CHARLES DOWDING

Homeacres
Alhampton
Shepton Mallet
Somerser
BA46PZ
charles@charlesdowding.co.uk

TALKS 2016
NO DIG ABUNDANCE, AND FEWER WEEDS most popular talk
The value of maintaining soil at a high level of fertility, and the best means to
achieve this, by avoiding cultivation and adding a thin surface mulch of
composted garden waste or animal manure, after a thicker, one-off application to
poor soils.
Best ways of making and using compost are explained, together with advice on
which ones to buy.
Clearing perennial weeds with mulches, including cough grass and bindweed.
A pleasing result is the absence of weeds and I encourage regular pulling of tiny
weeds to keep soil clean at all times.
Also I cover the importance of sowing at the best dates, different for all
vegetables, to reduce pest and disease and for richer harvests.
Salads are given a special mention with tips on picking, to keep plants producing
for longer.

SALAD SPECIAL
Exploring the wonderful range of plants to grow for salad leaves. I emphasise two
ways above all of increasing harvests:
1 Sow the right plant for each different season, for example sow salad rocket in
August not April,
2 Give plants sufficient space so that outer leaves can be picked over a long
period. This also reduces slugs and disease.
Lots of illustrations to demonstrate these points, with an explanation of the
benefits of good soil preparation.

WINTER VEGETABLES
This topic is large and includes garlic, onions, potato, parsnip, leeks, brassicas
etc as well as salads, broad beans, spring onion and cabbage for the hungry gap
- up to three quarters of what one might grow!
I cover the value of good soil preparation, without digging, of making and using
compost, and of sowing at the best time, especially after midsummer when
shortening days mean that careful adherence to precise sowing dates really pays
dividends.
GARDENING MYTHS
A look at many misunderstandings which have a common theme: they waste the
gardener’s time. From digging and washing pots to making large planting holes
and separating bindweed roots from other compost ingredients.
I explain how these misunderstandings have arisen and show quicker ways to
achieve the desired result of healthy, happy plants.

FEES
I charge £180 for talks and 45p/mile travel.

BOOKS
I bring all of my books to talks and usually sell many signed copies at a slightly
discounted price.

SLIDES
My talks are fully illustrated with photos of my work over three decades of
growing. Most slides are from Homeacres’ quarter acre of intensive beds (mostly
created in 2013 without soil disturbance of any kind), which yielded £18,500
worth of salad leaves in 2015 and £2,000 of vegetables, all sold within four miles,
mostly in Bruton.

BIO
Charles graduated from Cambridge in 1980 and started an organic, no dig market
garden. He is self-taught and learns from observation at home and abroad, is trialling
new methods all the time. By 1988 his market garden covered seven acres of undug
beds. 
Now he crops more intensively from just a quarter acre, growing year-round salad leaves
and vegetables for local shops and restaurants. There are experiments too, comparing
plant growth on dug and undug beds, and beds with different composts.
His no dig methods are tuned to wet climates, for minimising losses to slugs. Compost is
his preferred mulch and even when it may contain weed seeds, he has perfected
methods to deal with them and keep the garden spotlessly clean. This saves a lot of
time, which is vital in order to make production economic.
Charles has distilled his experience into several films and seven books on vegetable
growing. He writes articles for national and local gardening publications, gives talks
home and abroad, and runs frequent courses at Homeacres and elsewhere. The theme
is simplicity and saving time, to grow more plants with less effortCharles’ books
Organic Gardening the Natural, No Dig Way. Green Books 2007, third all-colour edition
2013, £14.95
Salad Leaves for All Seasons. Green Books 2008 £10.95
How to Grow Winter Vegetables. Green Books 2011 £14.95
Charles Dowding’s Vegetable Course. Frances Lincoln 2012 £16.99
Charles Dowding's Veg Journal - Expert no-dig advice, month by month. Frances Lincoln
2014 £14.99
Gardening Myths. Green Books 2014 £10
How to Create a New Vegetable Garden. Green Books 2015 £19.99.
See also Charles' films on YouTube such as No Dig abundance
http://youtu.be/HATC3rG6NbQ
and Harvesting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wFSDaugODo