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They say never meet your heroes…
But perhaps that should include finding more out about them, too.
I’ve been using the guidance of Charles Dowding for some years now as regards no dig vegetable growing and I’ve found that it works pretty well. I don’t agree necessarily with everything he says, but in the main it makes reasonable sense. Particularly as it ties in with information I’ve been given by farmers local to my home.
However, I’ve just come across a podcast he took part in for “Here Come the Meat Bastards”.
In this podcast he starts talking about chemtrails which have been so completely debunked as an idea that I can’t believe anyone is still willing to go on record as thinking it real. He then goes on to offer up the idea that (deliberate) weather control is happening and that climate change is not real. We’re really into tinfoil hat territory there.
This is such a shame as it detracts from what I believe is a valid message about the way we garden. Why should I believe what he says about growing vegetables for example, when he promotes ideas that have been completely discredited?
Posted in Environment
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Another distrail
I’ve not seen one of these for quite some time. The last one I have a photo of was in January 2012!
Quite sweet to have a contrail running right alongside it.
No dig diary, 1st July 2026
Didn’t do a huge amount today, but first off I planted out all my spare squashes in the polycrub. Hopefully they’ll be happy enough there. Still need to get some weeding done in the polycrub, but that can wait a day or two.
Next up was weeding in “The Melon House”, which is actually a greenhouse where I attempt to grow not only melons, but also aubergines and chiles. There wasn’t an awful lot that needed doing and once it was tidy I planted out all the melon seedlings that germinated — only five, sadly.
There’s actually a fair bit of space left here, so I might plant something else as well. I have plenty of spare tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
Finally I did a little tidying up in the polytunnel, mostly removing leaves from the tomatoes below trusses that had set fruit, so it doesn’t look a whole lot different from yesterday.
Posted in Polytunnel, Smallholding, Veg plot
Tagged melons, no dig, squashes, tomatoes
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An unfortunate choice of words?
Actually, it’s a very poor choice of words, given that it could mean that either player won.
Posted in Random
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Got them all today
After a few days of missing a reading…
No dig diary, 30th June 2026
I took myself off to the polytunnel this afternoon and indulged myself in a little weeding, winding. watering and wsideshooting whilst listening to the rain hammering on the cover. It does look much better now.
Whilst grubbing around the plants, I noticed that I have some self-seeded red basil that has started growing.
And there’s a Slovakia pepper that is starting to turn red.
Favourite has to be these Cayenne peppers though. I can’t wait to see if they all come out like this.
And whilst on my way back to the house during a moment of respite from the rain, I noticed that some of the red onions that I replanted to produce seeds have started to flower.
Oddly though, given that all the bulbs are in their second year, not all of them have shown an interest in doing so. It’ll be interesting to see if those that don’t instead produce fat bulbs as sets would do.
Posted in Polytunnel, Smallholding, Veg plot
Tagged basil, chiles, no dig, onions, sweet peppers, tomatoes
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This time I forgot the middle one
But remembered morning and evening…
Seems bizarre to me…
As Germany and Paraguay go to penalties to decide their World Cup match, it strikes me as very odd that commentators bang on about their history in penalty deciders.
How, for example, would the result of a shoot-out sixteen years ago give you any indication of how the current team, most of whom would, I imagine, have been in their teens at the time, are going to perform now? Or how is the fact that Germany have never lost a penalty shoot-out at the World Cup likely to give them the advantage?
[Edit: And has it happened, it didn’t.]
Posted in Random
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No dig diary, 29th June 2026
Managed to do some seed-sowing today for the first time in more than a week, thanks to the cooler weather. On the list today were beetroot, peas, spring onions, coriander, radish and swede. I also potted up a couple of purple peppers into four litre pots.
There was harvesting, too. Beetroot tarte tatin was on the menu for this evening courtesy of my daughter, so I collected some red and yellow beets. What she doesn’t use, I will pickle.
Posted in Smallholding, Veg plot
Tagged beetroot, coriander, no dig, peas, radish, spring onions, swede
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