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April 2020 no dig methods to sow and plant, transplant size, what is compost, keep sowing

Written by

Charles Dowding

Last Updated

March 29, 2020

There is now an epic amount of interest in food growing, and this is seasonal advice. Also about starting out. It’s based on no dig and seasonal methods, keeping things simple and in a well informed way, as my online courses explain.

Now there are many “newbies”, yet in a way we are all beginners, starting afresh every year, with more to learn. The beauty of no dig is that it’s easy to understand and quick to maintain. See also my Instagram for updates.

Top sowings coming up from 5th April are basil and leeks under cover, in warmth to get them germinated. You can still sow tomatoes now, I have a few more to sow – and later sowing is good for tomatoes to grow outside.

Spring tulips and no dig spinach — SPring tulips and spinach in the small garden – Medania spinach sown 10th August, transplanted early September

No dig radish transplant set deep — New planting of multisown radish, sown just 8 days earlier and germinated in my house, now has fleece over

Plum blossom Opal 29th March by shed — Blossom on Opal plum tree March 29th, should be protected from frost by proximity to the shed. 7 year old tree on Pixy rootstock to dwarf it.

Sowing and transplanting no dig

Seedlings need to be a certain size – but how big in fact? I suggest you study the photos, for an idea of the size we transplant here. Quite small and direct from small modules of 3-4cm/1-1.5in diameter and not too deep. This makes them quick to pop into a pre-dibbed hole. Then we water the new plants, straight onto each module hole. See below for planting depth.

For seeds I use a hoe to draw drills in surface compost, about 2-3cm/1in from top to bottom, so seeds are 1.5cm/0.5in deep approximately. At the moment it’s dry and we pre-water along the bottom of each sowing line. There is plenty more about this in Course 2 Growing Success.

CHarles pulls tiny weed seedling — Before sowing and planting, I pull tiny weeds and level beds with a rake. This disturbs any germinating weeds as well.

Beds ready for planting lettuce — I use a long handled dibber to make holes spaced at 22cm 9in for lettuce, and deeper than the modules

Charles transplanting lettuce into dibbed holes — I am transplanting four week old lettuce seedlings into dibbed holes

Charles sowing parsnips — After drawing drills with a hoe, I am dropping parsnip seeds, holding them close to ground level (they blow in the wind) – see the fungi of no dig soil near to camera

Charles raking to cover new sowing — Raking lightly to fill the drills, and then we walked on the bed to conserve moisture, then covered with muslin, a trial to compare with fleece

New transplanting of onions — These multisown onions are set deep and were 4-5 weeks old from sowing in the greenhouse

Transplant size

Small is beautiful. The main thing to avoid is growing seedlings beyond the “carrying capacity” of their module rootball, and the light available to each seedling in the tray. Older seedlings tend to draw upwards.

Plus they may run short of nutrients and go pale, with lower leaves yellowing first. This results in a delay after planting while their roots need to replenish the existing stem and leaves, before new growth can happen. It’s all more of a “shock” than need be, when plants go out quite small.

Module tray of multisown beetroot ready to transplant — Multisown beetroot four weeks since sowing, four per cell and ready to transplant

Dill, fennel and spinach seedlings — Leftover spinach, dill and fennel, a week after the others were planted at three weeks old, so delicate, all surviving!

Newly planted lettuce bed — New planting of 4-5 week old lettuce seedlings, then we watered and covered

Planting depth

For potatoes, the top of each potato needs to be about 3in/7cm below surface level, See new Start No Dig video. If you cannot buy potato seed, use some from the store, which are sprouting. (If not sprouting they may have have been treated not to sprout). See if there is a variety name, so you know when they will be ready to harvest.

Planting potato no dig, with trowel — Shows planting a potato no dig, using the trowel to pull a slit in the surface mulch – see video too

New planting of beetroot — I first draw edge and middle lines with the dibber, then make holes deeper then the modules, this is beetroot with overwintered spring onion to right

New sowings and plantings small garden, covered — Small garden planted up, all new sowing and plantings are under fleece, perennial kale top left

Watering new plantings

It’s good to water all new plantings, after popping them in and pushing down on the modules, to ensure good contact. We use a can with a rose to wet the surface compost just around each planting hole, and not all the bed. That saves time and water.

If it stays sunny after planting, even now in April it’s worth going back to give a little more water to new plantings, after say 3-4 days. During the first week their roots are still confined mostly to the module compost.

Checking moisture around new lettuce seedlings — I pop my finger into the ground near a seedling to feel the moisture level, this is recently planted lettuce

The result of not watering at all, even after popping in the plants – it did not rain at all and one has died, the others are struggling

Fleece covers over new plantings — The covers are mostly polyproylene fleece, one is cotton muslin, and they all conserve moisture in windy weather, plus rain passes through

New videos

We have found time for as much filming and editing as possible. There is a surge of interest since Covid lockdown, and many new subscribers to my You Tube channel.

If you have not yet seen it, so check out Grow your Health. The next one Start No Dig goes live on Monday morning 30th March. It would be live now if I had faster upload speed. It includes a bed I planted as soon as I had made it – there is no need to wait.

In the pipeline are videos about no dig bed prep and planting, and early cropping in French.

Video thumbnail Grow your Health — My no dig vegetable larder in mid March, some fresh and some stored in the brick shed

A new no dig bed on weeds, planted already — A new bed I made on film for Start No Dig

Filming for another video — The camera of my trusted camerman and editor, David Adams

Manure becomes compost

These are confusing words. Compost is anything decomposed, so old manure is compost. How fine it is depends partly on the bedding and if that was wood flakes, it may be two years before you would want to fill a bed with it.

One month old horse manure, could be used for mulching but will harbour slugs in the straw, and not release much food for a while, best not fill a bed with this

Three month old and composted horse manure — Three month old horse manure with straw bedding and it was last year’s hotbed, moved outside where it grew good tomato and aubergine

One year old horse manure and wood flake bedding — One year old horse manure with wood flake bedding, still decomposing. This worked as 5cm 2in surface mulch, but best not used for filling a bed

Wood chip becomes compost

The miracle of wood chip – if you can have some delivered, a wonderful free resource. I hope that tree surgeons and arborists continue to work now, if so they have this useful waste product. Do enquire of them.

Discover a lot more about making and using compost in my No Dig Course 1.

One month old wood chips delivered to Homeacres by a tree surgeon who was happy to give it away

Seven month old wood chips — These were delivered in September and included enough green leaf to stimulate heat in the pile, plus we watered it, is still woody but part decomposed

Two year old wood chip on Fred Bonestroo’s farm at Highgrove Glos, where Fred also makes a hotbed of wood chip for propagation in his polytunnel

Pests & problems in April

I have been dismayed to find caterpillars on spinach, lambs lettuce, chard and kale. They have profited from a mild winter. However there are too few to make much difference. Slugs can be more problematic, the little grey ones of spring, and keeping a garden tidy is a big help, with no old pieces of wood lining beds for example.

Slug and caterpillar, late March — Caterpillar and slug, found while picking lambs lettuce in the small garden

On this kale, pigeon damage shows as veins left standing out, after they eat the fleshy middles of leaves

Frost damage to leaves — Yellowing of pea leaves is where they were touching fleece during a frost. The plants are fine and still growing.

April flowers

Such a lovely time for flowers. See Sarah Raven, for many bulbs and plants although despatch is now slow, and they are overwhelmed with seed orders. The freesia came from her in 2012 and flowers every spring, with a gorgeous scent – I have some by the computer while writing this.

Plum blossom already in March — Plum and gage blossom, is vulnerable however to April frosts here, and behind is yellow forsythia

Yellow and highly scented freesia — Eight year old freesia in my greenhouse, where it’s well cured by summer heat, helps flowering in spring

Front garden flowers — Homeacres front garden has lovely pansies, pulmonaria and also Brunnera now flowering

Overwintered vegetables

As we head for the hungry gap, the plantings of autumn come into their own. They have developed strong root systems which profit from spring sunlight, even in low temperatures.

Here is a photographic tour of them at Homeacres in late March this year. They are in order of sowing dates, leeks first and broad beans are the latest sowing of these.

Multisown leeks no dig — Leeks multi sown on 5th April, almost a year old, transplanted July after broccoli etc

Broccoli interplanted parsley — Broccoli sown mid June, parsley July, both cropping nicely

Chard sown last July — Multi sown in early July and this chard had wintered outside with no protection

Chervil 8 months old — Chevil sown late July so is 8 months old, has cropped a lot, see my Calendar for sowing dates you gain from

Spinach sown August 7.5 months old — Medania spinach multi sown 10th August and has overwintered without protection, many picks

Red onions for salad 7.5 months — Onion Lilla is dual purpose, best as spring onion, growing outside all winter from September sowing

polytunnel salad plants sown 6.5 months and garlic too

Broad beans flowering, sown November — Broad beans Aquadulce Claudia home saved seed sown November, many of these flowers may be frosted off and that is fine, plants need to grow more yet

Q/A No dig starting out

Rubble in soil

Tom:

How would you tackle some brick and concrete in a potential no dig plot? I have been trying to remove as much as possible but not sure I can remove it all.

Charles

I would leave most of it, just remove any stone or concrete which is protruding above soil level. Then mulch over.

Plants will root between the soil rubble. It’s like that in a few places at Homeacres, especially the small garden.

Rock and rotation

Laura:

I live in central Texas and have about 8 inches of soil depth before I hit limestone bedrock so I have 3 questions.

1. What is the optimal soil depth for growing veg?

2. What is the optimal soil depth for dwarf fruit trees?

3. Do you advise crop rotation in no dig beds?

Charles – 8in (20cm) is not bad! Limestone also, holds moisture and food, responds well to the increasing biological activity from no dig, releasing minerals.

1. Vegetables will grow nicely in say a foot of soil, so a 4in (10cm) mulch of compost would be good for your conditions.

2. The trees also will grow in that, with but stout stakes to support their dwarf root system..

3. Crop rotation is worthwhile but can be less stringent than a strict four years. Also in small areas, plants of each family are closer to each other. I allow say a year between growing plants of the same family.

Online course for Australia and different climates

Travis

I’ve seen your videos on youtube and love your style. I saw your online courses and was thinking about signing up. Only issue is, i’m based on Melbourne (Australia) and i’m not sure your content would be as applicable here? I’ve studied permaculture overseas and found it difficult to bring home the learnings, so before signing up, I wanted to know how adaptable the learnings from your online course are to Australia? Obviously, we’re in a different zone (Mediterranean) and soil (sandy loamy) is a bit different where i am too.

Charles

I see similar with permaculture, that it’s not taught always to adapt methods to conditions. I have three thousand Instagram followers in Melbourne and excellent feedback, even though summers are hotter etc.
Followers in Florida on sandy soil, comment on the success of no dig with compost mulch. This is compared to other techniques such as wood chip, although that can work if they are well composted, i.e.compost!
Time-wise you would adapt to sow say a month earlier in spring, then 3-4 weeks later after midsummer. There are a fair few participants for the courses in Australia, even Queensland.

More on wood chip

Cathrine in Denmark asked about wood chip for paths

Charles – Any wood chip is good for paths, and it does not need to be deep, say 3cm.

Quicker soil improvement is from older, half composted chips; but fresh works too. Conifers take longer to decompose and are better for paths than in say a compost heap.

Spacings

On page 158 in the chapter, ‘Early sowings and plantings’, you have the spacing recommendation for calabrese and early cabbage at 30-40cm distance. On page 175 in the chapter, ‘Successional sowings and plantings’, you have the spacing recommendation for calabrese and early cabbage at 45cm distance. Could you tell me the reason behind this difference in spacing between the early and later planting?

Charles

The early plantings grow quickly to head or heart, before summer flowering. Brassicas flower in summer. Therefore new plantings in early spring have less time to grow large, unlike in autumn.

Membrane leave it down?

Charles – Ah no, please remove, it shreds and often even disappears below ground. You never want it in the soil, a barrier to life and growth.

Digestate – any good for mulching?

Charles – I have encountered two types of digester waste – from plants (maize and grass), and from manure, usually cow slurry.

In containers, the former grew weak plants and the latter grew strong ones.

In mulching, the former just sat on top and was not eaten much by soil organisms. Have not tried the latter.

New beds on couch grass?

Charles – For vigorous couch grass (crab, twitch, ) I suggest two layers of thick cardboard, including on the paths and areas adjacent to new beds.

No need to try and remove the couch grass or other weeds first.

Yes compost on card for beds, maybe a little wood chip for path and edge.

Seed saving – will my Cavolo Nero seeds come true?

Charles –Seeds come true if there are no other flowering plants nearby of the same family.

Plus most vegetables (not pea, French bean, tomato and lettuce) need cross pollination by nearby plants of the same variety.

So the Cavolo Nero will come true if there are say 6-8 plants flowered together.

Don’t overwater seedlings

A reader had poor growth, had assumed that “because there is no much roots this means more watering until there are enough roots to suck the water from the bottom using the developed roots”

– no they are just little plantlets!

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