My “maximum compost” method for starting out. Add a lot to make new beds, then very little in subsequent years. See the sequel to how we grew potatoes and leeks, on the beds in this video’s thumbnail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhKxC7oZQuo
The cardboard is only 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.
For how to continue, see my Tools and Techniques video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic0LrNBuSi4
You can use less compost. 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.
POSTSCRIPT JULY 2020 the Charlotte potatoes from the two beds in the thumbnail photo gave 54kg/119lb. Then we transplanted leeks.
00:00 Introduction – a look at beds created last December
00:36 What is light-excluding mulch?
01:04 Is cardboard needed?
01:14 Killing weeds, right from the start, without digging
02:08 Now 3 months since mulching this weedy pasture – grass now growing through, how to react
02:48 The importance of creating an edge, and how to maintain it by re-laying cardboard
06:35 Some couch grass, and how to get rid of it completely through mulching
08:07 I demonstrate planting a seed potato straight into the compost
09:11 I demonstrate making a brand new bed on weeds, with cardboard then compost, and a brief mention on using soil
11:41 Different compost options – green waste…
12.23 …homemade…
13:08 …mushroom…
13:49 …and multi-purpose compost from a sack
14:10 Firming compost with feet – not compacting! I explain the difference
15:30 Levelling with a shovel to get it ready for planting
15:47 About using wooden sides, or not
16:17 Using wood chip on the pathway
18:11 Transplants ready to go in the ground, and I demonstrate planting – multisown spring onions…
19:26 Three multisown pea plants
19:59 Why propagate, as opposed to sowing direct in the ground?
20:16 Cabbage, spinach and lettuce
21:02 Multisown beetroot, and I demonstrate spacing
22:10 A worthwhile investment of compost
22:34 Examples of second plantings
23:02 What happens when the roots reach the cardboard?
23:51 Broccoli planted the previous summer
25:10 Thinking ahead for second/succession plantings to grow and harvest all year
25:47 A look at some of the harvested produce from my garden
27:21 An added benefit of homegrown veg – microbes, and why they are important
My website has a Get Started page: https://charlesdowding.co.uk/start-no-dig/
Learn in depth about no dig gardening with my online courses, which contain many more videos.
No Dig Gardening explains why and how no dig works:
https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/online-course-no-dig-gardening/
Skills for Growing teaches just that, the skills needed for successful vegetable growing: https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/skills-for-growing-online-course/
From Seed to Harvest gives comprehensive teachings on how to grow 40 of my favourite vegetables: https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/from-seed-to-harvest-online-course/
There are also discounts for multiple course purchases.
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.
To join my channel as a member, use this link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1J6siDdmhwah7q0O2WJBg/join
As a member, you can watch a new video each month, which is exclusively for members. Your payments support my promotion and teaching of better, easier gardening. I can offer bursaries for day courses and online courses, through individuals in charge of community gardens/allotments and school gardens. Contact us through my website to enquire about bursaries https://charlesdowding.co.uk/contact-us/
To buy the module trays I designed with Containerwise, see this page on my website:
https://charlesdowding.co.uk/shop/gardening-products/
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#nodig #growyourownfood #healthyfood #compost #growyourownveggies
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