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.
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 💖💖💖
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’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!
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.. 🤣
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.
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'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.
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'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 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.
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 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.
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.
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!
I have been planting things since I was 6 years old. I am near 77 now. I come from a long line of farmers centuries long. I have really enjoyed your videos and planner.
I'm new to gardening. My parents used to be big gardeners but they got too old for it. I've now inherited the house and it's my time to bring the garden back to life
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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 💞
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 !
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
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 :)
I've grown huge gardens most of my life. Now that I have to scale down and think of the basics, the hardy growers are a great reminder of where to spend my energy. Thanks for featuring your pup, he or she is so sweet! Ben, you always remind me why I love getting into the dirt. It's love
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.
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.
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!
I’ve been growing flowers & veg for 20 years now but when covid hit & we were locked down I out grew my garden growing so much food. This will be my first year growing on an allotment & I can’t wait. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeding. Such a joy to watch it grow. It really is a miracle. To be outside in nature using all our senses is a perfect day & the icing on the cake is when the garden decides dinner!!! No boring shopping chore just a lovely walk around the garden picking beautiful fresh wholesome produce for a rainbow 🌈 display on your plate. Unbeatable 🥰💚🌱🌺🥬🌸🥕🌽🥗
Gardening saved me, only for gardening i dont no how i would have gotten through a very difficult stage in my life, im on my second year and im loving it all so much, seen plants and veg in my garden getting stronger makes my heart burst with joy and like u said at the end just seen the seedings working or popping through makes it all feel worthwhile and your videos have helped me so much along the way thanks for the inspiration ❤
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.
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
I so needed to watch this video and read the comments about keeping it easy and manageable after having spent 2 hours looking through a seed catalogue and having moved from being so excited to feeling completely overwhelmed😅 I only recently retired and got an allotment to keep me on my toes but am totally new to vegetable growing other than some tomatoes on my patio. There's sooo much to learn. Thank you for your helpful and encouraging videos and the advice shared by fellow gardeners!
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.
7:39ish - I credit two gens of total & utter brainwashing, but especially my parents. My Da was home with me and working as a gardener (I used to go to work with him. He would put me down for naps in the wheelbarrow while he was working), and was the secretary of our local allotment association (we all ended up life members). I have early memories from being ~1 up on the allotment with Da, having to reach up to pick sprouts. My first ever Sunday job was carrying the sacks around & helping run the Allotment Association Store when some of the more senior members didn't have it in them to do the lifting any more.
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.
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.
Watched my Dad garden after he retired- it grew into 1/3 acre fenced (lots of deer, racoons, marmots etc in upstate NY)- he was always so proud of those cantaloupe! Now I work the soil carefully in the raised beds my son built for me 7 years ago- always look forward to learning something new on these videos- they never fail to provide something useful- even here in arid New Mexico.
Hi, I am gardening to grow to produce for our local Food Bank. This year we are building a shed, to store many items that have been donated from local businesses, like a small tiller, tools, store a first aid, fertilizers and growing pots as well as garden hoses, etc.
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!🙂
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?
I share seeds, seedlings and young plants with my neighbour. She sows and pots on tomatoes, squash, beans and cucumber and I do the salad greens and brassicas. We only need to buy half of the seeds and we also share bags of onion sets and seed potatoes to avoid waste. When one of us goes on holiday, the other takes care of their veggie plot while they are away. This year I've abandoned one of my beds to wild flowers. I'm excited to see what comes up!
I've been gardening for 50+ years but always thirsty to add knowledge to experience. I just recently discovered your videos, and I learn something new every time! Love them! Keep them coming!
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.
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
You and other gardening You Tubers have been such an inspiration! The cost of living in the US just keeps climbing, while our pay remains the same. I'm a young father of soon to be 2 children and I want them to be able to eat healthy. I want also want them to have the knowledge to be able to provide for themselves. Thank you for the education you are providing for me and my family. I am forever grateful!🙏
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!
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'm most excited to get my first ever veggies! This is my third year trying but I actually am doing research this time so my garden is thriving! Thank you for the advice! I decided to start gardening because I wanted to teach my 5 year old son where his food comes from and how to garden as well as save money and provide healthy food for my family.
I've been gardening since I was 4 yrs old. When I was 11, I was in 4 H Club and had a large garden. That year I harvested a ton of produce, so much my grandmother and I were able to can and freeze most of it for use that winter. Since my step-father's work was mostly outdoors, the cold winter months meant he often couldn't work. So imagine how proud I was that my garden produce meant we ate well all year. And it's been that ever since...eating well long after the growing season was done.
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.
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! :-)
I'm here just to learn, I live in a flat with no outdoor space at all but have successfully made my indoors a haven for houseplants. Just here to learn for the "one day" dream of having my own patch of land 🏡
I'm in the US and we live in a rural area. Our garden is not too large, but we get a good crop of beans, peas, tomatoes and the like every year. This past summer my husband built me a small green house and I am looking forward to using it to extend my growing season. We love the fresh produce in the summer/early fall and also canning our produce for gifts. We also have family we share with so that the fresh food doesn't go to waste. This year my goal is to add some berry bushes!
favorite part of gardening... all of it! Just set up our new gardens. I'm going big even though everything/everyone says to start small. I had some smaller gardens out in the Nevada desert that did pretty well, Now we're settled in Maryland where it actually rains and I am so excited to grow! Since this is year 1 of gardening here I'm not planning on getting much of a harvest. So anything we do get will be amazing. I figure its a year of set up and learning. This will also be the first year I've ever kept a gardening journal. Between missing gardening, and my pottery being on hold (need to get a kiln set up still), I've really missed having my hands in the mud! One of the things I did out in Nevada, was whenever I had onions start growing in the pantry, I would take them out and plop them into the garden. I was so surprised at how beautiful the flowers were on them! The first time was kind of an experiment, now its become a habit because they're gorgeous. oh, and this is the first time i've ever mixed flowers in with the vegetable garden. I've been using the planner and figured out what flowers help the veggies. I'm so excited!
That's really lovely to hear Beth. I think onion flowers (and carrot flowers too actually) are among the most attractive of any - and so good for the insects. :-)
New gardener here! I've got various chillies, onions and some broccoli growing that I've planted from seed. I've used a proper seed mix to grow them in, they've all been grown so far indoors. I got inspired to grow things because of a few impulse purchases last year of various chillies I picked up at reduced prices. Got loads of chillies from them. This year I've bought some more exotic chillies and grown them from seed. Last year I grew parsnips and courgettes from seed, both turned out to be rediculously successful. I built the planters myself from wood I reclaimed from old pallets from work. Four square metres total growing space plus a few pots. Did some work at an organic recycle centre recently and we get plant matter from garden centres and the odd pot which I collected so got loads of them now, all different sizes and for free together with a load of PAS100 compliant compost. I also got inspired into gardening as I had to rip out an existing hedge (new build area) that was dying due to the wrong hedge in heavy clay soil. I ripped them all out, mulched them, dug the ground up digging in bags of coarse sand and compost and planting a new hedge of lonicera natida which I grew entirely from cuttings from a relative's hedge. The hedge is thriving. It's safe to say I'm hooked! Just wondering when to transplant the onions and broccoli into different soil and whether they can go straight outdoors or whether they need to be hardened off first? I'm in Devon :)
Great to hear you're hooked already! The onions and broccoli can go out whenever they have filled their pots or plugs - they shouldn't need hardening off, but maybe put them outside for a few days at first, bringing them under cover at night, just to be on the safe side. Or transplant them in a mild week. The big issue may be wind more than cold - you don't want them to get clobbered by a gale when they are so young. I would plant them in different areas, but they will both grow in any nutrient-rich soil in a sunny position.
@@GrowVeg Thanks! I think the mornings can be a little cold still so I'll let them all grow a bit more in the trays. Might have to split the onions up a bit at some point though because they're a bit huddled close in each tray although I try and space the seeds out as much as possible. I bought one of those thermometers that stick to the outside of glass and put it outside my bedroom window. I'll move the onions and broccoli into my little plastic greenhouse that's strapped to the wall, they'll survive there plus it's a south facing garden so plenty of sun.
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 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.
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).
We have a very small garden but as there are only 2 of us we can be more or less self sufficient in fruit and veg for around half the year. Certainly the advice to grow fewer seeds at a time is something I wish that I had worked out years ago! Nowadays I limit sowings to reasonable amounts, I use small pots or trays rather than the standard sized seed trays that are so tempting to fill up. This year we are trying to organise a village seed swap in late February, then a small plant swap in April/May so that someone with too many tomato plants can perhaps swap with someone with too many courgette plants. This is a new idea for 2022 so hoping that it will be useful!
I started growing vegetables for the first time this year in my garden. I’ve decided to document it on my channel as well. I’ve always wanted to and finally moved into a house with a garden. I have watched so many of your videos and find your videos incredibly helpful! I must watch at least 2 a day! Thank you for your informative videos!
I am similar. I appreciate seeing the growth. I like knowing the seeds have woken up, but also flowering and other development is so exciting. I’m not seasoned in gardening so I enjoy the education. I mainly have learned about viticulture in school, but not all the other great vegetables. Thank you for encouraging us all. I hope everyone has a good harvest this year.
I originally took on an allotment because the local community was converting an agricultural field to allotments within the sight line of my house, and I thought allotments looked quite messy and ugly, so I decided it was a case of beating them or joining them! It's been good fun but the freakishly hot weather last year led to a massively reduced yield so by the end of the growing season we were a bit depressed about the low return on all our hard work. We are trying to be more optimistic this year.
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!
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’ve had a 20’x30’ community garden plot in Northern Virginia for 15 years and have made all sorts of mistakes and improvements on parallel tracks. It has all prompted a profound respect of farmers and appreciation of family farms. Personally, the 2020 growing season was heaven sent relief amid COVID. Being outside in sunshine and fresh air with healthy veggies and flowers did wonders for my head and soul. Labor of love work that made me feel “productive” again. With some back aches, of course. No pain, no gain. 😉 Good growing to all and sincere thanks to TS for sharing so much insight.
My biggest downfall is Spring Fever. When those days start getting longer and warmer, I just itch to get planting. Here in Nebraska I've pretty much had to learn to wait until Mother's Day, to be safe. That's something gardening has really taught me: PATIENCE.
Am first time gardener last year I mange to grow few things but hopping this year to grow spuds,carrots few more, I have some lovely spinach growing in green house. Also some garlic in raised bed. Also want to grow some companion plants. I enjoy being in the garden see all things come to life.. Our Sweetie will be keep a watchful eye too just like Rosie.
I had a small garden last year and had mixed success. I've spent the winter studying and learning so that as I expand this year maybe I will have some marginal success rather than mixed lol My favorite part is getting my hands in the dirt and unplugging my brain and just existing with nature.
I’m new to gardening, this will be year 3… and I’ll have a toddler AND a newborn helping this year ❤️. I’m motivated to garden by wanting to provide healthy food for my family, and also to be productive outside while learning great skills with my little ones.
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 took on my allotment plots when in 2020 my mum became too frail to manage it. Since work began again in 2021 I have accepted that I am unable to manage 15 rods and I'll be giving up 5 when I've cleared the spare plot. There are some really helpful tips on this- Ben is a wise man!
Last season I grew some lettuce. My conditions were not right, they grew slowly and were bitter. They went to seed, then I put them in the compost. Those volunteer seeds have been giving me a random supply of good lettuce through out the garden for the last 3 moths.
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.
I live in Denver CO and started gardening for the freshest and most nutritious ingredients to use in cooking. The return of investment is my top priority, as yard work is not my bliss, but cooking is. So far it is going well and I am looking forward to get next season started. We have a short growing season so may add a little greenhouse to lengthen the season a bit. I am enjoying and getting a lot from your videos.
oh yes - i have been gardening for more then 10 years and i still get excited when things start popping out of the dirt, makes me feel like i did it rignt
I'm in Australia and my interest in growing was revitalized by fruit trees that sprang from my compost/veggie garden area. I've since taken out all other trees from our front yard and planted the fruit trees in (mostly nectarine but I believe there is also apple, apricot and peach). I have since gone on to buy an apple tree, lemon, lime, gooseberry and a red grape vine from our local hardware store and am putting those in as well. I still need to work over our veggie patch but there are still zucchini coming up and snow peas are looking good... so once those die off I plan to go over it all, turn it all over and start putting mulch down over the top and then get ready to plant the next lot of veggies.
My dad is a gardener who learned on the job and he has been the inspiration for me over the years ! I have made a garden at home over the years using what I had as I’m on a low budget we created lots of wildlife water areas in our small plot . but mid season last year I was finally allocated an allotment a 4\4 rod plot so I’m starting to grow vegetables as I finally started to eat healthy also and the products in shops go bad so fast and cost a lot so I’m starting out trying my my hand at growing my own and just came across your channel I like how you explain and make it seem simple to understand as books can make it rather complicated
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.
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! :-)
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’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!
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!
If you have extra broccoli seeds, you can always sprout them and eat them as micro greens.
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. :-)
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'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.
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'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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 love being able to grow something then enjoy it in a dish I have cooked.
Respect to all Gardeners😄👍❤
Absolutely!
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.
I have been planting things since I was 6 years old. I am near 77 now. I come from a long line of farmers centuries long. I have really enjoyed your videos and planner.
Thanks for the kind comment Royce. It's great to have such a life-long love of gardening.
I'm new to gardening. My parents used to be big gardeners but they got too old for it. I've now inherited the house and it's my time to bring the garden back to life
Wonderful - it will be great to reinvigorate the garden Tony - best of luck with it.
I love to garden. It calms my nerves, gives me fresh air and I know what we are eating at our house
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.
Gardening is so therapeutic and relaxing
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.
It has taken years to build up the soil in my gardens, but we're getting there! What a great learning process!
Brill..can't wait til new season really gets under way !
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.
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.
"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.
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. :)
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. :-)
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 💞
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. :-)
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! :-)
I love the beauty that can be cultivated in a garden! I want a garden that is as beautiful as it is practical.
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.
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!
I've grown huge gardens most of my life. Now that I have to scale down and think of the basics, the hardy growers are a great reminder of where to spend my energy.
Thanks for featuring your pup, he or she is so sweet! Ben, you always remind me why I love getting into the dirt. It's love
That's so lovely to hear, thank you. Rosie says 'woof' (hello!) too.
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.
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.
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!
I’ve been growing flowers & veg for 20 years now but when covid hit & we were locked down I out grew my garden growing so much food.
This will be my first year growing on an allotment & I can’t wait. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeding. Such a joy to watch it grow. It really is a miracle.
To be outside in nature using all our senses is a perfect day & the icing on the cake is when the garden decides dinner!!!
No boring shopping chore just a lovely walk around the garden picking beautiful fresh wholesome produce for a rainbow 🌈 display on your plate. Unbeatable 🥰💚🌱🌺🥬🌸🥕🌽🥗
That's the way to do it! :-)
Gardening saved me, only for gardening i dont no how i would have gotten through a very difficult stage in my life, im on my second year and im loving it all so much, seen plants and veg in my garden getting stronger makes my heart burst with joy and like u said at the end just seen the seedings working or popping through makes it all feel worthwhile and your videos have helped me so much along the way thanks for the inspiration ❤
I'm so pleased to hear this. Gardening can be a great healer and so powerful in so many ways. :-)
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.
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.
I so needed to watch this video and read the comments about keeping it easy and manageable after having spent 2 hours looking through a seed catalogue and having moved from being so excited to feeling completely overwhelmed😅 I only recently retired and got an allotment to keep me on my toes but am totally new to vegetable growing other than some tomatoes on my patio. There's sooo much to learn. Thank you for your helpful and encouraging videos and the advice shared by fellow gardeners!
Definitely take it one step at a time - there's no sense in making a rod for your back and creating extra stress!
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! :-)
7:39ish - I credit two gens of total & utter brainwashing, but especially my parents. My Da was home with me and working as a gardener (I used to go to work with him. He would put me down for naps in the wheelbarrow while he was working), and was the secretary of our local allotment association (we all ended up life members). I have early memories from being ~1 up on the allotment with Da, having to reach up to pick sprouts. My first ever Sunday job was carrying the sacks around & helping run the Allotment Association Store when some of the more senior members didn't have it in them to do the lifting any more.
What a fantastic early experience.
@@GrowVeg it was just the best!
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.
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!
Watched my Dad garden after he retired- it grew into 1/3 acre fenced (lots of deer, racoons, marmots etc in upstate NY)- he was always so proud of those cantaloupe! Now I work the soil carefully in the raised beds my son built for me 7 years ago- always look forward to learning something new on these videos- they never fail to provide something useful- even here in arid New Mexico.
That great to hear!
Hi, I am gardening to grow to produce for our local Food Bank. This year we are building a shed, to store many items that have been donated from local businesses, like a small tiller, tools, store a first aid, fertilizers and growing pots as well as garden hoses, etc.
What a fantastic thing to do. I hope you have a very productive season. :-)
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!
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!
I share seeds, seedlings and young plants with my neighbour. She sows and pots on tomatoes, squash, beans and cucumber and I do the salad greens and brassicas. We only need to buy half of the seeds and we also share bags of onion sets and seed potatoes to avoid waste. When one of us goes on holiday, the other takes care of their veggie plot while they are away. This year I've abandoned one of my beds to wild flowers. I'm excited to see what comes up!
That is the best way to do things - it makes so much sense to pool resources like that.
I've been gardening for 50+ years but always thirsty to add knowledge to experience. I just recently discovered your videos, and I learn something new every time! Love them! Keep them coming!
We are always learning Theresa.
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.
It’s therapeutic to work in the vegetable garden. Thanks! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼✅
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!
You and other gardening You Tubers have been such an inspiration! The cost of living in the US just keeps climbing, while our pay remains the same. I'm a young father of soon to be 2 children and I want them to be able to eat healthy. I want also want them to have the knowledge to be able to provide for themselves. Thank you for the education you are providing for me and my family. I am forever grateful!🙏
It is a pleasure and a big responsibility to be able to share this knowledge at this difficult time. Growing our own empowers us.
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.
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.
I'm most excited to get my first ever veggies! This is my third year trying but I actually am doing research this time so my garden is thriving! Thank you for the advice! I decided to start gardening because I wanted to teach my 5 year old son where his food comes from and how to garden as well as save money and provide healthy food for my family.
This will be a wonderful lesson for your five year old - what a great way to educate him. :-)
I've been gardening since I was 4 yrs old. When I was 11, I was in 4 H Club and had a large garden. That year I harvested a ton of produce, so much my grandmother and I were able to can and freeze most of it for use that winter. Since my step-father's work was mostly outdoors, the cold winter months meant he often couldn't work. So imagine how proud I was that my garden produce meant we ate well all year. And it's been that ever since...eating well long after the growing season was done.
What a fantastic start you had Janice - it's given you skills for life - tasty ones!
Thank you for the tips😊 I'm from the Philippines I love gardening too
Thanks for watching Janie.
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.
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! :-)
Really good 👍 I am growing vegetables quite a few years and every time you feel so pleased with the harvest!
So true!
It's a worthwhile exercise
I'm here just to learn, I live in a flat with no outdoor space at all but have successfully made my indoors a haven for houseplants. Just here to learn for the "one day" dream of having my own patch of land 🏡
I hope you get that patch of land some day Erin. :-)
I'm in the US and we live in a rural area. Our garden is not too large, but we get a good crop of beans, peas, tomatoes and the like every year. This past summer my husband built me a small green house and I am looking forward to using it to extend my growing season. We love the fresh produce in the summer/early fall and also canning our produce for gifts. We also have family we share with so that the fresh food doesn't go to waste. This year my goal is to add some berry bushes!
favorite part of gardening... all of it! Just set up our new gardens. I'm going big even though everything/everyone says to start small. I had some smaller gardens out in the Nevada desert that did pretty well, Now we're settled in Maryland where it actually rains and I am so excited to grow! Since this is year 1 of gardening here I'm not planning on getting much of a harvest. So anything we do get will be amazing. I figure its a year of set up and learning. This will also be the first year I've ever kept a gardening journal. Between missing gardening, and my pottery being on hold (need to get a kiln set up still), I've really missed having my hands in the mud!
One of the things I did out in Nevada, was whenever I had onions start growing in the pantry, I would take them out and plop them into the garden. I was so surprised at how beautiful the flowers were on them! The first time was kind of an experiment, now its become a habit because they're gorgeous.
oh, and this is the first time i've ever mixed flowers in with the vegetable garden. I've been using the planner and figured out what flowers help the veggies. I'm so excited!
That's really lovely to hear Beth. I think onion flowers (and carrot flowers too actually) are among the most attractive of any - and so good for the insects. :-)
@@GrowVeg I'll have to let some carrots go so I can see their flowers!
New gardener here!
I've got various chillies, onions and some broccoli growing that I've planted from seed. I've used a proper seed mix to grow them in, they've all been grown so far indoors.
I got inspired to grow things because of a few impulse purchases last year of various chillies I picked up at reduced prices. Got loads of chillies from them. This year I've bought some more exotic chillies and grown them from seed. Last year I grew parsnips and courgettes from seed, both turned out to be rediculously successful. I built the planters myself from wood I reclaimed from old pallets from work. Four square metres total growing space plus a few pots. Did some work at an organic recycle centre recently and we get plant matter from garden centres and the odd pot which I collected so got loads of them now, all different sizes and for free together with a load of PAS100 compliant compost.
I also got inspired into gardening as I had to rip out an existing hedge (new build area) that was dying due to the wrong hedge in heavy clay soil. I ripped them all out, mulched them, dug the ground up digging in bags of coarse sand and compost and planting a new hedge of lonicera natida which I grew entirely from cuttings from a relative's hedge. The hedge is thriving.
It's safe to say I'm hooked!
Just wondering when to transplant the onions and broccoli into different soil and whether they can go straight outdoors or whether they need to be hardened off first?
I'm in Devon :)
Great to hear you're hooked already! The onions and broccoli can go out whenever they have filled their pots or plugs - they shouldn't need hardening off, but maybe put them outside for a few days at first, bringing them under cover at night, just to be on the safe side. Or transplant them in a mild week. The big issue may be wind more than cold - you don't want them to get clobbered by a gale when they are so young. I would plant them in different areas, but they will both grow in any nutrient-rich soil in a sunny position.
@@GrowVeg Thanks! I think the mornings can be a little cold still so I'll let them all grow a bit more in the trays. Might have to split the onions up a bit at some point though because they're a bit huddled close in each tray although I try and space the seeds out as much as possible. I bought one of those thermometers that stick to the outside of glass and put it outside my bedroom window. I'll move the onions and broccoli into my little plastic greenhouse that's strapped to the wall, they'll survive there plus it's a south facing garden so plenty of sun.
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!
An excellent video and good advice to avoid these 5 gardening mistakes. Keep safe, warm, well and happy gardening.
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.
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!
We have a very small garden but as there are only 2 of us we can be more or less self sufficient in fruit and veg for around half the year. Certainly the advice to grow fewer seeds at a time is something I wish that I had worked out years ago! Nowadays I limit sowings to reasonable amounts, I use small pots or trays rather than the standard sized seed trays that are so tempting to fill up.
This year we are trying to organise a village seed swap in late February, then a small plant swap in April/May so that someone with too many tomato plants can perhaps swap with someone with too many courgette plants. This is a new idea for 2022 so hoping that it will be useful!
I hope the seed and plant swaps go successfully - that's a great idea.
I started growing vegetables for the first time this year in my garden. I’ve decided to document it on my channel as well. I’ve always wanted to and finally moved into a house with a garden. I have watched so many of your videos and find your videos incredibly helpful! I must watch at least 2 a day! Thank you for your informative videos!
You're very welcome - and very best of luck with your new garden! :-)
2nd year with my raised bed garden and I enjoy most of all
I am similar. I appreciate seeing the growth. I like knowing the seeds have woken up, but also flowering and other development is so exciting. I’m not seasoned in gardening so I enjoy the education. I mainly have learned about viticulture in school, but not all the other great vegetables. Thank you for encouraging us all. I hope everyone has a good harvest this year.
Thanks Annalisa. I hope you enjoy a great harvest too.
I originally took on an allotment because the local community was converting an agricultural field to allotments within the sight line of my house, and I thought allotments looked quite messy and ugly, so I decided it was a case of beating them or joining them! It's been good fun but the freakishly hot weather last year led to a massively reduced yield so by the end of the growing season we were a bit depressed about the low return on all our hard work. We are trying to be more optimistic this year.
Hopefully this summer will be a little more 'normal'.
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! :-)
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’ve had a 20’x30’ community garden plot in Northern Virginia for 15 years and have made all sorts of mistakes and improvements on parallel tracks. It has all prompted a profound respect of farmers and appreciation of family farms. Personally, the 2020 growing season was heaven sent relief amid COVID. Being outside in sunshine and fresh air with healthy veggies and flowers did wonders for my head and soul. Labor of love work that made me feel “productive” again. With some back aches, of course. No pain, no gain. 😉 Good growing to all and sincere thanks to TS for sharing so much insight.
It's the ultimate therapy Chris, it really is.
My biggest downfall is Spring Fever. When those days start getting longer and warmer, I just itch to get planting. Here in Nebraska I've pretty much had to learn to wait until Mother's Day, to be safe. That's something gardening has really taught me: PATIENCE.
Am first time gardener last year I mange to grow few things but hopping this year to grow spuds,carrots few more, I have some lovely spinach growing in green house. Also some garlic in raised bed. Also want to grow some companion plants. I enjoy being in the garden see all things come to life.. Our Sweetie will be keep a watchful eye too just like Rosie.
Glad you have a companion to keep an eye on things too Ami.
I had a small garden last year and had mixed success. I've spent the winter studying and learning so that as I expand this year maybe I will have some marginal success rather than mixed lol
My favorite part is getting my hands in the dirt and unplugging my brain and just existing with nature.
I’m new to gardening, this will be year 3… and I’ll have a toddler AND a newborn helping this year ❤️. I’m motivated to garden by wanting to provide healthy food for my family, and also to be productive outside while learning great skills with my little ones.
That's a great reason to start a garden. :-)
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 took on my allotment plots when in 2020 my mum became too frail to manage it. Since work began again in 2021 I have accepted that I am unable to manage 15 rods and I'll be giving up 5 when I've cleared the spare plot.
There are some really helpful tips on this- Ben is a wise man!
Cheers Matilda!
Last season I grew some lettuce. My conditions were not right, they grew slowly and were bitter.
They went to seed, then I put them in the compost.
Those volunteer seeds have been giving me a random supply of good lettuce through out the garden for the last 3 moths.
Sometimes the volunteers give the best results!
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!
I live in Denver CO and started gardening for the freshest and most nutritious ingredients to use in cooking. The return of investment is my top priority, as yard work is not my bliss, but cooking is. So far it is going well and I am looking forward to get next season started. We have a short growing season so may add a little greenhouse to lengthen the season a bit. I am enjoying and getting a lot from your videos.
That's really wonderful to hear. Such a good move to grow some food for freshness - it makes a real difference.
Thank you much for sharing your garden ideas especially planting carrots,watching from the Philippines
oh yes - i have been gardening for more then 10 years and i still get excited when things start popping out of the dirt, makes me feel like i did it rignt
Absolutely - one of the most satisfying experiences as a gardener. :-)
I'm in Australia and my interest in growing was revitalized by fruit trees that sprang from my compost/veggie garden area. I've since taken out all other trees from our front yard and planted the fruit trees in (mostly nectarine but I believe there is also apple, apricot and peach). I have since gone on to buy an apple tree, lemon, lime, gooseberry and a red grape vine from our local hardware store and am putting those in as well.
I still need to work over our veggie patch but there are still zucchini coming up and snow peas are looking good... so once those die off I plan to go over it all, turn it all over and start putting mulch down over the top and then get ready to plant the next lot of veggies.
Sounds like you're making super plans Christopher. Best of luck with it all. :-)
My dad is a gardener who learned on the job and he has been the inspiration for me over the years ! I have made a garden at home over the years using what I had as I’m on a low budget we created lots of wildlife water areas in our small plot . but mid season last year I was finally allocated an allotment a 4\4 rod plot so I’m starting to grow vegetables as I finally started to eat healthy also and the products in shops go bad so fast and cost a lot so I’m starting out trying my my hand at growing my own and just came across your channel I like how you explain and make it seem simple to understand as books can make it rather complicated
So pleased you're enjoying the videos Stacey. Good luck with your new allotment - what a fantastic project!
Second growing season in new house with a garden. Looking to build on what I learnt last year....