I remember when you began, this is so beautiful. I'm a former New England container gardener now in Austin TX where the heat has killed 70% of what I tried on my patio. I'm starting some fall options and look forward to lovely kale, spinach and carrots. You always inspire me and I'm so happy for your great success.
Summer in Texas was so brutal this year. My first time trying to grow fruits or vegetables and it did not turn out great but each attempt teaches me something new.
Nothing like starting your seeds 3 months early (failing miserably and starting over at the right time) because your addicted to growing lol! Congrats on the success and good luck with future grows
Been following you for a year now, you've been my inspiration when it comes to farming especially hydroponics, which is also the reason why I took agricultural and biosystems engineering course, and been growing on my backyard farm both modern and traditional for 4 years now, had some ups and downs but I never stopped, my journey continues, still going for it at 22, no plans on stopping.
I microwave my corn with husk on for 2-3 min. Let cool or grab with mitts. Cut the base through the husks, then grab the husks/silk at the top and slide the perfect corn out!
Your channel is fantastic!! A tip I learned for corn worms from a relative was to spray the silk with vegetable oil, as soon as they emerged from the ears, and continue every week until fully grown.
So happy for you, your girlfriend and the entire Epic team you have created along with your stunning homestead over these past 4 years. INCREDIBLE achievements and masses of inspiration for all of us. Best wishes for the hops and all the rest of your cool plantings.
You've come such a long way from the manucured container garden ! I'm so glad you added flowers and started more in ground gardening, your homestead is stunning and so inspiring ! Keep doing what you love, we're here for it !
Corn ideas: steamed, grilled, use different flavored butters, elote, corn salad(often uses onions and avocado and lime), corn salsa, chowder/bisque, add to salads like Wood Ranch does, creamed corn, corn meal, El Torino style corn cake, used in a shrimp boil, preserved I.e. canned, frozen on cob or off. Dry your own husks for tamales, you could even make your corn meal for tamales if you want to be really daring, corn silk tea and I think you can even turn the cobs into jelly.
How have I been watching you for years and never knew about the Epic homesteading Channel? I just bought my first house an absolutely plan on starting a homestead on it!
This garden looks like a little paradise now! 🌿 It's amazing how much love and hard work can change a space. I'm thinking of trying to grow more native plants in my garden too! They seem so important for the buzz of pollinators! 😊🌼
Love these progress update videos. Hop cones - it'll be interesting to see how that goes. It's neat to watch a condensed 25 minute video but it has been TRULY amazing to watch it in person in real time. Set aside some 🌽,🍅, 🥚, & passion fruit for me, I'm heading down 😊
you might want to line the bottom of your raised beds with hardware cloth to save your garden plants from the gophers. also, we are using the Gooher Hawk trap to catch the gophers that are on open ground.
11:49 @ epicgardening Horsetails have silica, basically they have glass in their stems, making them a sandpaper alternative. Also, have you tried growing Tea, Camellia Sinensis? 20:23 You can also take the Amaranth and thrash and then winnow it to get edible seeds that can be ground into flour that is gluten free.
Hey I noticed that you have mini split installed @ 11:02. You can use the water from your mini split that is condensating to water your plants. It will produce a lot water especially in the summer months about 1 gallon an hour.
Thanks for the tour, lots of progress is being made! The ice cream bean tree will get huge and they are a little messy. Mine is 6 years old and I keep it topped between 15 and 20 feet. The canopy is huge! It is a legume so great for the other plants around it. The tree loses a lot of leaves which can be used for compost, and it stays green year round. The seed pods are fun to eat, but it produces a massive amount and they are everywhere! The birds do love the blooms and we have a lot of nests in the tree. I have all of my tropical food forest planted around the ice cream bean tree, moringa, papaya, mango, pineapple, figs, and many more! As far as your test garden goes I have a suggestion for a project for another area. Planting fruit tree guilds around your trees could teach people how to get more harvest in minimal space and also how to increase production by choosing the things to plant together. I always draw a circle on a piece of paper and then plan out the groundcover, nitrogen fixer, pollinator, and a repellant if you have critters. Another virtual rabbit hole to go down!
lean how to make and can/freeze creamed corn. not only can you make creamed corn spoon bread with it but it is a must add to any chowder or chicken chili!
@3:00 you could use metallic meshes underneath to prevent gopher attacks. Question: do you have any cisterns or wells built inside your property, in cases you may need water during drought ?
Congratulations on an EPIC garden/homestead! Have been watching you since you bought the property and what amazing growth and transformation! Thanks for showing us what is capable in our gardens and all the tips and lessons learned from your own experiences!
I thought this might be a good experiment for your experimental area. I always have trouble with leafminers on my citrus trees. It makes the leaves curl and look very ugly and I wind up cutting them all off. This year I had some yellow tacky cards and I cut them in half to a size close to 3x5". I punched a hole in the top and attached it to the tree with twist ties. I actually put 2 in each tree Near the top where most of the new leaves form snd then in the middle. I did change these out 3 times during the year and most important I didn't do this until the fruit was actually formed and all flowers were done I didn't want to hurt sny pollinators. I am happy to say that this worked for me. I didn't have to cut leaves off the trees and the leaves have not curled or discolored snd I didn't have to use any sprays. I will tell you though the tacky cards, which you can buy on Amazon, they get really full of bugs, but we do have lots of woods here. If you have this problem, I hope you will give this a try! Loved the video. Your garden is amazing. Florida Gardener Zone 9a
You've come so far in 4 years, and yet it's hard to believe it's been that long. Nice overview of all the current areas and what's growing! Looking forward to year 5!! 🌱☀
love this ! also please ignore any naysayers, most of us are just proud to of seen you go this far. i remember watching back when you had less than 20k subscribers. we can only hope to go as far as you,and your channel has helped to keep my green thumb going!!
Wow, fantastic!! I started following your channel well before you moved to this property and to see what you've accomplished is remarkable. Congratulations - all your planning and hard work is paying off in spades.
I can’t believe it’s been four years. I found you right before you moved when I was spending $100s on starts from the big box stores and getting barely any food to now starting seeds, from Botanical Interests of course, and not buy any vegetables over the summer. You and the entire team are the best! Thanks Eric!
What a treat to tour your garden! I’ve followed since before you moved there. Inspiring work and so fun. I hope when you prune your peach you will make a video. I live at the northern end of California in Humboldt County and planted a Frost Peach that had a decent amount of fruit this year. I definitely pruned to open it up but the branches are kind of spindly. Thank you for all your knowledgeable sharing.
Great video! That's such a nice urban garden, very diverse and well thought out. About those ice-cream beans trees they can really get ginormous, here in Brazil, when I was a kid my grandmother had one of those in her backyard and last I remember it was over 28 meters tall (90 ft) but it was many decades old so I dont know how long it took to get that big, it took me and 3 of my cousins to hug the tree because of how large the trunk was, I love the taste of the fruits and the pods were so funky looking xD. It grows tall and wide, it alone could probably shade your whole lot if it's let to its own devices :)
❤ this; I was born and raised in San Diego. Dragon fruit is so cool. Wish I could get tomatoes to grow (cherries especially were fun & easy for me in big pots), but darn birds kept getting to them. I had “volunteer “ nasturtiums once; they were good.
I came back to this channel after a long time just because I was curious, i've started watching on 2020 where I learned how to grow tomatoes because I was bored during the pandemic 😅, this channel has become so much more than I remember.
Any tips for luffa? You and jacques are my spirit animals (or spirit daddies) i garden because of you two !! Im in australia and have binge watched both of your entire channels and now grow roughly 80% of my own food after less than 12 months thanks to all your videos !! ❤
Try planting an African Blue Basil. It turns into a bush thats easy to grow. It doesnt taste the best though. It also flowers non stop and the bees love it.
If you have a ton of passion fruit, I like to combine them with equal parts sugar (or 1.5 if you use allulose like I do and want it to be as sweet as sugar; I just use 1:1) by weight in a container to make a Passion fruit cheong which can be used to make soda, or flavor tea, or put over shaved ice. Just need to stir the sweetener so it dissolves (usually 2-3 days for passionfruit) and then store it in the fridge.
Looking good Eric. I started my own homestead a month and a half ago. It’s been a ton of work but I’m always looking forward to the next project. Thx for all the lessons and inspiration
Havent bought produce or eggs since I started gardening 2 years ago. So happy to plant onions, garlic, herbs and berries (I grow a lot more on just over 1/4 acre). Only go to the farmers market every now and then for cabbage but thats it. I hate spiders and too many black widows enjoy all the cabbage I have in my garden. Its just too scary.😂
Hey Kevin Definitely changed since you moved there! It has been amazing to see the phases it has been through and good the soil is now there! What is 1/3 acre in dimensions btw please? Oh no, i have been trying to get rid of horse/mere tail for 10 years in our garden! Even weed barrier and shingle hasn't stopped it as it's roots travels about 2 ft down and across. It's abundant in our local area and i find it worse than ivy and bindweed. I have heard you can make tea with it but i wouldn't grow it on purpose. They also have sections on the stem so by nature they are designed to easily break off and spread. I also wouldn't recommend pampas grass and to some extent, bamboo as they can get big. If it were me I would have grown willow and trained it into a fence hedge weave. I am sure there are other non invasive tall grasses out there. I do feel for you as horsetail loves water and will go towards your pond. When I was thinking about posting my gardening videos I send to my folks to YT in Jan, I made a video removing the shingle and taking up the weed barrier to put a bed there. The horse/mere tail root structure is fascinating. I managed to remove all of it in that area bar one section apparently as we saw it growing back. It also stunted the courgette/zucchini plant we had in that corner. I was just watching Andrew Frazier and he was in Vietnam looking at the cobra snake breeding (for eating) and how this farm feed the snakes, snakes. They were basically setting traps in this massive dragon fruit farm, putting in mice with a bag of rice and waiting for the snakes in these bogs. When I saw the dragon fruits all lined up I thought of you! If it were me, I would have planted the asparagus along the left back wall out of the way. It's pretty much low maintenance - short harvest window type of rhizome. They will like being near the pond too. The reason why I was putting horse/ mere tail, is like asparagus there are male and female plants. The ones with the berries are females, so if you just want asparagus spears, you need to remove the females. If you want to expand your asparagus crops, you can grow the females for the seeds (berries are harmful to eat!). They like loamy soil so if you have clay soil you can add sand to help. Samphire is a beach relative called 'poor man's asparagus'. It is a lot smaller and tender but has a saltier flavour due to growing on beaches with sea water. I have seen restaurants starting to sell this at up market prices but I think if you add a bit of sand near the pond and grow this, you will probably like it. You also live near the beach right as in not central city like me in London, so it would like the sea air. For me, I feel the big game change in your garden journey at this house was the year you had that wall mural done! You had just released new colours of birdies beds and was doing a giveaway of bespoke "graffiti art" beds. I liked that year for planning of what you wanted to do with the space and your 'talking out loud' of the ideas you wanted to include in your space. You got the shed and the chicken coop setup and I think the fruit trees? That amaranth is absolutely gorgeous! Most vines, I have learnt grow anti clockwise. Not sure if they are rebels or if there is a theory behind it but worth mentioning it before trying to force your vines to grow clockwise. Same with runner or pole beans, etc. There's a local council/public playfields with football/soccor pitches near us and along the edges there is a massive 10 ft deep row of blackberries growing at the back of the houses. We easily picked 2kg in less than a hour. There is also an area, where I have seen wild hops growing too. We didn't have another punnet to put them in and hubby was trying to drag us away from the berries as it was! lol The weather here in the UK has been terrible this year! So much cloud, even when it wasn't raining. Wasn't impressed that the Met Office waited so long before admitting and declaring this year, that (I forgot the country in the middle east) cloud seeding had been performed and literally covered us with crappy weather for the last 2 years! UK gov are not really addressining this nor the poo being poured into our rivers by monopoly water companies, paying bosses billions of £ in bonuses and then claiming bankruptcy if they don't increase bills by 33%! Meanwhile, they are arresting people for saying they are fed up with the situation in the UK, with lack of healthcare, crime rates, especially amongst women and children. They have also just removed winter fuel allowance for pensioners, just as the energy cap was removed. I'll save the story of my Dad for another time of his journey of trying to get of of 3 bed flat apartment estate working 2 jobs and into a house out of London and how it went wrong for another time. I would look into preserving eggs more for winter if you don't use enough for cooking and baking. Also, do a cheap scrambled egg for the chickens, like a placenta surprise! Bake down the shells too. grind them up for the girls and the garden. I so wish we were allowed chickens when the neighbours have a neglected zoo of small animals they lost interest in and attracts foxes. Poor dog is left outside barking all night. We hang up 2 pint bottles of ground egg shells for the small birds. If you have too many chickens for eggs and can't do food swaps, separate them and fatten them up. Keep what you need, not what you want. You might find someone who can give you harvested chickens for good laying hens. Anyway, awesome tour and love to see what plans you have for your place next! Take care and have a great Labour weekend!
Pretty sure the hops are done when some cones have "ripened". Next year you should get much larger, but time to cut soon. Also, Mexican Marigold is a fun and good smelling flower that grows well in San Diego. I planted one on a whim and it grows well without irrigation and I think mine is about 4 years old now. About similar in size to an artichoke plant currently .
God bless you and your garden‼️I’m Over here in south louis - issippi 😂 the sun is beating the crap out of my plants‼️ you said “Shade cloth” to one on my comments about it. my local hardware stores and feed suppliers didn’t have it; and so I used some White House Wrap and it’s doing great💯 Thanks a million
Wash the corn with the fresh hisk and the hairs. Boil them with everything. The water is a tea. Im from Oaxaca and this is something that we do all the time. Its delicious
I just wanted to mention that there is a species of passion fruit hardy to zone 5b (passiflora incarnata). just wanted to bring it up because i thought for years that i couldnt grow passion fruit but then i found out im just barely in this ones native range in illinois so its become one of my favorite plants this year. im using it to cover my chicken run. they can eat the fruit and leaves!
Bring back candles! I am making baskets this holiday with mostly things from our garden. They would go so well in those baskets. So, yes please, bring back your candle series. 😊😊😊
Shuck and wrap with a layer of Saran Wrap and a layer with aluminum foil and freeze. Keeps for at least a year and tastes like it’s straight from the stalk whenever you cook it
You can use the corn by making corn chowder, corn pudding, corn ice-cream, creamed corn, corn zucchini/squash and peppers succotash, freeze dried corn for snacks or soups, corn bread, corn fritters, Chinese creamy sweet corn beverage (cold in summer/hot in winter), corn "atole" hot beverage, corn "champurrado" hot beverage, Vietnamese sweet corn milk, corn and bean salad "Cowboy Caviar", corn bread, corn bread pudding, Mexican street corn on the cob or bowl, and corn cake to name a few. LOL.
I grow tomatoes in part-shade parts of my garden. They have morning sun up to 2 p.m. and after that they are in shade. That reduced soo much stress on them and they survive whole season without much disease. Give it a shot and see how it works for you.
Hey Kevin, always love your videos. I have a homebrewing TH-cam channel and was stoked to see you growing hops! Also located in San Diego, I bet you could make an Epic beer with some other stuff from your garden, if I can help in anyway let me know! 🍻
Test garden idea... I hear a lot of talk about building soil year to year and how the longer you keep adding organic material and growing in your soil the better it becomes. Better in terms of more organic matter, increased microbial life, more mycorrhizae, more nutrients and minerals, etc. I'd love to see that tested. Pick an area where you haven't been gardening at all, one where you've been gardening for, 1 year, 2, 3, and 4 years now. Compare them with soil tests and grow tests (same plants in each of the 5 test beds). And see if soils tests and grow tests prove it actually is best in the 4-year grow area, and worst in the never grown anything area. That would be super interesting!
Happy Anniversary!!! Love all you do. Did you not put mesh under your beds before planting (to prevent gophers)? Im convinced they'll figure out a way to steal wire-cutters and still get in. Oy they've been horrible this year in my garden. (Deer too). Have probably taken down a few hundred dollars in plants. I'm mostly a rose/flower farmer and roses all go in baskets but from now on, everything is in baskets!
On Corn: I've heard that the sugar-to-starch half life for fresh picked corn is about seven minutes. Cook within seven minutes of picking for the best possible flavor. As a teenager, I'd get a pot of water started boiling, and pick an ear, bring it in and boil it immediately (this is pre microwave!). Best corn ever, unless you grill it just as soon.
Our family freezer corn recipe: Husk and wash the corn to remove silk. Cut corn from cobs. Measure 4 quarts of raw corn, scant cup of sugar, 1 Tbsp salt, and 1/4 cup water into heavy bottomed stock pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly so it doesn't scorch. Simmer 3 minutes. Dump out into a large buffet pan set over ice. Stir to cool quickly. Pack into freezer boxes and continue to chill. The corn will sour if it cools too slowly. Space it out in your deep freezer until frozen. This is a project for several people on those years of abundant corn harvest. Last year we processed 50 dozen for 4 families! Everyone knows there job in the process.
I remember when you began, this is so beautiful. I'm a former New England container gardener now in Austin TX where the heat has killed 70% of what I tried on my patio. I'm starting some fall options and look forward to lovely kale, spinach and carrots. You always inspire me and I'm so happy for your great success.
Thank you so much! Good luck in fall
Howdy, neighbor! I’m about to start my peppers/toms soon. Malabar spinach does WONDERFUL out here. Happy growing!
Summer in Texas was so brutal this year. My first time trying to grow fruits or vegetables and it did not turn out great but each attempt teaches me something new.
I can’t believe it’s already been 4 years!!!! It’s been an absolute joy watching you and the homestead grow, always excited to see what you do next!💚
So inspiring!!! I grew my first tomatoes, thyme, basil, rosemary and green onions!! You gave me the itch for gardening! Love learning on this channel!
Appreciate hearing this!
Nothing like starting your seeds 3 months early (failing miserably and starting over at the right time) because your addicted to growing lol! Congrats on the success and good luck with future grows
Wow! You've come a long way in 4 years 🎉
Been following you for a year now, you've been my inspiration when it comes to farming especially hydroponics, which is also the reason why I took agricultural and biosystems engineering course, and been growing on my backyard farm both modern and traditional for 4 years now, had some ups and downs but I never stopped, my journey continues, still going for it at 22, no plans on stopping.
Love to hear this!
You can freeze the corn, boil 7 mins on cob, ice water plunge 14 mins. Cut off cob put in air sealer bags of your choice. Corn will keep for a year.
My family has done this for years. Great way to get fresh-tasting corn year-round!
I microwave my corn with husk on for 2-3 min. Let cool or grab with mitts. Cut the base through the husks, then grab the husks/silk at the top and slide the perfect corn out!
I just learned this trick. So handy!
Me too! First time I saw it done, I was like, "what?!"
This method works for 11:25 grilled corn, too!
I do it for 8 minutes, but same thing! So easy that way.
power corn
Your channel is fantastic!! A tip I learned for corn worms from a relative was to spray the silk with vegetable oil, as soon as they emerged from the ears, and continue every week until fully grown.
Yup that works really well!
Thanks, it's on my list now....had a horrible corn year😢
So happy for you, your girlfriend and the entire Epic team you have created along with your stunning homestead over these past 4 years. INCREDIBLE achievements and masses of inspiration for all of us. Best wishes for the hops and all the rest of your cool plantings.
You've come such a long way from the manucured container garden ! I'm so glad you added flowers and started more in ground gardening, your homestead is stunning and so inspiring ! Keep doing what you love, we're here for it !
wow 4 years already?? lordt it felt like not long ago when i binge-watched your videos after i saw your apocalypse challenge video. congratss 🎉🎉
Corn ideas: steamed, grilled, use different flavored butters, elote, corn salad(often uses onions and avocado and lime), corn salsa, chowder/bisque, add to salads like Wood Ranch does, creamed corn, corn meal, El Torino style corn cake, used in a shrimp boil, preserved I.e. canned, frozen on cob or off. Dry your own husks for tamales, you could even make your corn meal for tamales if you want to be really daring, corn silk tea and I think you can even turn the cobs into jelly.
How have I been watching you for years and never knew about the Epic homesteading Channel? I just bought my first house an absolutely plan on starting a homestead on it!
Same
Corn relish is delish, doesn't require a pressure canner. You can also cut the kernels off, blanch and freeze/dehydrate, whatever works best.
This garden looks like a little paradise now! 🌿 It's amazing how much love and hard work can change a space. I'm thinking of trying to grow more native plants in my garden too! They seem so important for the buzz of pollinators! 😊🌼
Love these progress update videos. Hop cones - it'll be interesting to see how that goes. It's neat to watch a condensed 25 minute video but it has been TRULY amazing to watch it in person in real time. Set aside some 🌽,🍅, 🥚, & passion fruit for me, I'm heading down 😊
;)
You could plant feather reed grass next to the outdoor shower, it looks quite nice and grows 4-6 ft high.
you might want to line the bottom of your raised beds with hardware cloth to save your garden plants from the gophers. also, we are using the Gooher Hawk trap to catch the gophers that are on open ground.
Those traps have been great for us!
Your content consistently provides valuable insights into modern farming techniques, making it a must-watch for agriculture enthusiasts
11:49 @ epicgardening Horsetails have silica, basically they have glass in their stems, making them a sandpaper alternative.
Also, have you tried growing Tea, Camellia Sinensis?
20:23 You can also take the Amaranth and thrash and then winnow it to get edible seeds that can be ground into flour that is gluten free.
No way, had no clue! Haven't tried growing tea yet
Got here as quick as possible. Love the channel
I’m new to gardening and have recently become obsessed. Thank you for all of the insight, it’s incredibly helpful
Hey I noticed that you have mini split installed @ 11:02. You can use the water from your mini split that is condensating to water your plants. It will produce a lot water especially in the summer months about 1 gallon an hour.
We do - the drainage goes into garden beds!
"The way you explain sustainable farming practices is super engaging. Looking forward to more videos like this!"
Thanks for the tour, lots of progress is being made! The ice cream bean tree will get huge and they are a little messy. Mine is 6 years old and I keep it topped between 15 and 20 feet. The canopy is huge! It is a legume so great for the other plants around it. The tree loses a lot of leaves which can be used for compost, and it stays green year round. The seed pods are fun to eat, but it produces a massive amount and they are everywhere! The birds do love the blooms and we have a lot of nests in the tree. I have all of my tropical food forest planted around the ice cream bean tree, moringa, papaya, mango, pineapple, figs, and many more!
As far as your test garden goes I have a suggestion for a project for another area. Planting fruit tree guilds around your trees could teach people how to get more harvest in minimal space and also how to increase production by choosing the things to plant together. I always draw a circle on a piece of paper and then plan out the groundcover, nitrogen fixer, pollinator, and a repellant if you have critters. Another virtual rabbit hole to go down!
lean how to make and can/freeze creamed corn. not only can you make creamed corn spoon bread with it but it is a must add to any chowder or chicken chili!
Good idea!
On your corn...Use a mandolin and remove the kernels from the cobs. Then blanch and freeze or can. Then enjoy!
I noticed the same about the Mexican Sunflower this year. The butterflies love it but also the hummingbirds too!
Amazing garden as always!
@3:00 you could use metallic meshes underneath to prevent gopher attacks. Question: do you have any cisterns or wells built inside your property, in cases you may need water during drought ?
Yes, check my rainwater capture video on this channel to see them all! - Kevin
Congratulations on an EPIC garden/homestead! Have been watching you since you bought the property and what amazing growth and transformation! Thanks for showing us what is capable in our gardens and all the tips and lessons learned from your own experiences!
Thanks so much!
I love seeing your place and what you have accomplished in such a small time. It gives one hope for their own goals.
I thought this might be a good experiment for your experimental area. I always have trouble with leafminers on my citrus trees. It makes the leaves curl and look very ugly and I wind up cutting them all off. This year I had some yellow tacky cards and I cut them in half to a size close to 3x5". I punched a hole in the top and attached it to the tree with twist ties. I actually put 2 in each tree
Near the top where most of the new leaves form snd then in the middle. I did change these out 3 times during the year and most important I didn't do this until the fruit was actually formed and all flowers were done
I didn't want to hurt sny pollinators. I am happy to say that this worked for me. I didn't have to cut leaves off the trees and the leaves have not curled or discolored snd I didn't have to use any sprays. I will tell you though the tacky cards, which you can buy on Amazon, they get really full of bugs, but we do have lots of woods here.
If you have this problem, I hope you will give this a try!
Loved the video. Your garden is amazing.
Florida Gardener
Zone 9a
I'd love to see an update on your brother's first garden!
Will do!
You've come so far in 4 years, and yet it's hard to believe it's been that long. Nice overview of all the current areas and what's growing! Looking forward to year 5!! 🌱☀
love this ! also please ignore any naysayers, most of us are just proud to of seen you go this far. i remember watching back when you had less than 20k subscribers. we can only hope to go as far as you,and your channel has helped to keep my green thumb going!!
Thank you so much!!
Wow, fantastic!! I started following your channel well before you moved to this property and to see what you've accomplished is remarkable. Congratulations - all your planning and hard work is paying off in spades.
You can puta few drops of sweet oil when your corn fist starts to develope too. I only put it in once and it never had the worms
Works so well
For a corn recipe try succotash. It's so good. You can use your peppers and tomatoes in it :) mmmm I usually make it for Thanksgiving.
Looks great !
I love your garden. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
I can’t believe it’s been four years. I found you right before you moved when I was spending $100s on starts from the big box stores and getting barely any food to now starting seeds, from Botanical Interests of course, and not buy any vegetables over the summer. You and the entire team are the best! Thanks Eric!
Love to hear this!
What a treat to tour your garden! I’ve followed since before you moved there. Inspiring work and so fun. I hope when you prune your peach you will make a video. I live at the northern end of California in Humboldt County and planted a Frost Peach that had a decent amount of fruit this year. I definitely pruned to open it up but the branches are kind of spindly. Thank you for all your knowledgeable sharing.
Definitely will make a video!
Great video! That's such a nice urban garden, very diverse and well thought out. About those ice-cream beans trees they can really get ginormous, here in Brazil, when I was a kid my grandmother had one of those in her backyard and last I remember it was over 28 meters tall (90 ft) but it was many decades old so I dont know how long it took to get that big, it took me and 3 of my cousins to hug the tree because of how large the trunk was, I love the taste of the fruits and the pods were so funky looking xD. It grows tall and wide, it alone could probably shade your whole lot if it's let to its own devices :)
Thanks Kev for sharing!!! Abundant blessing and good growing&eating well! Be free..Stay free!!!
Always!
❤ this; I was born and raised in San Diego. Dragon fruit is so cool. Wish I could get tomatoes to grow (cherries especially were fun & easy for me in big pots), but darn birds kept getting to them. I had “volunteer “ nasturtiums once; they were good.
I came back to this channel after a long time just because I was curious, i've started watching on 2020 where I learned how to grow tomatoes because I was bored during the pandemic 😅, this channel has become so much more than I remember.
Any tips for luffa? You and jacques are my spirit animals (or spirit daddies) i garden because of you two !! Im in australia and have binge watched both of your entire channels and now grow roughly 80% of my own food after less than 12 months thanks to all your videos !! ❤
Did a full video on them, check it out! Glad to hear you're getting success!
I put hardware cloth in the bottom of my raised beds to keep little critters from burrowing.
Works well!
Basil bush??..wow..🤔interesting..you are truly gifted and amazing! Impressive..star fruit!!!! Great school..thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Try planting an African Blue Basil. It turns into a bush thats easy to grow. It doesnt taste the best though. It also flowers non stop and the bees love it.
Plant the horsetail in troughs. They will still look great and will be contained. Terra cotta pots would work too. Troughs are just very cool looking.
It is looking fantastic! All of your work over these past years is massively coming to fruition now. Beautiful 👍❤️
Thank you so much!
If you have a ton of passion fruit, I like to combine them with equal parts sugar (or 1.5 if you use allulose like I do and want it to be as sweet as sugar; I just use 1:1) by weight in a container to make a Passion fruit cheong which can be used to make soda, or flavor tea, or put over shaved ice. Just need to stir the sweetener so it dissolves (usually 2-3 days for passionfruit) and then store it in the fridge.
Sounds SOOOOO good
Looking good Eric. I started my own homestead a month and a half ago. It’s been a ton of work but I’m always looking forward to the next project.
Thx for all the lessons and inspiration
Let's goooo! Congrats!
Kevin, you're an endless source of inspiration. I'm sitting down planning my fall garden and you have me so excited!
Wonderful!
Your garden is so wonderful, there are all kinds of agricultural products and fruits ❤
Grill that corn cut off kernels and freeze. Make fresh corn salad, corn chowder, corn casserole, use in cornbread, salsas.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, for sharing this video of your backyard, you have given me lots of great backyard gardening ideas.
Havent bought produce or eggs since I started gardening 2 years ago. So happy to plant onions, garlic, herbs and berries (I grow a lot more on just over 1/4 acre). Only go to the farmers market every now and then for cabbage but thats it. I hate spiders and too many black widows enjoy all the cabbage I have in my garden. Its just too scary.😂
Hey Kevin
Definitely changed since you moved there! It has been amazing to see the phases it has been through and good the soil is now there!
What is 1/3 acre in dimensions btw please?
Oh no, i have been trying to get rid of horse/mere tail for 10 years in our garden! Even weed barrier and shingle hasn't stopped it as it's roots travels about 2 ft down and across. It's abundant in our local area and i find it worse than ivy and bindweed. I have heard you can make tea with it but i wouldn't grow it on purpose. They also have sections on the stem so by nature they are designed to easily break off and spread.
I also wouldn't recommend pampas grass and to some extent, bamboo as they can get big. If it were me I would have grown willow and trained it into a fence hedge weave. I am sure there are other non invasive tall grasses out there.
I do feel for you as horsetail loves water and will go towards your pond. When I was thinking about posting my gardening videos I send to my folks to YT in Jan, I made a video removing the shingle and taking up the weed barrier to put a bed there. The horse/mere tail root structure is fascinating. I managed to remove all of it in that area bar one section apparently as we saw it growing back. It also stunted the courgette/zucchini plant we had in that corner.
I was just watching Andrew Frazier and he was in Vietnam looking at the cobra snake breeding (for eating) and how this farm feed the snakes, snakes. They were basically setting traps in this massive dragon fruit farm, putting in mice with a bag of rice and waiting for the snakes in these bogs. When I saw the dragon fruits all lined up I thought of you!
If it were me, I would have planted the asparagus along the left back wall out of the way. It's pretty much low maintenance - short harvest window type of rhizome. They will like being near the pond too. The reason why I was putting horse/ mere tail, is like asparagus there are male and female plants. The ones with the berries are females, so if you just want asparagus spears, you need to remove the females. If you want to expand your asparagus crops, you can grow the females for the seeds (berries are harmful to eat!). They like loamy soil so if you have clay soil you can add sand to help.
Samphire is a beach relative called 'poor man's asparagus'. It is a lot smaller and tender but has a saltier flavour due to growing on beaches with sea water. I have seen restaurants starting to sell this at up market prices but I think if you add a bit of sand near the pond and grow this, you will probably like it. You also live near the beach right as in not central city like me in London, so it would like the sea air.
For me, I feel the big game change in your garden journey at this house was the year you had that wall mural done! You had just released new colours of birdies beds and was doing a giveaway of bespoke "graffiti art" beds. I liked that year for planning of what you wanted to do with the space and your 'talking out loud' of the ideas you wanted to include in your space. You got the shed and the chicken coop setup and I think the fruit trees?
That amaranth is absolutely gorgeous!
Most vines, I have learnt grow anti clockwise. Not sure if they are rebels or if there is a theory behind it but worth mentioning it before trying to force your vines to grow clockwise. Same with runner or pole beans, etc. There's a local council/public playfields with football/soccor pitches near us and along the edges there is a massive 10 ft deep row of blackberries growing at the back of the houses. We easily picked 2kg in less than a hour. There is also an area, where I have seen wild hops growing too. We didn't have another punnet to put them in and hubby was trying to drag us away from the berries as it was! lol
The weather here in the UK has been terrible this year! So much cloud, even when it wasn't raining. Wasn't impressed that the Met Office waited so long before admitting and declaring this year, that (I forgot the country in the middle east) cloud seeding had been performed and literally covered us with crappy weather for the last 2 years!
UK gov are not really addressining this nor the poo being poured into our rivers by monopoly water companies, paying bosses billions of £ in bonuses and then claiming bankruptcy if they don't increase bills by 33%!
Meanwhile, they are arresting people for saying they are fed up with the situation in the UK, with lack of healthcare, crime rates, especially amongst women and children.
They have also just removed winter fuel allowance for pensioners, just as the energy cap was removed. I'll save the story of my Dad for another time of his journey of trying to get of of 3 bed flat apartment estate working 2 jobs and into a house out of London and how it went wrong for another time.
I would look into preserving eggs more for winter if you don't use enough for cooking and baking. Also, do a cheap scrambled egg for the chickens, like a placenta surprise!
Bake down the shells too. grind them up for the girls and the garden.
I so wish we were allowed chickens when the neighbours have a neglected zoo of small animals they lost interest in and attracts foxes. Poor dog is left outside barking all night.
We hang up 2 pint bottles of ground egg shells for the small birds.
If you have too many chickens for eggs and can't do food swaps, separate them and fatten them up. Keep what you need, not what you want. You might find someone who can give you harvested chickens for good laying hens.
Anyway, awesome tour and love to see what plans you have for your place next!
Take care and have a great Labour weekend!
Thank you for the breakdown!
I would love to see a cotton patch in you Epic Garden.
Pretty sure the hops are done when some cones have "ripened". Next year you should get much larger, but time to cut soon. Also, Mexican Marigold is a fun and good smelling flower that grows well in San Diego. I planted one on a whim and it grows well without irrigation and I think mine is about 4 years old now. About similar in size to an artichoke plant currently .
God bless you and your garden‼️I’m Over here in south louis - issippi 😂 the sun is beating the crap out of my plants‼️ you said “Shade cloth” to one on my comments about it. my local hardware stores and feed suppliers didn’t have it; and so I used some White House Wrap and it’s doing great💯 Thanks a million
Wash the corn with the fresh hisk and the hairs. Boil them with everything. The water is a tea. Im from Oaxaca and this is something that we do all the time. Its delicious
I just wanted to mention that there is a species of passion fruit hardy to zone 5b (passiflora incarnata). just wanted to bring it up because i thought for years that i couldnt grow passion fruit but then i found out im just barely in this ones native range in illinois so its become one of my favorite plants this year. im using it to cover my chicken run. they can eat the fruit and leaves!
Ever consider putting pavers under your beds to prevent gophers? Seems like it would work well with small gaps for water to run off
We have logs filling the bottom 50% but it seems they've gotten past that - may try pavers!
Lovely to see you looking so healthy and well…as well as your garden 😊Jinxy
4 year anniversary!
Can’t believe I’ve been watching your channel for 5 years now!
Bring back candles! I am making baskets this holiday with mostly things from our garden. They would go so well in those baskets. So, yes please, bring back your candle series. 😊😊😊
We'll see!
Late idea for the corn: maybe try using it as a grain for brewing beer? Could be a test run for when you get your homegrown hops
This was a wonderful tour- you are a natural host! Great work!
This is so beautiful and productive! You did such a wonderful job on this!
Shuck and wrap with a layer of Saran Wrap and a layer with aluminum foil and freeze. Keeps for at least a year and tastes like it’s straight from the stalk whenever you cook it
This is so inspiring! Your garden is literal goals! 😍🙌💚
You can use the corn by making corn chowder, corn pudding, corn ice-cream, creamed corn, corn zucchini/squash and peppers succotash, freeze dried corn for snacks or soups, corn bread, corn fritters, Chinese creamy sweet corn beverage (cold in summer/hot in winter), corn "atole" hot beverage, corn "champurrado" hot beverage, Vietnamese sweet corn milk, corn and bean salad "Cowboy Caviar", corn bread, corn bread pudding, Mexican street corn on the cob or bowl, and corn cake to name a few. LOL.
I grow tomatoes in part-shade parts of my garden. They have morning sun up to 2 p.m. and after that they are in shade. That reduced soo much stress on them and they survive whole season without much disease. Give it a shot and see how it works for you.
Love this, been watching since the beginning and its fascinating, well done showing the fails and the wins.
Hey Kevin, always love your videos. I have a homebrewing TH-cam channel and was stoked to see you growing hops! Also located in San Diego, I bet you could make an Epic beer with some other stuff from your garden, if I can help in anyway let me know! 🍻
Your garden is amazing! You might see if your local food closet will accept your corn. Some places do and some do not accept fresh food.
Test garden idea... I hear a lot of talk about building soil year to year and how the longer you keep adding organic material and growing in your soil the better it becomes. Better in terms of more organic matter, increased microbial life, more mycorrhizae, more nutrients and minerals, etc. I'd love to see that tested. Pick an area where you haven't been gardening at all, one where you've been gardening for, 1 year, 2, 3, and 4 years now. Compare them with soil tests and grow tests (same plants in each of the 5 test beds). And see if soils tests and grow tests prove it actually is best in the 4-year grow area, and worst in the never grown anything area. That would be super interesting!
Congratulations Kevin!! Beautiful job.
Corn silk is good for silk tea! Yummy!
My grandparents would freeze their corn! The best for year round! Make cornbread!
You could use a lot of that corn to make corn flour for cooking all sorts of things (tortillas and corn chips and such)
Excellent job! I have watched you since before you bought your house….wow, just wow…
There’s a jarred salsa up here in Canada that has black beans and corn in it. You could make some thing like that.
Happy Anniversary!!! Love all you do. Did you not put mesh under your beds before planting (to prevent gophers)? Im convinced they'll figure out a way to steal wire-cutters and still get in. Oy they've been horrible this year in my garden. (Deer too). Have probably taken down a few hundred dollars in plants. I'm mostly a rose/flower farmer and roses all go in baskets but from now on, everything is in baskets!
Did logs! But it wasn't enough. Lesson learned
I remember those days! You really have done an amazing job. I've learned so much from you!
I'm so glad!
Thank you for the extra tip about milkweed for Monarchs!
Mexican sunflower buds and stem tips are so incredibly velvety smooth.
I’m stealing that A-frame over 2 beds idea from the beginning of the video. No t-posts needed!
You might consider laying down hardware cloth before you assemble/fill a raised bed to prevent gophers from burrowing up from underneath.
Time for a crawfish boil with all that corn and potatoes
Mmm
Hey Kevin! What is the variety of that sunflower with all the multi heads on it? I just love it! It's been an awesome 4 years!
Honestly forgot! It was a self-starter
Make a tea out of the corn silks. Also make a broth out of the husks for soup.
Awww Kevin....I remember the days when you had minimal vegetable beds...and now youre an empire!
On Corn:
I've heard that the sugar-to-starch half life for fresh picked corn is about seven minutes. Cook within seven minutes of picking for the best possible flavor. As a teenager, I'd get a pot of water started boiling, and pick an ear, bring it in and boil it immediately (this is pre microwave!). Best corn ever, unless you grill it just as soon.
8:36 Now we all know where all those scraps go to when bad businesses "cut corners" in their work. And I see that they are put into good use!😅
Our family freezer corn recipe: Husk and wash the corn to remove silk. Cut corn from cobs. Measure 4 quarts of raw corn, scant cup of sugar, 1 Tbsp salt, and 1/4 cup water into heavy bottomed stock pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly so it doesn't scorch. Simmer 3 minutes. Dump out into a large buffet pan set over ice. Stir to cool quickly. Pack into freezer boxes and continue to chill. The corn will sour if it cools too slowly. Space it out in your deep freezer until frozen. This is a project for several people on those years of abundant corn harvest. Last year we processed 50 dozen for 4 families! Everyone knows there job in the process.