No-dig expert, market gardener and author Charles Dowding talks about his new book, the books he reads, and what he\u2019s up to next <\/p>
What is your new book about?<\/strong><\/p> It\u2019s a companion to my No Dig guide (2022)<\/a>. There are chapters on compost<\/a> in pretty much every book I\u2019ve written, but I\u2019ve never majored on the subject. My aim here was to set composting out in clear terms \u2013 I don\u2019t want to give readers a recipe, I want them to understand what they\u2019re doing so that they can find a method that works for them.<\/p> SQUIRREL_13146874<\/p> What did you learn from writing it?<\/strong><\/p> I had to do extra research and justify the things I\u2019ve been doing or believing. That\u2019s what I love about my work \u2013 it\u2019s based on what I do or what I can trial, and then I\u2019ll share what works.<\/p> You may also like<\/strong><\/p> What one idea would you like to share from the book?<\/strong><\/p> Line your heap on the inside with something like cardboard to hold the moisture and warmth. I know this contradicts most of what\u2019s commonly advised about having open sides, to let air in. But we don\u2019t want air flowing into our heap, where it\u2019s going to dry the materials and cool them down. It\u2019s all about trapping the air with enough brown materials such as small pieces of wood, and keeping access without it getting soggy, as too much water also excludes air. I\u2019ve only been lining my pallet heaps with cardboard for about five years, and the difference is phenomenal. If you\u2019ve got a heap, keep it open while you\u2019re adding to it, but as soon as the heap<\/a> is finished, cover it against the rain.<\/p> What books are on your shelves?<\/strong><\/p> I like older books by people such as organic gardening pioneers Albert Howard and Eve Balfour. I also enjoy old farming books. You can find forgotten jewels or ideas. But a lot of the rules seem to come from Victorian times, where owners of stately homes had an excess of labour and were looking for jobs for their gardeners in the winter<\/a>, such as double digging and pot washing. I don\u2019t brush out my module trays between uses and I certainly never sterilise them.<\/p> What sparked your interest in gardening?<\/strong><\/p> Picking raspberries<\/a> in the garden with my mother, when I was about 14. I loved raspberries, but more than anything it was about working with my mother. When I was about 18 she persuaded me to help her to plant some trees. I\u2019d done farm work, sitting on a tractor, but not the more manual gardening jobs. I really enjoyed it.<\/p> Do you have any plans for your current garden?<\/strong><\/p> Not to extend it! I\u2019ve got over two-fifths of an acre of very intensively cropped beds. It\u2019s set up in such a way that I need to be there for a lot of the time to make it look really good. I\u2019m thinking more about how I can keep it running, maybe more efficiently, and having more time for travelling and teaching, because I\u2019m getting invitations to speak around the world.<\/p> What is your biggest growing failure?<\/strong><\/p> Getting too ambitious back in the 1980s. I had seven-and-a-half acres of no-dig raised beds and was asked by a wholesaler in London to grow an extra acre of carrots. I borrowed a rotavator<\/a> and paid a contractor to drill the carrots. All I got coming up was chickweed \u2013 I didn\u2019t harvest a single carrot. That was a sharp lesson in not overextending. It was also a real reinforcement of no dig, as it\u2019s such a brilliant way of controlling weeds<\/a>. I still make mistakes and still learn. But I never try new things on too big a scale.<\/p> Do you have any guilty gardening secrets?<\/strong><\/p> I struggle with houseplants<\/a>. But I don\u2019t beat myself up about it \u2013 it\u2019s just a different skill.<\/p> What\u2019s your favourite garden to visit?<\/strong><\/p> The Newt<\/a> in Somerset. The Roman villa is my favourite part \u2013 I grew up just a mile from there and would never have imagined anyone building an actual villa near the remains that I visited as a six-year-old. Ellie Dunn, who runs the main vegetable garden, has a good understanding of no dig. I also love the kitchen garden at Sissinghurst<\/a>. It\u2019s a really good advert for growing your own, for no dig and for compost.<\/p>