Want to know the optimum time to sow runner beans, transplant cabbage and harvest your courgettes? Or when to water celery, how to banish carrot fly and why not digging your garden is more productive? Learning how to sow, grow, harvest and store the tastiest crops is made easy, one vegetable at a time, thanks to a new online course from no dig gardening pioneer Charles Dowding.
A world authority on no dig vegetable gardening, and a break-out grow-your-own social media star – his latest video on compost racked up 100,000 views in just five days – Somerset-based Charles spills the beans on his growing methods in his latest online course.
From the comfort of your own home, you can watch Charles explain in eleven exclusive videos the specific needs and qualities of 15 vegetables – from aubergine to cucumber – and how to ensure successful and tasty harvests, all using his tried and tested no dig gardening methods. His detailed tips are explained in easy-to-follow ‘lessons’, packed with 60,000 words and 880 illustrative photos, so even the most novice of gardeners can get growing.
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ONLINE COURSE
This new course, called Online Course 3A Seed to Harvest, is the first in a two-parter that will eventually cover over 30 vegetables. Part A, launching on Friday 19th February and priced £160, covers aubergine to cucumber, and part B, launching in March and priced £180, will cover fennel to tomato. Anyone buying Part A, will receive a discount on Part B making it half price. Both courses have been designed to complement his existing best-selling courses on no dig gardening basics (Course 1) and growing success (Course 2). Thousands of gardeners across the world, from Australia to Chile, have downloaded Charles’s courses since they were launched in March 2019.
No dig vegetable gardening involves simply mulching soil with compost, rather than laboriously digging it. Charles’s no-frills methods resonate with beginner and experienced gardeners alike, with millions of views of his YouTube videos. He has over 700,000 followers on social media.
More details:
Online Course 3A – Seed to harvest, the first 15 vegetables from aubergine to cucumber – Charles Dowding’s best tips on each vegetable’s types and varieties, sowing methods, how to transplant, watering, ways of picking to maximise output and quality, storage, pest protection, clearing and what to plant next.
Each lesson concentrates on one vegetable, which he explains within the same outline structure. The aim is for you to understand each vegetable’s special needs and qualities, so that successful harvests are likely. There is only occasional reference to bed preparation and weeding. With the no dig gardening method, these are minimal jobs, and are the same for all vegetables. Lessons finish with a multiple-choice quiz to consolidate learning.
60000+ words, 880+ photos with explanatory captions, and 11 videos which are unique to this course, not available elsewhere.
Vegetables included – Aubergine; Beans – Broad; Beans – French, Runner, Soy; Beetroot; Broccoli; Brussels; Cabbage; Carrot; Cauliflower & Kohlrabi; Celery and Celeriac; Chard & Leaf Beet; Chicory/Radicchio; Chinese Cabbage & Pak Choi; Courgette/Zucchini; Cucumber, cordon and ridge
ABOUT CHARLES
Charles Dowding has made no dig popular and is a world authority on the subject. His productive and weed-free garden illustrates the benefits simply of mulching soil to feed its microorganisms. They “turn on the tap” of making food and moisture available to our plants, as well as improving soil structure.
• Drainage and aeration improve, in an easy and long-lasting way
• The method is simple and requires less work
• The result is fewer weeds and healthier, more resilient plants
• Carbon is retained in the soil
Since 1982 he has created and cropped four no dig market gardens on different soils, from stone to silt to clay. In the 1980s he cropped 7.5 acres (3ha) of no dig beds. In the 1990s he farmed in France.
Currently he grows vegetables on 0.25 acres/1000 square metres in Somerset, SW England zone 8. He sells £20,000 of harvests locally, mainly salad leaves, and vegetables are served on courses at Homeacres.
There are two crops a year from beds which are cheap to establish and quick to maintain. Charles’s methods are easy to understand and work on small areas as well as large ones. No dig scales up and down easily.
He has written ten books and an annual calendar of sowing dates, runs a You Tube channel with 36.8 million views, writes for national gardening magazines, and gives talks and courses at home and abroad. He has created online courses in no dig gardening and on vegetable growing.
More information can be found at charlesdowding.co.uk
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