Charles Dowding is an internationally recognized organic gardening expert and winner of the 2014 Garden Media Guild Practical Journalist of the Year award. He talks on radio and television and contributes articles to many magazines, including  Gardeners' World ,  Gardens llustrated  and  Grow It! He gives regular talks, runs courses and advises many gardeners on best practice, including the National Trust in the UK.  He is a veteran organic grower, having practised no-dig gardening for many years. In his gardens over the years he has run experiments to compare differences in growth between vegetables on dug and undug soil. He has discovered different patterns of growth in most seasons, with slightly lower yields, more weeds and slugs found on the dug beds.  He is currently establishing a new  garden to illustrate no-dig practice and form the basis for a new experiment.  He says: "I have always been interested in lookiing 'behind the scenes' and asking why things are as they are, questioning practices that are taken for granted. This led me to grow organically, at a time when the chemical approach was rarely challenged.

" His books for Green Books are: Organic Gardening: the natural, no-dig way Salad Leaves for All Seasons How to Grow Winter Vegetables Gardening Myths and Misconceptions Find out more at www.charlesdowding.co.uk . Photo: Stephanie Hafferty.