Organic Gardening: The Natural No-Dig Way

Great resource book for home organic veggie gardening. I really liked the logical chapter by chapter approach to main plant groups; it's a quick way to re-find information when needed. Lots of helpful and well explained tips & hints from years of trial & error. Book would be especially valuable to gardeners in the U.K. because it includes advise for specific vegetable varieties that are successful there.

I have been an organic gardener and organic farmer since 1971. In my humble opinion, Mr Dowding has written a book that is useful to the beginner and to anyone who has truly been an organophile gardener for any length of time. It seems in reading both of the author's books that he is oft troubled with slugs in his garden and in some of his reviewers. The no dig approach refers to the garden, not the book. The information that is in his book does require a bit of digging as the style is written to inform a beginner as well as an experienced organic gardener. The deeper information is there, but you will require a modicum of digging in the book. For those too lazy to mine that information, well... there are slugs and then there are slugs. Mr. Dowding has been a commercial organic farmer and gardener or over 25 years. He knows his stuff and he shares his mistakes so you do not have to repeat them. And I can testify his methods work not only in England, but everywhere. I farmed in North Florida for six years and it freezes in the winter. I grow much of my own food here in South Florida where it is subtropical. Dowding has written a book that has application and depth anywhere his method is used. I do not know the man, but I have read his books. He is most successful in his venture because he follows nature's ways. He plants by the moon, and that doesn't mean New Age for any "know it alls" that dismiss before examination. You can share in his success if you read his book, but only if you apply his methods. Those who are seeking some magic wand would best save their money and read seed catalogs rather than do actual organic gardening. Mr. Dowding takes the work out of the experience, but not the exercise. Lazy people too, would best not buy the book and use their money for doctors. For there will need for that from lack of exercise and eating chemically grown foods without life. Burton Dale, West Palm Beach, Florida

Charles Dowding's Organic Gardening the Natural No-Dig Way is an introduction to organic gardening in general, and the 'no-dig' method in specific. The 'no-dig' method doesn't mean that absolutely no digging will take place: after all, you need to plant things in the soil and sometimes you also need to dig them up again. However, you really won't need to till or turn. Dowding believes in using raised beds composed almost entirely of rich compost, which worms naturally incorporate into the soil beneath. Since the no-dig method is meant to be part of a larger program of organic gardening (after all, if you use industrial pesticides and the like then you'll just kill off all those worms, microorganisms, beneficial insects, and so on), much of the book details various fruits and vegetables you might plant and how best to organically raise them. It doesn't go into things such as organic pesticides and fertilizers, but instead delves entirely into physical methods of pest control. A typical entry covers varieties, growing seasons, weeding, thinning, dressing with compost, harvest, diseases, pests, and even a simple recipe for enjoying your vegetable or fruit to the fullest. There's also a very thorough index---complete with a separate recipe index!---to help you along. Dowding's book will definitely be of the most use in Britain and similar areas. Some of his suggestions are climate-specific, as are many of his discussions regarding varieties, and of course his planting and harvest times will be different than those elsewhere (although at least you'll get most of that information from your own seed packets or plant catalogs). Measurements and amounts are only given in units of cm and so on with no equivalents provided. Terminology differences aren't explained, and there were some cases where I wasn't sure if a bit of confusion over something the author was communicating was due to something that wasn't clear in his wording or a bit of terminology that was being used in a different manner than that to which I'm accustomed. All in all I'd have to say that within Britain and similar areas (in terms of climate, use of measurements and terminology, availability of varieties, etc.) this book rates a 4.5 or a 5. In the US it's still highly useful for those wanting to explore the no-dig method and organic gardening at home, but it's moderately less useful---call my rating for us a 4.