Small garden winter, no dig bed prep and ongoing harvests

Harvests of 170kg/408lb vegetables through the year past, from three beds of 1.5 x 4m, 5 x 14ft.
Some beds are still cropping at end December, others are empty, all are mulched with compost to feed soil life. They are ready to plant at any time in the spring, with few weeds at any stage, quick and easy.
The soil cover is 3cm compost on beds and 3cm wood chip on paths. I apply this once a year for two crops.
See the 11 earlier videos of this project for more details.

Updates from charles_dowding on Instagram, Charles Dowding FB and @charlesdowding on Twitter.

Video filmed 30th December 2019 and edited by Edward Dowding my son.

[annegranger]

I am green with envy, watching you harvest in the middle of winter, while my zone 6a garden is burried under several inches of ice and snow. Thank you Charles for sharing your wealth of knowlege. Because of you, I changed from doubble digging to organic, no dig several years ago. The only regret I have is not knowing about it 30 years earlier, when I planted my first garden.

[Ed-izwm]

In my area, we are getting ready for the coldest month of the year. In February we can easily get to -10F (-23C) at night. I watch your videos to daydream about when Spring will arrive and I can get outdoors in my garden again...Thank you for the great content.

[miqf]

I love how honest and transparent you are, Charles. Thanks for the update.

[Fragrantbeard]

I so appreciate your offhand comment about not leaving decaying plant matter as that might encourage the slugs. I've been reading a lot of permaculture materials lately and was considering a chop and drop approach. I hadn't given any thought to how that might affect slugs. I find that you encourage a lot of good critical thinking in your videos, and I think that's really quite special. You teach us new ways to think about our gardens. thank you!

[pocketfieldslittlehomestea]

I love to see your gardens in action. I think my favorite part of this video in particular was "I'm still learning." I hope to always be open to still learning. What a boring life it would be if you ran out of things to learn. I began no-dig gathering last year when my tiller broke and I couldn't fix it. Now I plan on never owning another.

[gwynprice]

Thanks for the effort you put into these videos.... living the dream!

[shakengrain]

Love your thoroughness and the way you anticipate questions so we don't have to ask them. Like the flowering spring on the rocket, my very thought was is it edible. Then you slipped the little comment in there saying it is indeed edible. Thank you.

[normamead]

I am getting a education in bed and it's fantastic for when I, have enough energy in the morning to work in my small garden thank you.👍💐🍀🌹🍓

[KellysKitchenGarden]

Our previously quarried, stony 1 acre field (FULL of creeping thistle and common hogweed) has really benefited from your methods over the last 12 months Charles. I will have hopefully created about 65.5 square meters of no dig beds in time for spring, more than doubling last years area, and I’m really going for it this year. I’m determined that my propagation game will be strong 💪🏼 Thanks again for sharing the knowledge 😊🌱

[clarelove]

I'm itching to get started with the new season.

[riverunner]

An old time saying in my area is, “February 1 is half your meat and half your hay.” Hence halfway through winter! I can still see Santa’s sleigh tracks in the deep snow! Enjoying your beautiful gardens! Thank you for your great works!🌱

[laurawatkins]

We had a rainy 60 degree F day here in the Midwestern US, so I got out and cleaned up my garden, started a compost pile, and added to it from the chicken coop - all because I've been watching your videos and I'm now inspired to do things your way. Thanks for the education!

[SmallGardenQuest]

Love to see the progress on the garden! I can confirm that even with a smaller garden you can get a lot of veggies out :D

[SavvyOrganicsFarm]

We love watching your videos. You are such a calm and gentle teacher. Your experience and skill are an inspiration. Thanks!

[veronicathecow]

Hi Charles, I'm in Wales and we get a lot of rain here, around 2500mm (compared to your area at around 708mm) . Have you heard of anyone having problems with such high rainfall and the no dig method of just laying compost on top (especially as a lot of the land here is quite sloped). Many thanks for your videos they are very encouraging and informative.

[wingabouts]

I've learned so much from gardening. For example, with your comment about the veggies being "dense food and not watery like from the market"... Normally I would have thought you were comparing your swede/rutabega to something like a corgette/zuchinni. But now that I've tasted home-grown I KNOW you're meaning a watery version of the same food. Bell peppers from the store make me want to cry, they are so bland and watery! Can't wait to have them from my garden again this summer. Thanks for all you do. I've got a couple of your books and they are a fabulous resource!

[ocanadastandinguard]

Mid west Canada - we have a blizzard here today. A very cold weather snap on it's way- maybe minus 34 Celsius including windchill. I'm dreaming of gardening until April or May. I'm enjoying watching you do what I love. Thank you.

[NCharlesworth]

Thank you for highlights of the small space! I think most of us viewers are in the position of wanting to garden but not having very many square meters to work with so it's very inspiring to see so much veg coming out of such a small space. For example I only have 3 beds totalling about 4.5 sqaure meters. First year growing so hopefully I can expand that

[EdnaSabile]

Very nice Charles always everything you plant is beautiful. I’m still working on my compost to build my no dig garden. Thank you for your video it such an inspiration.

[OrganicBackyardGardening]

Lambs Lettuce! Such a wonderful nutty flavor and cold hearty plant, they survived -20 last winter under two-layer of cover. Amazing!