Love seeing these two seasoned gardeners spar back and forth and would love to see more. ~ Lisa

My husband is 73 and I'm 62. USA Zone 5B. Clay. We garden on a converted small paddock 40x30, it's a flat and we started by using hugelkulture mounted beds, no dig, compost only. Our pathways are clover that stand up to walking and brings in pollinators. This is an awesome interview/conversation. 💚

I have been waiting for this video for a long time. Both of you have had such an impact to my garden in the subtropics down under. Thank you so much!!!

That was a great interview. As a believer you still challenged him. I think he enjoyed it too!

I consider him a great gardener and source of amazing knowledge who share with all of us. I think any opportunity given to him to explain himself and provide information is a treasure.

Lovely that both of you have real experiences and spend time pondering why and how can it be better. Thanks.

This interview is fantastic! 2 Brilliant Gardeners talking about their organic gardening methods? The world needs more of this! I learned so much. Thank you!

The future for humanity is uncertain but we must learn to feed ourselves and start growing fruit and vegetables 🥕. Love how he’s not dogmatic . Charles you’re awesome spreading the word and teaching us so much .

I love that you could agree to disagree and challenge each other respectfully. Thank you for a great interview.

I LOVE THIS conversation - really penetrating questions, different viewpoints, lovely polite British personalities of Charles and Bunny that I love so much having a real heated discussion about concepts. I'm also so delighted by the photo of the Soil (society?) members way back when - those are real clothes man. Yay corduroy! You know, Bunny, I've got a plate in one ankle and a very bad knee from a dancing accident - but I've discovered the slow squat. I don't typically use it in gardening yet - but I'm much improved now after strengthening the supporting muscles (yay 65 and over! I follow KZfaq physical therapists). I hope to move toward squatting over my beds in the future now that I dance for an hour every day including the squat. Much love to both of you - you are both such profound mentors of the soil for me and so many others. Warmest regards Jennie

I loved watching you and Charles. I'm 71 and gardening for over 50 years. I love gardening in pots, but I still do Garden in the ground. You two should do more together 🌿💚🌿

Bunny stirring the pot with Charles this is a great video with my two fav KZfaqs. We all learn so much from these two. Love this video

Awesome Bunny, way to stand your ground. Seriously though, nice chat!

Charles has hugely inspired my gardening,and now I've discovered your videos, so happy 😍😍

Two of my favs!

This is really interesting. I would love to see a longer talk between the two of you! And it's also so interesting to hear two different sides, or maybe more like two different ways of looking at things like that. And why, if so, you might look at it differently. And also to hear what the two of you (I mean in the aspect of professional gardeners that is) find interesting or inspirering. And see what you pick up on about research that is out there. Lovely

Growing up knowing only permaculture, self-sustainability, syntropic planting, food forests, and later Charles Dowding, I really appreciate how they taught me to view weeds, ecosystems, fertiliser inputs etc. However I've always disliked how messy(!) these gardens are - CDs is neat to be fair - but I've seen a lot of rough permie gardens. I'd love to see more of a marriage between design and tidiness of "conventional" gardening with the "nonconventional" growing methods. And I also love lawn, yes, you can't eat grass, but children can't play football on the sweet potatoes.

Wonderful....I loved watching 2 gardening Gurus go back and forth on their firm gardening beliefs. Bunny---you are correct, elderly gardeners need raised beds.

I agree with many of the previous posts - what an excellent video! I have learnt so much from BG & CD over the years; two people who inspire confidence by regularly referring to scientific evidence. Fantastic to see you question each other’s approaches and in such a respectful way. Loved it, thanks.

Love watching all his gardening his love for gardening the green fingers they are just stunning gardeners wow I love doing all of it to getting your own veggies stuff I going my own compost wow itsavery long thing but

… I have been following Charles for some time now, I adore and respect him very much … I recently found you and your tremendous contributions as well ! … being an artist and interior designer I especially appreciate your overall aesthetics to gardening and design …. Another gardener that I highly respect is the young Huw Richards, who is a rising star !… he was a follower of Charles Dowding and has developed his own direction and had become very active in the permaculture aspect of gardening … what a fascinating world gardening is !

What a treat.Charles is in the south west where it is very wet and Bunny is in the east where it is dry.Hence more slugs in wooden sides in west.

I was doing this as a child in the 1970s and I didn't use pesticides I looked up organic ways to keep pest and disease out of the garden I would buy vintage garden books and read them to see how the older gardeners did it

Lots of useful, challenged info available, too. Makes Very useful viewing 👌✌️

I love this man!!!!! He is amazing!!

Loved watching two experts discussing their passion. Best thing I’ve seen in ages, unfaltering conviction. Thank you 🐰

Such a brilliant discussion! Love it to have a proper conversation. It makes Charles the opportunity to answer some though questions and the results is a great addition to his own channel! Love from Stockholm Sweden 🤗❤️🌷

Ms. Bunny & Mr. "No-Dig" !! Wonderful exchange of opinions. Especially the pros & cons of raised beds

Love your program- very interesting during the lockdowns in Melb

Two of my favorite gardeners, loved this union!

fantastic interview...Ill need to rewatch a few times to take all the info in, there was so much packed in there...thank you

Loved this video! Great seeing you questioning him and each of you supporting your gardening philosophy. I'm with you in the raised beds! I'm 66 with a knee replacement and 3 back vertebra fused so raised beds with an edge that I can sit on are wonderful. I only have 1 small one now but plan increasing. I have a Greenstalk planting tower which has been helpful too. Thank you for this great interview!

Outstanding!

Wonderful insights into both your gardening journeys.

Loved the banter between you both.

lovely video....you two provide such great insight. Wish we could all see the importance of soil health.

Brilliant video, I have just spent a day at home acres . It all makes so much sense . Thank you for sharing. Heather Isle of Wight.

Excellent interview! Always interesting to challenge somebody. Thanks a lot!

Great interview, we 💚love💚 Mr Dowding

The man, the myth, the legend

Love this so interesting.

I was glad to hear you talk about no dig results of raised beds vs no dig ones and walking on no dig areas to get to your plants. I put in my first no dig garden this spring and the results are amazing. I get alot of comments from people as to the health and size of my plants and find that I have very few pests to contend with which I attribute to this method.

wonderfully informative interview. Congratulations!

Excellent video. I have now done no dig it in the main garden and minimal weeding all summer. Thank you for all your knowledge and most importantly, for passing the information on to others. I have gained a ton of knowledge watching videos from you in the UK. i just adjust my sowing times.

I love the raised brick beds you did for Mary Berry, Bunny. They are sturdy enough to be sat on and just the right height & width to attend plants from both sides comfortably, and the plants looked so healthy and thriving. The brickwork was also so beautifully done that they were landscaping features in their own right. Being over 60yrs, I'm all for raised beds :)

Great interview!

Super discussion and lovely vegetables despite it being a show garden.

Great interview, there’s multiple ways to garden but certainly permaculture with no dig is the best way to save and help our planet. Thanks for sharing.

Fascinating conversation.

Thank you for a friendly dialogue without being subservient. Agree with most of his tenets but with extreme success he has become more dogmatic--seems to happen with success it pays well.

Well done. Good to see a good challenge on raised beds. Back and knees not what they use to be. 😂😂

Whole lot of respect for this man. The womsplaining was intense in this, but Charles did at least get a few words in.

Fabulous. Good for you Charles. You sold it to the sceptics in that! Not me of course, I'm no sceptic as you know. The science is there!! Marvellous to see this on mainstream TV! We need so much more on mainstream, please. So many people think gardening is hard work. Yes, the set-up can be a bit of hard work in places, I'm removing paving slabs tomorrow from beneath a greenhouse, but the rewards are endless. This video has made my weekend

two of my favorite ppl

Look how amazing those vegs look. 🥦 🌶

My favorite two Gardners ❤ Love both of their ideas on gardening! From bottomless pots to no dig. Keep sharing your wonderful ideas!!! And the earth will be a better place for all.🐿🦔🐞🐜🥰

What a wonderful interview. It is great to see a respectful exchange of honest ideas - just goes to show that you 'can' provide a counter opinion without being labelled a 'troll'! LOL. I'm about to start an entirely new bit of vege patch on our property, and I am going to do it from scratch via "no dig". We're in the south island of New Zealand, and have drought issues in the summer - so your conversation with Charles has helped me to decide that raised beds won't be the best for us due to water shortages. (It's also helped to firm up my idea of adding spouting to the low side of our barn roof to collect water throughout the winter). Thank you so much!! xx

I made 2 large borders 18 months ago using the no dig method. I planted a combination of grasses, perennials and annuals between the already established shrubs. I had great growth both last summer and this summer. I added a foot of shredded leaves to the beds last autumn also. I garden on very heavy red clay in an area that receives about 55 inches of rain annually.

MELBOURNE Australia here, never heard of this gentleman but what an interesting program, I’m thinking of digging up my front nature strip ( not sure if you have these in England tp plant veg but now I’m thinking I might just mulch fertilise and plant Thank you, find your videos really interesting

He has also convinced me. 😀

Now I know he's a veggie I respect him even more, he didn't discover no dig but he's made it mainstream for everyone to discover ,great human being

Charles is so gracious in his observations. My raised beds are only 6 to 12 inches, not two feet. Done simply to accommodate more plants than a hill. Flat ground-level beds here would roast or get flooded in our southeast Alberta climate. No dig is maybe the best... but doesn't really apply to potatoes or carrots, which root deeply. Oh well.

The elegant face of rivalry. Aka expressing difference of opinion. 👨🏽‍🌾🧏🏽👨🏽‍🔬

I do have to agree about the raised beds. As someone who suffers with rheumatoid arthritis, I find raised beds as a godsend.

If you only have a small garden, I think the most ergonomic option is a workbench raised bed: a waste-level bed elevated on sturdy legs. Or large pots or planter boxes sitting on a little raised terrace or top of a low retaining wall. Both of these eliminate bending over if they are narrow enough to reach across to sow and harvest all from one side. The workbench bed has the benefit for suburbanites of creating extra space too.

Such a humble but brilliant idea. Animals grazing the fields and putting down manure works in the same way. So really co2 emissions are not caused by cow farts, they are actually caused by modern agriculture disrupting the soil.

I live in Cheshire, close to the Welsh border , so very damp & wet climate ! In my current garden , I have been gardening it for 11 years, i used to have wooden edges on my borders. Until last year I invested in some knee high ,metal raised beds , This year the slug population has been dramatic in its decline :) Although in my brick raised beds( in a walled garden) they still seem to hide out . So the slugs favourite plants now all go in the metal beds .

Plants love being together. Touching, cuddling, communicating, keeping toasty. Prince Charles was right all along.

👍❤️😊

Really enjoyed this. What an interesting topic. Do you also apply the no dig concept outside the veg garden, i.e In borders etc?

This was really interesting. Excellent conversation bringing up many useful points. However I have a potion of a field which has been compacted by lorries and machinery driving over it and now want to reseed it. Should I rotovate or not?

It's nice to see Bunny bicker with someone other than Bob for a change! Great post

Good interview had a laugh with Charlie quoted the good book...nothing new under the sun... composting is very situation pacific.The aggregate ( Golmalis the larger of the mycorrhiza actors)along with it partners mycorrhiza fungi dose mine minerals but mostly phosphorus the wood chip good for path ways many year before becoming useful.A good C/N carbon nitrogen ratio is 25, The Russians were the godfathers of the soil exploration with the massive continental area (excuse the 7 continental regions) lots of soil differences to investigate and they put names on a lot of soil types, I find people eyes drift when to much detail is relayed about soil, people need to know carbon is drawn down into the soil by plants then used to build structures most important is to care for the key stone plants/ crops and help moves down the chain thereafter I'm very glad you did this awareness video very refreshing. Sorry I went on a bit.😅

No dig works as long as you buy in masses of compost. Producing the amount of compost needed would be a full time job in itself.

The mulch shields the soils particles from the impact of water, too 💦 . With clay and loam that impact can caused glazing, screwing up absorption, which in turn means runoff and erosion.

If you can’t get a hand shovel in the soil (when it’s moist) then it could use broadforking I would think.

What are the causes of blight ?? For once i grew several varieties of beatiful , strong looking tomato plants , packed full of fruit , then one day last week i realised they contacted blight , and had to uproot them all , it was heartbreaking .

Thank you for the interesting video. Just a question. In Germany there is a discussion how healthy it is to use carton on the soil because of all the chemicals in it. The German Umweltbundesamt actually advises against it. I use it still, because it’s a free resource and in my mind a good way to recycle it. What is your opinion?

What do you recommend if you have knotweed. Doesn’t it grow through even if its smoother with cardboard and tons of compost?

This video was like watching two dogs meet in the street - both wagging tails, but growling at the same time. I am guessing they have both disagreed in the past. Enjoyable though - as ever on this channel.

I started a vegetable garden 5 years ago with the no dig method. The only problem is that I never have enough compost or grass clippings. Could you tell me (by volume) the amount of compost you add to each sowing per square meter? Thank you

I'd say three factors against no-dig, well not exactly against but offering a different perspective. Namely bind weed and mare's tale etc. In my experience you simply can't eliminate them with a covering. I've had the stuff come up through double or triple lined plastic in ponds and so on. You have to at the end of the growing season or in the winter dig the beds to try to get as much out as possible. Another factor is more abstract. In "nature" soil is actually disturbed by animals, roots, trees falling etc so I think soil can adapt to that. Digging on my plot I always feel the birds, particularly the robins are very happy too. With manure added and digging it seems to me the results are impressive. Third would be the amount of compost you need to do the method, after you have put the card down. It's quite considerable if you don't have the money. Is a 5% increase in yield say really such a big deal and factors can't be attributed to one thing. Also climate change now and so when the seasons start is very unpredictable.

I throw my charcoal from barbecuing into my garden beds. Must help somewhere down the line. Bit like using activated charcoal for myself.

Dear Bunny, Please interview Stephanie Hafferty…now that would be a far more interesting interview!

This year i made a no dig cardboard bed , with a brick border rather than wood .

I was trow away from a few Facebook garden groups for promoting the no-dig method (I was polite)

He won’t be moved! 😁 No to raised beds.

"penetrometer"... Is that for garden use?

check out the work of paul stamets

Agree to disagree 😀

Please let him speak

If interrupting Charles wast enough, her claim that raised beds don't harbor slugs ended it for me

It seems quite combative. An interesting lack of eye contact. Lots of raised chin defensiveness from Dowding. Maybe they should have had a drink and a sit down before hand.

Aweful interview. Like running fingers over a blackboard when you probed his finances! What a cheek, a GUINNESS golden spoon-type having the NERVE to go there!! Charles is a serious person with 60 something years of knowledge and deserved far more respect that you gave him. His gentleness and subtlety versus your gauche BBC self righteousness = knock out for Charles. The question I ask myself is would BG have asked such questions of Alan TitchMarsh (who also makes his money from books/media not by pushing a trowel?) No! Ps. Work on your eye contact BG. Not looking at someone normally either means you don't like the person or you're lying? So, which is it?

I found her to be argumentative with a tendency to interrupt. Hard to watch as a result......