I am in the US also,have been gardening for over 50 years. I never tire of seeing those seedlings push their way up through the soil. I am blessed to have been taught as a child how to can and preserve the gardens bounty. I am alone now and don't plant as much as I once did,but I pray that I will be able to plant something for the rest of my days.
"Growing your own food is amazing." Couldn't agree more, Ben! I just wish I could get pork chops and ribeye steaks to grow like tomatoes; the grocery store would miss me entirely were it so. I guess the closest I can realistically plan on is raising chickens for their eggs...growing them for poultry gets more involved in a lot of ways, not the least of which is the need to introduce roosters. Anywho, looking forward to the new growing season; suffering from cabin fever, but the days are getting longer, so it won't be too much longer here.
Hi Frank You can grow beef steak and pork chops in your garden in the form of black beans also known as Turtle beans😋. They have as much protein as beef and no beautiful animals have to die! Give it a go. I grow them in the uk and when they are dried I cook large batches and freeze them. Try other beans like Borlotti too. When you grow them yourself they are far, far tastier. My Borlotti beans last year were the size of olives and tasted out of this world. Plus, there are no growth hormones, antibiotics or all the herbicides, fungicides etc that your poor dead animal was fed - which you then consume. You can be in control of what you eat 👍
@@vanessataylor4125 Thanks for the tips. There are also some mushrooms that are at least vaguely reasonable facsimiles of real meat, and I use them as such occasionally. But I also embrace my innate human omnivorousness (spell check doesn't like that, but I'm sticking with it) without guilt. I do buy locally sourced meats from small farms, where at least the animals weren't caged in tiny spaces like the mass-produced ones are, as much as possible. Did you know that animal proteins were a huge factor in humans developing the complex brains we benefit from today? Life eating life to survive is just a rather savage reality on this planet, across all species.
@@frankburns8871 Thank you for your reply Frank. I understand and accept that everyone doesn’t think the same. I was born and brought up on a jersey dairy farm in Norfolk and years later when I eventually stopped eating meat and then fish my poor parents thought I would die! But as it happens I have never had such good health as I do now . I just believe that if people want to eat meat then it should have lived as natural life as possible and they should be killed as humanely as possible and by you buying from smaller shops etc the quality will probably be better. It is also a lot cheaper to live a vegetarian life though. Do try the black turtle and Borlotti beans, they are well worth a go. Good luck and happy gardening Frank, and may all your weeds be little ones and all your vegetables be big and healthy 😃👍🤞
@@vanessataylor4125 Thanks, it's nice to have a civil conversation on the subject for a change. I'm definitely looking forward to getting some of my starts in the ground. The ground here is still pretty much cement, but should be good enough for carrots, broccoli, and peas in about six weeks, and I'll have had my tomatoes & peppers spending some quality time outdoors by then as well! 👍
My parents recently got geese for the first time and my sister got ducks precisely to allow them to provide some of their own meat while staying within the local rules for keeping male animals in town.
Also, in the US. I wanted more variety than what the grocery store offered. Farmers markets are better, but I just wanted to relearn how to grow my own.
Going into my 3rd year of growing my own veg. The biggest mistake I've made in the past is over planting and expectation. This year I'm keeping it simple. Growing only what I know grows well and will definitely want on my plate is the plan. I've invested in an inexpensive polytunnel so that should help and I'm looking forward to using my own compost for the first time. Good luck gardeners. Peace.
Tip- build the farm before you build the house. I hate making lists, but it's a must. You can only DO one project at a time. Knocking even one thing off of the list ends up being more fulfilling than being so scatter brained, that you get parts or nothing done. Biggest tip- don't try to figure out how much time anything will take! Some will be 5 minutes, and some 5 minute jobs can turn into 2 days. Best thing to do is don't look at the clock, and look more at the needs to be done BY date, and do that! 😊This list is my reminder as well.. 🤣
I've been gardening for over 50 years and there is always something new to learn. The next thing I have learned from early on is not to give up but to try again. Last year was probably my worst year with hardly any veg growing well. Fruit did okay though. It was because of the terrible spring with snow twice covering my garden in May here in Wales. I like your assistant. We all need one of those.
We're first-time gardeners this year -- because we recently bought a house and for the first time have access to and control of a tiny patch of land! I'm excited to be able to contribute to our household economy in a new way, while also giving our daughter the chance to better connect with and understand both the earth and our food supply chain.
I remember the thrill (three years ago) of having a house and land of my own for the first time. It's a lot of work, but it's inspiring. I hope you have a wonderful garden!
I got my allotment after losing my mum. Gardening was the best therapy for the grieving process for me. One year later I got another allotment so I now work two! I started gardening in my 60s.... never done anything like it before. I love the community but have my own space too. Thank you for your channel 👍
I like to use excess seeds that are past or nearly past their sow by date to grow microgreens when i can! Broccoli seeds are especially good because I end up with so much extra.
I’m in the US, and honestly, the price of produce was a large factor for me. I currently find myself buying less produce (which isn’t great) and I really wanted to try gardening. Plus, it’ll give my children and I something to do in the summer.
Same here. I always ask the kids to pick what they would want to grow and eat. It gets them invested. I'm about 2 yrs in and getting better all the time. Give it a go its fun and rewarding!
I’ve gardened my whole life but never really thought to grow vegetables and even though I’ve gardened for over 40 years, I now know I didn’t really understand a lot of what happens with the soil or how it needs to be nurtured. All this changed when I started watching your videos last year. I was staying in France and caring for my mum and had a lot of free time to sit in the garden and watch your entire 7 years worth of videos! Your enthusiasm inspired me and I couldn’t wait to get growing. I took on an allotment, filled it with home made raised beds, made composters from pallets, dug horse muck, bagged up tons of woodchip (all free), laid cardboard, sowed seeds, bought grow lights and now there’s no stopping me. I now have 3 allotments although only one is fully operational at the moment. Sourcing free stuff and constructing beds takes time not to mention sourcing free stuff to put in them. But Thankyou Ben and team. You really did change my life from a very depressed, disabled (due to an accident 3 years ago) avid subscriber. Don’t ever lose that enthusiasm 💖💖💖
For me, it is the satisfaction of nurturing the plants and being able to eat food within minutes of harvesting. Food doesn't get any fresher - or more delicious - than when you grow it yourself.
I just got my first allotment, been down there today. There are raspberries, gooseberry, red currant, onions, leeks and asparagus already there. Did a couple of hrs weeding 👍
@@excemptfrombs2124 thanks will do 👍 I've been growing for 15 years but only back garden, will be watching others for tips on allotments. Just need to up scale! My daughter is nearly 8 so got a extra pair of hands. She already has her eye on a little area.
Love gardening - watching these minute seeds germinate and grow never fails to thrill me. The satisfaction of putting my own produce on the table and relaxation and mental health benefits I get from working on my allotment.
I'm not far from you in England, Ben. Now the days are getting a bit longer I'm resisting (and nearly failing!) to start sowing. I know it's too early for most crops but it feels like spring is just around the corner and I want to be prepared. My grandad was a gardener as was my mum before they died. I feel like I'm carrying on their legacy in some way. A tip for anyone who reads this: only grow what you like to eat, can store, can convert into something else, can give away or sell if you have a buyer. You won't use it otherwise.
Like you my grandad was a gardener, before the 1st world war he managed his mums plot of land to grow veg for his nine brothers and sisters and in his retirement he still provided veg for me and my mum. At the age of 67, last year was my first venture into growing veg and I absolutely loved it, so many questions for grandad
I lived in Tennessee for several years. My it at tomatoes I grew in a large container on the front porch. My only pests had two feet and called me grandma. I think I had one tomato all season. The youngest perp was the one who didn't like tomatoes. He said the only tomatoes he would eat were the ones I grew. Next year I put in 40 plants in my back yard. I got 8 quarts of tomatoes. The rest were eaten by me and the great hoard that descended on my garden. It was a memorable summer. I learned a lot about tomatoes. I'm looking forward to another garden in my new house.
My partner and I are planning to buy a house with plenty of land in Northern Spain, and part of our dream is permaculture and growing lots of our own food, essentially driving down our cost of living and having more time to do what we enjoy doing. These ventures will no doubt take a lot of our time, but fortunately we both want the same thing. I am rather excited to say the least. Ps, I love your content, keep it coming.
Thanks Ben, very practical. Loads of things keep me going back to gardening for more...A couple of things - Strangely enough I love trying to make good compost (well, I don't make it it makes itself I just add the ingredients). I think the most amazing thing I never tire of is planting a seed and behold! It grows into something amazing. This is en extremely simplistic description of the miracle that occurs.
I've decided to start gardening because I like the idea of growing some of my own food. It's a life skill that all of us should develop. I'm glad I watched this video today because I was probably planning on going too big, too quick. I think I will pare back my plans and see how it goes this year.
Sound advice about starting off small! During the Spring of 2020, I started not one, but TWO vegetable gardens at our new house, and it was a lot to maintain. I overextended myself again last year, but this year, the garden that's furthest from the hose spigot is going to become a wildflower patch instead. 😃 I'm consolidating everything into the front garden, interplanting, and instead of growing 30 tomato plants again, doing 6 or so and adding new crop species in their place. I've been growing far more than my wife and I could possibly eat, then trying to give the excess away. Time to be smarter about this.
Had enough of spiralling prices, greed, waste and idiot people in power. So going totally off grid and being self sustainable as much as possible this year.
The Good life 🌻 I'm trying to cut down on the cost to our environment and grow more nutritious produce win/win I just put some garlic in the greenhouse ground last week, some have already sprouted 10cm😎 madness! A greenhouse would be my top tip for extending the season, buy the biggest one you can.
I inherited my mum’s allotment and made all these mistakes for two years, despite buying all the books about allotmenting. I love the peace and quiet of our allotment and seeing the seedlings grow…but we have a problem with pests and a friend who shared our produce can only eat organic which makes using pesticides troublesome. So we had constant problems and the whole family hated the work which produced very little… I ended up being the only one to with there. Now I’ve had a traumatic accident and haven’t been able to go to my allotment for well over a year. A friend is using it…I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to garden again. I still love watching these videos though and getting excited all over again 😂
The two best books I ever got: The Geoff Hamilton Kitchen Garden one - the one that accompanied the series (which is still here on UA-cam), and the Alan Titchmarsh one (Deep green cover). Both are fabulous.
Melissa I am so sad to read your message. Don’t give up on your allotment yet. I know I don’t know what has happened to you, but it might just be what you need to help you recover in time. Even if you can only garden a little bit, it is something to look forward to. Try and get it covered with black plastic or old carpets to stop the weeks. Good luck
Stay hopeful! I experienced a life changing medical condition 14 years ago and was in a wheelchair for a year or so, then spent quite a bit of time pretty much learning to walk again, and slowly and gradually building up my physical abilities over time. With help, I have been able to rehabilitate myself to the point that I can garden - I can't do the big stuff but I can certainly do enough to enjoy it and I don't miss all the hard digging and pruning ;.) A lot is possible Melissa.
The garden planner is seriously such a great tool! This is my second year and it's really a fun thing to play around with in the winter and plan out how I can maximize my garden. Cheers!
Thank you! My favorite part of gardening is that it has become a family endeavor. I love having my kids and grandkids help harvest and eat things they normally wouldn’t. Home grown tastes so much better!
For me the most exiting part of gardening is harvesting, I have a blueberry plant that is flowering snd fruiting right now aswell as a strawberry plant that is fruiting, now they are not ripe yet but I'm excited for them
I live in Florida and there are many professionals that grow strawberries. However, someone warned me that strawberries are difficult to grow and take care of. Are they something a beginner could manage without too much frustration?
Lovely to see supervisor Rosie hard at work. Love the close ups of her. 🙂🙂 As usual this was another helpful video. Wishing all the new gardeners on your channel a very happy and successful year!🙂
I started with a window box, which I planted with ranunculus. I also helped my parents and grandparents with their gardens. Yes, it was not the same as having my own garden, but it made it so everywhere I moved, I always had plants, whether it was in pots on the window sill or in pots on the patio and balcony or in ground. I went through my orchid period, my rose period, my bougainvillea period, my papaya forest period, and my edible plants period. Definitely everyone should grow something, even if it is just a few herbs or sprouts on the kitchen counter.
Apparently, the only thing that will distract me from the information presented in a gardening video is a cute dog! What makes me want to garden? It's my quiet time. I am most happy when breaking up clods with my bare hands (because I always forget my gloves) or watering my "babies." Oh, the eating part is good, too!
Bonjour ! I’m in SW Va. I had no choice as I was raised on a farm. Hated it as a child, because it was the work. I always missed that fresh out of the garden taste of foods though thru the years. I moved back “home” 12 years ago to care for my older sis. Back here it was natural to start up the garden again. Seems I gave away more than I used, but I’m getting the hang of it again. Food prices and quality are awful right now. It’s best to grow your own and know what is in it. Even if it’s only windowsill lettuce. I look forward to your vids. I’ve watched you for years, even when I had no garden. So, it is in my “roots” (sorry) ! Have a blessed Sunday all !
The taste of homegrown veg is top with me. We grow veg and live on homegrown for eight months of each year. We also grow fruit which lasts 12 months once frozen. However it is easy because we are retired and devote our leisure time to the garden. Thank you for all the tips.
Where is the link to your garden planner you mention 1.41? I went to look for it in the text below, couldn't see it. Love to try and use it. My plan is to watch one of your videos every day or so, to try and get up to speed with our new vegie plot.
Brilliant, thank you for sharing your experience with us👍😁 I've just started chiting my potatoes today. Cannot wait to get going down on my Allotments.Ive weeded all the raised beds,and dug in manure, Going to start sowing various onion seeds, leeks, and cauliflower seeds next week.anyway all the best and take care 🙏🤞
For me, I just want to grow some food to help teach my young grandchildren were food comes from so we have set up 3 raised beds in our front garden for them to grow there own food..... and we grow loads of pumpkins around the beds.... they loved it.... Our 1st growing season as a family was a huge success.. xxxx
Hi I grew up farming in Pennsylvania mostly my family is from Europe I first generation self-sistence living I was able to be graced by a lot of farming and Amish we always had fantastic gardens using mostly cow manure I've recently been using rabbit manure with fantastic results above ground growing and also in reclaimed propane and hot water tanks so you can stand up and garden on sets of cinder block they work very well no nematode and no ants or grub problems I do have chickens so everything has to be netted if I do have a bug problem I dropped them in a can and put them in with their crack corn in an old hubcap which is virtually indestructible I just started micro screening and teaing that says boosted my ability to grow just about anything that touches the soil I did have a problem of overcrowding I now live in Florida I can grow two harvests a year for we have two growing seasons I'm growing fruit trees nut trees bananas division of forestry in any state all you need to do is show your driver's license and they will give you free oak trees or pine trees or cypress trees in the thousands it's a lucrative business you can start overnight for those people out there that have acreage you can also get turkey chicks grouse quail and many other species of birds that turn loose inside there once it starts to grow I appreciate you I subscribed to you because you're the first person I've ever saw that truly knows what they're talking about. Thank you.
Kurt T. May I ask what part of Florida you live in? I moved here from NY/CT, and I'm struggling with growing stuff. Maybe you can open your own UA-cam channel. I'll be your first subscriber 😊👍❤
Great video and I can always use the reminders! My top tip is to actually USE the Plant List for # of plants to grow this year. I always overseed as I get so excited for gardening (but friends and neighbors appreciate the free seedlings). I will attempt to plan accordingly but I'm sure I'll still overplant! And for those who haven't used the Garden Planner, give it a try - it's so much fun to plan and the plethora of info available is awesome.
I love your dog 🐕 so much, so I had to watch the video several times… 🤣🙈 because my heart and mind was overwhelmed 💞🐕 by this fluffy little sweetheart 💞
My garden stemmed from a desire to do something with feed bags. Horse feed, chicken feed, and dog food come in plastic or plastic woven bags. So I just found the only sunny spot on the property and just started filling them with dirt, manure and peat moss.
After having gardened in several different states with very different climates, pests, etc, I just want to say what is easy to grow in one place can be quite hard in another. In fact nearly all of the things you noted in the start as easy to grow have been quite hard for me here in east Tennessee's temperate rainforest climate and poor soil. So learning what is easiest where you live is important.
Yes! This is such a thing. Even a significant move within the same zone can make all the difference. When I first emigrated from Britain to Ireland I thought I'd lost my touch altogether. Even though I've dealt with heavy clay, and all kinds of soils in Britain, it really is all different here. Finally, after 13yrs here, I'm hopeful I might be getting into the swing of it again.
IFthenE@ I couldn't agree more! In the North (ny) I could throw anything in the ground and grow... here in Florida, after sinking in a ton of money and starting to grow stuff, I'm failing miserably 😭🙈
@@mariap.894 I felt the same way upon moving to TN. All the things that grew so well in every other state I lived before just wouldn't grow, outside cherry tomatoes. It wasn't until I started talking to local gardeners that I realized it wasn't my fault!
Sit i started the new gardening but didn't any plan in my mind please ask my new garden plan sir full blank in my mind my area full of village and cultivated in vegetables brinjal ,ladies finger , chilli, cotton and also rice
Hi Ben l have always been excited by the magic of tiny seeds growing into flower and vegetables and my first seeds was runner beans after that there were no stopping me 🙂 thank you Ben
I agree, start small. Just start with what you like to eat. Tomatoes, peppers and squashes are late season crops so plant things that you can harvest all summer. I like to grow lettuces for my daily salad. Edible weeds are the first up in the spring and the bugs leave them alone.
One of my earliest memories is of being in the garden with my father when I was three, planting carrot seeds. He told me if I watered them regularly and took care of them, they would turn into carrots. It seemed like magic to me. I still remember harvesting the first ones and Dad saying at lunchtime, "We're eating Helen's carrots today." After that, I asked my parents for space in the garden and they gave me a place they weren't using and some spare seeds and I have been gardening ever since. The most important thing is compost. Get that right and you have free plant food forever. Above all, get nature working with you. Bad gardeners kill slugs and snails, which is insane, because their speciality is breaking down woody stems into soft, useful compost. Move them to your compost heap or bin and you halve the time the compost takes and double the quality. Second most important thing, don't dig over the ground. Cover it in winter with good, organic compost and by spring, it will be excellent. Dig only to plant or harvest. Anything more damages the soil and renders it less fertile.
I missed gardening with my Dad (who passed away many years ago) when I was a kid and I had hit a really low, stressful time in my life and wanted some of myself back, if that makes sense. I remember the marigolds and the most delicious tomatoes ever. We even did pretty good with okra (though frying it in our Fry Daddy PROBABLY wasn't the healthiest way to eat it...), peas and beans and of course Dad's favorites radishes and peppers. I still remember the time he told me to eat just one Jalapeno seed...Lord I miss that man
@@GrowVeg Thank you Ben. And thank you to this community of gardening friends on this channel here who have provided so many ideas and improved on others and share their own successes, failures, and stories.
Riddle me this: I’ve been wanting to do raised beds and everyone I talk to says they need to be at least 12” but preferably 16” deep. You and a lot of others have what looks like 6” beds. What’s the deal? If I plan to rotate, I would need deep rooting capabilities in all of my beds right?
It depends on what you are growing in the raised beds and what they are put on top of. My beds are set on top of lawn/soil, so in time the soil below the raised beds will also be accessible to the crops growing in them. For this reason 6" is absolutely fine. I use raised beds more as a way of marking out the growing areas, making things a lot easier to tend and plan. The depth isn't that important. If you were setting raised beds on paver or similar, you'd need a depth of at least 12" if you wanted to grow, say, root crops.
@@GrowVeg interesting. I have been planning on doing beds right on my lawn. I have an issue with drainage (heavy clay). I can’t get a consistent answer so I want planning on doing 24” so I’d have more than enough. But I’m still in the process of taking out a second mortgage to buy the lumber. You think 6” will be fine with the heavy clay or should I go back to 12”?
Having been born on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, I am a child of the earth! There is nothing like getting one's hands into the soil and feeling the texture of the soil. My mother was a master gardener and grew nearly everything we ate. I'm sorry to say that, at the time, I was not very appreciative of her skills. Now, sixty years later, I wish I had half her skill! We have owned our own home for the last 20 years and I have a garden now with strawberries, asparagus, potatoes, beans, red beets, lettuces, kales, parsley, oregano, basil, and the like. I rarely start my seeds from scratch but have attempted to do so from time to time. I do not have a good space for starting seeds, and so, choose to purchase plants that are already started for things like cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes and the like. Occasionally, I rescue self-starting plants from the compost heap and put them in the garden. I have been using companion planting for years and find it very helpful. I appreciate your tips and tricks Ben and find your videos extremely helpful. Thank you for all the work you've put into making my gardening easier and more productive.
I'm vegan because of health problems and the produce in the grocery stores has been going up in price but down in quality. There has been a few times over the past few years when the shelves where empty. This is the first year I can start growing my own food. I'm going to try to start small. I've started seeds already and the little sprouts get me so excited.
Do you like beans? There's a runner bean variety called 'pole star'. If you can find them, they're brilliant. We plant 12-24 plants a year of those, and just keep on top of the picking. Gorgeous from fresh, but you can easily go 12mts on what you can get into the freezer (we do cut ours up when they go in the freezer - just a little better space economy).
Great video as usual. Thanks. I garden here in Japan and since space is limited I do trench composting at the end of the seasons. Please do a video on trench composting if you have any ideas about that. Thanks again. Keep up the good work.
One of my favorite parts of gardening especially last year were the sounds. I was weeding and delighted in the sounds of the various wingbeats (e.g., honey bees, bumble bees and hummingbirds); truly wonderful. Across the street there would be large flocks of Canadian Geese. And while annoying at times due to their sheer numbers, it was nice to hear the variety in their honking.
I've only started my veg garden in Dec I'm very new to it and I think the most exciting is when the veg flourishes, we've had an awful summer because the first month was like winter, and now its finally warmed up so everything has been really slow. I've been learning about soil, and feeding the plants, originally I only thought about watering the plants being the most important thing. I'm growing my first sunflowers and capsicum from seeds too for the first time and its so exciting!
Hi Ben, Like you I had my first veg garden at the age of 10 and I'm now 41, giving it a 3rd go at growing my own food and hope to someday have enough harvest to give to my local food banks. At age 10, I started with peppers, carrots and potatoes in an area that was more of a flower bed along the edge of our house in the suburbs! Then we moved out more into the backwoods area where I added corn, squash and pumpkins to my garden plan. I had very small harvests but yet I still felt so accomplished!!! Seeing those first signs of growth moving up through the soil is one of the most rewarding feelings!!! Thanks for your knowledge and videos, I truly enjoy watching them!! Best, Kelly
Great stuff here! Thx for all the tips. My 2nd year with an allotment and I've found my passion in life LOL!! My big thing is blackberries and rasberries..... along with all sorts of vegetaties and flowers. Keep up the great work and sharing with us!!👍😊
Hi Ben, thank you for the excellent and timely advice. Will be putting this to good use for sure as the adventure begins again. It's so valuable to invest in a home veggie plot - benefits definitely outweigh the cost. However, I had to watch the video several times - nothing wrong, just that adorable pup is really distracting, LOL! Hope the gardens of you and your subscribers is fruitful and productive in 2023. Keep up the great work!
Starting small wasn't the thing for me. I've always been a sloppy/lazy gardener in my less than 100m2 town gardens, which never had enough space to accommodate everything I wanted (and had terrible soil and a lot of slugs for lack of predators), which meant that yes, the enthousiasm quickly deflated because most things never stood a chance. Since I've moved to a plot that's 1500m2 (house included) I'm working in the garden for 5, 10, 15 hours pretty much every weekend and loving it. Not saying I'm keeping on top of absolutely everything and slugs can still be a problem, but there's at least always something that thrives and that's so rewarding!
Hi Ben I watched your amazing videos. Just got our allotment after a 2 yr wait. Am planning to do a no dig raised bed. What should I put in the beds? Cardboard + hay+ compost? 🙏
Congratulations on getting an allotment! To start new, no dig raised beds I would begin with a layer of cardboard, then, whatever organic matter you have on top of that, finishing with perhaps a nice, smooth layer of potting, mix or good quality garden, compost. More in this video here: ua-cam.com/video/NlS_dTDsHHQ/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
I am a Scout Merit Badge councilor, I have a group of six scouts 3 boys and 3 girls that will be working on their Gardening Merit Badge this spring. What would you suggest that I have them grow? They all need to Do a germination percentage test, Grow six veggies 3 from seed and 3 from seedlings, the same for flowers, for I am thinking potatoes, radishes, Beans and zucchini. I am not sure for flowers What would you suggest.
Yes, agreed on the veggies. Also perhaps salad leaves of some sort (like a simple salad leaf mix) and maybe carrots or beets? For flowers I really like pot marigold/calendula, nasturtium, French marigold/tagetes and sweet alyssum - which are all great in the veggie garden too.
I have always loved gardening but limited to patio pots and foundation beds living in the city due to small lot size limited to partial shade gardening which I have mastered with perennials, trees and shrubs. However, I have always felt deprived of the veggie garden experience that one can have with sun and space.. Just over a year ago we moved to a rural property with 1.5ac and sun. Last year my experimental veggie/herb garden in two 4x8' raised beds was a screaming success, so much so I had to give away my crops to my very happy neighbours. Late last fall we built two more raised beds at 4x4' each and I planted garlic buds FOR THE FIRST TIME and inspired by one of your vids Ben. I CANNOT WAIT to get back in the dirt again and will be germinating a few of my little green babies in the next week or so in anticipation of early spring planting. I LOVE your videos and happy to share my own experiences with this august community. I am retiring from the Rat Race this year so looking forward to spending more time in my garden.
A big mistake is not picking the most optimal growing locations in your yard. Finding the most hours of sunlight for a patch and factoring in its drainage are biggies for me. Some things I couldn't help at all; like my neighbor putting up a 6 ft high fence that took away at least 3 hrs of direct sunlight from my South side garden everyday, and the other neighbors spraying chemicals too close or over the property line that drifts in the wind. Sometimes luck happens, like when the neighbor's huge maple clump was rotting & had to be taken down. My backyard got lots more light after that happened! Oh, another problem for my garden are the animals. The squirrels dig up and chew the planters, the deer and rabits eat whatever they please. I've tried cayenne pepper but I need to be so diligent doing that. I may need fencing or other barriers. I didn't garden for several years due to back & nerve problems and a major surgery. Last year was going to be THE YEAR I restarted my gardening; April hubby & I got COVID, we lost his mom in June & my hubby in July. Between the long COVID and grieving, I need to find a way to get digging in the dirt again. I have two GreenStalk vertical planters and just bought two raised beds, and I have several large containers. If I do nothing else, I will at least work at planting those. I dream of buying a green house, since I'm in zone 3-4, but prices have skyrocketed on those too! I'll make due with what I have for now, its more than enough for now. Love your channel, so helpful! 💜
Hi Michele. The important thing is just to make a start - to get going, which it sounds like you'll be doing this season. There are so many challenges, but it makes the harvests all the more rewarding! Thanks for watching, an dos sorry to hear of your losses from Covid.
Hi Ben. We're in Western Canada and have a bizarre growing season. We are influenced by the Rocky Mountains which can sometimes be challenging. Our "offical" growing season is 90 days. It can get quite warm (+30C-35C) but the nights are often quite cool. We plant a lot of tomatoes because nothing can beat the taste of a home grown tomato. I've gardened here for 20 years and know what works for me. I experiment occasionally and sometimes am surprised. Winter can be brutally cold but we also get periods of warming winds called Chinooks, which can raise the temp. from -20C to +5C in a matter of hours. Trees, fruit bushes and shrubs have to be hardy to withstand all of that! I'm always amazed that I can plant a tiny seed and a plant emerges. Love your channel and enjoy seeing what you are growing.
Hi Ben, since you want to know why I started gardening. Here my story. I had chemo and 5 months after the treatment I fell in a dip. A project like creating a veggie garden was my way to get out of it. My barn had a stock of old big beams. Used 56 of them to create rectangulars. In the summer and fall my garden was abundant ant beautiful. It was the joy of my life. That was my year 2022. Thanxs for your informative videos.
Going into my second year growing a garden. I do it to honor the memory of my late grandfather who was always in his garden growing a bounty of fruit and veg and to learn to feed myself and others.
Thanks for the helpful tips! After decades away from gardening, I'm back into it and enjoying every minute! I'm also guilty of struggling to thin my plants (but getting better!) and am thrilled to give away starts that I can't use. It doesn't take much effort and makes others happy. No great tips except that I take notes and take pictures so year to year, I can continue to improve.
I caught the gardening bug from my grandpa and mother. My whole childhood he’d grow tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, kohlrabi, cucumbers, and beans. Unfortunately as he’s gotten older he hasn’t been able to garden. This year I’m going to try growing kohlrabi, one of his favorites.
I'm responsible for a collective garden in the North of Canada where the fresh food is severly overpriced and sometimes even wilted when it arrives. The garden project is a matter of survival of the community up here. I think i've not avoided one of the pitfalls tho, year one of production and we have a big greenhouse, multiple growing beds and over 30 raised beds... Well, time to find employees before spring ! XD
I just love your videos.... I'm new to gardening and am growing lots in pots, container & baskets at the moment. I've bought plants this year but have just been given a bumper lot of veggie seeds (free) and next year I'll think of raising my own plugs and plants...... it's still a bit confusing but with the help of you videos perhaps I will have some success! I'll post again at the end of the season with success or not!
I've tried small vegetable gardens a few times since owning our own house but we were trying to dig into silt which was *hard* work and we had very limited success. After discovering Charles Dowding, we've recently put some no-dig beds on our now-sandy soil. I would love to supply most of our veggies, which were costing us 2-3 hours' wages each week for our household of 9.
New gardener. i was definitely guilty of over crowding. My first year I had to severely thin a row of zucchini because of overcrowding and mold build up. Next biggest mistake was not planning in advance enough as that thinned row of zucchini was quickly decimated by some squash vine borers not long after
Avoid F1 seeds if possible as to harvest seeds maybe pointless. Research as much as possible ways to get seeds from your veg plants. Keep in dry cool place. I use those little stay dry silica sachets that come with some electronic/ damp sensitive goods - to keep damp away from my seeds. A quick heating in a cooling oven drives away moisture so they can be used again. Old plastic butter, meat trays etc make fantastic and durable plant pots don't forget some drainage holes though. Cheap electric tube heaters are ideal to heat small greenhouses - don't forget to use an RCD though. Old bubble wrap, polystyrene bags that come with deliveries make very good frost protection to put gently on top of seedings- with tube heater below the bags collect and store heat around the plants. Happy digging!!
What got me into gardening in one word: tomatoes. Store-bought are tasteless and the heirloom beauties at the local farmer's market are cost prohibitive. They're so easy to grow and I love strolling out to my yard and munching on some cherry tomatoes straight off the vine. Beyond that, I've had success with summer and winter squash and cucumbers various herbs. I'm going to try to start more plants from seed this year, rather than buying someone else's starts, and also experiment with new veggies .... maybe eggplants and cauliflower. Very exciting. Thanks for another great video, Ben.
My depression only got worse when I realized I needed to apply for SSI. My sister tried a little bitty flower pot just for the process of it. It kinda hooked me in as well, seeing the leaves get bigger every day. Now I’m growing a jalapeño plant and the peppers are growing visibly bigger every day!!! I’m hooked. I want to grow garlic and parsley and some sweet peppers because we both love these. My mental health is improving now that I have something motivating me to get out of bed every day.
One mistake I tell beginners to avoid is growing stuff you won’t actually eat. So many people grow marrows and the like because it’s sorta the done thing in the UK, but have no real intention of ever cooking with it. Same also applies with if you’re a family of four, don’t grow 10 tomato plants, it’s utterly pointless!
I’m starting a new garden, been years since I’ve done one. Looking forward to grow from seedlings to getting the harvest. Trying new plants like spinach. 😊 what is your suggestion when growing for 1 person?
I’m moving into a new home in a couple of weeks that has a lovely ample yard where I’ll be able to plant. Hope to make gardening a part of my self care routine and a wonderful way to keep moving regularly during a busy time in life. I’d love to include my 11 year old in my learning to garden and possibly have her become excited to learn as well.
I think you should definitely include your 11 year old on the journey - I think that's such a great thing to do and you'll teach her skills for life! :-)
You mentioned a slug & snail attack in this video... Could you make a video on how you deter the little buggers haha. I hate them, I've tried loads, from egg shells - chilli flakes!
For me it's really simple, I have quite a big garden and my wife and I are not particularly enthusiastic about maintenance. We decided that growing our own veggies might get us more willing to look after our garden. And, yes it sort of worked, the next step is choosing the veggies that we actually want to eat :)
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I am in the US also,have been gardening for over 50 years. I never tire of seeing those seedlings push their way up through the soil.
I am blessed to have been taught as a child how to can and preserve the gardens bounty.
I am alone now and don't plant as much as I once did,but I pray that I will be able to plant something for the rest of my days.
Having that knowledge and experience of growing something is very special.
"Growing your own food is amazing." Couldn't agree more, Ben! I just wish I could get pork chops and ribeye steaks to grow like tomatoes; the grocery store would miss me entirely were it so. I guess the closest I can realistically plan on is raising chickens for their eggs...growing them for poultry gets more involved in a lot of ways, not the least of which is the need to introduce roosters. Anywho, looking forward to the new growing season; suffering from cabin fever, but the days are getting longer, so it won't be too much longer here.
Hi Frank
You can grow beef steak and pork chops in your garden in the form of black beans also known as Turtle beans😋. They have as much protein as beef and no beautiful animals have to die! Give it a go. I grow them in the uk and when they are dried I cook large batches and freeze them. Try other beans like Borlotti too. When you grow them yourself they are far, far tastier. My Borlotti beans last year were the size of olives and tasted out of this world. Plus, there are no growth hormones, antibiotics or all the herbicides, fungicides etc that your poor dead animal was fed - which you then consume. You can be in control of what you eat 👍
@@vanessataylor4125 Thanks for the tips. There are also some mushrooms that are at least vaguely reasonable facsimiles of real meat, and I use them as such occasionally. But I also embrace my innate human omnivorousness (spell check doesn't like that, but I'm sticking with it) without guilt. I do buy locally sourced meats from small farms, where at least the animals weren't caged in tiny spaces like the mass-produced ones are, as much as possible. Did you know that animal proteins were a huge factor in humans developing the complex brains we benefit from today? Life eating life to survive is just a rather savage reality on this planet, across all species.
@@frankburns8871
Thank you for your reply Frank. I understand and accept that everyone doesn’t think the same. I was born and brought up on a jersey dairy farm in Norfolk and years later when I eventually stopped eating meat and then fish my poor parents thought I would die! But as it happens I have never had such good health as I do now . I just believe that if people want to eat meat then it should have lived as natural life as possible and they should be killed as humanely as possible and by you buying from smaller shops etc the quality will probably be better. It is also a lot cheaper to live a vegetarian life though.
Do try the black turtle and Borlotti beans, they are well worth a go. Good luck and happy gardening Frank, and may all your weeds be little ones and all your vegetables be big and healthy 😃👍🤞
@@vanessataylor4125 Thanks, it's nice to have a civil conversation on the subject for a change. I'm definitely looking forward to getting some of my starts in the ground. The ground here is still pretty much cement, but should be good enough for carrots, broccoli, and peas in about six weeks, and I'll have had my tomatoes & peppers spending some quality time outdoors by then as well! 👍
My parents recently got geese for the first time and my sister got ducks precisely to allow them to provide some of their own meat while staying within the local rules for keeping male animals in town.
Also, in the US. I wanted more variety than what the grocery store offered. Farmers markets are better, but I just wanted to relearn how to grow my own.
Another great video, thank you!
At 4:08 I was wearing headphones and the sound of a bee in stereo made me duck 😂
Haha - sorry about that! :-)
Going into my 3rd year of growing my own veg. The biggest mistake I've made in the past is over planting and expectation. This year I'm keeping it simple. Growing only what I know grows well and will definitely want on my plate is the plan. I've invested in an inexpensive polytunnel so that should help and I'm looking forward to using my own compost for the first time. Good luck gardeners. Peace.
That sounds like a very sensible approach. Good luck with the new growing season. :-)
If you have extra broccoli seeds, you can always sprout them and eat them as micro greens.
Tip- build the farm before you build the house. I hate making lists, but it's a must. You can only DO one project at a time. Knocking even one thing off of the list ends up being more fulfilling than being so scatter brained, that you get parts or nothing done. Biggest tip- don't try to figure out how much time anything will take! Some will be 5 minutes, and some 5 minute jobs can turn into 2 days. Best thing to do is don't look at the clock, and look more at the needs to be done BY date, and do that! 😊This list is my reminder as well.. 🤣
Ha ha! It's only people who actually 'do' who understand this! 🙄
Very wise words!
I've been gardening for over 50 years and there is always something new to learn. The next thing I have learned from early on is not to give up but to try again. Last year was probably my worst year with hardly any veg growing well. Fruit did okay though. It was because of the terrible spring with snow twice covering my garden in May here in Wales.
I like your assistant. We all need one of those.
That's the spirit Dafydd - never let the setbacks crimp your ambitions.
We're first-time gardeners this year -- because we recently bought a house and for the first time have access to and control of a tiny patch of land! I'm excited to be able to contribute to our household economy in a new way, while also giving our daughter the chance to better connect with and understand both the earth and our food supply chain.
I remember the thrill (three years ago) of having a house and land of my own for the first time. It's a lot of work, but it's inspiring. I hope you have a wonderful garden!
You will find so much joy in your new garden.
I got my allotment after losing my mum. Gardening was the best therapy for the grieving process for me. One year later I got another allotment so I now work two! I started gardening in my 60s.... never done anything like it before. I love the community but have my own space too. Thank you for your channel 👍
Wow Mavis - you keep busy. So pleased you're enjoying the therapeutic nature of growing though - it's superb in this regard.
I like to use excess seeds that are past or nearly past their sow by date to grow microgreens when i can! Broccoli seeds are especially good because I end up with so much extra.
I’m in the US, and honestly, the price of produce was a large factor for me. I currently find myself buying less produce (which isn’t great) and I really wanted to try gardening. Plus, it’ll give my children and I something to do in the summer.
Same for me
So convenient to grab something fresh in the backyard.
Same here. I always ask the kids to pick what they would want to grow and eat. It gets them invested. I'm about 2 yrs in and getting better all the time. Give it a go its fun and rewarding!
I think so many more of us are thinking of growing more food with all the price rises.
Not just the cost but the taste- home grown anything just tastes so much better!
I’ve gardened my whole life but never really thought to grow vegetables and even though I’ve gardened for over 40 years, I now know I didn’t really understand a lot of what happens with the soil or how it needs to be nurtured. All this changed when I started watching your videos last year. I was staying in France and caring for my mum and had a lot of free time to sit in the garden and watch your entire 7 years worth of videos! Your enthusiasm inspired me and I couldn’t wait to get growing. I took on an allotment, filled it with home made raised beds, made composters from pallets, dug horse muck, bagged up tons of woodchip (all free), laid cardboard, sowed seeds, bought grow lights and now there’s no stopping me. I now have 3 allotments although only one is fully operational at the moment. Sourcing free stuff and constructing beds takes time not to mention sourcing free stuff to put in them. But Thankyou Ben and team. You really did change my life from a very depressed, disabled (due to an accident 3 years ago) avid subscriber. Don’t ever lose that enthusiasm 💖💖💖
That is really so lovely to hear Kay! Well done on expanding your growing ambitions and doing such a thorough job! Keep on growing! :-)
For me, it is the satisfaction of nurturing the plants and being able to eat food within minutes of harvesting. Food doesn't get any fresher - or more delicious - than when you grow it yourself.
I just got my first allotment, been down there today. There are raspberries, gooseberry, red currant, onions, leeks and asparagus already there. Did a couple of hrs weeding 👍
Watch Charles Dowdings videos will help you massively in the long run 👍
@@excemptfrombs2124 thanks will do 👍 I've been growing for 15 years but only back garden, will be watching others for tips on allotments. Just need to up scale! My daughter is nearly 8 so got a extra pair of hands. She already has her eye on a little area.
How wonderful to have all those crops in there already - a great head start! Yes, Charles Dowding is a great watch too.
Love gardening - watching these minute seeds germinate and grow never fails to thrill me. The satisfaction of putting my own produce on the table and relaxation and mental health benefits I get from working on my allotment.
I'm not far from you in England, Ben. Now the days are getting a bit longer I'm resisting (and nearly failing!) to start sowing. I know it's too early for most crops but it feels like spring is just around the corner and I want to be prepared.
My grandad was a gardener as was my mum before they died. I feel like I'm carrying on their legacy in some way.
A tip for anyone who reads this: only grow what you like to eat, can store, can convert into something else, can give away or sell if you have a buyer. You won't use it otherwise.
I’ve started sewing tomatoes . But I also have chilli and tomato plants indoors from last year
@@LeeStovin It's a bit early where I am for tomatoes, yet. I've overwintered chillies and peppers, too.
That's a great legacy to continue Ed - good on you.
Like you my grandad was a gardener, before the 1st world war he managed his mums plot of land to grow veg for his nine brothers and sisters and in his retirement he still provided veg for me and my mum. At the age of 67, last year was my first venture into growing veg and I absolutely loved it, so many questions for grandad
My favorite part about gardening is. I'm stay at home mom so having something I enjoy doing instead of it being a cleaning task or what not.
I lived in Tennessee for several years. My it at tomatoes I grew in a large container on the front porch. My only pests had two feet and called me grandma. I think I had one tomato all season. The youngest perp was the one who didn't like tomatoes. He said the only tomatoes he would eat were the ones I grew. Next year I put in 40 plants in my back yard. I got 8 quarts of tomatoes. The rest were eaten by me and the great hoard that descended on my garden. It was a memorable summer. I learned a lot about tomatoes. I'm looking forward to another garden in my new house.
I love the description of your pests 😆
What a wonderful anecdote Margaret - your grandchildren had great taste!
My partner and I are planning to buy a house with plenty of land in Northern Spain, and part of our dream is permaculture and growing lots of our own food, essentially driving down our cost of living and having more time to do what we enjoy doing. These ventures will no doubt take a lot of our time, but fortunately we both want the same thing. I am rather excited to say the least.
Ps, I love your content, keep it coming.
What an exciting project Tom - best of luck with it all.
Thanks Ben, very practical. Loads of things keep me going back to gardening for more...A couple of things - Strangely enough I love trying to make good compost (well, I don't make it it makes itself I just add the ingredients). I think the most amazing thing I never tire of is planting a seed and behold! It grows into something amazing. This is en extremely simplistic description of the miracle that occurs.
It is like a miracle though isn't it.
I love being able to grow something then enjoy it in a dish I have cooked.
I've decided to start gardening because I like the idea of growing some of my own food. It's a life skill that all of us should develop. I'm glad I watched this video today because I was probably planning on going too big, too quick. I think I will pare back my plans and see how it goes this year.
See how it goes - it's good to feel motivated with what you have, rather than overwhelmed.
Sound advice about starting off small! During the Spring of 2020, I started not one, but TWO vegetable gardens at our new house, and it was a lot to maintain. I overextended myself again last year, but this year, the garden that's furthest from the hose spigot is going to become a wildflower patch instead. 😃 I'm consolidating everything into the front garden, interplanting, and instead of growing 30 tomato plants again, doing 6 or so and adding new crop species in their place. I've been growing far more than my wife and I could possibly eat, then trying to give the excess away. Time to be smarter about this.
It sounds like you have a smart strategy for this year Eric. I hope it is a very fruitful one for you.
Had enough of spiralling prices, greed, waste and idiot people in power. So going totally off grid and being self sustainable as much as possible this year.
Smart move!
The Good life 🌻 I'm trying to cut down on the cost to our environment and grow more nutritious produce win/win
I just put some garlic in the greenhouse ground last week, some have already sprouted 10cm😎 madness!
A greenhouse would be my top tip for extending the season, buy the biggest one you can.
I inherited my mum’s allotment and made all these mistakes for two years, despite buying all the books about allotmenting. I love the peace and quiet of our allotment and seeing the seedlings grow…but we have a problem with pests and a friend who shared our produce can only eat organic which makes using pesticides troublesome. So we had constant problems and the whole family hated the work which produced very little… I ended up being the only one to with there. Now I’ve had a traumatic accident and haven’t been able to go to my allotment for well over a year. A friend is using it…I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to garden again. I still love watching these videos though and getting excited all over again 😂
The two best books I ever got: The Geoff Hamilton Kitchen Garden one - the one that accompanied the series (which is still here on UA-cam), and the Alan Titchmarsh one (Deep green cover). Both are fabulous.
Melissa I am so sad to read your message. Don’t give up on your allotment yet. I know I don’t know what has happened to you, but it might just be what you need to help you recover in time. Even if you can only garden a little bit, it is something to look forward to. Try and get it covered with black plastic or old carpets to stop the weeks. Good luck
I hope you manage to get back out there and gardening Melissa.
Stay hopeful! I experienced a life changing medical condition 14 years ago and was in a wheelchair for a year or so, then spent quite a bit of time pretty much learning to walk again, and slowly and gradually building up my physical abilities over time. With help, I have been able to rehabilitate myself to the point that I can garden - I can't do the big stuff but I can certainly do enough to enjoy it and I don't miss all the hard digging and pruning ;.) A lot is possible Melissa.
The garden planner is seriously such a great tool! This is my second year and it's really a fun thing to play around with in the winter and plan out how I can maximize my garden. Cheers!
So pleased you find it handy!
Brill..can't wait til new season really gets under way !
Thank you! My favorite part of gardening is that it has become a family endeavor. I love having my kids and grandkids help harvest and eat things they normally wouldn’t. Home grown tastes so much better!
So true Leona.
For me the most exiting part of gardening is harvesting, I have a blueberry plant that is flowering snd fruiting right now aswell as a strawberry plant that is fruiting, now they are not ripe yet but I'm excited for them
I live in Florida and there are many professionals that grow strawberries. However, someone warned me that strawberries are difficult to grow and take care of. Are they something a beginner could manage without too much frustration?
@@kenbass7739 yeah, they don't require alot of effort to grow
Harvesting is most definitely a joyous moment!
Lovely to see supervisor Rosie hard at work. Love the close ups of her. 🙂🙂
As usual this was another helpful video. Wishing all the new gardeners on your channel a very happy and successful year!🙂
Thanks for watching Valorie. Rosie keeps me in line!
I started with a window box, which I planted with ranunculus. I also helped my parents and grandparents with their gardens. Yes, it was not the same as having my own garden, but it made it so everywhere I moved, I always had plants, whether it was in pots on the window sill or in pots on the patio and balcony or in ground. I went through my orchid period, my rose period, my bougainvillea period, my papaya forest period, and my edible plants period.
Definitely everyone should grow something, even if it is just a few herbs or sprouts on the kitchen counter.
So true! :-)
As I have hens, I don't mind picking out and discarding - the girls love seedlings...
Apparently, the only thing that will distract me from the information presented in a gardening video is a cute dog!
What makes me want to garden? It's my quiet time. I am most happy when breaking up clods with my bare hands (because I always forget my gloves) or watering my "babies." Oh, the eating part is good, too!
It's as good as meditation, it really is.
Bonjour ! I’m in SW Va. I had no choice as I was raised on a farm. Hated it as a child, because it was the work. I always missed that fresh out of the garden taste of foods though thru the years. I moved back “home” 12 years ago to care for my older sis. Back here it was natural to start up the garden again. Seems I gave away more than I used, but I’m getting the hang of it again. Food prices and quality are awful right now. It’s best to grow your own and know what is in it. Even if it’s only windowsill lettuce.
I look forward to your vids. I’ve watched you for years, even when I had no garden. So, it is in my “roots” (sorry) ! Have a blessed Sunday all !
I love the pun there Tonie! Thanks so much for watching. :-)
Don't worry about planting all at once. I had multiple crops of potatoes as I let one set start to grow before putting out another.
The taste of homegrown veg is top with me. We grow veg and live on homegrown for eight months of each year. We also grow fruit which lasts 12 months once frozen. However it is easy because we are retired and devote our leisure time to the garden. Thank you for all the tips.
Where is the link to your garden planner you mention 1.41? I went to look for it in the text below, couldn't see it. Love to try and use it.
My plan is to watch one of your videos every day or so, to try and get up to speed with our new vegie plot.
Here's a link to the Garden Planner: www.growveg.com/garden-planner-intro.aspx
Hope you're new veggie plot gets off to a great start. :-)
Thank you for the tips😊 I'm from the Philippines I love gardening too
Thanks for watching Janie.
Brilliant, thank you for sharing your experience with us👍😁 I've just started chiting my potatoes today. Cannot wait to get going down on my Allotments.Ive weeded all the raised beds,and dug in manure, Going to start sowing various onion seeds, leeks, and cauliflower seeds next week.anyway all the best and take care 🙏🤞
Good luck !
What a great start you've made already Kevin. Best of luck with the new growing season.
Really good 👍 I am growing vegetables quite a few years and every time you feel so pleased with the harvest!
So true!
Respect to all Gardeners😄👍❤
Absolutely!
For me, I just want to grow some food to help teach my young grandchildren were food comes from so we have set up 3 raised beds in our front garden for them to grow there own food..... and we grow loads of pumpkins around the beds.... they loved it.... Our 1st growing season as a family was a huge success.. xxxx
You've sown a seed for the future there Samantha.
It’s therapeutic to work in the vegetable garden. Thanks! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼✅
Hi I grew up farming in Pennsylvania mostly my family is from Europe I first generation self-sistence living I was able to be graced by a lot of farming and Amish we always had fantastic gardens using mostly cow manure I've recently been using rabbit manure with fantastic results above ground growing and also in reclaimed propane and hot water tanks so you can stand up and garden on sets of cinder block they work very well no nematode and no ants or grub problems I do have chickens so everything has to be netted if I do have a bug problem I dropped them in a can and put them in with their crack corn in an old hubcap which is virtually indestructible I just started micro screening and teaing that says boosted my ability to grow just about anything that touches the soil I did have a problem of overcrowding I now live in Florida I can grow two harvests a year for we have two growing seasons I'm growing fruit trees nut trees bananas division of forestry in any state all you need to do is show your driver's license and they will give you free oak trees or pine trees or cypress trees in the thousands it's a lucrative business you can start overnight for those people out there that have acreage you can also get turkey chicks grouse quail and many other species of birds that turn loose inside there once it starts to grow I appreciate you I subscribed to you because you're the first person I've ever saw that truly knows what they're talking about. Thank you.
Kurt T. May I ask what part of Florida you live in? I moved here from NY/CT, and I'm struggling with growing stuff. Maybe you can open your own UA-cam channel. I'll be your first subscriber 😊👍❤
Hi Kurt. Thanks for subscribing. How wonderful to be able to get hold of so many trees like that - that's a fantastic initiative that's being run.
Great video and I can always use the reminders! My top tip is to actually USE the Plant List for # of plants to grow this year. I always overseed as I get so excited for gardening (but friends and neighbors appreciate the free seedlings). I will attempt to plan accordingly but I'm sure I'll still overplant! And for those who haven't used the Garden Planner, give it a try - it's so much fun to plan and the plethora of info available is awesome.
Over planting is always such a temptation!
I love your dog 🐕 so much, so I had to watch the video several times… 🤣🙈 because my heart and mind was overwhelmed 💞🐕 by this fluffy little sweetheart 💞
My garden stemmed from a desire to do something with feed bags. Horse feed, chicken feed, and dog food come in plastic or plastic woven bags. So I just found the only sunny spot on the property and just started filling them with dirt, manure and peat moss.
Thank you much for sharing your garden ideas especially planting carrots,watching from the Philippines
After having gardened in several different states with very different climates, pests, etc, I just want to say what is easy to grow in one place can be quite hard in another. In fact nearly all of the things you noted in the start as easy to grow have been quite hard for me here in east Tennessee's temperate rainforest climate and poor soil. So learning what is easiest where you live is important.
Yes! This is such a thing. Even a significant move within the same zone can make all the difference. When I first emigrated from Britain to Ireland I thought I'd lost my touch altogether. Even though I've dealt with heavy clay, and all kinds of soils in Britain, it really is all different here. Finally, after 13yrs here, I'm hopeful I might be getting into the swing of it again.
IFthenE@ I couldn't agree more!
In the North (ny) I could throw anything in the ground and grow... here in Florida, after sinking in a ton of money and starting to grow stuff, I'm failing miserably 😭🙈
@@mariap.894 I felt the same way upon moving to TN. All the things that grew so well in every other state I lived before just wouldn't grow, outside cherry tomatoes. It wasn't until I started talking to local gardeners that I realized it wasn't my fault!
Very true - local knowledge is definitely key.
An excellent video and good advice to avoid these 5 gardening mistakes. Keep safe, warm, well and happy gardening.
Hi Ben my name Caroline I live just outside Nottingham do you now growing . Because I don’t now which zone I in by frost
I’m planting seeds just now not too many. As you said slowly dose it 😊 it’s exciting time of the year right.
Love your little wee helper xX
Sit i started the new gardening but didn't any plan in my mind please ask my new garden plan sir full blank in my mind my area full of village and cultivated in vegetables brinjal ,ladies finger , chilli, cotton and also rice
Hi Ben l have always been excited by the magic of tiny seeds growing into flower and vegetables and my first seeds was runner beans after that there were no stopping me 🙂 thank you Ben
Runner beans are great first seeds to begin with - so satisfying!
I agree, start small. Just start with what you like to eat. Tomatoes, peppers and squashes are late season crops so plant things that you can harvest all summer. I like to grow lettuces for my daily salad. Edible weeds are the first up in the spring and the bugs leave them alone.
Gardening is so therapeutic and relaxing
I want to start growing more successfully this year. Inflation rises and just wanting to eat home grown food.
I sort of followed the first tip. I started small and then expanded. It happened a bit quick, is all.
Second growing season in new house with a garden. Looking to build on what I learnt last year....
One of my earliest memories is of being in the garden with my father when I was three, planting carrot seeds. He told me if I watered them regularly and took care of them, they would turn into carrots. It seemed like magic to me. I still remember harvesting the first ones and Dad saying at lunchtime, "We're eating Helen's carrots today." After that, I asked my parents for space in the garden and they gave me a place they weren't using and some spare seeds and I have been gardening ever since.
The most important thing is compost. Get that right and you have free plant food forever. Above all, get nature working with you. Bad gardeners kill slugs and snails, which is insane, because their speciality is breaking down woody stems into soft, useful compost. Move them to your compost heap or bin and you halve the time the compost takes and double the quality.
Second most important thing, don't dig over the ground. Cover it in winter with good, organic compost and by spring, it will be excellent. Dig only to plant or harvest. Anything more damages the soil and renders it less fertile.
Very, very wise words Helen, thanks for sharing.
I missed gardening with my Dad (who passed away many years ago) when I was a kid and I had hit a really low, stressful time in my life and wanted some of myself back, if that makes sense. I remember the marigolds and the most delicious tomatoes ever. We even did pretty good with okra (though frying it in our Fry Daddy PROBABLY wasn't the healthiest way to eat it...), peas and beans and of course Dad's favorites radishes and peppers. I still remember the time he told me to eat just one Jalapeno seed...Lord I miss that man
What wonderful memories to have of him though.
@@GrowVeg Thank you Ben. And thank you to this community of gardening friends on this channel here who have provided so many ideas and improved on others and share their own successes, failures, and stories.
Riddle me this:
I’ve been wanting to do raised beds and everyone I talk to says they need to be at least 12” but preferably 16” deep. You and a lot of others have what looks like 6” beds. What’s the deal? If I plan to rotate, I would need deep rooting capabilities in all of my beds right?
It depends on what you are growing in the raised beds and what they are put on top of. My beds are set on top of lawn/soil, so in time the soil below the raised beds will also be accessible to the crops growing in them. For this reason 6" is absolutely fine. I use raised beds more as a way of marking out the growing areas, making things a lot easier to tend and plan. The depth isn't that important. If you were setting raised beds on paver or similar, you'd need a depth of at least 12" if you wanted to grow, say, root crops.
@@GrowVeg interesting. I have been planning on doing beds right on my lawn. I have an issue with drainage (heavy clay). I can’t get a consistent answer so I want planning on doing 24” so I’d have more than enough. But I’m still in the process of taking out a second mortgage to buy the lumber. You think 6” will be fine with the heavy clay or should I go back to 12”?
I love to garden. It calms my nerves, gives me fresh air and I know what we are eating at our house
Having been born on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, I am a child of the earth! There is nothing like getting one's hands into the soil and feeling the texture of the soil. My mother was a master gardener and grew nearly everything we ate. I'm sorry to say that, at the time, I was not very appreciative of her skills. Now, sixty years later, I wish I had half her skill! We have owned our own home for the last 20 years and I have a garden now with strawberries, asparagus, potatoes, beans, red beets, lettuces, kales, parsley, oregano, basil, and the like. I rarely start my seeds from scratch but have attempted to do so from time to time. I do not have a good space for starting seeds, and so, choose to purchase plants that are already started for things like cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes and the like. Occasionally, I rescue self-starting plants from the compost heap and put them in the garden. I have been using companion planting for years and find it very helpful. I appreciate your tips and tricks Ben and find your videos extremely helpful. Thank you for all the work you've put into making my gardening easier and more productive.
And thank you for watching Carol. It sounds like you have a fantastically productive garden there.
I'm vegan because of health problems and the produce in the grocery stores has been going up in price but down in quality. There has been a few times over the past few years when the shelves where empty. This is the first year I can start growing my own food. I'm going to try to start small. I've started seeds already and the little sprouts get me so excited.
Do you like beans? There's a runner bean variety called 'pole star'. If you can find them, they're brilliant. We plant 12-24 plants a year of those, and just keep on top of the picking. Gorgeous from fresh, but you can easily go 12mts on what you can get into the freezer (we do cut ours up when they go in the freezer - just a little better space economy).
Agreed on the 'Polestar' beans!
Great video as usual. Thanks. I garden here in Japan and since space is limited I do trench composting at the end of the seasons. Please do a video on trench composting if you have any ideas about that. Thanks again. Keep up the good work.
Hi Daniel. Thanks for watching. Check out my old video on composting in situ (trench composting): ua-cam.com/video/lSHHGlQYdA0/v-deo.html
One of my favorite parts of gardening especially last year were the sounds. I was weeding and delighted in the sounds of the various wingbeats (e.g., honey bees, bumble bees and hummingbirds); truly wonderful. Across the street there would be large flocks of Canadian Geese. And while annoying at times due to their sheer numbers, it was nice to hear the variety in their honking.
Unfortunately not - it's best to grow it from seed.
Thank you .....succinct and very helpful
I've only started my veg garden in Dec I'm very new to it and I think the most exciting is when the veg flourishes, we've had an awful summer because the first month was like winter, and now its finally warmed up so everything has been really slow. I've been learning about soil, and feeding the plants, originally I only thought about watering the plants being the most important thing. I'm growing my first sunflowers and capsicum from seeds too for the first time and its so exciting!
That's really wonderful to hear. I'm glad summer has finally arrived for you. Hope you get some delicious capsicums! :-)
this is so useful and timely. Your dog is absolutely adorable!
Hi Ben,
Like you I had my first veg garden at the age of 10 and I'm now 41, giving it a 3rd go at growing my own food and hope to someday have enough harvest to give to my local food banks.
At age 10, I started with peppers, carrots and potatoes in an area that was more of a flower bed along the edge of our house in the suburbs!
Then we moved out more into the backwoods area where I added corn, squash and pumpkins to my garden plan. I had very small harvests but yet I still felt so accomplished!!!
Seeing those first signs of growth moving up through the soil is one of the most rewarding feelings!!!
Thanks for your knowledge and videos, I truly enjoy watching them!!
Best,
Kelly
How fab to have made such an early start also. And some great veggies to have started with! :-)
Great stuff here! Thx for all the tips. My 2nd year with an allotment and I've found my passion in life LOL!! My big thing is blackberries and rasberries..... along with all sorts of vegetaties and flowers. Keep up the great work and sharing with us!!👍😊
Hope you're enjoying your second year - sounds like you are - great stuff!
Hi Ben, thank you for the excellent and timely advice. Will be putting this to good use for sure as the adventure begins again. It's so valuable to invest in a home veggie plot - benefits definitely outweigh the cost.
However, I had to watch the video several times - nothing wrong, just that adorable pup is really distracting, LOL!
Hope the gardens of you and your subscribers is fruitful and productive in 2023. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much for those encouraging words Phil. Happy gardening to you!
Starting small wasn't the thing for me. I've always been a sloppy/lazy gardener in my less than 100m2 town gardens, which never had enough space to accommodate everything I wanted (and had terrible soil and a lot of slugs for lack of predators), which meant that yes, the enthousiasm quickly deflated because most things never stood a chance. Since I've moved to a plot that's 1500m2 (house included) I'm working in the garden for 5, 10, 15 hours pretty much every weekend and loving it. Not saying I'm keeping on top of absolutely everything and slugs can still be a problem, but there's at least always something that thrives and that's so rewarding!
So pleased you're getting to spend more time gardening - it's good for the soul!
Hi Ben
I watched your amazing videos.
Just got our allotment after a 2 yr wait. Am planning to do a no dig raised bed. What should I put in the beds? Cardboard + hay+ compost? 🙏
Congratulations on getting an allotment! To start new, no dig raised beds I would begin with a layer of cardboard, then, whatever organic matter you have on top of that, finishing with perhaps a nice, smooth layer of potting, mix or good quality garden, compost. More in this video here: ua-cam.com/video/NlS_dTDsHHQ/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
I am a Scout Merit Badge councilor, I have a group of six scouts 3 boys and 3 girls that will be working on their Gardening Merit Badge this spring. What would you suggest that I have them grow? They all need to Do a germination percentage test, Grow six veggies 3 from seed and 3 from seedlings, the same for flowers, for I am thinking potatoes, radishes, Beans and zucchini. I am not sure for flowers What would you suggest.
Yes, agreed on the veggies. Also perhaps salad leaves of some sort (like a simple salad leaf mix) and maybe carrots or beets? For flowers I really like pot marigold/calendula, nasturtium, French marigold/tagetes and sweet alyssum - which are all great in the veggie garden too.
I have always loved gardening but limited to patio pots and foundation beds living in the city due to small lot size limited to partial shade gardening which I have mastered with perennials, trees and shrubs. However, I have always felt deprived of the veggie garden experience that one can have with sun and space.. Just over a year ago we moved to a rural property with 1.5ac and sun. Last year my experimental veggie/herb garden in two 4x8' raised beds was a screaming success, so much so I had to give away my crops to my very happy neighbours. Late last fall we built two more raised beds at 4x4' each and I planted garlic buds FOR THE FIRST TIME and inspired by one of your vids Ben. I CANNOT WAIT to get back in the dirt again and will be germinating a few of my little green babies in the next week or so in anticipation of early spring planting. I LOVE your videos and happy to share my own experiences with this august community. I am retiring from the Rat Race this year so looking forward to spending more time in my garden.
I can't think of a better way to spend your time when retiring from the rat race Lisa - enjoy!
A big mistake is not picking the most optimal growing locations in your yard. Finding the most hours of sunlight for a patch and factoring in its drainage are biggies for me. Some things I couldn't help at all; like my neighbor putting up a 6 ft high fence that took away at least 3 hrs of direct sunlight from my South side garden everyday, and the other neighbors spraying chemicals too close or over the property line that drifts in the wind. Sometimes luck happens, like when the neighbor's huge maple clump was rotting & had to be taken down. My backyard got lots more light after that happened! Oh, another problem for my garden are the animals. The squirrels dig up and chew the planters, the deer and rabits eat whatever they please. I've tried cayenne pepper but I need to be so diligent doing that. I may need fencing or other barriers.
I didn't garden for several years due to back & nerve problems and a major surgery. Last year was going to be THE YEAR I restarted my gardening; April hubby & I got COVID, we lost his mom in June & my hubby in July. Between the long COVID and grieving, I need to find a way to get digging in the dirt again. I have two GreenStalk vertical planters and just bought two raised beds, and I have several large containers. If I do nothing else, I will at least work at planting those. I dream of buying a green house, since I'm in zone 3-4, but prices have skyrocketed on those too! I'll make due with what I have for now, its more than enough for now.
Love your channel, so helpful! 💜
Hi Michele. The important thing is just to make a start - to get going, which it sounds like you'll be doing this season. There are so many challenges, but it makes the harvests all the more rewarding! Thanks for watching, an dos sorry to hear of your losses from Covid.
Hi Ben. We're in Western Canada and have a bizarre growing season. We are influenced by the Rocky Mountains which can sometimes be challenging. Our "offical" growing season is 90 days. It can get quite warm (+30C-35C) but the nights are often quite cool. We plant a lot of tomatoes because nothing can beat the taste of a home grown tomato. I've gardened here for 20 years and know what works for me. I experiment occasionally and sometimes am surprised. Winter can be brutally cold but we also get periods of warming winds called Chinooks, which can raise the temp. from -20C to +5C in a matter of hours. Trees, fruit bushes and shrubs have to be hardy to withstand all of that! I'm always amazed that I can plant a tiny seed and a plant emerges. Love your channel and enjoy seeing what you are growing.
Know how you feel. The official listing for the corner of Ireland I'm in, reckons August is our only guaranteed frost-free month.
Those certainly sound like challenging conditions Kate - quite a mix of weather you have to contend with!
Hi Ben, since you want to know why I started gardening. Here my story. I had chemo and 5 months after the treatment I fell in a dip. A project like creating a veggie garden was my way to get out of it. My barn had a stock of old big beams. Used 56 of them to create rectangulars. In the summer and fall my garden was abundant ant beautiful.
It was the joy of my life. That was my year 2022.
Thanxs for your informative videos.
That's a really positive and encouraging story! I hope your 2023 is just as productive and beautiful. :-)
Going into my second year growing a garden. I do it to honor the memory of my late grandfather who was always in his garden growing a bounty of fruit and veg and to learn to feed myself and others.
It's a worthwhile exercise
Thanks for the helpful tips! After decades away from gardening, I'm back into it and enjoying every minute! I'm also guilty of struggling to thin my plants (but getting better!) and am thrilled to give away starts that I can't use. It doesn't take much effort and makes others happy. No great tips except that I take notes and take pictures so year to year, I can continue to improve.
Always worth making notes to learn from experience over time. :-)
I caught the gardening bug from my grandpa and mother. My whole childhood he’d grow tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, kohlrabi, cucumbers, and beans. Unfortunately as he’s gotten older he hasn’t been able to garden. This year I’m going to try growing kohlrabi, one of his favorites.
It's great you caught the bug - I also caught it from my grandad.
I'm responsible for a collective garden in the North of Canada where the fresh food is severly overpriced and sometimes even wilted when it arrives. The garden project is a matter of survival of the community up here. I think i've not avoided one of the pitfalls tho, year one of production and we have a big greenhouse, multiple growing beds and over 30 raised beds... Well, time to find employees before spring ! XD
Hope you manage to get everything prepped and ready for spring. It sounds like a great project you're involved in.
I just love your videos.... I'm new to gardening and am growing lots in pots, container & baskets at the moment. I've bought plants this year but have just been given a bumper lot of veggie seeds (free) and next year I'll think of raising my own plugs and plants...... it's still a bit confusing but with the help of you videos perhaps I will have some success! I'll post again at the end of the season with success or not!
Please do post again Diana. Best of luck for this summer!
I've tried small vegetable gardens a few times since owning our own house but we were trying to dig into silt which was *hard* work and we had very limited success.
After discovering Charles Dowding, we've recently put some no-dig beds on our now-sandy soil. I would love to supply most of our veggies, which were costing us 2-3 hours' wages each week for our household of 9.
Those no-dig beds will definitely help with that.
New gardener. i was definitely guilty of over crowding. My first year I had to severely thin a row of zucchini because of overcrowding and mold build up. Next biggest mistake was not planning in advance enough as that thinned row of zucchini was quickly decimated by some squash vine borers not long after
Every season is a new learning opportunity for all us gardeners Rob. You live and learn. :-)
Avoid F1 seeds if possible as to harvest seeds maybe pointless. Research as much as possible ways to get seeds from your veg plants. Keep in dry cool place. I use those little stay dry silica sachets that come with some electronic/ damp sensitive goods - to keep damp away from my seeds. A quick heating in a cooling oven drives away moisture so they can be used again.
Old plastic butter, meat trays etc make fantastic and durable plant pots don't forget some drainage holes though.
Cheap electric tube heaters are ideal to heat small greenhouses - don't forget to use an RCD though.
Old bubble wrap, polystyrene bags that come with deliveries make very good frost protection to put gently on top of seedings- with tube heater below the bags collect and store heat around the plants.
Happy digging!!
Wonderful tips - thanks so much for sharing them. :-)
What got me into gardening in one word: tomatoes. Store-bought are tasteless and the heirloom beauties at the local farmer's market are cost prohibitive. They're so easy to grow and I love strolling out to my yard and munching on some cherry tomatoes straight off the vine. Beyond that, I've had success with summer and winter squash and cucumbers various herbs. I'm going to try to start more plants from seed this year, rather than buying someone else's starts, and also experiment with new veggies .... maybe eggplants and cauliflower. Very exciting. Thanks for another great video, Ben.
Homegrown tomatoes are the best Elizabeth!
My depression only got worse when I realized I needed to apply for SSI. My sister tried a little bitty flower pot just for the process of it. It kinda hooked me in as well, seeing the leaves get bigger every day. Now I’m growing a jalapeño plant and the peppers are growing visibly bigger every day!!! I’m hooked. I want to grow garlic and parsley and some sweet peppers because we both love these. My mental health is improving now that I have something motivating me to get out of bed every day.
Gardening can be such a great healer - it's so good for you on so many levels. :)
2nd year with my raised bed garden and I enjoy most of all
One mistake I tell beginners to avoid is growing stuff you won’t actually eat. So many people grow marrows and the like because it’s sorta the done thing in the UK, but have no real intention of ever cooking with it. Same also applies with if you’re a family of four, don’t grow 10 tomato plants, it’s utterly pointless!
Sage words Luke.
I’m starting a new garden, been years since I’ve done one. Looking forward to grow from seedlings to getting the harvest. Trying new plants like spinach. 😊 what is your suggestion when growing for 1 person?
I would always be sure to grow zucchini/courgette, beans and salad leaves Liz.
I’m moving into a new home in a couple of weeks that has a lovely ample yard where I’ll be able to plant. Hope to make gardening a part of my self care routine and a wonderful way to keep moving regularly during a busy time in life. I’d love to include my 11 year old in my learning to garden and possibly have her become excited to learn as well.
I think you should definitely include your 11 year old on the journey - I think that's such a great thing to do and you'll teach her skills for life! :-)
You mentioned a slug & snail attack in this video... Could you make a video on how you deter the little buggers haha. I hate them, I've tried loads, from egg shells - chilli flakes!
Check out our video on them here: ua-cam.com/video/VJvUwkFZeOM/v-deo.html
For me it's really simple, I have quite a big garden and my wife and I are not particularly enthusiastic about maintenance. We decided that growing our own veggies might get us more willing to look after our garden. And, yes it sort of worked, the next step is choosing the veggies that we actually want to eat :)
That’s a great step forward there Jan!