I like watermelon. Grew up with them. We were all little country farm kids. We sat out under the shade trees at the homemade picnic bench and ate without utensils. Mom would chill it in the refrigerator, cut it up into chunks, and we just grabbed a piece out of the big plastic bowl and ate. We were required to clean up our sticky, messy selves with the water hose before coming indoors. It was unbelievably delicious and fun to eat. I love the memory.
Hollis I starting watching you a year and a half ago. My wife and I moved from Alaska to the eastern shore of Maryland. I spent that whole year planning my starter dream garden. I am almost done building and just like you I dream. Big and over the top. You are the inspiration that drove me to help feed my family and a lot of neighbors I went big for year 1:-) thanks my friend.
You are just amazing, so well planned, systematic, detail, and beautifully done in all the projects. Really impressive and you did it very gracefully. God bless, you really bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in honoring God at each of your video to give thanks to God.
Thank you Hollis and Nancy, God bless you for all the effort you're putting into educating all of us. We just want to tell you that we really appreciate what you're doing. We love you! Have a nice week ahead!
My first vehicle was a truck my dad got for me to drive. We found out that leaves was real good for the garden so I would rake leaves for people and take them home and put in the garden. I would also stop by houses where people had raked up their leaves and ask if I could get them. Nearly everyone said ok, saved them from going to the landfill. Boy did we really get some leaves then. Even put pine needles in to keep the soil from becoming to alkaline. We had what we call sugar sand in the garden area. After a couple years it got darker and everything grew so much better.
Thank youuuuuuuuuu for posting this! my child will try to eat us out of house and homes when it comes to buying watermelons! May God continue to bless you two and all that your house does hold!
if Hollis says there will be watermelon you can bet there will be watermelon.Hollis & Nancy, I truly thank you folks for hard work knowledge and care of your brothers&sisters.God bless you both and stay safe. 6 feet
Hollis thank you for sharing all your knoledge its alot of work growing all that food Thank you and nancy both for all you do May your crops be blessed
On a hot summer day, aint nothin better than Watermelonsycles !! Slice it about an inch or so thick, cut in quarters, stand rind end down on a cookie sheet in the freezer. OOOOOOOOOHH! This video reminded me of that from when I was a kid. Thanks for that, and, COMEON SUUUUUMMMMMEEEEEEERR Be safe and well Mark
I live in a Condo in Indianapolis. I don’t have much room for planting. I really like your videos with your homestead! I really like your Christian prayers and this ending the videos! I just really appreciate your work!
Looks like yall moved! no more "urban" living...love yalls channel and have been sharing it with anyone who has even an inkling in growing food...thank you for all yall do
Brother Hollis you and Nancy are a blessing to me and many other people. I have learned so much from you over the years and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I wish you and Nancy a long life and enjoy it to the fullest
Hollis and Nancy! I have watched all of your gardening videos when y’all were back in Virginia, inspired me to start my own. I read a scripture and wondered if y’all do the same. Proverbs 3:9 “ Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; then your barns will be completely filled.” May God bless you.
I just found your videos. I'm a beginner doing alot of research right now. I feel very blessed to have found you guys on you tube. God bless you for this info.
Hello Hollis. I really admire what you are doing. I enjoy and learn from your videos. I have a nice but small garden in the back of my house. I live in Wimauma, FL
I wish everyone would follow your example. If everyone had a small garden in their backyard what a difference that would make during times such as these
Wow! I am impressed. You are going to have a whole bunch of watermelon. 🍉 I hope you plant some yellow ones. They are so sweet. God Bless you both and Bing Bing! Stay well and safe. 😊
By the way, congratulations on reaching 300,000 followers! Quite the accomplishment! Proof that your videos and content are amazing and well liked! God is great!
I watch 99% of your videos, but I somehow missed this one! We have a single watermelon plant in our little garden and I'm now learning that there are some things I need to adjust. Thank you for another very helpful video!
Your drawings are beautiful. I rewatched the video... you anchor your posts with just sand? I like this insulation included in the video too. We're on fill, and our yard is crazy full of gophers, so if something goes into the ground, it's in a chicken wire cage with a layer of weed block all over the inside of the basket, Kellogg's Gro-Mulch at the bottom and mixed top soil, Gro-Mulch and chicken manure (because it smells better than the other). I really like your use of fish as fertilizer, especially with the Ag lime. Last year I had great success placing the watermelon start early in the middle of my raised bed garden so that the roots were shaded but the plant had time to send out vines up and over the 2' high raise bed wall, and over the side to spread across the ground level. That way the plant was consistently moist, well drained and the vines were in the sun. I got 3-4 large melons on two vines for each of the two crimson sweets I planted. I really didn't understand why it worked until I saw this video! Thank you!
Hi guys. I'm wondering if it would be easier to mulch and collect your leaves in a lawnmower bag attachment? Would it make for less manual work, and then decompose easier?
I really admire your videos, will you ever talk about how you chose this location and costs associated with this massive project? Just ballpark figures. Thanks
We chose this location to be near family. All our family lives near us now. We wanted a rural homestead for the peace and quiet with lots of land. We saved and did without for many years to be able to purchase our homestead. We are building it with our savings, UA-cam earnings and donations from our loving subscribers. It is taking us longer than we expected but we will keep on grinding away. Getting older now and just don’t have the strength we once had. As far as ballpark figures we feel that is too personal to share on the internet but we will say, it always cost more than you expected so take it slow. ❤️
We sure hope so. The chickens can eat 1 or 2 a week with ease. We go through a couple a week ourselves. We also plan to share with family and friends. None will go to waste❤️
WILL YOU BE DOING A VIDEO ON YOUR GARDEN FENCE? We are having a terrible time with deer in the garden and orchard. We don't live that far from you, so we have the same kind of soil (sand)--thank you for the informational videos!!
Why don't you plant some cover crops and till those in? Lots of types depending on what you need. Great info, can't wait to see it full of Juicy Melons. Looking forward to all your growing tips.
You guys are Floridians . I’m from Florida as well born and raised. Thank you for another great video. I bought watermelon seeds yesterday so this is very helpful information. 💕👍🏾
@Cathy Blasco I said this is a video on how to prepare your watermelon patch and that I will be doing a separate video on how to grow watermelon. It will cover all the ins and outs of growing watermelon from seed to harvest ❤️
I miss your container garden how to's. I need to know how to grow watermelon in a large Sterlite storage container. I too live in Florida but with a small yard.
Ive been watching yall for a long time and im pretty sure when you moved to florida you moved about 30 min away from me. if you ever need or would like for me to tiller some ground for you id be glad to ive got a nice tractor and roto tiller. just let me know.
I realize you are well on top of growing watermelons, my question is, why are you not using drip irrigation. I am not associated with Hoss Tools but they have an excellent drip tape system that would greatly simplify your gardening operation and save tons of water.
Probably in trouble, mine is twice as thick planted My grandpa taught me to bury a coffee can about 3" away to hold water and chicken poop a small nail hole in it so when full of water daily it slowly soaking the mellons. That's a old Kentucky hills way and I still do it.
Oh my goodness you need some spray sunblock next to ya all through the day, your poor arms look soo dark and it's only spring.. ouch I got my first sun burn of the season yesterday working out in the sun... it's a friendly reminder sunblock is just as important to protect our skin from cancer as that nutrient organic food were all growing to feed ourselves is! Yall stay safe ;) I just love how this video came together by the way! Were going to try our hand at watermelon on a trellis in the back yard. We got the branches all collected to try and make one for ourselves. Great video progression as always ;)
Hollis, I live in fl and I was wondering, I don't have a greenhouse but I have a screened enclosure in my backyard. I also have a potting table. do you think I could start some veggies from seed out there and have any success? My plan would be to transfer them to contaniers and be able to get a decent harvest?
Looks great. I live in Kenner and collect grass clippings from my neighbors for the chicken yard for 3 months then rake up 10, 5 gallon buckets for the garden. I used over half for my potato patch where I have 16 potato plants. I will continue to muck out the chicken yard and mulch those potatoes. It is hard work for an old 70+ lady. For the last year I have had verdigo and last Summer thought that I would have to give up gardening but discovered the 30 inch placement of steel post down the middle gives the old gal something to hang onto. #PressOnRegardless. Jesus knows.
Hollis, are you going to fence that patch? Or is your whole property fenced? Or do you have another way of keeping deer, rabbits, and any other critters from the patch? Also, can I only improve the hole I'm planting the watermelons in or do the vines develop roots that need soil underneath? And why did you cover the pipes with that black foam sleeve? Thanks!
The black foam sleeve is insulation sleeve. It does get cold enough here in Florida to freeze during the winter and if you have water in the pipes they can crack so always good to insulate above Ground risers like that.
@@FarmerJohn1957 Thanks. Moved to this area late last year and even though we had some frosty nights I didn't think we needed to insulate pipes. Will keep it mind. Thanks again 😊
Hi. Great video on really setting up a large garden patch. What type of feed n watering system do you have for your chickens? Do you let your chickens naturally hatch their chicks or do you incubate? Peace to you and yours
Hollis, how do you keep the underground critters from getting to you plants? We have voles, moles and maybe gophers. Here in Va we just had a freeze for the last few days and there's tunnels running everywhere once the ice and snow melted today. Do you have those dastardly varmints in Florida? Ty for your great video's ... as you can see I'm doing some bingeing ;)
I am in Tampa Bay, I enjoy the videos. Since we in the same states anything you can do, I can do. I like that. I am going to soon harvest my first bucket of potatoes. Will let you know how they came out. Thanks for the help Hollis and Nancy
I only watered every so often once or twice a week. I felt it was important for the plant roots to search out for the water, that it would make for a hardy plant the following year. Needles to say I grew a 29 lbs watermelon and I live 50 miles from Yellowstone National Park...
@@HollisNancysHomestead I'm impressed you can grow anything at all in that sand. I'd get or make loads of compost, order peat and manure in bulk, and do raised beds with proper soil. That sand seems pretty hopeless.
What part of Florida are yall in? I am in central Florida just north of Tampa and feel your pain with our soil. Prep, amend, and repeat seems to be the struggle. lol. Welcome to the Sunshine State
That soil though, straight sand good luck my friends. If you get watermelons out of that in the end my hats off to you. Thats basically an inert medium, no nutrients lol.
Upside or downside to an overhead sprinkler for watering my plants in 5 gallon and 20 gallon containers and 2 small raised beds? I hear talk that watering and getting water in leaves is bad, what’s difference in that and rain? Thoughts
I water in the early morning so the water can evaporate and be absorbed by the soil and the plants. Do not water in mid day to avoid sunburn. Do not water in the afternoon or the plants and soil sit wet overnight
Hollis & Nancy's Homestead thanks Hollis, I am in NC so if I was to use a overhead sprinkler instead of drip irrigation say about 4:30-5:00am would that hurt my veggies at all, I see so much on Facebook groups about not getting the leaves wet and never use a sprinkler
Hollis & Nancy's Homestead thanks, I will send you a picture of my set up as it is now via Facebook page , you have been a big inspiration... still got one more container grow table to build for my okra when it’s time to plant that in the next week or so
I love 💗 the videos!!! I’m working in my urban garden in SC and I’m learning so many things from y’all! I love watermelon 🍉, not a fan of watermelon candy, but of the real thing! Crazy question, last summer, I tried to grow a small watermelon in a raised bed and use a tomato cage to support the vines. I failed but now I understand from the video that you need at lease 25 ft per melon. Do you know if it’s possible to grow melons and trellis the vines? Have a blessed day as well! 🙂
You can trellis them but it takes some care. You will have to tie the vines to the trellis as they want to run not climb. You will have to support the melons on the trellis or they will break off under their own weight. I will do a trellis video for watermelons after I get the trellis garden up and running for ya but it will take me a while. ❤️
There MUST be a way to grow them vertically. Maybe a big post (4"x4") with shelves for each watermelon as they grow? I may have to try that!! 25 square feet is too much!
I use 4'x16' cattle panels 2 per bed do an arch from my 5'x10' raised beds they are 3 'apart so one panel from bed to bed over path between the two. Plant melons on each side and train them to grow up and over arch from both sides once melons get about 2 or 3 pounds I tie cloth netting to panels to cradle melons does amazing and looks beautiful. Only been doing sugar baby this year gonna try Charleston Grey huge melons and see how it does. I also do this with Cucumber and pole Green beans saves space and provides shade cooler crops like Collards,kale,spinach that I grow at the back of path in containers under arch so I have the main part of the beds the edges where the cattle panels start and arch over the path way to the next bed plus the containers at the back of arch. So alot of stuff in smaller space. Saves on water,My back and Time. My 2 cents I grow more in this space than I did in 30'x50' back garden doing old school ways.
Just curious, with the acreage you have and the large garden you do, why not invest in a compact or even a subcompact tractor? It would surely save you some time and wear and tear on the body. Even a used one would be fine. I know they can be pricey, but we have just under an acre and I'm considering one with 4wd, a front-end loader and a belly mower. I landscaped with 1.2 tons of river rock a year ago and decided a front-end loader would be a welcome addition, not to mention all the mulch I've carried.
Hi Nancy and Hollis Can you please tell us the EXACT NAME or NUMBER of the SPRINKLE HEAD ? Really enjoying your very informative video as always. Thank you, and God bless you.
Thank you so much for answering so quickly. I’ve been watching your channel on raised beds I did two 4 x 16 beds and they look really good. Thank you for all the great information.
I like watermelon. Grew up with them. We were all little country farm kids. We sat out under the shade trees at the homemade picnic bench and ate without utensils. Mom would chill it in the refrigerator, cut it up into chunks, and we just grabbed a piece out of the big plastic bowl and ate. We were required to clean up our sticky, messy selves with the water hose before coming indoors. It was unbelievably delicious and fun to eat. I love the memory.
I’ve watched you and Nancy for years. I’m grateful for you and people like you that share your invaluable knowledge. God Bless from Texas! 💜
One of my favorite parts of your videos is when Hollis breaks out his notebook!
Hollis I starting watching you a year and a half ago. My wife and I moved from Alaska to the eastern shore of Maryland. I spent that whole year planning my starter dream garden. I am almost done building and just like you I dream. Big and over the top. You are the inspiration that drove me to help feed my family and a lot of neighbors I went big for year 1:-) thanks my friend.
Tilling in my water melon patches today.. 5 x25 and a 4 x12 canopy trellis for my cantelope..I'll remember the line and fish ;-)
That is awesome!
You are just amazing, so well planned, systematic, detail, and beautifully done in all the projects. Really impressive and you did it very gracefully. God bless, you really bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in honoring God at each of your video to give thanks to God.
Thank you so much! God is God of excellence we try our best!
Thank you Hollis and Nancy, God bless you for all the effort you're putting into educating all of us. We just want to tell you that we really appreciate what you're doing. We love you! Have a nice week ahead!
VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!! Hollis you are so talented, your builds are amazing!❤️y’all
Thank you for your kind words ❤️
I love the patience you have in making your videos. It's so fun to.see the changes and time passed in one video and not three or four installments.
We try our best to capture the process in one segment unless each segment it too long. ❤️
My first vehicle was a truck my dad got for me to drive. We found out that leaves was real good for the garden so I would rake leaves for people and take them home and put in the garden. I would also stop by houses where people had raked up their leaves and ask if I could get them. Nearly everyone said ok, saved them from going to the landfill. Boy did we really get some leaves then. Even put pine needles in to keep the soil from becoming to alkaline. We had what we call sugar sand in the garden area. After a couple years it got darker and everything grew so much better.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for all the hard work of shooting/organizing/arranging all this video. Impressive!
Our pleasure!
Keep it up,your prayer let me think of my grandpa 1956, greetings from South Africa
Thank youuuuuuuuuu for posting this! my child will try to eat us out of house and homes when it comes to buying watermelons! May God continue to bless you two and all that your house does hold!
if Hollis says there will be watermelon you can bet there will be watermelon.Hollis & Nancy, I truly thank you folks for hard work knowledge and care of your brothers&sisters.God bless you both and stay safe. 6 feet
Our pleasure! Have a blessed day!
I can’t wait to see your all’s yield! Your irrigation coverage is phenomenal, Thx for the info and God Bless!
Hollis thank you for sharing all your knoledge its alot of work growing all that food
Thank you and nancy both for all you do
May your crops be blessed
On a hot summer day, aint nothin better than Watermelonsycles !! Slice it about an inch or so thick, cut in quarters, stand rind end down on a cookie sheet in the freezer. OOOOOOOOOHH!
This video reminded me of that from when I was a kid.
Thanks for that, and, COMEON SUUUUUMMMMMEEEEEEERR
Be safe and well
Mark
Can't wait to see your garden in the spring! Stay safe and may the good Lord watch over you and Nancy.
Same to you! Blessings
Grew big patch once,over 100 plants and I absolutely loved it,so did bees, and I also grew a 75 lb Crimson Sweet with Dbl vine!
You and I have something in common...you work in the garden with your Bing Bing and I work in the garden with my Berber...❤️👍
❤️🐶❤️
So much love going into that watermelon patch!
The MOST AWESOME videos on youtube!!!
Thank you so much, Hollis & Nancy!!!
❤❤❤
I live in a Condo in Indianapolis. I don’t have much room for planting. I really like your videos with your homestead! I really like your Christian prayers and this ending the videos! I just really appreciate your work!
Looks like yall moved! no more "urban" living...love yalls channel and have been sharing it with anyone who has even an inkling in growing food...thank you for all yall do
Yes! Thank you! Blessings
i m be watching all your vidios all the time i can"t wait to see your vegetable garden...god bless you all
Brother Hollis you and Nancy are a blessing to me and many other people. I have learned so much from you over the years and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I wish you and Nancy a long life and enjoy it to the fullest
I love your videos. Nancy you are a beautiful talented soul. Hollis thank you for your wealth of knowledge
You are so welcome, we feel blessed to be able to do this!
Hollis and Nancy! I have watched all of your gardening videos when y’all were back in Virginia, inspired me to start my own. I read a scripture and wondered if y’all do the same. Proverbs 3:9 “ Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; then your barns will be completely filled.” May God bless you.
We do the same
Bless y’all, I’m learning so much watching your videos. Especially Nancy’s fermentation techniques 👍
Thanks so much
I just found your videos. I'm a beginner doing alot of research right now. I feel very blessed to have found you guys on you tube. God bless you for this info.
I am happy you discovered the joy and peace of gardening 😇
You have done a great job putting in that water system! Very smart!
Hello Hollis. I really admire what you are doing. I enjoy and learn from your videos. I have a nice but small garden in the back of my house. I live in Wimauma, FL
I wish everyone would follow your example. If everyone had a small garden in their backyard what a difference that would make during times such as these
Awesome! Cant wait to see all your hard work come to fruition this year!
All ears and eyes..Lol. Thank you!! This is my number two favorite fruit, behind peaches.
We love watermelon 🍉🍉🍉🍉
I don't like watermelon, but family and friends do so I'm giving it a shot!
They will certainly thank you!🍉🍉🍉
the homestead is coming along very nicely!! can't wait to see what's next. Stay safe you two! God bless!
Wow! I am impressed. You are going to have a whole bunch of watermelon. 🍉
I hope you plant some yellow ones. They are so sweet. God Bless you both and Bing Bing! Stay well and safe. 😊
I found your channel looking for garden info. I've watched all your old videos and didn't even realize that you guys had moved! Congratulations 🎉❣️
watermelon sounds great I am going to grow some this summer I can't wait
Beautiful video. You work so hard. Can’t wait for the watermelon patch...
Greetings! I love watermelon too! Thanks for your help! Happy growing!
Thank you for the info. Stay safe and have a blessed day
By the way, congratulations on reaching 300,000 followers! Quite the accomplishment! Proof that your videos and content are amazing and well liked! God is great!
Thank you so much!
LOL, Hollis knows I need a picture....God love him.
LOL
Amazing videos, thank you for the consistently great information.
wow that's amazing, i love how everything is turning out, both of you are amazing persons, thank you for all the knowledge you share❤
Our pleasure!
300 K subs and counting! Yay!!
Hard work, thank you for sharing.
You have a gorgeous property and setup!!!!!!!!
I watch 99% of your videos, but I somehow missed this one! We have a single watermelon plant in our little garden and I'm now learning that there are some things I need to adjust. Thank you for another very helpful video!
Looking forward to seeing the watermelon.
I love your videos!!! awesome music too..
Thanks so much!
Your drawings are beautiful. I rewatched the video... you anchor your posts with just sand? I like this insulation included in the video too. We're on fill, and our yard is crazy full of gophers, so if something goes into the ground, it's in a chicken wire cage with a layer of weed block all over the inside of the basket, Kellogg's Gro-Mulch at the bottom and mixed top soil, Gro-Mulch and chicken manure (because it smells better than the other). I really like your use of fish as fertilizer, especially with the Ag lime.
Last year I had great success placing the watermelon start early in the middle of my raised bed garden so that the roots were shaded but the plant had time to send out vines up and over the 2' high raise bed wall, and over the side to spread across the ground level. That way the plant was consistently moist, well drained and the vines were in the sun. I got 3-4 large melons on two vines for each of the two crimson sweets I planted. I really didn't understand why it worked until I saw this video! Thank you!
Looking forward to the watermelons!! God bless you both.
Hi guys. I'm wondering if it would be easier to mulch and collect your leaves in a lawnmower bag attachment? Would it make for less manual work, and then decompose easier?
Thanks for this video
I use Miracle Gro Water Storing Crystals in my garden to maintain a consistent moisture level.
They have the same product in the cat litter section, check the prices.
I really admire your videos, will you ever talk about how you chose this location and costs associated with this massive project? Just ballpark figures. Thanks
We chose this location to be near family. All our family lives near us now. We wanted a rural homestead for the peace and quiet with lots of land. We saved and did without for many years to be able to purchase our homestead. We are building it with our savings, UA-cam earnings and donations from our loving subscribers. It is taking us longer than we expected but we will keep on grinding away. Getting older now and just don’t have the strength we once had. As far as ballpark figures we feel that is too personal to share on the internet but we will say, it always cost more than you expected so take it slow. ❤️
Hollis & Nancy's Homestead thank you so much for answering my question, your videos are very calming and relaxing to watch, but very informative
Wow your going to have a lot of watermelon 😎bingbing loves his new home lol
We sure hope so. The chickens can eat 1 or 2 a week with ease. We go through a couple a week ourselves. We also plan to share with family and friends. None will go to waste❤️
WILL YOU BE DOING A VIDEO ON YOUR GARDEN FENCE? We are having a terrible time with deer in the garden and orchard. We don't live that far from you, so we have the same kind of soil (sand)--thank you for the informational videos!!
Yes, video for deer fence coming this summer
@@HollisNancysHomestead THANK YOU, Thank you!!
You guys ate awesome. I'm just putting that out there.
Thank you Emily. You made my day👍❤️
Why don't you plant some cover crops and till those in? Lots of types depending on what you need. Great info, can't wait to see it full of Juicy Melons. Looking forward to all your growing tips.
When are you guys going to do a new drive through like you did when you first got there? Would love to see all the progress.
We have some new min tours coming. We will do a full tour when we get the homestead complete
You guys are Floridians . I’m from Florida as well born and raised. Thank you for another great video. I bought watermelon seeds yesterday so this is very helpful information. 💕👍🏾
Cathy Blasco he didn’t tell you when to plant
@Cathy Blasco I said this is a video on how to prepare your watermelon patch and that I will be doing a separate video on how to grow watermelon. It will cover all the ins and outs of growing watermelon from seed to harvest ❤️
I saw a gentleman put corn cobs in holes for water retention. (In tomato holes)
Never heard of that one
That itsybitsy tiller. Do yourself a favor and rent a bigger one at the garden center. We rent one every year and save our backs. Worth it.
It’s about as big as I can handle💪
You could probably test the area by placing some small buckets to see how much water is collected.
I miss your container garden how to's. I need to know how to grow watermelon in a large Sterlite storage container. I too live in Florida but with a small yard.
Lots of container videos coming👍
@@HollisNancysHomestead Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is my first year gardening and we have 4 baby chicks to eventually have eggs.
Wow, your melon patch is going to grow like crazy. Are you going to grow any other type of melon? We used to eat a lot of cantaloupe.
Yes, we will be growing several different melons. We want to change it up each year
Got that farmers tan going☺
LOL
Ive been watching yall for a long time and im pretty sure when you moved to florida you moved about 30 min away from me. if you ever need or would like for me to tiller some ground for you id be glad to ive got a nice tractor and roto tiller. just let me know.
Thank you so much!❤️
I realize you are well on top of growing watermelons, my question is, why are you not using drip irrigation. I am not associated with Hoss Tools but they have an excellent drip tape system that would greatly simplify your gardening operation and save tons of water.
Probably in trouble, mine is twice as thick planted
My grandpa taught me to bury a coffee can about 3" away to hold water and chicken poop a small nail hole in it so when full of water daily it slowly soaking the mellons.
That's a old Kentucky hills way and I still do it.
Oh my goodness you need some spray sunblock next to ya all through the day, your poor arms look soo dark and it's only spring.. ouch I got my first sun burn of the season yesterday working out in the sun... it's a friendly reminder sunblock is just as important to protect our skin from cancer as that nutrient organic food were all growing to feed ourselves is! Yall stay safe ;) I just love how this video came together by the way! Were going to try our hand at watermelon on a trellis in the back yard. We got the branches all collected to try and make one for ourselves. Great video progression as always ;)
Farmer tan
I prefer dripper than sprinkler
It saves the water better
Use what works best for you👍
Hollis, I live in fl and I was wondering, I don't have a greenhouse but I have a screened enclosure in my backyard. I also have a potting table. do you think I could start some veggies from seed out there and have any success? My plan would be to transfer them to contaniers and be able to get a decent harvest?
Looks great. I live in Kenner and collect grass clippings from my neighbors for the chicken yard for 3 months then rake up 10, 5 gallon buckets for the garden. I used over half for my potato patch where I have 16 potato plants. I will continue to muck out the chicken yard and mulch those potatoes. It is hard work for an old 70+ lady. For the last year I have had verdigo and last Summer thought that I would have to give up gardening but discovered the 30 inch placement of steel post down the middle gives the old gal something to hang onto. #PressOnRegardless. Jesus knows.
Hollis, are you going to fence that patch? Or is your whole property fenced? Or do you have another way of keeping deer, rabbits, and any other critters from the patch? Also, can I only improve the hole I'm planting the watermelons in or do the vines develop roots that need soil underneath? And why did you cover the pipes with that black foam sleeve? Thanks!
Fencing. Video coming this summer👍
The black foam sleeve is insulation sleeve. It does get cold enough here in Florida to freeze during the winter and if you have water in the pipes they can crack so always good to insulate above Ground risers like that.
@@FarmerJohn1957 Thanks. Moved to this area late last year and even though we had some frosty nights I didn't think we needed to insulate pipes. Will keep it mind. Thanks again 😊
Dieter Karaluz It may only happened two or three times a year, but when it does this is a lot better to be prepared to prevent it in the first place
Hollis did you used to be a plumber? you put those PVC pieces together like a pro!
Not my first irrigation system. 😂😂
Can u grow watermelon in 5 gallon buckets?
How do you keep the weeds out once the melons start growing?
Hi. Great video on really setting up a large garden patch. What type of feed n watering system do you have for your chickens? Do you let your chickens naturally hatch their chicks or do you incubate? Peace to you and yours
We have some new chicken videos coming out very shortly. We don’t incubate but could if we wanted to. We prefer to purchase day old chicks
Hollis, how do you keep the underground critters from getting to you plants? We have voles, moles and maybe gophers. Here in Va we just had a freeze for the last few days and there's tunnels running everywhere once the ice and snow melted today. Do you have those dastardly varmints in Florida? Ty for your great video's ... as you can see I'm doing some bingeing ;)
That’s an awful lot of shade on the garden bed for June. Are you going to trim some of the trees that are shading the area?
It’s only like that for about an hour at sunrise.
I'm growing melons again this year. Looking for good advise..
what state is your homestead Hollis? I enjoy your videos.
Florida
I am in Tampa Bay, I enjoy the videos. Since we in the same states anything you can do, I can do. I like that. I am going to soon harvest my first bucket of potatoes. Will let you know how they came out. Thanks for the help Hollis and Nancy
I only watered every so often once or twice a week. I felt it was important for the plant roots to search out for the water, that it would make for a hardy plant the following year. Needles to say I grew a 29 lbs watermelon and I live 50 miles from Yellowstone National Park...
With my sandy soil I have to water every other day
I think that Black kow is going to do wonders, chicken poo will help in the success also. Excited to see the melons of 2021.
@@HollisNancysHomestead I'm impressed you can grow anything at all in that sand.
I'd get or make loads of compost, order peat and manure in bulk, and do raised beds with proper soil. That sand seems pretty hopeless.
What part of Florida are yall in? I am in central Florida just north of Tampa and feel your pain with our soil. Prep, amend, and repeat seems to be the struggle. lol. Welcome to the Sunshine State
Thank you. I just subscribed.
Welcome to the family ❤️❤️🐶
Can someone tell me what that machine was he used to get rid of all the weeds that would be awsome!
Troy Bilt Deep Tiller
That soil though, straight sand good luck my friends. If you get watermelons out of that in the end my hats off to you. Thats basically an inert medium, no nutrients lol.
I like a challenge
Upside or downside to an overhead sprinkler for watering my plants in 5 gallon and 20 gallon containers and 2 small raised beds? I hear talk that watering and getting water in leaves is bad, what’s difference in that and rain? Thoughts
I water in the early morning so the water can evaporate and be absorbed by the soil and the plants. Do not water in mid day to avoid sunburn. Do not water in the afternoon or the plants and soil sit wet overnight
Hollis & Nancy's Homestead thanks Hollis, I am in NC so if I was to use a overhead sprinkler instead of drip irrigation say about 4:30-5:00am would that hurt my veggies at all, I see so much on Facebook groups about not getting the leaves wet and never use a sprinkler
I have done it for years. Ideally, you want to water their feee not their clothes. That can be very challenging for large gardens like mine.
Hollis & Nancy's Homestead thanks, I will send you a picture of my set up as it is now via Facebook page , you have been a big inspiration... still got one more container grow table to build for my okra when it’s time to plant that in the next week or so
Do you have a way of saving your grass clippings to add to the patch?
I don’t bag my grass clippings. I discharge all clippings directly back on the turf areas. But, you are right. Grass clippings are a good compost
@@HollisNancysHomestead Full of nitrogen.
What water system do u have on the the property?
Check out our irrigation video from a couple of weeks ago
I love 💗 the videos!!! I’m working in my urban garden in SC and I’m learning so many things from y’all! I love watermelon 🍉, not a fan of watermelon candy, but of the real thing! Crazy question, last summer, I tried to grow a small watermelon in a raised bed and use a tomato cage to support the vines. I failed but now I understand from the video that you need at lease 25 ft per melon. Do you know if it’s possible to grow melons and trellis the vines? Have a blessed day as well! 🙂
You can trellis them but it takes some care. You will have to tie the vines to the trellis as they want to run not climb. You will have to support the melons on the trellis or they will break off under their own weight. I will do a trellis video for watermelons after I get the trellis garden up and running for ya but it will take me a while. ❤️
yes you can trellis. cattle panels. I use knee high hosiery to support each melon and tie them to the panels. works for cantaloupe too.
Hollis & Nancy's Homestead thank you so much! God bless y’all!
debra c thank you Debra!!! God Bless you!!
There MUST be a way to grow them vertically. Maybe a big post (4"x4") with shelves for each watermelon as they grow? I may have to try that!! 25 square feet is too much!
I use 4'x16' cattle panels 2 per bed do an arch from my 5'x10' raised beds they are 3 'apart so one panel from bed to bed over path between the two. Plant melons on each side and train them to grow up and over arch from both sides once melons get about 2 or 3 pounds I tie cloth netting to panels to cradle melons does amazing and looks beautiful. Only been doing sugar baby this year gonna try Charleston Grey huge melons and see how it does. I also do this with Cucumber and pole Green beans saves space and provides shade cooler crops like Collards,kale,spinach that I grow at the back of path in containers under arch so I have the main part of the beds the edges where the cattle panels start and arch over the path way to the next bed plus the containers at the back of arch. So alot of stuff in smaller space. Saves on water,My back and Time. My 2 cents I grow more in this space than I did in 30'x50' back garden doing old school ways.
Just curious, with the acreage you have and the large garden you do, why not invest in a compact or even a subcompact tractor? It would surely save you some time and wear and tear on the body. Even a used one would be fine. I know they can be pricey, but we have just under an acre and I'm considering one with 4wd, a front-end loader and a belly mower. I landscaped with 1.2 tons of river rock a year ago and decided a front-end loader would be a welcome addition, not to mention all the mulch I've carried.
We are trying to save up for one now👍
The last video I saw of you , you were living in the city? You moved to a bigger place?
LOL. Yes, we moved to our dream homestead November 2017. You got lots of videos to watch to catch up ❤️
@@HollisNancysHomestead what part of Florida. We were in Sebring .
Putnam County
Hi Nancy and Hollis Can you please tell us the EXACT NAME or NUMBER of the SPRINKLE HEAD ? Really enjoying your very informative video as always. Thank you, and God bless you.
I have a sulfur water well would that be ok for garden and watermelons
Yes indeed
Thank you so much for answering so quickly. I’ve been watching your channel on raised beds I did two 4 x 16 beds and they look really good. Thank you for all the great information.
when did yall move to Florida?
2017