Charles Dowding
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Charles Dowding

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Guide | 1 months ago

How to Tell When Vegetables Are Ready to Harvest

When vegetables approach maturity, choose the best moment for picking them. For flavour, sweetness, and quantity too, because regular picking can help your vegetables keep producing.

Melons and tomatoes take what feels an age to mature, then ripen very quickly, according to variety. Cherry tomatoes take longer than beef tomatoes. Watermelons need more time to mature than Charentais melons, and need warmth.

In fact, we have enjoyed a warmer spring and early summer than normal, so harvests have come ready before I was expecting them.

There are many options for sweetcorn harvests. This is Goldcrest F1, a supersweet variety. Sown 10th April and planted 25th, with fleece over.

Onions are more abundant than normal because of high sunshine levels, and a lack of rain. Outside I am watering cucumbers, celery and sweetcorn much more than usual. Especially the celery.

Filmed at Homeacres no dig garden by Nicola Smith, on 21st July 2026.

Red spider mite biological control https://gardening-naturally.com/products/phytoseiulus?tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=17653985753&tw_kwdid=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20961670974&gbraid=0AAAAAD9ZOgwgq6GppPJ2bjmxchWneQ0o7&gclid=Cj0KCQjw94bTBhDQARIsAN3vv0yGLgEOSzvAfCq6K8jpcWHjgqJB1d3EFbCgA4dWnc3M1bjj0_ccR8EaAiA8EALw_wcB

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00:00 Introduction 00:21 Melons in the greenhouse - ripe and unripe, signs of readiness 01:30 Cutting one open, Alvaro F1 02:27 Red spider mite predator, see link above 02:47 Different varieties - Emir F1 and Ogen 03:48 Beef tomatoes - removing at breaking stage, to finish ripening off the plant 04:42 Cherry tomatoes, Sungold F1 - signs of ripeness 05:25 Polytunnel - tomatoes and watermelon, indications of readiness 06:36 More melons Alvaro, Emir and Ogen 06:56 Long cucumbers - when to pick 07:36 Outdoor ridge cucumbers La Diva - signs of readiness 09:11 Sweetcorn - clues to ripeness, and growing in a block 11:43 Potatoes Désirée, maincrop - difference between potato categories 12:17 Harvesting no dig potatoes, proximity to sunflowers 13:24 Green leaves on potato plants, and spacing 13:45 Multisown beetroot - spacing, and removing one from a clump, two varieties 15:30 Celery Tango - when and how to harvest 16:33 Red onions Red Baron - multisown and grown from seed, how to harvest 18:03 Onion Long Red Florence / Tropea long,, also multisown

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Indexed videos from Charles Dowding

How to Tell When Vegetables Are Ready to Harvest

Guide | 1 months ago

When vegetables approach maturity, choose the best moment for picking them. For flavour, sweetness, and quantity too, because regular picking can help your vegetables keep producing. Melons and tomatoes take what feels an age to mature, then ripen very quic...

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Small Garden in High Summer | Harvests, Replanting & Watering

Video | 1 months ago

Harvests continue to be abundant and there is plenty replanted for autumn. The dry, sunny weather means that watering is especially important this year. This small no dig garden measures just 25 square metres (270 square feet), yet it continues to provide a...

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When to Harvest Sweetcorn | How to Know It's Ready

Guide | 1 months ago

Sweetcorn is ripening earlier than usual this year after a long period of warm, dry weather. In this video I show you exactly what signs to look for when deciding whether your cobs are ready to pick, from the drying tassels to checking the kernels for perfe...

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How to keep summer lettuce cropping without bolting

Guide | 1 months ago

Lettuce in high summer, how to maintain growth and harvests over many weeks, from one sowing. These were all sown in early to mid June. Water plants regularly. Grow in no dig, mulched soil. Choose suitable varieties.The Batavian types are excellent, such as...

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July No Dig Garden Tour: Peak Harvests, New Sowings & Watering Tips

Guide | 1 months ago

It's the season of peak harvests, meaning also beds coming empty, with opportunities to re-sow and re-plant. July is the peak month for growth, because days are still long and it's normally warmer than June. Seize every moment to keep up with growth so that...

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Can You Compost Weeds Without Them Growing Back?

Guide | 2 months ago

You can compost perennial weeds, such as bindweed, couch grass, docks and ground elder. They and their roots decompose, even without heat. Through being converted to compost, they bring valuable organic matter and nutrients to your ground. For decomposition...

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Vegetables You Can Still Sow in July | No Dig Gardening

Short | 2 months ago

Many sowings are still possible in the second half of summer, and here are some ideas for July. In this no dig garden, I show sowings of chard, lettuce, endive, chicory, radicchio, cabbage, beetroot and collards, all helping to keep your garden full and pro...

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Differences Between Two Sowings of Celery

Short | 2 months ago

Sowings of February and April give a nice continuity of harvests. The first one we see is Tango F1 sown 1st April and transplanted 4th May. Then the large celery is VictoriaF sown 26th February, transplanted 6th April. We water them every day! See how two s...

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Harvests of Courgettes & Multi-sown Beetroot

Guide | 2 months ago

How to look after your courgette/zucchini plants, so that they are easier to harvest from and live for a longer time. By removing the older lower leaves each week, harvesting becomes easier and the plants stay tidy and productive for longer. Removing unwant...

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How to Know When Onions Are Ready to Harvest

Guide | 2 months ago

Choosing a good moment to pull onions. We want them fully grown, but not lingering more than necessary. That gives them more time to ripen, dry well for storage, and there is more time to plant succession vegetables. All these are grown from seed, and were ...

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Protecting Young Plants | No Dig Garden Tips

Guide | 2 months ago

How to use different covers to protect young vegetable plants from rabbits, deer and pigeons. In my no dig garden I show Thermacrop, garden mesh and bird netting protecting newly planted beetroot, lettuce and carrots. The Thermacrop at the start of this vid...

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Squash Are So Healthy and Easy with No Dig

Short | 2 months ago

One month after transplanting. No plastic mulch, few weeds. How I control bindweed. In the UK we have no vine borers! See how squash grow vigorously with no dig, while I keep the plants under control as they spread across neighbouring beds. Also a nearby in...

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