November 2, 2024

VIDEO: Small Garden Winter 2021


See what has changed since we were last here in this 25sqm/270sqft no dig garden, mid October 2020. Autumn has changed to winter, and many of the same vegetables are still growing, very slowly now!

This is Somerset in the UK. Climate zone 8 with winters mostly above freezing, damp air and little sunshine.

The garden is in three non-sided beds, without disturbing the soil. No dig means easy maintenance and few weeds. This frees time to care for the 12 different vegetables, herbs and flowers.

In 2019 we harvested 179kg/364lb vegetables from this garden, in 2020 112kg/248lb, (different vegetables).
See the previous Small Garden video filmed in autumn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwe4G1rWZaM

Discover the cropping plans and harvest tables of two successive years 2018-2019, in module 6 of my first online course https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/online-course-1-no-dig-gardening-module-6/

My latest book No Dig Gardening, from Weeds to Vegetables Easily and Quickly also has these details https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/charles-dowdings-no-dig-gardening-course-1-signed/. In North America my books are sold by Chelsea Green Publishing.

Filmed 1st January by Edward Dowding my younger son. The temperature was at freezing point!
December 2020 was quite mild with average daytime temperatures 9C 48F, and nights 2.5C 38F. There were eight frosts.
January’s first eight days have averaged -1.5C 29F by night, and 3C 37F by day, see my weather on this link https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/weather/index.htm

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23 thoughts on “VIDEO: Small Garden Winter 2021

  1. Mr. Dowding, thank you very much for sharing your no dig approach to gardening. I am a small Flower Farm here in Upstate NY and our soil is heavy clay. How grateful i am to see someone who uses topdressed composting methods succesfully, year after year. It's inspirational! Thanks again.

  2. Thanks again for the nice video. Finally got another storm here in SW Colorado and we are all delighted to get some snow pack built up in the high country. Hopefully it recharges the rivers and streams this summer. Loved reading some of the comments on your beard. Nobody misses a beat do they. Cheers.

  3. I'm curious how your garden has fared with the recent cold and snow. I believe it has been quite cold in the UK as well? Did you see any differences between crops under cover and those outside?

    Where I live in the Netherlands we had temperatures as low as -10 Celcius (not accounting for windchill) and about 15 cm snow. I still had quite a few things growing (thanks to your book about winter vegetables). I could make some interesting comparisons, since I had mizuna growing in four different places: 1) in a glass greenhouse, 2) in a plastic cold frame, 3) under cover (scaffolding fabric) and 4) without any cover at all in tubs placed on a table.

    The results were not as expected. From best to worst: 4 – 1 – 3 – 2. The mizuna that had no protection at all, fared best. They even look better than the plants in the glass greenhouse and have no damage at all. All plants in the cold frame died. The plants under cover show some frost damage (more damage towards the middle and less at the edges), but I think they will survive.

    This is not what I expected, but it seems it may sometimes be better to let plants get snowed on than to protect them. Maybe this is because they were covered completely. The paksoi I had growing without cover does show frost damage where its leaves peaked out from the snow.

  4. During lockdown I have been watching your videos to help me improve my vegetable growing. I am most interested in your composting. I have a composter made from recycled plastic panels the original configuration was too small so I enlarged the space to around one metre, but it still takes too long for everything to rot down even with adding urea and commercial compost activator. Do you think I should increase the size more or is there something else I could do to speed things up.

  5. It's probably too late for this to help but with deer I find it is best not to wait for damage before doing something. They can wipe out an entire crop in one night, down to the ground, all gone. Ask me how I know, lol.

  6. Hi Charles, lovely video. You mentioned deer in your video. I am starting a new garden in an area where deer are present and am wondering if you know if netting may be enough to protect vegetables. I love being in an area with abundant wildlife and am reluctant to fence them out, not to mention the expense involved, however I would like a few greens for the kitchen too! Any thoughts are much appreciated, thanks and happy gardening 🙂

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