As no dig advocate Charles Dowding releases a new book, I’ve been chatting to him about his way of gardening.
Talking vegetable growing with Charles Dowding isn’t for the faint-hearted. Not that he’s anything other than courteous. It’s just that his methods are a complete challenge to conventional wisdom and unsettling for anyone who’s been growing for a while.
Digging over a plot in autumn? Absolutely no way. Cover newly spread compost over winter to stop nutrients being washed away? That’s not what happens in nature. Crop rotation must be used in a vegetable garden? It’s completely unnecessary.
Charles is no stranger to thinking differently about growing. A vegetarian for more than 40 years, he started growing organic vegetables in the early 1980s on a field on his parents’ dairy farm.
“There were only a few organic growers so we all knew each other,” he says. “It was a bit hippy. I just kept my head down and got on with it.”
He discovered the no dig method after reading about the work of American Ruth Stout who was growing using hay as a mulch. Charles soon discovered hay encouraged slugs so he swapped to using compost as a mulch and has been growing that way ever since.
With no dig gardening you cover beds in a thick mulch every year and grow in that, leaving the soil underneath untouched and not even visible.
People using this method report fewer weeds – the mulch stops weeds germinating – and higher yields without the need for feeding plants, as you are feeding the soil instead.
It’s a way of gardening that is rapidly growing in popularity – Charles’ online tutorials had around 100,000 new subscribers over the lockdown earlier this year.
“There’s been a growing interest in soil,” he says. “Nobody was really interested until quite recently. Soil has not been a sexy subject or really thought about for a long time.”
For Charles, who now gardens and teaches at Homeacres in Somerset, the appeal of no dig is its simplicity without the need for complicated rotation plans and feeding regimes.
“I think it’s a human trait to overcomplicate things,” he says. “The established body of horticultural knowledge for growing vegetables has become, in my opinion, way too elaborate.”
Rather than have a set plan of where things will be grown, he adapts to fit the weather and plants where there are gaps.
He believes no dig is especially appealing to those who are new to gardening.
“It’s very simple, very accessible, very doable by anybody.”
He is concerned about recent incidents of weedkiller contamination in composts and manure that have badly affected some growers, pointing out that it can often end up in green waste products from the grass cuttings of lawns that have been treated.
He believes the only solution is to ban the use of such herbicides and tighten up on the law over what is classed as organic: “Compost and manure can be called organic when it is not just because it’s organic matter. There’s a big loophole in the law. It’s not like food and drink.”
Above all, he believes growers should not be afraid to experiment: “Have a play around, be more inquisitive and curious, and don’t believe everything you read and hear.”
The book
I was sent a copy of the book in return for a fair review.
Charles Dowding’s No Dig Gardening Course 1, is an ideal introduction to those who have never tried the no dig method of growing veg.
Set out as modules with a revision ‘quiz’ at the end of each section, it covers the theory behind no dig and outlines how to put it into action.
There are examples of trials Charles has carried out in his own garden, such as growing cabbages and leeks in the same spot rather than rotating them – so far six years of this is still resulting in good crops.
There’s advice on how to make compost, alternative mulches and how to set out a kitchen garden.
The myth-busting section is particularly interesting and outlines what you don’t need to do rather than the list of instructions found in many gardening books.
The book, published by No Dig Garden is priced at £22.50 and is available from the No Dig Gardening website.
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Good to see your review of his book. I have been watching his YouTube videos this year and am planning to buy his calendar in which he says which is the best day ! to sow / plant out in order to get several crops in sequence in one season. This appeals as I have a small area for veg in raised beds and am aware of the need for crop rotation in conventional growing – quite difficult with limited space. His results seem impressive and his throwing out of the accepted planting and sowing spaces is interesting.
It is a really different take on growing vegetables. I’m definitely going to try it next year.
Had the pleasure of meeting Charles some years ago, what he teaches makes complete and utter sense, the way nature does it. I’ve tried these techniques and they really do work, you do need to tweak things a bit to suit your conditions but that’s the fun part.
That’s really interesting – always good to hear from someone else who’s tried something. 🙂