Charles Dowding is a horticulturist on a small area (1000 m²) in England.
He cultivates without any tillage and brings compost to the surface every year.
His videos are now well known among gardening enthusiasts.
And several members of my personal support service asked me what I thought.
It therefore seems interesting to me to see the pros and cons of this method as objectively as possible.
But let’s start by having Charles Dowding explain his own approach to soilless gardening (which he calls “the no-dig method”):
The Charles Dowding Method
Advantages of the method
The method presented by Charles Dowding has the utmost importance of: don’t have to work on the groundwith a positive impact on his life, and therefore on his fertility (we will come back to this later, because it may not be that simple in this case…).
In addition, and this is one of the reasons often given for choosing this method, it allows: Quickly start crops from a lawn†
In concrete terms, even if you haven’t prepared anything in the spring yet:
- you mow
- you place boxes on the ground (which is not mandatory, but useful to prevent weeds from regrowth)
- then you scatter the compost (the first year 40 cm thick, then 5 cm)…
You can grow to follow.
Since crops develop in a rich substrate (compost), this method generally allows: (very) good harvests†
Add to this that weeding work is greatly reduced† However, keep in mind that bindweed, dock or other plants with strong root systems can still interbreed…
As we can see, the advantages of this method are considerable.
But to be really objective, we also have to look at the cons…
Disadvantages of the method
Amounts of compost
Spreading compost 40 cm thick required the first year huge quantities†
with 1m3 of compost, with a thickness of 40 cm, you only cover about 2.5 m² of land … For a vegetable garden of 100 m², for example, that would be 40 m . represent3†
Unless you have a “usable” area of several hectares (with mowing, mowing, shredded material, dead leaves, etc.), it is almost impossible to produce such amounts of compost yourself,
It is therefore necessary to obtain it elsewhere.
If you can find composted manure in large quantities from a neighboring breeder (preferably organic), that’s very good… On the other hand, uncomposted manure, for such quantities, would need suitable equipment (tractor fork) to to turn ensure good composting…
But if that doesn’t work, you’ll have to buy compost from a composting platform (waste center or something else).
Of course, prices vary greatly. And some municipalities even offer them for free (in this case we forget the financial cost… but not the disadvantages that follow…).
Let’s take as an example the data provided to me by Chantal (one of the members of my personal support who questioned me about this topic): I have the option to buy enriched soil (70% topsoil/30% compost) for €38 per m3 ie about 1.5 T. and the m3 20 mm mesh compost alone at € 23 per m3″
Let’s do a quick calculation:
We have seen that above for 100 m² vegetable garden, 40 m3 of compost.
For topsoil enriched with compost, we therefore have a cost price of 40 x 38 € = 1520 €
Only for compost the costs are 40 x € 23 = € 920
In short, if you have no choice but to buy the compost, It is expensive to harvest your vegetables (at least for the first year)!
Now let’s assume you can get these large amounts of compost for free because a platform distributes it this way.
Very good…
Except that the compost produced is in limited quantities.
You then monopolize this natural fertilizer at the expense of other gardeners†
I also think it is important to note thatenvironmental impact of transportby truck, of this compost.
You should also be aware thatspreading such amounts of compost is a huge jobe (unless you have a tractor to do it)…
Compost quality
“Industrial” compost, whether it comes from a composting platform or a waste collection center, is subjected to very high temperatures (thanks to regular mixing) to evolve rapidly. As a result, as our friend Charles says, it is much less alive than homemade compost.
Add to that the fact that it almost always contains residues from chemical treatments (fortunately this is less the case with the ban on pesticides in private gardens), heavy metals or even small pieces of plastic…
The quality of this industrial compost is therefore debatable.
Growing on compost
Cultivation on compost is also not only interesting.
Indeed, compost dries quickly†
In the video above, Charles Dowding rightly points out that because the soil under the compost is not worked, the water remains there more… less water than its neighbors…
But in the south of France (as a good example… but we can now extend the areas with a rain deficit more widely) the water reserves in the soil in the summer are almost nil… And this method therefore requires a lot of and very frequent watering… A good mulch is necessary in any case.
Otherwise, birds like to peck in the compost, digging up seeds or young seedlings). That is why, and this is also what Charles Dowding does, it is strongly recommended to place a protective net with direct sowing or young plants (so still at extra cost).
I also have some doubts about therooting of plants with strong developmentlike tomatoes for example… the roots will develop in a substrate that is certainly very loose, but not very stable, resulting in more fragile plants…
Moreover, Charles Dowding tells us: “Am I copying nature?
Not quite…
While it is true that organic matter naturally decomposes on the surface and is integrated into the soil by earthworms and other living organisms, this case is not about already composted materials… gradually decomposing… which is not quite the same when it comes to the development of life in the soil.
And especially in nature it is never 40 cm that suddenly “falls” on the ground…
Which makes me wonder what the long-term consequences of massive additions of compost are? Is there a good chance that such a soil will not be fully saturated with organic matter in 20 or 50 years?
Conclusion
This method, by the way strongly inspired by that of Dominique Soltner, can be interesting to quickly start a small plot, or on land with “stone flower” (ie with a very thin layer of soil)… But in my opinion it is more debatable , in most cases, for a larger vegetable garden.
For my part, and in any case I do not like to act hastily, I rather recommend, in view of living and fertile land, in the long term, a process of composting and gradual mulching.
Your opinions and sharing of experiences are expected in the comments below!
