Wait, what??? You're human??!! lolol No worries, thanks for being transparent and leaving it in and love the grab and eat broccoli! :) We understand long weeks! lol
One thing I always have to remind myself of this time of year is that the least expensive part of gardening is the seeds. It’s worth it to sow more at the risk of them not reaching maturity because if they DO it was only pennies worth of input with potentially a good amount of food.
One sign that you're a great teacher is when your student implements the strategies you recommend before you put them out on UA-cam ;) I've learnt so much from huw and am now in the permaculture design course (with geof lawton, a natural evolution after huw) and it all started on this (and Charles Dowding's) channel and I'm eternally in gratitude. I learn the most from my mistakes, and others similar mistakes, and this heat season has been a great learning experience in UK and EU. Wish you all the best for 2023 and beyond.
I'm doing that course too! And Huw has been a big inspiration to me as well. Especially with his seed sowing and abundant raised beds. See you in the course 😁
Huw, I live in Auckland NZ. We always do chop and drop to keep the soil covered as our climate is just too hot to have bare soil in summer, and too warm to leave bare in winter, as weeds grow so quickly. The other thing we do is bury kitchen scraps- even chicken frames go in the rhubarb and asparagus areas. The soil becomes even more able to hold moisture with the mini worm farms that this produces, the plants are fed and it cuts out the need for the composting process.
Have you considered using level beds? One of the great things about raised bed is that they help provide drainage, but that might be counterproductive when trying to conserve water.
Went to the allotment between storms yesterday just to watch rain water running into the barrel. Our newly installed system; handmade wooden gutters lined with pond liner, running into a kitchen funnel then through a bicycle inner tube is working very well! The wood came from the communal bonfire pile, the pond liner came from Eric our allotment neighbour, the inner tube from a local cycle repair shop. It may not work as well as shop bought guttering but it’s fun and makes me smile everyday!
Hugh. Thank you. ❤️ I became a Google and UA-cam gardener as a result of the covid pandemic. You are my absolute FAVORITE master gardener. ❤️ I've learned so much from you since I found your channel. In my third year gardening and everything here continues to thrive, flourish and grow. I harvest, it replenishes. I'm in zone 6a in Missouri btw. It's all Heavenly and wonderful! I thank you for sharing your knowledge. You're saving lives.
My hero crop has got to be Brussels sprouts. I grow them really close together and eat the leaves not the sprouts. The flowering shoots next spring are so much nicer than sprouting broccoli
Here in North Scotland the heat wave is a blessing, 20-27 deg C. Tomatoes might actually ripen in time, Early potatoes in bags did well as they ripened before the heat, took 30 pounds up. Main crops not so much, starting to yellow now, a bit early. Sneak peeks indicate heavy common scab on the white ones, but the reds seem ok thus far. Onions suffered bolting, but got a decent ammount although small bulbs. We hav a crazy ammount of wasp activity, this may account for the lack of cabbage moths? Leeks ready to plant out into the potato spaces when the temp cools a tad. Broad beeans diong fine, runners slow but still in flower from a foot upwards. Second peas 6 ft tall, first pods forming, 3rd peas in ground, pre germinated on wet tissue. Super harvest of strawbs and currants, all jammed and jared. Great advice on Huws channel as ever.
If there's one thing I'm taking notes from after all this hot weather, it's that over the next few months I need to aggressively get my hands on several IBC tanks, just incase we get another summer like this. The garden has been such a help keeping the bills down this year, it would be crazy not to try and build a bit more resilience into my garden. Plus, this way I can hopefully keep talapia too!
Check out your local farm auctions as they can be found there but also the large black water tanks that are over 6ft tall and hold 2000litres but they can be cut in 2ft rings to make cheap raised beds.
What a wonderful video, Huw! Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging words. I started my vegetable garden for the first time this year and have experimented quite a bit with my vegetables. I love how you talked about psychological health as well because it can be a downer if you try growing veggies for the first time and you fail. Thanks once again!
Thank you for sharing your struggles. Sometimes I see your perfect garden and I get discouraged when half my produce has been overrun by pests or suffered in the weather. It's nice to know how you take setbacks and redirect your energy into more productive ideas. What a great channel
The way our house is built you can’t collect grey water (all piping is hidden). So we are taking showers (water only) in a bucket in the garden with the hose and using that to water the veggies! Also I collect all water from boiling , water canning or washing vegs and rice for the garden too!
I keep a watering can by my kitchen sink. Rather than waste the water while waiting for it to get hot for washing dishes, I fill my watering can. For me, that's a gallon of water to go from cold to hot.
Switching from wood mulch to straw has probably been the most beneficial thing ive done this year. Not only does it still help distribute moisture the brighter color has helped significantly with soil temperatures.
@@vanessaking5320 if I can source of for a decent price in NW Arkansas, will definitely give it a try. Thank you for the tip. We have lotsa trees and some mills here so wood shavings are what is typical.
Last summer we used waste sheeps wool as a mulch for corn, pumpkins and zucchini. It reduced evaporation so much that basically didn’t water all summer. If you’re near a rural area, you can often source it free. We’re not in the depths of an extremely wet Southern Hemisphere winter - with the opposite set of challenges. Localised flooding on our property today. Sadly, climate changes is moving faster than even the most pessimistic of us anticipated. The future focus will need to be very much on adaptation. In our gardens, microclimates and water/energy/nutrient capture and storage will be a big theme. That’s essentially what you’re doing by using your old leafy greens as a mulch on another bed. Water, energy and nutrient captured by the plants in previous months is relocated and redistributed as it breaks down. Love your videos Huw. You and the other young gardeners on UA-cam really give me hope.
It's very reassuring to hear that others are struggling at the moment to deal with the increasingly difficult weather conditions! I have found that by following the principles for soil health of keeping the soil covered and planted as much as possible, is really helping to minimise evaporation, which is in turn keeping my plants happier
I am an experienced dry land gardener. There have been many a hot, dry summer in Texas - so I feel your pain. I'm surprised you're not sowing more crops that originate in hot climates. Corn, peppers, husk cherries, tomatillos, gourds, many varieties of squash, sweet potato slips, and picking cucumbers all need ground temps between 30c and 35c degrees to germinate. Amaranth is native to (or at least has escaped and grows wild) throughout the American Southwest desert and loves the heat. Ditto Sunflowers. If they can survive 45c degree heat in Texas, they'll survive a heat wave in Wales! Of course, you may not be a fan of those foods, and that may deter you from planting them. Also of enormous help to cool the soil is white mulch or landscaping fabric. The white spun poly row covers you use for deterring bugs early in the season make excellent sun parasols for wilting vegetables in the high heat. Remember that thin shade provided by row covers won't slow crops or production when it's that hot and sunny. You are already doing well to "bank" moisture in the soil with thick (and heat-reflective) mulches. so there is little else by way of advice I can offer you. I Love your channel - keep up the good work!
One of the issues is that in a 'normal' year a lot of those plants wouldn't do very well here at all. My last frost date is around the end of May, if I wait until then to start peppers then I'm not going to be eating very many of them. In a summer with normal-for-the-UK moisture levels, even tomatoes and potatoes are pretty iffy due to blight. It's impossible to predict whether we're going to get a decent summer in advance, let alone a super hot one. There are also issues with photoperiod sensitivity this far north. There are varieties of bean we can't really grow here because they need a certain number of hours of darkness and we don't get it. There is a lot more to growing in hot dry weather than just the temperature. My own approach to this problem is to grow a really diverse range of plants. I have corn and squash and French beans, but I also have peas and broad beans and lettuce. This year the beans., squash and corn are doing pretty well, but a dry spring wasn't so good for the peas and broad beans, and someone (not me, I suspect thirsty pigeons) ate all the lettuce repeatedly (I'll sow again after the heat wave). Last year we had a cold wet spring, a brief period of low rainfall and heat, and then flooding; the early peas and lettuce were amazing, but the French beans didn't really have time to do much before getting flooded out.
@@artsyhonkerful This. I'm in Germany and it's a similar situation. I start my peppers and chili plants indoors in February (among other slow growers like celery, celeriac eggplant or artichoke) and at that point it's not possible to anticipate what the summer will be like. Nor in March when I start my tomatoes indoors. And this summer was really record-breaking in terms of drought and temperatures in both our countries. Last year was too cool and rainy, this year is just the reverse, but trying to grow crops that thrive in hot climates would have been a shot in the foot last year and we have no idea what next year will be like. Last year, my corn didn't produce much nor did the peppers, nor the squashes or pumpkins, and the sweet potatoes just rotted in the ground. But like you, I too grow a very, very diverse range of plants so even if one crop fails, there are other things to fall back on. Huw asked what tips we have and he has some great ones. The only thing I can say is grow diversity and above all, never give up!!
Here in Scotland this spring/summer we've had weeks of cold and rain, followed by a day or two in the high 20s, then back to rain again! Many of our brightest sunny days have been ruined by really strong winds. My poor garden is either drowned or fried, sometimes both in the same day! Amazed how much has managed to grow TBH!🤷🏼♀️
@@artsyhonkerful Agreed. The weather is a fickle force, and impossible to placate! I frequently solved my “not suitable for this year’s weather” problem by growing in Grow Bags and babying the crop.
I’ve been in the garden for the last few days. I’ve been struggling with long covid memory loss which has me seeing the garden like it’s a new thing. Unfortunately a lot of things have suffered hugely due to inattention so the last few days I’ve been sowing various seeds to try to see if I can get a handful of late harvests. I’ve been sowing peas to try for pea shoots to add to salads (sown a few lettuce too). Along with turnips, beetroot and radish I thought it was worth a go and it’s got me living in the moment and exercising leaping in and out of the sunshine . I’ve even put a few potatoes into bags to try for a late batch of new potatoes. No idea if anything will work but worth a try. Will look for the book you mentioned. Thanks for the work you put in on your channel. :)
The compost pathways are something I’m going to try. I have plenty of space but I get so overwhelmed by the idea of tackling my large compost system that I just ignore it. I add to it, but I never do anything with it after that. The physical effort seems massive. I think the compose pathways would be just my size! Thank you, as always!!
Huw you’re a Wealth of Knowledge and Inspiration I feel like I able to Succeed in my Gardening Endeavors after Finding your Channel and Watching your Videos
This year I’ve found out that cilantro/coriander is really like growing in with potatoes. I just tried it because I figured I’d be able to harvest the cilantro long before the potatoes were ready, but the shade from the potatoes had really kept the cilantro growing well, in ground or pots. Some of my container potatoes didn’t come up though, so I’m going to sow fall radishes in there. I’ve also got a new batch of seedlings starting inside that I need to make space for but some things are dying back.
A hero crop for me is beetroot. It's such a great and versatile food, and thankfully the ones I sowed earlier in the year are behind the sweetcorn, so they are shaded by a more heat-tolerant crop. Also growing legumes in dense patches and using the ones pulled out when you thin as mulch really helps - especially for the nitrogen loving crops! Cardboard is a great compost/mulch item, and if your neighbours have lawns, hedges, or trees they trim, it's always worth asking for the clippings, they're a great source of nutrients. I will also try cutting down stinging nettles and using them in mulches. They grow in abundance near me in Wales, so they're another free source of nutrition for the soil!
@@ali88881 I'm glad to hear that! It was a lucky accident this year, but will become a more regular method in the future because of how effective it is.
Due to a chain of events out of my control this year my garden got started later than I normally plant, into June when normally I sow/transplant the first week or two of May (I'm in the states, Kansas specifically). I started beets from seed and was amazed at how well they tolerated the heat. They were a fantastic cover crop as well, shading the soil by my tomatoes. I have re-sown for a fall harvest and will probably interplant these every year. We regularly have temps in the mid to upper 90's (about 35 C) during summer but this year it was consistently that hot by June. Crazy growing season for sure, but at the very least I learned a thing or two!
Timely and authentic. I don't want to rubbish the opposition BUT for years I've been frustrated with mainstream TV gardening programs which did not acknowledge in a timely fashion, that gardeners were having to work with, say, dry conditions. The first mention would come at THE END of a month, when they would say something like "dryest July for 20 years" Too late! That's where You Tube and your excellent contribution score highly. Ta!
I love your videos and see why you are saying to keep the beds full with maximum ground cover. It makes a lot of sense. I have searched through your other videos and cannot find anything on crop rotation. How do you organise rotation with companion planting? I know salads are often considered out of the 4 main groups. Please will you make a video on best practice. If you have already done one, please point me in the right direction. Many thanks.
Huw you’re a total champ. I’ve emigrated to New Zealand and I’ve learned a thing or two about helping a kitchen garden survive the relentless afternoon sun-bake. I’m still a bit rubbish at it but I know what works and I just have to continue trying to get it right more often! For the droughts and hose-ban times I now anticipate this by slicing the bottoms off empty water bottles and planting these upside down bottomless reservoirs everywhere upside down with the bottoms sliced off.. You can punctur them along the sides as you wish. I used to just use small versions in houseplants but now I use the big 1-2 gallon tanks I buy my distilled drinking water in and I’m burying them in raised beds and garden beds… it makes a huge difference. The other thing English people might need reminding is how the water droplets act like magnifying glasses, so water the soil and not the leaves when it’s blisteringly hot out there. Flies are a problem here in that weather and I’m still trying to win that battle. It’s midwinter here and I’m slicing the tops off plastic bottles and creating fly traps which I will spray paint for camouflage purposes. A friend has a wall panel which is an ugly fluorescent looking light box which attracts and zaps flies. I imagine you lot will have these considerations soon enough, along with plenty more, so it’s definitely a stroke of luck to have such an avatar as Huw in our midst. PS. A barrel full of putrid stinging nettles and rain water sits in my local community garden. I can’t tell if it’s to encourage horrible insects or if it’s some kind of tonic water for garden beds.
Hi Huw! Just watched your previous video on overwhelm. Everything you said could also relate to any kind of relationship! Not just plants…stepping back, not taking on too much and looking at things from a different perspective. This increases confidence and helps things move forward again. THANKS…from Vermont Cat Lady (turning 76 next week). Still curious and learning at the same time!
Thank you for your encouragement it is greatly needed. I'm making plans to reshape my garden and to make it work for me no matter what the weather. So that in extreme conditions there will always be something of interest and in a "normal " year it will be the jack pot 😃.
I have about 70 days left in my growing season and since this years been such a bust heat wise I'm throwing everything I can at my soil now. One of two things will happen, it will grown and produce or it won't! lol If not, I'm out some seeds and some time and well, who doesn't love dreaming and ordering more seeds when it's Winter! lol As for the time, well, who doesn't love spending time outside in the fresh air, sun and soil??!! :) I see it all as a win/win! :) If that seed packet is even close to maturity in 70 days, it's going in the soil! Planning on trying my hand and experimenting with some homemade cold frames this year too at the back of my house. Looking forward to that! :) Here's to a successful Fall garden!!! :) Thanks for all the info and inspiration Huw!
I have just planted spinach and it is watered 2 x a day.Also chard and kale is in.All direct sowing cos there is no slug activity which is a bonus from dry heat!
Thank you for this wonderful encouraging video! I am in US zone 6a and we have about 60 days left before estimated first frost. The positive part to the drought we've been in is that our tomatoes have no disease at all! It was a tough year for squash, the bugs were brutal and potatoes are so tiny because of the lack of rain. Perpetual spinach is amazing, it grows through anything, I've been harvesting the same plants since Spring and they are going strong, thank you for that recommendation. We use it to make fritters and now I'm going to start freezing some for winter soups. The other thing that grows amazingly well is spring onion or bunching onion, I overwinter some and then plant successions through the year. I use them fresh, make onion powder and freeze a ton of them for winter. I was able to save seed from the overwintered ones as well.
I am in Calgary, Canada, zone 4a and the first average frost is September 15. In Edmonton, the only other major city in the province it is zone 3b but the growing season is longer, soil is more nutritious, probably less dry air and more stable temperatures.
This has been a hard year for gardening! We had 6 weeks of no rain and temperatures between 35C and 37C with nighttime only going down to 27C. Many plants stopped growing even with me watering them, and they stopped fruiting too. I had an open bed where the onions had been and I planted bush beans and lima beans, watered it daily until the seeds sprouted then about every 2 days. Those plants will grow even when it's very hot but they won't make many beans until it cools off some but since they're putting their energy into growing, when they do start to bear fruit they're big and make a lot of it.
Thank you so much for the positive thoughts and ideas. I really had such a bad year, I was almost giving up. But now that I watched this video with all your positive remarks and ides, I just want to say a big thank you and carry on.
Thanks for all the great tips. Drought, heat, humidity also in my state east coast u.s.a. We are getting ripened tomatoes earlier than usual. A blessing. We put in 2 fall crops of bush string beans 1st failed but rather than go into extra expense of shading tents etc we just planted more. In our 70's and Charles Dowding gardening no dig it is now easier and a pleasure. Other chan on how to's for pruning cukes we've had plenty to share w. few jars for refrigerator pickles. Keeps us young, researching, learning and exercising. Grandchildren came over and were amazed just feeling the leaves of our sugar snap peas. They loved squeezing the herbs and sniffing their hands. I do that too to clear my head.
Even cardboard helps! I've started using grass clippings too as mulch, and keeping them watered well. Thinking of doing a ground cover crops for over winter. Also, I did a sort of moat/mini swale around perimeterof the beds. I'm in colorado USA high desert and It's been so hot during day at cool at night. The grasshoppers are pure evil. I need some chickens!
@@amandar7719 well, most of it is weeds 😆 🤣 😂 but I've spent 2 yrs hand pulling them, slowly working towards only garden beds, slowly... I refuse to use any chemicals and compost and recycle everything I can. I am also very lucky to have irrigation water from the colorado river nearby; I live in a very small mountain town that pumps water from the river to each home, for a small fee added to r water bill each month. 👍 I learned, accidentally from the birds that scattered sunflower seeds, that they really help provide shade and trellises and r easy to grow... and pretty. 🌻
I will admit that this has been a very weird garden yr, some plants r growing like crazy while others just wither and barely do anything. It's like there's 2 simultaneous seasons overlapping and I can't figure out how to compensate for each type of plant?! I have hami melons and luffa going wild, putting out flowers at every node, while my other melons, cabbage and tomatoes seem stunted or super slow. Just weird.
Thank for giving me ammunition to use to protect my plants and soil from heat because we are close to summer in my country and our summer is too hot and dry.
We're in the South East of England so all our grass is dead. I have run out of green grass to compost or mulch with. The heatwave has been a struggle - it baked a lot of my plants and my poor tomatoes have needed so much tlc. I suspect my lettuce is going to bolt now, too, so I need to get in and sow some more to replace it. We also have a hosepipe ban. It's meant a lot of extra care (moving pots into shade etc), but most of my plants have made it. So I'm looking forward to a bit of a rest from the heat to enjoy what survives. We're hoping the forecast weather next week doesn't cause flooding. Good luck everyone.
If go on Gum tree there are maybe free trampolines being given for free but the black netting makes great shade cloth and the the pioes and springs can be used for a DIY polytunnell.
I live in australia, one of the things i do in summer is cover the garden with shade cloth (i dont have a very big one so this is ok). Old news paper is another good cover as well as cardboard & straw. I have alpacas so i am actually having alot of success using their fleece as mulch.
What a fabulous video, Huw. Lettuce - what an amazing idea! I get lots of free lettuce seeds of all kinds, but I'm on my own and really don't eat much lettuce, but what a fabulous prospect. Just grow it for green manure! It has tons of iron in it too. I would hope slugs may go no further when it is growing, and when it is chopped and dropped. Raddish would be one I suppose which does have spectacular greenery if grown for the pods - and of course, both are fast growers. I could actually do that with all the spare seeds I'm not going to use and may go out of date such as parsnips. Out comes the seed boxes this afternoon 😁. Thank you!
Love your huge cauliflower 💚. I also picked my first giant one this week. I feel they are quite heat tolerant. Good information 👍🏾. It’s been a very challenging season watering by hand. I’ve mulched everything but still things get dry so easily! I’ve direct sowed somethings in shade at home with the plan of planting out when the heat subsides. On the flip side outdoor tomatoes and peppers are loving life in this heat.
Newbie gardener here! Your channel has been my favourite resource for learning about permaculture and growing veg. Also, your comments sessions are so wholesome and helpful, you've nurtured a lovely growing community!
Thankyou Huw for your encouragement and useful tips in this time of difficult heat. I think you're right about choosing the most productive plants to keep going. I'm trying to keep beans, kale and chard going, hoping for food from them later. That's a very nice cauliflower! Best wishes
Huw, a lesson from an Aussie who is used to 40+C desert-dry heatwaves: water the soil, not the leaves. Sprinkling from a watering can like you're doing at 14:05 has several detrimental effects. The water on the leaves acts like a magnifying glass and concentrates the sun's rays, burning your plants. All the water on the leaves evaporates instead of going into the soil, wasting your water supply. It doesn't wet the soil. The best way to water is only a couple of times a week. You need to get the water INTO the soil (I love the soaker hoses made from recycled rubber that seep all over, but slotted ag pipe or even just a bucket poured into a hole or channel will do [you could half bury some pots or soft drink bottles with holes and fill them with water and let it soak out]). A shallow sprinkle forces plants to grow their roots at the surface where they are more prone to heat and drying out. Water heavily so the full depth of the raised beds is moist. The roots will go down, seeking the cool moisture as the surface dries a bit. If it's over 40 for a week I might water every 36 hours, but that's extreme. Also, water when it's cooler - early morning or dusk. You are right about mulch, but probably need more. 2-4 inches of straw or sugar cane mulch is considered normal around here. If you're using grass clippings, straw, cane, or bark chip, crumble in some old manure as well to balance the nitrogen levels. Also note that water needs to soak through the mulch and wet the soil. Just wetting the mulch is not enough. Where I use the seeping hoses I lay them under the mulch.
Thanks Fiona I know it's just more of a "quick do something when I say goodbye" type thing that involved not too much bending:) I talk about the method you mentioned in my books for example
Thank you for encouraging and knowledgeable garden chat! I appreciate your tips for cooling the soil with green mulch and will applying some layers soon. Here in northwest Virginia, it's been hotter than usual, but the area has had enough rain. Since I have metal raised beds (yikes, right?), I was thinking about installing temporary shade sails over the most sunny of beds before sowing. I think the super hot summers are here to stay for the east coast as well, so I'm looking forward to more end-of-season adaptations, too!
I agree with you. Here on Cape Cod, our heat wave finally broke with a much overdue and much needed 3/4" inch of rain. However, we have been in a severe drought. I used some tulle, I had on hand, and bamboo to create a bit of shade cloth for my cucumbers, etc. We have been using water from the dehumidifier and kitchen washing during our watering ban. I hope you get relief down there soon.
Yes, the sun in north east USA has been intense. I stick old umbrellas all over my garden to give the plants a break from the heat. My neighbors probably think I am crazy.
@@celticseaalchemist7667 you can buy extension pipes for your washing machine too. Just make sure that you don't have large sections that run up-hill as pushing the water up will burn out the motor. If it needs to cross a gap put a support in rather than having it dip and go back up.
Just like most people on N.Europe we're having the same heat and dry weather, interspersed with a day or two of very light rain. I was able to seed radish and carrots direct last week by doing it early morning on the coolest day of the week (28°), giving it a soak after, and then using a plank to protect it. I watered every 2 days to keep the moisture in the soil and they've all come through.
Thank you Huw for another great video! For one of my mulch sources (gathered in the fall or during spring clean up) I use my lawn mower with bagger attached and mow/shred very dry leaves... then dump them back out and mow a second time. Then store them in very large garbage cans with lids to keep them dry for top mulch use. All the rest I put in compost or with extras put in a pile covered with a tarp. Then use the ones under the tarp to layer as a brown in building compost through the summer. Blessings on your day Kiddo!🥰🌻🐛🌼
@@lydiabond5393 Thank you Lydia... your comment is very kind. I have been gardening for 56 years now and this has been a great help for my garden over the years. Blessings on your day Kiddo!🥰🌻🐛🌼
Hi Huw - thank you so much for your UA-cam vids - it's very much like being personally mentored. I learn faster by being shown rather than reading about stuff. To increase shade, would you recommend using camouflaged netting?
We’re just coming off a heat wave here in NY, the temp overnight was 54F, so refreshing - one thing great this year is the tomatoes, tons of them and so flavorful - I’m in a community garden, and we all have so many, we try to foist them on each other 😄 Even though we *could use a good rain, there are good things to focus on all the same.
The “good” thing is that because it’s so incredibly dry, we haven’t seen slugs at all even when heavily mulching (in fact lettuces are doing great! Go figure). Everything else just seems to be sitting on the ground not doing much… and brassicas, especially broccoli, are being devoured by flea beetles since they love dry. I covered the brassicas today with mesh and the amount of flea beetles on top of the mesh trying to get in is crazy! Here in south Germany we had nothing but rain last year and our first attempt at growing anything went literally rotten. And this year it’s all the opposite. However I feel so happy with our little results! Your books and videos (together with Charles’) have been a treasure
@@bertibear1300 yes! I asked Charles’ Dowding and he advised that if we can keep the brassicas alive for now they might nicely surprise us in September/October! :)
I lie in an area that gets a lot of water year round, we have a lot of rain and humidity in summer and so slugs can be a problem but I've never heard anything on this channel about treating with salt. I don't do anything fancy, just when I notice slugs I take a bowl of epsom salt (which I have read isn't technically a salt, I'm not a chemist! I think a pink salt would do the same and not damage the plants) out to the garden and sprinkle it about on any open areas.
Thanks so much for all the information. I live and garden in the Central Australian desert, where our summer days usually get above 40 degrees Celsius. I hadn’t considered how my compost could increase the heat in my garden, I always put a little straw on top of the compost, but now will add more.
A kind and uplifting video, Huw! My positive 2bit : At least the searing heat burnt up the spider mites on my outdoor aubergine leaves! Ha! I’m hoping for a thunderstorm next week. Will pull back the mulch on a waiting bed that housed the early harvested main crop potatoes that gave up in July. I’ll dig some holes in the hydrophobic soil and transplant brassicas and leeks from my jam packed seed bed. Then pull back the mulch. I have 80 swede seedlings in modular trays that are waiting on where my tomatoes are; usually pulled by now from annual blight. What to do. The days are getting shorter… In all good conscience I can’t bring myself to use a hosepipe when my area is being prepared for hosepipe ban….
Try churning some gypsum and any organic matter through the top spade-depth of your hydrophobic soil before you plant anything in it. In SE Australia, especially through the 12 year millennium drought when watering from the mains was banned, extension hoses for the washing machine outlet were/are popular. Be careful that the hose slopes down and is supported across gaps. If the machine is trying to pump water uphill it will burn out the motor. Another option is to put the plug in if you have a shower over bath, and then use a bucket to carry water out to the garden. If the shower is not over the bath, stand in a plastic tub or one of those (usually shell shaped) kids' water/sand play things to shower.
@@fionaanderson5796 Great tips. I’ve steered clear of digging re disturbing soil life but, tbh, there’s zero life in that soil after pulling potatoes and no rain! Totally dry/dead. Soft though. After pulling potatoes. So I may as well turn the mulch in as you suggest, add lime, and re top mulch again after the 30% chance thunderstorm next week. It’s only a few parts of a newish area. The rest of the veggie garden is surviving under mulch and a canopy of multi-crops. Even the desperately overcrowded seed bed of plants to be transplanted is still thriving under shade cloth. My grey waste water is used for the containers I grow in in my small walled space off my sitting room. Herbs, a few succession bucket potatoes, carrots, salads, climbing beans/peas, a cherry tom, celery, peppers 🫑 on hand that I grab fresh for the kitchen. I I pity the farmers not being able to sow a cover/winter crop into the tinder dry stubble. England needs rain…. which is likely to run-off crop land or pour down deep into the large cracks leaving top few exposed inches dry within hours. Only properly managed rotationally cattle grazed pasture would benefit from an occasional downpour now. It’s a desert out there. 🥲
funny enough my potatoes are probably the best crop I've had in years, obviously, I haven't looked down there yet but from looking at the plants and the flowering it is looking good
Have been intercropping blue lupin and white clover this year and using as a mulch between my leeks and under the Brussels sprouts. Have found this good for feeding the soil and retaining moisture. I'm enjoying experimenting with green manure cover crops keeping the soil healthy
I'm in the States just south of Baltimore, Maryland, my tomato and cukes were so disappointing this year due to heat and of rain. I did water every other day, my peppers loved it and the second time blossoms are generating many bell peppers. I ended up going to the farm market buying a box of tomatoes, which I am canning today. Thanks Huw, GREAT INFORMATION about how to improve the soil and retain moisture!
Peppers need a break from the sun even not in a heat wave. I cover mine with umbrellas from mid July to mid mid August. Shout out from Northern Maryland 🦀
Hugh have you looked into miscanthus as a mulch? Snails and slugs don't like it, it suppresses weeds and reflects the sun due to its lighter colour, worms love it. It doesn't have the same issues with herbicides as much of it is grown organically.
I appreciate all your well prepared garden infos and I also improve my English by listening your well done videos. The undertitles are very helpful for me. I learn with joy. Thanks a lot and greetings from Bine/Austria
Thank you Huw its a lovely vlog as lve had a good harvest in my poly tunnel toms cucumbers and sweet peppers but my raised beds are worn out with the hot weather and using tap water as the rain water has been used up But your vidio has got me up and running again thank you and lve ordered Charles Dowding book and l have your books too thank you for your advice xx
This year I planted my runner beans into a bed that’s riddled with Mares Tail. I did it because I know that Mares Tail pulls water from deep deep down in the earth and my plan seems to have worked. I don’t have running water on my allotment only water butts which ran dry. I have watered my beans once this whole season and they are thriving! I keep the Mares Tail in check to stop it getting too out of control by chop and drop but it’s working for me.
I'm in Utah in the US. We have a hot, dry climate anyway, but we've been in extreme drought for at least 2 yrs. I've had success with lots of mulching with wood chips or plant mulching (chop & drop). I also have started using black landscape plastic in half of my beds. You can put some grass over it if it is exposed & heating too much in high summer. I deep soak every 2 wks this time of year when everything is well established. Also, no raised beds, as they dry out way faster. I also let sunflowers grow in the beds that benefit from some shade.
My hero crops are bush beans, cucumbers and beets. If my butternuts make it through powdery mildew and squash bugs ...I have 19 fruits for winter eating. I love them because they are so easy to store.
I tried turmeric and ginger in the greenhouse this year and the turmeric is looking wonderful! Plus, apart from second crop peas suffering and broccoli bolting everything has been fine especially me, who loved the heat!!
I have to suffer these temperatures most of the time here in NE Thailand, it rarely drops below 35 C in my summer. I plant my "summer crops" (Cabbages, peas, tomatoes, radishes Etc) in my winter and spring. I can only grow heat loving plants like Corn, Chillies, Watermelons etc, in my summer.
@@alyssabrugman8479 yes. I had to giggle at Huw saying it was very hot, while still looking cool as a cucumber. He's not bright red, or drowning in sweat. I'm in Ballarat, Vic, so at the top of the Dividing range. We get the icy wind and rain off Bass Strait in winter, and the hot northerlies from the inland in summer. It's much more challenging than the Melbourne climate I learnt to garden in.
I’m the same here in Texas. We don’t really have winter (no snow here) but we have 1 “fall” and 2 “spring”. “Summer” is actually the death months where we can grow only grow things that like high heat and high humidity. Basically chiles, okra, watermelon, etc. But August is great for us as we ramp up for 2nd Spring. Happy growing everyone!
@@alyssabrugman8479 in my current garden I'm struggling. I had some Canoga get in a few years ago and it's gone crazy but the other brassicas don't do much. Broad beans did OK for a few years but it's too cold for them over winter so they shoot in autumn, sit around through winter then grow in spring. Chard does well as do spring onions. There are about a dozen big eucalypts on an 800m block so they compete a lot. My previous home, about 3km away did a lot better. I could grow tomatoes, beans, capsicum, and zucchini there. The wisdom from old gardeners here is to plant cherry tomatoes rather than big ones as the soil here takes longer to warm up than in Melbourne so the growing season is shorter. I grew up in Melbourne which has a proper Mediterranean climate, and even after 18 years I find the climate here harder to work with.
I’m hanging in there despite the weather. I’ve cut back everything that isn’t producing much and used that to mulch the stuff that is still growing. It seems to be working. My kale, chard and leeks are growing well in the brassica tunnel which is a bit shaded. The poor flowers look jaded and my garden is so big I don’t want to keep watering. I will be more than happy to see the end of these hot temperatures. Some people love, I’m not one of them. 😵💫😵💫😵💫
Once thing you learn after gardening a long time is that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. You learn to mitigate and manage those extremes so that they don't crush you. The best weapon is high organic matter soil and mulch, especially for dry. There are others like watering around sunset so it soaks in, and planting things so they grow together and hold moisture as well as keeping down the greedy weeds. I have one plot that is 1/2 beans of various varieties, pearl millet, mammoth sunflowers, sorghum, amaranth and black sesame. Only a few feet is open at one end. All those are tall and or bushy and have all grown together in one mass. The soil has kept it's moisture though it's been a little droughty with a fair amount of hot. Don't over water either. Just enough to keep them healthy. Maybe more when they are producing. Force those roots to go down and get subsoil moisture so they don't need so much manual watering. Soaker hoses are great too, water only the rows and not the paths. Mulch around the plants with your grass clippings. Use tunnels and coverings for stuff that doesn't like the heat. And so on.
It’s been such a hot and dry summer here, it’s been a real lesson in looking at how I can incorporate more shade areas next year. We don’t lack for sun at all in Texas. One idea I have is to grow a wide row of Tithonia Mexican sunflower on the west side of the garden. In my climate it can easily reach 8-10’ in height. Then I can plant things on the eastern side of it that need a break from the afternoon sun.
I'm absolutely delighted with that "heatwave" (we call it the summer here in Ireland). It's good to finally get some decent weather after months of near constant rain. My garden is only starting to produce now after multiple disasters due to cold so I'm not complaining. Fact, I won't have any corn, squashes, beans and peas but I'm still hoping for some winter veg.
Sunday 14th. August, just watched your video, great ideas about the mulching , luckily I had some two year old leaf mould which was damp , I know it’s dark but I’ve used dried grass clippings too, however having just watched the Met. Office weather forecast rain is coming in buckets, so we gardeners can rejoice, not to sure the holiday makers here in Cornwall will share my joy. Some great ideas Huw always learning from you and Charles, I shall look for his book, thanks for the recommendation.
I shred every piece of scrap thin cardboard and non-glossy paper primarily for use in my hotbins. However, I think I will start to use it also for mulching the hottest beds in my garden as it should act in a similar way to leaf litter (I am very short of any potential plant mulch at the moment, and even our grass is not growing at all and is basically short straw!) - and of course in time will rot down, be pulled in by worms and form some bulk for the soil. I have shade netting everywhere at the moment, but still my plants are struggling as it's so hot. Hopefully this will help address the issue. Thanks Huw, as ever, for your invaluable advice.
It's been a really strange growing season this year - the one that I've noticed is that my leafy/"above ground" veg has grown pretty well (lettuce, chard, kale, amaranth, squash, beans), and my underground veg have been generally pretty good (carrots, potatoes, parsnips), but the 'ground level bulbs' have done absolutely nothing (beetroot, turnips, fennel, swede etc). Not sure if that's the weather or a problem in my soil, mind... As for what's worked, I've been using fresh grass clippings for mulch and they've been drying out in a day or two, so getting nice and light and reflective - that's gone on my beds and my containers, and has definitely helped. I've moved containers into areas that get shade during peak sun hours, and have been watering as early as possible to give everything a chance to take it up. It definitely feels like the last month or so has been a case of helping everything survive rather than hoping it'll thrive!
Great advice on how to help insulate the soil during a heatwave. It’s just simple common sense but it did not run through my brain until I saw this video. Thanks Huw.
@@lydiabond5393 we practice no dig, so not at all… (although the soil underneath is clay and it’s our first year fixing and recovering the soil through no dig)
Awesome video Huw, definitely one of your best, even with the out take in the middle. You mentioned the use of grey water, which was extremely timely as we were discussing that just this morning. Really looking forward to your next video. Cheers Paul
I've been chopping and dropping bolted lettuce and spinach but removing the seed heads to prevent self sowing. Also removing lower leaves from brassica's and leaving them on the ground. I'm running out of material to chop and drop so thinking about getting some old cotton sheets from the charity shops, cutting them up and laying these on the ground around plants on any bare soil. Maybe even get a roll of hessian to use. Thinking that water will soak through these and evaporation will be reduced. I had a pair of jeans that don't fit so cut each leg in half lengthways and put them on the soil between a couple of rows of plants and it seems to help keep the moisture in the soil. Being creative, thinking outside of the vegetable box...
Try sheeps wool. Ask your local sheep farmer or try Facebook etc, as many are giving it away for free/minimal cost. It works a treat as a mulch, just be aware the birds try to pinch it for their nests!
Thank you...... I really need to get another water storage but space is a bit limited. I have a small compost path and be laying comfrey leaves down as well grass clippings. I had a real hard time growing lettuce so grew some in a pot then placed in a cardboard box for shade which worked.
One aspect of the fall garden I don't hear much said about is the length of daylight and angle of the sun. In my garden available sunlight is critical all season but especially heading into fall. I noticed at the end of your vlog you were sitting in a significant amount of shade over your garden. There are always challenges! Wisconsin, U.S.
I note that you're particularly keen on growing potatoes in containers Huw, but that poses a bit of a problem in the hot weather. Containers dry out so quickly that they need water every few days, and they need quite a lot. The ones in black pots died in the heat (still gave some salad potatoes), but the ones in light-coloured pots survived. Anyway, personally I'd recommend growing them in both containers and open ground, as that gives you a bit of insurance
I'd love to see ideas for collecting water on my allotment, we aren't allowed sheds or greenhouses. There are taps but it goes against the grain to use drinking water for all the watering! I'm planning to make mulch paths, similar to your compost paths Huw, using clippings and prunings. Got the idea from "A food forest in your garden" book, the author digs down a ways and fills up the hole with prunings every few years and uses the dug up compost on his garden. I think they will be great, soaking up the autumn and winter rain as the allotment is on a slight slope.
@@artsyhonkerful I have been wondering about that as an option. At the moment the compost heap is at the bottom of the slope so may need to rethink this, else I will be forever lugging water uphill 😂
yes been very challenging with the hot weather especially as like you I don't have mains water supply. One decision I have reluctantly come to is I am not going to grow main crop potatoes next year. My second earlies were good due to them being obviously earlier before the hot weather came and I have found second earlies can keep a long time almost as long as mains. My Brassicas are hanging in there despite no watering, theory being get them to go deep to find the water, I also plant them deep in large holes, which fill in over time as one hoes. Recently planted mustard but tend to let it grow tall and flower to get a load of bees and hover flies.
Please excuse the editing glitch at around 5:40! It's been a long week😂
No apologies necessary! Great to see that you enjoy your garden as well as work in it! Blessings on your day Kiddo from Holland Ohio! 🥰🌻🐛🌼
loved it actually....be real!
I rather like how you randomly started eating that sprouting broccoli.
Wait, what??? You're human??!! lolol No worries, thanks for being transparent and leaving it in and love the grab and eat broccoli! :) We understand long weeks! lol
Lol, nice to see Huw
One thing I always have to remind myself of this time of year is that the least expensive part of gardening is the seeds. It’s worth it to sow more at the risk of them not reaching maturity because if they DO it was only pennies worth of input with potentially a good amount of food.
One sign that you're a great teacher is when your student implements the strategies you recommend before you put them out on UA-cam ;) I've learnt so much from huw and am now in the permaculture design course (with geof lawton, a natural evolution after huw) and it all started on this (and Charles Dowding's) channel and I'm eternally in gratitude. I learn the most from my mistakes, and others similar mistakes, and this heat season has been a great learning experience in UK and EU. Wish you all the best for 2023 and beyond.
I'm doing that course too! And Huw has been a big inspiration to me as well. Especially with his seed sowing and abundant raised beds. See you in the course 😁
High Huw God Bless you😇🙏 respectfully Beautiful man. Thank you for your time in explaining all in great detail .💋
Hi, I'm watching this in Ireland. We have the opposite problem this year. So much rain, very little sunshine.
Huw, I live in Auckland NZ. We always do chop and drop to keep the soil covered as our climate is just too hot to have bare soil in summer, and too warm to leave bare in winter, as weeds grow so quickly. The other thing we do is bury kitchen scraps- even chicken frames go in the rhubarb and asparagus areas. The soil becomes even more able to hold moisture with the mini worm farms that this produces, the plants are fed and it cuts out the need for the composting process.
Have you considered using level beds? One of the great things about raised bed is that they help provide drainage, but that might be counterproductive when trying to conserve water.
Went to the allotment between storms yesterday just to watch rain water running into the barrel. Our newly installed system; handmade wooden gutters lined with pond liner, running into a kitchen funnel then through a bicycle inner tube is working very well! The wood came from the communal bonfire pile, the pond liner came from Eric our allotment neighbour, the inner tube from a local cycle repair shop. It may not work as well as shop bought guttering but it’s fun and makes me smile everyday!
Hugh. Thank you. ❤️
I became a Google and UA-cam gardener as a result of the covid pandemic. You are my absolute FAVORITE master gardener. ❤️
I've learned so much from you since I found your channel. In my third year gardening and everything here continues to thrive, flourish and grow. I harvest, it replenishes. I'm in zone 6a in Missouri btw. It's all Heavenly and wonderful! I thank you for sharing your knowledge. You're saving lives.
My hero crop has got to be Brussels sprouts. I grow them really close together and eat the leaves not the sprouts. The flowering shoots next spring are so much nicer than sprouting broccoli
Here in North Scotland the heat wave is a blessing, 20-27 deg C. Tomatoes might actually ripen in time, Early potatoes in bags did well as they ripened before the heat, took 30 pounds up.
Main crops not so much, starting to yellow now, a bit early. Sneak peeks indicate heavy common scab on the white ones, but the reds seem ok thus far. Onions suffered bolting, but got a decent ammount although small bulbs. We hav a crazy ammount of wasp activity, this may account for the lack of cabbage moths? Leeks ready to plant out into the potato spaces when the temp cools a tad. Broad beeans diong fine, runners slow but still in flower from a foot upwards. Second peas 6 ft tall, first pods forming, 3rd peas in ground, pre germinated on wet tissue.
Super harvest of strawbs and currants, all jammed and jared. Great advice on Huws channel as ever.
If there's one thing I'm taking notes from after all this hot weather, it's that over the next few months I need to aggressively get my hands on several IBC tanks, just incase we get another summer like this.
The garden has been such a help keeping the bills down this year, it would be crazy not to try and build a bit more resilience into my garden.
Plus, this way I can hopefully keep talapia too!
YES! I hear AQUAPONICS is a really good way to go: protein from the fish, and veg from the garden it feeds.
Check out your local farm auctions as they can be found there but also the large black water tanks that are over 6ft tall and hold 2000litres but they can be cut in 2ft rings to make cheap raised beds.
What a wonderful video, Huw! Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging words. I started my vegetable garden for the first time this year and have experimented quite a bit with my vegetables. I love how you talked about psychological health as well because it can be a downer if you try growing veggies for the first time and you fail. Thanks once again!
Thank you for sharing your struggles. Sometimes I see your perfect garden and I get discouraged when half my produce has been overrun by pests or suffered in the weather. It's nice to know how you take setbacks and redirect your energy into more productive ideas. What a great channel
The way our house is built you can’t collect grey water (all piping is hidden). So we are taking showers (water only) in a bucket in the garden with the hose and using that to water the veggies! Also I collect all water from boiling , water canning or washing vegs and rice for the garden too!
We conserve water too.
I keep a watering can by my kitchen sink. Rather than waste the water while waiting for it to get hot for washing dishes, I fill my watering can. For me, that's a gallon of water to go from cold to hot.
Switching from wood mulch to straw has probably been the most beneficial thing ive done this year. Not only does it still help distribute moisture the brighter color has helped significantly with soil temperatures.
Sweet. Wish it was not so hard to source organic spray free straw here.
@@TSis76 try miscanthus horse bedding. It's 100% organic. Really good at retaining water and breaks down very quickly... worms seem to love it
@@vanessaking5320 if I can source of for a decent price in NW Arkansas, will definitely give it a try. Thank you for the tip. We have lotsa trees and some mills here so wood shavings are what is typical.
@@vanessaking5320 Thank you Vanessa! Great suggestion! Blessings Kiddo! 😁🌻🐛🌼
Last summer we used waste sheeps wool as a mulch for corn, pumpkins and zucchini. It reduced evaporation so much that basically didn’t water all summer. If you’re near a rural area, you can often source it free.
We’re not in the depths of an extremely wet Southern Hemisphere winter - with the opposite set of challenges. Localised flooding on our property today.
Sadly, climate changes is moving faster than even the most pessimistic of us anticipated. The future focus will need to be very much on adaptation. In our gardens, microclimates and water/energy/nutrient capture and storage will be a big theme. That’s essentially what you’re doing by using your old leafy greens as a mulch on another bed. Water, energy and nutrient captured by the plants in previous months is relocated and redistributed as it breaks down.
Love your videos Huw. You and the other young gardeners on UA-cam really give me hope.
It's very reassuring to hear that others are struggling at the moment to deal with the increasingly difficult weather conditions! I have found that by following the principles for soil health of keeping the soil covered and planted as much as possible, is really helping to minimise evaporation, which is in turn keeping my plants happier
I am an experienced dry land gardener. There have been many a hot, dry summer in Texas - so I feel your pain.
I'm surprised you're not sowing more crops that originate in hot climates. Corn, peppers, husk cherries, tomatillos, gourds, many varieties of squash, sweet potato slips, and picking cucumbers all need ground temps between 30c and 35c degrees to germinate. Amaranth is native to (or at least has escaped and grows wild) throughout the American Southwest desert and loves the heat. Ditto Sunflowers. If they can survive 45c degree heat in Texas, they'll survive a heat wave in Wales! Of course, you may not be a fan of those foods, and that may deter you from planting them.
Also of enormous help to cool the soil is white mulch or landscaping fabric. The white spun poly row covers you use for deterring bugs early in the season make excellent sun parasols for wilting vegetables in the high heat. Remember that thin shade provided by row covers won't slow crops or production when it's that hot and sunny.
You are already doing well to "bank" moisture in the soil with thick (and heat-reflective) mulches. so there is little else by way of advice I can offer you. I Love your channel - keep up the good work!
One of the issues is that in a 'normal' year a lot of those plants wouldn't do very well here at all. My last frost date is around the end of May, if I wait until then to start peppers then I'm not going to be eating very many of them. In a summer with normal-for-the-UK moisture levels, even tomatoes and potatoes are pretty iffy due to blight. It's impossible to predict whether we're going to get a decent summer in advance, let alone a super hot one.
There are also issues with photoperiod sensitivity this far north. There are varieties of bean we can't really grow here because they need a certain number of hours of darkness and we don't get it. There is a lot more to growing in hot dry weather than just the temperature.
My own approach to this problem is to grow a really diverse range of plants. I have corn and squash and French beans, but I also have peas and broad beans and lettuce. This year the beans., squash and corn are doing pretty well, but a dry spring wasn't so good for the peas and broad beans, and someone (not me, I suspect thirsty pigeons) ate all the lettuce repeatedly (I'll sow again after the heat wave). Last year we had a cold wet spring, a brief period of low rainfall and heat, and then flooding; the early peas and lettuce were amazing, but the French beans didn't really have time to do much before getting flooded out.
We were not expecting this heat, especially in Wales. Its extremely unusual.
@@artsyhonkerful This. I'm in Germany and it's a similar situation. I start my peppers and chili plants indoors in February (among other slow growers like celery, celeriac eggplant or artichoke) and at that point it's not possible to anticipate what the summer will be like. Nor in March when I start my tomatoes indoors. And this summer was really record-breaking in terms of drought and temperatures in both our countries. Last year was too cool and rainy, this year is just the reverse, but trying to grow crops that thrive in hot climates would have been a shot in the foot last year and we have no idea what next year will be like. Last year, my corn didn't produce much nor did the peppers, nor the squashes or pumpkins, and the sweet potatoes just rotted in the ground. But like you, I too grow a very, very diverse range of plants so even if one crop fails, there are other things to fall back on. Huw asked what tips we have and he has some great ones. The only thing I can say is grow diversity and above all, never give up!!
Here in Scotland this spring/summer we've had weeks of cold and rain, followed by a day or two in the high 20s, then back to rain again! Many of our brightest sunny days have been ruined by really strong winds. My poor garden is either drowned or fried, sometimes both in the same day! Amazed how much has managed to grow TBH!🤷🏼♀️
@@artsyhonkerful Agreed. The weather is a fickle force, and impossible to placate! I frequently solved my “not suitable for this year’s weather” problem by growing in Grow Bags and babying the crop.
I’ve been in the garden for the last few days. I’ve been struggling with long covid memory loss which has me seeing the garden like it’s a new thing.
Unfortunately a lot of things have suffered hugely due to inattention so the last few days I’ve been sowing various seeds to try to see if I can get a handful of late harvests.
I’ve been sowing peas to try for pea shoots to add to salads (sown a few lettuce too). Along with turnips, beetroot and radish I thought it was worth a go and it’s got me living in the moment and exercising leaping in and out of the sunshine .
I’ve even put a few potatoes into bags to try for a late batch of new potatoes.
No idea if anything will work but worth a try.
Will look for the book you mentioned. Thanks for the work you put in on your channel. :)
The compost pathways are something I’m going to try. I have plenty of space but I get so overwhelmed by the idea of tackling my large compost system that I just ignore it. I add to it, but I never do anything with it after that. The physical effort seems massive. I think the compose pathways would be just my size! Thank you, as always!!
Huw you’re a Wealth of Knowledge and Inspiration I feel like I able to Succeed in my Gardening Endeavors after Finding your Channel and Watching your Videos
This year I’ve found out that cilantro/coriander is really like growing in with potatoes. I just tried it because I figured I’d be able to harvest the cilantro long before the potatoes were ready, but the shade from the potatoes had really kept the cilantro growing well, in ground or pots. Some of my container potatoes didn’t come up though, so I’m going to sow fall radishes in there. I’ve also got a new batch of seedlings starting inside that I need to make space for but some things are dying back.
A hero crop for me is beetroot. It's such a great and versatile food, and thankfully the ones I sowed earlier in the year are behind the sweetcorn, so they are shaded by a more heat-tolerant crop. Also growing legumes in dense patches and using the ones pulled out when you thin as mulch really helps - especially for the nitrogen loving crops!
Cardboard is a great compost/mulch item, and if your neighbours have lawns, hedges, or trees they trim, it's always worth asking for the clippings, they're a great source of nutrients.
I will also try cutting down stinging nettles and using them in mulches. They grow in abundance near me in Wales, so they're another free source of nutrition for the soil!
You’ve just given me a great idea! I’m going to move my sweet corn (in pots) to shade my newly planted beets.
Thanks!
@@ali88881 I'm glad to hear that! It was a lucky accident this year, but will become a more regular method in the future because of how effective it is.
I did well with beetroot also and I have converted a friend to it as she had never tried it before not from the ground anyway, she loved it.
Due to a chain of events out of my control this year my garden got started later than I normally plant, into June when normally I sow/transplant the first week or two of May (I'm in the states, Kansas specifically). I started beets from seed and was amazed at how well they tolerated the heat. They were a fantastic cover crop as well, shading the soil by my tomatoes. I have re-sown for a fall harvest and will probably interplant these every year. We regularly have temps in the mid to upper 90's (about 35 C) during summer but this year it was consistently that hot by June. Crazy growing season for sure, but at the very least I learned a thing or two!
Timely and authentic. I don't want to rubbish the opposition BUT for years I've been frustrated with mainstream TV gardening programs which did not acknowledge in a timely fashion, that gardeners were having to work with, say, dry conditions. The first mention would come at THE END of a month, when they would say something like "dryest July for 20 years" Too late! That's where You Tube and your excellent contribution score highly. Ta!
I love your videos and see why you are saying to keep the beds full with maximum ground cover. It makes a lot of sense. I have searched through your other videos and cannot find anything on crop rotation. How do you organise rotation with companion planting? I know salads are often considered out of the 4 main groups. Please will you make a video on best practice. If you have already done one, please point me in the right direction. Many thanks.
Huw you’re a total champ. I’ve emigrated to New Zealand and I’ve learned a thing or two about helping a kitchen garden survive the relentless afternoon sun-bake.
I’m still a bit rubbish at it but I know what works and I just have to continue trying to get it right more often!
For the droughts and hose-ban times I now anticipate this by slicing the bottoms off empty water bottles and planting these upside down bottomless reservoirs everywhere upside down with the bottoms sliced off.. You can punctur them along the sides as you wish. I used to just use small versions in houseplants but now I use the big 1-2 gallon tanks I buy my distilled drinking water in and I’m burying them in raised beds and garden beds… it makes a huge difference.
The other thing English people might need reminding is how the water droplets act like magnifying glasses, so water the soil and not the leaves when it’s blisteringly hot out there.
Flies are a problem here in that weather and I’m still trying to win that battle. It’s midwinter here and I’m slicing the tops off plastic bottles and creating fly traps which I will spray paint for camouflage purposes. A friend has a wall panel which is an ugly fluorescent looking light box which attracts and zaps flies. I imagine you lot will have these considerations soon enough, along with plenty more, so it’s definitely a stroke of luck to have such an avatar as Huw in our midst.
PS. A barrel full of putrid stinging nettles and rain water sits in my local community garden. I can’t tell if it’s to encourage horrible insects or if it’s some kind of tonic water for garden beds.
LOL! Guard that JLF and use it to grow you a great garden! Blessings on your day 😁🌻🐛🌼
Hi Huw! Just watched your previous video on overwhelm. Everything you said could also relate to any kind of relationship! Not just plants…stepping back, not taking on too much and looking at things from a different perspective. This increases confidence and helps things move forward again. THANKS…from Vermont Cat Lady (turning 76 next week). Still curious and learning at the same time!
Carolynn , did you ever hear that Thomas Jefferson once said" I am an old man but a very young gardener"? I love that.
Thank you for your encouragement it is greatly needed. I'm making plans to reshape my garden and to make it work for me no matter what the weather. So that in extreme conditions there will always be something of interest and in a "normal " year it will be the jack pot 😃.
Me to. I’m trying to make everything as easy as possible and I’ve cut back to what I’m actually going to use next year.
I have about 70 days left in my growing season and since this years been such a bust heat wise I'm throwing everything I can at my soil now. One of two things will happen, it will grown and produce or it won't! lol If not, I'm out some seeds and some time and well, who doesn't love dreaming and ordering more seeds when it's Winter! lol As for the time, well, who doesn't love spending time outside in the fresh air, sun and soil??!! :) I see it all as a win/win! :) If that seed packet is even close to maturity in 70 days, it's going in the soil! Planning on trying my hand and experimenting with some homemade cold frames this year too at the back of my house. Looking forward to that! :) Here's to a successful Fall garden!!! :) Thanks for all the info and inspiration Huw!
I have just planted spinach and it is watered 2 x a day.Also chard and kale is in.All direct sowing cos there is no slug activity which is a bonus from dry heat!
Thank you for spending so much time outside in the hot sun, explaining all of this!
It's crazy sunny these days even in Sri Lanka.
This is so useful!
Thank you for this wonderful encouraging video! I am in US zone 6a and we have about 60 days left before estimated first frost. The positive part to the drought we've been in is that our tomatoes have no disease at all! It was a tough year for squash, the bugs were brutal and potatoes are so tiny because of the lack of rain. Perpetual spinach is amazing, it grows through anything, I've been harvesting the same plants since Spring and they are going strong, thank you for that recommendation. We use it to make fritters and now I'm going to start freezing some for winter soups. The other thing that grows amazingly well is spring onion or bunching onion, I overwinter some and then plant successions through the year. I use them fresh, make onion powder and freeze a ton of them for winter. I was able to save seed from the overwintered ones as well.
I am in Calgary, Canada, zone 4a and the first average frost is September 15. In Edmonton, the only other major city in the province it is zone 3b but the growing season is longer, soil is more nutritious, probably less dry air and more stable temperatures.
This has been a hard year for gardening! We had 6 weeks of no rain and temperatures between 35C and 37C with nighttime only going down to 27C. Many plants stopped growing even with me watering them, and they stopped fruiting too. I had an open bed where the onions had been and I planted bush beans and lima beans, watered it daily until the seeds sprouted then about every 2 days. Those plants will grow even when it's very hot but they won't make many beans until it cools off some but since they're putting their energy into growing, when they do start to bear fruit they're big and make a lot of it.
Thanks for the realistic look at the current weather and a way forward.
Thank you so much for the positive thoughts and ideas. I really had such a bad year, I was almost giving up. But now that I watched this video with all your positive remarks and ides, I just want to say a big thank you and carry on.
Thanks for all the great tips. Drought, heat, humidity also in my state east coast u.s.a. We are getting ripened tomatoes earlier than usual. A blessing. We put in 2 fall crops of bush string beans 1st failed but rather than go into extra expense of shading tents etc we just planted more. In our 70's and Charles Dowding gardening no dig it is now easier and a pleasure. Other chan on how to's for pruning cukes we've had plenty to share w. few jars for refrigerator pickles. Keeps us young, researching, learning and exercising. Grandchildren came over and were amazed just feeling the leaves of our sugar snap peas. They loved squeezing the herbs and sniffing their hands. I do that too to clear my head.
Even cardboard helps! I've started using grass clippings too as mulch, and keeping them watered well. Thinking of doing a ground cover crops for over winter. Also, I did a sort of moat/mini swale around perimeterof the beds. I'm in colorado USA high desert and It's been so hot during day at cool at night. The grasshoppers are pure evil. I need some chickens!
Lucky you having grass to clip! UK low desert here…#parchedgrass lol.
@@amandar7719 well, most of it is weeds 😆 🤣 😂 but I've spent 2 yrs hand pulling them, slowly working towards only garden beds, slowly... I refuse to use any chemicals and compost and recycle everything I can. I am also very lucky to have irrigation water from the colorado river nearby; I live in a very small mountain town that pumps water from the river to each home, for a small fee added to r water bill each month. 👍 I learned, accidentally from the birds that scattered sunflower seeds, that they really help provide shade and trellises and r easy to grow... and pretty. 🌻
I will admit that this has been a very weird garden yr, some plants r growing like crazy while others just wither and barely do anything. It's like there's 2 simultaneous seasons overlapping and I can't figure out how to compensate for each type of plant?! I have hami melons and luffa going wild, putting out flowers at every node, while my other melons, cabbage and tomatoes seem stunted or super slow. Just weird.
@@drawingmomentum cabbage doesn’t like hot weather and tomatoes slow down a bit when it’s extremely hot
The cool mulch is a good idea. Mark from self sufficient me in australia uses straw where it gets very hot and it seems to work well.
I was going to suggest that people look to Australian gardeners to see how they cope with the heat. Mark's channel is a great one.
I love watching him, he's funny.
Thank for giving me ammunition to use to protect my plants and soil from heat because we are close to summer in my country and our summer is too hot and dry.
We're in the South East of England so all our grass is dead. I have run out of green grass to compost or mulch with. The heatwave has been a struggle - it baked a lot of my plants and my poor tomatoes have needed so much tlc. I suspect my lettuce is going to bolt now, too, so I need to get in and sow some more to replace it. We also have a hosepipe ban. It's meant a lot of extra care (moving pots into shade etc), but most of my plants have made it. So I'm looking forward to a bit of a rest from the heat to enjoy what survives. We're hoping the forecast weather next week doesn't cause flooding. Good luck everyone.
If go on Gum tree there are maybe free trampolines being given for free but the black netting makes great shade cloth and the the pioes and springs can be used for a DIY polytunnell.
I live in australia, one of the things i do in summer is cover the garden with shade cloth (i dont have a very big one so this is ok). Old news paper is another good cover as well as cardboard & straw. I have alpacas so i am actually having alot of success using their fleece as mulch.
What a fabulous video, Huw. Lettuce - what an amazing idea! I get lots of free lettuce seeds of all kinds, but I'm on my own and really don't eat much lettuce, but what a fabulous prospect. Just grow it for green manure! It has tons of iron in it too. I would hope slugs may go no further when it is growing, and when it is chopped and dropped. Raddish would be one I suppose which does have spectacular greenery if grown for the pods - and of course, both are fast growers. I could actually do that with all the spare seeds I'm not going to use and may go out of date such as parsnips. Out comes the seed boxes this afternoon 😁. Thank you!
Used coffee grounds should repel slugs, Many uses for used coffee grounds.
@@smas3256 I'm not much of a coffee drinker and we don't really have places we can ask. but thank you anyway
Love your huge cauliflower 💚. I also picked my first giant one this week. I feel they are quite heat tolerant. Good information 👍🏾. It’s been a very challenging season watering by hand. I’ve mulched everything but still things get dry so easily! I’ve direct sowed somethings in shade at home with the plan of planting out when the heat subsides. On the flip side outdoor tomatoes and peppers are loving life in this heat.
Most things I have are growing in pots at home. I can still water these thankfully, and they need watering almost daily as it's 34 degrees.
Newbie gardener here! Your channel has been my favourite resource for learning about permaculture and growing veg. Also, your comments sessions are so wholesome and helpful, you've nurtured a lovely growing community!
What a lovely comment. Thank you so much!
Good to see you mate
Thankyou Huw for your encouragement and useful tips in this time of difficult heat. I think you're right about choosing the most productive plants to keep going. I'm trying to keep beans, kale and chard going, hoping for food from them later. That's a very nice cauliflower! Best wishes
Huw, thank you so much. You inspire others. I love watching and learning from you. The garden is beautiful.
Huw, a lesson from an Aussie who is used to 40+C desert-dry heatwaves: water the soil, not the leaves. Sprinkling from a watering can like you're doing at 14:05 has several detrimental effects.
The water on the leaves acts like a magnifying glass and concentrates the sun's rays, burning your plants.
All the water on the leaves evaporates instead of going into the soil, wasting your water supply.
It doesn't wet the soil.
The best way to water is only a couple of times a week. You need to get the water INTO the soil (I love the soaker hoses made from recycled rubber that seep all over, but slotted ag pipe or even just a bucket poured into a hole or channel will do [you could half bury some pots or soft drink bottles with holes and fill them with water and let it soak out]). A shallow sprinkle forces plants to grow their roots at the surface where they are more prone to heat and drying out. Water heavily so the full depth of the raised beds is moist. The roots will go down, seeking the cool moisture as the surface dries a bit. If it's over 40 for a week I might water every 36 hours, but that's extreme.
Also, water when it's cooler - early morning or dusk.
You are right about mulch, but probably need more. 2-4 inches of straw or sugar cane mulch is considered normal around here. If you're using grass clippings, straw, cane, or bark chip, crumble in some old manure as well to balance the nitrogen levels. Also note that water needs to soak through the mulch and wet the soil. Just wetting the mulch is not enough. Where I use the seeping hoses I lay them under the mulch.
Thanks Fiona I know it's just more of a "quick do something when I say goodbye" type thing that involved not too much bending:) I talk about the method you mentioned in my books for example
Thank you for sharing, you're doing great, your garden looks so beautiful and you are a source of encouragement.
It's the strategy that I need. In my place it's also too hot
Thank you Huw, perfect timing and another very inspirational video
Thank you for encouraging and knowledgeable garden chat! I appreciate your tips for cooling the soil with green mulch and will applying some layers soon. Here in northwest Virginia, it's been hotter than usual, but the area has had enough rain. Since I have metal raised beds (yikes, right?), I was thinking about installing temporary shade sails over the most sunny of beds before sowing. I think the super hot summers are here to stay for the east coast as well, so I'm looking forward to more end-of-season adaptations, too!
I agree with you. Here on Cape Cod, our heat wave finally broke with a much overdue and much needed 3/4" inch of rain. However, we have been in a severe drought. I used some tulle, I had on hand, and bamboo to create a bit of shade cloth for my cucumbers, etc. We have been using water from the dehumidifier and kitchen washing during our watering ban. I hope you get relief down there soon.
Yes, the sun in north east USA has been intense. I stick old umbrellas all over my garden to give the plants a break from the heat. My neighbors probably think I am crazy.
@@celticseaalchemist7667 you can buy extension pipes for your washing machine too. Just make sure that you don't have large sections that run up-hill as pushing the water up will burn out the motor. If it needs to cross a gap put a support in rather than having it dip and go back up.
Hello from Australia, straw mulch really helps with covering soil in the heat. Also drip watering underneath the mulch
Just like most people on N.Europe we're having the same heat and dry weather, interspersed with a day or two of very light rain.
I was able to seed radish and carrots direct last week by doing it early morning on the coolest day of the week (28°), giving it a soak after, and then using a plank to protect it. I watered every 2 days to keep the moisture in the soil and they've all come through.
Thank you Huw for another great video! For one of my mulch sources (gathered in the fall or during spring clean up) I use my lawn mower with bagger attached and mow/shred very dry leaves... then dump them back out and mow a second time. Then store them in very large garbage cans with lids to keep them dry for top mulch use. All the rest I put in compost or with extras put in a pile covered with a tarp. Then use the ones under the tarp to layer as a brown in building compost through the summer. Blessings on your day Kiddo!🥰🌻🐛🌼
I love it. What a great idea!
@@lydiabond5393 Thank you Lydia... your comment is very kind. I have been gardening for 56 years now and this has been a great help for my garden over the years. Blessings on your day Kiddo!🥰🌻🐛🌼
Hi Huw - thank you so much for your UA-cam vids - it's very much like being personally mentored. I learn faster by being shown rather than reading about stuff.
To increase shade, would you recommend using camouflaged netting?
We’re just coming off a heat wave here in NY, the temp overnight was 54F, so refreshing - one thing great this year is the tomatoes, tons of them and so flavorful - I’m in a community garden, and we all have so many, we try to foist them on each other 😄 Even though we *could use a good rain, there are good things to focus on all the same.
The “good” thing is that because it’s so incredibly dry, we haven’t seen slugs at all even when heavily mulching (in fact lettuces are doing great! Go figure). Everything else just seems to be sitting on the ground not doing much… and brassicas, especially broccoli, are being devoured by flea beetles since they love dry. I covered the brassicas today with mesh and the amount of flea beetles on top of the mesh trying to get in is crazy!
Here in south Germany we had nothing but rain last year and our first attempt at growing anything went literally rotten. And this year it’s all the opposite. However I feel so happy with our little results! Your books and videos (together with Charles’) have been a treasure
Yes, thanks for the tip.I am seeing lots of flea beetle damage I need to get more enviromesh !
@@bertibear1300 yes! I asked Charles’ Dowding and he advised that if we can keep the brassicas alive for now they might nicely surprise us in September/October! :)
I've so many of them and they killed so many crops 😥 Be happy that you don't have so many.
I lie in an area that gets a lot of water year round, we have a lot of rain and humidity in summer and so slugs can be a problem but I've never heard anything on this channel about treating with salt. I don't do anything fancy, just when I notice slugs I take a bowl of epsom salt (which I have read isn't technically a salt, I'm not a chemist! I think a pink salt would do the same and not damage the plants) out to the garden and sprinkle it about on any open areas.
Thanks so much for all the information. I live and garden in the Central Australian desert, where our summer days usually get above 40 degrees Celsius. I hadn’t considered how my compost could increase the heat in my garden, I always put a little straw on top of the compost, but now will add more.
A kind and uplifting video, Huw! My positive 2bit : At least the searing heat burnt up the spider mites on my outdoor aubergine leaves! Ha!
I’m hoping for a thunderstorm next week. Will pull back the mulch on a waiting bed that housed the early harvested main crop potatoes that gave up in July. I’ll dig some holes in the hydrophobic soil and transplant brassicas and leeks from my jam packed seed bed. Then pull back the mulch. I have 80 swede seedlings in modular trays that are waiting on where my tomatoes are; usually pulled by now from annual blight.
What to do. The days are getting shorter… In all good conscience I can’t bring myself to use a hosepipe when my area is being prepared for hosepipe ban….
Try churning some gypsum and any organic matter through the top spade-depth of your hydrophobic soil before you plant anything in it.
In SE Australia, especially through the 12 year millennium drought when watering from the mains was banned, extension hoses for the washing machine outlet were/are popular. Be careful that the hose slopes down and is supported across gaps. If the machine is trying to pump water uphill it will burn out the motor.
Another option is to put the plug in if you have a shower over bath, and then use a bucket to carry water out to the garden. If the shower is not over the bath, stand in a plastic tub or one of those (usually shell shaped) kids' water/sand play things to shower.
@@fionaanderson5796 Great tips. I’ve steered clear of digging re disturbing soil life but, tbh, there’s zero life in that soil after pulling potatoes and no rain! Totally dry/dead. Soft though. After pulling potatoes. So I may as well turn the mulch in as you suggest, add lime, and re top mulch again after the 30% chance thunderstorm next week. It’s only a few parts of a newish area. The rest of the veggie garden is surviving under mulch and a canopy of multi-crops. Even the desperately overcrowded seed bed of plants to be transplanted is still thriving under shade cloth.
My grey waste water is used for the containers I grow in in my small walled space off my sitting room. Herbs, a few succession bucket potatoes, carrots, salads, climbing beans/peas, a cherry tom, celery, peppers 🫑 on hand that I grab fresh for the kitchen. I
I pity the farmers not being able to sow a cover/winter crop into the tinder dry stubble. England needs rain…. which is likely to run-off crop land or pour down deep into the large cracks leaving top few exposed inches dry within hours.
Only properly managed rotationally cattle grazed pasture would benefit from an occasional downpour now. It’s a desert out there. 🥲
funny enough my potatoes are probably the best crop I've had in years, obviously, I haven't looked down there yet but from looking at the plants and the flowering it is looking good
Thank you for your encouraging and positive views and tips. Very much appreciated 🕊
You are very welcome :)
Have been intercropping blue lupin and white clover this year and using as a mulch between my leeks and under the Brussels sprouts. Have found this good for feeding the soil and retaining moisture. I'm enjoying experimenting with green manure cover crops keeping the soil healthy
I'm in the States just south of Baltimore, Maryland, my tomato and cukes were so disappointing this year due to heat and of rain. I did water every other day, my peppers loved it and the second time blossoms are generating many bell peppers. I ended up going to the farm market buying a box of tomatoes, which I am canning today. Thanks Huw, GREAT INFORMATION about how to improve the soil and retain moisture!
Peppers need a break from the sun even not in a heat wave. I cover mine with umbrellas from mid July to mid mid August. Shout out from Northern Maryland 🦀
Hugh have you looked into miscanthus as a mulch? Snails and slugs don't like it, it suppresses weeds and reflects the sun due to its lighter colour, worms love it. It doesn't have the same issues with herbicides as much of it is grown organically.
I appreciate all your well prepared garden infos and I also improve my English by listening your well done videos. The undertitles are very helpful for me. I learn with joy. Thanks a lot and greetings from Bine/Austria
Thank you Huw its a lovely vlog as lve had a good harvest in my poly tunnel toms cucumbers and sweet peppers but my raised beds are worn out with the hot weather and using tap water as the rain water has been used up But your vidio has got me up and running again thank you and lve ordered Charles Dowding book and l have your books too thank you for your advice xx
This year I planted my runner beans into a bed that’s riddled with Mares Tail. I did it because I know that Mares Tail pulls water from deep deep down in the earth and my plan seems to have worked. I don’t have running water on my allotment only water butts which ran dry. I have watered my beans once this whole season and they are thriving! I keep the Mares Tail in check to stop it getting too out of control by chop and drop but it’s working for me.
Thank you! Just hearing that I’m not the only one having a tough season gave me the little push I needed to keep on planting.
Don't give up. Keep on going! :)
I'm in Utah in the US. We have a hot, dry climate anyway, but we've been in extreme drought for at least 2 yrs. I've had success with lots of mulching with wood chips or plant mulching (chop & drop). I also have started using black landscape plastic in half of my beds. You can put some grass over it if it is exposed & heating too much in high summer. I deep soak every 2 wks this time of year when everything is well established. Also, no raised beds, as they dry out way faster. I also let sunflowers grow in the beds that benefit from some shade.
My hero crops are bush beans, cucumbers and beets. If my butternuts make it through powdery mildew and squash bugs ...I have 19 fruits for winter eating. I love them because they are so easy to store.
I tried turmeric and ginger in the greenhouse this year and the turmeric is looking wonderful! Plus, apart from second crop peas suffering and broccoli bolting everything has been fine especially me, who loved the heat!!
Loving this for our Aussie summer, Thankyou!
I have to suffer these temperatures most of the time here in NE Thailand, it rarely drops below 35 C in my summer. I plant my "summer crops" (Cabbages, peas, tomatoes, radishes Etc) in my winter and spring. I can only grow heat loving plants like Corn, Chillies, Watermelons etc, in my summer.
"Heat wave" 😆 love from Australia.
@@alyssabrugman8479 yes. I had to giggle at Huw saying it was very hot, while still looking cool as a cucumber. He's not bright red, or drowning in sweat.
I'm in Ballarat, Vic, so at the top of the Dividing range. We get the icy wind and rain off Bass Strait in winter, and the hot northerlies from the inland in summer. It's much more challenging than the Melbourne climate I learnt to garden in.
@@fionaanderson5796 what grows best for you?
I’m the same here in Texas. We don’t really have winter (no snow here) but we have 1 “fall” and 2 “spring”. “Summer” is actually the death months where we can grow only grow things that like high heat and high humidity. Basically chiles, okra, watermelon, etc. But August is great for us as we ramp up for 2nd Spring. Happy growing everyone!
@@alyssabrugman8479 in my current garden I'm struggling. I had some Canoga get in a few years ago and it's gone crazy but the other brassicas don't do much. Broad beans did OK for a few years but it's too cold for them over winter so they shoot in autumn, sit around through winter then grow in spring. Chard does well as do spring onions. There are about a dozen big eucalypts on an 800m block so they compete a lot.
My previous home, about 3km away did a lot better. I could grow tomatoes, beans, capsicum, and zucchini there.
The wisdom from old gardeners here is to plant cherry tomatoes rather than big ones as the soil here takes longer to warm up than in Melbourne so the growing season is shorter. I grew up in Melbourne which has a proper Mediterranean climate, and even after 18 years I find the climate here harder to work with.
I’m hanging in there despite the weather. I’ve cut back everything that isn’t producing much and used that to mulch the stuff that is still growing. It seems to be working. My kale, chard and leeks are growing well in the brassica tunnel which is a bit shaded. The poor flowers look jaded and my garden is so big I don’t want to keep watering. I will be more than happy to see the end of these hot temperatures. Some people love, I’m not one of them. 😵💫😵💫😵💫
Once thing you learn after gardening a long time is that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. You learn to mitigate and manage those extremes so that they don't crush you. The best weapon is high organic matter soil and mulch, especially for dry. There are others like watering around sunset so it soaks in, and planting things so they grow together and hold moisture as well as keeping down the greedy weeds. I have one plot that is 1/2 beans of various varieties, pearl millet, mammoth sunflowers, sorghum, amaranth and black sesame. Only a few feet is open at one end. All those are tall and or bushy and have all grown together in one mass. The soil has kept it's moisture though it's been a little droughty with a fair amount of hot.
Don't over water either. Just enough to keep them healthy. Maybe more when they are producing. Force those roots to go down and get subsoil moisture so they don't need so much manual watering. Soaker hoses are great too, water only the rows and not the paths. Mulch around the plants with your grass clippings. Use tunnels and coverings for stuff that doesn't like the heat. And so on.
It’s been such a hot and dry summer here, it’s been a real lesson in looking at how I can incorporate more shade areas next year. We don’t lack for sun at all in Texas. One idea I have is to grow a wide row of Tithonia Mexican sunflower on the west side of the garden. In my climate it can easily reach 8-10’ in height. Then I can plant things on the eastern side of it that need a break from the afternoon sun.
I'm absolutely delighted with that "heatwave" (we call it the summer here in Ireland). It's good to finally get some decent weather after months of near constant rain. My garden is only starting to produce now after multiple disasters due to cold so I'm not complaining. Fact, I won't have any corn, squashes, beans and peas but I'm still hoping for some winter veg.
Thanks Huw, you have taught me so much about soil and composting ..
Sunday 14th. August, just watched your video, great ideas about the mulching , luckily I had some two year old leaf mould which was damp , I know it’s dark but I’ve used dried grass clippings too, however having just watched the Met. Office weather forecast rain is coming in buckets, so we gardeners can rejoice, not to sure the holiday makers here in Cornwall will share my joy. Some great ideas Huw always learning from you and Charles, I shall look for his book, thanks for the recommendation.
I shred every piece of scrap thin cardboard and non-glossy paper primarily for use in my hotbins. However, I think I will start to use it also for mulching the hottest beds in my garden as it should act in a similar way to leaf litter (I am very short of any potential plant mulch at the moment, and even our grass is not growing at all and is basically short straw!) - and of course in time will rot down, be pulled in by worms and form some bulk for the soil. I have shade netting everywhere at the moment, but still my plants are struggling as it's so hot. Hopefully this will help address the issue. Thanks Huw, as ever, for your invaluable advice.
Thank you for another great video Huw! I never thought of using the cuttings directly on the soil for surrounding plants. Great idea!
It's been a really strange growing season this year - the one that I've noticed is that my leafy/"above ground" veg has grown pretty well (lettuce, chard, kale, amaranth, squash, beans), and my underground veg have been generally pretty good (carrots, potatoes, parsnips), but the 'ground level bulbs' have done absolutely nothing (beetroot, turnips, fennel, swede etc). Not sure if that's the weather or a problem in my soil, mind...
As for what's worked, I've been using fresh grass clippings for mulch and they've been drying out in a day or two, so getting nice and light and reflective - that's gone on my beds and my containers, and has definitely helped. I've moved containers into areas that get shade during peak sun hours, and have been watering as early as possible to give everything a chance to take it up. It definitely feels like the last month or so has been a case of helping everything survive rather than hoping it'll thrive!
Yes, I'm putting potassium feeds on mine hopefully trying to get some to bulb up
Just the video I needed right now. Feeling more encouraged now, thank you so much 😊
Thank you for your feedback....many loves from the Northern Marianas Islands. ❤🙏😇💥😎
Great advice on how to help insulate the soil during a heatwave. It’s just simple common sense but it did not run through my brain until I saw this video. Thanks Huw.
Glad it was helpful! :)
Our growing season has been exceedingly difficult this year as well. It seems like my plants have just sat in the ground. Illinois
This is what I’ve seen too! It’s like plants are just sitting there doing not much…
Is the soil too compacted?
@@lydiabond5393 we practice no dig, so not at all… (although the soil underneath is clay and it’s our first year fixing and recovering the soil through no dig)
Awesome video Huw, definitely one of your best, even with the out take in the middle. You mentioned the use of grey water, which was extremely timely as we were discussing that just this morning. Really looking forward to your next video. Cheers Paul
Thank you Paul! Really glad you enjoyed it :)
So many incredible tips, thanks so much. Your videos are amazing and I’ve learned so much!
I've been chopping and dropping bolted lettuce and spinach but removing the seed heads to prevent self sowing. Also removing lower leaves from brassica's and leaving them on the ground. I'm running out of material to chop and drop so thinking about getting some old cotton sheets from the charity shops, cutting them up and laying these on the ground around plants on any bare soil. Maybe even get a roll of hessian to use. Thinking that water will soak through these and evaporation will be reduced. I had a pair of jeans that don't fit so cut each leg in half lengthways and put them on the soil between a couple of rows of plants and it seems to help keep the moisture in the soil. Being creative, thinking outside of the vegetable box...
I've been able to get jute sacks for free from a local coffee roastery, they make a pretty nice mulch layer.
Try sheeps wool. Ask your local sheep farmer or try Facebook etc, as many are giving it away for free/minimal cost. It works a treat as a mulch, just be aware the birds try to pinch it for their nests!
Thank you, Huw.
Thank you...... I really need to get another water storage but space is a bit limited. I have a small compost path and be laying comfrey leaves down as well grass clippings. I had a real hard time growing lettuce so grew some in a pot then placed in a cardboard box for shade which worked.
That's a great idea! Thanks
One aspect of the fall garden I don't hear much said about is the length of daylight and angle of the sun. In my garden available sunlight is critical all season but especially heading into fall. I noticed at the end of your vlog you were sitting in a significant amount of shade over your garden. There are always challenges! Wisconsin, U.S.
What a wonderful channel this is!
Thank you Huw 🙏😊
I note that you're particularly keen on growing potatoes in containers Huw, but that poses a bit of a problem in the hot weather. Containers dry out so quickly that they need water every few days, and they need quite a lot. The ones in black pots died in the heat (still gave some salad potatoes), but the ones in light-coloured pots survived. Anyway, personally I'd recommend growing them in both containers and open ground, as that gives you a bit of insurance
We used shade cloths in our garden this year. Two weeks of 95+ degrees and our garden slowed down but continues to produce
I'd love to see ideas for collecting water on my allotment, we aren't allowed sheds or greenhouses. There are taps but it goes against the grain to use drinking water for all the watering! I'm planning to make mulch paths, similar to your compost paths Huw, using clippings and prunings. Got the idea from "A food forest in your garden" book, the author digs down a ways and fills up the hole with prunings every few years and uses the dug up compost on his garden. I think they will be great, soaking up the autumn and winter rain as the allotment is on a slight slope.
If you're allowed a compost heap made of pallets, could you put a roof and guttering above that?
@@artsyhonkerful I have been wondering about that as an option. At the moment the compost heap is at the bottom of the slope so may need to rethink this, else I will be forever lugging water uphill 😂
What about an Arbor and add some guttering down to a water butt, just a small bench with a roof basically 😉
yes been very challenging with the hot weather especially as like you I don't have mains water supply. One decision I have reluctantly come to is I am not going to grow main crop potatoes next year. My second earlies were good due to them being obviously earlier before the hot weather came and I have found second earlies can keep a long time almost as long as mains. My Brassicas are hanging in there despite no watering, theory being get them to go deep to find the water, I also plant them deep in large holes, which fill in over time as one hoes. Recently planted mustard but tend to let it grow tall and flower to get a load of bees and hover flies.