Not only are you providing 200+ lbs of veggies in your garden, you are growing millions of pounds all over the world due to your videos. Watched so many of your videos winter/spring/summer of 19/20 and my high intensity garden was gorgeous. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I certainly share your excitement and passion for growing big or going home
Last year, I grew zucchini vertically at the spacing Luke described. I pruned all leaves that were below the flowers. By mid-summer, I had what looked like little zucchini trees and had room to plant stuff under the zucchini.
@@petecilione4166 Luke went over this video but I forgot to write down the title, but the format said: *Beans (Midnight Black turtle Beans in MI) *Peppers 2x at August puts 3rd flushes at October = 30 to 40 peppers from just 1 bell pepper. He did it with all different colors. *Zuchinni grows really fast. 35 peppers in just 1 year. *Leafy Herbs i.e. mint, basil, oregano, sage, thyme, parseley we need to clip flowers to stop the growth. *Cucumbers You can look for the video. The next video talked about growing different items too. *Mint *Chives *Oregano *Dill *Strawberries *Raspberries *Camomile tea All of which I would love to get it started.
Yes! I did that too and funny you call them zuchinni trees, that's what I called mine. An Amish guy came by, in his buggy and I heard him say, what the ****. I was laughing so hard and still do, every time I remember that.
If the Master Gardener program where he is is much like the one where I live, it's a bunch of people who like sitting around talking rather than actually trying to go do anything. Nothing against them, but I have never seen so many "gardeners" complain about everything to do with gardening.
I couldn't agree more. I see too many "Master Gardeners" with a (seemingly) authoritarian attitude, chipped shoulders, and can't be taught anything new. Pretty sad, really, and makes me wonder if the certification program itself isn't due for a major upgrade. There's just something wrong with this picture.
During WWII, they were called Victory Gardens. The idea that civilians in the US would be self-sufficient so that the results of large ag could be sent to the troops overseas.
My Granpap started his Victory Garden during WWII then kept it going until he passed away at 98yrs! I was inspired to Garden at 7yrs and some of my best childhood memories were spent with my Grandparents gardening and canning.
@@patrickmcgraw3435 Because those people are traitors and have become entangled with nations who are our enemies and do not want to see America succeed
By far my favorite food growing channel. I've learned a lot over the years watching your channel. No real question just really appreciate your work it's a lot to put into this channels.
@@markwalker9107 very true now stop talking to yourself 🤣 didn't realize that I was commenting form my personal account on here. Haven't quite got that all figured out.
@@heavymetalbassist5 just keep on going at it. Everything gets better . Like everything it takes some time. I still have tons of learning and work to be done. I'm going to go check out your channel
I have gardenedfor 40 years. I always for some reason plated like 3 times more in an area then others. I began hearing my friends comment that I had hardly any weeds or other problems they had. My reasoning was I dont like to waste space anywhere. I have harvested 50 quarts of green beans from a 2x16 space. My husband questioned the potatoes planting this year. Since his biggest hobbie as well, I said you can do whatever you like hon. He came back within an hour and said he decided they were fine as he didn't want to use up more space for them. Our harvest is larger because of it. Weeds are controlled by it. The only downfall is disease. One plant gets it and you lose many more. Just a risk. I would not garden any other way. I have no idea why I ever planted this way to start with except I may be somewhat of a rebel lol
I was thinking about how there will be less air circulation around plants because of how close they will be to one another. That could cause disease. Also, won't less water reach the soil when it rains? I suppose that would be balanced out by how the shaded soil loses so much less water to evaporation.
Sounds like me , when someone tells me that I can’t do something or not supposed to do my garden a certain way , I’m like watch me and watch it be fantastic.😂😂
Yes!! I do the same hahaha. People are all like, hay you cant grow tomatoes here without protecting them from rain! And, you shouldnt prune pepper plants! EUHM my huge harvest of tomatoes and I would like to disagree! (nd the peppers I made a different mistake on so they failed anyway hahahaha)
I planted red and green pepper plants with English thyme in a large tub pot today. This is a first for me, because I can no longer get down even to a raised bed and lack the $ to build raised beds up 3-4 feet and fill them with soil. I figure the peppers will shade the thyme. Guess I'll find out.
i had some extra packets of seeds this year after doing my starting and just threw them into my "catchall" garden to see what would happen, i have never harvested so much lettuce in my life, i came back from a week of vacation and it looks like a jungle of deliciousness
Yeah I loved Luke's videos from when he did that! I did the same thing with a bunch of radish, lettuce, and cilantro seeds and I have a patch of deliciousness now in a fallow area, and the ones I didn't pick are starting to bloom and feed the bees.
Also, you shouldn't plant things like lettuce and radish in dedicated beds imo. Just plant them in the beds meant for larger crops that reach full size later in the season, and harvest the small, fast growing, early season crops as the season progresses to make way for the growth of the bigger crops. For example, what you could try is to haveyour zucchini plants 2 ft apart, but also have a few pea plants, and hundreds of radish and lettuce plants in between those zucchinis that you can pull out over the next month or so to make way for the zucchini's growth. The radishes are closest to the zucchini since they'll be the ones that can be harvested first, lettuce are a bit further and can probably hang out under the edges of the zucchini leaves as it grows, and the peas are closest to the midpoint between the zucchinis since they're the tallest plants. The radishes need to be harvested after about a month anyways, so not like they'll go to waste, the lettuce, even if they're cut-and-come-again aren't going to be doing that well in the full sun of mid-summer anyways, so they'll probably be okay under the leaves, and if they stop growing and you just harvest them, no big deal, just sow some more lettuce seeds under the zucchini leaves, and by the time the next crop of lettuces sprout, the zucchini will be done producing and can be cut back.
@@DawaLhamo As a revision to this though, I've been finding that the zucchini can sometimes grow too quickly and smother the radishes before they're ready to harvest. So maybe a smaller slower to harvest plant to intercrop with, such as peppers, would work better. Or sow the seeds for radish, lettuce, etc a few weeks before you plant the zucchini, ex plant the zucchini 2 weeks after your last frost date, and sow the seeds of radish and lettuce 2-4 weeks before your last frost date.
For a few years I've pushed spacing closer and closer, but I still hesitated with certain plants or going "too close." Your videos gave me confidence and the results last year were great. I'm stoked for the yield this year! I have a small-ish garden, but I'll be able to feed my family and still give away tons of great produce to my friends and neighbors, which makes me very happy. Good stuff, Luke.
This is the first time my family and I have attempted to start a garden of our own. We binge watch a lot of videos and your channel has really helped ! Thanks a bunch!
@@billbsnapshot220 Yes. I have made the point that he rambles and repeats himself before but he hasn't changed. If anything he has become worse over the years. It really isn't a matter of style, but communication effectiveness. I wonder how many people try his videos but just tune out after 5 to 10 minutes because he just hasn't gotten to the point yet. It is too bad because he has great information and a nice style.
@@BSGSV Yes very nice guy knows his stuff well. I have to fast forward a lot. I purchased many seeds from him this year and everything is growing well.
It might seem like an exaggeration, but you’ve had a hand in the changing of my life and my mindset. You’ve helped me immensely over the last couple of years, when I decided to get serious about gardening. I never knew I’d one day care so much about gardening or that it would bring me so much comfort and peace. So, thank you so much. I’ve learned everything from you. And even though I make mistakes every single year, I’m learning new things every single day, as well.
@@MIgardener Same here man. I went from never thinking I'd be interested in something like this to building out 2000 square feet of garden in my backyard and doing high intensity gardening in all of it. It is awesome.
Hey hey sweetie, your my go to guy because your passion for gardening is phenomenal and inspiring. I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and this year I added five more 4’x8’ beds to grow and can more food for my family! Thank you for always being so excited about gardening, you inspire this 67 year old Nana to keep challenging myself to grow bigger than last year! 👩🌾👵🏻
I have really enjoyed your channel for years and your spacing techniques, especially growing tomatoes up poles, were game changers. I live in town with a small lot and have several fenced in raised beds (so my dogs don't "help") and have learned to grow more than people with larger yards using the techniques you have taught :) thanks for sharing!
I’ve been growing in pots (20-30 cm diameter) on my balcony for a couple of years now, and the only thing I’ve found that needs to sit alone in a 30 cm pot is tomato (or rather: anything I’ve tried to plant around tomatoes has suffered because the tomato takes it all). Sunflowers, chards, herbs, calendula, sugarsnaps, nasturtiums, lettuce, mustards, chili, nemophila, dianthus, sweetpeas, chives and leafy celery are happy to share. The jury is still out on squash, because I’m uncertain whether it was spacing, a really cold summer or insufficient light that was the problem. I generally oversow and feel bad about thinning out seedlings unless they are truly sick or stunted, so I just end up trying to fit everything I have into the pots and boxes, and it has worked ok. Over time I learn which things want more space, nutrition or sunlight by seeing which ones do well and which ones look like they’re struggling. My balcony only has afternoon sun, but it sets after ten at night in the summer, so I set the plants who like full sun along the railing and the partial shade ones further in. I probably have much punier plants and yields than I would have in a garden, but I do get fresh herbs and some veg and greens throughout the summer. And a wonderful outdoor space to hang out in.
As somebody who lives on a farm I really never thought about it. But when I take a look at my father-in-law driving these big pieces of machinery they need so much space in order to be able to drive through the rows of the plants so that they don't damage them so maybe that's also where spacing has come from.
I started watching recently, and am binging the old episodes like Luke mentioned at the start of the video. Thanks for being so sincere, you can feel the love you have for your plants and your family through every video. I did my first high intensity planting of some kale and spinach this spring and was surprised by just how much it produced with 1/2 the spacing. Definitely more than 2x what I had the year before with 'normal' spacing. I'm now able to actually cut into my grocery budget and share any extras with friends and family!
I'm glad to hear this. This year I am really increasing the amount of plants closer together in my garden, simply because I grew so much from seed, and wanted to plant everything.
Haha! Same here I grew about 3 dozen peppers from seeds of last year's harvest and I'm worried where in my veggie garden can I all plant them but thanks to this info I'll try to plant them closer together than what's recommended and see what happens! :)
Excellent video! My parents and grandparents always had a garden and it was a lot of work. I never thought to question plant spacing because it was always done the old way. I’m excited to grow in my first raised bed garden this year (with no back braking weeding)! Thanks for all you do and share 👏👏👏♥️
Yes, totally! I can't wait to see my garden later this season when the successions I've been planting for more continuous harvest are all nearing maturity. Edited: you can also get even more plants by using a triangle planting method. 18 plants then turns into 24.
I learned this method from you several years ago, and yes - it's a total game-changer! Between that, intercropping and not wasting any space, and planting a winter garden, I feed us (and others) year-round. But the main thing was high-intensity gardening.
Thank you for this! I've been doing high intensity planting for about 3 yrs. Everyone said don't do it! But my gardens have been doing well. I'm glad to see I do know what I'm doing after all 💚
Doing high intensity gardening in my 15x18 ft garden this year. I was able to fit so much in my garden! Before I planted my seedlings I mapped out my garden on graphing paper to get a idea where everything will go. So glad I sketched it out few times before planting day!
I'm glad you discovered this. I have been growing like this for years. Nature dictates when a plant goes to seed that the majority fall near the Mother plant. It makes natural sense for plants to grow close together.
Yet another champion for digging (literally) for the Real Truth of the subject and completely debunking the "rules".....Bravo!!👏 Your my new gardening hero!!🤩
I'm in central Michigan and love your recommendations, I have a small garden with no outside water. I drag a hose from inside my home to water my plants. I am doing well with 24 tomatoes in a 4x25 foot space using single stem on the indeterminate 18-24" apart using the Dice pattern and more half are determinate 3ft tall plants (lots can fit). I have tons tomatoes until Sept.
This is the sort of quality videos I enjoy, and why I love your channel so much. Thank you for your commitment to helping the gardening community at large Luke. I know you said you don’t put this sort of information out to sell anything to us, but if I’m being honest I’d LOVE to see a “High Intensity Gardening” book produced by you, both with the steps to move towards increasing our food growth via the process you described, but also with an appendix of things you’ve done for specific plants, and the things you’ve encountered and had to adjust for while doing it. I’d buy that in a heart beat!
You are the HIGH DENSITY KING! I wouldn't be gardening again at this point in my life with a bad back without raised beds and high density gardening with the space I am limited to! Been watching you about 4 years now! Thank you for all you do and easy to understand tips. ❤
You should add high-intensity spacing instructions on the back of MI Gardener seed packets! That would be so handy, especially when trying new varieties!
Luke, I planted your Dragon Tongue beans and I have to say THEY ARE AMAZING. INCREDIBLY EARLY PRODUCING BUT ALSO BEAUTIFUL LARGE AND PLENTIFUL. I bought 1 pack and I'm picking every other day. THANKS
Thank you so much from West of Edmonton Alberta Canada. I just placed my first specialty order from the MIgardener seed store. I was a plesureful shopping experiance. I can't wait for them to get here. Our gaerden is doing great, and I've incorperated a number of the things that you teach on. Well done young man. One of my three thirty year old sons, Has a beautiful garden because of quality sites like yours. Keep it up and blessings to you and your lovely family.
God bless you for sharing this life changing advice. You are a generous young man to be so passionate to help others have better food at a much lower price. And so rewarding to see such a wonderful harvest!
Been following ur advice for over a year now and i live in the uk but i take wot applies to me from ur vids and i do plant abit closer than advised on packets and have amazing results 👍🏻
I've been following Migardener for 3 years now and although I may get discouraged by his success occasionally, im glad to see that im having similar results this year, in fact my radishes are actually bigger than his 🤪 love ya Luke!
This episode is so liberating, thank you so much Luke. I’m planning out my raised bed right now. It’s so helpful to learn this spacing knowledge from you ❤❤❤
Thank you for the great advise,its true we don't question what we have always done or were told to do, you have given me food for thought and I'm going to put it to the test.
I love the better taste and the fact you know what went into what you are eating. The therapy is great. My 5 year old son helping out... I love gardening! 😃
They're basically the same thing. I just veer off the "strict" rules of SFG, use common sense, giving tons of nutritional support for growing plants... interplant... experiment and push the limits. It works!
I am planting sweet potatoes for the first time and I didn’t worry about spacing. I got 27 slips from one potato and they are all in my 4ft square raised bed. I plant all my things this way anymore. I don’t have a lot of space so I grow all I can in the spaces I have
Love your channel!. I’ve been a Gardner for decades. And now I’m learning so much from you. I do not rototill my vegetable garden. I hand dig it with a shovel to just lightly turn it over.A well tended garden space is like a blank artist canvas that I can create a beautiful edible painting on every year. ❤️
It's great to see someone else who believes in testing the "rules" of gardening. I've done intensive planting for years and never cease to be amazed by the amount that comes out of the harvest.
I only had an in ground garden last year, but added 2 raised beds this year. One for strawberries and one for a myriad of other plants to experiment with. After watching you all last year, this year I am changing the spacing of my in ground garden and I have more than double the amount of tomato plants in the same amount of space I used last year. I also was able to add 8 tomatillo plants this year. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, it really does make a difference to so many people.
In 1981, a book on intensive planting called "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew, was published. It advocated intensive planting methods, and became my 'garden bible." My family had always used the old, labor intensive and "spread out" form of gardening with single rows spaced far enough apart to run a garden tractor in-between, and lots of hoeing around individual plants. What a revelation this method was! They still sell later editions of this original work on Amazon, et. al. if anyone is interested.
Hi! I’m a pretty new gardener and this season I’m growing some watermelons and I was wondering if you could do a vid about how to grow a watermelon in containers 😁
@@cindyskillman544 I trellis melons and squashes, and so far no slings or hammocks needed--the stems are TOUGH! When was the last time you actually pulled (not cut) a fruit off its vine that's tough as steel cable? 😝💪 (I think slings were "a thing" awhile back...). 🤔
I loved the video, and I can’t wait to push my lettuce even close together! But I want to push back on the idea that in the 19th and 20th centuries people gardened based on strict instructions and spacing was accepted as dogma. People have always experimented, they have always broken rules and made their own rules. When it comes to gardening I think people learn from the plants as much as they learn from other people.
Yes! First time gardening in YEARS and we're going full on square foot gardening, companion and succession planting. our 200sqft is packed and doin fine!
Luke, the reason I trust and love your channel is 1st you are so geographically close to me, second is you don’t just promote sales. Having said that I did just order from you and I’m so happy to see what happens in my garden. Thanks brother
Love the passion behind this message! It can be applied to everything life right now as well...question everything you are being told to believe, these days especially! As for gardening, I am on my 3rd year growing seriously and have 15 raised beds. Seed saving will be a huge focus this year as well. I pushed my space limits to 3 times as much and this video made me feel a lot better about that choice lol. I have, for example, 10 heirloom tomato plants in 1 6' x 3' bed with lettuce as ground cover! I can't wait for a mid season update from you on how yours is doing!
Thank you for all of this. I’ve helped my neighbors who have started gardening by my own knowledge from your videos (and Jess from root and refuge), building a community is everything and seeing my friends and family succeed is so rewarding. My potatoes have gone crazy in this past week with sulfur. God Bless Luke.
Excellent video! I had some 10 X 10' raised bed and in one, planted bush beans. We kept track of the harvests and ended up getting 40 pounds of beans out of a single 10 X 10!
I absolutely adore this advice. I'll admit, I've often shrugged off recommended plant spacing, largely because I have limited space but big garden aspirations, but a part of me has always wondered if maybe I was screwing up my plants long-term by crowding the plants too much. I'm not only relieved, but excited to implement your advice in my garden.
Your garden is looking fabulous! I plant my tomatoes 1 foot apart and I built a lower-and-lean trellis last year and it is awesome! One lesson I did learn with this trellis though is that you need to choose varieties that grow at a similar rate, so this year should be even better! I love high intensity gardening! Thanks, Luke!!!
I did this last year because of you and did this year to. I have a small garden with a few smaller beds and this worked great and harvested a good amount of food from a small area 👌thanks man
Fabulous info as always.My husband is always telling me I plant too many plants in the space I have , but my plants are hopping and liking holding and hugging one and other..LOL.
I have to wonder if we are afraid of questioning out of fear… fear of failure… so what you have done is show us how it can be successful and then we become less fearful and for that I thank you!
I put a lasagna garden in this year with an old refrigerator box. In a 4x7 garden I have a 3 zucchini, 2 cucumber, 3 eggplant, 15 peppers, 3 rows of radishes, one row of mini romaine, one row of carrots, and a row of redskin potatoes. And a grape vine is growing up my fence from the corner of it lol. I may even crowd some purple kohlrabi in amongst everything if there is any soil exposed to sunshine left lol My container garden next to the lasagna bed is already all waist-high and thriving, even here in Ohio where spring gave us a late start.i got at it early and covered plants to avoid frost and got lucky. I'm already harvesting parsley, basil, garlic, oregano, and soon blackberries and Rosemary. My potatoes and tomatoes in containers are huge and already beginning to form veggies. Onions are close to harvest also but I spooned them and am waiting for them to fatten up a little more. Even the peppers are covered in flowers now. The sunflowers are growing almost 6 inches per week. I hear doom and gloom about gardens everywhere this year but I'm not seeing it here. Quite the opposite. I wish everyone a garden like mine. Feed, mulch, and water, then hope for the best! 🤞
I've been following you and I have adopted this method in my garden this year. Im growing more food then I thought was possible...even got 18 tomatoes I'm getting ready to transplant!!! Family, friends, and neighbors compliment my garden. 😊 Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Don't stop!!! 🙂
I did exactly as you mentioned high intensity growing in my beds all the plants are growing like weeds minus the weeds lol I have been growing in beds for years but I do have to say they are doing much better this year thanks so much keep up with the videos I never miss one and always look forward to the next thanks again peace ☮️
I tried this method after Luke did his first video on it and he's absolutely made a huge difference in how much food you get. Especially with zucchini and tomatoes. Trimming the leaves is key. I completely changed zones moving a few months ago. My Homestead has about an acre of farmable land. Unfortunately right now it's covered in black berries. The other 75% is under Cedar trees. So, I'm doing seed starts differently this year. Zucchini, tomatoes, and mostly herbs and putting them in grow bags so I can move them around. Selling the herbs. Microgreens later this summer, but they stay in the basement. Luke is my go too for garden advice. 🙏🙏🙏
Appreciate the insight! It matches some of what I've experienced. I live in a forested environment, with two small gardens -- not limited by space, but rather what space has enough partial sun to grow anything interesting and can be protected from the voracious deer. I have had success mostly with small to medium-sized peppers (never bells!), green beans, peas, cold-climate / short-season tomatoes, and herbs in pots. Because of very limited space, I plant tall to short plants from north to south, with less than a foot between rows; and tight spacing from east to west (about a foot for tomatoes, 3" for beans and peas, and about 8" for peppers). I've also taken to growing 2 identical pepper plants from one seeding cell if they both look healthy (this does not work for tomatoes, however). Between the shady environment and close spacing, I rarely have to water at all and can grow cool-weather plants much further into the summer. I am limited by the first frost date, but that is more about lack of intense sun than spacing.
This just came up on my feed, I am sure I saw this when you published it. I have been doing it for years, think about what is shallow rooting veg and deeper rooting ones, you can plant them so much closer than you though. I have a small back yard, limited area with good sun, old neighborhood with a lot of very mature trees. It literally works so well thank you Luke
Well now I don’t feel like a reckless gardener because I’ve always eyeballed my spacing or said to myself well I only have this space and I need to plant ? right here so it’s going to have to be ok....my father in law was a farmer and he stuck to spacing and would always tell me every year that “nothing was going to produce because you planted everything to close and the he’d say I don’t know why you get such a harvest” I wish he could’ve seen my garden last year he would’ve been completely shocked at how much I planted in the little space I had and the amount of produce I harvested he would’ve been scratching his head for sure🤷🏼♀️🤣....thank you for taking time to make videos that teach, encourage, reinforce and share in our love for gardening it’s very nice to see someone else share in my love for gardening....have a blessed day your friend from California
I've always pushed the envelope with spacing. Now I feel better about doing it. I would be very helpful to make a video showing which vegetables to plant together, sharing raised beds...to help their growth and utilize spacing too. Thank you for all your excellent informative videos!! I love watching them & I suggest to others to watch as well.
I really appreciate you bringing plant spacing to our attention in your videos, as a mutable element of gardening as opposed to a fixed one like planting depth for seeds. I have personally learned that high intensity spacing does not work for all plants for me in my zone (super high humidity and rainfall in Hawaii can encourage disease if I slack on maintenance!) but through experimentation I have been able to discover many things that DO thrive grown in high intensity for me. Thanks Luke, for encouraging us to challenge the norms of plant spacing! 🌱
@Megan - It's the first I've heard of weather conditions in Hawaii, I was very interested in how is your soil, and do you have to amend the soil you grow in? It sounds interesting, I wish you much success! You can't go wrong listening to Luke, I have stuck with him for years, always great insights?
@@robertrhodessr3664 Hi Robert! I agree that Luke is a wonderful source of information- I typically try all plants spaced quite closely at first, per his recommendations, and modify after. The soil in Hawaii varies dramatically by region! It’s all volcanic in origin, and varies based on how old the volcanic deposits are. My area on the big island has very dense clay soil made from old volcanic material and organic matter over time. My soil itself is pretty decent but 300+ inches of rain yearly damages it quite a bit. Insane compaction and major nutrient loss. So I definitely amend with lots of organic fertilizer and tons of compost. Organic matter is super important for me because my soil has a property where it bonds to phosphorus and refuses to release it to plants until P levels get high. And organic matter is the best thing to loosen those bonds! Thanks for your curiosity, where is your garden located? :)
@@MeganSherow hello, thank you for your very interesting answer to my question! I wish you "good gardening" in the challenging issues based on your soil amendments and rainfall challenges. My wife and I recently moved from a Cleveland, Ohio suburb where we did square foot gardening, to a retirement community which has individual small garden patios where we can employ whatever methods we want to make either gardens, flowering patios, or simple outdoor spaces. We have combined for now, quite a few potted vegetables that did very well last year to combining perennial flowering bushes such as hibiscus, hydrangeas, irises, roses, varieties of hostas, irises, gladiolas, and interspersed our container gardening for vegetables. This year we are trying some of Luke's vertical methods to expand our mini vegetable yield. We have some interesting neighbors who have actually combined hydro gardening with their more traditional vertical planting. It allows for some great comparison interactions as we encourage each other. Then we also get to share some of the extra produce not just with family, but also a few neighbors who are limited in what they can do for gardens. It's quite a fun process, and as our children develop their own gardens, we help them plan and nurture their spaces. Thank you again we were very interested in hearing how you work your garden and handle the different issues towards more successful gardening!
@@MeganSherow also, I forgot to mention that we moved to the more rural area of Medina, Ohio, our little community is south of the Cleveland Ohio area, and closer to our children and my wife's family where she grew up on a farm. Our gardening conditions are blessed with mainly good soil, decent weather in the warm months, and seasons similar to Luke's conditions in Michigan. It's what drew us to his channel, as so much of his gardening conditions are similar to ours. Thanks again, and keep watching Migardener for his great advice!
I see this video is 2 years old. Do you still grow 3x as much food or has your opinion changed since then? This information is incredible! The truth shall set you free!! Thank you so much. 🌿
Not only are you providing 200+ lbs of veggies in your garden, you are growing millions of pounds all over the world due to your videos. Watched so many of your videos winter/spring/summer of 19/20 and my high intensity garden was gorgeous. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I certainly share your excitement and passion for growing big or going home
Here here! 🌞🙏🫂
2nd.
3rd.
Onward to Beartaria!
Last year, I grew zucchini vertically at the spacing Luke described. I pruned all leaves that were below the flowers. By mid-summer, I had what looked like little zucchini trees and had room to plant stuff under the zucchini.
May I ask what did you plant under the Zucchini trees?
@@petecilione4166 Luke went over this video but I forgot to write down the title, but the format said:
*Beans (Midnight Black turtle Beans in MI)
*Peppers 2x at August puts 3rd flushes at October = 30 to 40 peppers from just 1 bell pepper. He did it with all different colors.
*Zuchinni grows really fast. 35 peppers in just 1 year.
*Leafy Herbs i.e. mint, basil, oregano, sage, thyme, parseley we need to clip flowers to stop the growth.
*Cucumbers
You can look for the video.
The next video talked about growing different items too.
*Mint
*Chives
*Oregano
*Dill
*Strawberries
*Raspberries
*Camomile tea
All of which I would love to get it started.
@@kristinatidwell6563 thank you. I certainly appreciate it.
I started doing the same thing. Incredible
Yes! I did that too and funny you call them zuchinni trees, that's what I called mine. An Amish guy came by, in his buggy and I heard him say, what the ****. I was laughing so hard and still do, every time I remember that.
I like it that you are a certified Master Gardener and yet are able to think differently rather than simply regurgitate what you were taught.
If the Master Gardener program where he is is much like the one where I live, it's a bunch of people who like sitting around talking rather than actually trying to go do anything. Nothing against them, but I have never seen so many "gardeners" complain about everything to do with gardening.
I couldn't agree more. I see too many "Master Gardeners" with a (seemingly) authoritarian attitude, chipped shoulders, and can't be taught anything new. Pretty sad, really, and makes me wonder if the certification program itself isn't due for a major upgrade. There's just something wrong with this picture.
During WWII, they were called Victory Gardens. The idea that civilians in the US would be self-sufficient so that the results of large ag could be sent to the troops overseas.
Correct!
My grandmother had a victory garden. I have pictures of her in the garden
My Granpap started his Victory Garden during WWII then kept it going until he passed away at 98yrs! I was inspired to Garden at 7yrs and some of my best childhood memories were spent with my Grandparents gardening and canning.
Nowadays they seem to want the opposite.
@@patrickmcgraw3435 Because those people are traitors and have become entangled with nations who are our enemies and do not want to see America succeed
By far my favorite food growing channel. I've learned a lot over the years watching your channel. No real question just really appreciate your work it's a lot to put into this channels.
And don't forget awesome seeds.
@@markwalker9107 very true now stop talking to yourself 🤣 didn't realize that I was commenting form my personal account on here. Haven't quite got that all figured out.
@@theoverworkedgardener5648 lol been there done that, but your channel is way better than mine with 2 videos up lol
@@heavymetalbassist5 just keep on going at it. Everything gets better . Like everything it takes some time. I still have tons of learning and work to be done. I'm going to go check out your channel
Same here! Fav food growing channel!
I have gardenedfor 40 years. I always for some reason plated like 3 times more in an area then others. I began hearing my friends comment that I had hardly any weeds or other problems they had. My reasoning was I dont like to waste space anywhere. I have harvested 50 quarts of green beans from a 2x16 space. My husband questioned the potatoes planting this year. Since his biggest hobbie as well, I said you can do whatever you like hon. He came back within an hour and said he decided they were fine as he didn't want to use up more space for them.
Our harvest is larger because of it. Weeds are controlled by it.
The only downfall is disease. One plant gets it and you lose many more. Just a risk. I would not garden any other way. I have no idea why I ever planted this way to start with except I may be somewhat of a rebel lol
ua-cam.com/video/R4etnYPUrfw/v-deo.html
I like the way you plant your garden
I was thinking about how there will be less air circulation around plants because of how close they will be to one another. That could cause disease. Also, won't less water reach the soil when it rains? I suppose that would be balanced out by how the shaded soil loses so much less water to evaporation.
Sounds like me , when someone tells me that I can’t do something or not supposed to do my garden a certain way , I’m like watch me and watch it be fantastic.😂😂
Yes!! I do the same hahaha. People are all like, hay you cant grow tomatoes here without protecting them from rain! And, you shouldnt prune pepper plants! EUHM my huge harvest of tomatoes and I would like to disagree! (nd the peppers I made a different mistake on so they failed anyway hahahaha)
Truth drop: “..because we don’t challenge the status quo”!
I like your thinking Luke!😺🙌✨
If people don’t know.IT’S GARDENING SEASON. The best time of the year.
I planted red and green pepper plants with English thyme in a large tub pot today. This is a first for me, because I can no longer get down even to a raised bed and lack the $ to build raised beds up 3-4 feet and fill them with soil. I figure the peppers will shade the thyme. Guess I'll find out.
I always thought I was stingy with my garden spacing. I never knew I was doing high intensity gardening/spacing until I started watching Luke.
i had some extra packets of seeds this year after doing my starting and just threw them into my "catchall" garden to see what would happen, i have never harvested so much lettuce in my life, i came back from a week of vacation and it looks like a jungle of deliciousness
Yeah I loved Luke's videos from when he did that! I did the same thing with a bunch of radish, lettuce, and cilantro seeds and I have a patch of deliciousness now in a fallow area, and the ones I didn't pick are starting to bloom and feed the bees.
Wonderful. The joy of gardening is timeless. I wish the best tasting and healthiest vegetables for you and your family
Omg I have a catch all garden bed too!!!!! That bed is doing the best out of all of my beds!
Also, you shouldn't plant things like lettuce and radish in dedicated beds imo. Just plant them in the beds meant for larger crops that reach full size later in the season, and harvest the small, fast growing, early season crops as the season progresses to make way for the growth of the bigger crops. For example, what you could try is to haveyour zucchini plants 2 ft apart, but also have a few pea plants, and hundreds of radish and lettuce plants in between those zucchinis that you can pull out over the next month or so to make way for the zucchini's growth. The radishes are closest to the zucchini since they'll be the ones that can be harvested first, lettuce are a bit further and can probably hang out under the edges of the zucchini leaves as it grows, and the peas are closest to the midpoint between the zucchinis since they're the tallest plants. The radishes need to be harvested after about a month anyways, so not like they'll go to waste, the lettuce, even if they're cut-and-come-again aren't going to be doing that well in the full sun of mid-summer anyways, so they'll probably be okay under the leaves, and if they stop growing and you just harvest them, no big deal, just sow some more lettuce seeds under the zucchini leaves, and by the time the next crop of lettuces sprout, the zucchini will be done producing and can be cut back.
Wow. ...so practical and efficient.
Radishes are beneficial companions to zucchini anyway. They help deter pests.
@@DawaLhamo As a revision to this though, I've been finding that the zucchini can sometimes grow too quickly and smother the radishes before they're ready to harvest. So maybe a smaller slower to harvest plant to intercrop with, such as peppers, would work better. Or sow the seeds for radish, lettuce, etc a few weeks before you plant the zucchini, ex plant the zucchini 2 weeks after your last frost date, and sow the seeds of radish and lettuce 2-4 weeks before your last frost date.
For a few years I've pushed spacing closer and closer, but I still hesitated with certain plants or going "too close." Your videos gave me confidence and the results last year were great. I'm stoked for the yield this year! I have a small-ish garden, but I'll be able to feed my family and still give away tons of great produce to my friends and neighbors, which makes me very happy. Good stuff, Luke.
My beds were planned with the “zero crawling” method. Lol. Every thing is an arms length away.
This is the first time my family and I have attempted to start a garden of our own. We binge watch a lot of videos and your channel has really helped ! Thanks a bunch!
Same
Definitely check out Charles Dowding as well, if you haven't already. He's brilliant.
Luke actually starts talking about his cool gardening method and how he arrived at it at 7:26.
Yes Good information but he repeats himself some many times do a little background and get to the point.
@@billbsnapshot220 Yes. I have made the point that he rambles and repeats himself before but he hasn't changed. If anything he has become worse over the years. It really isn't a matter of style, but communication effectiveness. I wonder how many people try his videos but just tune out after 5 to 10 minutes because he just hasn't gotten to the point yet. It is too bad because he has great information and a nice style.
@@BSGSV Yes very nice guy knows his stuff well. I have to fast forward a lot. I purchased many seeds from him this year and everything is growing well.
It might seem like an exaggeration, but you’ve had a hand in the changing of my life and my mindset. You’ve helped me immensely over the last couple of years, when I decided to get serious about gardening. I never knew I’d one day care so much about gardening or that it would bring me so much comfort and peace. So, thank you so much. I’ve learned everything from you. And even though I make mistakes every single year, I’m learning new things every single day, as well.
Thank you so much for that!
I stopped by the comments to say exactly this. Thank you, Luke!
@@MIgardener Same here man. I went from never thinking I'd be interested in something like this to building out 2000 square feet of garden in my backyard and doing high intensity gardening in all of it. It is awesome.
Hey hey sweetie, your my go to guy because your passion for gardening is phenomenal and inspiring. I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and this year I added five more 4’x8’ beds to grow and can more food for my family! Thank you for always being so excited about gardening, you inspire this 67 year old Nana to keep challenging myself to grow bigger than last year! 👩🌾👵🏻
I have really enjoyed your channel for years and your spacing techniques, especially growing tomatoes up poles, were game changers. I live in town with a small lot and have several fenced in raised beds (so my dogs don't "help") and have learned to grow more than people with larger yards using the techniques you have taught :) thanks for sharing!
I am trying this this year mostly because I don’t have a garden so I am growing everything in large pots!!
This ought to work great! Just be sure to keep it watered, because any size pot will dry out faster than in ground growing.
@@doloresreynolds8145 Thanks! Will do!
I’ve been growing in pots (20-30 cm diameter) on my balcony for a couple of years now, and the only thing I’ve found that needs to sit alone in a 30 cm pot is tomato (or rather: anything I’ve tried to plant around tomatoes has suffered because the tomato takes it all). Sunflowers, chards, herbs, calendula, sugarsnaps, nasturtiums, lettuce, mustards, chili, nemophila, dianthus, sweetpeas, chives and leafy celery are happy to share. The jury is still out on squash, because I’m uncertain whether it was spacing, a really cold summer or insufficient light that was the problem.
I generally oversow and feel bad about thinning out seedlings unless they are truly sick or stunted, so I just end up trying to fit everything I have into the pots and boxes, and it has worked ok. Over time I learn which things want more space, nutrition or sunlight by seeing which ones do well and which ones look like they’re struggling. My balcony only has afternoon sun, but it sets after ten at night in the summer, so I set the plants who like full sun along the railing and the partial shade ones further in.
I probably have much punier plants and yields than I would have in a garden, but I do get fresh herbs and some veg and greens throughout the summer. And a wonderful outdoor space to hang out in.
@@kimzachris5340 Awesome!! Gives me hope haha!
Very well presented. 👍
As somebody who lives on a farm I really never thought about it. But when I take a look at my father-in-law driving these big pieces of machinery they need so much space in order to be able to drive through the rows of the plants so that they don't damage them so maybe that's also where spacing has come from.
I started watching recently, and am binging the old episodes like Luke mentioned at the start of the video. Thanks for being so sincere, you can feel the love you have for your plants and your family through every video. I did my first high intensity planting of some kale and spinach this spring and was surprised by just how much it produced with 1/2 the spacing. Definitely more than 2x what I had the year before with 'normal' spacing. I'm now able to actually cut into my grocery budget and share any extras with friends and family!
I'm glad to hear this. This year I am really increasing the amount of plants closer together in my garden, simply because I grew so much from seed, and wanted to plant everything.
Haha! Same here I grew about 3 dozen peppers from seeds of last year's harvest and I'm worried where in my veggie garden can I all plant them but thanks to this info I'll try to plant them closer together than what's recommended and see what happens! :)
I like the way you think! I always thought that spacing plants like the packet says was a waste of space. Lol. 😁
Excellent video! My parents and grandparents always had a garden and it was a lot of work. I never thought to question plant spacing because it was always done the old way. I’m excited to grow in my first raised bed garden this year (with no back braking weeding)! Thanks for all you do and share 👏👏👏♥️
Yes, totally! I can't wait to see my garden later this season when the successions I've been planting for more continuous harvest are all nearing maturity. Edited: you can also get even more plants by using a triangle planting method. 18 plants then turns into 24.
The longer the better with your videos, and the shorter, the better, with the distance between plants! THANK YOU.
I learned this method from you several years ago, and yes - it's a total game-changer! Between that, intercropping and not wasting any space, and planting a winter garden, I feed us (and others) year-round. But the main thing was high-intensity gardening.
Thank you for this! I've been doing high intensity planting for about 3 yrs. Everyone said don't do it! But my gardens have been doing well. I'm glad to see I do know what I'm doing after all 💚
I usually use How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons for suggestions on spacing. It's a modified French intensive method
Doing high intensity gardening in my 15x18 ft garden this year. I was able to fit so much in my garden! Before I planted my seedlings I mapped out my garden on graphing paper to get a idea where everything will go. So glad I sketched it out few times before planting day!
I'm glad you discovered this. I have been growing like this for years. Nature dictates when a plant goes to seed that the majority fall near the Mother plant. It makes natural sense for plants to grow close together.
Yet another champion for digging (literally) for the Real Truth of the subject and completely debunking the "rules".....Bravo!!👏 Your my new gardening hero!!🤩
Love this channel and the great advice and tips.
I'm in central Michigan and love your recommendations, I have a small garden with no outside water. I drag a hose from inside my home to water my plants. I am doing well with 24 tomatoes in a 4x25 foot space using single stem on the indeterminate 18-24" apart using the Dice pattern and more half are determinate 3ft tall plants (lots can fit). I have tons tomatoes until Sept.
A plumber should easily be able to install an outside tap for you if you know where your water pipes are
I'm gardening for the first time this year and I'm so glad I saw this video so early in the season! Subscribed! 👍🏻🥒
It would be great if you included high intensity spacing recommendations on your seed packets, Luke.
He said he does
This is the sort of quality videos I enjoy, and why I love your channel so much. Thank you for your commitment to helping the gardening community at large Luke. I know you said you don’t put this sort of information out to sell anything to us, but if I’m being honest I’d LOVE to see a “High Intensity Gardening” book produced by you, both with the steps to move towards increasing our food growth via the process you described, but also with an appendix of things you’ve done for specific plants, and the things you’ve encountered and had to adjust for while doing it. I’d buy that in a heart beat!
Ditto!
You are the HIGH DENSITY KING! I wouldn't be gardening again at this point in my life with a bad back without raised beds and high density gardening with the space I am limited to! Been watching you about 4 years now! Thank you for all you do and easy to understand tips. ❤
You should add high-intensity spacing instructions on the back of MI Gardener seed packets! That would be so handy, especially when trying new varieties!
Luke, I planted your Dragon Tongue beans and I have to say THEY ARE AMAZING. INCREDIBLY EARLY PRODUCING BUT ALSO BEAUTIFUL LARGE AND PLENTIFUL. I bought 1 pack and I'm picking every other day.
THANKS
Thank you so much from West of Edmonton Alberta Canada. I just placed my first specialty order from the MIgardener seed store. I was a plesureful shopping experiance. I can't wait for them to get here. Our gaerden is doing great, and I've incorperated a number of the things that you teach on. Well done young man. One of my three thirty year old sons, Has a beautiful garden because of quality sites like yours. Keep it up and blessings to you and your lovely family.
wow, this was so interesting to learn!! thank you!
God bless you for sharing this life changing advice. You are a generous young man to be so passionate to help others have better food at a much lower price. And so rewarding to see such a wonderful harvest!
Been following ur advice for over a year now and i live in the uk but i take wot applies to me from ur vids and i do plant abit closer than advised on packets and have amazing results 👍🏻
We changed the spacing on our packets for high intensity spacing.
I've been following Migardener for 3 years now and although I may get discouraged by his success occasionally, im glad to see that im having similar results this year, in fact my radishes are actually bigger than his 🤪 love ya Luke!
Nice 👍
This episode is so liberating, thank you so much Luke. I’m planning out my raised bed right now. It’s so helpful to learn this spacing knowledge from you ❤❤❤
You are absolutely full of wonderful knowledge i come here if i have any questions. Great Vid man
I would like your thoughts on square foot gardening
Thank you for the great advise,its true we don't question what we have always done or were told to do, you have given me food for thought and I'm going to put it to the test.
I love the better taste and the fact you know what went into what you are eating. The therapy is great. My 5 year old son helping out... I love gardening! 😃
Would love to hear more about the differences between high intensity spacing and the square foot gardening method!
Yes!!
They're basically the same thing. I just veer off the "strict" rules of SFG, use common sense, giving tons of nutritional support for growing plants... interplant... experiment and push the limits. It works!
I am planting sweet potatoes for the first time and I didn’t worry about spacing. I got 27 slips from one potato and they are all in my 4ft square raised bed. I plant all my things this way anymore. I don’t have a lot of space so I grow all I can in the spaces I have
Love your channel!. I’ve been a Gardner for decades. And now I’m learning so much from you.
I do not rototill my vegetable garden. I hand dig it with a shovel to just lightly turn it over.A well tended garden space is like a blank artist canvas that I can create a beautiful edible painting on every year. ❤️
Great channel, bought the square foot gardening book 30 years ago to get started in raised beds.
It’s a great book!!!
It's great to see someone else who believes in testing the "rules" of gardening. I've done intensive planting for years and never cease to be amazed by the amount that comes out of the harvest.
I only had an in ground garden last year, but added 2 raised beds this year. One for strawberries and one for a myriad of other plants to experiment with. After watching you all last year, this year I am changing the spacing of my in ground garden and I have more than double the amount of tomato plants in the same amount of space I used last year. I also was able to add 8 tomatillo plants this year. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, it really does make a difference to so many people.
One of your best videos ever! My experience matches yours, as we've continued to grow more and more in our small space. Thank you so much!
In 1981, a book on intensive planting called "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew, was published. It advocated intensive planting methods, and became my 'garden bible." My family had always used the old, labor intensive and "spread out" form of gardening with single rows spaced far enough apart to run a garden tractor in-between, and lots of hoeing around individual plants. What a revelation this method was! They still sell later editions of this original work on Amazon, et. al. if anyone is interested.
Hi! I’m a pretty new gardener and this season I’m growing some watermelons and I was wondering if you could do a vid about how to grow a watermelon in containers 😁
I believe CaliKim has a video on that if you want to go search. She does about 50% container gardening and I believe she does sugar babies every year.
@@melissasullivan1658 ok I’ll go check her out thank you!
People even grow watermelons on trellises. You have to put the melons in a sling. Pretty cool!
You might want to check out Christa's Garden, in addition to CaliKim. Christa's got great info on growing watermelons.
@@cindyskillman544 I trellis melons and squashes, and so far no slings or hammocks needed--the stems are TOUGH! When was the last time you actually pulled (not cut) a fruit off its vine that's tough as steel cable? 😝💪 (I think slings were "a thing" awhile back...). 🤔
I loved the video, and I can’t wait to push my lettuce even close together! But I want to push back on the idea that in the 19th and 20th centuries people gardened based on strict instructions and spacing was accepted as dogma. People have always experimented, they have always broken rules and made their own rules. When it comes to gardening I think people learn from the plants as much as they learn from other people.
Every year your garden teaches you something new
"My garden is my oasis of happiness". Now THERE'S a t-shirt!
Yes! First time gardening in YEARS and we're going full on square foot gardening, companion and succession planting. our 200sqft is packed and doin fine!
Luke, the reason I trust and love your channel is 1st you are so geographically close to me, second is you don’t just promote sales. Having said that I did just order from you and I’m so happy to see what happens in my garden. Thanks brother
I have been doing this without even realizing it and it does work! Thanks Luke for the video to open our eyes to successful, plentiful gardens!
Love the passion behind this message! It can be applied to everything life right now as well...question everything you are being told to believe, these days especially! As for gardening, I am on my 3rd year growing seriously and have 15 raised beds. Seed saving will be a huge focus this year as well. I pushed my space limits to 3 times as much and this video made me feel a lot better about that choice lol. I have, for example, 10 heirloom tomato plants in 1 6' x 3' bed with lettuce as ground cover! I can't wait for a mid season update from you on how yours is doing!
Thank you for all of this. I’ve helped my neighbors who have started gardening by my own knowledge from your videos (and Jess from root and refuge), building a community is everything and seeing my friends and family succeed is so rewarding. My potatoes have gone crazy in this past week with sulfur. God Bless Luke.
Yes! I agree. I have been doing container gardening the last 3 years and placed the plants in 'my spacing' and they worked just fine!
Luke, this is your best video yet!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful garden and knowledge with us! I’ve always been told I plant too closely, but I love pruning as my time to myself.
Love this method! Thanks for showing it to me
Nice Luke. Tammy here. Going to do this It will be our first garden in many years.
I just planted my garden, I'm definitely adding more! Thank you for this video which is just in time!
Excellent video! I had some 10 X 10' raised bed and in one, planted bush beans. We kept track of the harvests and ended up getting 40 pounds of beans out of a single 10 X 10!
Trail and error, the way of life!!!
Been doing it for years!!
I absolutely adore this advice. I'll admit, I've often shrugged off recommended plant spacing, largely because I have limited space but big garden aspirations, but a part of me has always wondered if maybe I was screwing up my plants long-term by crowding the plants too much. I'm not only relieved, but excited to implement your advice in my garden.
Your garden is looking fabulous! I plant my tomatoes 1 foot apart and I built a lower-and-lean trellis last year and it is awesome! One lesson I did learn with this trellis though is that you need to choose varieties that grow at a similar rate, so this year should be even better! I love high intensity gardening! Thanks, Luke!!!
I did this last year because of you and did this year to. I have a small garden with a few smaller beds and this worked great and harvested a good amount of food from a small area 👌thanks man
Fabulous info as always.My husband is always telling me I plant too many plants in the space I have , but my plants are hopping and liking holding and hugging one and other..LOL.
I have to wonder if we are afraid of questioning out of fear… fear of failure… so what you have done is show us how it can be successful and then we become less fearful and for that I thank you!
I think we don't question out of laziness. Thanks Luke for making it easy or easier for us all!!
I put a lasagna garden in this year with an old refrigerator box. In a 4x7 garden I have a 3 zucchini, 2 cucumber, 3 eggplant, 15 peppers, 3 rows of radishes, one row of mini romaine, one row of carrots, and a row of redskin potatoes. And a grape vine is growing up my fence from the corner of it lol. I may even crowd some purple kohlrabi in amongst everything if there is any soil exposed to sunshine left lol
My container garden next to the lasagna bed is already all waist-high and thriving, even here in Ohio where spring gave us a late start.i got at it early and covered plants to avoid frost and got lucky. I'm already harvesting parsley, basil, garlic, oregano, and soon blackberries and Rosemary. My potatoes and tomatoes in containers are huge and already beginning to form veggies. Onions are close to harvest also but I spooned them and am waiting for them to fatten up a little more. Even the peppers are covered in flowers now. The sunflowers are growing almost 6 inches per week. I hear doom and gloom about gardens everywhere this year but I'm not seeing it here. Quite the opposite. I wish everyone a garden like mine. Feed, mulch, and water, then hope for the best! 🤞
Having a garden is a God send literally you reap what you sow happy gardening people Aloha
I've been following you and I have adopted this method in my garden this year. Im growing more food then I thought was possible...even got 18 tomatoes I'm getting ready to transplant!!! Family, friends, and neighbors compliment my garden. 😊 Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Don't stop!!! 🙂
I did exactly as you mentioned high intensity growing in my beds all the plants are growing like weeds minus the weeds lol I have been growing in beds for years but I do have to say they are doing much better this year thanks so much keep up with the videos I never miss one and always look forward to the next thanks again peace ☮️
I tried this method after Luke did his first video on it and he's absolutely made a huge difference in how much food you get. Especially with zucchini and tomatoes. Trimming the leaves is key. I completely changed zones moving a few months ago. My Homestead has about an acre of farmable land. Unfortunately right now it's covered in black berries. The other 75% is under Cedar trees. So, I'm doing seed starts differently this year. Zucchini, tomatoes, and mostly herbs and putting them in grow bags so I can move them around. Selling the herbs. Microgreens later this summer, but they stay in the basement. Luke is my go too for garden advice. 🙏🙏🙏
It is so satisfying when the lettuce gets to the stage where it looks like a huge single plant :) Mine is there right now, keep helping us out!
Appreciate the insight! It matches some of what I've experienced. I live in a forested environment, with two small gardens -- not limited by space, but rather what space has enough partial sun to grow anything interesting and can be protected from the voracious deer. I have had success mostly with small to medium-sized peppers (never bells!), green beans, peas, cold-climate / short-season tomatoes, and herbs in pots. Because of very limited space, I plant tall to short plants from north to south, with less than a foot between rows; and tight spacing from east to west (about a foot for tomatoes, 3" for beans and peas, and about 8" for peppers). I've also taken to growing 2 identical pepper plants from one seeding cell if they both look healthy (this does not work for tomatoes, however).
Between the shady environment and close spacing, I rarely have to water at all and can grow cool-weather plants much further into the summer. I am limited by the first frost date, but that is more about lack of intense sun than spacing.
I'm doing some of this in the csa garden I'm working in. Love this video
You taught us HIP! And we love it! We get so much harvest for our 1300 sf of gardens! Thanks Luke!
I’ve planted all my plants this year using your method. Thanks for the great info!
Love what you're doing! Love you too Luke! You are a blessing to us!
New and binge watching 🖐️😬
Binge away! 😁
This just came up on my feed, I am sure I saw this when you published it. I have been doing it for years, think about what is shallow rooting veg and deeper rooting ones, you can plant them so much closer than you though. I have a small back yard, limited area with good sun, old neighborhood with a lot of very mature trees. It literally works so well thank you Luke
Well now I don’t feel like a reckless gardener because I’ve always eyeballed my spacing or said to myself well I only have this space and I need to plant ? right here so it’s going to have to be ok....my father in law was a farmer and he stuck to spacing and would always tell me every year that “nothing was going to produce because you planted everything to close and the he’d say I don’t know why you get such a harvest” I wish he could’ve seen my garden last year he would’ve been completely shocked at how much I planted in the little space I had and the amount of produce I harvested he would’ve been scratching his head for sure🤷🏼♀️🤣....thank you for taking time to make videos that teach, encourage, reinforce and share in our love for gardening it’s very nice to see someone else share in my love for gardening....have a blessed day your friend from California
Excellent, just put in a 260 square foot garden and now I see I can grow WAY!! More then I thought I could! Thank you
It is like you are in my head just answering everything I am thinking! Thank you! 😊
I've always pushed the envelope with spacing. Now I feel better about doing it.
I would be very helpful to make a video showing which vegetables to plant together, sharing raised beds...to help their growth and utilize spacing too.
Thank you for all your excellent informative videos!! I love watching them & I suggest to others to watch as well.
I really appreciate you bringing plant spacing to our attention in your videos, as a mutable element of gardening as opposed to a fixed one like planting depth for seeds.
I have personally learned that high intensity spacing does not work for all plants for me in my zone (super high humidity and rainfall in Hawaii can encourage disease if I slack on maintenance!) but through experimentation I have been able to discover many things that DO thrive grown in high intensity for me. Thanks Luke, for encouraging us to challenge the norms of plant spacing! 🌱
@Megan - It's the first I've heard of weather conditions in Hawaii, I was very interested in how is your soil, and do you have to amend the soil you grow in? It sounds interesting, I wish you much success! You can't go wrong listening to Luke, I have stuck with him for years, always great insights?
@@robertrhodessr3664 Hi Robert! I agree that Luke is a wonderful source of information- I typically try all plants spaced quite closely at first, per his recommendations, and modify after.
The soil in Hawaii varies dramatically by region! It’s all volcanic in origin, and varies based on how old the volcanic deposits are. My area on the big island has very dense clay soil made from old volcanic material and organic matter over time. My soil itself is pretty decent but 300+ inches of rain yearly damages it quite a bit. Insane compaction and major nutrient loss. So I definitely amend with lots of organic fertilizer and tons of compost. Organic matter is super important for me because my soil has a property where it bonds to phosphorus and refuses to release it to plants until P levels get high. And organic matter is the best thing to loosen those bonds!
Thanks for your curiosity, where is your garden located? :)
@@MeganSherow hello, thank you for your very interesting answer to my question! I wish you "good gardening" in the challenging issues based on your soil amendments and rainfall challenges. My wife and I recently moved from a Cleveland, Ohio suburb where we did square foot gardening, to a retirement community which has individual small garden patios where we can employ whatever methods we want to make either gardens, flowering patios, or simple outdoor spaces. We have combined for now, quite a few potted vegetables that did very well last year to combining perennial flowering bushes such as hibiscus, hydrangeas, irises, roses, varieties of hostas, irises, gladiolas, and interspersed our container gardening for vegetables. This year we are trying some of Luke's vertical methods to expand our mini vegetable yield. We have some interesting neighbors who have actually combined hydro gardening with their more traditional vertical planting. It allows for some great comparison interactions as we encourage each other. Then we also get to share some of the extra produce not just with family, but also a few neighbors who are limited in what they can do for gardens. It's quite a fun process, and as our children develop their own gardens, we help them plan and nurture their spaces. Thank you again we were very interested in hearing how you work your garden and handle the different issues towards more successful gardening!
@@MeganSherow also, I forgot to mention that we moved to the more rural area of Medina, Ohio, our little community is south of the Cleveland Ohio area, and closer to our children and my wife's family where she grew up on a farm. Our gardening conditions are blessed with mainly good soil, decent weather in the warm months, and seasons similar to Luke's conditions in Michigan. It's what drew us to his channel, as so much of his gardening conditions are similar to ours. Thanks again, and keep watching Migardener for his great advice!
Thanks for sharing about your garden, and may this be your most beautiful and prosperous season yet! :)
I see this video is 2 years old. Do you still grow 3x as much food or has your opinion changed since then?
This information is incredible! The truth shall set you free!! Thank you so much. 🌿
I love how humble Luke always is! He’s gives me so much confidence to tackle my own garden. Thank you for all you do!
Stay humble and kind. 🎶 🎸
This video and your channel are better than gold. I love the information that you put out and appreciate it very much. Thank you Luke.