I have had the enormous pleasure of visiting the famous English gardener and youtube sensation, Charles Dowding.

Together with his partner, the talented gardener and award-winning author and blogger, Steph Hafferty we walked and talked for ages sharing our passion for gardening and particularly discussing the no dig garden method. Thankfully Evan, my husband, was there too with the camera.

Charles and Steph are so generous with their insights – sharing as we tour around Homeacres – Charles’ bio-intensive, garden near Shepton Mallet in Somerset.  Grab a cuppa and a notebook, this hour long film is full of valuable advice when creating your own no dig garden, enjoy.

Charles and Morag chat about soils

Steph and Charles have co-authored the award-winning book, ‘No dig Organic Home and Garden: Grow, Cook, Use & Store your Harvest.‘ published by the permaculture publishing house, Permanent Publications.

Charles has written more than nine books on no dig and organic gardening. He writes for national and international magazines and runs a hugely popular YouTube channel. He also appears on TV and radio including BBC Gardeners World, and teaches extensively at home and abroad.

Steph Hafferty is a kitchen gardener who uses permaculture, no dig and organic methods. She is a plant-based cook, award winning author and blogger, food and gardening writer, small scale homesteader and mum of three. Her more recent book is The Creative Kitchen. Steph shared an amazing meal at the end of this walk-about which we all enjoyed so much we forgot to film – sorry, it was incredible!!

My No Dig Garden Youtube

You can also check out  my step-by-step no dig gardening film here.

More Related Blog Posts

You can find other blogposts about my no dig garden method here:

This is a step by step guide with illustrations.

Morag’s Simple & Successful No Dig Garden Method

Here’s what I do to replenish my no-dig garden.

Replenishing a No Dig Garden after 12 months

And a masterclass on no-dig I made adding extra tips to the above.

Learn about Permaculture Gardening, Design and Teaching

If you want to find out even more about creating a resilient garden that is consciously designed to conserve water, enliven soils, create food forests and abundant kitchen gardens join me in  The Incredible Edible Garden online course.

Take it the next step and become a certified permaculture designer and permaculture teacher in my Permaculture Educators Program – a comprehensive online course.

The post The No Dig Garden Tour – Charles Dowding, Steph Hafferty & Morag Gamble appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

In Masterclass #18, I focus on a range of permaculture approaches to storing carbon, plus how to simply repair soil, grow soil and grow great food.

This clip (54 min) is part of the free online permaculture masterclass series that I present each month. These are all sponsored by the Permaculture Education Institute Masterclass topics are always selected by the participants of previous sessions and the Permaculture Educators’ Program.

Permaculture as climate action

In this session, I explore positive permaculture climate action through good soil building strategies to significantly drawdown carbon and grow great local food. The focus of this session is particularly for a household and community scale, but there is also reference to broader regenerative agriculture strategies. I explore:

1. 1.  making soil repair a priority
   2.  a focus on perennials
   3.  methods of least disturbance
   4.  covering and protecting the soil
   5. feeding your garden biochar
   6. adding compost (a whole range of different types)
   7. doing no-dig gardening
   8. supporting regenerative farmers
   9.  teaching and sharing permaculture

Professional Permaculture Education – become a permaculture educator

Learn Permaculture design and teaching with Morag Gamble in the Permaculture Educators’ Program (https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org) – a combined online Permaculture Design Certificate and Permaculture Teacher Certificate – comprehensive permaculture professional development. Start anytime. Work at your own pace, in your own place. Be connected with participants on 6 continents and be mentored directly by Morag. This 44 module program is the only permaculture educators course online. There are also bonus permaculture enterprise modules providing to help develop permaculture livelihoods.

Subscribe to the Our Permaculture Life blog and youtube channel

Subscribe to my youtube channel, Our Permaculture Life, to see over 100 permaculture films, and subscribe to my blog, Our Permaculture Life, to explore over 400 articles.

Free Permaculture Masterclasses each month.

Sign up here to receive my email newsletter. This is where you’ll hear about my latest articles, latests masterclasses and links to my most recent films. It’s also a place to hear about my talks, workshops, courses and of course, special offers that I send out to my newsletter community.

The post Soil Repair As Climate Activism – Permaculture Masterclass #18 appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

My No Dig Garden Method is Different.

• The compost layer integrates more rapidly with the existing soil. 
• Soil flora and fauna quickly get to work without the barrier in between. 
• The compost layer stays a more moist and stable temperature under the paper layer. 
• The newspaper layer prevents weeds from growing in your garden, including the unwanted seeds from your compost. (Unless you are a master composter, there will be seeds in your compost). 
• Less nutrients from the compost are evaporated and lost. 
• Roots of plants can penetrate directly into the soil so stay hydrated longer, can access minerals and have increased resilience and stability. 

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Step 1: LOCATE YOUR GARDEN 

• Select garden site – close to the kitchen with 6-8 hours sun/day. 
• Start small. Keep adding later as you gather more resources. 
• Mark out garden edges and pathways.Cut grasses and weeds, and leave them on top. The leaves and roots add organic matter. When the roots die channels open up for air and water. 
• Water the area well – or preferably construct after a good rain. 

Identify a good site for your garden and gather the resources.

 

• Open soil with a garden fork, but do not turn. Push the fork into the ground as far as it will go and pull back gently to open and raise the soil. With the increased activity of soil life, the fork will go much deeper next year. 
• Sprinkle high nitrogen materials such as chicken manure and fresh non-meat kitchen scraps. 
• Water in with diluted liquid manure. 

Opening the soil.

Step 3: MAKE NEW TOPSOIL LAYER 

• Add 10-15 cms of compost and water in. This becomes the new topsoil. 
• Use what you can find locally and preferably recycled from your own on- site waste materials. Homemade compost mixed with worm castings are excellent for the soil and plants. Aged manure and mushroom compost are also good. 
• Bulk the compost layer by adding ripped leaves of comfrey, canna, pigeon pea or any abundant leafy green available – but not pine, eucalyptus or other oily leaves. If using lots of fresh leaves or manure, wait a couple of weeks before planting because the heat generated may burn seedlings. 

Adding organic matter, compost, manure, liquid fertiliser, comfrey leaves… materials for the new topsoil. Note the little keyhole pathways that are designed to collect water and direct it into the garden.

 

Water this all in well before adding the newspaper layer.

Step 4: ADD A WEED BARRIER

• Add a biodegradable weed barrier to prevent weeds from coming up in your garden. 
• Use moist newspaper about 10-15 sheets thick. Cardboard is too thick. Soak paper thoroughly in wheelbarrow or tub of water before laying. Dry paper is hard to lay well and absorbs moisture from the soil. 
• Overlap the paper 10 cms in each direction allowing for movement when planting through the weed barrier layer. 
• Before mulching, check for gaps and cover them up. If there’s a hole, the weeds will find it – they’ll be searching for the light. 
• Remember to paper your paths and edges too. 

Adding wet newspaper, making sure to overlap it well. It is a good idea to lay it so that water is directed under the paper (e.g.: the opposite of roof tiles which shed water).

 

Tuck it into the sides well to prevent weeds coming through here. Paper the pathways too.

Step 5: MULCH MULCH MULCH! 

• Add a thick layer of SEED-FREE mulch (15 cms) over weed barrier – beds and paths. 
• Place anything containing seeds (not wanted in your garden) under the weed barrier. 
• The mulch will eventually become part of your new topsoil, but in the process will be providing soil protection and insulation and help to conserve water. 

Completely cover with a thick layer of seed-free mulch so that you cannot see any paper showing through.

Step 6: PLANTING AND WATERING

• Select a diversity of seasonal and perennial vegetables, herbs and flowers for a polycultural kitchen garden. 
• Consider the size and growth form of each plant when planning where to place each seedling/seed. 
• To plant, make a birds nest in the mulch to reveal the paper. Poke a hole through the paper with a transplanter and check that the soil is loose below. 
• Add a handful of compost in the hole to the level of the weed barrier/paper. 
• Plant the seedling or large seed into the compost. Press gently to make sure the seedling is firmly planted. 
• Bring the mulch back around the seedling, but not touching it. The mulch provides protection for the young seedling until it emerges. 
• Water into the individual holes and check once again that the seedlings are firmly in the compost. 
• To plant small seeds (eg: carrots), open the mulch along a line, slice paper and lift back a little. Add compost and sprinkle the seeds. Mix seeds with coffee grounds to help spread, and give seeds a good start. 

Make little holes in the mulch and paper (like a nest). Plant through the paper into the new soil layer below – adding a good handful of compost to bed the seedling in.

TIPS FOR MAINTAINING YOUR NO-DIG GARDEN 

1. Water only when necessary. Feel under the mulch first. Overwatering causes shallow root growth and seeds from overwatered plants expect lots of water. 
2. Mix herbs and flowers amongst the vegetables to assist with pest management. 
3. Pull out emergent weeds before they seed or spread. 
4. Prepare more compost, while the garden is growing 
5. When a plant is removed, add a handful of compost in it’s hole and replace with a different plant – no need to redo the whole area. 
6. Next growing season, observe and use your judgment. Maybe top up with a new layer of compost and mulch. Perhaps fork the soil a little more. Add another layer of newspaper only when needed. 
7. Allow the perennials to remain – just mulch around them. 

The post Morag’s Simple & Successful No Dig Garden Method appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.