Joe Gaudette
I’m an avid follower of Charles. This is my 5th year gardening using the No Dig practices. In addition to the videos, I purchased Charles’s Diary. I’ve learned so much and have never enjoyed gardening more!
My site consists of ledge and sand and is wooded - extremely thin soil. I began 4 years ago by chopping down the small trees & brush and using Charles’s method of covering with plastic for about 6 months. As you know, it’s truly amazing how much can be grown using the no dig method even in poor soil with only about 7 hrs of sunlight around the summer solstice.
I'm continually amazed at how few weeds there are and the strong growth of the plants. I grow most all of the veg we eat. I’m now working on having more veg stored during the off season and saving more seeds.
Like Charles I continually do trials for different things and this past year was to have some salad greens over winter outside with no covering or protection. To my amazement they survived, even through 12"-15" of snow! Our weather is traditionally zone 6a but I tracked temperature this winter and we're now tracking more like zone 8a! .....global warming.....
A tip for folks around the northeast US - I use 'Bumper Crop' organic compost to start my seeds. It's advertised as a soil amendment and not for seed starting but it works great - strong root and plant growth. As Charles mentions in his videos, good seed starting compost is not inexpensive but it works really well.
The photo shows the garden in June 2023.
My email is: gaudettejoe52@gmail.com
