I have two webinars scheduled, register in advance at the links below:
New to No Dig – how it works and ways to do it – 17th June
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_g_RRKmpITgenT3WGzXRDSw
New to No Dig – questions answered – 24th June
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uVhECgPhTqW1Ztwz0i3aUw
My “maximum compost” method, adding a lot to make new beds, then very little in subsequent years. The cardboard also is just for this stage of smothering weeds – keep them in the dark and they expire! Then you don’t need to lay any more cardboard, once there are no weeds.
You can use less compost and even since we filmed this video, supplies have tightened. Lay thick card on weeds then 2in/5cm compost asap in early spring, and wet the card if it’s dry. Then use a trowel to ‘cut’ potato size holes in the card and a little into the weedy soil below, to pop in a seed potato. This can give some harvest by summer, while killing weeds too, but you must pull any weeds you see 🙂
Using less compost for no dig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC6OBOyQ0mY
If you do not have access to any compost, use old leaves, manure at least half-decomposed – or at limit the one month old you see in this video. Results in year one will be less brilliant than in subsequent years, but you will be clearing weeds easily as well as having a harvest.
Vegetables like potatoes, squash and zucchini grow well though cardboard and less-perfect compost. After they finish you could plant kale or leeks etc.
My website has a Start No Dig page https://charlesdowding.co.uk/start-here/
See my other videos for information about:
How I started at Homeacres, year one in 2013 although I was not making videos until the first autumn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HATC3rG6NbQ
Clearing weeds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmv2zGfhG8w
Propagation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ5csH9K3aw
Spring in Homeacres no dig garden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imwNA4iCtBc
Learn in depth about no dig gardening with my online courses, which contain many more videos. Course 1 covers no dig https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/online-course-1-no-dig-gardening/
Course 2 is about success with growing vegetables https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/online-course-2-growing-success/
And there is a package of both with 25% discount https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/online-courses-1-and-2/
The wool you see here is from Chimneysheep https://www.chimneysheep.co.uk/product/wool-felt-mulch-larger-areas/
The bagged compost is from New Leaf https://www.newleafcompost.com/
You can buy mushroom compost from Woodland Horticulture Somerset https://www.woodlandhp.co.uk/product/mushroom-compost/
Immunologist Jenna Macchiochi is here https://www.drjennamacciochi.com/
Find more information about no dig and my garden on Instagram charles_dowding and Twitter @charlesdowding
Filmed at Homeacres 18th March 2020 by David Adams.
Video Rating: / 5
Thank you so very much, Mr. Dowding.
I am just learning.
Never too late.
Regards from Scotland.
good climate to go out and do gardening
Saving all my cardboard for my no dig plot – can I re-use the organic compost I have in containers for this years crops to add to my no dig bed later this year I wonder?
Does this method work with Bermuda or other spreading weeds?
I have already dug my bed but have just started watching your video's. Will my soil recover back to normal if I use this method from now on?
can you use pieces of regular paper?
I've just tried this method but, wasn't aware that the cardboard would degrade that fast.
Have you heard of Ruth Stout? Here is a biography video of her gardening method:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNU8IJzRHZk&t=949s
Working to green my space so I started my no dig garden last October. My beds are only the size of pallets but I'm getting so much from them already – I had to give some Tat Soi away – and they give me so much joy! I have started this on my front lawn so the most time consuming part is keeping the grass paths neat and tidy. There's still the odd bit of grass which finds it's way through, but that's pretty much the most weeding I need to do out there. Thank you so much for your really informative videos, I really appreciate the time you have taken to make them.
started my beds off with 9 layers of cardboard, straw, poo and mushroom compost. was taller than the 2 bessa block high wall. was down below the first block in 2 months. repeat anualy or somtimes every 2 years with another really thick layer of cardboard poo and straw on top to make it pretty. People ask me why I dont have a worm farm?.. i have 64 square meters of worm farm.
6:06 "If you have vigorous couch grass." Things you can say in England that you could never say in to an American woman.
Besides compost, do you add organic fertilizer? What about N, P, K and trace minerals?
LOVE No Dig – without doubt the way to go – You have been such an inspiration and amazing source of education for us – Thank you
Your not compacting that compost because your nice & slim, if I stood on that it might be a different story. Are u vegetarian Charles ?
Wonderful for those of us that are beginners in the garden.. thank you so much!
Thanks again for the great video! You’ve convinced me. Your channel is the best gardening one around.
This is absolutely brilliant, I can't wait to squash my bindweed under some Amazon boxes. How do you finish the edges where it meets the lawn? Most of your bed edges seem to be just below the grass level so do you have to dig into the turf a little bit to edge it? Thanks, and great work!