วีดีโอ

I think it helps me become more self-reliant, too.

Thanks to my mother-in-law for turning on the water every few days.

@@howmyhomegardengrows outstanding

My pleasure.

Thanks, Dave.

Thanks! It did pretty well, all things considered.

That would work quite well, I think, and would also maintain the outer dimensions of the row cover. The repair never failed, fyi.

Thanks for the sub!

I had to move some of the leaves recently and saw so many earthworms at the soil surface. I only wish I had gathered as many as you. Next year...

Glad it was helpful!

I sometimes wonder to what degree we're just rediscovering what was common knowledge to our ancestors who had to know this stuff just to survive.

I find that when the leaves have been shredded, they don't blow away as readily, seemingly because they have less surface area for the wind to catch. It also helps once they are shredded to wet them down well.

​@@howmyhomegardengrows I use them whole. If I put them on in the fall, they stay wet enough to stay in place. I also use them as a mulch during the summer (I raised a cover crop last winter). In western Oregon, they stay wet enough (during the winter) to stay in place pretty well. In the fall and spring, I use a flail to chop and drop everything in place.

I'd agree. Steak makes most things better. I think the broccoli leaves are especially useful as an addition to soups.

Thanks!

Thanks

I hope it conveys the way that we learn about our world in fun ways while gardening. Thanks.

Except maybe mallow, right? I wonder if mallow is where we get the word mellow from. It sure does taste mellow.

Thanks. I'll have to give that a try.

They're surprisingly easy. I hope you like them as much as I did!

Thank you!

Thanks. I hope you enjoy my future videos.

Thank you!

Thanks.

I didn't know that sunflower microgreens existed!

They're keto-friendly, too!

Thank you! 😊

Thanks!

Thank you!

The expense and time are why I've never done grow bags, but I can see the advantage for some situations, of course. I only sterilize soil I'm going to use indoors for seed-starting. Since your grow bags are outdoors, I wonder what you could get away with if you experimented with alternatives. It would be a fun project, I think.

@@howmyhomegardengrows Tried straw bale gardening and that was a disaster due to the straw being poisoned. Tried Hugelkultur but that has mixed results. Initially that took over 1,000 gallons of water every 2-3 days. Tried air pruning pots with limited success. Tried subirrigation pots and that too was mixed results. Tried drip irrigation with other containers that hold water and that didn't work out very well. Even use IV bags to adjust the water flow. Used inverted and hanging 2L bottles for drip irrigation but that was never enough water. A glass wine bottle, long neck, filled with water and inverted next to a plant seemed to work fairly well. Green bottles are best if you can find them. Tried both subirrigation and air pruning pots at the same time with mixed results. BUT that did put a stop to pill bugs. Pill bugs cannot swim! Tried kiddie pool gardening and that just made a haven for mosquitoes. Tried regular in ground with limited results. Tried row covers with limited results. Going to try subirrigation pots but much larger ones this time. And will try a kind of kiddie pool gardening in a LARGE pot for watermelons - going to use one of those 80L grow bags in it. Seems ants loved the melons more than I did when planted in the ground. Trying some strawberry plants in a air pruning pot (laundry basket) sitting in an oil change pan full of water too. Seems cayenne peppers likes that setup but others tolerated it to some degree. Tried 5 gal containers too (air pruning and subirrigation) Tried a plastic drum with limited results. Trash cans limited results BUT one of them had a sweet pepper plant that produced like crazy. For the in ground spots I use a 5 gal water bottle (like you get from a water dispenser company) with 2 orange ping pong balls in it, water, then invert it next to a couple plants. That lasts a whole week usually! Orange balls let me see the water level from a distance too. I use rain water when I can get it. Otherwise I use one of those blue RV water filters that remove chloramines and tap water when I have to. I even fill the rain barrel with tap water from that and run an air pump for at least a day to oxygenate it. Sometimes I will use Ascorbic Acid to remove the chloramines. I tried nearly every trick and combination I could find. Most barely work for me. Pretty bad you spend $1000/year on stuff and barely get $50 worth out of it. Got zero green beans last year. Year before got quite a few when I air potted and sub irrigated at the same time. Peas? That was a joke. FOUR lousy peas from 8 plants. I even bought Fox Farms soil-both kinds. That was unimpressive to say the least. Tried black kow but that didn't seem to work as well as I wanted or expected. So, going to try composting leaves - some in the containers and a large batch in a very large container turning weekly. Oh and I used Hawaiian Bud and bloom on some to see any difference - nothing to write home about. Tried Alaska Fish Fertilizer - didn't seem to do much but going to try it again at a higher concentration. I am even trying electroculture. THAT doesn't seem to do anything. I am open to cheap or free suggestions. Seems organic does not work for me....

PS that hugel garden initially took 17 TONS of material to build. 5 tons of used coffee grounds and the rest is wood and some soil to cover. Had to worry about it catching fire that first year hence the water needed.

I'm curious, if you don't mind my asking, but how did you source 5 TONS of used coffee grounds? Sometimes, I'll get 5 pounds from the local Starbucks, but 5 TONS?

@@howmyhomegardengrows 7 months of visiting every Starbucks in a 50 mile radius two times a day over the fall and winter. Just one of those Starbucks yielded over 300 pounds of them for one stop. Most about 35 to 100 pounds depending on the location and timing. And if others beat me to them. Very hard to get any around spring and early to mid summer. I hit a few other places along the way as well but those didn't yield a whole lot. Filled multiple 55gal drums with them. So heavy no one could move them, not even tip them over. Since my truck can only hold up to 500 pounds of weight, I fill it with wood till the rear springs are level, which is right about 500 pounds. Many trips to yard waste to get wood. Included in that is wood chips. Then took multiple trips to get soil to cover the whole thing. Entire Hugel was built by hand. Took a long time....

Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience. In the balance of things, it would seem the phytotoxins are less of a concern than what we're sterilizing out, since the toxins eventually dissipate while the other things don't. It sounds like you've got quite an operation there.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience. In the balance of things, it would seem the phytotoxins are less of a concern than what we're sterilizing out, since the toxins eventually dissipate while the other things don't. It sounds like you've got quite an operation there.

@@howmyhomegardengrows One could mix in some biochar to mitigate the toxin issue. You are welcome.

There are so many advantages. Let me know if you try it.

Thanks. I hope it works well.

Thanks!

Thanks!

A bumper sticker would be good, too, right?

I wouldn't recommend that many for a beginner.

Thank you very much!

I'm tellin' ya - a waste of perfectly good saliva.😄

That would work. I have some hoops made from electrical conduit that are much stronger, but the cost is higher, too.

This was great!

Thanks. I'm glad I did the test to see if it would work, or I probably wouldn't have thought to do the knots.

So true!

It's weird, but it seems to be a little-discussed topic, but I'm glad that of all the videos you've seen about it, this was your favorite.

It'll happen sooner or later. Glad to help!