No Dig

Back cover description:

‘Stop digging and start to truly understand the needs of your soil, for bumper harvests of healthier crops. Charles Dowding has spent a lifetime perfecting his no dig system of growing. At its core is an awareness that soil vitality is a dynamic process, involving a web of organisms which we can easily feed and support, enabling our plants to grow strong and healthy, in a weed-free environment. With clear step-by-step instructions on how to set up a no dig plot, and detailed cultivation advice for over 80 crops, this book will revolutionise the way you grow.’

The book is made up of four chapters:

Chapter 1 – It all begins with the soil

Discover how no dig helps the soil, and you in the garden. I explain the fundamentals, the importance of compost, why weeds don’t grow, and the extensive other benefits of no dig beds.

Chapter 2 – Getting started

I give advice on deciding what to grow, planning your beds, controlling weeds, and the tools you may need.

I take you through creation of a no dig bed using cardboard and compost, then planting it on the same day in spring. We revisit it through the year.

You see how I make compost and I share many ways of doing this. It’s not difficult when you understand the few key principles and methods.

Chapter 3 – The principles of growing vegetables

The bigger picture behind growing success, and the reasons why these understandings work so well. Especially in a no dig garden where soil is lively, and weeds are few.

You learn about timings of sowings, succession planting, propagation, how to sow, caring for seedlings, transplanting, spacing, watering, using crop covers, controlling slugs and snails, growing under cover, harvesting, storage and saving seed.

Chapter 4 – Vegetable and herb directory

This chapter makes up the largest section of the book. I give detailed information on growing over 80 of the main vegetables and herbs, categorised as follows:

• Pea and bean family (legumes)
• Cabbage family (brassicas)
• Onion family (alliums)
• Cucumber family (cucurbits)
• Carrot family (umbellifers)
• Beet family
• Leafy salad crops
• Solanums, basil, and sweetcorn
• Perennial vegetables

For each category I give general information on choosing what to grow; sowing, growing and harvesting; and common problems.

Then, for each vegetable/herb within the categories, I explain in detail sowing and transplanting, care and protection, harvesting and storage, and finish with a useful summary of key growing information. I also share my recommended varieties.

The book is beautifully illustrated throughout with photographs by the excellent Jonathan Buckley. He visited Homeacres on 12 days over the course of 2021, capturing the growth and methods of each season, and the beauty of my vegetable garden.

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Skills for Growing

Sowing, Spacing, Planting, Picking, Watering and More

How to be successful in growing vegetables.

In ‘Skills for Growing’ I share the knowledge and techniques you need for success in all aspects of vegetable gardening, based on my decades of experience.

My desire is to save you time, effort and money, through making all your inputs effective. From seeds and water, to the space in your garden. There are three chapters with vital information about spacing, and a harvesting table for easier planning of second plantings to keep space full.

I advise on how to create planting plans, succeed with succession and reduce rotation. There are chapters on saving your own seed, propagation, multisowing, spacing for all common vegetables, methods of harvesting and how they influence growth, watering (both when and how much) and using covers for warmth as well as pest protection. I also describe successful winter gardening, and growing perennial vegetables.

The book is 56000 words and comprises 5 parts for the 17 chapters, all illustrated with beautiful, captioned photos from my no dig, organic garden in Somerset, Southwest UK.

The book is a fantastic resource for anyone wishing to learn new skills, or to improve and tune the skills they already have, in order to grow bigger and healthier harvests from a given space.

“Skills for Growing is overflowing with advice and instructions based on years’ worth of detailed data gathering and observation. It is vibrantly illustrated with images of the crops he grows at his market garden Homeacres, which are refreshingly unromantic and so genuinely complementary to the written guidance, making this a feast for both the brain and eyes.”

Claire Ratinon, author and organic food grower – Gardens Illustrated