Charles Dowding's Skills for Growing: Sowing, Spacing, Planting, Picking and More

Book excerpt: A second "gardening course in a book" from master gardener Charles Dowding: 18 lessons, and over 900 photos with detailed captions Grow creatively, learn new skills, save time, enjoy growing success! Includes detailed information on: how to create planting plans: succession and interplanting plant propagation spacing, picking methods, and watering using covers for both warmth and pest protection. how to grow herbs and perennial vegetables how to grow in containers how to multisow Charles Dowding explains the skills and understandings you need, the essentials of gardening success, whether the space you are gardening is large or small. His approach sometimes diverges from the mainstream because he assays and develops new or lesser-known methods, for easier and better results. Lessons Skills and Knowledge Fully Use your Time and Space: how to maximise growth, efficiently Sketch Out the Year: examples of plans and successions for three beds Succession and Rotation: How to plan for and succeed with new plantings throughout summer and into autumn, what can follow what Winter Gardening: Growing and preparing for winter, and harvesting during the hungry gap Perennial Vegetables and Raspberries A growing manual of 12 perennial food plants, Herbs: How to sow, harvest and maintain annuals and perennials, from basil and coriander to sage and thyme Seeds and Sowing: How to source, buy and save seeds, with illustrations of seed saving Propagation Skills: The biggest lesson, packed with information on this important subject Multisowing: Inter-sowing is a form of companion planting, because seedlings like 'nurse plants' nearby, and plants generally like being close to other plants: why and how, many examples, a big timesaver and garden filler! Close Spacings: How and when to do it and why this works so well within reason; details for many vegetables Wider Spacings: Many examples and explanations, see the results from small plants to harvests Planting Methods: Sowing direct, ways to transplant and how to do it quickly Picking Skills: When to pick for different vegetables, seasons, plant growth and harvest requirements Picking Skills(2): More on picking, including discussions and examples of cutting, Small-space Growing: Vegetables in containers, sacks, vertical and one bed Early Cropping and Covers: Using fleece and mesh, their relative values and effects in different seasons Water, Frost, Moon, Energy: How to water, what you need to know about frost and some of my "secrets" of lateral thinking, plus action Note that this is a companion, not a sequel to No Dig Gardening, Course 1. Reading the first course book is not a prerequisite for using this book to garden better!