Gardening is full of conflicting advice. So who should you believe. You might see a problem in a garden, is it really? Let’s dive into it with Charles.
Thanks to Charles Dowding for sharing his wisdom and knowledge! I wrote the following notes watching the video published on Charles Dowding’s channel. You can watch it using this YouTube link.
Mildew
Charles shares that in his experience, it isn’t the end of the world.
It’s more a sequence of events where the plants are losing their older leaves.
Leaves can turn yellow all summer and it’s possible it isn’t a problem.
For example, the uchiki kuri squash won’t do well in a soil with a little bit of gravel.
Plants know how much they produce
It will happen, and I have indeed experienced this in the past, that you will see many fruits on a squash plant appearing, and some will grow to maturation and some will root in the early stage.
That’s fine and you shouldn’t worry much about it.
Growing squash on a compost heap doesn’t deplete the nutrients
Remember: compost is about biological activation of what is already in the soil.
Compost doesn’t burn the roots
It isn’t true.
It’s true when the compost heap itself is still very hot.
A hot compost means the early decomposition process is still going on and the plant won’t find enough goodness to grow well.
Root vegetables lessons
It has been said so often that big root vegetables go woody.
It’s absolutely not true.
Maybe, if it tastes woody, it’s more to do with a poor soil?
Interesting fact
When you cut open a fresh beetroot, you should see some rings, one for every moon cycle.
Sowing Swiss chard shouldn’t happen too early to avoid bolting. Charles suggests for his location to sow charts in April.
The cause of charts bolting is the cold exposure if sown too early.
Also, regarding seedlings, don’t hold them for too long because their quality will decrease.
What yellow leaves tell us
It’s indicating a low nitrogen level.
Don’t blame yourself, learn from experience
Sometimes, a plant won’t grow for some reason.
Blaming yourself is then counterproductive. Observe instead and find out why the plant didn’t grow.
