How to Create a New Vegetable Garden: Producing a beautiful and fruitful garden from scratch

Excellent book on gardening in general, but especially on starting in a new spot. Best discussion of invasive perennial weeds I've ever found in a gardening book. Advice not only on beds but paths as well. How long to expect covered weeds (with their light blocked) to remain a threat and when you could reasonably expect to see them gone. Extremely clear writing plus photographs that explain a lot. Also photographs of the author's various beds, how each was started under different conditions. His experiments with added products, with more or less digging, with several crops in one space each year. Lots more, from seed starting to space saving. Must mention the author seems truly invested in whether the reader goes on to enjoy gardening and is successful. He includes even those photos that show mistakes and carefully tells what he did wrong. I had a few difficulties understanding some words, since I'm not from the UK but the US, but in context I figured out what was meant pretty quickly. Not a problem. The book is quite attractive, well bound, and the pages are of good paper. Would make a nice gift.

I just love this book and sure wish I would have had it when we moved to our new house last fall. It would have saved me a ton of money on the roto tiller and all this other stuff I bought to start fresh with our garden. I had a garden at our old house but needed to turn about a half acre of weedy pasture into a new garden when we moved. Charles Dowding's no-dig approach to starting a new garden is nice and simple and doesn't cost a ton of money. Plus it's SO much easier than doing all that digging! I started watching some of his videos on YouTube and decided to get this book. He is based in the UK and I'm in the US but no problems because he always gives measurements and weights in both metric and imperial units. He's just so calm and encouraging, he lets you know that you CAN do this! I loved the book so much I bought a second copy for my daughter who is buying her first home next month. I plan to purchase a few more of his books. He is such a treasure trove of useful information! This book is well worth the money. Take a look at his YouTube listed under the username Charles Dowding and also Morag Gamble for more info on this type of gardening.

Charles Dowding's No Dig gardening is transforming home and commercial gardens around the world. Loaded with photos and examples and charts, this book tells you how to get started from nothing. How to establish beds and plant the same day! No digging! Ever! My garden is 2 years old now, and producing beautifully. Still very low maintenance.

I was looking for a better way to do my garden and came across Charles You Tube videos , I liked what I saw so purchased numerous books written by him. They are all informative and so far I have been happy with the results in the garden, I have put a lot of his ideas to work and a few from other individuals for the No Dig garden that I have, it's fun to experiment with the ideas and find out which seems to work best for you. My weeding time has been cut down by an incredible amount, I have 2 Tillers and have not used them this year, production has been OK, but I believe the more I work with the No Dig, it will only get better. I have given a few of his books to my children and work with them in their gardens. Only problem I have is getting enough compost made. He is in a different temperate zone , he is in 8A in the UK , I believe and I am at 6A in the USA, so some planting time and such he describes has to be adjusted for your growing area. Also some terms in the UK need deciphered to we Americans, not to difficult, but he does use both measurement standards. To sum up quickly, excellent advise from a very knowledgeable gardener.

I bought this for my grown son and his wife. They are using it to start a big garden and really love it. It answered many of their questions and gave them lots of good information.

I have found this book to be very helpful. I have no experience with no-till gardening. I originally found this author's youtube videos, which I enjoyed so much that I went to amazon to see if he had any books, turns out he has a number of them. This book is a great guide for everything from beginning to end. I'm very happy with this book (worth every cent) and have already picked out the next book I will be ordering from this author. Hope this helps!

After 40 years of gardening, I discovered there is so much more to learn. Comprehensive, well put together information. I am putting in a new garden, this method appears sound and easy to implement. Couldn't put the book down

This book gives the most complete directions in how to do a no till method of gardening ever, with little to no work after it is started. If your wise enough to benefit from someone else's experience and wisdom you must have this book. I also want to thank Charles Dowding for sharing his vast experience that will put anyone just starting out years ahead. Think You, S. E. Cooper

We bought one of Charles newer books and it wasn't really what we were looking for as new gardeners so I returned it and bouggt this book. This is everything you could need, and more, it is a great book with invaluable information, great photos, and the best calenders. I definately recomend this book if you are new to vegetable gardening as we are!

For my use it was too heavy in trials and comparisons. I already use a no-dig gardening method so I didn't need to be convinced.

This book is great if you wish to get going with your own veg garden. Its given me all I needed and am so excited

I love Charles Dowding's books. However, in most of Canada we do not garden around Christmas or in February, when the ground is frozen and, blankets of snow are on it!

Als Anfänger im Gemüseanbau habe ich mir dieses Buch gekauft. Charles Dowding kenne ich von Youtube und mochte immer die Art seiner Erklärungen und wie er an Probleme im Garten herangeht. Durch das Buch habe ich viel Nützliches gelernt, welches ich sofort im eigenen Garten anwenden konnte. Besonders gut finde ich, dass Dowding nicht einfach seine Meinung zu Themen rausschleudert und erwartet, dass es akzeptiert wird, sondern er Fragestellungen wie etwa 'ist gekaufter Kompost besser als eigener Kompost?' mit Logik angeht und anhand seiner Experimente selbst klärt. Hier legt er immer zwei gleiche Beete an, wo er einen Parameter abändert, um zu testen, wo das Gemüse besser wächst. Die Beobachtungen sind in Vergleichenden Tabellen dargestellt. Somit vermittelt das Buch meiner Meinung nach fundiertes Wissen für Anfänger und klärt vielleicht auch Unklarheiten für Fortgeschrittene.