Charles Dowding's No Dig Gardening, Course 1: From Weeds to Vegetables Easily and Quickly

Charles Dowding

€ 36.99

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Compared to Charles' other books, this one has much more about no dig, compost and compost making, and using compost. There is also a history of no dig vegetable gardening in the last hundred years. I want readers to understand the context, and the reasons why no dig has not been much valued until recently, and why it is now.

Plus there is a chapter on site evaluation and planning garden layout, and a whole section on clearing weeds by mulching, with all the associated details.

The book is not a manual of vegetable growing, but it has two chapters with detailed planting plans for small spaces. These are based on what Charles grew there in successive seasons together with the results, and how no dig helped to achieve these results. For the 25m2/270ft2 small garden, there are two years' of planting plans, and tables of the subsequent harvests.

Charles uses the results of his long-running Homeacres trials to help the reader understand how no dig works, and the value of different composts. He also questions and demonstrate the need, or not, to grow vegetables in a different place each year.

This book has 19 chapters, covering the key methods and wonderful results of no dig.

From starting with weeds, to sowing and planting straightaway and cropping soon after that.
The reader learns how to:

Use no dig on different soil types
Ask questions and recognise gardening myths, to save time and unnecessary effort
Create and look after beds and paths, with a whole lesson on paths and their value.
Recognise and massively reduce the different types of weeds
Understand and use different types of mulch or soil cover
Know the differences between soil, compost and different types of compost
Make their own compost
Grow an abundance of vegetables using the no dig method. There are growing plans for one bed and for the small garden, with photos and tables to illustrate the results.

Each lesson is comprehensively illustrated, with time-sequences of captioned photos from Charles highly productive gardens. Lessons finish with a multiple choice quiz to consolidate learning.

This is a highly detailed resource for anyone wishing to learn and garden with the no dig method.

There are 85,000 words and 900 photographs.