As far as not knowing production and having too much, don't forget that you can always just put it in your compost pile. There's nothing wrong with putting food in your compost pile. That's not wasting food if you intend to use that food to grow more food later. In fact, I always an "overage" of crops so that I have some left for my compost pile. It's especially helpful if, like me, you have a hard time coming up with enough "greens" for your compost pile.
My first year I had 5 tomato plants in pots. 4 pepper plants. This year I had a raised bed with Gardeners Conastoga wagon looking cattle panels bent into hoops. I have good sun and it is off my back porch. I'm still screwing up daily. 10 tomatoes, 1 squash, 3 cukes, 2 peppers, and some green peas. Too much stuff in a 12 x 4 but it looks good and I am learning something every day. BTW I'm 70 and disabled. If I can do it you can.
I use Miracle Grow ( pink stuff ) when I first start putting plants into the beds. I've already put a slow release 4-6-2 into the soil mix, along with worm castings, peat moss, bone meal, calcium sources, composted manure, and my own home made compost. This year, with toms about 5feet high, I've had to add gypsum water to help small fruits near the upper most areas of the plants to help with BER. I can still get a few BER fruits, but I'm not seeing large amounts and they mostly are soft gray areas near the ends. I have a good harvest in full swing (8/20/21) so I'm satisfied this season. Bob
Love your channel. Got into gardening this year because I wanted some fresh Italian green beans like I remember from my childhood and you can't find them in Texas. So I made a raised bed, got some seeds from a local Texas seed producer. I have protected the bed from deer, my main, current adversary. Finally got the seeds in the ground. They are starting to sprout and I have plans to add some mulch when they are a bit bigger. I worry about our Texas sun and watering properly, however, right now, it's been raining a lot. Trying to follow your advice and learn from your experience so ......guess we'll see.
Plant sacrificial celery for the caterpillars that become butterflies. I discovered it this year when all of the black/yellow/white caterpillars passed over everything else in my garden for the celery. These are the colors of monarch, black swallowtail, and queen butterflies: all beneficial pollinators who I am happy to feed.
Best way to find your perfect garden spot? 6-pack method. Early spring you go to your potential garden area, drop a 6-pack there. Crack one of those bad boys open and have a relax moment. Come back out every couple hours and have a beer til you've finished the 6-pack. If your in sunlight whilst drinking each can - full sun garden, good to go!
When I started gardening, I did very poorly. (Besides my general lack of know-how, I later realized I had terrible soil!) I felt a bit depressed by my failures. Since I didn't have time to master everything, I concentrated on growing tomatoes, with which I had some partial success, and I gradually got better control over all the inputs... starting heirloom seeds on heating mats under intensive indoor shop lights 17 hours a day, fertilizing better, transplanting to milk cartons indoors and then to raised beds after the last frost. There was much more excitement in moving up the learning curve with just one vegetable than doing poorly with all of them. The internet is certainly an amazing help. I haven't branched out too much, but I get enough satisfaction from my tomato beds to do it again every year, hopefully a little better each time. That, to me, is what gardening is all about. (And, even with 36 plants now, I never have a problem finding people to take homegrown heirloom tomatoes.)
I think I recognized about 3 out of 10 mistakes I made last year and in my second year. We moved in our home in January last year and I had plenty of time left before spring, to see where the sun shines throughout the day. I keep studying the amount of sun and shade in the garden and will also time throughout the seasons, how much sun a certain area gets. Our back garden was completely paved over, so I started with two borders. But I have come up with a nice garden design plan that I will slowly make into reality next season, starting with the hard landscape and planting around the outer edges. The front garden already had fixed borders filled with gravel. I removed it and planted about half of those borders. This year I expanded the planting, but will first focus on designing a nice landscape. I tried for two seasons to work with the existing front garden border shape, but I came to the conclusion that I don't like it at all. To many squares and weird sharp corners. I will leave the current planting layout for now and will decide in a few years what I like best, until I have learned more about gardening.
I learned the hard way with zucchini. My first garden, I planted 4 zucchini plants. That was a disaster. lol Since then I only do one, and it's hard to keep up with just the one.
After the lockdown, I started planting vegetables in a wicking bed and the best advice I got was read the packet then work out how many plants I can fit in the bed. After 3 weeks, I’ve harvested the lettuce and rest are thriving. It’s summer in Australia. Thank you, Gardener Scott.
Starting off with a 4x8, 14 inch deep bed, tower for lettuces and spinach, and some grow bags. I think that's small! Growing veggies and flowers for the pollinators. Also starting a worm bin and will be putting night crawlers in the raised bed and garden areas. In a little time, I should be saving a lot of money on worm castings!
I am just starting a small scale urban vegetable garden. I am so grateful for this information. I literally thought about the raised bed with excitement. But there is so MUCH MORE to consider. Thanks 😊
Im totally the one starting TOO BIG 😂 I just want to do it all and try to grow all the weird vegetables I know nothing about . Doesn't help that I started my interest for gardening right after having a baby 😂 I definitely end up overwhelmed. This year I'm trying ordering seedlings for cherry tomatoes and perennial herbs that I totally failed growing from seeds 3 year in a row 😂 So maybe that will give me a chance . At least lettuce are easy and that's what my family loves the most , I found lots of different varieties to try this year😄 oh and patty pan squashes direct in my clay soil grows and always produce like crazy and they look cute😍
As someone just starting a garden I have made 9 of those 10 mistakes so far and I am going chem free if possible so at least I got one thing right lol.
Other than the zucchini one (looks at the 6 plants out the window), I would add time to the list. Perhaps it tags along with a couple of the others, but specifically, people end up getting busy over the summer or take a vacation. Next thing they know, they are overrun with weeds or everything is dead because they left for a week. Gardening is something you do when you know you'll be home on a regular basis.
Putting down a lot of mulch can reduce the effective size of a garden. You can make nice walkways etc. This is good for someone with slightly limited mobility. There is no need to step over anything and there is room for a "garden tool" to be brought down on the path too. Garden tool for someone with a bit of trouble getting back up: Get a fork handle with the crossbar style grip on the end. Find a small hoe or other flat head for the other end. The person can take the tool and use it to kill a weed without bending or as a thing to help then regain the standing position.
Thanks for all of the tips in your videos. I live is Fairbanks, Alaska. So my home raised beds are coming apart because they are so old. The do look pretty with the lichen growing on them. What we did the first time was fill them with old plastic milk jugs and then landscaping material on top. Now we have to bag up the brittle plastic and take them to the dump. I like all of your ideas for raised beds. The critters that like to come around our house are squirrels, hares, moose, birds. We have a chokecherry trees, crabapple tree, and a very slow and unused compost pile. We keep adding fresh stuff on top but never use the bottom part. So in the winter the animals love their free lunch.
I started with two bright pink totes, I was hungry for a home grown tomato. Now I have 5 City pickers, 10 resin half whiskey barrels and 4 raised beds, plus a ground bed for Rhubarb and a cinder block bed for raspberries, did I mention the Strawberry tower? Plus 5 Medium sized terracotta pot for herbs and 3 - 5" deep Metal trays for Chives, sage and thyme. It's taken me over 5 years to get this off the ground, and I still have a little more room for a few more. I'm using old tires for flowers, not using my more valuable space for veggies, and any container the even looks like a possibility. One of my favorites is a old grocery cart that was left here when I moved in, it's now a great cucumber bed, the vines hang down and I can harvest easily. and this all started with a craving for "A" home grown tomato....I love it.
I am a new gardener2019 was my 1st year in gardening 4 eggplants, 4 bell peppers, 4 tomatoes 2 cherry tomatoes. 2 zucchini that died not enough sun. 4 cucumber all but the zucchini do good So I got 7 raised beds for next year.
Planted out of season (from seed in june hot summer) with normal cucumbers from dollar general grew them to the size of a loaf of bread..... No chemicals ended up with 30+ quarts of pickles in the end and the plant is still producing. We live in zone 9a. Can't wait to see what happens when they are grown in the proper season. Thank you for your informational video's it's helped a lot.
I got back into gardening this year using cloth pots. Well I spent too much on those. And watering was a struggle since the plants dried out faster. But the biggest problem was the Japanese beetles. From mid May - mid July every morning I got up at 6 and pick them off the plants. The only spray I used was neem oil. That helped a little. They nearly destroyed my strawberry tower and eggplant. Ugh!
Try this homeade bug repelant 2 1/2 Tablespoons oilve oil 1 Tablespoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon of mild liquid dish soap, (tip add soap last) mix in 1 gallon of water. shake well, spray on both sides of leaves of plants to repel bugs & worms that like to eat your plants. Apply every few days or after rain.
Been there, done that. I think you covered the worst mistakes with this video. My problem is that I repeat some of them every year. But I'm getting there. And yes, I'm binge watching your videos :-) Cheers
My mistake was thinking I could leave a potted garden in the same place for winter as I do for summer (shade in AZ). Not with continous drop low temps plants slowed growth IDK what harvest will be like. Like you hv said experimentation is fun👍 Love your channel and share it with others. Best of luck for 2021.
Thank you for teaching others. Getting my master cert this coming spring and I am so excited. Keeping plants alive during the arizona heat can be done, its tough but doable! Hope you had a great weekend Scott!
I have been pretty good at not making most of these mistakes. I knew my soil was going to be an issue when I started, but I am slowly building it up. This is my third year gardening and I can already see the difference from year one. However it still has a ways to go. Though I can see my production is better than the previous years at this point. Although my garlic was a bit underwhelming but it was better than getting nothing. My biggest failure is trying to get strawberries to grow from seed. You won’t find a strawberry plant in any of my gardens yet but I will keep trying. My first year I started with Potatoes, Garlic, Oregano, Rosemary, Bunching Onions, a mild pepper plant and my failed strawberries My second year I added in Peanuts, Pineapples, and 2 more varieties of peppers, ohh and failed strawberries This year I added in Basil, 2 more new varieties of peppers, Chives, 3 orange trees from seed from the lone orange tree on the property (for insurance). Building an arching trellis for what i plan on adding next year. Ohh and my failed strawberries. Next year will be grapes, that is what the trellis is for. Not sure if there is anything else other than more failed strawberries that I want to add.
some 15years ago, we used roundup to kill weeds but i found it futile just 3 years ago, i started learning about permaculture and with the scandals related to chemicals, i'm now steering away from that mentality of buying products to fix issues and instead learning about the issues and realizing if its real issues or not i'm now letting some flowering weeds thrieve, some plants i considered to be weeds, feed the wild and honey bees and other beneficial insects and the bad weeds that spread like wild fire, i cut them and use them for compost, they also serve as mulch when let to dry for a long time i also learned to cover them with cardboard to kill them without having to pull them from the soil their network structure end benefiting the fungus
I am by no means a new gardener but I still struggle to thin plants out correctly. And if I take cuttings or sow seeds and generate too many plants I just cannot bear to discard them. Of course I give away spare plants as much as possible but some of these years I’ll have to toughen up and not pot up all those strawberry runners..
I made all the mistake, the 10 of them! I followed the square foot garden guidelines and planted 2 cucumbers per sq ft. Next to my peppers.... well, I have a jungle of cud’s choking my peppers! Too many different kind of tomatoes, (thanks baker creek!) Too much compost, not enough sand Yes, the 10 mistakes but I’m learning Florida is difficult!
I have issues with squash bugs!! I moved my ground garden to as far from the first I can. I wrapped the main stems with foil to prevent laying eggs. I also planted them further apart so I can remove eggs easier and find them. I remove excess leaves and once my plants are large enough I plan to inject neem oil in the main stem. I will be spraying soapy water to the leaves to kill the bugs. Is any of this wrong or is there anything else I should be doing? I depend on my harvest for my health. Absolutely love your channel because of the way u teach, speak clearly and don’t rush. Thank you so much for your time!!
You're making good efforts. I keep an eye out for the bugs and remove them by hand when I can. I clean up my dead plants in winter and delay planting of squash and cucumbers as late as possible to try and disrupt their lifecycle. Here's some info that might help: extension.umn.edu/fruit-and-vegetable-insects/squash-bugs
Hi gardener Scott, I'm a new subscriber an have learned some new things from your video information. I'm an old timer been organic gardening since I was twenty three, I'm seventy now. I started with seasoned gardener book from Vermont gardener Dick Raymond in the early seventies with my trusty troy tiller.I moved from south New Jersey to a mountain top in eastern PA. in 2004, an couldn't till anymore to many rocks, so I than started raised beds, which I totally love, for me definitely a better way. Question, are you also a mountain top gardener? If so I seem to have to water almost everyday, even with a good mulch on plant beds, because of the constant strong winds I get almost everyday it seems. I don't seem to be over watering, plants are healthy, but I feel like I do. Thought I heard in one of your video's you stated you live on a mountain top, why I asked the question, if so do you have the wind to deal with an extra watering that has to be done for it? Should I try an not water almost everyday, my plants do look a little stressed many times, so I baby them, maybe I shouldn't. Keep up the great video's, always something to learn.
Hi, Raymond. I'm not on a mountain top, but my garden is at 7500' elevation. I do have to water more, mulch a lot, and have very strong winds. With organic matter in the soil and good mulch you might be able to spread out watering, but do what you need to to maintain consistent soil moisture.
Take care of your equipment. I left my tools out over winter in a box and it rusted. I didn't know it would do that. So now I bring all of it indoors and clean it well. I also put a little oil on them to keep them even more protected. I also oil the wooden handles of rakes and the like. I no longer buy everything new. So many things can be bought used or repurposed from your household waste. An old wardrobe fixture is now my bean and pea trellis. I want to spend my money on seeds. :D
Planting plants , trees , rosebushes and even seeds too deep or not deep enough. Realizing that many things they put in the planting hole are not necessary and some , like blood meal , is not available to plants to use for nitrogen right away. Use manure that is composted instead and only sparingly mixed into the soil.
LOL - Guilty of most. Thanks! I have learned that gardens are not plug-and-play. I learned to study and get to know the plants I want as if they are people with different personalities and needs if I am expecting to have a great, long-term relationship with them.
Guilty of much of this Sir. I put my composter at the rear of the yard, away from commonly used areas by neighbours and us, there's a tree line of trees that are almost what youd call mature, the composter is shaded once the trees grow leaves. I lucked out on location w that.
I'm wondering about your use of drip irrigation. We live in Albuquerque, N M and are starting a raised bed garden and plan to use your system of starting them. How often do you water, how long? We plan on using tree mulch to insulate, preserve water, etc.
I don't use a lot of drip irrigation because I like to be sure the plants are getting what they need, when they need it. How often and how long depends on whether the day is cloudy or sunny, how well amended the soil is, how big the plant is, and how much mulch you use. I like hand watering and will check each bed and change my watering based on the plant's needs. For perennial plants a drip system can save time and energy because scheduled waterings can supply consistent water to big root systems. But for vegetable gardens, I feel the plants do better with individualized attention.
In farming there is an accepted crop rotation . Certain crops use specific nutrients and others add certain nutrients back into the soil, thus giving an order in which crop should be rotated. Is there an order of rotation for my garden.. such as beans after tomatoes or squash after cauliflower ? What order or guide book would you recommend?
There are some standard recommendations for crop rotation. One way is to divide your plants into four categories: legumes, root vegetables (carrots, beets, parsnips), fruiting plants (tomatoes, cucumbers, squash), and leafy greens. That is the order of planting. This can be a good way to start. I am not so strict in my rotation and add cover crops as a category. This book might have some good info for you: amzn.to/2Ks2WUa
@GardenerScott, it's late November, and I'm putting the finishing touches on my first bed in my new house. I bought the cloth and PVC for a tunnel, and I've got the soil analysis and amendments, including a good compost (purchased). I'd love to try planting greens as soon as the bed is ready. I'm struggling, because part of me thinks I should wait, but the thoughts of fresh greens from my garden is enticing. It's been in the 40's, and 50's, and even 60's here in Delaware. Thoughts? Thanks in advance! Edit - I'm in zone 7a.
That's great, Maggie. You can grow many plants in the 40s and warmer. With a cover for the tunnel, spinach, chard, root crops, and kale will shake off the cold. You can try sowing seed directly but germination will be slow. When temperatures drop below 25 the plants can be damaged or die so you should wait until after the coldest days of winter for extensive planting.
@@GardenerScott thank you. After some more thought, I've decided I'd rather wait so I'll have a better chance at success. Perhaps I'll be braver once I've had some experience. It'd be my luck to sow some seeds and the weather to turn into true winter a few days later. :D
I haven't got the space to start a garden, but for a good 5 years now I've been "prepping". Learning how to do these things for when I can/need. But you touched on soil, and a lot of what I want to do is with hydroponics but that isn't exclusive. I was wondering if you had any good sources that I could learn from for soil amendment. I am fond of detail so that I can have a strong understanding. So if it seems boring I'd still be interested. I haven't found much on the subject. Usually I get told to "have it tested" but what if that's not a possibility? Surely there are alternatives.
Here's a good place to start with basic soil science: www.fao.org/3/AC172E/AC172E03.htm I'll be doing a soil video early next year, because understanding soil and what kind of soil you have determines what kind of amendment is best.
I am an all organic gardener because I had goats that ate off my land. I put only organic mulches and compost. The problem now is that everything grows not just what I eat. Oh well... Atleast I have plenty of free mulch
Hey Gardener Scott, greetings from snowy Norway. I start to composting direct in raised beds to get better soil in spring. Have anyone experience with this type of soil improvement?
Hello. I imagine Norway can be challenging to a gardener. I add compost ingredients to the bottom of new raised beds. On the top of the beds I use leaves, straw and grass as mulch. I don't bury organic matter, a common way to compost in a bed, but I will be trying it next year and document how well it works.
Weather conditions in winter are ruff , but we have long days from may til august with more then 18 housers of sunlight and good water conditions. I will try composting directly in one of mine, and see how it will goes.
I have been In-situ composting for a few seasons, mainly in the winter. I'll compost in my Hugelkultur beds, mark with a flag, then next time I add compost Ill move down the line abut 18" or so. It definitely has improved my soil. Here is a pic of "after thanksgiving" In-situ composting (Composting in place) c1.staticflickr.com/5/4812/46353134641_e492a2e738_b.jpg
I'm no expert but get decent results and have never used pesticides with rare exceptions for organic types and I use diluted dish detergent to squirt on artichokes to drown earwigs.
After watching you for a while now, a few other gardeners and talking to my mother-in-law who is a certified master gardener. I have a question about garden placement. Most of the advice I have gotten says to orient my garden on the south as this will provide the most sun during the day. My husband and I just recently purchased a home in North East Indiana. The house sits facing south on the lot and has a larger privacy fenced yard that runs the entire length of the west side of the lot. The front yard on the south side of my home is small and well shaded by a mature sugar maple. We are planning on putting our garden inside the privacy fence on the north west side of our home. This area seems to get the most sun through the day at least 6 hours. Is a northerly oriented garden going to encounter any special problems I might need to consider?
The most important aspect is the amount of sun. Many experienced gardeners will recommend you orient a garden on the south because of the assumption that you'll have more sun. Trees can change that. It's better to do as you have and analyze your space for the best area, with the most sun. A big concern with a northerly garden is the amount of shade in spring and fall that will be cast by your house and other structures. You may have a shorter growing season because that area will thaw slower in spring and freeze earlier in fall.
It depends on the plants. Some plants do okay in clumps and others need thinning to be single. Plants that are susceptible to fungal diseases should have room for air circulation.
Been watching a lot of your videos, and I find them very informative. What baffles me is that your raised beds in every single one of the videos I have seen so far, at least a dozen of them, are always empty. Do you actually grow stuff in them?
Thanks for the question. This is a brand new garden and the beds are brand new. I have grown a few things here, but not much in this first year. I have many, many other videos that show the plants I grew in the school garden I built (100 raised beds) and in my previous home garden. Here's a popular video that shows my tomatoes and pruning techniques: th-cam.com/video/Vz9VmI0tTSk/w-d-xo.html
My garden I have to have about eight hundred feet of water hose to get to it. Lol not a lot of fun good advice. first-year I used all homemade compost in my two or three raised beds that I had did really well. Then I bought some compost from a nursery I don't know what they composted down but it didn't grow very well. I probably still will end up buying it from them. but then putting my own compost on the top 6inchs or so to have something better to grow in. Really been enjoying your channel.
You might consider supplying a water outlet closer to your garden with buried PVC. It's not particularly expensive, especially if you can do it yourself. And your issue with compost may not be the compost itself ... I had a similar experience with my raised beds. First year, the plants did well. Subsequent next few seasons, not so well. Frustrating! For me, the solution was to lay a thick layer of compost on top of the soil in the fall (I use "no-dig") and then cover the beds with a thick layer of mulch - I use leaves. Then remove (and compost) the mulch in the spring. I'm thinking that nutrients (especially nitrogen) are leached from the bare soil over the winter and the mulch prevents this leaching. It makes sense that your crops would do well in your first season as the soil would be fresh and full of nutrients. I'm no expert but this works for me. Cheers.
@@priayiefit wasn't the second-year for those beds it was the first year with the compost from the nursery. The beds with the second year compost that I made did way better than the other ones. But yeah I've been thinking about doing the pipe myself but water hoses are so much quicker lol
@@theoverworkedgardener5648 I guess that's testimony to the quality of home-made compost. Gotta agree about the hoses vs the PVC. I dithered for several years before I had a rare ambitious moment and installed my PVC water supply. It's always "easier" once you've done it. Have a great day.
Know your "pests" and find ways to live with them. For me, that's not bugs so much as four-legged critters and birds. Rabbits will eat certain plants to the ground, and the only solution is fencing. Cardinals nest in my yews, which is nice. But they also peck any red tomato, so I have to net big tomatoes once fruit begins to ripen. (They can have a few cherry tomatoes and I don't mind.) Deer only arrive once commercial corn nearby is cut, so I can ignore them as a pest until late September. I was told moles were a problem, but I find them helpful in my garden. (Cut worms can't survive them for long, and they help aerate clay soil.) But anyone else's wildlife issues will certainly be different! Permaculture principles, I suppose: observe first. And try not to resent the animals for being what they are. Find a way to share your space with them. Do what you can (fencing/netting) to save crops that matter to you. And maybe grow them some amaranth or sunflowers and one berry bush that's just for them.
My wife is a know-it-all who plants seeds in piles and has five or six seedlings coming out of the same spot. It never works. She never learns. I’m going to pull out the extras myself because I’m so tired of seeing this season after season.
Moved to a new home, tilled up a 200x100 foot garden, planted 92 tomato plants and lost them all because of all the walnut trees around the garden area. Did not know about the adverse effects walnut trees have on other vegetation. I do now!
the first thing i learned as a gardener... was you cant have it all. I struggled against nature constantly until i finally accepted it. You cant grow everything in your area, no matter where you live. dont fight it. Ill just not have some of the plants I want... and i have to accept it.
my city and the neighboring city have huge wood chip piles in the back of a certain city park. Yours may too: check with your parks department. With my city some of it is 3 years old, so decomposed to soil already, and you could plant directly into it. I save plastic bags from any compost/topsoil/mulch I've bought at the store, and I ask friends to save their empty bags. That way, even without a pickup truck, I can fit a ton of filled bags into my little car with each trip.
As a relatively new gardener -- a few years -- the only way to bear continuing is to square myself with the inevitability of failure, the necessity of trial and error, the growth of ability, and the need to watch shows like this. Many thanks.
My first real attempt at gardening was an expensive disaster. I bought grow lights and shelving, a tractor, water tank and trailer. A thousand dollars later (1978), I had ten thousand tomato plants. Long story short, the soil was so ruined by my landlord's neglect and misuse, it wouldn't grow weeds, much less the tomatoes and onions we planted. Nothing came out just fine. I still have a lot to learn, but I have black dirt under every finger nail. I learned how to fail. Just do it anyway. That's how we learn best. Thanks for this important video!
A good start is to learn about "living" soil. Living plants build soil. Use a cover crop in your garden area. Keep roots in the soil all the time. I use clover , rye grass, and other plants to keep the soil "living" when it is not being used for my garden.
Good question. My video coming on Sunday will discuss my top 10 choices. The ones that I avoid are Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, okra, artichokes, and celery; they just don't do well in my area.
You can look back to some of my earlier videos to see the school garden where I had 100 raised beds, fruit trees, and a 42' dome greenhouse. Or to the videos of my last garden with tomatoes, herbs, and flowers. This is a new house and a new garden and so my recent videos are showing the building of the new garden.
As far as not knowing production and having too much, don't forget that you can always just put it in your compost pile. There's nothing wrong with putting food in your compost pile. That's not wasting food if you intend to use that food to grow more food later. In fact, I always an "overage" of crops so that I have some left for my compost pile. It's especially helpful if, like me, you have a hard time coming up with enough "greens" for your compost pile.
My first year I had 5 tomato plants in pots. 4 pepper plants. This year I had a raised bed with Gardeners Conastoga wagon looking cattle panels bent into hoops. I have good sun and it is off my back porch. I'm still screwing up daily. 10 tomatoes, 1 squash, 3 cukes, 2 peppers, and some green peas. Too much stuff in a 12 x 4 but it looks good and I am learning something every day. BTW I'm 70 and disabled. If I can do it you can.
I use Miracle Grow ( pink stuff ) when I first start putting plants into the beds. I've already put a slow release 4-6-2 into the soil mix, along with worm castings, peat moss, bone meal, calcium sources, composted manure, and my own home made compost. This year, with toms about 5feet high, I've had to add gypsum water to help small fruits near the upper most areas of the plants to help with BER. I can still get a few BER fruits, but I'm not seeing large amounts and they mostly are soft gray areas near the ends. I have a good harvest in full swing (8/20/21) so I'm satisfied this season. Bob
Love your channel. Got into gardening this year because I wanted some fresh Italian green beans like I remember from my childhood and you can't find them in Texas. So I made a raised bed, got some seeds from a local Texas seed producer. I have protected the bed from deer, my main, current adversary. Finally got the seeds in the ground. They are starting to sprout and I have plans to add some mulch when they are a bit bigger. I worry about our Texas sun and watering properly, however, right now, it's been raining a lot. Trying to follow your advice and learn from your experience so ......guess we'll see.
I laughed so hard watching this video because I made every single mistake in my first year of gardening 😂
Plant sacrificial celery for the caterpillars that become butterflies. I discovered it this year when all of the black/yellow/white caterpillars passed over everything else in my garden for the celery. These are the colors of monarch, black swallowtail, and queen butterflies: all beneficial pollinators who I am happy to feed.
Great idea, Andrew! Thanks.
Best way to find your perfect garden spot? 6-pack method. Early spring you go to your potential garden area, drop a 6-pack there. Crack one of those bad boys open and have a relax moment. Come back out every couple hours and have a beer til you've finished the 6-pack. If your in sunlight whilst drinking each can - full sun garden, good to go!
That is a fantastic idea. Mind if I borrow it for my own garden and to use in future videos?
@@GardenerScott feel free! You'll do it once and wish you started a new garden each year! Haha
When I started gardening, I did very poorly. (Besides my general lack of know-how, I later realized I had terrible soil!) I felt a bit depressed by my failures. Since I didn't have time to master everything, I concentrated on growing tomatoes, with which I had some partial success, and I gradually got better control over all the inputs... starting heirloom seeds on heating mats under intensive indoor shop lights 17 hours a day, fertilizing better, transplanting to milk cartons indoors and then to raised beds after the last frost. There was much more excitement in moving up the learning curve with just one vegetable than doing poorly with all of them. The internet is certainly an amazing help. I haven't branched out too much, but I get enough satisfaction from my tomato beds to do it again every year, hopefully a little better each time. That, to me, is what gardening is all about. (And, even with 36 plants now, I never have a problem finding people to take homegrown heirloom tomatoes.)
That's a nice approach. Thanks for sharing.
I learned that my family doesn't like swiss chard after I planted a 10 foot row and it grew great. Don't plant things your family doesn't like to eat.
I think I recognized about 3 out of 10 mistakes I made last year and in my second year. We moved in our home in January last year and I had plenty of time left before spring, to see where the sun shines throughout the day. I keep studying the amount of sun and shade in the garden and will also time throughout the seasons, how much sun a certain area gets. Our back garden was completely paved over, so I started with two borders. But I have come up with a nice garden design plan that I will slowly make into reality next season, starting with the hard landscape and planting around the outer edges. The front garden already had fixed borders filled with gravel. I removed it and planted about half of those borders. This year I expanded the planting, but will first focus on designing a nice landscape. I tried for two seasons to work with the existing front garden border shape, but I came to the conclusion that I don't like it at all. To many squares and weird sharp corners. I will leave the current planting layout for now and will decide in a few years what I like best, until I have learned more about gardening.
I learned the hard way with zucchini. My first garden, I planted 4 zucchini plants. That was a disaster. lol Since then I only do one, and it's hard to keep up with just the one.
After the lockdown, I started planting vegetables in a wicking bed and the best advice I got was read the packet then work out how many plants I can fit in the bed. After 3 weeks, I’ve harvested the lettuce and rest are thriving. It’s summer in Australia. Thank you, Gardener Scott.
Starting off with a 4x8, 14 inch deep bed, tower for lettuces and spinach, and some grow bags. I think that's small! Growing veggies and flowers for the pollinators. Also starting a worm bin and will be putting night crawlers in the raised bed and garden areas. In a little time, I should be saving a lot of money on worm castings!
I am just starting a small scale urban vegetable garden. I am so grateful for this information. I literally thought about the raised bed with excitement. But there is so MUCH MORE to consider. Thanks 😊
Im totally the one starting TOO BIG 😂 I just want to do it all and try to grow all the weird vegetables I know nothing about . Doesn't help that I started my interest for gardening right after having a baby 😂 I definitely end up overwhelmed. This year I'm trying ordering seedlings for cherry tomatoes and perennial herbs that I totally failed growing from seeds 3 year in a row 😂 So maybe that will give me a chance . At least lettuce are easy and that's what my family loves the most , I found lots of different varieties to try this year😄 oh and patty pan squashes direct in my clay soil grows and always produce like crazy and they look cute😍
Sounds like you're turning into a crazy gardener like the rest of us. 😉 Keep enjoying it!
As someone just starting a garden I have made 9 of those 10 mistakes so far and I am going chem free if possible so at least I got one thing right lol.
Other than the zucchini one (looks at the 6 plants out the window), I would add time to the list. Perhaps it tags along with a couple of the others, but specifically, people end up getting busy over the summer or take a vacation. Next thing they know, they are overrun with weeds or everything is dead because they left for a week. Gardening is something you do when you know you'll be home on a regular basis.
Putting down a lot of mulch can reduce the effective size of a garden. You can make nice walkways etc. This is good for someone with slightly limited mobility. There is no need to step over anything and there is room for a "garden tool" to be brought down on the path too.
Garden tool for someone with a bit of trouble getting back up:
Get a fork handle with the crossbar style grip on the end.
Find a small hoe or other flat head for the other end.
The person can take the tool and use it to kill a weed without bending or as a thing to help then regain the standing position.
Good ideas. Thanks.
Zucchini on my neighbor's door step! Probably the best idea yet. (Smothering my wicked laughter...)
😂 now it's even more relevant ,with social distancing.
@@RexySmith Bwaaahaaa!
I know right 😂😂
Plant things with similar water needs in the same bed/area. Keep in mind that tall plants will shade out smaller plants and place accordingly.
Absolutely. Sound practices.
I am guilty of at least 6 of these mistakes. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for all of the tips in your videos. I live is Fairbanks, Alaska. So my home raised beds are coming apart because they are so old. The do look pretty with the lichen growing on them. What we did the first time was fill them with old plastic milk jugs and then landscaping material on top. Now we have to bag up the brittle plastic and take them to the dump. I like all of your ideas for raised beds. The critters that like to come around our house are squirrels, hares, moose, birds. We have a chokecherry trees, crabapple tree, and a very slow and unused compost pile. We keep adding fresh stuff on top but never use the bottom part. So in the winter the animals love their free lunch.
Sounds like a wonderful garden. I've enjoyed Fairbanks the two times I visited.
I started with two bright pink totes, I was hungry for a home grown tomato. Now I have 5 City pickers, 10 resin half whiskey barrels and 4 raised beds, plus a ground bed for Rhubarb and a cinder block bed for raspberries, did I mention the Strawberry tower? Plus 5 Medium sized terracotta pot for herbs and 3 - 5" deep Metal trays for Chives, sage and thyme. It's taken me over 5 years to get this off the ground, and I still have a little more room for a few more. I'm using old tires for flowers, not using my more valuable space for veggies, and any container the even looks like a possibility. One of my favorites is a old grocery cart that was left here when I moved in, it's now a great cucumber bed, the vines hang down and I can harvest easily. and this all started with a craving for "A" home grown tomato....I love it.
That's awesome! A simple start can lead to great things.
I am a new gardener2019 was my 1st year in gardening 4 eggplants, 4 bell peppers, 4 tomatoes 2 cherry tomatoes. 2 zucchini that died not enough sun. 4 cucumber all but the zucchini do good So I got 7 raised beds for next year.
Sounds like a great start. Enjoy your success next year.
Planted out of season (from seed in june hot summer) with normal cucumbers from dollar general grew them to the size of a loaf of bread..... No chemicals ended up with 30+ quarts of pickles in the end and the plant is still producing. We live in zone 9a. Can't wait to see what happens when they are grown in the proper season. Thank you for your informational video's it's helped a lot.
That sounds like a great success. Good job.
I’m a new gardener and need all the tips to help me be successful. Thanks 🇨🇦👍
I got back into gardening this year using cloth pots. Well I spent too much on those. And watering was a struggle since the plants dried out faster. But the biggest problem was the Japanese beetles. From mid May - mid July every morning I got up at 6 and pick them off the plants. The only spray I used was neem oil. That helped a little. They nearly destroyed my strawberry tower and eggplant. Ugh!
Sounds like a struggle. Hope you got some strawberries and eggplants to your kitchen.
Try this homeade bug repelant
2 1/2 Tablespoons oilve oil
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of mild liquid dish soap, (tip add soap last)
mix in 1 gallon of water. shake well, spray on both sides of leaves of plants to repel bugs & worms that like to eat your plants. Apply every few days or after rain.
Been there, done that. I think you covered the worst mistakes with this video. My problem is that I repeat some of them every year. But I'm getting there. And yes, I'm binge watching your videos :-) Cheers
plus different plants will soak up water differently and will need water st different intervals its a feeling and hands on experience.
Good point. Every plant has its own needs.
My mistake was thinking I could leave a potted garden in the same place for winter as I do for summer (shade in AZ). Not with continous drop low temps plants slowed growth IDK what harvest will be like. Like you hv said experimentation is fun👍 Love your channel and share it with others. Best of luck for 2021.
Thank you for teaching others. Getting my master cert this coming spring and I am so excited. Keeping plants alive during the arizona heat can be done, its tough but doable! Hope you had a great weekend Scott!
Thanks. My brother lives in Arizona so I'm aware of the very challenging gardening environment. Best wishes on your new adventure.
I feel your pain. It's even harder when you have to do it in containers :-)
I have been pretty good at not making most of these mistakes. I knew my soil was going to be an issue when I started, but I am slowly building it up. This is my third year gardening and I can already see the difference from year one. However it still has a ways to go. Though I can see my production is better than the previous years at this point. Although my garlic was a bit underwhelming but it was better than getting nothing.
My biggest failure is trying to get strawberries to grow from seed. You won’t find a strawberry plant in any of my gardens yet but I will keep trying.
My first year I started with Potatoes, Garlic, Oregano, Rosemary, Bunching Onions, a mild pepper plant and my failed strawberries
My second year I added in Peanuts, Pineapples, and 2 more varieties of peppers, ohh and failed strawberries
This year I added in Basil, 2 more new varieties of peppers, Chives, 3 orange trees from seed from the lone orange tree on the property (for insurance). Building an arching trellis for what i plan on adding next year. Ohh and my failed strawberries.
Next year will be grapes, that is what the trellis is for. Not sure if there is anything else other than more failed strawberries that I want to add.
Nice and beautifully explained.
Thanks a lot 😊
some 15years ago, we used roundup to kill weeds
but i found it futile
just 3 years ago, i started learning about permaculture and with the scandals related to chemicals, i'm now steering away from that mentality of buying products to fix issues
and instead learning about the issues and realizing if its real issues or not
i'm now letting some flowering weeds thrieve, some plants i considered to be weeds, feed the wild and honey bees and other beneficial insects
and the bad weeds that spread like wild fire, i cut them and use them for compost, they also serve as mulch when let to dry for a long time
i also learned to cover them with cardboard to kill them without having to pull them from the soil
their network structure end benefiting the fungus
i heard crunched up leaves work as well as cardboard, i have never tried it
Always enjoy your videos sir..
Thank you, Robert.
I am by no means a new gardener but I still struggle to thin plants out correctly. And if I take cuttings or sow seeds and generate too many plants I just cannot bear to discard them. Of course I give away spare plants as much as possible but some of these years I’ll have to toughen up and not pot up all those strawberry runners..
Thinning can be difficult, both practically and emotionally. I try to save as many of the thinned plants as I can. Sharing is a great idea.
Thanks for all you do.
Thanks Garden Scott for all the great tips! This video surely will be useful for many years to come!
Thanks, Stan.
I made all the mistake, the 10 of them!
I followed the square foot garden guidelines and planted 2 cucumbers per sq ft. Next to my peppers.... well, I have a jungle of cud’s choking my peppers!
Too many different kind of tomatoes, (thanks baker creek!)
Too much compost, not enough sand
Yes, the 10 mistakes but I’m learning
Florida is difficult!
It sounds like you're learning and getting better. Good job.
I have issues with squash bugs!! I moved my ground garden to as far from the first I can. I wrapped the main stems with foil to prevent laying eggs. I also planted them further apart so I can remove eggs easier and find them. I remove excess leaves and once my plants are large enough I plan to inject neem oil in the main stem. I will be spraying soapy water to the leaves to kill the bugs. Is any of this wrong or is there anything else I should be doing? I depend on my harvest for my health. Absolutely love your channel because of the way u teach, speak clearly and don’t rush. Thank you so much for your time!!
You're making good efforts. I keep an eye out for the bugs and remove them by hand when I can. I clean up my dead plants in winter and delay planting of squash and cucumbers as late as possible to try and disrupt their lifecycle. Here's some info that might help: extension.umn.edu/fruit-and-vegetable-insects/squash-bugs
can u give advice about watering with no till?thanks a lot
Good suggestion. I am planning a watering video in the spring.
Hi gardener Scott, I'm a new subscriber an have learned some new things from your video information. I'm an old timer been organic gardening since I was twenty three, I'm seventy now. I started with seasoned gardener book from Vermont gardener Dick Raymond in the early seventies with my trusty troy tiller.I moved from south New Jersey to a mountain top in eastern PA. in 2004, an couldn't till anymore to many rocks, so I than started raised beds, which I totally love, for me definitely a better way. Question, are you also a mountain top gardener? If so I seem to have to water almost everyday, even with a good mulch on plant beds, because of the constant strong winds I get almost everyday it seems. I don't seem to be over watering, plants are healthy, but I feel like I do. Thought I heard in one of your video's you stated you live on a mountain top, why I asked the question, if so do you have the wind to deal with an extra watering that has to be done for it? Should I try an not water almost everyday, my plants do look a little stressed many times, so I baby them, maybe I shouldn't. Keep up the great video's, always something to learn.
Hi, Raymond. I'm not on a mountain top, but my garden is at 7500' elevation. I do have to water more, mulch a lot, and have very strong winds. With organic matter in the soil and good mulch you might be able to spread out watering, but do what you need to to maintain consistent soil moisture.
Take care of your equipment. I left my tools out over winter in a box and it rusted. I didn't know it would do that. So now I bring all of it indoors and clean it well. I also put a little oil on them to keep them even more protected. I also oil the wooden handles of rakes and the like. I no longer buy everything new. So many things can be bought used or repurposed from your household waste. An old wardrobe fixture is now my bean and pea trellis. I want to spend my money on seeds. :D
Planting plants , trees , rosebushes and even seeds too deep or not deep enough. Realizing that many things they put in the planting hole are not necessary and some , like blood meal , is not available to plants to use for nitrogen right away. Use manure that is composted instead and only sparingly mixed into the soil.
Those are good suggestions. Thanks, Dee.
LOL - Guilty of most. Thanks! I have learned that gardens are not plug-and-play. I learned to study and get to know the plants I want as if they are people with different personalities and needs if I am expecting to have a great, long-term relationship with them.
Good way to say it. Plant-and-grow doesn't always work.
That sounds true, thank you Scott.
You're welcome.
Guilty of much of this Sir. I put my composter at the rear of the yard, away from commonly used areas by neighbours and us, there's a tree line of trees that are almost what youd call mature, the composter is shaded once the trees grow leaves. I lucked out on location w that.
I'm wondering about your use of drip irrigation. We live in Albuquerque, N M and are starting a raised bed garden and plan to use your system of starting them. How often do you water, how long? We plan on using tree mulch to insulate, preserve water, etc.
I don't use a lot of drip irrigation because I like to be sure the plants are getting what they need, when they need it. How often and how long depends on whether the day is cloudy or sunny, how well amended the soil is, how big the plant is, and how much mulch you use. I like hand watering and will check each bed and change my watering based on the plant's needs. For perennial plants a drip system can save time and energy because scheduled waterings can supply consistent water to big root systems. But for vegetable gardens, I feel the plants do better with individualized attention.
In farming there is an accepted crop rotation . Certain crops use specific nutrients and others add certain nutrients back into the soil, thus giving an order in which crop should be rotated. Is there an order of rotation for my garden.. such as beans after tomatoes or squash after cauliflower ? What order or guide book would you recommend?
There are some standard recommendations for crop rotation. One way is to divide your plants into four categories: legumes, root vegetables (carrots, beets, parsnips), fruiting plants (tomatoes, cucumbers, squash), and leafy greens. That is the order of planting. This can be a good way to start. I am not so strict in my rotation and add cover crops as a category. This book might have some good info for you: amzn.to/2Ks2WUa
@GardenerScott, it's late November, and I'm putting the finishing touches on my first bed in my new house. I bought the cloth and PVC for a tunnel, and I've got the soil analysis and amendments, including a good compost (purchased). I'd love to try planting greens as soon as the bed is ready. I'm struggling, because part of me thinks I should wait, but the thoughts of fresh greens from my garden is enticing. It's been in the 40's, and 50's, and even 60's here in Delaware. Thoughts? Thanks in advance! Edit - I'm in zone 7a.
That's great, Maggie. You can grow many plants in the 40s and warmer. With a cover for the tunnel, spinach, chard, root crops, and kale will shake off the cold. You can try sowing seed directly but germination will be slow. When temperatures drop below 25 the plants can be damaged or die so you should wait until after the coldest days of winter for extensive planting.
@@GardenerScott thank you. After some more thought, I've decided I'd rather wait so I'll have a better chance at success. Perhaps I'll be braver once I've had some experience. It'd be my luck to sow some seeds and the weather to turn into true winter a few days later. :D
I use Scott four step on my lawn. Can I garden in my existing soil, or do I need to avoid it and find other soil for my raised garden/
Your existing soil should be okay. Amend it with compost, aged manure, humus, or other organic matter for better results.
I haven't got the space to start a garden, but for a good 5 years now I've been "prepping". Learning how to do these things for when I can/need. But you touched on soil, and a lot of what I want to do is with hydroponics but that isn't exclusive. I was wondering if you had any good sources that I could learn from for soil amendment. I am fond of detail so that I can have a strong understanding. So if it seems boring I'd still be interested. I haven't found much on the subject. Usually I get told to "have it tested" but what if that's not a possibility? Surely there are alternatives.
Here's a good place to start with basic soil science: www.fao.org/3/AC172E/AC172E03.htm I'll be doing a soil video early next year, because understanding soil and what kind of soil you have determines what kind of amendment is best.
I am an all organic gardener because I had goats that ate off my land. I put only organic mulches and compost. The problem now is that everything grows not just what I eat. Oh well... Atleast I have plenty of free mulch
Hey Gardener Scott, greetings from snowy Norway.
I start to composting direct in raised beds to get better soil in spring.
Have anyone experience with this type of soil improvement?
Compost is king.
Hello. I imagine Norway can be challenging to a gardener. I add compost ingredients to the bottom of new raised beds. On the top of the beds I use leaves, straw and grass as mulch. I don't bury organic matter, a common way to compost in a bed, but I will be trying it next year and document how well it works.
Weather conditions in winter are ruff , but we have long days from may til august with more then 18 housers of sunlight and good water conditions. I will try composting directly in one of mine, and see how it will goes.
I have been In-situ composting for a few seasons, mainly in the winter. I'll compost in my Hugelkultur beds, mark with a flag, then next time I add compost Ill move down the line abut 18" or so. It definitely has improved my soil. Here is a pic of "after thanksgiving" In-situ composting (Composting in place) c1.staticflickr.com/5/4812/46353134641_e492a2e738_b.jpg
I'm no expert but get decent results and have never used pesticides with rare exceptions for organic types and I use diluted dish detergent to squirt on artichokes to drown earwigs.
A little soap can be very effective in the garden. Thanks.
After watching you for a while now, a few other gardeners and talking to my mother-in-law who is a certified master gardener. I have a question about garden placement. Most of the advice I have gotten says to orient my garden on the south as this will provide the most sun during the day. My husband and I just recently purchased a home in North East Indiana. The house sits facing south on the lot and has a larger privacy fenced yard that runs the entire length of the west side of the lot. The front yard on the south side of my home is small and well shaded by a mature sugar maple. We are planning on putting our garden inside the privacy fence on the north west side of our home. This area seems to get the most sun through the day at least 6 hours. Is a northerly oriented garden going to encounter any special problems I might need to consider?
The most important aspect is the amount of sun. Many experienced gardeners will recommend you orient a garden on the south because of the assumption that you'll have more sun. Trees can change that. It's better to do as you have and analyze your space for the best area, with the most sun. A big concern with a northerly garden is the amount of shade in spring and fall that will be cast by your house and other structures. You may have a shorter growing season because that area will thaw slower in spring and freeze earlier in fall.
Very good video thank you for your time..!!
You are welcome. Thanks.
That was extremely helpful! Thank you for offering your advice on this video.
Thanks! Glad to help.
I have 2 raisebed but sometimes i go vacation for few weeks and no one tend my garden do you have any tips and trick for that?
Usually i mulch them quite heavily and water them more tha usual but that usually wont last few days
Consider a soaker hose that is connected to a garden timer.
What do u think about MIG’s style of multi sowing? They look strong and healthy but I worry about the diseases?
It depends on the plants. Some plants do okay in clumps and others need thinning to be single. Plants that are susceptible to fungal diseases should have room for air circulation.
I'm in a tropical island, tomato 🍅 work well for me any suggestions for other plants?
Chile peppers and sweet potatoes are some ideas.
Been watching a lot of your videos, and I find them very informative. What baffles me is that your raised beds in every single one of the videos I have seen so far, at least a dozen of them, are always empty. Do you actually grow stuff in them?
Thanks for the question. This is a brand new garden and the beds are brand new. I have grown a few things here, but not much in this first year. I have many, many other videos that show the plants I grew in the school garden I built (100 raised beds) and in my previous home garden. Here's a popular video that shows my tomatoes and pruning techniques: th-cam.com/video/Vz9VmI0tTSk/w-d-xo.html
Gardener Scott thank you, I’ll dig deeper in your video collection then 😉
My garden I have to have about eight hundred feet of water hose to get to it. Lol not a lot of fun good advice. first-year I used all homemade compost in my two or three raised beds that I had did really well. Then I bought some compost from a nursery I don't know what they composted down but it didn't grow very well. I probably still will end up buying it from them. but then putting my own compost on the top 6inchs or so to have something better to grow in. Really been enjoying your channel.
You might consider supplying a water outlet closer to your garden with buried PVC. It's not particularly expensive, especially if you can do it yourself.
And your issue with compost may not be the compost itself ... I had a similar experience with my raised beds. First year, the plants did well. Subsequent next few seasons, not so well. Frustrating! For me, the solution was to lay a thick layer of compost on top of the soil in the fall (I use "no-dig") and then cover the beds with a thick layer of mulch - I use leaves. Then remove (and compost) the mulch in the spring.
I'm thinking that nutrients (especially nitrogen) are leached from the bare soil over the winter and the mulch prevents this leaching. It makes sense that your crops would do well in your first season as the soil would be fresh and full of nutrients.
I'm no expert but this works for me. Cheers.
@@priayiefit wasn't the second-year for those beds it was the first year with the compost from the nursery. The beds with the second year compost that I made did way better than the other ones. But yeah I've been thinking about doing the pipe myself but water hoses are so much quicker lol
@@theoverworkedgardener5648 I guess that's testimony to the quality of home-made compost. Gotta agree about the hoses vs the PVC. I dithered for several years before I had a rare ambitious moment and installed my PVC water supply. It's always "easier" once you've done it. Have a great day.
Thanks. I currently have a lot of hoses too, but I enjoy hand watering. Homemade compost tends to be better because you know what's in it.
Great tips sir! Thank you!
You bet!
Yep zucchini, what's the allure?
I have too many yellow squash. LOL
G00D Morning From Auckland, New Zealand it’s Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Good morning! Thanks for watching.
I got 10 out of 10!!!
Know your "pests" and find ways to live with them.
For me, that's not bugs so much as four-legged critters and birds. Rabbits will eat certain plants to the ground, and the only solution is fencing. Cardinals nest in my yews, which is nice. But they also peck any red tomato, so I have to net big tomatoes once fruit begins to ripen. (They can have a few cherry tomatoes and I don't mind.) Deer only arrive once commercial corn nearby is cut, so I can ignore them as a pest until late September. I was told moles were a problem, but I find them helpful in my garden. (Cut worms can't survive them for long, and they help aerate clay soil.) But anyone else's wildlife issues will certainly be different! Permaculture principles, I suppose: observe first. And try not to resent the animals for being what they are. Find a way to share your space with them. Do what you can (fencing/netting) to save crops that matter to you. And maybe grow them some amaranth or sunflowers and one berry bush that's just for them.
Wise words. Thank you.
My wife is a know-it-all who plants seeds in piles and has five or six seedlings coming out of the same spot. It never works. She never learns. I’m going to pull out the extras myself because I’m so tired of seeing this season after season.
Good plan. 🙂
Fertilizer for veggies
Be aware that different veggies have different fertilizer needs.
I made the mistake of starting WAY TOO many tomato seeds... A lot of them died😞😞😞
Great tips. Thank you, Scott.
Thanks.
Moved to a new home, tilled up a 200x100 foot garden, planted 92 tomato plants and lost them all because of all the walnut trees around the garden area. Did not know about the adverse effects walnut trees have on other vegetation. I do now!
Hard lesson to learn, but an important one. Chalk it up to great experience.
Thank you for the great advice.
You are welcome.
the first thing i learned as a gardener... was you cant have it all.
I struggled against nature constantly until i finally accepted it.
You cant grow everything in your area, no matter where you live. dont fight it.
Ill just not have some of the plants I want... and i have to accept it.
Xin chào anh.chúc anh 2 ngày cuối tuần vui vẻ ạ.anh có áo rất đẹp .
Terima kasih
Where can I get free mulch?
Cindy Smith most tree companies will dump wood chips in your yard for free. I use mostly fall leaves. We have a ton in my area.
Thank you I will check in to that
my city and the neighboring city have huge wood chip piles in the back of a certain city park. Yours may too: check with your parks department. With my city some of it is 3 years old, so decomposed to soil already, and you could plant directly into it. I save plastic bags from any compost/topsoil/mulch I've bought at the store, and I ask friends to save their empty bags. That way, even without a pickup truck, I can fit a ton of filled bags into my little car with each trip.
Depending on where you live, in the U.S. you can go to chipdrop.com for free chips delivered to you.
Gardener Scott NC is where I am
I'm pretty sure you mentioned all of mine. Yikes!!
You're not alone. I did them too.
10:25 lol
As a relatively new gardener -- a few years -- the only way to bear continuing is to square myself with the inevitability of failure, the necessity of trial and error, the growth of ability, and the need to watch shows like this. Many thanks.
You're welcome. You have a great foundation for moving forward. Enjoy it.
I’m guilty of all those mistakes🧐🙁
They are definitely common ones.
My first real attempt at gardening was an expensive disaster. I bought grow lights and shelving, a tractor, water tank and trailer. A thousand dollars later (1978), I had ten thousand tomato plants. Long story short, the soil was so ruined by my landlord's neglect and misuse, it wouldn't grow weeds, much less the tomatoes and onions we planted. Nothing came out just fine. I still have a lot to learn, but I have black dirt under every finger nail. I learned how to fail. Just do it anyway. That's how we learn best. Thanks for this important video!
Thanks, Elbert. You have many lessons to share.
A good start is to learn about "living" soil. Living plants build soil. Use a cover crop in your garden area. Keep roots in the soil all the time. I use clover , rye grass, and other plants to keep the soil "living" when it is not being used for my garden.
Absolutely. Thanks for the excellent suggestion.
What are your top 5 vegetable choices in your area and what are your top 5 vegetable choices you avoid in your area?
Good question. My video coming on Sunday will discuss my top 10 choices. The ones that I avoid are Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, okra, artichokes, and celery; they just don't do well in my area.
😯👍👍👍👌
CRITTERS 😡 Chipmunks , squirrels , rabbits ... DESTROY my small garden EVERY YEAR
I'm getting stressed out
We never see your abundant crops, only dry soil and woodchips. Where are your plants?
You can look back to some of my earlier videos to see the school garden where I had 100 raised beds, fruit trees, and a 42' dome greenhouse. Or to the videos of my last garden with tomatoes, herbs, and flowers. This is a new house and a new garden and so my recent videos are showing the building of the new garden.
Spending too much money 🤫