I turned my front yard into a Historical Garden this summer
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- 👒🔎: Download June’s Journey for free now using my link: woo.ga/0oq5khdq
And purchase the June’s Journey interactive diary here: woo.ga/JJDiary...
The giveaway deadline has passed, thanks and good luck to everyone who entered!
I am a very silly goose and forgot to include a full list of everything I planted, so for those that are curious, here it is!
Bed A:
Danvers Half Long Carrots
Sugar Snap Peas
Red Russian Kale
Salsify (didn't sprout)
Farao Cabbage
Bunching Onion
Parsley
Bed B:
Pea-Snowbird (Very Yum)
Short and Sweet Carrots
Ear of the Devil Lettuce (I DID NOT LIKE)
Skirret (didn't sprout)
Marjoram (didn't sprout)
Bed C (the middle):
Red Acre Cabbage
Lollo Russo Cabbage (didn't sprout)
Nasturtium (ok, not really medieval/tudor but I love them)
Dill
Onion
1 million carrots apparently
Bed D:
Cosmic Purple Carrot (this produced several colors, very fun!)
Burpeeana Early Peas (these did poorly for me)
Lil Gem Lettuce
Spinach Sensation Hybrid
Red Carpet Onion (I forgot I planted these lol, they did not grow)
Leek
Bed E:
Swiss Chard (did not sprout)
Salad Bowl Lettuce
Golden Ball Turnip
Lovage (did not sprout)
Radish Cherry Belle (yum!)
Beets
Basil
Cilantro (why did I plant this?? Did great, didn't use it even once)
Bed F (the perimeter flower bed):
Idk honestly. I got a New England seed mix, most of which didn't flower because I planted way too late (but I still wanted SOMETHING growing in the soil to keep it happy), and a few plants from the nursery, couldn't be bothered to document at that point lol. I think the seeds were from here: www.vermontwil...
My reference images are mostly all here: / garden
★Follow me! ★
Patreon: / morgandonner
Instagram: / morgandonner
★★★ - Products Used in This Video - ★★★
*All Amazon links below are affiliate links.
Amazon Affiliate Page for links to my various sewing supplies and camera equipment:
www.amazon.com...
Tip for your planting labels, next time put them on the front of the row with the info facing away from the crop itself. That way when you water (in either direction) it will not splash up onto the area with the writing =)
Omg, it sounds so obvious now that you say it, 100% using this next year.
Another great idea for planting labels I've seen was rocks with the plant names written with sharpies.
oooh yah, or painted pictures would be cool too@@jjudy5869
Also take a picture!
I, personally, use ceramic ones; simple tiles, with the names painted on the tile in slip or glaze, fire them, et voila.
When I was about your age (I'm an ancient 76 now) I had a wonderful 25' x 40' garden, plus other beds in my yard of asparagus and grapes. I lived close enough to Cornell University to get their wonderful advice on things. I had a mostly organic garden and there was, at that time, a method of planting certain plants next to each other that did a great job of benefiting each other. Then they suggested I plant certain beneficial flowers sprinkled through the garden for vegetable gardens that attract bees, keep down insects, improve the soil. and provided some beautiful blooms. It was a fascinating time for me. You might want to do a little research to find about them. You did an enormously heavy job of gardening here. I hope you have a restful time between now and next gardening time. Cheers.
Well done, you. I love the tradition of companion planting to inhibit pests and support each other. It was so efficient, and of course, a component of the 'traditional' cottage garden, where every inch of soil was used. That (theoretically) inhibited weeds and other pest plants, so you got a double whammy of labour-saving benefits. I suspect you actually need to know quite a lot about plants to do it and really optimise the effects, but I wish people would relearn those skills and knowledge. I also love the interspersing of vegetable, herb and flowers, because very often the flowering plants not only benefit the veg, but can also be edible.
It worked very well. I was able to rely on the knowledge at the University, plus I had some very good books. I grew enough vegetables and fruits to supply my family of four from harvest until about March. Very low pest damage. Plus I had a wonderful red tailed hawk who decided to spend a lot of time in the black walnut tree at the back of my lot so he kept the animal pests at bay a bit too. There was a woods behind us so we would have had a lot of problems without his help. A lot of work but fun . @@Maraaha55
Companion planting, definitely, and a lot of these methods sound like permaculture/food forest gardening! It's a wonderful method!
Also! Morgan! Mulch your vegetable beds with leaf litter that you rake up on top even in the summer, not just for overwintering! The leaves will shade out weeds from coming up!
For anyone in the US, your nearest USDA extension from the land grant universities is required to give you gardening advice! Take advantage, they all know what they’re talking about and they all have information online, but each individual university knows its own area and can provide personalized advice or even send an expert to look at your garden if you just ask.
@@Hannah_Becton, yes to mulching year round. It will also enrich the soil and keep the soil microbiome healthy.
Fun fact: an ancient method of finding a horizontal level, rather than the plumb bob method that shows vertical level, is to use water in a wide container or tube. The modern bubble level is the modern equivalent of that method.
Water in a clear tube (its important that there are no bubbles inside and the tube needs to have the same diameter everywhere) is even still used today to transmit hights, especially over longer distances, its called a hose level, I learned how to use one today in my job training (but mainly for theoretical purposes in my job).
The former bricklayer at work told me that even the ancient Egyptians used something like this to build their pyramids, so it really is ancient like u said.
Funny thing is a plumb line is even at the front of my table book, so now I just learned what its called in english.
If I don't have a bubble level I put a cylinder or sphere and seeing it rolls, if it don't then we good
@@basementdwellercosplay thus no round pencils for carpenters
You're extremely pleasant to watch. Enjoyed it. Thank You.
I liked that you were fiddling with your hair and just kept talking like we were old friends having a casual chat.
There's a paint called "falu röd färg" (swedish copper oxide paint) that's a natural snail / pest repellent that you could paint the beds themselves with. There are multiple of colours but the OG one is the traditional/stereorypical swedish cabin red
Towards the end of the video, you might be able to see a bit of red peeking out behind the trees that might look familiar 😉
@@MorganDonner Hmmm interesting, looking forward to see what that's about hehe
As an avid gardener who can no longer garden, this made me happy. Your garden is beautiful! And it really does have a historic vibe.
I will offer a few tips for your consideration.
When you thin the seedlings, don't throw them out. Toss them into a salad or soup or stir-fry or even on a sandwich. When they're little like that, they're very nutritious. The carrot and pea sprouts are especially tasty; once you try them, they probably won't make it into the kitchen.
Keep a garden journal. Besides recording what you planted where, write down things like what varieties did well and what didn't, things you learn (no dill + carrots), significant weather like first & last frost, rained all summer, etc. What you want to plant more or less of. It will be a great reference for you and help you to see patterns.
Consider an asparagus bed. It's historically correct, attractive, and perennial.
When you plant summer squash (and sooner or later you will), plant half as much as you think you'll need. Trust me on this.
Gardening is so rewarding and therapeutic. Gardening is hopeful. And there's always something new to learn.
Why shouldn’t dill and carrots be planted together?
@@ragnkja Two reasons: for one, the plants look alike, so it can be hard to tell which is which. For another, they are closely related, so they may cross-pollinate, though this is only a problem if you are growing heirloom varieties and want to save the seeds.
I usually have loads of carrot seedlings and I usually freeze them and use them in soups :) they are a lovely addition to stews as well!
As a gardener, I live by my seed start chart and my garden journal. So. Helpful.
“And my very first thought was…how do I make this medieval?” And THAT, my friends, is exactly what I like to hear. 😂👏🏻👏🏻
For next years planting, you may want to check crop rotations, since different plants take different soil nutrients, and you'll save a fortune on replacing dirt.
Crop rotation is a bit of a myth. You're not farming at scale, it's not much of an issue
and dont discount the native technique 3 sisters a good combo to restore soil
@@catface101 thats not true things like beans are good for soil health so rotating those for exemple helps keep your beds healthy. Theres a bunch of reason why crop rotation is especially good for small scale gardens
@@makemecry6604that's not rotation tho, that's cover cropping.
@@makemecry6604 Add to that, crop rotation allows certain soil-borne diseases to die out between rotations (though some diseases, especially ones that affect potatoes and garlic, can last up to 20 years in soil). Nightshades such as tomatoes and peppers and cucurbits - cucumbers and melons - are especially susceptible, which is why crop rotation is considered best practice.
Ms. Donner, fetching water from a stream with a bucket was a common way for women to drown by, so I'm glad you avoided getting your woolen skirts wet enough to be too heavy to lift. Thank you for avoiding starting a dangerous trend by opting to take a modern solution to watering. And not only because we need more videos. Your life is precious, dear, and thank you for sharing your talents with us.
What? That sounds like a terrible way to die - pulled down by your own clothing. Was there no way ro prevent that? Perhaps I am thinking to simply, but, like... a rope to hold on? A jetty or even just a plank of wood?
@@saberg1082you grossly underestimate how heavy waterlogged wool and linen skirts get. Put a bit of movement in the water too and you are done for.
@@mirjanboumaThanks, I think the washing machine is my new favourite modern appliance...
And since watching that video I have dragged around some huge freshly laundered linen sacks and I think I am beginning to understand...
@@saberg1082 same! I still don't like doing laundry, but if I think about how it used to be...
There’s plenty of ways to get water for a stream without drowning. She’s not stupid, nor is it that common anymore.
I think it would be super interesting to approach your next garden from the lens of the same time frame but on this side of the Atlantic. What did the indigenous peoples of your area grow? With your home in the northeast you're likely in the birthplace of the three sisters tradition. A bed of corn, pole beans and a squash would be a fun trial. I love gardening so I loved seeing your success this year! You'd probably grow killer potatoes in your climate too! Happy gardening!
Thats a great idea!
Apologies for the pedantry, but: Corn and squash really haven't been grown all that long in the Northeast (in Indigenous terms of "not that long," anyway). It took quite some time for cold-adapted, short-day strains of those two sisters to be bred. All three sisters were grown together as a trio far longer further south than they have been grown at all in the NE.
Just riffing off plants mentioned/visible in this video: Lambsquarter/goosefoot was grown as a green & as a 'grain' crop by most agriculturally inclined Tuttle Islander societies before corn came up from the south. Wild strawberries have particular cultural significance to the Indigenous folx of the NE/Great Lakes regions. Stinging Nettle has been used both to make textiles from & as a food source (Indigenous peoples had textile industry before colonization! We wore more than just buckskin, it just doesn't preserve as well).
@@Mockingbird_Taloasuch good info here! Thanks for sharing it!
@@Mockingbird_Taloato add to this, the three sisters method was used to grow dry goods… meaning the corn and beans were grown, and left to dry on the stalk for winter consumption, rather than eating fresh. Then they would grind up the corn for whatever they were using it for (polenta, cornmeal, etc.) which is a lot different than how we usually use those crops these days. I wanted to mention it because it isn’t very well known that that was how the three sisters were used, and a lot of people try that method and then are frustrated with the results.
Absolutely wonderful video! So beautifully shot and narrated, not to mention the actual content which is so, so interesting and fun. Your videos are such a joy to watch! Thank you for sharing ❤❤
The sticks and mulch in the bottom are a fantastic addition! You've created something like Hugelkultur beds, that decomposing organic matter will continue to nourish the beds as they slowly break down over the next several seasons! Hearty congratulations!
My mother in law is in Brasil and I’m so jealous of the growing conditions she has! She accidentally grew a garden a few years ago because the family kept throwing stuff with seeds into her new compost pile and suddenly there were a bunch of tomatoes, watermelon, and strawberries growing there so she decided it was now a garden and planted some lettuce and green onions too. She doesn’t do a single thing but every year now she has this beautiful tiny garden that keeps coming back.
Thanks for letting us apartment dwellers live out our garden dreams vicariously.
For real!! 😭😍 I can't wait till I own a garden one day. It sounds so silly but it's pretty much my biggest life goal 😂
@@lunatonkens7933fr gardens are so happy!!
so true
If you have even a little bit of space, you can start your garden dreams. Check out th-cam.com/video/wk6TUVCXI8o/w-d-xo.html (Epic Gardening container gardening for apartment/small space/balcony gardeners.
When I lived in an apartment, I regrew lettuces and green onions etc. It's pretty light on work and if you've got a bit of space, you could try it!
You might plant thyme or Corsican mint between the stone, to prevent the grass from taking over.
Is Corsican mint less invasive than regular mint?
it is aggressive about pushing out other plants which is good between stones.@@brightcopperkettles
My wife says use mint and peppermint because of the colour combinations and scent. Also you can put the mint in containers in the ground to limit their rapacious and predatory growth.
Last year, my spouse grew a lovely garden, and we didn't get around to eating much of it. This year, they made wonderful garden beds that we didn't use because we were so busy growing a human. The human needs about 2 and a half months more growing before picking, but we're hopeful that she will get to sit and watch how the garden grows, even though she won't really understand. Hopefully, we will grow some really good baby food for the time she's ready to eat solid foods. Grandpa's garden will probably have a good kale patch for her to be a kale patch kid in.
Congratulations!
Congratulations! Your little one will have a wonderful time helping in the garden as she grows up. Fun tip my child didn't grow out of eating soil until he was 18mo so be careful haha
Watching potatoes grow makes me so happy! When it was harvest time, there was a little toad that looked like a potato (a potatoad, if you will), and I thought, "Did that potato move?" Sure enough, the toad hid by the carrots and watched us pull up potatoes.
Landis Valley Museum in Lancaster Pa has a Heirloom Seed program if you want to grow veggies and things from seeds from plants that were grown over 100 years ago
My father always grew nasturtiums as an edging flower for colour but also the leaves go well with cheese
O the flowers! gobble the flowers. so peppery and perfect!
[and also: marigolds. marigolds are peppery yum as well]
You've done the exactly right thing for your garden beds! Piling in all the wood, sticks, leaves, etc. will allow them to compost down and also provide a bit of a sump for moisture when it gets hot and dry. Rotten logs are like sponges! Also, save your abundance of soil in a protected spot for when your beds' contents settle. They will settle over time and your will appreciate your reserves! Morgan, you are always fun to watch and I appreciate your hard work in whatever you choose to create. Keep it up!
A few inches of good mulch will help a lot with the weeds. It'll also help with the soil settling you're going to get
Yeah, I read that that would help but for some reason I just didn't quite understand when I should apply it because it kept worrying that it would suppress the plants I *did* want as well! Now I think I get the whole process a bit better, and should be able to use mulch to my advantage next year 😉
❤ The joy I get when I see that you’ve put a video out was much needed today. S.A.D. Has had me in a chokehold lately.
I hope that joy continues everyday.
Only 34 days until Solstice! We can make it!
This woman's dedication to her videos is incredible. Morgan deserves an award for sheer hard work.
I agree she's amazing
The glorious thing is that you never get the feeling that Morgan is making content. She's doing things she loves or wants to try and we're along for the journey, no worries about just making content for content sake ❤
Simple advice about linseed oil (we use it for our medieval 500 y.o. wood frame house here):
Linseed oil doesn't dry, it is absorbed into the wood and what is left on the surface oxidises. It can also be modified by cooking it in absence of oxygen. Medieval people were really good at craftsmanship.
There are two tricks to speed up the process: 1. Manganese or other minerals speed up oxidation, they are contained in some natural pigments.
2. Wipe of excess oil, especially when the wood doesn't absorb it well (e.g. too fresh).
The surface sheen of the linseed oil is modified by mixing cooked oil with raw oil. The cooked oil is very shiny. It is a quarter or half cooled oil added to the mix.
Have fun!
Thinking Me: I can do things in dresses and skits
Reality Me: Girl, no. Coveralls or not- at-alls
: Mogan Goes about doing all the things looking adorable :
Me: Aww, so dang cute and inspiring is our modern medieval mushroom queen!
❤️❤️❤️😭 I love my dresses and skirts, but there was definitely also a lot of pants wearing in this video! This garden is part of what inspired me to make my overalls that I love so much from a couple videos back!
@@MorganDonner I loved those. I'm in winter hiber-sew-nation mode here in Norway and got some really great denim that I think I'm going to make some with.
Maybe a gardening apron is in your future?
@@MorganDonner as soon as I started watching this video, remembered of the green overalls, and was waiting for the moment it would pop in the screen!! 💚💚
Peas are my favorite! My mom grew almost all our vegetables when I was a kid - our garden at it's largest was probably an acre? - and she planted a ton of peas as kid snacks - I remember her saying, eat all the peas you want, but leave everything else so we can freeze it for winter! I really enjoyed seeing you do this, it brings back lots of wonderful memories of growing up in the NE!
Haha, peas as a sacrificial crop was a great idea!
*waves from the Southern Hemisphere*. A lot of those historical garden layouts are great for efficient use of space, with walkways so the soil in the beds doesn't get compacted by being walked on. Keyholes and small boxes are great - I've been using those in my garden, but with smaller gaps between (max 2 ft/60cm cos that's all I need to kneel or to get the wheelbarrow between them) so that I can maximise my growing space. Organic matter under the soil is great - in a couple of years, your soil will be full of the microbial life that your plants need to be healthy. Keep it mulched to keep it healthy (Maritime Gardening on TH-cam is a good man to help you think about mulch options and how to sow seeds around them). Enjoy your gardening journey - I get so much satisfaction from my garden, and it's a fascinating topic that will keep you learning for years and years as you get to know your climate and soil better.
With you on the lettuce...I somehow ended up with 18 varieties of lettuce (including a couple period varieties, which can be used as a cooked green) because "ooh, shiny". I don't eat salads...
I would recommend if you're paring down next year, divide each bed into an "X", with a different plant in each, a taller plant in the middle, and possibly onions as the divider of the X.
Also....fava beans. Period veggie, and super easy to grow.
I also use a sled to move things in my yard.They are so handy and last forever. I have never seen anyone else do this lol, Great minds think alike!
I'm a landscape and vegetable gardener in my retirement years and am impressed with your successful first garden. All your advice is dead on and so very important for new gardeners to know and look forward to. You were right in saying that each season's garden will be different; different pests, different weather, different plant growth depending on the state of your soil. All your advice about preparing beds for winter is helpful and your garden was lovely as well as fruitful. Congratulations! Here is a tip: for lettuce greens that may be a bit bitter, like Arugula or dandelion (picked young in the spring) try preparing a hot bacon dressing to pour over the greens, ( and spinach). If you make a big batch you can keep it into the fridge and reheat what you need instead of making a fresh batch each time. I like us to sit down and say the prayer and then get up, pour the hot dressing over the greens to wilt them, and serve it up. Oh-seriously-yum!
*Really* good idea to write down what you planted where and in what order. A garden journal is priceless!
Edit: My *gosh* you did a lot of work! The pavers and wood chips are a great combo.
Two tips for thinning: use secateurs to snip out the extras, especially of root crops, so you don’t risk pulling up the others. And you can eat most of your thinnings in a salad or stir-fry! Radishes, beets, carrots, peas - all good :)
Edit 2: mulch! It cuts down on weeds, makes the ones that do show up easier to remove, and helps maintain consistent moisture and temperature
Hey Morgan, if you want any new inspo for your working garden, the Chateau de Prangins in Switzerland revived their own garden into a kitchen and medicine garden from when it was used in the 18th century. They might have some good tips and tricks published (and lots of pretty pictures)
Two things:
1. You need to start canning and /or freezing what you grow. Those carrots can be blanched and frozen pretty easily. Ditto for the peas.
2. If you're interested in slightly earlier period gardening, I recommend the book Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden: An Illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and Their Uses by Robin Whiteman and Rob Talbot.
Love your homesteading era 🥺💖
Winter prep aint no joke! I was going to put off installing a flowerbed but I think I'll get it done before it gets even colder. The native seed mix I got says I can sow the seed onto the snow and it'll melt into the beds in spring. Exciting stuff!
If birds don't eat them before spring xD
“Do a bed, plant a thing and see what happens”. That should be a t-shirt!
we still use plumbobs today in construction when setting up things like theodolites, very useful for eyeballing a level surface before you fine-tune using spirit levels :)
For some reason I totally thought you were going to make a monastic garden. Even so this is so freaking cute!
As a horticulturist I can’t wait to see what you grow next! Hopefully some dyeing plants?!
Why am I not surprised that you'd be interesting in gardening? :)
I've been gardening about 10 years, so not all that long, but I'm amazed at how much I've learned. You are going to be so glad you have this documentation to look back on and see how far you've come in a few year's time.
You and Mr Morgan Donner did a fantastic job! Really makes me wish I had a garden to plant things in. I might have to convince a friend (who's also subbed to your channel) to let me 'help' set up a historical garden at her house.
By the way, in case you're curious, Epic Gardening is a really good channel for all things gardening including raised beds.
This is absolutely adorable and a great idea.😊 We usually have flowers and some produce in summer but I never considered a historical garden. Very cool
Ah, yes. "Rocks everywhere": the immortal lament of the New England gardener. I actually envy you because I live in the footprint of Glacial Lake Hitchcock and so I get not only the glacial rock deposits that all of the region gets but an extra dose of outwash rocks. New England gardeners have to have patience and toughness in equal measure. Welcome to the club!
I painted a few rocks this year and made them my herb labels...
Since you're getting into more than European foods for next year - try a marinara garden bed, because tomatoes and basil generally like growing together, and try to find some heirloom tomato varieties that do well in your zone (Roma and Cherokee Purples were great in zone 7). If you're into green beans at all, I remember Granddad planting a tall tent of beanpoles in the center of the garden, and he had marigolds around nearly all beds for pest management. If you have another sunny spot that's accessible, the herb spiral was something Granddad cobbled together from spare building materials, with the things that hate wet feet (like rosemary) at the top.
Mint stays in a pot or it will choke out everything else.
As someone without a garden, I LOVED THIS VIDEO!! Pretty please do more of these the coming years 🥲😍🌱
This is amazing. Your range is unparalleled, and I’m so impressed by how hard you work to make things not just beautiful but functional. I’m so inspired!
Some friendly suggestions from experience: Put straw over the carrots and they will store through winter. Plant dill with cucumbers for supportive usage. Pick together. Place 1 garlic clove, 2 dill sprigs (1 flower if available) and cucumbers in a quart jar and top with a mixture of 2 Tbsp salt (Redmond real salt) and 1 quart of water. Place a tea towel over the top with a ring or rubber band to hold into place. Taste between 5 and 21 days. The longer they ferment, the more dilly they become. Green beans can be fermented the same way. And all of those carrots well, I like carrots fermented (covered with salt water) shredded / julienne with a piece of fresh ginger. This way you have delicious, extremely healthy food each day throughout the winter months. Oh and the cabbage sliced and covered with salt water for yummy sauer kraut--absolutely nothing like the store bought! Lettuce can also be used in soups like spinach and kale.
When my mom used to keep a garden, she grew her own tomatoes and peppers, but bought onions, to make her own salsa! The neighbors also had tomatoes and would bring them to her so she'd make salsa for them, too. One year her partner tried to draw a skull and crossbones on her hot salsa but we thought it looked like Bullwinkle, so now we call hot salsa Bullwinkle salsa.
I’m an avid gardener, and I looove historical content, so this is just perfect!! Also, for your first year growing veggies you did so well! And I’m impressed by your planning haha
Hooray for gardening! It looks like you did a great job in your first year!
Top tip: keep an eye on the air temperature. Lots of herbs and greens will bolt if it gets too hot. Also, there are peas that get up to 8ft plus! It took me years to over shoot the height for trellising my climbing plants. 😂
ETA oh! Hairy vetch is a great cover crop top affix nitrogen into the soil - just wanted to put that out there
Speaking not as a medieval peasant, but as someone who did grow up in the middle of nowhere rural Ireland, my family grew most of our own food from seed every year. So I did grow up doing that, and we absolutely always used labels! When they haven't come up yet it's very possible to forget what you put where, and when they have come up, a lot of seedlings look very alike until they've grown in their adult leaves. Cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprout etc all have the same baby leaves, as do all the pumpkins, squashes, melons, courgettes etc, and lots of other plant groups too!
I'm super excited to see how your landrace peas (and any other seeds you saved) come along next year! I've heard they should only get stronger and better able to outcompete weeds or pests.
Selecting for favorite flavors and high yield will also be interesting someday.
I absolutely love your entire aesthetic. The dresses, the hair, your attention to your medieval garden. Everything came out so cute! ❤
The best foods are nightshades, pre-columbian exchange Europe food must have been so different. Tomatoes and yellow courgettes were our best crops this year, who knows what next year will bring! I want to try colourful carrots though. Hopefully it won't rain all year
It’s honestly pretty rare that I have a dinner that could have been eaten before the columbian exchange, so much so that I struggle to think of a dinner that doesn’t have both Old World and New World ingredients. The only examples I can think of are porridges (which aren’t strictly dinner-dishes) and some traditional fish dinners (especially late winter ones) that are eaten with flatbread rather than potatoes.
Gardening is some of the most rewarding hard work there is, and you've already done the hardest part, the first year. Resist the urge to add too much more next year. Also you can leave the carrots in the ground as long as you don't have a lot of freezing and thawing (or mice), they'll store just fine in the ground. Once it thaws they will start to rot or regrow their greens, you can't eat them after that, but you can let them bolt and collect the little seed pods.
PLEASE make videos for next years garden! i adore garden videos, and you make a lovely version of them!
Great idea having the outer rim flower garden. If you fill it full of wildflowers and herbs that you let seed out it’ll bring in a bunch of pollinators and good insects.
Yes, bulbs like garlic love overwintering! I grow irises and tulips, so they love our harsh winters and bloom like weeds come spring!
This couldn't have come out at a better time, it is summer where I am and I was planning on getting my planting done this weekend! I'm a bit late I know! Also, if you don't mind, where is that gorgeous sweater you wore in the ad segment(or the pattern for it) from?
That is awesome, I hope you have as grand a time with your garden as I did! The sweater is from thredup, and the tag says Prologue!
I loved the inspiration of your garden. It turned out beautifully!!! As a gardener of 50 some years, I know your enthusiasm. I hope you will include next year in your video offering. I will watch for it. 🥰
While you're talking about the carrots still in the ground, come Winter, you can absolutely leave them in the soil, under the snow, as it sort of incubates them.
Crystal, from The Wholefed Homestead (fb, ig and yt) has done so for many years and loves it, as she picks them from the soil as she wants them. I think she puts a layer of leaves or sugar cane mulch down first, to help them "store" better.
Back to the video that I'm loving!! 😁
The historical small geometric beds actually make a ton of sense & would totally work with square foot gardening. Love seeing the process of this garden.
it looks amazing!! makes me so so so excited for when we can finally have a garden of our own and I can put it to good use. your videos are always such a joy to watch and i really appreciate all the work you put into them! thank you so much :)
When you go to dry your seeds, I suggest using a dehydrator, where you make actually get the seeds to mold. Additionally, depending upon the plant and their source, you may not be successful bringing them to plant form.
Great job doing your first garden! We always plant some fun random vegetable/fruit for fun, peanuts, loofahs, specific kinds of squash, etc
I suggest looking up companion plants, where you have tall and short plants that grow great together.
For your plant labels, a fun suggestion is getting the slab sheet cut offs from your local stone quarry processor and make a fun video of painting them up!
Definitely was the Summer of Rain in VT this year! Which, at least in my neck of VT, meant the Summer of Voracious Mosquitos, and consequently the F* It, Weeding's Not Worth This season. Not my best garden year, but congratulations on yours. Love the fence especially :)
That blue sun-exposed dress always makes smile. I loved watching and learning about the chemistry of it, and it looks wonderful on you, too.
Canning your veggies for winter will be useful
I have been doing some extraordinary math to try to figure out when/what time of year this video was filmed in
I barely understand it myself. Our weather is absurd.
Post toppers are a fabulous idea, I love how you research old things and then actually do them! Your so Amazing!!!
Renaissance gardens are the sh*t, and you know it Morgan. 😉
Also, I miss you! xx
I love it that you limited yourself to old world plants. I've read a lot about medieval foods. Admire that you did it.
As someone who has grown up around gardens and plants and farms, you can't always differentiate between tiny plants. You either wait until they're big enough to identify or you have it recorded somewhere where eat plant is even if it isn't necessarily a marker in the bed.
Kudos to you and Mr. Donner for your hard work on this... there's a saying: a rosebush in a wheat field is a weed...and carrots and potatoes will take over if you're not careful
when I still lived with my mom, I planted some veggies in the garden. I didn't really take care of them, but the carrots grew anyway! they didn't get very big, but they were SO tasty. tender and sweet, the best carrots I've ever had.
I need more casual kirtles
Italian Renaissance Mushroom Woman is a vibe and a half
The sticks and leaves actually improve your gardens tremendously, not only do they smother the weeds you would be fighting for years to come, increasing the likelihood you will continue to use them, they also improve the moisture retention of the soil, and the microbial biology of the soil.
This will have a constant useful soil improvement effect for several years.
Hint. when planting root crops, things like sticks, rocks etc., make it harder for nice roots to develop. I would have removed the mulch from the beds getting root crops (and probably screened the dirt- manure etc. going into those beds.) I used to have to rake and screen my soil yearly for planting all sorts of root crops. (love rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, carrots etc.- but they all hate rocks and sticks) they all love light easy to grow in soil!
Ah well, maybe next year!
@@MorganDonner oh definitely next year! your root crops will get so much larger if they don't have to fight hard bits!
That was my first thought when seeing the sticks, I was wondering if there was enough depth left for veggies. I made a similar mistake with a raised garden bed, it was far too shallow for my carrots 🥕
Also I now know that the type of soil matters 😅
I should have remembered the year my mom tried growing radishes, the old man next door insisted that they wouldn’t be good because the soil in our neighbourhood was bad for vegetables. She was so happy when she pulled up beautiful radishes only to be disgusted when they were rotted in the middle.
Super inspiring! One suggestion would be to add post caps painted with the same yellow linseed oil between the round guys and the posts to make the fence look more finished. Can't wait to see how it looks next year!
For crops with shorter growing times, consider planting a few that you'll be able to eat before they go to seed, then a week or two later, plant some more of the same plant. That way you get fresh crops theoughout the season and don't end up with more salads than you can eat :D
As a homegrower myself I think it would look great if you make a ‘tipi-style’ trellis in the middle bed with the beans. And you will figure out all the right amounts…it’s best to start of smaller and plant more as you go! And yes to the onions…AND garlic for that matter. (And only now…5min. later, see you already did that haha)And I would suggest herbs between your flowers in the wrap around instead of between your veggies! just have fun, try stuff and let nature do the rest!
We had a huge carrot crop too. They’re fine in the ground until after it frosts. For storage a cool dry place works well. We also pickle some of them, but mostly I dice them to put in soups and freeze them. Another thing to try is roasted carrot and chickpea soup. Make a batch of that and put it in the freezer for later
Glad you enjoyed the process and the harvest. Every year can bring something new. Edibles and pretty flowers that attract the pollinators is something good for your view, your kitchen and your spirit. Good exercise too!
I don't know if you did it intentionally or if it was just a happy accident but filling the bottom of the garden beds with wood twigs and leaves is going to ensure incredible results you have no idea how rich that dirt is going to be plus it helps with irrigation is a good chance you will never have to water those plans
Your garden is beautiful. Over planted carrots will keep in a box of sand in a quiet cool corner. Brightest Blessings
FOr a youtuber you sure play the longest game than any othher content creator ever! Wow for first timers youve done reallly well. My grandparents were not only dairy farmers, they allso grew, almost everything (except sugar, tea and flour). Nan had 3 acres of fruit and veg gardens around the house and her daily routine revolved around watering. She probably spent 3 hours watering literally every day, usually morning and night. Growing food was their second full time job. It really is a lot of work. Well done!
Love this garden journey, Morgan - great and prolific first garden! Your planning journal and awareness of what crops you enjoyed eating are such a good foundation for next year. And yes, the pile of dirt likely contributed weed seeds, and with the needs and minimal disturbance, it should get better each year.
I love using perennial vegetables! One that was a standard in old gardens is the spinach relative, Good King Henry (the 'Henry' referring to a Puck like fellow!). Can be tricky to start from seed - after it's established it's so hardy, and doesn't need extra water.
Mine (Oregon 8b) still has leaves in December, and you can eat it throughout summer! With tiny seeds like amaranth, you can rinse and use the seeds with other pseudo grains, or just cook the seed head with the leaves. If you like asparagus, you've room for that in a permanent bed.
The celery relatives like lovage and Angelica need fresh seed - you may want to get a lovage plant, and it wants water, and gets big! So is often sited near the water butt.
Happy gardening!
Love the fence and the finials! Dice the carrots and freeze them. Handy for making soup during the winter. I also prep leeks and celery the same way.
I moved back home from another continent, and we have sox raised beds (five if we dont include the one overtaken by raspberries). Gardening was honestly one of the best hobbies I could engage in daily. It forced me to be awake at a certain time, outside in the sunlight for a bit, and eating pretty healthily... All while job hunting. (Which if you've done recently, you know can be dosheartening.)
We grew all kinds of vegetables, and had a surprising amount of wins compared to our losses (namely, wormy potatoes).
As you suggested, we are already planning our garden beds for next year and I'm getting a list of seedlings to start indoors during the winter.
Even if you have an apartment, I really suggest growing something. You can regrow some foods for free! (Green onions, for one.) I think its helpful to have something you care for everyday.
Tldr: gardening kept me sane and healthier during jpb hunting, and I think even a single plant is a great option.
30 years ago i visited the fortress of Louisberg on cape Bretton Island. They had their vegetable gardens done like french formal gardens but with rough wood, made in triangles. So since we had a new house, i dug up the front lawn and built my french kings new world garden the same way.
And i absolutely agree, no more then 3 lettuce plants. But lots of carrots, i freeze them, and beans and leeks.
If it hasn't been suggested already, you might want to look into companion planting. This helps keep down the pests and the plants help to nurture each other. It's kind of awesome
If you're going to plant tomatoes next year, you NEED to get some netting to make a netted enclosure over the entire bed. Elsewise, you won't ever get to eat any because every bird and insect within a 5 mile radius will have gotten there first. Also, if you like potatoes, especially the little ones, a few potato plants can go a long way. If you want to plant gourds, give them their own bed and make sure to spread them out because they're trailing vined plants that grow out rather than up. You will have way more gourds at the end of the season than you ever thought possible.
I very much agree. My mom planted tomatoes and right before they would get ripe, a bird, chipmunk, or squirrel had toted them off so we hardly got to eat any of them. Gourds definitely spread. Some squash and zucchini can go up a trellis like the peas.
Plant your onions around the borders to protect the other vegoes from pests. Garlic works also.
You can plant forget me nots between your rock path. So pretty.
Mr. Donners one liners were a very appreciated addition to already fantastic content. Love it as always and only makes me so excited to start planning the garden for next year!
To keep from over-seeding the carrots, mix the seeds with coarse sand. Helps spread the seeds more easily.
On your lettuce and radishes plant about six seeds and in about three weeks do another row of six seeds. The radishes you can plant much more at a time due to the speed of their ripeness. So when one row is ripe and eaten you will have some ready in a couple of weeks. Do the three week planting several times. When you harvest one row plant seeds back in the row to have more.
I grew up watching my grandmother taking care of her vegetable patch, and so I can't imagine automatic watering systems. She had a giant watering can and every day that it didn't rain she would fill it twice and carry it into the garden to water the plants.
I don't have a garden and possibly never will, but with my indoor plants, it brings me great joy to give them water. It also gives me the opportunity to check on them.
My son and I both had a drop jaw moment when we saw you throw away lambs quarters. Those are our absolute favorite wild vegetable. I have even removed cultivated crops from my garden in order to make more room for lambs quarters to grow when we find then. We will go around Montpelier to different houses that we know have shady perfect areas for lambs quarters and ask them if we can harvest theirs from between the houses. We have enormous feasts of just lambsquarters. It's like spinach though when you cook it, it shrinks down by a lot, you have to pick three times as much as you plan to eat, because that's how much it will reduce by.
Tip: whole leaves tend to form a wet mat, so mowing over them helps the winter breaking down process. 😊
A great tip for planting carrots that I learned during middle school gardening lessons is to mix the carrot seeds with sand. Carrot seeds are really tiny and If you mix them with sand it's way easier to properly space then out. (You wil still need some thinning, but not in the earliest stages.)
so vegetable gardens were my hyperfixation for a while and I have some advice:
(Other people have already mentioned companion planting and native plants which are both things I highly recommend looking into)
the thing about lettuce (and spinach, and other similar crops) is that you shouldn't plant it all at once, but space it out. Like just plant some seeds every week or every two weeks. That way you don't end up with a massive amount of lettuce all at once, but just have one or two salads each week.
Also you can start a lot of plants indoors in march/april, and they'll be big and sturdy enough to go outside by may. They do need to be acclimatized to the outside world, so in my experience there's a lot of dragging trays of seedlings back and forth for a couple of weeks, but it does mean that as soon as your last frost is gone you'll have a whole bunch of seedlings ready to go and they'll have a headstart in growing. You can buy special trays and seedling soil and heat mats and whatnot, but I usually just use empty food containers and see-through foil wrap and then put them in the brightest and warmest spot I can find in the house.
And don't forget to look into which plants need to be rotated! Some plants, especially nightshades like tomatoes and potatoes but also a bunch of other ones, can't be planted in the same spot each year but need to be rotated. If you don't change where you plant them every year (and then don't return to the first spot for at least 2 but sometimes even 5 years) you run a really big risk of diseases.
(And for all of us apartment dwellers who are now jealous of morgan's garden: you can grow a lot of stuff on balconies or even indoors! definitely look into container gardening if you're interested. It does take more effort to keep them alive and healthy, but it could still be worth the try.)
I'd recommend for the carrots covering them in straw hay (that's what's it's called) or sawdust before the snow hits so that you can leave them in the ground further through the winter, its something I learned from my grandpa who lives in Wisconsin. Aslo if it helps watching create TV for some good gardening ideas for next year. Also some plants have different preferences when it comes down to how much sun they like to get so you could really get a really great yield from your garden next year. And you can use some types of flowers and plants to help keep pests down or at least lower their appearance in your garden.
You could do a couple of long skinny planters for growing things that need trellises to follow up with along a couple of the edges of your current garden to use up the rest of the soil...get ready for seasonal wack-a-mole pruning of the rosemary when it takes or you'll never see your onions again...
for greens, especially radish greens, making them into soup with a little bit of cream, is absolutely delicious. if you don't have a garden, some vegetable stores give out the loose greens for free... 😸