Mine too - always something to learn and no wasted words. I never find myself tapping my food to get to the end of the video. Just the right length and always entertaining!
Swiss Chard and Spinach this year, i had a bumper crop last year so hoping to replicate...the guinea pigs enjoy the scraps, the plants enjoy the poops.
New to gardening here! My 2nd year growing, so im trying to learn as much as i can! Im only in my 20s, so many many years of growing amd learning to come!
I bought the book, it looks well on the bookshelf. With the help of your videos last year I had radishes, spring onion, broccoli and the best carrots I have ever tasted. Happy new year to you and everyone here.
Great video and exactly what I needed on my 22 degrees (F), foggy, drizzly day! I'm in my 5th year of using the Garden Planner app and I absolutely love it 👍
In oct/nov i planted potatoes, beans of 3 different varieties, garlic and onions. Mulched them with old grass clippings then on top I put loads of straw. Omg my garden is so alive!! Going to plant loads more potatoes as soon as I get the buckets for them. More than enough tomato seeds that o can actually grow! Tent greenhouses ready to put up. More jobs to do tomor!! Can’t wait for spring!!
@ nope. They just lay dormant for a bit. The shoots are about 4 inches of green leaves, and I planted them in layers. I just got ones from Asda and left them to chit then planted them. Honestly it’s one of the most easiest plants to grow!
I started my toms off early last year (March) thinking I’d get a good start but they went leggy before I could put them in because of frost and the stems never really grew strong. In the end I was literally hanging them from a badly built structure trying to keep them up especially the beef tomatoes. But got a reasonable crop and lots of beautiful soup and passata sauce 👍 I’m in SW france and get Colorado beetle on my potatoes, keep moving the crop and have to keep squishing them every day, hope I’ll be clear this year. 🤞
A great memory of last summer was searching for and eating young runner bean pods with the kids. Although one did learn that the red flowers taste pretty good too 😅
I never tried zucchini, they're on my try list next growing season. Tomatoes, lettuce and herbs are (more or less 😉) growing on the balcony each year. I'm so jealous as I'd like to have 7 plants listed. I realized last year I just love fresh corn. So yummy. I want to grow big orange pumpkins and those kales that look like palmetto trees.
I've grown zucchini in large pots - well worth having one or two in the garden 😁 they can be tied to a stake to grow vertically, which is actually a fantastic way to ensure that there's good airflow and it's easier to see the zucchini and pick before they get too big
Hi Ben. I do have a problem with slugs! Especially climbing on my strawberry plants and my avocado sapling. I use Cory's pellets to make a perimeter around those plants. It's worked quite well so far. 🤞😊 Thank you for all of your advice and for helping me not to give up on my garden! 🤗 🍓🥑🍇🌶🫑🍅🍍🥒🥕🥔🍠
I see your Meyer is doing great, the best tasting lemon IMHO, I grow one myself in Northern Ireland. Back to the topic of this fine video, for me tomatoes are number one, I grow them outside in my even more humid climate than yours of cloudy, rainy Belfast. The key is to select short season varieties, and the key thing to look is the information telling you how many days after transplant you can expect a harvest, which for me is no more around 80 days. You can grow beef stakes outside that way, I successfully grew fantastic green beef stake tomatoes and (Green Moldovan Beefstake & Black Krims). Every year I can easily get around 20-30kgs of tomatoes, it's never enough! The second crop would be cucumbers for fermenting, they are much healthier for your gut than the ones pickled in vinegar, and you can make very tasty sour cucumber soup with them and some of the brine. But here I am never 100% successful, like last year, only one miserable cucumber. I also think, these short pickling garden cucumbers are much better tasting than the long ones, although more prone to getting bitter. I never had any success with beans, except for broad beans, so I'd put beets, garlic and onions on my list as a must. Especially onions, they don't take much space, and they can be stored for months in a cool, dry (important) dark place and yet still look, taste better the ones already rotting on the shelves in the supermarkets.
Nice video (again). I am with you on courgettes, potatoes, tomatoes and beans. I can’t do without winter squash, bell peppers and chili peppers. I may add sweet potatoes to my list if I finally figure out the best way to grow the in my climate and soil. Thank you for the great content of your channel. You‘re one of my favorite channels.
I really appreciate your channel. You are so good about sharing information about the different varieties with each plant you are talking about. This helps me to look into other varieties. I have recommended your channel many times because I trust your information which I can not say that about so many channels. Please keep up your good work. Thanks from Texas.
As always thanks Ben. Have received some emails over the last few weeks from you/your channel and must find time to sit and read but so much been happening tbh the time to rest is not atm lol x Take care and as always stay safe
Summer gets the glory that Winter works for...(wow! That’s quotable, right there!🧐)😋 Don your raincoat and do something, any little thing, and soon you’ll be ready when Spring arrives.😃 (Spoken by a pajama clad granny trying to work up the energy to go out to the greenhouse in 38’ sunshine.😂)
I love watching your informative videos. I'm still learning what i can grow in my small space. I'm still waiting for my husband to finish my shed so i can store food once grown. I'm in South Wales and it always amazes me (looking through the comments) that your followers are world wide ❤
Howdy, Ben! You have a great list of 7 must grow crops. Here are my 8: okra, tomatoes, summer squash, pumpkin, winter squash, leafy greens, green beans, and melons.👩🏾🌾
Ooh looking forward to watching, hello from Ireland. I've been watching lots of your video and just now finished the one with Gaz Oakley and Huw Richards (again) and going to order the tomato honeycomb because of your reaction to eating them in Huws greenhouse 😊
Hi Ben, I am gonna redo my whole garden. I dont have all that much room so I have decided to get your garden planner to help me out. Really looking forward to 2025 but with your vids and some other content creaters I see the light on the horizon! I am also gonna start a channel to show how I redo my garden, who knows maybe you see alot of fails from me and can give some good help 😀anyway hope you have a great 2025 Season!
last year 3 different spots in my garden with each 2-3 courgette plants... 3 months after last harvest ..freezer is still full of courgette soup and frozen courgettecubes ... even family got a huge amount... i just hope 2025 will bring far more sun, and less rain then 2024... because my onion and early potato, and many more plants really suffered in april/mai
Chioggia = "Kee-OH-dja" is how it sounds (the OH a very short-sounding "o" as you'd pronounce it in the word "often" even though in Italian it's a long O of extremely short duration) although to be absolutely perfectly text book correct, it would be Kee-OG-dja, with the first G, the one following the O, very hard and the second one combined with the "i" soft and "j" - sounding. Many thanks and respect for your super-helpful videos. Discovered some new insights and new practical ideas in this one. A Good and Prosperous New Year to one and all, and to you much gardening love from Northeast Ohio, U.S.A. 😊💚💚💚💚💚😊
I beg to differ on the potatoes! 500g for £1 isn't cheap any more. In fact none of the fruit and vegetables in supermarkets are affordable any longer, so growing your own will soon be an absolute necessity.
Aussie here. Love potatoes but they are expensive nowadays and it might just be me, but supermarket food has zero flavour. Looking forward to growing a small garden in pots on my balcony.
This year, I am skipping my traditional Black Beauty, or Dark Green Zucchini. Instead, I am experimenting with Italian Stripped, Grey Zucchini, Round Zucchini, and Golden Zucchini. I am growing two of each plant, so zucchini should be plentiful. The Grand Marshall tomago was by far my best producer, and they are a great all purpose tomato. I decided it was going to be my goto tomato for years to come. That is why it was discontinued. So, this spring, I will be experimenting with its replacement, Jolene Tomato. It is designed for growing in the southeast region of the USA-hot, humid, and lots of diseases. I am still trying to get a successful bulbing onion. This year, I am going with the Red Burgundy Onion, and am experimenting with the yellow potato onion. Today was seed starting day for me. For my first round, I have All Seasons Cabbage, Calabrese Broccoli, Self Blanching Cauliflower, Red Burgundy Onions, and Yellow Potato Onions sprouting on a heat mat, under a grow light. My garden has made it year-round, and it isn't finished yet. I am waiting on one last head of broccoli to mature. The Swiss Chard that has made it this far, has put out new healthy leaves, and I have carrots and parsnips that are ready to harvest. North Central Alabama, climate zone 7A.
Planning out my garden with the Garden Planner is the only thing saving me in dark midwinter Oregon, what I call the Sog Season. It's so hard to remember in January that we are technically a Summer Dry climate--feels like we'll never get to it again.
Ben! Downloaded the book - THANKS! And congrats on this. BTW......Chioggia is a town just south of Venice in Italy....."kee-oj-ya" I bet they have great beets there!
It's currently snowing and -17 C here today, I'm dying for spring to come back! My first seed catalogue arrived last week, so millions of ideas rushing around in my head already LOL
Thank you for the list of blight-resistant tomatoes. I grow under a cover but with a good air flow. Last year was very wet here in the North of Germany and a couple of plants did not perform well but,Ox Heart was an amazing grower right until late autumn when it also fell victim to the dreaded blight but it was the end of the season anyway. I had not expected that from Ox Heart that is a tomato I love., very tasty. Zucchinis are terrific. I am still enjoying my zucchini fritters (large zucchinis are fine for this) that I froze. Did you make the arches yourself and if yes, can you do a video on this? Last year, all potato greens were completely eaten by slugs except the spines of the greens. It was disheartening. I had to harvest them small.
It was such a tough year for slugs! Glad you got such a great tomato harvest. :-) Here's a link to the arches in the video: www.agrs.co.uk/products/elegance-round-arch?srsltid=AfmBOorb3KGQ9qJPct1CX2MZL-AGxfwIohFKcmNXSyA3HEtrFsGv9VpC
You really have given useful information about how to start the growing season. Your advice on when and how to plant the various crops is worth giving a try. It would be exciting to grow a variety of tomatoes , beans and the leafy greens. I agree with you that beetroot is a representative of nature’s beauty.❤
Can't give courgettes away round here, no-one wants them. I always grow garlic, Sweet Candle carrots, a large variety of tomatoes from saved seeds and I start a few buckets of new potatoes in the greenhouse in Feb so they are ready for late June/early July - nothing quite like really fresh new potatoes that were still growing half an hour before. I fill in with shallots and various salad veg as things make space and finish with turnips in the autumn. I have greengage, Victoria plum, eating and cooking apple trees and rhubarb so I get something to eat out of the garden fresh most days of the year, and I freeze fruit and tomatoes for the lean months, make jam and I dry herbs. We probably don't save much money (except for the tomatoes) but we eat well
I’ve been multi sowing beetroot in cells for years. They just push against each other and grow brilliantly. I twist out when large enough and leave the others to carry on growing.
My growing year started well last year, but I still managed to loose most of my crops. I think I only managed to harvest my first lot of potatoes, but my tomatoes did well and so did my cucumbers, however a lot of them didn’t go green. My carrots are finally putting some growth in now and I’ve got 3 parsnips doing well. I’m not really sure where it went wrong this year, but it hasn’t put me off and I’m looking at changing all my seeds, so I’m starting a fresh this year.
Hi Ben , nice video. I've got my garlic planted (was a little late in doing it in Dec) but hoping they turn out well as they'll be a first for me. I will also do sweet and chilli peppers, carrots, potatoes and another new one could be courgette. My tomatoes always catch blight so have never managed a harvest, will give a resistant one a go this year. That mini orange plant you were standing next to looks fantastic. Can you tell me a bit more about it and how I can try grow one myself? Have you a video on it? Also, where do you go to for your seeds and small plugs for a headstart? Thanks!
The citrus in the video is in fact a lemon. More on that in this video: ua-cam.com/video/zuZxyddqFGg/v-deo.htmlsi=78Yze7DDTlreiFa8 For seeds, I often buy from Kings Seeds. I use a mix of small plug suppliers (if buying) - usually just individuals selling on Ebay. :-)
6 out of 7 of these are my must grow vegetables too. The only one that isn't is beetroot. However, last night I dreamt that I had a massive beetroot harvest. Maybe 2025 is the year...
I always look up recipes when I get round to this, so don't have a preferred recipe as such. But searching again, I know I've tried this one in the past and it worked really well: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pickled-beetroot
Every living cell comes with its decomposing program. Blight isn’t a disease they catch, it’s part of the plants decomposing program when the plants been put through an environment it doesn’t like. Ie: rain and cold or both for Tomatoes.
@@world-karma9127 yes it applies to us too. If you put an apple in a glass box and wait. It will decompose and the bacteria’s etc will form. The apple produced these, the box was sealed air tight.
@ maybe. I haven’t a clue. I just know that that’s how things really work. And we have been lied to about many things. Our decomposing of our bodies cells are done by exosomes. . Our bodies natural defence to cell toxicity.
Wikipedia cites the potato blight (which also affects tomatoes) as being caused by a water mold called Phytophthora infestans. While it's true plant cells contain enzymes in their vacuoles that when released start breaking down the plant itself (autolysis), I don't think that's what causes blight. However, it is what causes an apple slice to oxizide (brown), for example.
I went out to go buy some seed starting mix...and realized I have a seed addiction. I have literally hundreds of packets of seeds and I just had to buy more...
Gardening and growing some plants at home is a slave-like job. Perhaps for people who feel that their main desires have been fulfilled, it is a form of entertainment for the last years of life. I have been following this channel since I had to escape from the city due to the abusive cost of renting the house I used to be close to my daughters. The solution to the problems is not to grow your own potatoes...they are individualistic responses to problems that must be solved in society. We in Buenos Aires have a very favorable climate for growing anything and a lot of plains rich in sediments and nutrients for vegetables. There are few plains in the world with the characteristics of our humid Pampas and they are being destroyed with an abusive and commercially harmful use. I suppose that you are intelligent and understand what I mean. Greetings from Buenos Aires Argentina. Happy New Year.
Leave enough space between plants and grow them in a sunny position, watering regularly in dry weather. More in this video: ua-cam.com/video/OV2WKmi3Vj0/v-deo.htmlsi=X4MTLMPMgj6OfYBD
Thank you Ben! Do you know a type of spinach which has the old fashioned iron taste? 30 Years ago spinach tasted like iron and I can't find it anymore.
I have had some success over the years, in Boston, MA; but the critters (bunnies, squirrels, birds, etc.) have become too much, I'm going to switch to a pollinator garden.
Wireworms can be a big problem on recently converted ground. It could be worth giving the soil a break from potatoes for a year to help break the cycle. More here: www.growveg.com/pests/us-and-canada/wireworm/
Not a strange question at all. :-) They're from Agrs: www.agrs.co.uk/products/elegance-round-arch?srsltid=AfmBOorb3KGQ9qJPct1CX2MZL-AGxfwIohFKcmNXSyA3HEtrFsGv9VpC
My Maris Piper potatoes had a lot of blackish holes in them, the worst I’ve ever grown. I will try again this year. I assumed it must be slugs as I had a lot last year. I’ve since thought it may have been due to wireworm although I’ve not seen any.
They are usually sold as 'seed potatoes'. They aren't generally available to buy though until later in the winter, so you may not seed them about just yet. They're basically small potatoes that you plant to produce lots more. :-) More in this video: ua-cam.com/video/A6zhvmVuPZc/v-deo.htmlsi=x5lSXYZCwCfKACmq
I took your advice last year and planted the poached egg flower. In a delightful way, they have taken over an entire raised bed! All winter they are a healthy green, no flowers. I’m reluctant to dig them up but need my bed back. Anyone got suggestions?
Legit one of my favorite gardening channels 💯
Thank you so much, really appreciate it. 🤩
Mine too - always something to learn and no wasted words. I never find myself tapping my food to get to the end of the video. Just the right length and always entertaining!
Growing your own food is a journey of faith, care, and perseverance. I wish a bountiful harvest for everyone this year! ❤🌱
Swiss Chard and Spinach this year, i had a bumper crop last year so hoping to replicate...the guinea pigs enjoy the scraps, the plants enjoy the poops.
New to gardening here! My 2nd year growing, so im trying to learn as much as i can! Im only in my 20s, so many many years of growing amd learning to come!
Great to be getting started gardening. Nice one! :-)
I bought the book, it looks well on the bookshelf. With the help of your videos last year I had radishes, spring onion, broccoli and the best carrots I have ever tasted. Happy new year to you and everyone here.
This is such a joy to read, thank you. Happy gardening! :-)
I love your passion for growing veggies. You inspire me not to give up - thank you!
Been waiting for this all day!!!!
I’ve looked over a few gardening channels for getting started and last year the garden was amazing! I really like your tips and tricks.
The planner is amazing, I have been using it for 4 years and keeps on improving constantly. Highly recommended.
Thanks so much! :-)
To everyone who is new to the channel for New Years... you are supposed to take a drink any time he says "well rotted manure". Good luck.
Haha - nice one! :-)
I agree 100% with your list with cucumbers and winter squash added.
EVERY time I see your video waiting for me I get excited about the information I am about to learn. Hello from the PNW in the US!
Hello! Love the PNW - spent a lovely time in Portland, OR. :-)
Great video Ben. As always. Happy New Year mate
Cheers so much Tony - a very happy New Year to you too my good man! :-)
The best part of my Saturday's are your videos. Always so inspiring ❤
Great video and exactly what I needed on my 22 degrees (F), foggy, drizzly day! I'm in my 5th year of using the Garden Planner app and I absolutely love it 👍
In oct/nov i planted potatoes, beans of 3 different varieties, garlic and onions. Mulched them with old grass clippings then on top I put loads of straw.
Omg my garden is so alive!! Going to plant loads more potatoes as soon as I get the buckets for them. More than enough tomato seeds that o can actually grow!
Tent greenhouses ready to put up. More jobs to do tomor!! Can’t wait for spring!!
Oh my goodness, potatoes?? Where are you living? Thought they would rot in the ground over winter
@ nope. They just lay dormant for a bit. The shoots are about 4 inches of green leaves, and I planted them in layers. I just got ones from Asda and left them to chit then planted them. Honestly it’s one of the most easiest plants to grow!
Wow
What a fantastic result! :-)
1st time I’ve ever been in the 1st ten to start watching 😀
Well hearty congrats from me! 🤟
I started my toms off early last year (March) thinking I’d get a good start but they went leggy before I could put them in because of frost and the stems never really grew strong. In the end I was literally hanging them from a badly built structure trying to keep them up especially the beef tomatoes. But got a reasonable crop and lots of beautiful soup and passata sauce 👍
I’m in SW france and get Colorado beetle on my potatoes, keep moving the crop and have to keep squishing them every day, hope I’ll be clear this year. 🤞
Just started gardening last year. It has been fun. Your videos are 👍
A great memory of last summer was searching for and eating young runner bean pods with the kids. Although one did learn that the red flowers taste pretty good too 😅
I never tried zucchini, they're on my try list next growing season. Tomatoes, lettuce and herbs are (more or less 😉) growing on the balcony each year. I'm so jealous as I'd like to have 7 plants listed. I realized last year I just love fresh corn. So yummy. I want to grow big orange pumpkins and those kales that look like palmetto trees.
I've grown zucchini in large pots - well worth having one or two in the garden 😁 they can be tied to a stake to grow vertically, which is actually a fantastic way to ensure that there's good airflow and it's easier to see the zucchini and pick before they get too big
Hi Ben. I do have a problem with slugs! Especially climbing on my strawberry plants and my avocado sapling. I use Cory's pellets to make a perimeter around those plants. It's worked quite well so far. 🤞😊 Thank you for all of your advice and for helping me not to give up on my garden! 🤗
🍓🥑🍇🌶🫑🍅🍍🥒🥕🥔🍠
Hope you manage to continue evading the slugs! :-)
@GrowVeg me too! They are nasty little buggars. Lol. Thank you.
I see your Meyer is doing great, the best tasting lemon IMHO, I grow one myself in Northern Ireland.
Back to the topic of this fine video, for me tomatoes are number one, I grow them outside in my even more humid climate than yours of cloudy, rainy Belfast. The key is to select short season varieties, and the key thing to look is the information telling you how many days after transplant you can expect a harvest, which for me is no more around 80 days. You can grow beef stakes outside that way, I successfully grew fantastic green beef stake tomatoes and (Green Moldovan Beefstake & Black Krims). Every year I can easily get around 20-30kgs of tomatoes, it's never enough!
The second crop would be cucumbers for fermenting, they are much healthier for your gut than the ones pickled in vinegar, and you can make very tasty sour cucumber soup with them and some of the brine. But here I am never 100% successful, like last year, only one miserable cucumber. I also think, these short pickling garden cucumbers are much better tasting than the long ones, although more prone to getting bitter.
I never had any success with beans, except for broad beans, so I'd put beets, garlic and onions on my list as a must. Especially onions, they don't take much space, and they can be stored for months in a cool, dry (important) dark place and yet still look, taste better the ones already rotting on the shelves in the supermarkets.
Love the idea of fermented cucumbers - will have to give this a try this summer. :-)
Experimented with a lot of things last year. This year Imma go harder!! Can't wait for autumn so I can start space and soil prep for spring!!
Awesome video! Getting the indoor seed starting all set up. Hello from Canada!
Nice video (again). I am with you on courgettes, potatoes, tomatoes and beans. I can’t do without winter squash, bell peppers and chili peppers. I may add sweet potatoes to my list if I finally figure out the best way to grow the in my climate and soil. Thank you for the great content of your channel. You‘re one of my favorite channels.
Thanks for watching - and here's to a very productive season. :-)
Thank you Ben. Your busy as ever in this new year I feel like I'm there with a great teacher! ☆🏆
Happy New Year, Ben! 😀
I really appreciate your channel. You are so good about sharing information about the different varieties with each plant you are talking about. This helps me to look into other varieties. I have recommended your channel many times because I trust your information which I can not say that about so many channels. Please keep up your good work. Thanks from Texas.
Thank you so much for your kind words and for recommending the channel - I really appreciate it! :-)
Ben. Very interesting and informative video as usual. Thank you.
Hi Ben, Happy New Year! Thank you for doing this vid. Gardens seem to be number 1 for the new year.
As always thanks Ben.
Have received some emails over the last few weeks from you/your channel and must find time to sit and read but so much been happening tbh the time to rest is not atm lol x
Take care and as always stay safe
Will do. Thanks for all your support Cheryl. Happy New Year to you. :-)
Here I sit, mid-soggy-winter in Oregon, USA, and you there making me want to go putter in the garden. Shame on you!
Right! It's currently 39 where I live. All of these gardening videos are really making me crave Spring.
I'm just up the road a bit from you, and it's just rain every day. 😕
Mid summer for my garden, but still encouraging.
Summer gets the glory that Winter works for...(wow! That’s quotable, right there!🧐)😋
Don your raincoat and do something, any little thing, and soon you’ll be ready when Spring arrives.😃
(Spoken by a pajama clad granny trying to work up the energy to go out to the greenhouse in 38’ sunshine.😂)
It's a mere 20F today...feels like 9 degrees and my patience is so thin
Zone 5b
Always prioritize vegetables that can be easily preserved/stored:
Garlic, potatoes, beets, winter squash, cucumbers, beans
lol somebody in Wyoming says that too...the striped ones are their favorite beet.
As always, fantastic, concise information.
Wishing you a fantastic 2025 Ben & family 🌱🌻🌞
I love watching your informative videos. I'm still learning what i can grow in my small space. I'm still waiting for my husband to finish my shed so i can store food once grown. I'm in South Wales and it always amazes me (looking through the comments) that your followers are world wide ❤
It's great to have so many followers from all over. Hope you get that shed finished soon! :-)
I discovered the Italian Zuchinni last season! What a boon to those of us plagued by vine borers! Foiled!!! They quickly root along the stem!!
Howdy, Ben!
You have a great list of 7 must grow crops.
Here are my 8: okra, tomatoes, summer squash, pumpkin, winter squash, leafy greens, green beans, and melons.👩🏾🌾
Love this list. I'm giving okra a try this year for the first time. :-)
@GrowVeg You will enjoy it. Good health benefits. I eat it raw when young...garden snack.😋
Morning Ben, thankyou for another great video, packed full of advice.
Tilly
Cheers Tilly! :-)
Organic potatoes are pricey here in the US. One of my favorite crops to grow!
Ooh looking forward to watching, hello from Ireland. I've been watching lots of your video and just now finished the one with Gaz Oakley and Huw Richards (again) and going to order the tomato honeycomb because of your reaction to eating them in Huws greenhouse 😊
They really were intensely sweet! :-)
Hi Ben, I am gonna redo my whole garden. I dont have all that much room so I have decided to get your garden planner to help me out. Really looking forward to 2025 but with your vids and some other content creaters I see the light on the horizon! I am also gonna start a channel to show how I redo my garden, who knows maybe you see alot of fails from me and can give some good help 😀anyway hope you have a great 2025 Season!
Hope your new garden goes well - fantastic job! Please let me know once you have a few videos uploaded as I'd love to see your progress. :-)
Your videos are always so inspiring and enthusiastic it's infectious! Could you say where you got those lovely metal arched trellis from please?
Yes of course, they're from Agrs: www.agrs.co.uk/products/elegance-round-arch?srsltid=AfmBOoo_wMObNOmSBZobPAiWikzKzoEPQ_Sr-qcv86-ykiYfMF-c_69W
Happy New year btw Ben. I've been growing since summer 2020 and you have been an incredible guru for me
So delighted to read this, thank you. A very happy New Year to you too. :-)
So wholesome. Love to you my British friend.
And to you. Cheers so much! :-)
last year 3 different spots in my garden with each 2-3 courgette plants... 3 months after last harvest ..freezer is still full of courgette soup and frozen courgettecubes ... even family got a huge amount...
i just hope 2025 will bring far more sun, and less rain then 2024... because my onion and early potato, and many more plants really suffered in april/mai
I only miss spinach from this list 😊 Thank you for the great videos.
That might work in squash in your environment but in mine, it’s a sure fire method for causing powdery leaf mildew. (Very humid summers)
Chioggia = "Kee-OH-dja" is how it sounds (the OH a very short-sounding "o" as you'd pronounce it in the word "often" even though in Italian it's a long O of extremely short duration) although to be absolutely perfectly text book correct, it would be Kee-OG-dja, with the first G, the one following the O, very hard and the second one combined with the "i" soft and "j" - sounding.
Many thanks and respect for your super-helpful videos. Discovered some new insights and new practical ideas in this one.
A Good and Prosperous New Year to one and all, and to you much gardening love from Northeast Ohio, U.S.A. 😊💚💚💚💚💚😊
I beg to differ on the potatoes! 500g for £1 isn't cheap any more. In fact none of the fruit and vegetables in supermarkets are affordable any longer, so growing your own will soon be an absolute necessity.
Aussie here. Love potatoes but they are expensive nowadays and it might just be me, but supermarket food has zero flavour. Looking forward to growing a small garden in pots on my balcony.
Yes, prices going up across the board - it makes growing your own so much more worth it!
This year, I am skipping my traditional Black Beauty, or Dark Green Zucchini. Instead, I am experimenting with Italian Stripped, Grey Zucchini, Round Zucchini, and Golden Zucchini. I am growing two of each plant, so zucchini should be plentiful. The Grand Marshall tomago was by far my best producer, and they are a great all purpose tomato. I decided it was going to be my goto tomato for years to come. That is why it was discontinued. So, this spring, I will be experimenting with its replacement, Jolene Tomato. It is designed for growing in the southeast region of the USA-hot, humid, and lots of diseases. I am still trying to get a successful bulbing onion. This year, I am going with the Red Burgundy Onion, and am experimenting with the yellow potato onion.
Today was seed starting day for me. For my first round, I have All Seasons Cabbage, Calabrese Broccoli, Self Blanching Cauliflower, Red Burgundy Onions, and Yellow Potato Onions sprouting on a heat mat, under a grow light. My garden has made it year-round, and it isn't finished yet. I am waiting on one last head of broccoli to mature. The Swiss Chard that has made it this far, has put out new healthy leaves, and I have carrots and parsnips that are ready to harvest. North Central Alabama, climate zone 7A.
You'll love the striped zucchini Jay - very pretty on the plant and the plate. :-)
Transplanting beets..... gonna try that this year
Planning out my garden with the Garden Planner is the only thing saving me in dark midwinter Oregon, what I call the Sog Season. It's so hard to remember in January that we are technically a Summer Dry climate--feels like we'll never get to it again.
2025 will be my first gardening year since buying my little farm. Im so excited!!
THank you Ben!
love your videos ❤
Thanks Ben 🙏
Ben! Downloaded the book - THANKS! And congrats on this. BTW......Chioggia is a town just south of Venice in Italy....."kee-oj-ya" I bet they have great beets there!
I'm sure they must! Thanks for the kind words on the book. :-)
It's currently snowing and -17 C here today, I'm dying for spring to come back! My first seed catalogue arrived last week, so millions of ideas rushing around in my head already LOL
Lots to look forward to I hope! :-)
I can't wait for this years garden! :D
That garden planner looks cool!
It’s not
Thanks so much. Do feel free to try it (for free) to really put it through its paces - I'm sure you'll enjoy using it. :-)
Thank you for the list of blight-resistant tomatoes. I grow under a cover but with a good air flow. Last year was very wet here in the North of Germany and a couple of plants did not perform well but,Ox Heart was an amazing grower right until late autumn when it also fell victim to the dreaded blight but it was the end of the season anyway. I had not expected that from Ox Heart that is a tomato I love., very tasty. Zucchinis are terrific. I am still enjoying my zucchini fritters (large zucchinis are fine for this) that I froze.
Did you make the arches yourself and if yes, can you do a video on this?
Last year, all potato greens were completely eaten by slugs except the spines of the greens. It was disheartening. I had to harvest them small.
It was such a tough year for slugs! Glad you got such a great tomato harvest. :-) Here's a link to the arches in the video: www.agrs.co.uk/products/elegance-round-arch?srsltid=AfmBOorb3KGQ9qJPct1CX2MZL-AGxfwIohFKcmNXSyA3HEtrFsGv9VpC
You really have given useful information about how to start the growing season. Your advice on when and how to plant the various crops is worth giving a try. It would be exciting to grow a variety of tomatoes , beans and the leafy greens. I agree with you that beetroot is a representative of nature’s beauty.❤
So much to look forward to over the coming months! :-)
@ Absolutely
Good🎉work🎉my friend🎉nice🎉shiring 🎉❤😊😊😊😊
"I've been gardening for over 30 years"
Apparently gardening keeps a person young because you don't even look 30 years old 😂🤣
I’m genuinely honoured, thank you! I did start gardening quite young but I am (very) comfortably over 40!
I think he’s 28 and a half 😉
Great to watch as always. Spluttered my tea at the tomato description! 🤣🤣🤣
Glad to have raised a smile! :-)
No better way to start the year than with a three-word alliteration - …great big ballsy beefsteaks!
Glad that one was picked up! :-)
Can't give courgettes away round here, no-one wants them. I always grow garlic, Sweet Candle carrots, a large variety of tomatoes from saved seeds and I start a few buckets of new potatoes in the greenhouse in Feb so they are ready for late June/early July - nothing quite like really fresh new potatoes that were still growing half an hour before. I fill in with shallots and various salad veg as things make space and finish with turnips in the autumn. I have greengage, Victoria plum, eating and cooking apple trees and rhubarb so I get something to eat out of the garden fresh most days of the year, and I freeze fruit and tomatoes for the lean months, make jam and I dry herbs. We probably don't save much money (except for the tomatoes) but we eat well
I dehydrate them to use all winter, they also make delicious ferments that give me a supply until next year's crop is ready 😊
Eating well means so much - sounds like you have some really first-rate harvests. :-)
Thankyou kind sir!
My favourite paste tomato is Amish Paste. It's sweet, meaty and massive! The plants grow tall, are hearty, and easily grow at least 5 sets of 6.
Great recommendation! :-)
You are a classic model for whole world 💟
I think i need this planner
Bring in the new year with new plants! Everybody needs to Seymour Green Plants!
Interesting to see you ttansplanting beet root. Other content creators swear you can't transplant root veggies. 🤷♂️
I’ve been multi sowing beetroot in cells for years. They just push against each other and grow brilliantly. I twist out when large enough and leave the others to carry on growing.
I love Ben so much!
Thanks so much - and you! :-)
My growing year started well last year, but I still managed to loose most of my crops. I think I only managed to harvest my first lot of potatoes, but my tomatoes did well and so did my cucumbers, however a lot of them didn’t go green.
My carrots are finally putting some growth in now and I’ve got 3 parsnips doing well.
I’m not really sure where it went wrong this year, but it hasn’t put me off and I’m looking at changing all my seeds, so I’m starting a fresh this year.
I hope you have a very successful year this time round. :-)
Hi Ben , nice video. I've got my garlic planted (was a little late in doing it in Dec) but hoping they turn out well as they'll be a first for me. I will also do sweet and chilli peppers, carrots, potatoes and another new one could be courgette. My tomatoes always catch blight so have never managed a harvest, will give a resistant one a go this year.
That mini orange plant you were standing next to looks fantastic. Can you tell me a bit more about it and how I can try grow one myself? Have you a video on it?
Also, where do you go to for your seeds and small plugs for a headstart?
Thanks!
The citrus in the video is in fact a lemon. More on that in this video: ua-cam.com/video/zuZxyddqFGg/v-deo.htmlsi=78Yze7DDTlreiFa8
For seeds, I often buy from Kings Seeds. I use a mix of small plug suppliers (if buying) - usually just individuals selling on Ebay. :-)
6 out of 7 of these are my must grow vegetables too. The only one that isn't is beetroot. However, last night I dreamt that I had a massive beetroot harvest. Maybe 2025 is the year...
I think your subconscious is telling you to give them a grow! :-)
Hi ben happy new year how do you pickle your beetrootsplease
I always look up recipes when I get round to this, so don't have a preferred recipe as such. But searching again, I know I've tried this one in the past and it worked really well: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pickled-beetroot
Very, very good 👍🏼 ❤🎉
Every living cell comes with its decomposing program. Blight isn’t a disease they catch, it’s part of the plants decomposing program when the plants been put through an environment it doesn’t like. Ie: rain and cold or both for Tomatoes.
That's interesting..
@@world-karma9127 yes it applies to us too. If you put an apple in a glass box and wait. It will decompose and the bacteria’s etc will form. The apple produced these, the box was sealed air tight.
@sherlockstu hmmm, do you think yeast could be a part of that then?
@ maybe. I haven’t a clue. I just know that that’s how things really work. And we have been lied to about many things. Our decomposing of our bodies cells are done by exosomes. . Our bodies natural defence to cell toxicity.
Wikipedia cites the potato blight (which also affects tomatoes) as being caused by a water mold called Phytophthora infestans. While it's true plant cells contain enzymes in their vacuoles that when released start breaking down the plant itself (autolysis), I don't think that's what causes blight. However, it is what causes an apple slice to oxizide (brown), for example.
I went out to go buy some seed starting mix...and realized I have a seed addiction. I have literally hundreds of packets of seeds and I just had to buy more...
Gardening and growing some plants at home is a slave-like job. Perhaps for people who feel that their main desires have been fulfilled, it is a form of entertainment for the last years of life.
I have been following this channel since I had to escape from the city due to the abusive cost of renting the house I used to be close to my daughters.
The solution to the problems is not to grow your own potatoes...they are individualistic responses to problems that must be solved in society.
We in Buenos Aires have a very favorable climate for growing anything and a lot of plains rich in sediments and nutrients for vegetables. There are few plains in the world with the characteristics of our humid Pampas and they are being destroyed with an abusive and commercially harmful use. I suppose that you are intelligent and understand what I mean.
Greetings from Buenos Aires Argentina. Happy New Year.
Any tips for beetroot growth? Mine never gets big enough
Leave enough space between plants and grow them in a sunny position, watering regularly in dry weather. More in this video: ua-cam.com/video/OV2WKmi3Vj0/v-deo.htmlsi=X4MTLMPMgj6OfYBD
I love pickled beets, never had them roasted. I think they taste like dirt otherwise.
Thank you Ben! Do you know a type of spinach which has the old fashioned iron taste? 30 Years ago spinach tasted like iron and I can't find it anymore.
Not really sure which variety to recommend for this - most of the iron I eat just has a very mild, almost creamy taste and texture.
Question - If you plant beets in plugs - like you did on the video, do you not have to thin them out ?
Thanks
No, if you plant them at the correct spacing, there's no need to thin them out, they can be grown in little clusters.
I have had some success over the years, in Boston, MA; but the critters (bunnies, squirrels, birds, etc.) have become too much, I'm going to switch to a pollinator garden.
11:30 am PT. Wondering what to do for potatoes to prevent wire worms?. It was horrible this last summer . Thank you for all your tips.
Wireworms can be a big problem on recently converted ground. It could be worth giving the soil a break from potatoes for a year to help break the cycle. More here: www.growveg.com/pests/us-and-canada/wireworm/
Great video! A bit of a strange question: any idea where to find metal arches like the ones in your garden?
Not a strange question at all. :-) They're from Agrs: www.agrs.co.uk/products/elegance-round-arch?srsltid=AfmBOorb3KGQ9qJPct1CX2MZL-AGxfwIohFKcmNXSyA3HEtrFsGv9VpC
Great video ,I was wondering about your lemon tree do you leave it in your green house all winter and do you have heat going all winter
My greenhouse is unheated and the lemon is left in there. It's doing fine - it can cope with some light frosts, so is quite happy in there. :-)
Beer traps work well for slugs.
Here in Australia it's 38 c (100 F ). Too hot to garden.
Nice!
What do you think about the snail log method for sowing, Ben?
I had never heard of this so had to look it up! But on first read this looks like a great method. I'll have to give it a try! :-)
@GrowVeg that's probably not the correct name for it! Id be interested in hearing about your results
My Maris Piper potatoes had a lot of blackish holes in them, the worst I’ve ever grown. I will try again this year.
I assumed it must be slugs as I had a lot last year. I’ve since thought it may have been due to wireworm although I’ve not seen any.
It could be wireworm, but last year was horrendous for slugs!
I’ve got seeds ready to start once it warms up a bit, but where can I buy potatoes? Do I just used store bought ones and let them sprout?
They are usually sold as 'seed potatoes'. They aren't generally available to buy though until later in the winter, so you may not seed them about just yet. They're basically small potatoes that you plant to produce lots more. :-) More in this video: ua-cam.com/video/A6zhvmVuPZc/v-deo.htmlsi=x5lSXYZCwCfKACmq
What variety is the golden stripped zuchini? I can't find the seeds here in the states. It is so beautiful.
It looks like it could be Sunstriped Zucchini, Territorial Seeds sells it in US
Yay! Thank you so much.
I took your advice last year and planted the poached egg flower. In a delightful way, they have taken over an entire raised bed! All winter they are a healthy green, no flowers. I’m reluctant to dig them up but need my bed back.
Anyone got suggestions?
You could leave them where they are or simply dig them up and replant them wherever you want them. They should flower in early summer.
@ appreciate the reply and all of your fantastic content.