December 2022 no dig winter prep, compost and polytunnel, store veg, warm autumn and pests, Cookbook
For no dig gardens, there is not a huge amount of preparation before winter. You may be struggling to find space to spread compost, which is a nice problem when beds are still full of vegetables. We slot it in between or underneath, or spread in early autumn before new plantings, or wait until spring.
Cover paths with a thin layer of woodchip, around 3 cm, the same depth as the compost you spread on beds. We made a reel on Instagram about the different types of compost and woodchip you can use.
Winter arrives now with (here) a drop in temperature. Nothing too severe yet, although if debris from Hunga-Tonga’s volcanic eruption arrives over us, we can expect cooler and wetter weather next year.
This autumn has been exceptionally mild and my photos show the incredible results of warm nights as much as warm days. Plus, we have received nearly 400mm (20in) rain in the three months of autumn, a good balance to the very dry conditions before. It’s been a decent growing year, with above average sunshine in the summer.
Making compost
With many harvests still to take from the garden at Homeacres, we have plenty more material to add and make a lot more compost. We increase volume and improve balance/structure by adding old and 3/ 4 decomposed woodchip as a ‘brown’, also I have a lot of paper and cardboard from book packing.
There are many brown materials available now and it’s a good time to stockpile them, for using next summer. You could gather tree leaves and put them in a pile, then add them to the green leaves of spring and summer. Or have woodchips delivered, see Arbtalk website.
Successful compost is from having a decent mix of about 3/4 by volume green and 1/4 brown. The brown materials help to hold air in the heap. And we retain heap warmth by lining the pallets with cardboard. This video explains it.
Sow broad beans?
Is it too late? When I arrived at Homeacres 10 years ago, the garden was non-existent and in the first beds I made in December, I sowed broad beans on Christmas Day. They made a decent harvest the following June. I find Aquadulce Claudia is hugely reliable, and home saved seed grows more strongly than most bought seed.
Broad beans are incredibly resistant to cold, but success depends on winter weather. It’s now safest to sow them in module trays, as in the photo below, and I was not sure of success with the small cells of my CD trays, but it has worked really well. Just as long as you transplant them quite small, which we do anyway with great success for all vegetables. Or use larger cell trays if you plan to keep the beans for longer before transplanting.
Going forwards, there is no rush to sow anything now until the second half of February. Only under cover, with added warmth preferably. See the Sowing Timeline on this website, my wall Calendar for 2023, and we have published a Southern Hemisphere timeline which you can download here.
Autumn growth
November days have averaged 13 C, and nights 6 C (55 to 43 F). The equivalent figures, this week are going to be 7 C days and -1 C nights, a huge drop!
The photographs give an idea of how plants have been growing healthily, if slowly. Days are now short and the light level each day is very small: you can see the effect of this on the calabrese plants, left side in the first two photos below. The same plants have continued to grow and produce, yet now are smaller! We notice this with salad leaves that we harvest through the winter – the new ones are so much smaller and thinner!
I am writing this on the morning of the 29th November when it’s frosty outside. I was expecting it and therefore yesterday afternoon I harvested the last fennel because, although they tolerate some frost, the quality is not improving any more. They actually store better in a cool shed than in the ground, by December.
The Claytonia in contrast is remarkably tolerant of freezing, although again the quality goes off with some leaves browning. The photo is before frosts.
Informing you
This year with Alessandro Vitale @spicymoustache, we filmed plantings through a whole season to show the sequence of growth, and I just released a May-to-September outdoor tomato video. During the winter, we shall bring out a similar, sequential video about growing melons.
With Nicola, I have been doing some cooking videos, from interesting recipes in the Cookbook! It’s been a good experience for me because much as I like cooking, I don’t always find the time – and making a video means I have to! We already published one about making bhajis on Instagram, and a celeriac coleslaw/remoulade one, and soon I shall publish one about the lovely stew you see in the photo. This link should take you to it, even before it’s published.
With Edward, we made a video to explain my books. Since there are four new ones this year, it’s now a large number, and Anna suggested creating an information source to guide people towards the most appropriate book for them. As well as the video we created a webpage with this information, together with my description of how each book came to be written. And how I came to do any writing in the first place, back in the 1980s.
Under cover for winter
At this point, the plantings we made in mid October are looking fantastic, with leaves still quite large. We have picked every plant twice already which is once more than normal. Going forwards, after each pick the new growth will be smaller as winter sets in.
Until now, we have watered every week, but going forwards, I expect to water only once in December, after our final pick of this year just before Christmas. And then probably I shall not water again until the end of January. The air here in our oceanic climate is very damp during the winter, and growth is so slow because of low light levels.
I am writing two more course modules. One forgrowing in winter under cover, and one for growing in summer under cover. They should appear by the end of January.
Pests, diseases – online modules coming soon
Always I cover summer sowings of carrots with mesh, and that reduces damage. However by mid-November the maggots are eating quite a lot. As you can see in the photo. The warm autumn has not helped because I should like to have harvested them before they got this bad! We are finding that Oxhella carrots suffer less damage, while the photo is Nantes, softer and more juicy.
Slugs are a problem only where we give them habitat, and that is the case with the old asparagus bed. We put 18 month old woodchip through a 12mm / half inch sieve and it looked nice. However, after rain you can see there’s still quite a bit of wood in there, and some spinach we transplanted between the asparagus has mostly been eaten by slugs. Normally this does not happen where the surface of beds is unsieved compost.
A more difficult problem this autumn has been cucumber mosaic virus, transmitted by aphids on spinach. I never saw any aphids! It’s worse on a planting we made 19th August, compared to one made on 31st August. I’m still learning about that.
Vegetables to store
In our temperate climate, some vegetables can stand outside all winter, including beetroot, as well as parsnip and winter varieties of leek. However, if temperatures drop below -4 C 25 F consistently, I find it better to harvest beetroot and keep it undercover in boxes or crates with a little soil on, and with a mouse trap nearby. We are catching quite a few already, and I learnt the value of this after losing a large amount of celeriac one winter. The mice eat it from below, so it was not obvious how much was being consumed!
Many vegetables are under cover already, such as garlic, onions, and winter squash, which store best in the dry air of your house. We have now harvested all the celeriac, even though they resist frost, because here I suffer Septoria disease. It firstly discolours the leaves, and then starts to rot celeriac from the top, in damp weather.
The feature photo of this post is my shed on 29th November, where we have the Chinese cabbage, celeriac, and radicchio which you can see, also there are hearts of white and red cabbage, trays of onions and garlic and beetroot recently harvested.
No Dig Cookbook
We had a fantastic evening in City Café, St Werburgh’s in Bristol. Leona was a brilliant host, and everybody who came along is a keen gardener as well as interested in eating the results. That has been the main purpose of the book, to consolidate linkage between what you can grow, more easily with no dig, and how to eat it. We sell it on offer with the Calendar, and in a three pack offer with my new No Dig book.
The recipes are not strict. All of the proportions given look precise but there’s room for fluctuation and for example, in the celeriac dish, I reduced the oil from 400 mL to 250, and I added extra parsley!
Cat has just had a baby so she’s been a bit out of action recently, it was great to catch up with her.
P.S, I meant to add this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=320D-41xt-M&t=447s
I have recently found out that “Baking Soda” can be used in the garden as a fungicide and as a pesticide.
I don’t know if this has already been discussed, but I would very much like to hear other people’s thoughts especially yours Charles.
Thanks in advance to anyone who comments.
When I lived overseas in Beijing, I remember seeing every village household having a neatly stacked pile of chinese cabbage just outside the front door, a lot like the pictures here show. The piles would last well into the spring! https://news.cgtn.com/news/79677a4e77637a6333566d54/share_p.html
What a great photo Robert, thanks so much for sharing and that’s really interesting. One big difference to how that can work here is humidity and the dry air of continental China. I reckon that are piles such as those cabbage here, would tend to rot and need a bit more organising!
Note:
I re-sprayed the garlic with copper oxychorlide about 7 days later (not 10).
Liz
Hi Charles,
Copper oxychoride (same as for leaf curl in nectarines and peaches) is used In Australia, for rust on garlic. I’m in Perth and it is especially a problem in the rainy winter months June/July. I had a terrible garlic crop last year after it developed rust. This year, I sprayed at the first sign, again about 10 days later and it was gone. The plants all looked terrific….. until it warmed up a little and the aphids got them! Better luck next year. Planting close seems to make the rust worse too so I will try trimming off the lower leaves to help air flow and keep them off the ground. Hope this helps: https://garlicaustralia.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/AGIA-Factsheet1_Rust-3.pdf
Liz
Hi Liz
Thank you for this amazing advice. I’m surprised that in Perth you suffer it so much, because I imagine your climate being dry, obviously not in winter. I shall look into this, it’s great to have an option.
Surprisingly, annual rainfall in Perth is more than Melbourne. Rainfall average in Perth is maximum in winter/ June and July – about 170mm each month. However, Dec – Feb averages are <15mm each – we're happy to get an occasional small puffy cloud in those boiling months.
Liz
Thanks for sharing this, Liz, and I am surprised! And happy for you, because that must be great to replenish water tanks and soil. I hope it’s not too hot now.
Thanks Charles for taking me through my third year of no dig vegetables.
It has gathered me up from a few wheelbarrows of manure on one allotment bed to bays of homemade compost and a transformed growing experience.
The fact is I have a choice of salads roots squash leeks and stored veg and beans that I could have never imagined a few years ago.
I have received so much enrichment from gardening under your guidance,it’s actually profound!
All the best man,
From Leon
Hello Leon
Thanks so much for sharing this. I’m so happy to be able to help people and you sound in a really good place now.
Wishing you a good season of winter eating and fine harvests next year. I think it may be more difficult, with cooler conditions, maybe less sunshine. At least with no dig, we give ourselves more chance of success.
Greetings ! BJ from west central Wisconsin USA. Do you apply any fertilizers on any of your beds? Also what is your opinion on cover crops? Would it be an option to grow a cover crop, terminate it, cover with mulch and then a layer of pine bark. I am wondering if this might help in suppressing weed growth.
I so much enjoy reading and listening to all of your information. Thanks Much!
Hi BJ, nice to hear, and I use no fertilisers. Their soluble salts suppress microbial activity, meaning you then need to apply more.
With no dig, weeds grow little and are not a problem, so that is no reason for growing cover crops.
The other reason I do not much grow them is because I want to grow food, and make the most of every growing season. I do succession planting all summer and even into autumn so that there is rarely space for a cover crop. Sometimes there is, and we sow some white mustard, which is killed by frost. Often we apply a little compost before sowing the mustard, and then the soil is ready in early spring, after a light raking. This short video has more.
Hi Charles, I got an allotment half plot in July and am enjoying setting it up following your no dig principles. I have had to dig initially before putting cardboard down due to the immense amount of large stones, plastic and other rubbish that is present.
I planted radish and they grew nicely but became covered in small white flies. Every time I move the leaves clouds of these white flies appear. I haven’t heard you mention this problem in your videos. Is there anything I can do about them?
I really enjoy your videos and email updates, thanks for all your help.
Hello Jeanette, I’m glad you are going no dig, and quite understand the need for initial soil clearance. I’m shocked by some of the images I see of how soil is treated.
It’s not surprising that you have those aphid problems because the soil is knackered in three senses. First, because it’s been dug and maltreated for many years. Second, it’s probably very short of organic matter and in succeeding years, as you add compost / decomposed material, and some woodchip for paths, soil health, and therefore plant health will improve. Third, your initial digging has disrupted many soil processes, so your plants are less healthy because of that, but you are on an upward curve now 🌱
I think white fly have been a big problem this year,It’s my 4th year no dig and i’ve done reasonably well, beds always full(ish). My soil and plants have had the suggested amount of compost, if not a bit more !! But this is the first year WF have been a problem, so i cant see that the soil is the problem ??
This years PSB are huge and healthy but knock one and a plume of white fly ascend !!
It’s all over my allotment site(about 60 plots), everyone has had problems.
Thanks for everything Charles, You keep me gardening.
PS I live just up the road in Bristol.
Hi Philip
Sorry to hear this and it’s related to the hot dry summer which put plants under stress that helps aphids get established. The fact that it’s all over your allotment site shows this to be the case.
I would say that with your soil, being more healthy than most of your neighbours, your plants have a chance of holding out well and still cropping. I wonder whether on such soil which has been damaged and underfed for decades, mostly, it would be worth applying some seaweed, in any form you can find.
Cabbage whitefly been a problem here but in a garden can be lessened if you can get a vacuum cleaner out there. I use an old one in greenhouse for greenhouse whitefly (not needed most years but bad this summer) but took it outside this year to attempt to control the myriads of cab whitefly on my brassicas. Two days ago (10 Dec) during the current freeze I sucked all I could see from my kale plants as the whitefly were flying in the weak afternoon sunshine.
Lateral thinking John 😂
Thanks Charles,
Over the last 4 years seaweed has been added sourced locally not as much as id like but some has been added also calcified seaweed was sprinkled on in the summer.
I had a nightmare summer and i never watered as much as i should have. Lessons learnt roll on 2023 x
Merry Christmas x
Oh dear this is going to be a marathon one, but you did ask for replies. (i) Awards on No Dig Day. To me that sounds like a recipe for an enormous amount of work for you, if you visit people’s gardens and allotments and make short-lists in each category. If you base it on submitted e.g. video material, then some will do the medias part much better than others, whereas it’s the quality and quantity of the vegetables (and flowers?) you’re really interested in. Regional winners nominated by your spies across the country? (ii) Seed varieties, self-saved etc. I need help with carrots. This year I grew mostly Flyaway (and covered with mesh) because last year’s carrots were so grotty with fly larva damage. They were much better (though interplanting with broccoli was a dodgy idea I shall not repeat for practical reasons round harvesting) but still mostly rather small. I wonder what makes the most difference: the variety you choose (those Oxhella 2nd generation look wonderful); thinness of sowing; better thinning? The main way in which I have NOT yet followed your example is in choice of varieties and suppliers. Mostly I’m having success, but would going over to your recommended seeds as well make a BIG difference? (iii) Brussels sprouts. I love the flavour, and my daughters both like them too, I think because they had to eat two or three when they were very young, and got used to them. And they must be COOKED: hot mushy Brussels with pepper and gravy, Mmm. But I don’t think the quality I could produce would make them worth growing, when they’re quite a cheap and tasty bought vegetable. So I’m sticking to purple sprouter, the food of the gods. Brussels are fantastic cut in half and used in a mixed vegetable soup. (iv) Aquadulce Claudia etc. It was so nice and warm at the beginning of Nov that I sowed direct for a change, and they have come up beautifully (I have three cats so mice not a problem). Today I put fleece over them. Today I also planted out (!) rocket and (v) Chinese cabbage plants (Kiseki – sounds more Japanese, but that’s the name) in the new compost I’ve just spread after clearing beetroot (Subeto, excellent). Everything now fleeced, including pak choi, spinach and me. Maybe a chance of a crop in about April? (vi) Finally it is really interesting to see that the advice about growing the Kiseki on the RHS site could almost have come from one of your books. While seedsmen are still telling you to sow in spring, the brilliant RHS has learnt that you only get little smelly yellow flowers if you do that, and that you must sow that sort of thing in August and September: possibly the single most productive piece of advice you have given me. Marathon over: thank you as ever for the advice and honest insights.
Alan
Thank you for your interesting feedback!
On the awards, I feel you’re right that it could be such a huge undertaking and difficult to judge. We are considering lots of options.
For carrots, the root fly damage is worse here every autumn but much more in the Nantes types than the Oxhella. I tried the supposedly resistant varieties awhile ago and was not impressed with the harvest. And they still suffered some damage.
Brussels – try roasting them 180C 6 minutes approx.
Good luck with those new plantings, especially because it’s looking like a very cold December. The weather every year is so different and things which work one year, do not work for next year.
I am happy to hear that feedback about the RHS, that will help a lot of people I hope. Kiseki sounds interesting!
Charles
I found last year that you can get a successful Aquadulce Claudia Broad Bean sowing by sowing in modules in January and planting out early February. I did it as a deliberate second crop after the usual autumn sowing and it created a nice window of 4-5 weeks of bean harvests through two crops. They seem a very hardy breed indeed. Obviously if people fancy a two month break from sowing, that’s not a strategy they would wish to pursue.
I had the odd beetroot eaten from below this autumn, only discovered when I harvested them a week or so ago. So it’s not just celeriac that the rodents are partial to….
Hi Rhys
Sorry about your beetroot, and I quite agree that rodents love them!
Interesting, your comment about the January sowing, because I did the same in 2021 which was a much colder spring than 2022. Growth was pretty slow and harvests came much later than from a few overwintered bean plants. Good point about having a break!
I can understand you being short of time & benefitting from your team.
I’ve always enjoyed reading your books, but now you’re also sharing so much online (both the paid courses and what you offer us free) its fair to say you really are helping to change the world, garden by garden.
Given your reach extends well outside the UK, I don’t think this is an exageration.
Thanks Colin.
Bottom up for the win 🌱!
How do you have time to garden and keep us so up to date and well informed!?
I so enjoy your writings. Many thanks and Happy Christmas.
Hi Jill
This is becoming a bit of an issue! I have a very good full-time helper, Adam, who does up to 2/3 of the garden work at the moment, since it’s less than in the summer. I want to be out there more but do have a lot of writing commitments as you notice! Not to mention the videos et cetera.