Organic Gardening: The natural no-dig way
Ebook
Overview
The UK’s leading no-dig gardening expert, Charles Dowding, shares his organic approach to growing healthy, vibrant crops.
The no-dig approach to gardening – based on the key principle of leaving the ground as undisturbed as possible – has gained popularity in recent years as a more efficient, economical and sustainable way to grow healthy plants.
Packed with easy-to-follow advice, Organic Gardening reveals the art of the no-dig approach and the techniques required to grow organic crops while enhancing soil structure.
By employing the simplicity of the no-dig technique and using a system of permanent, slightly raised beds, Charles Dowding shows how to grow a delicious variety of fruit and vegetables sustainably and organically: what to choose; when to sow, plant and harvest; and how best to avoid pests and diseases.
From sowing seeds and making compost to harvesting summer salads and winter vegetables, this accessible guide is an essential resource for beginners and experienced gardeners.
The UK’s leading no-dig gardening expert, Charles Dowding, shares his organic approach to growing healthy, vibrant crops.
A compendium of practical methods for growing a wide variety of crops using the no-dig approach.
Charles Dowding gives regular talks, runs courses, and appears on radio and TV to advise on organic, no-dig gardening.
An easy-to-follow, sustainable approach to growing home produce for those looking to grow organically.
Foreword by Patrick Holden, CBE, Founder of the Sustainable Food Trust & ex-director of The Soil Association
Introduction
Part 1: Letting Nature Nurture your Garden
The art of not digging
The basics
Deciding what to grow
What’s in season?
Living with pests
Sowing seeds, raising plants
Making compost
The moon
Part 2: Healthy Harvests
Summer salads
Winter salads
Alliums
Choice of roots
Savouring summer
Brassicas
Tomatoes, greenhouse vegetables and unusual vegetables
Perennial vegetables
Herbs and edible flowers
Tree fruit and nuts
Soft fruit (berries)
Postscript
Appendix: Dig/no-dig experiment at Lower Farm
Resources
Bibliography
Main index
Index of recipes
Charles’s crops positively glow with health, in testament to his methods... he conveys a deep reverence for the soil, which has fuelled his no-dig ethos.
If anyone can convince gardeners that vegetable plots do not need digging, it is this author - his methods are at times contrary to standard advice, but he is not dogmatic and has a gift for clear explanation.
Charles is a passionate and accomplished gardener, who grows vegetables of amazing flavour.
One of our most respected vegetable growers... Now ordinary gardeners can benefit from his years of practical experience.
This book will undoubtedly become the ‘no-dig’ bible, as was its predecessor.
- Title: Organic Gardening: The natural no-dig way
- Author: Charles Dowding
- Publisher: Green Books
- Print Publication Date: 2013
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 240
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780857840912, 9780857844651, 0857844652, 0857840916
- Resource ID: LLS:9780857840912
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T12:28:31Z
Charles Dowding has written many books on vegetable growing and contributes regularly to many magazines, including Permaculture, Gardeners' World, Gardens Illustrated & Grow It!. He gives regular talks, advising gardeners on best practice and runs courses on organic, no-dig gardening. He is a regular guest on radio and TV. A veteran organic grower, he has practised no-dig gardening for years, providing produce for local and London markets, running a small farm in France, then producing salad on surface-composted, undisturbed clay soil, which grew bountiful crops and few weeds. He has run experiments to compare differences in growth between vegetables on dug and undug soil, discovering different patterns of growth in most seasons, with slightly lower yields and more weeds and slugs on the dug beds.