In Organic Gardening, Charles Dowding, who started the first vegetable box scheme in 1983, shares the philosophy, tips and techniques which have enabled him to run a successful organic garden supplying local restaurants and shops for over 25 years: * Forget the rules: 'received wisdom' about gardening is surprisingly inaccurate. Understand better what is going on in the soil and with your plants, in your own garden and climate, and work out your own methods instead. * Respect and encourage life as much as you can, chiefly by spreading good compost or manure. * There is no need to dig in compost and manure â just spread it on top and let worms take it in. Digging can harm soil structure, and is not helpful to plants. * You can reduce weeding to a little hand-weeding or hoeing every ten days. Based on his experience of a system of permanent slightly-raised beds, Charles takes you through a delicious variety of fruit and vegetables: what to choose, when to plant and harvest, and how best to avoid pests and diseases. The book includes recipes to inspire you to culinary heights with your fresh-picked produce. The Author: Charles Dowding has not dug, except to clear perennial weeds and turf, for twenty-five years; he started growing organic vegetables commercially in 1982 and has farmed in both Somerset and France, and had a programme of Gardener?s World devoted to his farm. He now crops almost an acre on intensive raised beds, runs courses, and sells salad bags and veg boxes from his farm. He contributed to The Complete Manual of Organic Gardening (Headline 1992), and writes for RHS magazine and Blackmore Vale Magazine. He lives in Shepton Montague, Somerset. This is a blockbuster of a book. It should be recognised as one of the all-time great gardening books." - Good Gardeners quarterly "
