I got rid of the lawn in place of raised beds and pots and troughs. So no mowing and now beds full of veg, flowers, herbs, wild flowers, and a garden with shrubs, fruit and nut trees, fruit bushes, my own compost, and therefore plenty of wildlife and insect life. Priceless on so many levels. 😊
Me too. The lawnmower is now only used for chopping up material for composting. I have slabs and wood chip for paths. The woodchip is delivered free !!
Half the reasons I garden is to get outdoors, get a little exercise, interact with nature, add a little beauty to my day, learn and have fun. I don't always produce useable harvests, but I never regret a single second of time or money I spend gardening. Its the journey, not the destination for me.
Completely agree with you for me the harvest is a bonus really. I have found that spending time outside and doing something productive is so good for you mind.
For me, watching every plant grow and change and produce anything edible is the best part of it! My small children are starting to get hooked on that feeling as well.
❤❤ Also find that I’m building a bond with neighbors as we are all attempting to grow food. I’m thrilled to find seed potatoes and squash seedlings given to a neighbor have provided a bounty of nutrition for them. My community is blossoming.
I’m so glad you said that because I started a garden this year and the financial ROI isn’t there. But you’re completely right, I’ve received so much fun and satisfaction this summer. ❤
This was a brilliant video Huw. Even if the world goes completely mad (we're close) .. Nature can always bring us back. Getting rid of your TV helps too!!
@@joshlovegood9392 Thanks Josh! I think it's easy to think the world is mad, but when we move away from the screens, it suddenly feels a lot more sane!
Agreed! Loving the philosophy-flavoured gardening videos. Nice job touching on politics without actually being political. I bought land late last year and started gardening this year, hoping to achieve 60% self-sufficiency from my garden produce. Barely achieving 30%. On the up side, the local slugs have achieved 100%.
Watching from Denmark zone 8a. I love what you said in the beginning. I am on my first serious homestead year. New house, new part of the country, left family and friends behind, no farmers in our families, born and raised in the suburbs of Copenhagen. My life's challenge. The best ever despite every obstacle. Nature's abundance is emotionally overwhelming ❤️
@@thelasttaarakian- yah man that coastal climate really is nice. It keeps it much warmer in the winters and much cooler in the summers. I lived in Los Angeles so I know how nice it is to live on the coast. But I do love the seasons I get in E TN. Just hate the summers here. Fall through Spring is wonderful.
@@Barbaralee1205- same as the UK being Zone 8 as well. What I see the Brits growing in the summer could never happen here in E TN lol. I have to grow all the cold season stuff in the fall.
You are 100% right! I am gardening since 30 years now, and even so, I was so proud, when serving my lunch today: Kohlrabi-Schnitzel with potatoes and salad - all fresh from my garden. I never lose this feeling of eating something very valuable, when I eat my own food! Many greetings from Bavaria ❤
@@Barbara-vl2hc Any tips on how to get kohlrabi to bulb out. Been struggling for two years. Mine just gets leggy with lots of leaves. Good enough for soup but nothing else. 😭
I never had the problem so can't share why but growing things from the cabbage or brassica family in the same spot can do this. Maybe try planting it in a spot where you haven't grown anything before
@@user-xb7sj2uk4u yea that will explain it. If you planted from the cabbage family in one spot, don't do that the coming two years and your growth of them should be fine again. I also love cabbage family crops so it can be hard to not do it, but it will pay off :)
@user-xb7sj2uk4u Or you just had bad seed. I really struggled with kohlrabi for quite a while and one year I planted a whole bed full, all out of the same package of cheap seeds from the discounter and none of them made bulbs. Since then I've tried a lot of different varieties and my favorite that I now buy (and very successfully grow) every year is the variety Azur Star, bought from Bingenheimer. If all your tries were from the same seed package, I suggest you throw it away and buy quality seeds 😊
I love that you're taking about this important topic. One of the ways of controlling people is by controlling access to food. Nurturing your own food supply is giving you a little bit of autonomy. And you're right; trust in supermarkets is shaky & deservedly so. Have a great week Huw & thank you 👍
For the sake of convenience over the last 50 years or so we we’ve lost an awful lot, we are being served edible “stuff” that lacks nutritional value with the addition of pesticides that are probably the main cause of many health issues, the lack of nutrient dense food that nature provides to our diets is something that people sometimes ignore Well done Huw your spot on thank you for bringing this up for the attention of your viewers
Me and my partner started our allotment this year and we’ve had so much food from it already. Many failed crops, all our carrots got eaten, but we replanted and now getting some out the ground already! Thanks for all your tips and tricks!
I am an old man at 73. Pottering in my garden, polytunnel & greenhouse is the best way to spend time. It's calming, useful and wonderful to eat our own produce. Thank you for your book, I will never be too old to learn.
Gardeners are eternally optimistic. My mom is 80 and was helping me cook supper….she was pealing potatoes and said these potatoes peelings have huge sprouts, I’m going to plant them in one of your raised beds. I said go ahead. I just harvested 6 beautiful little red potatoes out from under one plant. I know most people plant whole potatoes but we’ve always cut ours and have amazing results. But I didn’t really expect the peelings to work lol!
omg that's so amazing! but botanically, it makes sense! If you get the "sprout" away from the spud in whole, and plant that OF COURSE it should grow a new plant, all you need is the "meristem tissue", and that's in the sprout spot!!! (sry, i learned biology in german, so i sometimes might confuse some terms!)
every time i go out into my garden i say "i am so rich." i may not have anything impressive in my bank account, but just being able to go out and grab a bowlful of raspberries whenever i want to makes me feel like a king.
Seeing as a bowl of raspberries where I live costs $10, you are definitely rich 😆 I saw a homesteading short docu once and the guy said "according to the government I'm poor but I have water I don't pay for, I have solar electricity and I have more food that I can eat, that is true wealth." You can't eat money, you need food and water to live. No way around that.
Ive taken it up this year for first time. I got a cheap greenhouse and noe have lovely tomatoes. Ive already had 2 corgettes of mu plants, a big handful of blueberries, some strawberries and squash growing. So glad i went for it. I have more growing too! Your videos are very helpful too. Thank you
The connection with the garden is so real! I find wonderful peace when I'm out there! It's so therapeutic if I'm stressed out. And other times, it just makes me happy!
I have planted green beans three or four times and the local rabbits are well fed. We have hit the HOT and STEAMY days of summer. So far my garden has given me peas, onions, garlic, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes and cantaloupe. Forty jars of pickles, food in the freezer and more to come. No green beans, but the garden is still giving me so much. God bless y'all and keep growing.
You have beautiful harvest for such a tough year! My garden has become such a sanctuary for me. It is about as far away from the news media a person can get. Not only am I getting healthy food, the exercise and fresh air do wonders for one's mental health. The birds are singing, the insects buzzing, my doe munches on her apples--who can put a price tag on the therapy of a garden. Thanks for such a great video!
@@valeriaboe2556 Oh, you wouldn't be able to grow your food, stay on ground, breathe the air and water the plants like on earth. You can't forget, you're on planet earth.
"What you get, is a whole category of flavors that money can't buy. " & so much more. Truly, whoever can grow any plants...especially edible ones...is exponentially rewarded. 💚
2 peaches, 5 Victoria plums, 7 cherries, lots of apricots, blackberries, loganberries, a few blackcurrants, raspberries etc, etc. Hardly self sufficient but, one day, I might be
I’ve done home gardening most of my adult life and eventually you adapt and learn enough there are really no “bad” years but different years and you have the skill sets to adapt. I garden as much for my sanity as for food but we now eat about 80% or more of our produce from home.
First year gardener here, very encouraging to hear that I'm doing well, despite many failures this year 😌 ... I'm honestly just so happy that I have a garden now
This video got me teary-eyed. The produce we grow ourselves absolutely tastes better! We live in the suburbs of California. We planted out our landscape with lawns and a small area for a garden. After one season of gardening, we want to rip out the lawns and make more raised beds! The thing I love about having a garden is that we are not only feeding our children fresh produce, but they are learning to grow food themselves, from planting seeds, protecting the seedlings, watering, and learning when food is ready.
I love your channel ❤ I've been gardening for 30 years and have a smaller youtube channel .This is my first season that I'm not gardening due to have moved.. I miss it this season no matter what the challenges may be like the weather this season. It has been around 110 degrees here in Pennsylvania very difficult but so worthi gardening. Everyone should be concerned about what is being put in our food.. Agree with you on this whole topic 💯 Love and hugs Sincerly Melody
Thanks Huw. I live in Vermont. The last two days we've had horrible flooding which has destroyed a lot of farms of market gardeners, for the second year in a row. Same date! Growing our own food is such an important backup to help ensure the whole community is fed. It takes us all being a part of this
I'm not giving up, even though I have been challenged. We must stop depending on Supermarkets for everything. Supporting our local farm shop and growing what I can, gives me so much joy and appreciation. You are a leading light Huw. Thank you for your inspiration. 🙏❤️
Its been a long year, started late Feb., and harvested baby carrots, onions, loads of peas, broccoli, and grown loads of flowers, able to gift to others. I've lots more harvests to come, even though the weather stinks. Invested in nematodes, and started a compost bin. There's been lots of good even though there's been lots of losses. I take it as a challenge, its absolutely smashed through my mental health, I'm feeling connected daily with hands in the soil, you can't lose.
Huw, thanks for the pep talk about gardening this year. We moved in January and started everything from scratch and so it has been an up-hill climb to say the least...but it is worth it. It's been a very different growing season and I keep telling my wife that we're on a learning curve that will ultimately help us be better at what we're doing. We're still harvesting veg this year even though it's a different growing season. Thanks for helping us stay focused! (Kentucky, USA)
I took up gardening this year, one tomato plant which is coming in beautifully and is growing like crazy, one chili and several lettuces. I can't eat the amount of lettuce I'm getting out of my garden bed, so the massive amounts of slugs have a field day. I'm just picking out what I need. I'll soon start another bed and some growing bags, but am unsure of what I can plant this "late" into the year. Gotta have to read up on crops again. But it's fun, and so far, relatively low-maintenance.
Huw, thank you so much for this very personal testament of how gardening can restore hope and courage and give joy. After a few years of personal loss and anxiety over world events, I realized that the only thing I could do to improve the quality of my life was to tend my garden. Not throw it all in at once, harvest half of it, and stress continually over it. But tend it, enjoy its beauty, and let hope and courage grow to meet life’s challenges.
We've had the opposite problem in Cyprus... nearly a constant 40C plus for 2 months now, with terrible humidity! But such a mild winter meant slugs and snails were also a terrible problem all throughout spring! It's a battle to keep things alive... nearly 2 acres of gardens/vegetable growing needs almost constant watering throughout the day!
I'm in the middle of the US West Coast, it's described as a "Mediterranean Climate." Two weeks of 40-43°, it's only now dropping to 35-37°. No rain for the past two months. The creeks are dry and won't be back until October. The cows have grazed everything right down to the ground and broke into my garden for a tasty snack. We clearly need to irrigate, but how?
Middle of Winter here in South Australia, have tomatoes and three kinds of brassicas growing extremely well, big harvest expected in Spring!! Lots of rain so no watering required either except for weekly compost water feeds, instant food for plants.
"...I wasn't being fully genuine..." I can tell you, without a doubt, that's not the case. People just love to hold on to their personal biases, and react negatively to someone or something that casts doubt on those beliefs. Keep doing what you're doing, I for one find it monumentally helpful, and appreciate how you deliver your info.
Proudest moment for me was seeing my slug ravished cauliflower that was left with half a leaf survive and is now thriving!! First growing season for me. I’ve learned a lot about resilience, both in the garden and myself. And the joy of that first mouthful of early potatoes made it all worthwhile. And the frogs that have taken up home in my little sunken bucket pond.
AMEN my fellow gardener! I so enjoyed the organic carrot /chemical carrot comment! Thank you so much for taking your precious time to create this video of inspiration🧡
My Pre-schoolers love to help themselves to chives in our herb bed. Often they describe the chives as chips in their role play. It’s lovely to observe. Keep up the good work Huw.
Oh Huw-you so hit the nail on the head. It’s a challenge growing here in New Mexico. I grew up in North Wales and it seemed easier. Instead of slugs I battle for water and mice. But the connection to my food is so Zen. Everyday before work I go out there to see what has developed overnight. It’s heart warming. Never gets old. My parents did the same.❤
I live in West Virginia and it’s been 3 years that o took up gardening..I just pulled up 100lbs of potatoes this week…I’m well impressed…I’ve taken DOWN my sweetcorn and planted another succession of that…btw…I live in town..
Watching from Louisiana Zone 8b-we thrive financially and maintain our health because of our garden. I agree with your words of encouragement. We depend on our produce to consume fresh, preserve, and we feel blessed to also share with others. Thank you Huw
I got rid of my TV many years ago and only have my laptop to keep me in touch with video`s like these and the odd happening in the world. I nurse in a huge hospital here in Port Elizabeth South Africa and spend 90% of my free time in my back garden. So good for my body and soul in so many ways. I have discovered using spent coffee grounds to repel slugs and snails in my beds and have huge harvests. Huw, i love your video`s and have learnt so much from them, even though i am in the southern hemisphere. Keep up posting your lovely video`s 🌿🐌🐝🐞🕷🌸🌿
Thank you for all your work and help to us backyard gardeners, like myself. Your video's and books have been a big help for me this year. I had a mild winter, then a wet/cold spring, and now a very hot summer. Your tips have helped me greatly and now I am, despite the trouble growing this year, enjoying my garden greatly for the first time. It's not just a choir anymore, it's a joy. My family knows if you want to find Mom go to the garden, not just the kitchen.
The snail hunt gets me out of my apartment to my allotment every evening and I enjoy the colors, the scents, the wildlife in a different way than during the day. Happy Gardening🌱🌼
It does feel like autumn now! I have a primrose that thinks we've already been through another year already. Totally agree, it makes the small harvests even more wonderful 👩🏼🌾 & having the garden community is so wonderful.
I just got your latest book for my birthday. I am so happy to get it because 1) I love to garden and admire what you do, and 2) I wanted to see what I could learn from your experiences. I think gardening and growing your own food is so worth it. More now than ever. Thanks for your wonderful videos. ❤
This is the most thought provoking gardening video I’ve ever watched. Thank you Huw for sharing your thoughts and examples of why. As I sit watching your video while I eat a bowl of home grown lettuce in my unusually warm winter garden in Perth, Western Australia I feel grateful
I started growing this year mainly to help cope with a bereavement. It’s been great for my heart and soul and there is no better feeling than harvesting and eating my own food. I look forward to going out every morning to see how my garden is. Your videos have been incredibly helpful in my journey, thank you.
I'm hoping my positive comment can negate one (or more) negative comments you receive for this video. I've had chives in my garden for 21 years (inherited from the prior owner). I never knew I could encourage new growth by harvesting at the base. I love growing food, herbs, flowers, and knowledge , and I'm especially grateful for the efforts of experienced growers like you, Huw. Many thanks!!
The weather took out my kale, which is usually beautiful and 3 ft tall now. I started more seeds. I am a true gardener and do not give up. It’s so worth harvesting fresh vegetables everyday, rather than food with chemicals. Even the organic vegetables are allowed to have 25 different pesticides, so it’s best to grow our own. It’s hard work with a huge reward. Your garden looks beautiful. I have your book. It was really well done. Thank you.
Huw you are amazing and give everyone positive truthful guidance and your garden is fabulous !!! Thank you from Ottawa, Ontario Canada where we have also had a wet and weird weather summer, one minute we are 30-38 degrees Celsius and then in the low to mid 20’s ! 🙏✨🦋
Thank you for you honesty and encouragement. I love your videos. I'm a newbie gardener at 70 so am very grateful for your time and input into my new gardening lifestyle choice.
I really needed this video today, after harvesting my first early pots yesterday. Such a bad harvest of putrid things! But your outlook of "it's going to be okay, it's a bad year. Keep going." Is what I needed to hear other than "oh well. We can buy some. " or "oh dear, were you delusioned." Like it doesn't matter. It does matter, I put my heart and soul into my gardening. If we need to be upset for a day, surely we can be, then keep going. Thank you once again.
I’m a therapist and my garden is my therapy and sometimes my therapy office and I love all the positive reframing. There is so much that we can learn from our garden about mindfulness and mindset! Thank you for your eternal optimism. It’s quite refreshing.
I've had a vegetable, herb and flower patch growing on our balcony for the last 25 years or so. It makes such a difference during the summer and fall - we're part of the pollinators path through the downtown in summer, and in winter the sparrows scatter some seeds about for volunteers for the next season. Being able to go out onto my balcony to pick herbs and veg for meals is a luxury. I even have a compost container to grow soil and deal with old leaves and scraps from the garden. This year I'm growing morning glories, pansies, marigolds, three types of tomatoes, summer squash, cantaloupe, peas, beans, cucumber, over a dozen herbs, lettuce and a local wildflower mix. I'm also lucky enough this year to share a garden plot at the local community garden with a longtime neighbour of ours. So double everything listed above, with the addition of a pepper and basil and Swiss chard patch... the best medicine money can't buy. - Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi
@@joannc147 Thanks!! It's been a process of experimentation to bring everything to this level. Mayan-style ollas/oyas clay pots (I use regular terracotta pots) sunk into the soil have made a huge difference for the plants living through the mid-afternoon sun.
When I sit down to a meal consisting mainly of food I have grown myself, I feel such a greater sense of appreciation and enjoyment. It really makes it all worthwhile. I have just been making fruit crumbles to give to my family, with blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries from my allotment. I love having that peaceful place in which to garden, and I have made lots of friends.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've said in this video! Gardening is such a joy! I just started this year and I live in Portugal. It's been a much wetter year than usual, so some of the fruits, like plums and peaches are a little slow. But it was great for saving water and many crops came nonetheless! I thoroughly enjoyed the two zucchinis I harvested, as well as the salad we now have daily. Planting your own food also automatically makes you eat a lot healthier. Your garden is so so beautiful and one of the many reasons I like to watch your videos. Keep up the great work!
I’m a new gardener, and am steadily working my way through your videos, which are outstandingly helpful. Thank you. I very rarely comment on TH-cam etc., but after watching your latest video felt I had to. You reference negative comments, and I simply can’t understand how anyone could possibly comment negatively on your videos, methods, or content. I’m sure you already know what an amazing service and inspiration you provide, so I won’t go on about it. However, I do want to express my gratitude for your carrying on regardless of others’ negativity. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be the main reason why I’m so far surviving the 2024 growing season. Possibly relocation to Herefordshire from Pembs has something to do with it 😅
I grow all my food i thank my dad for bringing me up around his allotments and he's 80 and still growing his food too ❤ and bring back gardening in schools because that's what lessons i had had and bee keeping the good old day's ❤
Our Great Grandparents all had their own vegie gardens. They had chooks, and buried all their food waste either in the vegie patch or tossed it to the chooks. Newspapers were composted as was cardboard. Glass was recycled as jam jars. The streets and parks used to be filled with fruit and nut trees. Everyone swapped there excess with their neighbours. We need to get back to this and fast. Sharing is so good for the soul.
Oh my goodness, Huw! What a timely and positive video. I'm a gardener living in the US, growing mostly perennials. This year I've leaned into vegetable gardening, thanks in part to your inspiring videos. I'm very grateful to you and your passion for growing!!
Excellent video Huw! I keep saying all these things to the people I come into contact with at work as a kitchen gardener. So great that you can get the message out to a wider audience. The whole world needs to hear it! Keep up the good work buddy 👍
This is my first year of properly having a go at gardening, finished most of groundwork last year, an wow never have i detested slugs like i do now 😅 An to add in regards to the weather, maybe people will now take notice of the marvellous benefits cloud seeding and weather modification has to offer ✌🏻😏✌🏻
No matter how hard life gets due to external circumstances, gardening is always something I naturally find peace in. Granted the weather is not the best this year, some of the plants I’ve been growing didn’t really do well in their usual place, slugs were an issue, rust fungi came back on two of our small trees… and the constant rain, cold and dull weather didn’t help ease the problems. Despite all that I went out every time I’ve had a chance, did what I could to the best of my knowledge and I still enjoyed every moment of it. I don’t think I’ll ever stop gardening, no matter what people say…
I'm glad you are not caving to the negativity, I've been watching you for years and I love the channel. Like a Corgi puppy wrapped in a marshmallow under a rainbow.🤗
I started May 4th this year. Only a 120x120cm raised bed, a few buckets of potatoes, a trough for the runner beans and a finally a plastic greenhouse. The last two weeks have been a bit of a struggle in the garden. But as someone who is new to this, I really appreciate the sentiment behind the video…. I needed to hear it.
I just shared on my Facebook page. I am comforted to know it’s not just me that is “failing” this year. I’m still hopeful and sowing for over winter growing.. but like this Irish summer
I have been following you for years and purchased your books Huw and have wanted to comment before but haven’t. Until today. This is a hugely inspiring video on so many levels and just wanted to profoundly thank you for everything you do. As a fan also of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and his River Cottage work, this video encapsulates everything about why we should have a go and why each seed is a revolutionary act against bland food businesses incl retailers that makes us eat what they want whilst they say they are only producing cheap rubbish that we want to eat and you can include mass production of protein in that. So appreciate everything you stand for as a proud and fellow Welshman with a very modest veg patch, greenhouse and compost bins. Keep going mate
Dont worry or fret over the negative comments, Brother. If you did every thing perfect, the negative people cannot help themselves. Be of good cheer and keep doing what you are doing, Sir. Thanks for sharing your ideals.
It's been my first growing season and I've been delighted. Only because I planted things and they grew! Because I have no previous years to compare with I'm just pleased to have been able to grow enough to be self sufficient.
You are so right! Whilst i was saddened that yet more courgettes had to be thrown away this morning ,due to blossom end rot, i still went home with some beautiful tomatoes, string beans and peas Yummy It has been such a tricky year so far for growing but it makes me want to try harder! Great video x
That made me very happy. I've been gardening for 5 years and this is the first year I've got my little square rod of growing space into full production. Just been snacking on peas and borage flowers this afternoon. Flowers are a great example of food you only get to eat if you grow it. So if this has been one of the more difficult years, maybe I have got the hang of it. I've persevered and even have carrots, sunflowers and climbing beans despite the devastation earlier in the year. Some things have done better than others, but my main meals have been 80% homegrown for the last month at least and today I gave away a couple of bags of broad beans. It's the most practical route to health and prosperity I've come across. Thank you so much for your guidance and support!
First year of growing own food in raised beds...amazing .. good results with vegetables that taste like they should...carrots are delicious !! Potatoes..broccoli..cauliflower.. I'm so pleased I've started this journey....along my brother, who has helped me to do this...
It's been a very challenging year for us gardeners however I've got beautiful flowers, herbs and vegetables which are defying the climate and still doing their thing, growing. It's tricky but we need to think out the box and be adaptable in what we do. My veg is not perfect by all means but to me that's what's I love. Don't give up just change the way we approach the challenges. Thanks Huw for the reminders and encouagement
I appreciate that you talk through this whole idea of why it is important to grow what we can. You are so correct about "organic", when a home gardener really wants to give our family the best food possible. I have my very first tomatoes grown from seed, and I am going to keep going and growing and learning from you and a couple other gardeners here in the United States that I watch. Thank you.
There - these types of videos are the ones that made me start to and stick to gardening in 2024. I come from Slovenia, which as you well know is a land of gardeners 😊 but that can make a beginner like me feel intimidated at times. Your uplifting and broad-minded approach is making me stay focused. And I agree with everything you said, just lovely. Thanks!
you are absolutely right,growing your own food is worth all the effort and time.i would never had thought it would make me so happy doing it. been living in Manchester and Germany for 12 years, now I'm back.home in the basque country and a plot of land that was my father's I have been growing vegetables for two seasons and I think it is the best thing I have ever done.there is this connection with nature ,with the plants then the freshness and favour of them,I am looking forward for my tomatoes to ripe guess will still take a few days to a eating them but it does not matter I know that since I am growing food and spending lots of hours in nature I think I have zero stress and anxaiety and having for dinner as for example today a simple salad with lettuce ,green onion and tuna with olive oil ,vinegar and salt and a courgette soup with potatoes (can't be a simpler dinner)I know I'm gonna sleep like a kid ,it's just priceless
I got rid of the lawn in place of raised beds and pots and troughs. So no mowing and now beds full of veg, flowers, herbs, wild flowers, and a garden with shrubs, fruit and nut trees, fruit bushes, my own compost, and therefore plenty of wildlife and insect life. Priceless on so many levels. 😊
I've never understood lawns. Well done! 👏🏼 😁
I need a little lawn for my dogs and chickens, but a perfectly manicured lawn with chemicals is a horrible thought.
Me too. The lawnmower is now only used for chopping up material for composting.
I have slabs and wood chip for paths. The woodchip is delivered free !!
This is my goal!
3 years of going totally organic and I too am seeing more wildlife and insects than ever before. This is my 1st year that dragonflies have joined us!
Half the reasons I garden is to get outdoors, get a little exercise, interact with nature, add a little beauty to my day, learn and have fun. I don't always produce useable harvests, but I never regret a single second of time or money I spend gardening. Its the journey, not the destination for me.
Wow! That's profound! Thanks! I easily forget all these other benefits of gardening! Thanks for the reminder!
Completely agree with you for me the harvest is a bonus really.
I have found that spending time outside and doing something productive is so good for you mind.
For me, watching every plant grow and change and produce anything edible is the best part of it! My small children are starting to get hooked on that feeling as well.
❤❤ Also find that I’m building a bond with neighbors as we are all attempting to grow food. I’m thrilled to find seed potatoes and squash seedlings given to a neighbor have provided a bounty of nutrition for them. My community is blossoming.
I’m so glad you said that because I started a garden this year and the financial ROI isn’t there. But you’re completely right, I’ve received so much fun and satisfaction this summer. ❤
"True wealth is a garden full of food"💚
Exactly!
Spoken like a true Hobbit.
True wealth is **being able to own land** where you can have a garden full of food.
It's also a good retirement plan
@@jjd13579 this, wish property taxes weren’t a thing so we could actually own property
The world needs more people like Huw, you have my absolute respect.
@@NTLIH that's very kind, thank you.
you sure have a way with words!! beautifully said and with humor!! chemical carrots!😂
@@HuwRichards loved hearing you speak of your spirit in your soil and plants, the hidden relationship.... love u Huw Warrior, creation will win.
Gardening is therapeutic and grounding, and it's always worth it.
This was a brilliant video Huw. Even if the world goes completely mad (we're close) .. Nature can always bring us back. Getting rid of your TV helps too!!
@@joshlovegood9392 couldn't agree more!
it DOES help, yes!
@@joshlovegood9392 Thanks Josh! I think it's easy to think the world is mad, but when we move away from the screens, it suddenly feels a lot more sane!
Agreed! Loving the philosophy-flavoured gardening videos. Nice job touching on politics without actually being political.
I bought land late last year and started gardening this year, hoping to achieve 60% self-sufficiency from my garden produce. Barely achieving 30%. On the up side, the local slugs have achieved 100%.
I have been trying for more than 20 years to get my untamed land to give me results.. No surrender!! HAIL TO THE HUW 👑
😊🌱
Watching from Denmark zone 8a. I love what you said in the beginning. I am on my first serious homestead year. New house, new part of the country, left family and friends behind, no farmers in our families, born and raised in the suburbs of Copenhagen. My life's challenge. The best ever despite every obstacle. Nature's abundance is emotionally overwhelming ❤️
Tillykke med dit nye hus! Jeg har planer om at gøre det samme. Flytte til Lemvig, hvor husene på landet er super billige. -Held og lykke med haven!
How does Denmark have a zone 8 when I’m in Kentucky in zone 6? I’m a thousand miles closer to the equator than you are. Explain please.
@@Barbaralee1205 they, unlike you are close to an ocean.
@@thelasttaarakian- yah man that coastal climate really is nice. It keeps it much warmer in the winters and much cooler in the summers. I lived in Los Angeles so I know how nice it is to live on the coast.
But I do love the seasons I get in E TN. Just hate the summers here. Fall through Spring is wonderful.
@@Barbaralee1205- same as the UK being Zone 8 as well. What I see the Brits growing in the summer could never happen here in E TN lol. I have to grow all the cold season stuff in the fall.
You are 100% right! I am gardening since 30 years now, and even so, I was so proud, when serving my lunch today: Kohlrabi-Schnitzel with potatoes and salad - all fresh from my garden. I never lose this feeling of eating something very valuable, when I eat my own food!
Many greetings from Bavaria ❤
@@Barbara-vl2hc Any tips on how to get kohlrabi to bulb out. Been struggling for two years. Mine just gets leggy with lots of leaves. Good enough for soup but nothing else. 😭
I never had the problem so can't share why but growing things from the cabbage or brassica family in the same spot can do this. Maybe try planting it in a spot where you haven't grown anything before
@@BenMe Thanks. There were cabbages in that bed last year. And the other bed the year before that. 🤔
@@user-xb7sj2uk4u yea that will explain it. If you planted from the cabbage family in one spot, don't do that the coming two years and your growth of them should be fine again. I also love cabbage family crops so it can be hard to not do it, but it will pay off :)
@user-xb7sj2uk4u Or you just had bad seed. I really struggled with kohlrabi for quite a while and one year I planted a whole bed full, all out of the same package of cheap seeds from the discounter and none of them made bulbs.
Since then I've tried a lot of different varieties and my favorite that I now buy (and very successfully grow) every year is the variety Azur Star, bought from Bingenheimer.
If all your tries were from the same seed package, I suggest you throw it away and buy quality seeds 😊
I love that you're taking about this important topic. One of the ways of controlling people is by controlling access to food. Nurturing your own food supply is giving you a little bit of autonomy. And you're right; trust in supermarkets is shaky & deservedly so. Have a great week Huw & thank you 👍
For the sake of convenience over the last 50 years or so we we’ve lost an awful lot, we are being served edible “stuff” that lacks nutritional value with the addition of pesticides that are probably the main cause of many health issues, the lack of nutrient dense food that nature provides to our diets is something that people sometimes ignore Well done Huw your spot on thank you for bringing this up for the attention of your viewers
Yes,indeed.
Me and my partner started our allotment this year and we’ve had so much food from it already. Many failed crops, all our carrots got eaten, but we replanted and now getting some out the ground already! Thanks for all your tips and tricks!
Good on you for not giving up! I've been gardening for years and there are always 'hiccups' every year. Keep growing and God bless!💪🌱
I am an old man at 73.
Pottering in my garden, polytunnel & greenhouse is the best way to spend time.
It's calming, useful and wonderful to eat our own produce.
Thank you for your book, I will never be too old to learn.
Gardeners are eternally optimistic.
My mom is 80 and was helping me cook supper….she was pealing potatoes and said these potatoes peelings have huge sprouts, I’m going to plant them in one of your raised beds. I said go ahead.
I just harvested 6 beautiful little red potatoes out from under one plant.
I know most people plant whole potatoes but we’ve always cut ours and have amazing results. But I didn’t really expect the peelings to work lol!
omg that's so amazing! but botanically, it makes sense! If you get the "sprout" away from the spud in whole, and plant that OF COURSE it should grow a new plant, all you need is the "meristem tissue", and that's in the sprout spot!!! (sry, i learned biology in german, so i sometimes might confuse some terms!)
every time i go out into my garden i say "i am so rich." i may not have anything impressive in my bank account, but just being able to go out and grab a bowlful of raspberries whenever i want to makes me feel like a king.
Just Beautiful!
Seeing as a bowl of raspberries where I live costs $10, you are definitely rich 😆 I saw a homesteading short docu once and the guy said "according to the government I'm poor but I have water I don't pay for, I have solar electricity and I have more food that I can eat, that is true wealth." You can't eat money, you need food and water to live. No way around that.
Ive taken it up this year for first time. I got a cheap greenhouse and noe have lovely tomatoes. Ive already had 2 corgettes of mu plants, a big handful of blueberries, some strawberries and squash growing. So glad i went for it. I have more growing too! Your videos are very helpful too. Thank you
The connection with the garden is so real! I find wonderful peace when I'm out there! It's so therapeutic if I'm stressed out. And other times, it just makes me happy!
I have planted green beans three or four times and the local rabbits are well fed. We have hit the HOT and STEAMY days of summer. So far my garden has given me peas, onions, garlic, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes and cantaloupe. Forty jars of pickles, food in the freezer and more to come. No green beans, but the garden is still giving me so much. God bless y'all and keep growing.
Dude… I have so many cucumbers. I had to give them to my neighbors. And they keep coming and I have only two cucumber plants lol.
Hmmm….rabbits are tasty eating….leave a “rabbit stew” recipe card out by your green beans? 🤣🤣🐇🐇
You have beautiful harvest for such a tough year! My garden has become such a sanctuary for me. It is about as far away from the news media a person can get. Not only am I getting healthy food, the exercise and fresh air do wonders for one's mental health. The birds are singing, the insects buzzing, my doe munches on her apples--who can put a price tag on the therapy of a garden.
Thanks for such a great video!
Totally agree! My garden is my safe space and I loose a sense of time and the planet Im on😢
@@valeriaboe2556 Oh, you wouldn't be able to grow your food, stay on ground, breathe the air and water the plants like on earth. You can't forget, you're on planet earth.
"What you get, is a whole category of flavors that money can't buy. " & so much more. Truly, whoever can grow any plants...especially edible ones...is exponentially rewarded. 💚
Exactly that! The flavour side alone for me makes it worth it!
2 peaches, 5 Victoria plums, 7 cherries, lots of apricots, blackberries, loganberries, a few blackcurrants, raspberries etc, etc. Hardly self sufficient but, one day, I might be
❤ this! I hope you become more self sufficient every year!
I beat you on peaches! 3 this year.😂
@midwestribeye7820 Thank you, I'll keep trying. I get so excited when I actually grow something fit to eat
@@jacquelinefilby1842 show off 🍑
It’s a great start!
I’ve done home gardening most of my adult life and eventually you adapt and learn enough there are really no “bad” years but different years and you have the skill sets to adapt. I garden as much for my sanity as for food but we now eat about 80% or more of our produce from home.
You’re an inspiration! Thanks for your post.
This is probably your boldest and most revolutionary video I've seen so far. Brilliant 💚👨🌾🌿
Charles dowdings latest vid addresses the 'man made clouds' issue. So glad our online respected mentors are addressing these issues.
First year gardener here, very encouraging to hear that I'm doing well, despite many failures this year 😌 ... I'm honestly just so happy that I have a garden now
You’ve started at a horrible time, but keep pushing through! First few years of gardening is more learning than an abundant harvest anyway :)
You are an inspiration
Your videos always do my heart good
This video got me teary-eyed. The produce we grow ourselves absolutely tastes better! We live in the suburbs of California. We planted out our landscape with lawns and a small area for a garden. After one season of gardening, we want to rip out the lawns and make more raised beds! The thing I love about having a garden is that we are not only feeding our children fresh produce, but they are learning to grow food themselves, from planting seeds, protecting the seedlings, watering, and learning when food is ready.
I love your channel ❤ I've been gardening for 30 years and have a smaller youtube channel .This is my first season that I'm not gardening due to have moved.. I miss it this season no matter what the challenges may be like the weather this season. It has been around 110 degrees here in Pennsylvania very difficult but so worthi gardening. Everyone should be concerned about what is being put in our food.. Agree with you on this whole topic 💯 Love and hugs Sincerly Melody
Also in PA, the challenges have been fierce this year!
Thanks Huw. I live in Vermont. The last two days we've had horrible flooding which has destroyed a lot of farms of market gardeners, for the second year in a row. Same date! Growing our own food is such an important backup to help ensure the whole community is fed. It takes us all being a part of this
Fabulous, slightly revolutionary message. Well done.
I'm not giving up, even though I have been challenged. We must stop depending on Supermarkets for everything. Supporting our local farm shop and growing what I can, gives me so much joy and appreciation. You are a leading light Huw. Thank you for your inspiration. 🙏❤️
Its been a long year, started late Feb., and harvested baby carrots, onions, loads of peas, broccoli, and grown loads of flowers, able to gift to others. I've lots more harvests to come, even though the weather stinks. Invested in nematodes, and started a compost bin. There's been lots of good even though there's been lots of losses. I take it as a challenge, its absolutely smashed through my mental health, I'm feeling connected daily with hands in the soil, you can't lose.
Agree. Who needs a shrink when you garden😊
I absolutely love your encouragement and agree with everything you spoke about. Thank you 🙏
My pleasure! Have a lovely day!☺️
I have never seen you have any kind of a rant, this video is glorious.
Huw, thanks for the pep talk about gardening this year. We moved in January and started everything from scratch and so it has been an up-hill climb to say the least...but it is worth it. It's been a very different growing season and I keep telling my wife that we're on a learning curve that will ultimately help us be better at what we're doing. We're still harvesting veg this year even though it's a different growing season. Thanks for helping us stay focused! (Kentucky, USA)
Well done Huw,back to appreciating why we grow our food even under difficult conditions.
I took up gardening this year, one tomato plant which is coming in beautifully and is growing like crazy, one chili and several lettuces.
I can't eat the amount of lettuce I'm getting out of my garden bed, so the massive amounts of slugs have a field day.
I'm just picking out what I need. I'll soon start another bed and some growing bags, but am unsure of what I can plant this "late" into the year.
Gotta have to read up on crops again. But it's fun, and so far, relatively low-maintenance.
Get Huw's newest Book, "The Self-Sufficiency Garden". It's great help for late crops and extending your grow season.
@@MelanieEisele-ic2nt I got it already, I haven't been reading past a certain point, but thank you!
Huw, thank you so much for this very personal testament of how gardening can restore hope and courage and give joy. After a few years of personal loss and anxiety over world events, I realized that the only thing I could do to improve the quality of my life was to tend my garden. Not throw it all in at once, harvest half of it, and stress continually over it. But tend it, enjoy its beauty, and let hope and courage grow to meet life’s challenges.
We've had the opposite problem in Cyprus... nearly a constant 40C plus for 2 months now, with terrible humidity! But such a mild winter meant slugs and snails were also a terrible problem all throughout spring! It's a battle to keep things alive... nearly 2 acres of gardens/vegetable growing needs almost constant watering throughout the day!
Sending hope and blessing. 40c and high humidity is very dangerous. We have high humidity in UK but nowhere near that heat and it's very tough .
I'm in the middle of the US West Coast, it's described as a "Mediterranean Climate." Two weeks of 40-43°, it's only now dropping to 35-37°. No rain for the past two months. The creeks are dry and won't be back until October.
The cows have grazed everything right down to the ground and broke into my garden for a tasty snack. We clearly need to irrigate, but how?
Middle of Winter here in South Australia, have tomatoes and three kinds of brassicas growing extremely well, big harvest expected in Spring!! Lots of rain so no watering required either except for weekly compost water feeds, instant food for plants.
Glad to hear your getting rain, all we hear on news here in Canada is global drought…… it’s dry here now, but we had tonnes of rain all spring.
"...I wasn't being fully genuine..."
I can tell you, without a doubt, that's not the case. People just love to hold on to their personal biases, and react negatively to someone or something that casts doubt on those beliefs. Keep doing what you're doing, I for one find it monumentally helpful, and appreciate how you deliver your info.
How would u know if someone else is being genuine by their own standards lol 🙄
What a lovely video, it should be shown in schools all over the UK, Thankyou 🙂xxx
Proudest moment for me was seeing my slug ravished cauliflower that was left with half a leaf survive and is now thriving!! First growing season for me. I’ve learned a lot about resilience, both in the garden and myself. And the joy of that first mouthful of early potatoes made it all worthwhile. And the frogs that have taken up home in my little sunken bucket pond.
Nothing but praise to say about your videos. They are always a pleasure to watch.
AMEN my fellow gardener! I so enjoyed the organic carrot /chemical carrot comment! Thank you so much for taking your precious time to create this video of inspiration🧡
Huw. I have been watching you for years. I love the way you have grown up. I love how you talk.
I love all your videos! ❤ but I love this one a lot! Really! Your positive approach...super! ❤️
My Pre-schoolers love to help themselves to chives in our herb bed. Often they describe the chives as chips in their role play. It’s lovely to observe. Keep up the good work Huw.
Oh Huw-you so hit the nail on the head. It’s a challenge growing here in New Mexico. I grew up in North Wales and it seemed easier. Instead of slugs I battle for water and mice. But the connection to my food is so Zen. Everyday before work I go out there to see what has developed overnight. It’s heart warming. Never gets old. My parents did the same.❤
I live in West Virginia and it’s been 3 years that o took up gardening..I just pulled up 100lbs of potatoes this week…I’m well impressed…I’ve taken DOWN my sweetcorn and planted another succession of that…btw…I live in town..
Well said Huw
Thanks Mandy!
Watching from Louisiana Zone 8b-we thrive financially and maintain our health because of our garden. I agree with your words of encouragement. We depend on our produce to consume fresh, preserve, and we feel blessed to also share with others. Thank you Huw
I got rid of my TV many years ago and only have my laptop to keep me in touch with video`s like these and the odd happening in the world. I nurse in a huge hospital here in Port Elizabeth South Africa and spend 90% of my free time in my back garden. So good for my body and soul in so many ways. I have discovered using spent coffee grounds to repel slugs and snails in my beds and have huge harvests. Huw, i love your video`s and have learnt so much from them, even though i am in the southern hemisphere. Keep up posting your lovely video`s 🌿🐌🐝🐞🕷🌸🌿
Thank you for all your work and help to us backyard gardeners, like myself. Your video's and books have been a big help for me this year. I had a mild winter, then a wet/cold spring, and now a very hot summer. Your tips have helped me greatly and now I am, despite the trouble growing this year, enjoying my garden greatly for the first time. It's not just a choir anymore, it's a joy. My family knows if you want to find Mom go to the garden, not just the kitchen.
The snail hunt gets me out of my apartment to my allotment every evening and I enjoy the colors, the scents, the wildlife in a different way than during the day. Happy Gardening🌱🌼
It does feel like autumn now! I have a primrose that thinks we've already been through another year already.
Totally agree, it makes the small harvests even more wonderful 👩🏼🌾 & having the garden community is so wonderful.
I just got your latest book for my birthday. I am so happy to get it because 1) I love to garden and admire what you do, and 2) I wanted to see what I could learn from your experiences. I think gardening and growing your own food is so worth it. More now than ever. Thanks for your wonderful videos. ❤
I love your point of view Huw, nothing is more important than growing our own food and nourishing our families
This is the most thought provoking gardening video I’ve ever watched. Thank you Huw for sharing your thoughts and examples of why. As I sit watching your video while I eat a bowl of home grown lettuce in my unusually warm winter garden in Perth, Western Australia I feel grateful
I started growing this year mainly to help cope with a bereavement. It’s been great for my heart and soul and there is no better feeling than harvesting and eating my own food. I look forward to going out every morning to see how my garden is. Your videos have been incredibly helpful in my journey, thank you.
I'm hoping my positive comment can negate one (or more) negative comments you receive for this video. I've had chives in my garden for 21 years (inherited from the prior owner). I never knew I could encourage new growth by harvesting at the base. I love growing food, herbs, flowers, and knowledge , and I'm especially grateful for the efforts of experienced growers like you, Huw. Many thanks!!
The weather took out my kale, which is usually beautiful and 3 ft tall now. I started more seeds. I am a true gardener and do not give up. It’s so worth harvesting fresh vegetables everyday, rather than food with chemicals. Even the organic vegetables are allowed to have 25 different pesticides, so it’s best to grow our own. It’s hard work with a huge reward. Your garden looks beautiful. I have your book. It was really well done. Thank you.
Huw you are amazing and give everyone positive truthful guidance and your garden is fabulous !!! Thank you from Ottawa, Ontario Canada where we have also had a wet and weird weather summer, one minute we are 30-38 degrees Celsius and then in the low to mid 20’s ! 🙏✨🦋
You're awesome, man! I never miss an episode... Keep up the great work!
I,am still going on and some things are doing very well I,am not complain
And I love to see you Gardner 😊 here in Holland is also a challenge.
Thank you for you honesty and encouragement. I love your videos. I'm a newbie gardener at 70 so am very grateful for your time and input into my new gardening lifestyle choice.
I really needed this video today, after harvesting my first early pots yesterday. Such a bad harvest of putrid things! But your outlook of "it's going to be okay, it's a bad year. Keep going." Is what I needed to hear other than "oh well. We can buy some. " or "oh dear, were you delusioned."
Like it doesn't matter. It does matter, I put my heart and soul into my gardening. If we need to be upset for a day, surely we can be, then keep going.
Thank you once again.
I’m a therapist and my garden is my therapy and sometimes my therapy office and I love all the positive reframing. There is so much that we can learn from our garden about mindfulness and mindset! Thank you for your eternal optimism. It’s quite refreshing.
I've had a vegetable, herb and flower patch growing on our balcony for the last 25 years or so. It makes such a difference during the summer and fall - we're part of the pollinators path through the downtown in summer, and in winter the sparrows scatter some seeds about for volunteers for the next season. Being able to go out onto my balcony to pick herbs and veg for meals is a luxury. I even have a compost container to grow soil and deal with old leaves and scraps from the garden.
This year I'm growing morning glories, pansies, marigolds, three types of tomatoes, summer squash, cantaloupe, peas, beans, cucumber, over a dozen herbs, lettuce and a local wildflower mix. I'm also lucky enough this year to share a garden plot at the local community garden with a longtime neighbour of ours. So double everything listed above, with the addition of a pepper and basil and Swiss chard patch... the best medicine money can't buy.
- Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi
WOW - that’s an amazing balcony! Well done.
@@joannc147 Thanks!! It's been a process of experimentation to bring everything to this level. Mayan-style ollas/oyas clay pots (I use regular terracotta pots) sunk into the soil have made a huge difference for the plants living through the mid-afternoon sun.
@@stevezytveld6585 hey…old ways are the good ways! 👍🏻
When I sit down to a meal consisting mainly of food I have grown myself, I feel such a greater sense of appreciation and enjoyment. It really makes it all worthwhile. I have just been making fruit crumbles to give to my family, with blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries from my allotment. I love having that peaceful place in which to garden, and I have made lots of friends.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've said in this video! Gardening is such a joy! I just started this year and I live in Portugal. It's been a much wetter year than usual, so some of the fruits, like plums and peaches are a little slow. But it was great for saving water and many crops came nonetheless! I thoroughly enjoyed the two zucchinis I harvested, as well as the salad we now have daily. Planting your own food also automatically makes you eat a lot healthier. Your garden is so so beautiful and one of the many reasons I like to watch your videos. Keep up the great work!
I started growing this year! Love watching you, Gary, Charles, Alexander etc All inspiring and developing our knowledge and skill sets. Thank you! :)
I’m a new gardener, and am steadily working my way through your videos, which are outstandingly helpful. Thank you. I very rarely comment on TH-cam etc., but after watching your latest video felt I had to. You reference negative comments, and I simply can’t understand how anyone could possibly comment negatively on your videos, methods, or content. I’m sure you already know what an amazing service and inspiration you provide, so I won’t go on about it. However, I do want to express my gratitude for your carrying on regardless of others’ negativity. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be the main reason why I’m so far surviving the 2024 growing season. Possibly relocation to Herefordshire from Pembs has something to do with it 😅
Your choice of language is beautiful, thanks for spreading the word
Excellent points, Huw.
Thank you Huw... always great information and appreciated encouragement! Blessings on you and your growing season Kiddo!🌻🐛🌿💚🙏💕
I grow all my food i thank my dad for bringing me up around his allotments and he's 80 and still growing his food too ❤ and bring back gardening in schools because that's what lessons i had had and bee keeping the good old day's ❤
Our Great Grandparents all had their own vegie gardens. They had chooks, and buried all their food waste either in the vegie patch or tossed it to the chooks. Newspapers were composted as was cardboard. Glass was recycled as jam jars. The streets and parks used to be filled with fruit and nut trees. Everyone swapped there excess with their neighbours. We need to get back to this and fast. Sharing is so good for the soul.
Where was this? If u don't mind me asking.
One of your best videos yet. Thanks for this and I'm right there with you.
Oh my goodness, Huw! What a timely and positive video. I'm a gardener living in the US, growing mostly perennials. This year I've leaned into vegetable gardening, thanks in part to your inspiring videos. I'm very grateful to you and your passion for growing!!
Excellent video Huw! I keep saying all these things to the people I come into contact with at work as a kitchen gardener. So great that you can get the message out to a wider audience. The whole world needs to hear it! Keep up the good work buddy 👍
I enjoy watching what you do. You are a very wise man. Continue your work. All the best!
It is so worth it- at whatever level you can grow your food.My mouth was watering looking at your harvest!
This is my first year of properly having a go at gardening, finished most of groundwork last year, an wow never have i detested slugs like i do now 😅
An to add in regards to the weather, maybe people will now take notice of the marvellous benefits cloud seeding and weather modification has to offer ✌🏻😏✌🏻
No matter how hard life gets due to external circumstances, gardening is always something I naturally find peace in. Granted the weather is not the best this year, some of the plants I’ve been growing didn’t really do well in their usual place, slugs were an issue, rust fungi came back on two of our small trees… and the constant rain, cold and dull weather didn’t help ease the problems. Despite all that I went out every time I’ve had a chance, did what I could to the best of my knowledge and I still enjoyed every moment of it. I don’t think I’ll ever stop gardening, no matter what people say…
I love your whole philosophy about gardening and sustainability!
I'm glad you are not caving to the negativity, I've been watching you for years and I love the channel. Like a Corgi puppy wrapped in a marshmallow under a rainbow.🤗
I started May 4th this year. Only a 120x120cm raised bed, a few buckets of potatoes, a trough for the runner beans and a finally a plastic greenhouse. The last two weeks have been a bit of a struggle in the garden. But as someone who is new to this, I really appreciate the sentiment behind the video…. I needed to hear it.
I think your garden looks amazing. It’s so green and there’s so much growing. I live in the desert, so seeing so much green always blows my mind.
I just shared on my Facebook page. I am comforted to know it’s not just me that is “failing” this year. I’m still hopeful and sowing for over winter growing.. but like this Irish summer
I have been following you for years and purchased your books Huw and have wanted to comment before but haven’t. Until today. This is a hugely inspiring video on so many levels and just wanted to profoundly thank you for everything you do. As a fan also of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and his River Cottage work, this video encapsulates everything about why we should have a go and why each seed is a revolutionary act against bland food businesses incl retailers that makes us eat what they want whilst they say they are only producing cheap rubbish that we want to eat and you can include mass production of protein in that. So appreciate everything you stand for as a proud and fellow Welshman with a very modest veg patch, greenhouse and compost bins. Keep going mate
Dont worry or fret over the negative comments, Brother. If you did every thing perfect, the negative people cannot help themselves. Be of good cheer and keep doing what you are doing, Sir. Thanks for sharing your ideals.
It's been my first growing season and I've been delighted. Only because I planted things and they grew! Because I have no previous years to compare with I'm just pleased to have been able to grow enough to be self sufficient.
You are so right! Whilst i was saddened that yet more courgettes had to be thrown away this morning ,due to blossom end rot, i still went home with some beautiful tomatoes, string beans and peas Yummy It has been such a tricky year so far for growing but it makes me want to try harder! Great video x
Thank you for making this video. There's so much positivity, truth and inspiration in it for everyone. What a gift 🙂
That made me very happy. I've been gardening for 5 years and this is the first year I've got my little square rod of growing space into full production. Just been snacking on peas and borage flowers this afternoon. Flowers are a great example of food you only get to eat if you grow it. So if this has been one of the more difficult years, maybe I have got the hang of it. I've persevered and even have carrots, sunflowers and climbing beans despite the devastation earlier in the year. Some things have done better than others, but my main meals have been 80% homegrown for the last month at least and today I gave away a couple of bags of broad beans. It's the most practical route to health and prosperity I've come across. Thank you so much for your guidance and support!
First year of growing own food in raised beds...amazing .. good results with vegetables that taste like they should...carrots are delicious !! Potatoes..broccoli..cauliflower..
I'm so pleased I've started this journey....along my brother, who has helped me to do this...
It's been a very challenging year for us gardeners however I've got beautiful flowers, herbs and vegetables which are defying the climate and still doing their thing, growing. It's tricky but we need to think out the box and be adaptable in what we do. My veg is not perfect by all means but to me that's what's I love. Don't give up just change the way we approach the challenges. Thanks Huw for the reminders and encouagement
I appreciate that you talk through this whole idea of why it is important to grow what we can. You are so correct about "organic", when a home gardener really wants to give our family the best food possible. I have my very first tomatoes grown from seed, and I am going to keep going and growing and learning from you and a couple other gardeners here in the United States that I watch. Thank you.
There - these types of videos are the ones that made me start to and stick to gardening in 2024. I come from Slovenia, which as you well know is a land of gardeners 😊 but that can make a beginner like me feel intimidated at times. Your uplifting and broad-minded approach is making me stay focused. And I agree with everything you said, just lovely. Thanks!
you are absolutely right,growing your own food is worth all the effort and time.i would never had thought it would make me so happy doing it.
been living in Manchester and Germany for 12 years, now I'm back.home in the basque country and a plot of land that was my father's I have been growing vegetables for two seasons and I think it is the best thing I have ever done.there is this connection with nature ,with the plants then the freshness and favour of them,I am looking forward for my tomatoes to ripe guess will still take a few days to a eating them but it does not matter I know that since I am growing food and spending lots of hours in nature I think I have zero stress and anxaiety and having for dinner as for example today a simple salad with lettuce ,green onion and tuna with olive oil ,vinegar and salt and a courgette soup with potatoes (can't be a simpler dinner)I know I'm gonna sleep like a kid ,it's just priceless