I’ve found writing my thoughts down, in this case a list, gives my mind permission to go to sleep. Actually getting up and doing them is definitely another option.😊
Yes journal! I keep a binder that has break pages in it to divide the years and also holds a map of the garden at the front of each year section and pocket folders for seed catalogues. I keep post it notes for projects for the year, plants to buy like fruit trees, expansion ideas and a cost analysis with budget to keep addition’s manageable and on track with the EOY plan.
OMG, this is the same thing going on with me. It's like I'm so obsessed with my garden, I constantly want to plant, plan, water, or just fiddle with ALL my seeds and already existing plants.. lol Please keep posting these videos, I learned so much from you. Thank you!
I was thinking of going out in the middle of the night to do some yard cleanup and wondered if I might alarm the neighbors if they woke up! Phone police, "some crazy person in my neighbor's yard"!January in Canada and there is no snow and the ground isn't frozen. Kind of alarming in itself.
@@dougs_urbanfarm You've got a point there! I'll get one of those lights in the next day or two. May as well get something done! Thanks for the reply:)
The box is a great idea. I have used wet unbleached paper towels to keep the seeds moist and got lots of carrots but the box seems the cheaper way to go
Hope you are eating the broccoli leaves!!! I have leaf broccoli and the leaves are amazing and if you focus on the leaves you can have it grow for years!
4:20 can also poke a few holes in the bed to help the water flow into deeper parts of the soil, I do that sometimes for new beds or pots, or for pots I bottom water them for an hour or so to get the soil rehydrated.
I don't know if anyone else has already mentioned it, but a while back I heard of a technique for direct seeding carrots which spaces them out more: Mix the carrot seeds with sand or peat moss prior to sowing. This way, the seeds germinate farther apart without much additional effort. Less time thinning later on and waste, and could work for other seeds that are super tiny as well.
Jacques, I love your board row technique! Gotta try that! I cover my carrot seeds in 1/4-1/2” 100% fine grain vermiculite and it has been a game changer for germinations. Your garden looks fab and I hope you are enjoying your new greenhouse!
Live in a hot part of New Zealand, but have for the past three seasons, managed to germinate carrots in January, due to summer rains, and applying 1 inch of irrigation over 12 hours, before sowing. By using a weather app can work out when the days will have lots of cloud and no excessive temperature.
I've also found covering carrots with cardboard helps wroth germination - our library has a seed 'check out' and i picked up local carrot seed last year!
Thats so familiar.... i also couldn't sleep Saturday night and spent the whole night thinking what to do with my garden. I woke up the next day and did hard work 3 hours then again in the evening wirked another 3 hours! Got alot done 😅
Very ironic that I had a nearly sleepless night last night. I got myself to sleep by reading new seed varieties from the different seed companies and working on my planting spreadsheet. I just got my low tunnel plastic this morning, so I can already begin construction! I felt like I was sleepwalking in Lowes today trying to get supplies!
I am so glad that you showed the sifted soil option!! I've been using seed starting soil to the same effect-- but your way is much cheaper! Thank you as well for specifying that moisture is needed and showing how to use the box. Oklahoma is UN-FOR-GIV-ING with the heat.
This is my go to method for making seed starting mix as well, way cheaper and just as effective. The moisture capture, especially protecting from the wind is crucial!
I do something very similar. I dig my little furrow. Sow my carrot seeds & cover with coco coir seed starting mix. I do that with a lot of seeds actually.
The board method never fails for carrot germination. Just plant the seeds in a very shallow furrow, water and cover with a board for a week or two until they sprout. Never fails. Also, wood chips break down pretty fast in both compost pile and garden bed. They’re gone within a year. 👍🏼
hi jacques 🤗 i was like that last week - couldn't sleep, and when i did, i was dreaming about gardening! my backyard garden is 95% raised beds, buckets and containers but i sowed carrot seeds before the rain last week. i covered the raised bed with cardboard so the seeds wouldn't wash away, but removed it before yesterday's rain. i definitely want to see how your in-ground planting goes this time around. i made two compost bins from trash cans, but also purchased a compost soil saver from the city to set up a 3 container system in a small area. tfs
That is awesome! I started my compost bin with the double trash can method and eventually ran out of space and desire to turn them which led me to going with bins. I can happily report that the carrots have emerged and look great!
I'm considering ditching my no dig raised for carrots. They germinate ok but never grow straight. They mostly come out either with little nodules on them or forked and bent 😢 I must be doing something wrong 😢
@@ivyclark70we had problems with carrots 🥕 and then I changed varieties and installed drip emitter irrigation. I made sure the bed was fluffy. Stones, sticks all bend roots, too much nitrogen and the tops will grow and roots will be hairy. I couldn’t figure out why ours were so tiny-I changed to imperators and Nantes and irrigation and we have a great crop and some are still out under mulch. The other Big change was Thinning-it will help prevent those twisted carrots. We have sandy loam and those deep soaks with irrigation helps a lot especially with severe drought.
I had the same issue with sleep, all week! I wonder if it's an annual thing related to gardening, or if everyone is experiencing this...be careful with that Crimson Clover! It can get really hard to manage really quickly!
This is my fourth year growing in the garden and I’m getting better and better at carrots… plus I went to my local feed store farmer and bought the carrots that he has by scoops because they’re pretty much work for our area..🥕🥕🥕
Hi Jacques, I hear you sometimes I can't sleep , really bad insomnia. I don't fight it anymore I just get up and write a to do list of all the things I need done for the day. I love the idea of covering the carrots(newspaper works well too) and yes as soon as they emerge remove it. Hope you fall back into your sleep schedule soon. A glass of wine also helps too 😉. Happy gardening Jacques and fellow gardeners here to 2024 growing season.
Hi, from Norway. Here it's -5 F and allmost 2 feet of snow.☃️❄️ Just been in the garden and removed some snow from my cages with insectnetting, don't wan't them to be destroyed by the snow and frost. Planing my garden for 2024, ordering seeds and watching gardenvideos on youtube while I'm waiting for the warm weather. Eager to get to sow some sweet peppers and onions under growlights late in january, and some bushtomatoes in february. I like to watch gardners with totally opposite growing conditions and challenges.😊
It is so fascinating to see the different regions and climates and the approaches to gardening in those areas. One thing I often take for granted is that I don't have to be as disciplined and careful about timing in the garden due to my flexible climate. All you cold weather gardeners have to be so patient!
It's proof that you really love something if you do it happily even when you're really tired. Many great tips here, thank you. Perhaps if you think of yourself as a churned up garden bed that needs time to settle, that will help you sleep.
Wow! Awesome video (and comments section), that just goes to show that we (The Sleepless Gardener Community) is really a thing. Naturally, I saw this video late at night, lied in bed thinking about Crimson Clover, and headed straight to Botanical Interests first thing upon waking to order some. Thanks for the great idea. Crimson clover is a unique crop, and I’m super excited😊
I used your board method for radishes also. I will try your pre-watering method. Good idea. I'm trying carrots again this spring with your method. I haven't had success before.
I threw vermiculite into my raised beds and covered it with straw to keep to soil moist. Seems to work for me. I know the small bags are expensive but i bought a huge bag from a specialty store and it's much more affordable that way.
@@jacquesinthegarden it is so sooo beautiful at sunrise. Especially in downtown Charleston. I am prejudiced for Charleston…but my husband loves where you are. A good cup of coffee and a trowel when I haven’t slept -before the sun hits -is what I live for here. I’m usually finished before sunrise. However…. I’m guessing your humidity beats ours (which is horrible!) by a LOT. Again, thanks for the vids. Your garden is incredible.
Jacques- thanks for all you do in sharing your gardening journey. QUESTION: do you have any mole/ gopher/ vole issues with all of your unground planting?
I have had this problem multiple times. Sometimes I either cant fall asleep until 3 or 4 am, or sometimes go to bed at 10 or 11pm only to wake up at 3 or 4 am and not able to go back to sleep. And my thoughts always go to the garden. Thinking about where I could squeeze something else in, or where to put another tree, or where I want to put in a mushroom bed. My garden relaxes me, but when I start thinking about it my mind wont stop.
I haven't found the mixing of wood chips that have been aged 2 to 3 months in my compost bays into the beds to create any problems in my garden. I know nitrogen lock-up is a concern for a lot of gardeners, but this year I filled a dozen new Birdies beds with 2 to 3 months composted wood chip into which I mixed bagged compost as I went, and topped the beds with 2 to 3 inches of just compost, leaving the larger chips buried from 2 or 3 inches down to the bottom of the beds. And you know what? Every bed has been growing all my garden veggies just great! My feeling is as long as you top with compost that contains fertility, the wood chip chunks deep in the root zone have not sequestered enough nitrogen to hurt anything, and have not caused any problems. If I dig down, I can find lots of wood chips that are soft on the outside, but hard in the middle, still breaking down, and none of my plants have yellowing leaves. Even my deep rooted veg like tomatoes are going like gangbusters. Incorporating wood chips into the beds has worked out great for me, and it was a free resource from my local greenwaste disposal site that made up a huge component of what I filled all these beds with, so it was a win-win. Don't be scared to mix wood chip into your compost and grow into it, especially if the chips are at least a few months composted. I encourage you to run some tests. I did this year, and have been very happy with the results.
This is a great point that adds important nuance. If you balance the fertility the issues of the wood chips are not really there. And small amounts can't really cause major issues. The only direct issues related to woody beds is direct seeding as that becomes challenge in chunky material. However, I usually transplant anyways! Glad to hear its working for you so well and actually I am thinking of switching my other garden over to full wood pathways as well.
Hi Jacques! Great video and growing tips! One thing I wanted to ask you in regards to the dry soil and making it wet again. Have you tried adding wetting agent while watering? I have recently started using Yucca Extract. It requires a little amount (liquid extract or dry powder), but even hydrophobic soli will evenly absorb the solution/water after adding yucca extract. I've been using it for a couple of months and couldn't be happier with the results. For the first couple of waterings I have been checking the soli underneeth the top layer to check and everything was perfectly wet throughout! You should give it a try! :)
I know you were so tired! Bless! At the end of video sounded like you said, 'Getting a bed ready, to flip it for the next crap' We all feel this at times😅 Love ya Jacques!
Gardening is exhausting 😂 I'd let the new bed settle for a week or two 😊 heavy watering restrictions here for the rest of summer. Thank goodness I have a water tank.
I love this video. Good information. I really benefit and get great tips for my own backyard garden. By the way I found Kevin's Epic Garden, I am an Uber driver. I saw you walking to the garden and wanted to say hi but I had a passenger 😊
I’m in the Pacific Northwest so it’s still too cold to plant but all I wanna do is garden!! Very beginner gardener, just started dipping my toe in last year.
I highly recommend getting an herb bed going when you can. Fresh garden herbs will level up your cooking more than anything and has the biggest bang for buck!
How do you get grass and other random stuff to not grow when you plant inground? I planted carrots and tomatoes in ground but too many weeds and grass kept growing, i pulled almost all of it out for over a year over and over and it didnt stop, also a lot of antbeds everywhere.
It is all about getting serious at the start. My entire garden was literally chest high grass and weeds taller than me when I started. Once we got the beds established it was a matter of being diligent in the first year when it came to weed control. I have the fortune and also misfortune of being a dry climate so once summer comes around there isn't water available for the weeds to grow outside of my drip irrigation.
Ah ok, thank you! Also, do you know anything about lotus plants? I tried growing lotus but it failed miserably and I can't seem to find a good video on it. I was growing the lotus plant and it had been about 2 months, and suddenly just died for some reason, also some weird blood worm looking things were eating the leaves and swimming in the water
I hate sleepless nights. Thinking about gardening will help do it, though, lol. I have been thinking about it nonstop. I just can't wait for spring, but I still have so much to do! I know you have mentioned it in a prior video. But where can you find find quality straw bales in San Diego? I want to fill the bottoms of my newly built raised beds to help cut down on soil. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you
I might try that with my carrots this year. Once they get going, they seem to be okay, but damn it's like I have a helluva time keeping them damp enough to germinate. Thanks for the early morning tip!
For your garlics, you can plop them all over the place here and there and wherever in your garden. It does not have to be a dedicated bed. I have heard not to plant them with beans, so don't put them in your beans. Last year, I had a huge wheelbarrow full of garlic (they keep growing even if you forget to harvest them) plus a large basket of garlic. I shared a lot of it, and replanted much also.
Got any advice for growing summer squash in a greenhouse, specifically how to pollinate? It seems the male and female flowers are never open at the same time. I have good plants and a pretty good supply of fruits but I lose them all for lack of pollination. Thanks!
You have two realistic options. 1) Cut male flowers and put them in a baggie in the fridge for a few days, or collect the pollen on a qtip or paper sheet and then put in the freezer. The pollen should be viable for a decent amount of time. 2) Get Parthenocarpic varieties, these can set fruit without the need for pollination from male to female!
I’ve had a lot of success germinating carrot seeds simply covering them with straw. After that the tops look great but the carrots are really skinny. I’ll give it another try this year. Any more tips would be greatly appreciated.
I just heard Kevin say you have a channel where you show how you use/cook with all the food you harvest! What’s the name of that channel? I subscribed to this one too.
Also have you considered what the farmers almanac said about the night or day you couldn't sleep. Curious if it correlates that you should have been planting root crops etc that day or night. I get weird off the wall urged to go deal w my plants all the time at night but I'm a younger mom of 4 so Idk if that has something to do with it. J
Hi friend 👋. I am a Geologist much like you. Currently going through the "what am i doing with my life" phase. I was wondering if you ever miss your geology career path of if you would never look back. On another note- would you be able to discuss your cold hardy pepper plant you grew last year? Is it worth it? I dont feel like i ever saw footage of it so im led to believe it didnt work out.
The nice thing is that now I can enjoy the geology without the busy work related to the research. So while I miss working on solving cool problems and research I find that I can still get the joy of observing the natural world. I am bummed to say It got lost in the mix during the seedling shuffle and I couldn't locate it :( I will try again!
I would have removed all of that straw/hay, (Hopefully clean straw), off of the top of that bed you were re-working at 08:27 minutes. Digging that into the bed and not removing it is going to starve nitrogen from the soil. Not all, but enough that the soil won't become as fertile as you really want it to. Just delaying the process. Pull it all off the top, then do your aeration and amendments and then place it back on the top. Yes - another step. But one well worth taking.
I always work my old straw into the beds and it disappears entirely within a few weeks leaving a wonderful tilth and feeling to the soil. If it was fresh straw it could take longer but any old straw breaks down crazy quick.
Two questions. I’m in zone 10b in SD and want to plant out some carrots, but the package says that the ground needs to be warm (60 degrees ideally). My soil was a chilly 41 yesterday and so I held off. Will they germinate if the soil is in 45-50 degree range? Also have you thought of putting some of your alliums around any fruit trees you have? I have them all around mine and my trees have never been so happy. Especially my avocado trees. I wonder if it has anything to do with the sulphur compounds in the onions and my trees needing sulphur in my alkaline soil. The gophers seem to leave them alone as well. Thanks for all your great content!
As far as I understand you can totally start sowing carrots once your temps are over 40 degrees. It might take longer to germinate but it should totally work, maybe sow more than you want to in order to cover worse germination. The benefit of doing it while cold is that carrots will taste better! Alliums are fantastic around trees, I know a lot of people like to plant perennial alliums around their orchard, an example is garlic chives!
@@jacquesinthegardenyes, garlic chives are great! The pollinators love the flowers and they smell terrific! They will create a mat and reseed readily if you don’t take the seed heads off.
i tired to plant carrots and radishes, however they developed only their greens above the ground, under the ground was a sad root (nothing like a normal carrot or radish). any ideas why that happened? this happened on two different occasions
how do you stop your dog from pooping/peeing in the in-ground beds? Does he have free access or do you fence it off? is this a health risk for food growing?
I do have it fenced off but Cosmo is a special one who can leap any barrier. He only does so if there is stray cat or other nighttime creature that he is trying to chase. I never see him in there otherwise. The pee is not really a concern even though it sounds gross but the poop is not a good thing to have in there. Keeping boundaries ensures that they stay on their side of the yard most of the time.
So my tomatoes have these deep purple veins on the leaves, could that just be showing signs of cold damage? ( It is a determinate) I noticed my Goji berry plants leaves are completely dark purple too 🤔
My garlic seems to have grown it's tops way too soon and too quickly, it's close to the edge of my raised bed (but not too close) was wondering if I could string up the border of my raised bed to prop up those green tops so it won't die, would this work? 🤔
I'm surprised you're taking such care to avoid woodchip in the beds. Even if it takes time to break down, it's my understanding that the wood can act as a sponge to soak up water and slowly release it as needed.
They can breakdown and become beneficial but it makes it really problematic early on with direct seeding and transplanting. The goal with buried wood is to have it deeper in the soil so that it can become spongey over time.
I’ve found writing my thoughts down, in this case a list, gives my mind permission to go to sleep. Actually getting up and doing them is definitely another option.😊
I really need to start journaling more
I keep sticky notes next to my bed for this exact reason!
I used to do this years ago and completely forgot about it until your comment. Thanks for the reminder!
Yes journal! I keep a binder that has break pages in it to divide the years and also holds a map of the garden at the front of each year section and pocket folders for seed catalogues. I keep post it notes for projects for the year, plants to buy like fruit trees, expansion ideas and a cost analysis with budget to keep addition’s manageable and on track with the EOY plan.
@@gabe5518great idea
Cosmo is so cute! He cant be guilty! 😂😂
OMG, this is the same thing going on with me. It's like I'm so obsessed with my garden, I constantly want to plant, plan, water, or just fiddle with ALL my seeds and already existing plants.. lol Please keep posting these videos, I learned so much from you. Thank you!
Its so hard to not mess with it all the time when things grow so slowly!
I like heading outside with a headlamp, night time gardening is so peaceful!
I have dabbled a little with night gardening and it is a lot of fun to see things in a deferent light!
I was thinking of going out in the middle of the night to do some yard cleanup and wondered if I might alarm the neighbors if they woke up! Phone police, "some crazy person in my neighbor's yard"!January in Canada and there is no snow and the ground isn't frozen. Kind of alarming in itself.
@lindam9018 lol all my neighbours know I'm crazy already!
@@dougs_urbanfarm You've got a point there! I'll get one of those lights in the next day or two. May as well get something done! Thanks for the reply:)
Thats dedication 😮
The box is a great idea. I have used wet unbleached paper towels to keep the seeds moist and got lots of carrots but the box seems the cheaper way to go
This is a great video, genuine as of course you are, and full of inspirational stuff. Sleep well, cher Jacques! 🇨🇦
I can't sleep, I can't garden (Zone 5a), so I'm watching you garden lol
Trickle-down gardening effect
Haha I love the trickle-down gardening effect.
Couldn't sleep this morning, woke up at 3AM, layed there for 2 hours, still couldn't sleep, got up and planted some rosemary.
My logic is that laying there doing nothing is worse than planting rosemary!
Welcome to the no sleeping club Jacque. Love your content brother! Let's make 2024 an incredible year in the garden. -Dave
Glad to be on board, and likewise hope you have an incredible 2024!
Hope you are eating the broccoli leaves!!! I have leaf broccoli and the leaves are amazing and if you focus on the leaves you can have it grow for years!
4:20 can also poke a few holes in the bed to help the water flow into deeper parts of the soil, I do that sometimes for new beds or pots, or for pots I bottom water them for an hour or so to get the soil rehydrated.
Great tip as well to get that deep water soak in!
Such a laid back, knowledgeable gardener. I always take away something from your videos, even if it just a little peace.
I don't know if anyone else has already mentioned it, but a while back I heard of a technique for direct seeding carrots which spaces them out more: Mix the carrot seeds with sand or peat moss prior to sowing. This way, the seeds germinate farther apart without much additional effort. Less time thinning later on and waste, and could work for other seeds that are super tiny as well.
I am always impressed at how eloquent you are. Kudos and thanks for the garden turnover information!
Jacques, best teaching for carrots ever! I have never had luck, ever with them. Trying this method this year! Thank you.
Jacques, I love your board row technique! Gotta try that! I cover my carrot seeds in 1/4-1/2” 100% fine grain vermiculite and it has been a game changer for germinations. Your garden looks fab and I hope you are enjoying your new greenhouse!
Vermiculite is another fantastic way to do it, bonus is that it lets the light through as well!
Live in a hot part of New Zealand, but have for the past three seasons, managed to germinate carrots in January, due to summer rains, and applying 1 inch of irrigation over 12 hours, before sowing. By using a weather app can work out when the days will have lots of cloud and no excessive temperature.
Working with the weather is for sure the smart way to go about this, great tip!
I've also found covering carrots with cardboard helps wroth germination - our library has a seed 'check out' and i picked up local carrot seed last year!
Thats so familiar.... i also couldn't sleep Saturday night and spent the whole night thinking what to do with my garden. I woke up the next day and did hard work 3 hours then again in the evening wirked another 3 hours! Got alot done 😅
Very ironic that I had a nearly sleepless night last night. I got myself to sleep by reading new seed varieties from the different seed companies and working on my planting spreadsheet. I just got my low tunnel plastic this morning, so I can already begin construction! I felt like I was sleepwalking in Lowes today trying to get supplies!
Oh man I have for sure sleep walked the hardware store before!
@@jacquesinthegarden It was bad, and I forgot a couple of things so now I have to go back tomorrow anyways!
I am so glad that you showed the sifted soil option!! I've been using seed starting soil to the same effect-- but your way is much cheaper! Thank you as well for specifying that moisture is needed and showing how to use the box. Oklahoma is UN-FOR-GIV-ING with the heat.
This is my go to method for making seed starting mix as well, way cheaper and just as effective. The moisture capture, especially protecting from the wind is crucial!
Thank you for the carrot growing tip. I tried for the first time in buckets and they took 4-6+ weeks to germinate. I'm glad I can try again now
I do something very similar. I dig my little furrow. Sow my carrot seeds & cover with coco coir seed starting mix. I do that with a lot of seeds actually.
Coco coir is a fantastic option here as well! I used to that a lot and for some reason haven't lately, thanks for the reminder.
The board method never fails for carrot germination. Just plant the seeds in a very shallow furrow, water and cover with a board for a week or two until they sprout. Never fails.
Also, wood chips break down pretty fast in both compost pile and garden bed. They’re gone within a year. 👍🏼
The board never fails!
Great tip on planting carrots and flipping a bed, thank you!
hi jacques 🤗
i was like that last week - couldn't sleep, and when i did, i was dreaming about gardening!
my backyard garden is 95% raised beds, buckets and containers but i sowed carrot seeds before the rain last week. i covered the raised bed with cardboard so the seeds wouldn't wash away, but removed it before yesterday's rain.
i definitely want to see how your in-ground planting goes this time around.
i made two compost bins from trash cans, but also purchased a compost soil saver from the city to set up a 3 container system in a small area. tfs
That is awesome! I started my compost bin with the double trash can method and eventually ran out of space and desire to turn them which led me to going with bins. I can happily report that the carrots have emerged and look great!
I'm considering ditching my no dig raised for carrots. They germinate ok but never grow straight. They mostly come out either with little nodules on them or forked and bent 😢 I must be doing something wrong 😢
@@ivyclark70we had problems with carrots 🥕 and then I changed varieties and installed drip emitter irrigation. I made sure the bed was fluffy. Stones, sticks all bend roots, too much nitrogen and the tops will grow and roots will be hairy. I couldn’t figure out why ours were so tiny-I changed to imperators and Nantes and irrigation and we have a great crop and some are still out under mulch. The other Big change was Thinning-it will help prevent those twisted carrots. We have sandy loam and those deep soaks with irrigation helps a lot especially with severe drought.
I'm in England - had to laugh at the concept of dry soil. My seeds need an aqualung and waders! 😂
The two extremes are such a challenge!
Zone 9 here. I planted Botanical Interests, Shin Kuroda carrots in Oct and they are doing well!
I had the same issue with sleep, all week! I wonder if it's an annual thing related to gardening, or if everyone is experiencing this...be careful with that Crimson Clover! It can get really hard to manage really quickly!
This is my fourth year growing in the garden and I’m getting better and better at carrots… plus I went to my local feed store farmer and bought the carrots that he has by scoops because they’re pretty much work for our area..🥕🥕🥕
Once you get past germination they aren't too bad, mostly leave them and wait!
I guess your version of insomnia... is better than shopping on Amazon.. tonight its watching you. Thank you for sharing.
That is a dangerous one!
Hi Jacques, I hear you sometimes I can't sleep , really bad insomnia. I don't fight it anymore I just get up and write a to do list of all the things I need done for the day. I love the idea of covering the carrots(newspaper works well too) and yes as soon as they emerge remove it. Hope you fall back into your sleep schedule soon. A glass of wine also helps too 😉. Happy gardening Jacques and fellow gardeners here to 2024 growing season.
Sometimes that glass of wine really does help!
Hi, from Norway. Here it's -5 F and allmost 2 feet of snow.☃️❄️ Just been in the garden and removed some snow from my cages with insectnetting, don't wan't them to be destroyed by the snow and frost. Planing my garden for 2024, ordering seeds and watching gardenvideos on youtube while I'm waiting for the warm weather. Eager to get to sow some sweet peppers and onions under growlights late in january, and some bushtomatoes in february. I like to watch gardners with totally opposite growing conditions and challenges.😊
It is so fascinating to see the different regions and climates and the approaches to gardening in those areas. One thing I often take for granted is that I don't have to be as disciplined and careful about timing in the garden due to my flexible climate. All you cold weather gardeners have to be so patient!
It's proof that you really love something if you do it happily even when you're really tired. Many great tips here, thank you.
Perhaps if you think of yourself as a churned up garden bed that needs time to settle, that will help you sleep.
The churned up garden bed analogy is too real haha
Wow! Awesome video (and comments section), that just goes to show that we (The Sleepless Gardener Community) is really a thing. Naturally, I saw this video late at night, lied in bed thinking about Crimson Clover, and headed straight to Botanical Interests first thing upon waking to order some. Thanks for the great idea. Crimson clover is a unique crop, and I’m super excited😊
Very interested to see how many sleep deprived gardeners are out there!
This is the best video I have ever seen about planting. Thank you!
I am very glad to hear that this was helpful!
I used your board method for radishes also. I will try your pre-watering method. Good idea. I'm trying carrots again this spring with your method. I haven't had success before.
Glad to hear it!
I threw vermiculite into my raised beds and covered it with straw to keep to soil moist. Seems to work for me. I know the small bags are expensive but i bought a huge bag from a specialty store and it's much more affordable that way.
Totally a good one too, I use vermiculite and straw just like that as well!
Hydrophobic soil. So glad to hear about this. It was a big mystery to me
Dry climate growers can't really reliable have moisture across the garden so it is something I have become quite attuned too!
Thanks for the tip on turning a planting bed!! 🎉
Hopefully its excitement that is keeping you awake .Try to stay stress free. Breathe and take things in stride❤
Lately I seem to not sleep often and then garden before sunrise.... Some of my best work! Great video - I enjoyed. Thanks - Angie in Charleston SC
I really want to try getting out in the garden more during sunrise.
@@jacquesinthegarden it is so sooo beautiful at sunrise. Especially in downtown Charleston. I am prejudiced for Charleston…but my husband loves where you are. A good cup of coffee and a trowel when I haven’t slept -before the sun hits -is what I live for here. I’m usually finished before sunrise. However…. I’m guessing your humidity beats ours (which is horrible!) by a LOT. Again, thanks for the vids. Your garden is incredible.
Jacques- thanks for all you do in sharing your gardening journey. QUESTION: do you have any mole/ gopher/ vole issues with all of your unground planting?
I have had this problem multiple times. Sometimes I either cant fall asleep until 3 or 4 am, or sometimes go to bed at 10 or 11pm only to wake up at 3 or 4 am and not able to go back to sleep. And my thoughts always go to the garden. Thinking about where I could squeeze something else in, or where to put another tree, or where I want to put in a mushroom bed. My garden relaxes me, but when I start thinking about it my mind wont stop.
That could be it actually, the hype of gardening keeping us up once we trail off to it.
I haven't found the mixing of wood chips that have been aged 2 to 3 months in my compost bays into the beds to create any problems in my garden. I know nitrogen lock-up is a concern for a lot of gardeners, but this year I filled a dozen new Birdies beds with 2 to 3 months composted wood chip into which I mixed bagged compost as I went, and topped the beds with 2 to 3 inches of just compost, leaving the larger chips buried from 2 or 3 inches down to the bottom of the beds. And you know what? Every bed has been growing all my garden veggies just great! My feeling is as long as you top with compost that contains fertility, the wood chip chunks deep in the root zone have not sequestered enough nitrogen to hurt anything, and have not caused any problems. If I dig down, I can find lots of wood chips that are soft on the outside, but hard in the middle, still breaking down, and none of my plants have yellowing leaves. Even my deep rooted veg like tomatoes are going like gangbusters. Incorporating wood chips into the beds has worked out great for me, and it was a free resource from my local greenwaste disposal site that made up a huge component of what I filled all these beds with, so it was a win-win. Don't be scared to mix wood chip into your compost and grow into it, especially if the chips are at least a few months composted. I encourage you to run some tests. I did this year, and have been very happy with the results.
This is a great point that adds important nuance. If you balance the fertility the issues of the wood chips are not really there. And small amounts can't really cause major issues. The only direct issues related to woody beds is direct seeding as that becomes challenge in chunky material. However, I usually transplant anyways! Glad to hear its working for you so well and actually I am thinking of switching my other garden over to full wood pathways as well.
So helpful ❤ I get the carrot requirements for soil and now understand so much failure with them! Try and get some rest!
Glad to hear this!
Hi Jacques! Great video and growing tips! One thing I wanted to ask you in regards to the dry soil and making it wet again. Have you tried adding wetting agent while watering? I have recently started using Yucca Extract. It requires a little amount (liquid extract or dry powder), but even hydrophobic soli will evenly absorb the solution/water after adding yucca extract. I've been using it for a couple of months and couldn't be happier with the results. For the first couple of waterings I have been checking the soli underneeth the top layer to check and everything was perfectly wet throughout! You should give it a try! :)
The yucca extract is something I have heard about before but haven't tried. It sounds really interesting for solving these kinds of problems!
I know you were so tired! Bless!
At the end of video sounded like you said,
'Getting a bed ready, to flip it for the next crap'
We all feel this at times😅
Love ya Jacques!
Hahaha, glad to see everyone else relate
Gardening is exhausting 😂 I'd let the new bed settle for a week or two 😊 heavy watering restrictions here for the rest of summer. Thank goodness I have a water tank.
I love this video. Good information. I really benefit and get great tips for my own backyard garden. By the way I found Kevin's Epic Garden, I am an Uber driver. I saw you walking to the garden and wanted to say hi but I had a passenger 😊
I too have a lot of garlic to plant out, it appears I am in good company.
I 💚 this! Insomnia is the worst! Love the sincerity.
Thanks for carrot tutorial. I struggle and will try your idea. I'm determined to gain success! 😎
You can do it!
I’m in the Pacific Northwest so it’s still too cold to plant but all I wanna do is garden!! Very beginner gardener, just started dipping my toe in last year.
I highly recommend getting an herb bed going when you can. Fresh garden herbs will level up your cooking more than anything and has the biggest bang for buck!
nice i plan gardening all the time when i cant sleep also....nice
How do you get grass and other random stuff to not grow when you plant inground? I planted carrots and tomatoes in ground but too many weeds and grass kept growing, i pulled almost all of it out for over a year over and over and it didnt stop, also a lot of antbeds everywhere.
It is all about getting serious at the start. My entire garden was literally chest high grass and weeds taller than me when I started. Once we got the beds established it was a matter of being diligent in the first year when it came to weed control. I have the fortune and also misfortune of being a dry climate so once summer comes around there isn't water available for the weeds to grow outside of my drip irrigation.
Ah ok, thank you! Also, do you know anything about lotus plants? I tried growing lotus but it failed miserably and I can't seem to find a good video on it. I was growing the lotus plant and it had been about 2 months, and suddenly just died for some reason, also some weird blood worm looking things were eating the leaves and swimming in the water
So helpful! Carrots are my nemesis.
I hate sleepless nights. Thinking about gardening will help do it, though, lol. I have been thinking about it nonstop. I just can't wait for spring, but I still have so much to do!
I know you have mentioned it in a prior video. But where can you find find quality straw bales in San Diego? I want to fill the bottoms of my newly built raised beds to help cut down on soil.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Nice video 👍 I learnt something from it so I’m going to make sure I write down the name of this video, thank you and Happy New Year.
Very glad you enjoyed it!
Very informative video. Thanks for the tips.
Glad you found them helpful!
Enjoy ya program ! Love ya garden ! Get job !
Benedryl is non addictive and drowsiness is a nice side effect. LD50s are massive, so its safe to take daily.
I might try that with my carrots this year. Once they get going, they seem to be okay, but damn it's like I have a helluva time keeping them damp enough to germinate. Thanks for the early morning tip!
It is really all about getting them going, after that you just have to be patient!
Love the chicken exclusion barriers.such a brilliant idea 😊
Thanks for the carrot planting tips :)
For your garlics, you can plop them all over the place here and there and wherever in your garden. It does not have to be a dedicated bed. I have heard not to plant them with beans, so don't put them in your beans.
Last year, I had a huge wheelbarrow full of garlic (they keep growing even if you forget to harvest them) plus a large basket of garlic. I shared a lot of it, and replanted much also.
Honestly, I used to be all intense about tracking varieties but now I just harvest and bunch them all together so I might actually do this.
Got any advice for growing summer squash in a greenhouse, specifically how to pollinate? It seems the male and female flowers are never open at the same time. I have good plants and a pretty good supply of fruits but I lose them all for lack of pollination. Thanks!
You have two realistic options.
1) Cut male flowers and put them in a baggie in the fridge for a few days, or collect the pollen on a qtip or paper sheet and then put in the freezer. The pollen should be viable for a decent amount of time.
2) Get Parthenocarpic varieties, these can set fruit without the need for pollination from male to female!
I’ve had a lot of success germinating carrot seeds simply covering them with straw. After that the tops look great but the carrots are really skinny. I’ll give it another try this year. Any more tips would be greatly appreciated.
Straw works well its just harder to tell what is going on, especially if some of the wheat germinates.
Adding just a touch of Dawn dish soap to your dehydrated medium will help it to soak up and shouldn't harm anything.
Makes total sense! I think I tried with Doctor Bronner's before but forgot about it.
I just heard Kevin say you have a channel where you show how you use/cook with all the food you harvest! What’s the name of that channel? I subscribed to this one too.
Also have you considered what the farmers almanac said about the night or day you couldn't sleep. Curious if it correlates that you should have been planting root crops etc that day or night. I get weird off the wall urged to go deal w my plants all the time at night but I'm a younger mom of 4 so Idk if that has something to do with it. J
Thanks for the video!
Hi friend 👋. I am a Geologist much like you. Currently going through the "what am i doing with my life" phase. I was wondering if you ever miss your geology career path of if you would never look back.
On another note- would you be able to discuss your cold hardy pepper plant you grew last year? Is it worth it? I dont feel like i ever saw footage of it so im led to believe it didnt work out.
The nice thing is that now I can enjoy the geology without the busy work related to the research. So while I miss working on solving cool problems and research I find that I can still get the joy of observing the natural world.
I am bummed to say It got lost in the mix during the seedling shuffle and I couldn't locate it :( I will try again!
Fabulous info fella!!!!
If you had an aerator, would you use that to loosen the soil?
I also garden 24/7
I would have removed all of that straw/hay, (Hopefully clean straw), off of the top of that bed you were re-working at 08:27 minutes. Digging that into the bed and not removing it is going to starve nitrogen from the soil. Not all, but enough that the soil won't become as fertile as you really want it to. Just delaying the process. Pull it all off the top, then do your aeration and amendments and then place it back on the top. Yes - another step. But one well worth taking.
I always work my old straw into the beds and it disappears entirely within a few weeks leaving a wonderful tilth and feeling to the soil. If it was fresh straw it could take longer but any old straw breaks down crazy quick.
@@jacquesinthegardenyou have chickens and that’s a lot of nitrogen 😅
TCM will help you getting good sleep 👍
Where did you get the large bag that your compost is in?
I do this all the time it'll be midnight and I'll be out doing chores and planting
Haha, I guess I need to start getting out there at night, sounds interesting.
Two questions. I’m in zone 10b in SD and want to plant out some carrots, but the package says that the ground needs to be warm (60 degrees ideally). My soil was a chilly 41 yesterday and so I held off. Will they germinate if the soil is in 45-50 degree range? Also have you thought of putting some of your alliums around any fruit trees you have? I have them all around mine and my trees have never been so happy. Especially my avocado trees. I wonder if it has anything to do with the sulphur compounds in the onions and my trees needing sulphur in my alkaline soil. The gophers seem to leave them alone as well. Thanks for all your great content!
As far as I understand you can totally start sowing carrots once your temps are over 40 degrees. It might take longer to germinate but it should totally work, maybe sow more than you want to in order to cover worse germination. The benefit of doing it while cold is that carrots will taste better!
Alliums are fantastic around trees, I know a lot of people like to plant perennial alliums around their orchard, an example is garlic chives!
@@jacquesinthegarden 😀👍🏻
@@jacquesinthegardenyes, garlic chives are great! The pollinators love the flowers and they smell terrific! They will create a mat and reseed readily if you don’t take the seed heads off.
Subscribed. Cheers from Australia mate.
Welcome aboard!
Jacques you have any tips for finding time to garden with small children? Baby is 8 months and my garden is so neglected 😂
I think you have to adopt gardening in spurts haha or maybe gardening with a baby bjorn, i've seen some people do that and it helps their kids sleep!
I find myself thinking too much about my garden's as well lol. I'm still waiting to harvest my carrots I sow since last Sept lol.
Those carrots are going to be so sweet and delicious
i tired to plant carrots and radishes, however they developed only their greens above the ground, under the ground was a sad root (nothing like a normal carrot or radish). any ideas why that happened? this happened on two different occasions
how do you stop your dog from pooping/peeing in the in-ground beds? Does he have free access or do you fence it off? is this a health risk for food growing?
I do have it fenced off but Cosmo is a special one who can leap any barrier. He only does so if there is stray cat or other nighttime creature that he is trying to chase. I never see him in there otherwise. The pee is not really a concern even though it sounds gross but the poop is not a good thing to have in there. Keeping boundaries ensures that they stay on their side of the yard most of the time.
So my tomatoes have these deep purple veins on the leaves, could that just be showing signs of cold damage? ( It is a determinate) I noticed my Goji berry plants leaves are completely dark purple too 🤔
Hi, thank you for the great video!
Glad you liked it!
One more super video bro, thanks🙏🙏🙏
Glad you liked it!
you're an icon jacques
Haha, I'll take it!
Nice Jaques I can't sleep and im watching your video
Perfect haha!
My garlic seems to have grown it's tops way too soon and too quickly, it's close to the edge of my raised bed (but not too close) was wondering if I could string up the border of my raised bed to prop up those green tops so it won't die, would this work? 🤔
It should be totally fine, if you were worried about it dying from freeze it would still recover even if it froze a little bit.
Ah phew 😅 thanks for that 👍
Must be the time of year... I have not slept well in a few nights❤
How big are your spaces for your soil sifter?
I usually have 1/2" hardware cloth for general sifting and use 1/4" for seedling mix. In this case it was the 1/4" cloth
Thank you
Another great video, Jacques. Now get some well earned sleep! 💤 😴 🛌
Slept like a baby after this one!
I'm surprised you're taking such care to avoid woodchip in the beds. Even if it takes time to break down, it's my understanding that the wood can act as a sponge to soak up water and slowly release it as needed.
They can breakdown and become beneficial but it makes it really problematic early on with direct seeding and transplanting. The goal with buried wood is to have it deeper in the soil so that it can become spongey over time.
Hi, as Cosmo's attorney I would like to remind you that he is innocent until proven guilty. 😊🐕
Haha its true it can't possibly be him, I'll let him off with a warning this time!
any wand recommendations? mine appears to have a thin rod and is developing holes
My favorite are the dram rain wands with the watering head being a "water breaker" type head which creates a finer pattern.
@@jacquesinthegarden thanks!
Me couldn’t sleep… haha filling my online shopping cart of seeds.. whiling knowing Friday we are getting snow
That is also a great solution haha
Do your dogs always try to "help" while gardening? My German shepherd loves being out there with me.
They love following me around and watching me work for sure!