00:40 Garden layout overall 03:45 Going vertically 05:40 Succession/staggered planting 11:12 Water loss (you don't have to water as much as you might think) extra tipp: space out your plants
I’ve made all sorts of mistakes as a first timer, and I’ve learned a lot. My biggest takeaway is that raising food is hard work! I will never look at food the same way again! Thanks for all the great information, Luke.
Appreciating all the good advice. Might I just say one thing about the watering? Please don't forget to let viewers know that watering requirements in container plants are different than in-ground or even raised bed plants, especially if they're mulched. I have tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in large containers, and if I don't water every day, they suffer from drying, particularly in June, July, and most of August (zone 7a). Just looking at the surface isn't sufficient, and sticking a finger down a couple of inches doesn't really do it either. I just ordered from Amazon, for only $9, a Vivosun Soil Tester 3-in-1 Plant Moisture Meter Light and PH Tester. I ordered it to learn about the ph of my potting mix, and it has the added benefit of a moisture meter. It will be interesting to learn to be a little more specific about my watering routine. Thought this might help other gardeners, regardless of whether they grow in containers, ground, or raised beds.
This has been my biggest problem in my container garden. At first I felt the effects of my overwatering, then that turned into me severely under watering my plants. My tomato plant has survived, but its not thriving like I would like.
I can only grow in Containers. Those devices seem to work pretty well for measuring moisture. Mine is useless for PH/Light but that's a bit gimmicky imo and not what i got it for.
In an effort to stave off early dementia, I accidentally fell in love with learning to grow my own food! Thank you Luke for your easy to follow directives, inspiration and for keeping my brain sharp, albeit unknowingly.
I'm a novice Gardener who is confined to containers at the moment but I am REALLY enjoying these videos. Not only are they motivational, they are very informative and easy to relate to. Thank you for sharing with everyone, it's been invaluable
Main thing I would've done differently is tiered planting. Saved so much space and having them all grow into each other at their own levels looks amazing.
I feel that preserving, by canning, freezing or dehydrating goes along with gardening. So while I understand succession planting for fresh eating, most of what I grow is preserved in some way for winter eating. This is where you will really save money on food.
I am Soooooo glad I found your channel. I’m on my second year of having a garden and it’s a lot more challenging then I expected. Lots of learning to be had. I get discouraged but I listen to your videos and feel much better!
This is my first season and I have done most of these. So next year I'm gonna try to improve it. Gave me that good feeling knowing that I'm not the only one who's made some of these mistakes. Next year I'm gonna succession sow and water less. And I'm not gonna do zucchinis because we're not eating them and they are doing badly this year. Thanks Luke!
I've learned to ferment my fresh produce this year. It requires no heat and is quite easy to do. I have found onions, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and saurkraut (cabbage) to be my favorites. Each one of these are delicious alone or in a tossed green salad - yes, even the saurkraut. It is yummier than anything you've ever bought! As a result, I'm purposely over-planting those veggies! I have 16 heads of cabbage and plan to make kraut from all of them!
I love fermenting veggies too!! This year I tried fermenting radishes and they were great!! Most of my kids even like sauerkraut and dill carrots. It's so fun to try different veggies this way!
Abby B Yes! My children live pickled and fermented veggies. I guess when you give 1 year old pickled onions and they want tastes of apple cider vinegar whenever they see it, their taste buds find a taste for the tart.
Yep, I've wasted so much potential harvest for many years following a rotation plan, which meant lots of bare space and lost growth opportunity. This was because of the mistaken view that you cant grow the same, or similar, plants in the same area for a year or two. Its only by listening to gardeners such as you with you tube channels that I am so happy to throw that in the air and adopt succession planting. Such freedom - I am only sad that I didnt challenge the myth many years ago.
I was taught that rotation is a vital unbreakable rule but on Charles Dowding's No Dig channel he's been running an experiment growing the same thing year after year in some of his beds and after 7+ years, no problems whatsoever. Oh well, we live and learn!
@@Blackcivicsi1 My understanding is that you don't necessarily plant the same thing - though I see that you can. But where once I only planted light feeders after heavy feeders, limiting my use of available space, I will now concentrate on keeping my soil healthy and replenished, and filling garden spaces as they arise. The best thing is probably for you to watch Charles Dowdings videos - and also Luke, here on MI Gardener, where succession planting is practiced. Feed the soil and the soil feeds the plants - with an emphasis on healthy replenished soil rather than stern rotations. I'm just changing my gardening practice in this respect, so perhaps Luke can give you a more comprehensive answer.
@@anniecochrane3359 ah, i assume that means refreshing the soil with compost then. Thanks for the reply. I'll definitely look them up (and here) and see if i can find the videos talking about renewing soil or succession planting to find out exactly how to do so. Would definitely save me some effort since with this i wont have to make so many raised beds.
@@Blackcivicsi1 Yes, I do that. I believe MI Gardener sells a good balanced organic fertiliser also which your soil might need. I add an organic fertiliser when needed - and we also have access to good seaweed sprays here in NZ
beastumfan haha I get it! This is my first year gardening and I did a lot right and a lot wrong. Just trying my best, but only to the level where I’m still enjoying it. :)
Ive had a small garden for about 25 years, then i retired and expanded my garden. I learn new things and change my garden plan completely every year, for 6 years. Ive learned just about everything not to do. And now i am ready to do it better next year. LOL. Thanks for teaching me so much. Wish i had your energy.
I haven't watered my garden in over a month we have been getting one or two storms a week. The plants look great..im amazed lol. My father always did succession planting with root crops and bush beans
Alot of commonly made mistakes when I began to garden, 10 years ago. I have been following you for awhile now and have always appreciated your advice and tips! Thanks Luke!
Could you maybe send a link or do a video on how much a specific plant or just in general, how many plants do we need for a family of 4. That would be really helpful. For instance, the basic crops that we all enjoy, tomato, cucumbers, potato, zuchini, chilli.
I’d love to see a video on how you prep part of a bed and get it ready for the next succession. How much compost to add, how much fertilizer, etc. Even just showing how you will plant out the cabbage seedlings you mentioned would be awesome! I do a bunch of succession planting and never know exactly how to replenish the soil (especially when it’s only part of the bed)
I finally tried creative trellising (yard too small for cattle panels) and a second/fall garden planting this year. Thanks Luke for sharing that you are still learning too.
Erefuro Stella Amaso-Nedderman my husband got upset with me when I didn’t water my zucchini and tomato plants tonight I told him about the finger test. He’s still skeptical. 🤷♀️
I have resumed growing vegetables after a few years of hiatus. My mistake was planting way too many flowers in my beds. They are taking lots of space and the tall cosmos are shadowing my lettuces and carrots. Next year I will plant half the number of flowers and I am sure there will still be enough to attract pollinators.
I did this! My first year gardening this year and I planted a bunch of marigolds to deter pests. It looks like a dang marigold farm out there. 😂 they are bigger and busier than I thought they’d be!
I didn't know how big my garden would be at the start of the year so it's a little bit crowded and my sprout takes up lodes of space so I can't wait for next year so I can get much more food
I definitely learned some things with this garden this year. For one, read sees packet well. I didn’t realize I planted pole beans and they took over and crowded things. When you mentioned about tall plants shading the sun from other plants, it did work out in one area. I planted lettuce between my sugar snap peas and regular peas. I got a much longer harvest from the lettuce. I do have some things I’m going to make note of in my notebook for to do and not to do next year. I’m working on figuring out what I want to succession plant this year.
I planted "bush beans" this year that are sprawling everywhere with tendrils, so now I have them growing up a trellis in front of my eggplants. (I don't think I'm getting any eggplants this year.) Next year I'll try planting them at the front of my greens bed! Thanks :)
I have VERY sandy soil and we're on a hillside = run off !! So I water every evening by hand. So far, thank God, their all doing great. Got off to a late start, weather, but all is good, again thank God. Thank's for the video. Stay safe and healthy. God bless
Thanks, Luke. This is a fantastic video. I’m in the midst of my very first gardening season. My “garden” (2 raised beds, 4x12) is a mess. But my plants are all producing, and I think it’s the soil. I ponied up about $300 for 4 yards of organic compost (delivered and dumped in my driveway) because I knew I would need all the help I could get. I don’t mind making mistakes, as long as I don’t repeat them. I hope to expand next season, and do a better job of planting what I will eat, and when I will eat it. You have helped me so much through this entire spring and summer, that I hoping to have a greenhouse by next spring. Thank you!
@@cblair8501 Have you tried sunflowers instead of the tomatoes? I'm training my cucumbers up the sunflowers and it looks really nice and bushy, plus the fruits are easy to harvest.
Luke, I would love to see some videos on how you store your harvest long term. Do you can? Freeze? Have a root cellar? I think that could be some great video topics.
I tie my cherry tomato plants on arched trellises. 🤭😆😅 It's kind of a pain but it's working so far. You're right! The top is full of flowers and the pollenators love it!
They are good for different purposes. If you want to can tomatoes go with determinate varieties so you have enough all at once. Just remember which is which. See John's "How to reduce tomato yields by 50%!" video for a thorough explanation.
My respect for your family has grown knowing you grow food for your local food banks. My local one doesnt accept food donations that arent sealed so i didnt know any others did.
Hi Luke, CHLORINE Just started collecting rainwater. What a difference. The avg parts per million of chlorine in Edmonton is 1. Our town shocks the water with .5 to get it under control. Then adds 2-3 parts per million. This is because of water being drawn out of the river and being agitated (disrupted and carrying a lot of particulate) due to dam releasing upstream. Exceptional amount of rain this year. The smell coming out of the taps is like a swimming pool heavily chlorinated. This chlorine put on your soil with harm the microbial life you work so hard to encourage. Between the rain and watering with sequestered rain it really made a difference for me this year.
@@annnelson6311 I did mine on grid paper and took picture of it with names, but I was doing a square foot garden. Also we painted rocks with names and put them each square, helpfull for all the different tomatoes I have
speaking of growing vertically, we tried something we read earlier in the year and placed upside down tomato cages over our summer squash plants, and properly anchored them down and guided the plants up as they grew. Long story short i'll never let summer squash vines ramble around on the ground ever again!
Loved this video! You answered my question...or should I say my conundrum. I just couldn't understand why in the world I should have to plant my garden north to south...when east to west made so much more sense to me. I'm blessed to have a large back yard with full sunlight and setting up beds would be easier for me and a better use of space planting east to west....and I have better access to water this way. It wasn't so much about the bed placement as it was the plant placement. Thank you, thank you for clearing that up! Now...to get those beds started! Be blessed.
Dear Luke. I´m trying to grow veggies for the first time- using your advice- It´s going So well, will do rest of life. Thank you SO much MI gardener! Have gotten 3 times the peas- with your advice :D
Thanks for this! We all learn so many lessons, just by growing. I would personally have provided my zucchini with more space to vine out and I would have started my tomato and pepper seeds sooner. We started peppers/tomatoes from seed, but they weren't old enough so we ended up having to buy seed starts
First year gardener here and I learned a ton. No more san marzano's. We eat tons of salads and we're not crazy about the flavor. The cherry and better boys are so much tastier. Also, I built an arbor for my butternut squash to climb on. It was so much better than the ground coverage it gave me the idea to add cattle wire arches over my raised beds. Can't wait till year 2.
Here in S. CA...it is opposite. Now I try to create shade by planting taller plants near more tender foliage....as the sun here literally burns up EVERYTHING. I am from rainy upstate NY...so I had to relearn how to grow successfully in a hot environment. Creating relief from heat is a big deal down here. Love your channel...it is very motivating...Thank you :)
Same here. First year gardener living in Vegas. The heat and sun are brutal on my plants. Having to use shade cloth and tall plants to provide cover. Challenging and fun. Happy gardening!
@@goldhorseful Omg, last summer the leaves on my lemon tree actually burst into flame bc the Navada sun was so hot. The leaves were burning right before my eyes. Lol Needless to say, is went to Lowe's that same day to purchase shade cloth. Lol
Like what you said about the water. Going to cut back and see what happens. Ground hogs and chipmunks have been my biggest problem with the mild winter last year.
I trellised my melons and squash this year and I’m so glad I did. I have incredibly healthy plants and the trellises are beautiful! For larger fruits I would support them so they don’t separate from the vine prematurely.
It’s my first year gardening, but already I have some changes I’d like to make. I wish I had ordered compost or soil in bulk, by the truckload. I would have saved so much money. Those bags of soil look so big, but once you water them they settle. 1-2 truckloads would have been the way to go to fill my raised beds and vertical planters. Good luck new gardeners!
The first thing I say when people ask me about helping them with how to start.... what is your sun exposure? Then what are you planting? It was funny when you say the mistakes you made when you began. I was remembering your garden at your parents’ home. Your first sponsors with a new camera. Feels like years ago.
just had success so far tried to grow tomatoes on sticks used mask strings to tie them up. Cucumbers growing up some old wire fence i had lying around. Bunching onions, carrots, lettuce in my 2nd bed. Replanted my lettuce a bit more thin last week since that went to seed, also tried some broccoli in there too.
I wish my younger self would have had a better idea about how much garden space to put in! Constantly installing and removing bricks, T-Posts, and fencing is considerably more work than if it had been done ONE time! Twenty years -- and MULTIPLE expansions later -- I finally have 6000 sq ft. of garden space. For 2021, my husband is helping me add another 1000 sq ft. -- for a total of 7000 sq ft. Unless we take down a bunch of trees, we are also maxing out the available space. I love growing things, so the two garden plots are pure joy! Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA -- 7/30/2020.
Luke! I love your channel. You were one of the main inspirations for me to get into garden-related content creation myself!! Just wanted to shout you out, keep up the great work 😁
I over did it with basil last year. Every part of the kitchen had basil drying. Bags upon bags! Living in the desert, I have a timer that waters every six hours for ten minutes. Temps get as high as 110° The watermelon just flowered been in ground since April. Tough year.
I've noticed food is much more expensive here in Atlantic Canada. Prices this winter will be scary! After I pulled my ~120 garlic last month I added sheep manure compost to the bed and replanted. We get frost mid Sept but covers can buy you 2 more weeks until the killing frost hits. I'll be expanding my garden next spring.
Very informative Luke! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences :). Lol Spent the whole day yesterday to watch a lot of your videos (it's going to help me a lot, I appreciate it :) ). All the best on your new vision of gardening regarding your need (y)!
Even when a person has been gardening for a long time it can be easy to goof up. I always put my peppers in front of my tomatoes. This way they get more sun and are not shaded from the tomatoes. Last year for some reason i had a brain moment. I planted them on the other side. Mid season i did the v8 forehead thump and said to myself what were you thinking. You know better. I did get peppers but they needed more sun for sure. This year I did not make that error again.
I am a first time gardener and I have already had so many failures. Just got my spring garden planted in July. Woot! Not stressed, though, I'm zone 9 so my season is long and allows me to be adventurous. I'm now growing a second round of peppers and frost hardy herbs from seed that I plan to overwinter so that next year will be easier. I'm installing a mini greenhouse. Your flowers will be beautiful. Garden fiercely, Never give up!
Seed packets will tell you the 'best' time to sow for a good result and germination rate. What you can do is look up the days to flower (usually 60) and the days left before your first frost. If you have around 80 days left, then that's fine for a seed that will flower in 60 days. You will create great food for pollinators as well! You can always Google what flowers bloom in only a few short weeks, and get some of those!
Soil ammendments. I thought all I had to do was put plants in the dirt and water. Which worked ok, but adding compost and grass clipping mulch has tripled my yield.
I think you're being hard on beginner Luke. I'm in my first garden and I'm still learning about how these things grow. I had no idea my roma tomatoes would be about my height!
Succession planting is really best for plants where you’re harvesting the entire plant (like radishes, carrots, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, etc), so all you need to know is how long it takes from sowing to harvesting. So you can plant bed of carrots for example, and plant in only one quarter one week, the next week, sow the next quarter and the next, etc.
My big problem is giving the plants enough space...when planting the seeds I look and say oh that should be good only to be cramped. This year is really cramped...yes the plants are also bigger,
The mistake I made was not planting a fall crop. This is the first year that I've just put down more green beans, peas, lettuces and broccoli. Still making the mistake of not marking what's in that row. They'll make themselves known. ☺️
I'd say something I wish is that I'd learned to produce my own starts earlier on, it's easier using a humidity dome and various techniques to get better starts and more consistent germination inside than outside.
Hi, Luke: You speak of good soil. If someone is either a beginner gardener or a gardener that has failed, how do you start off with good soil, where can you buy or get the materials that give you good soil? Do you get it at the big box stores, do you get it at your municipal waste where they provide soil and compost? What do you do in a step-by-step?
I did the same problem with cucumbers and beans on a trellis right in front of my peppers! My poor baby peppers haven’t even started flowering yet! 😔 I was thankful to find out recently however that you can overwinter peppers, even in cooler climates!
Another thing you could have done is find someone to do the canning for you in exchange for some of the produce. I would be thrilled for such an opportunity (but I live in Georgia).
Was directed here by @Dr.JoeMarshalla was considering buying a light and devoting a spare room to grow in this winter i will be trying to go over some of your videos over the next few months thanks for making these videos (live in city and have a greenhouse on my flat roof 🤪)
I like the idea of succession planting. Have you done a video, or could you do a video combining succession planting with complimentary planting i.e. planting plants that add nutrients back into the soil rather than drain the soil of more nutrients like maybe planting a nitrogen fixing plant where a heavy nitrogen feeder was previously grown etc.
All of this is so wonderful for a beginner like me, but specifically, TRELLISES!! You can plant more than just tomatoes vertically?? My tiny yard is going to be so much more efficient!!
Don't worry, my mother and i called ourselves idiots when we screwed up our garden this year. Underestimated how many squash plants we should have for the size of garden bed.
I just put steaks around the tomatoes and then eventually I'll be putting a training frame next to that so if the tomatoes lean anywhere, they will be on the climbing frame instead of just everywhere else.
00:40 Garden layout overall
03:45 Going vertically
05:40 Succession/staggered planting
11:12 Water loss (you don't have to water as much as you might think)
extra tipp: space out your plants
I’ve made all sorts of mistakes as a first timer, and I’ve learned a lot. My biggest takeaway is that raising food is hard work! I will never look at food the same way again! Thanks for all the great information, Luke.
Appreciating all the good advice. Might I just say one thing about the watering? Please don't forget to let viewers know that watering requirements in container plants are different than in-ground or even raised bed plants, especially if they're mulched. I have tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in large containers, and if I don't water every day, they suffer from drying, particularly in June, July, and most of August (zone 7a). Just looking at the surface isn't sufficient, and sticking a finger down a couple of inches doesn't really do it either. I just ordered from Amazon, for only $9, a Vivosun Soil Tester 3-in-1 Plant Moisture Meter Light and PH Tester. I ordered it to learn about the ph of my potting mix, and it has the added benefit of a moisture meter. It will be interesting to learn to be a little more specific about my watering routine. Thought this might help other gardeners, regardless of whether they grow in containers, ground, or raised beds.
I agree watering is the hardest thing for me. I did a video showing the difference.
Good point, totally agree that you containers require more frequent watering.
I use plastic bags to line my containers. Helps a lot, but still needs some watering in hot weather
This has been my biggest problem in my container garden. At first I felt the effects of my overwatering, then that turned into me severely under watering my plants. My tomato plant has survived, but its not thriving like I would like.
I can only grow in Containers. Those devices seem to work pretty well for measuring moisture. Mine is useless for PH/Light but that's a bit gimmicky imo and not what i got it for.
In an effort to stave off early dementia, I accidentally fell in love with learning to grow my own food! Thank you Luke for your easy to follow directives, inspiration and for keeping my brain sharp, albeit unknowingly.
I'm a novice Gardener who is confined to containers at the moment but I am REALLY enjoying these videos. Not only are they motivational, they are very informative and easy to relate to. Thank you for sharing with everyone, it's been invaluable
This 2 time potato failure has finally grown potatoes! I used your method & your fertilizer! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Trifecta+ is some beast fertilizer. I will always use this for sure.
I grew sweet potatoes in a bag and am very surprised. I use mainly banana water..
Main thing I would've done differently is tiered planting. Saved so much space and having them all grow into each other at their own levels looks amazing.
I feel that preserving, by canning, freezing or dehydrating goes along with gardening. So while I understand succession planting for fresh eating, most of what I grow is preserved in some way for winter eating. This is where you will really save money on food.
It is said there are no mistakes, only lessons. Well, every year I learn a lot of lessons... every year! ☺🍅🌻
I am Soooooo glad I found your channel. I’m on my second year of having a garden and it’s a lot more challenging then I expected. Lots of learning to be had. I get discouraged but I listen to your videos and feel much better!
This is my first season and I have done most of these. So next year I'm gonna try to improve it. Gave me that good feeling knowing that I'm not the only one who's made some of these mistakes. Next year I'm gonna succession sow and water less. And I'm not gonna do zucchinis because we're not eating them and they are doing badly this year. Thanks Luke!
I've learned to ferment my fresh produce this year. It requires no heat and is quite easy to do. I have found onions, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and saurkraut (cabbage) to be my favorites. Each one of these are delicious alone or in a tossed green salad - yes, even the saurkraut. It is yummier than anything you've ever bought! As a result, I'm purposely over-planting those veggies! I have 16 heads of cabbage and plan to make kraut from all of them!
I love fermenting veggies too!! This year I tried fermenting radishes and they were great!! Most of my kids even like sauerkraut and dill carrots. It's so fun to try different veggies this way!
Abby B Yes! My children live pickled and fermented veggies. I guess when you give 1 year old pickled onions and they want tastes of apple cider vinegar whenever they see it, their taste buds find a taste for the tart.
That's one thing I'd like to do. Where'd you get the directions? Websites? Blog?
My cucumber is growing past the trellis and now attached to the tree
Jesus LOL I grew my and they gotten all over the ground im gonna try to grow them up next year! did you have to guide them up or ?
Wow!!!
Caleb Thomas I started some bush cucumbers for the fall. I’m going to avoid vining ones because they’re insane
Joy Gordon yeah I did vining ones man they grew all over the ground lol
All I did was plant them next to trillis and they just took off didn't have to show them where to go they just did
Yep, I've wasted so much potential harvest for many years following a rotation plan, which meant lots of bare space and lost growth opportunity. This was because of the mistaken view that you cant grow the same, or similar, plants in the same area for a year or two. Its only by listening to gardeners such as you with you tube channels that I am so happy to throw that in the air and adopt succession planting. Such freedom - I am only sad that I didnt challenge the myth many years ago.
I was taught that rotation is a vital unbreakable rule but on Charles Dowding's No Dig channel he's been running an experiment growing the same thing year after year in some of his beds and after 7+ years, no problems whatsoever. Oh well, we live and learn!
Really? I didnt know that. Do you refresh the soil with compost then plant the same thing?
@@Blackcivicsi1 My understanding is that you don't necessarily plant the same thing - though I see that you can. But where once I only planted light feeders after heavy feeders, limiting my use of available space, I will now concentrate on keeping my soil healthy and replenished, and filling garden spaces as they arise. The best thing is probably for you to watch Charles Dowdings videos - and also Luke, here on MI Gardener, where succession planting is practiced. Feed the soil and the soil feeds the plants - with an emphasis on healthy replenished soil rather than stern rotations. I'm just changing my gardening practice in this respect, so perhaps Luke can give you a more comprehensive answer.
@@anniecochrane3359 ah, i assume that means refreshing the soil with compost then. Thanks for the reply. I'll definitely look them up (and here) and see if i can find the videos talking about renewing soil or succession planting to find out exactly how to do so. Would definitely save me some effort since with this i wont have to make so many raised beds.
@@Blackcivicsi1 Yes, I do that. I believe MI Gardener sells a good balanced organic fertiliser also which your soil might need. I add an organic fertiliser when needed - and we also have access to good seaweed sprays here in NZ
Properly planned garden. That will probably never be me. LOL
Haha same here 😅
Goals😂
@@heatherfellows9465 I don't know if I will even bother to make it a goal. Maybe some improvements. LOL
beastumfan haha I get it! This is my first year gardening and I did a lot right and a lot wrong. Just trying my best, but only to the level where I’m still enjoying it. :)
Unfortunately, I feel the same haha
Ive had a small garden for about 25 years, then i retired and expanded my garden. I learn new things and change my garden plan completely every year, for 6 years. Ive learned just about everything not to do. And now i am ready to do it better next year. LOL. Thanks for teaching me so much. Wish i had your energy.
I haven't watered my garden in over a month we have been getting one or two storms a week. The plants look great..im amazed lol. My father always did succession planting with root crops and bush beans
Alot of commonly made mistakes when I began to garden, 10 years ago. I have been following you for awhile now and have always appreciated your advice and tips! Thanks Luke!
Could you maybe send a link or do a video on how much a specific plant or just in general, how many plants do we need for a family of 4. That would be really helpful. For instance, the basic crops that we all enjoy, tomato, cucumbers, potato, zuchini, chilli.
I’d love to see a video on how you prep part of a bed and get it ready for the next succession. How much compost to add, how much fertilizer, etc. Even just showing how you will plant out the cabbage seedlings you mentioned would be awesome! I do a bunch of succession planting and never know exactly how to replenish the soil (especially when it’s only part of the bed)
I finally tried creative trellising (yard too small for cattle panels) and a second/fall garden planting this year. Thanks Luke for sharing that you are still learning too.
Yes, I learned a lot! I've been watering my garden Every evening! Maybe that's why my peas died! What a dope!😂😂😂😂. Thanks, Stella
Erefuro Stella Amaso-Nedderman my husband got upset with me when I didn’t water my zucchini and tomato plants tonight I told him about the finger test. He’s still skeptical. 🤷♀️
@@michelewestover9330 my husband is a huge overwaterer lol
Amber Sky LOL so is mine. He waters twice a day and on the leaves.... 🤦🏼♀️
@@heidifullriede8163 😧 oh no! Lol they def think they know better sometimes don't they 😄
Yeah... when the mushrooms started sprouting, I started pulling back...
I have resumed growing vegetables after a few years of hiatus. My mistake was planting way too many flowers in my beds. They are taking lots of space and the tall cosmos are shadowing my lettuces and carrots. Next year I will plant half the number of flowers and I am sure there will still be enough to attract pollinators.
I did this! My first year gardening this year and I planted a bunch of marigolds to deter pests. It looks like a dang marigold farm out there. 😂 they are bigger and busier than I thought they’d be!
Yes, Marigolds!! I planted crackerjack marigolds next to my tomatoes and ended up with 2 1/2 - 3 foot tall marigolds and some stunted tomatoes😭
I didn't know how big my garden would be at the start of the year so it's a little bit crowded and my sprout takes up lodes of space so I can't wait for next year so I can get much more food
I definitely learned some things with this garden this year. For one, read sees packet well. I didn’t realize I planted pole beans and they took over and crowded things. When you mentioned about tall plants shading the sun from other plants, it did work out in one area. I planted lettuce between my sugar snap peas and regular peas. I got a much longer harvest from the lettuce. I do have some things I’m going to make note of in my notebook for to do and not to do next year. I’m working on figuring out what I want to succession plant this year.
I planted "bush beans" this year that are sprawling everywhere with tendrils, so now I have them growing up a trellis in front of my eggplants. (I don't think I'm getting any eggplants this year.)
Next year I'll try planting them at the front of my greens bed! Thanks :)
I have VERY sandy soil and we're on a hillside = run off !! So I water every evening by hand. So far, thank God, their all doing great. Got off to a late start, weather, but all is good, again thank God. Thank's for the video. Stay safe and healthy. God bless
Thanks for breaking it down Luke! I love your detailed explanation of many layers of info. You ROCK!
Been watching a while, Luke. This is one of your best videos. It's great when we can learn from the mistakes of ourselves and others.
Thanks, Luke. This is a fantastic video. I’m in the midst of my very first gardening season. My “garden” (2 raised beds, 4x12) is a mess. But my plants are all producing, and I think it’s the soil. I ponied up about $300 for 4 yards of organic compost (delivered and dumped in my driveway) because I knew I would need all the help I could get. I don’t mind making mistakes, as long as I don’t repeat them. I hope to expand next season, and do a better job of planting what I will eat, and when I will eat it. You have helped me so much through this entire spring and summer, that I hoping to have a greenhouse by next spring. Thank you!
I would had given my plants more room to grow if I was starting as a beginner gardener again.
I made that mistake as well. I had a jungle where tomatoes were growing with cucumber vines on all of them.
@@cblair8501 Have you tried sunflowers instead of the tomatoes? I'm training my cucumbers up the sunflowers and it looks really nice and bushy, plus the fruits are easy to harvest.
I don't give them much room, I plant intensely. And, the soil is so rich that I get amazing production.
I made that mistake too! Had NO IDEA how large some of these plants are.
@@PaleGhost69 the sunflowers are strong enough to hold the cucumber plants? I might try that next year!
Luke, I would love to see some videos on how you store your harvest long term. Do you can? Freeze? Have a root cellar? I think that could be some great video topics.
I tie my cherry tomato plants on arched trellises. 🤭😆😅 It's kind of a pain but it's working so far. You're right! The top is full of flowers and the pollenators love it!
First year gardening. Planning to use all this information. First order of business is to make sure I get indeterminate tomatoes!
I like doing both. Determinate tomatoes can still be large, dependable producers.
You can also cut off the main stem when it gets as big as you want it.
They are good for different purposes. If you want to can tomatoes go with determinate varieties so you have enough all at once. Just remember which is which. See John's "How to reduce tomato yields by 50%!" video for a thorough explanation.
I plant 4 indeterminate for fresh eating as they ripen here and there all season. I also plant 20 determinites for fall canning.
I was just thinking of determinate because my beautiful Roma's have yet to turn red
Wow! Thank you for sharing these awesome awesome tips, Luke!
My respect for your family has grown knowing you grow food for your local food banks. My local one doesnt accept food donations that arent sealed so i didnt know any others did.
Hi Luke, CHLORINE Just started collecting rainwater. What a difference. The avg parts per million of chlorine in Edmonton is 1. Our town shocks the water with .5 to get it under control. Then adds 2-3 parts per million. This is because of water being drawn out of the river and being agitated (disrupted and carrying a lot of particulate) due to dam releasing upstream. Exceptional amount of rain this year. The smell coming out of the taps is like a swimming pool heavily chlorinated. This chlorine put on your soil with harm the microbial life you work so hard to encourage. Between the rain and watering with sequestered rain it really made a difference for me this year.
This is one of the best episode, Luke. Love it! Packed with informations as always. Thank you.
I would have been more careful to mark the plant names and varieties. My small plant markers often get lost!
Me too. I plan to get some popsicle sticks for next planting for labeling.
I started keeping it on my phone and have a drawn out garden to scale on my ipad where I write things in (when I remember haha) to the garden.
@@anahansen8909 That's sounds very helpful! Do you use any special program to draw your garden plan on your phone?
@@annnelson6311 I did mine on grid paper and took picture of it with names, but I was doing a square foot garden. Also we painted rocks with names and put them each square, helpfull for all the different tomatoes I have
I used gallon size paint sticks over a foot tall... you still can't see them now...
Every video you do teaches me so much! Thank you!!!🤗🥰
speaking of growing vertically, we tried something we read earlier in the year and placed upside down tomato cages over our summer squash plants, and properly anchored them down and guided the plants up as they grew. Long story short i'll never let summer squash vines ramble around on the ground ever again!
Love this....been there, done that, lol. Thanks Luke for your happy gardening energy and sharing all your years of learning and wisdom. 👍😊
Thanks so much for sharing your knowldege and experiences with us Luke!
wow...wow...wow... you again...waiting for another video from you, I like your channel and information you share...
Loved this video! You answered my question...or should I say my conundrum. I just couldn't understand why in the world I should have to plant my garden north to south...when east to west made so much more sense to me. I'm blessed to have a large back yard with full sunlight and setting up beds would be easier for me and a better use of space planting east to west....and I have better access to water this way. It wasn't so much about the bed placement as it was the plant placement. Thank you, thank you for clearing that up! Now...to get those beds started! Be blessed.
Dear Luke. I´m trying to grow veggies for the first time- using your advice- It´s going So well, will do rest of life.
Thank you SO much MI gardener! Have gotten 3 times the peas- with your advice :D
Thanks for this! We all learn so many lessons, just by growing. I would personally have provided my zucchini with more space to vine out and I would have started my tomato and pepper seeds sooner. We started peppers/tomatoes from seed, but they weren't old enough so we ended up having to buy seed starts
Same issues here as well! I plan on purchasing a light so I can start my tomatoes and peppers seeds in January!
First year gardener here and I learned a ton. No more san marzano's. We eat tons of salads and we're not crazy about the flavor. The cherry and better boys are so much tastier. Also, I built an arbor for my butternut squash to climb on. It was so much better than the ground coverage it gave me the idea to add cattle wire arches over my raised beds. Can't wait till year 2.
You know you have too many tomatoes when neighbors start locking their doors when they see you coming....
I'd love to be your neighbor! I make so much marinara that I often don't get enough even from my enormous garden!
I have 26 cherry tomato plants and 1 beefsteak...
Why did I do this?! 🤣😂
I would love that! Haha. What a good neighbor you are!
I loved tomatoes and would take ALL my neighbor gave. I have found out I'm allergic. Lots of issues went away when I stopped eating them.
@@Adendum82 I have *ONE* cherry tomatoe and that's too much for us.
Here in S. CA...it is opposite. Now I try to create shade by planting taller plants near more tender foliage....as the sun here literally burns up EVERYTHING. I am from rainy upstate NY...so I had to relearn how to grow successfully in a hot environment. Creating relief from heat is a big deal down here. Love your channel...it is very motivating...Thank you :)
75°F is truly the perfect temperature for me. Sadly, here in Navada it's 110°F to 115°F.
Same here. First year gardener living in Vegas. The heat and sun are brutal on my plants. Having to use shade cloth and tall plants to provide cover. Challenging and fun. Happy gardening!
There needs to be a southern edition: how to keep your plants from spontaneously combusting.
@@goldhorseful
Omg, last summer the leaves on my lemon tree actually burst into flame bc the Navada sun was so hot. The leaves were burning right before my eyes. Lol
Needless to say, is went to Lowe's that same day to purchase shade cloth. Lol
He’s my favorite! Talks too fast, hyper, passionate 😌 I connect...
Like what you said about the water. Going to cut back and see what happens. Ground hogs and chipmunks have been my biggest problem with the mild winter last year.
I use a sonic pest repellant that is working well enough, knock on wood. I have lots of chipmunks in my yard but they are staying away, mostly.
I trellised my melons and squash this year and I’m so glad I did. I have incredibly healthy plants and the trellises are beautiful! For larger fruits I would support them so they don’t separate from the vine prematurely.
Great advice! I have cured myself of the first three, but am still working on the one about watering - mostly with potted plants, though.
It’s my first year gardening, but already I have some changes I’d like to make. I wish I had ordered compost or soil in bulk, by the truckload. I would have saved so much money. Those bags of soil look so big, but once you water them they settle. 1-2 truckloads would have been the way to go to fill my raised beds and vertical planters. Good luck new gardeners!
The first thing I say when people ask me about helping them with how to start.... what is your sun exposure?
Then what are you planting?
It was funny when you say the mistakes you made when you began. I was remembering your garden at your parents’ home. Your first sponsors with a new camera. Feels like years ago.
First time planting lots of veggies this year, I learn a lot this year, next year I will be more successful :-) Thank you Thank you!!
Awesome tips, Luke. On point! You left me thinking about growing my melons in a trellis.
I love how energetic and animated you are when recording videos😄(Parker from Freedom Homestead)
just had success so far tried to grow tomatoes on sticks used mask strings to tie them up. Cucumbers growing up some old wire fence i had lying around. Bunching onions, carrots, lettuce in my 2nd bed. Replanted my lettuce a bit more thin last week since that went to seed, also tried some broccoli in there too.
We would water the garden way too often. Thanks for sharing.
I wish my younger self would have had a better idea about how much garden space to put in! Constantly installing and removing bricks, T-Posts, and fencing is considerably more work than if it had been done ONE time!
Twenty years -- and MULTIPLE expansions later -- I finally have 6000 sq ft. of garden space.
For 2021, my husband is helping me add another 1000 sq ft. -- for a total of 7000 sq ft. Unless we take down a bunch of trees, we are also maxing out the available space.
I love growing things, so the two garden plots are pure joy!
Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA -- 7/30/2020.
Apparently, I’m learning quickly. First time gardener, and I’m already familiar with some of these concepts.
Luke! I love your channel. You were one of the main inspirations for me to get into garden-related content creation myself!! Just wanted to shout you out, keep up the great work 😁
Thanks so much!! I learnt a lot!! I definitely need to water less … which is a good thing since we are going through a drought right now
I over did it with basil last year. Every part of the kitchen had basil drying. Bags upon bags! Living in the desert, I have a timer that waters every six hours for ten minutes. Temps get as high as 110° The watermelon just flowered been in ground since April. Tough year.
You always come up with interesting content! It's amazing! Thanks!
I've noticed food is much more expensive here in Atlantic Canada. Prices this winter will be scary! After I pulled my ~120 garlic last month I added sheep manure compost to the bed and replanted. We get frost mid Sept but covers can buy you 2 more weeks until the killing frost hits. I'll be expanding my garden next spring.
1 year gardening, thanks for all your help:)
Really appreciate the info about succession growing and how to eliminate giant harvests that can go to waste.
Very informative Luke! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences :). Lol Spent the whole day yesterday to watch a lot of your videos (it's going to help me a lot, I appreciate it :) ). All the best on your new vision of gardening regarding your need (y)!
Even when a person has been gardening for a long time it can be easy to goof up. I always put my peppers in front of my tomatoes. This way they get more sun and are not shaded from the tomatoes. Last year for some reason i had a brain moment. I planted them on the other side. Mid season i did the v8 forehead thump and said to myself what were you thinking. You know better. I did get peppers but they needed more sun for sure. This year I did not make that error again.
This... is... helpful! Thanks for putting this one out there, Luke.
I just started this year but i regret not starting early smmh. How am i trying to plant flowers now smh
Now is a great time for new plants 💚🍃
@@implodingsoftly whaat?? It said all flowers shouls be sowed during feb time
Yes, now is a great time for flowers ❣️ You can plant flowers in successions(spring to late summer).🥰
I am a first time gardener and I have already had so many failures. Just got my spring garden planted in July. Woot! Not stressed, though, I'm zone 9 so my season is long and allows me to be adventurous. I'm now growing a second round of peppers and frost hardy herbs from seed that I plan to overwinter so that next year will be easier. I'm installing a mini greenhouse. Your flowers will be beautiful. Garden fiercely, Never give up!
Seed packets will tell you the 'best' time to sow for a good result and germination rate. What you can do is look up the days to flower (usually 60) and the days left before your first frost. If you have around 80 days left, then that's fine for a seed that will flower in 60 days. You will create great food for pollinators as well! You can always Google what flowers bloom in only a few short weeks, and get some of those!
Soil ammendments. I thought all I had to do was put plants in the dirt and water. Which worked ok, but adding compost and grass clipping mulch has tripled my yield.
I think you're being hard on beginner Luke. I'm in my first garden and I'm still learning about how these things grow. I had no idea my roma tomatoes would be about my height!
Would you mind expanding on succession a bit more? I find it difficult to predict how long a plant will last till it's spent. Thank you.
I second this!
Succession planting is really best for plants where you’re harvesting the entire plant (like radishes, carrots, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, etc), so all you need to know is how long it takes from sowing to harvesting. So you can plant bed of carrots for example, and plant in only one quarter one week, the next week, sow the next quarter and the next, etc.
ummsulayman couldn’t you do this with tomatoes so they’re not all ripening at once?
@@trackee2024 yes! With all veg.
@@justicemama thank you but I was thinking of getting seedlings ready for following on :)
I would have asked more questions and paid closer attention to how other locals lay out their gardens.
Some excellent advice. Thank you.
I appreciate you and your efforts, thank you. I am essentially a beginner with a number of mulberry trees and black walnut to contend with.
At least the mulberry tree can help keep the birds occupied😏
Just started 30 new containers of various sizes, July 25 here in Southern Ontario. We'll see what happens! Summer has been brutal on everything here.
3:46 This is the First year , I trellis my Acorn Squash...it is working pretty good this year.
My big problem is giving the plants enough space...when planting the seeds I look and say oh that should be good only to be cramped. This year is really cramped...yes the plants are also bigger,
I’m first. Thanks for all of the great advice,Luke. ❤️😃
HalleluYahuah my favorite weather!
The mistake I made was not planting a fall crop. This is the first year that I've just put down more green beans, peas, lettuces and broccoli.
Still making the mistake of not marking what's in that row. They'll make themselves known. ☺️
I'd say something I wish is that I'd learned to produce my own starts earlier on, it's easier using a humidity dome and various techniques to get better starts and more consistent germination inside than outside.
Hi, Luke:
You speak of good soil. If someone is either a beginner gardener or a gardener that has failed, how do you start off with good soil, where can you buy or get the materials that give you good soil? Do you get it at the big box stores, do you get it at your municipal waste where they provide soil and compost? What do you do in a step-by-step?
I made the mistake this year planting tomatoes in front of my peppers. None of my peppers growing
I did the same problem with cucumbers and beans on a trellis right in front of my peppers! My poor baby peppers haven’t even started flowering yet! 😔 I was thankful to find out recently however that you can overwinter peppers, even in cooler climates!
I feel attacked😅
Triggered by not well thought out or planned garden layout hahah
yeah, he must have looked at my garden chaos!!!
Another thing you could have done is find someone to do the canning for you in exchange for some of the produce. I would be thrilled for such an opportunity (but I live in Georgia).
I messed up my succession planting with the tomatoes this year. Giant Black Krims up the wazoo...
Was directed here by @Dr.JoeMarshalla was considering buying a light and devoting a spare room to grow in this winter i will be trying to go over some of your videos over the next few months thanks for making these videos (live in city and have a greenhouse on my flat roof 🤪)
I like the idea of succession planting. Have you done a video, or could you do a video combining succession planting with complimentary planting i.e. planting plants that add nutrients back into the soil rather than drain the soil of more nutrients like maybe planting a nitrogen fixing plant where a heavy nitrogen feeder was previously grown etc.
All of this is so wonderful for a beginner like me, but specifically, TRELLISES!! You can plant more than just tomatoes vertically?? My tiny yard is going to be so much more efficient!!
Don't worry, my mother and i called ourselves idiots when we screwed up our garden this year.
Underestimated how many squash plants we should have for the size of garden bed.
Yes. Good tips. Thanks so much. 👏🏻💕👏🏻
I just put steaks around the tomatoes and then eventually I'll be putting a training frame next to that so if the tomatoes lean anywhere, they will be on the climbing frame instead of just everywhere else.
I get what your saying I was so guilty of planting to much and had a lot left over other then what I gave to my parents I would eat
I have had to water almost every single day to keep the clay from fissuring and to keep the plants from withering.