big compost pile in the chicken run. The chickens love it every now and then i have to reconstruct the pile. The compost that comes out is almost like sieved compost. I have bin making compost for years but never as good as the chickens do it. I call them my waste management team. all in about 3 to 4 months

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Lovely to hear Adrian and what a great method

[@helenalford2831]

@@RachelAnn27 I'd be interested in that too.

[@johnshares]

Hello Charles from Perth. Australia, what a great video, you have such a relaxed attitude and marvellous presentation, well done and thank you .

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Glad you like it John

[@jembo1959]

Hi Charles my second time watching this video, I gave it a like on the first viewing but I must say a super video many thanks.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thankyou Jimmy :)

[@billybass6419]

I just watched this one again. Great video. I'm going to try this in my 7 gal grow bags. I had mustard greens and just twisted them off and left the roots. I'll add the 5 centimeters of compost and plant them around the end of February.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

That sounds fine Billy!

[@lesliebeaumont9512]

Just discovered you! Thank you for this!

[@kapler79]

Such an affable chap!

[@denisebrady6858]

Charles you are just the most amazing knowledgeable man I have ever listened to. I live in Australia & am trying your no dig method on one of my raised garden beds so wish me luck. Cheers Denise Brady - Brisbane Australia

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Denise and I wish you luck for sure!

[@annekolasinski860]

I've discovered your channel juste a week ago. I'm in the south of France, and even if the problems are not the same (here it's too hot, too dry six months a Year at least) I feel that no dig and living soil IS the good answer. Blessings all over the gardens and the gardeners 🌱

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Welcome aboard Anne, lovely to hear

[@sharadajoshi8920]

Happy Christmas to everyone there

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Yikes already!

[@sharadajoshi8920]

I know it's early, I thought you would probably like to be with your family and friends, why disturb then. Thanking God I did not wish New Year too

[@jodiembradley]

Thank you so much Charles for sharing your knowledge and wisdom I have learnt so much from you and your Chanel it’s helping me grow food for my family.

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Jodie I am so happy to hear this

[@superjake01251]

Another great video. Those red cabbages are beautiful- they take my breath away actually. A question I have, however: If a compost heap were not to heat up very well, would it still be as nutrient-rich and good for the garden? I have a fairly large heap that was made at the beginning of autumn, and I've had it heat to around 120 so far, but not much more than that. Similarly, I had another pile out back that only hit 100. However, everything is decomposing just fine. Funny thing is, you'd think the chicken manure I add from our chickens would heat it up! I wonder if it's because I start small and continuously add until I get to a decent size, as I don't have enough material at once?

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Your compost may be even better for not getting too hot, allowing more fungi to survive. Decomposition by fungi is slower than by (hot) bacteria. Yes it's probably to do with lack of volume, though not by much and 120 degrees would please me.

[@evephillips6701]

I'm always amazed at the variety and lushness of your garden produce Charles....It's like a beautiful work of edible art....I could listen to you speaking all day with such depth detail and knowhow....Aren't you afraid something could bite your hand when you poke into the compost pile (smile)....Great info video as always!

[@CharlesDowding1nodig]

Thanks Eve and that is how I love to see it, edible art! Problem is one needs to harvest...!