Intensive Weekend
Saturday and Sunday, £395 (see below for timings) – includes refreshments and a feast of homegrown vegetables.
The weekend course is about understanding the simplicity of no dig methods. You’ll learn how to use that knowledge to garden more efficiently and economically.
The course curriculum is outlined below, with days 1 & 2 often overlapping. One difference from the day/afternoon courses is having more time to get to know the other participants, and new friendships or networks are often formed.
This intensive course works for both gardeners and market gardeners, we often have a mixture of both. It’s a real beauty of no dig, how you can scale up or down when familiar with the principles I teach.
Day 1, 10am to 5pm
The costs and benefits of creating an undug growing space
- Maintaining productive soil without cultivation, the key to healthier growth with less weeds and better returns.
- Setting up an area for market growing: how big, how quickly, mulching inputs.
- Weeding, often the Achilles heel of soil cultivators. No dig means many less weeds – the details.
- Growing in tunnels and under cover, including the uses of fleece and pest-protection covers.
Day 2, 9am to 2.30pm
Details for good growing.
- Propagation – composts; seed, including seed saving; using trays; sowing, multisowing and pricking out; watering; hardening off, or not; heating a propagating space; a look at hotbeds.
- Time needed proportionate to costs and returns for different vegetables, depending on the local market.
- Finer points of both growing and picking salad leaves, currently the only profitable crop for smaller growers.
- Tips for selling in less time, the importance of continuity, and how to describe your growing to the public.
For accommodation on Saturday night, check out the local B&Bs at the bottom of this page.
For those who wish to gather for an evening meal on the Saturday night, we book a table at a local pub. The meal is at your own cost.
Food and refreshments during both days are included. Lunch is made from vegetables harvested from Homeacres’ garden, so you’ll enjoy a taste of the season's finest.
Please click the link below for 2024 dates and booking
Dates & BookingThe courses include lunch (except afternoon). If you have dietary requirements, please say when booking.
- We sell course vouchers which the recipient can redeem at their convenience
- Ideas for accommodation can be found here.
- For home learning, my online courses are available here, and books here.
- Email Nicola at admin@charlesdowding.co.uk with any questions about Homeacres courses.
