As a first-time gardener I want to thank you for all the encouragement..I feel my garden is all over the place this year. I'm looking forward to the spring. Looking forward to your top picks for spring veggies.
This video came at the perfect time! I have a small ugly patch that used to be a garden. It has grass, weeds, a lantana I didn’t plant, and it might still have some air potato. I want to make it a zucchini/watermelon patch. I was just staring at it and sweating then decided to sit in the shade to take a break when I started watching vids.
Thank you for addressing 'Tilling'! Many Gardeners, Homesteaders & Farmers HAVE TO TILL at least INITIALLY! Everyone else GET OVER YOURSELVES! Stop acting like you know someone else's situation.
Thank you for another awesome video and for sharing invaluable information & tips! Ginormous is a word. It was originally military slang blending giant and enormous but it’s currently an informal word ☺️
This is my first year in the desert of Southern California. Throughout the summer and fall I've been using deep layer mulch from my chickens to prep my garden area. Also, because I have no earthworms or red wigglers, plus I don't have enough organic material for them, I've been utilizing the flies that are so abundant here. I've created a maggot trap, the flies lay eggs on fermented chicken pellets/rotting food and the maggots convert the organic material into castings. Seriously looks like I've turned the native desert sand into the black dirt of Illinois. Also, my chickens get to dig through this maggot trap and eat the larvae. Much cheaper than spending $50 or more on a 5 pound bag of meal worms.
i put new mulch in my garden for the first time this year and all the veggies didn’t grow as big as they normally do. someone told me newly mulched wood depletes the nitrogen in the soil😳 do you know anything about this? thank you i’m trying to learn🤗 christy
Have you tried broadforking either instead of tilling or after an initial one time till? If so, but what is your experience with that? Many market gardeners doing 'no-till' will do this strategy and then over time reduce their use of the broadfork to either nothing or just very occasionally (I think once every few years? not sure). Perhaps this is also where always keeping living roots in the ground would come into play, so that over winter with snow and rain etc you do not get compaction.
Broadforking is a great option. I mention it in another video, but sometimes I like to do it gently (just enough to open up the soil without turning over soil) before a rain to allow moisture to get in there too. It's a good way to keep the soil from getting too compacted.
Great advice. I will say however that cardboard in my experience, properly done (e.g. 4-6 inches overlap between all pieces) will kill alot of weeds, if you are doing no-dig and adding compost over top the cardboard and not planning to remove it ever (it will break down over the course of the season). It will not kill persistent perennial weeds however and rhizomatic (am I spelling this right?) ones will at most be set back, especially if they have other connected sections outside of the covered area. It will weaken quite a few persistent perennial weeds and when they finally pop through your growing material that went overtop cardboard, they are often fairly weak and easy to remove at first.
Yes, that's true about cardboard. It inhibits most weeds, but it's not going to take out the really stubborn varieties. It will just stunt them. We did the lasagna method at our other location, and it's worked well.
If you're doing raised beds or planting a tree, wire can protect roots. Otherwise, people say strong smells like coffee, pepper, laundry sheets, or canine urine can repel them.
I may be wrong but I believe using black plastic has an occultating effect and using clear plastic would have a solarizing effect. Occultating the soil with black plastic will allow microorganisms and worms to thrive in the top of the soil layer with no UV exposure... Solarizing with clear plastic will have a greenhouse gas effect and will kill all microorganisms and bacteria. This may be needed if you have high levels of toxicity in your soil and you need to bake it all and start over
As a first-time gardener I want to thank you for all the encouragement..I feel my garden is all over the place this year. I'm looking forward to the spring. Looking forward to your top picks for spring veggies.
Great video! Your enthusiasm is contagious.
I love these videos. Such a blessing. Thank you
Ginormous 👍🏽 I love it haha😃😃. I’m going to steal that word and use it. Keep up the great videos ✌🏼🤣
One of oyur bset edvios yte. 😍
Wise words differently a journey
Thank you for all the wonderful information. I have learned so much. I am starting to have a green thumb
I am a first year Gardener ❤️
So glad you're here! You'll find out that your garden will get better and better with time & effort. It doesn't happen all at once.
Thanks for the info , I see my hubby’s truck in the the back ground 😆 I’m up here trying to grow on mostly rock , we need to find much
great video! very interesting.
Perfect timing, I gonna clean a grass area and add more growing veggies, now I prefer to water food than grass 💚
This video came at the perfect time! I have a small ugly patch that used to be a garden. It has grass, weeds, a lantana I didn’t plant, and it might still have some air potato. I want to make it a zucchini/watermelon patch. I was just staring at it and sweating then decided to sit in the shade to take a break when I started watching vids.
Let the sun do some of the work for ya over the next month or so, and you'll have a great patch for those next summer :)
I’m in my first year of gardening. I started last fall.
Great information thank you 🥰
Thanks for your support!
Love your videos! You make it so understandable and inspirational!!
Thank you for addressing 'Tilling'! Many Gardeners, Homesteaders & Farmers HAVE TO TILL at least INITIALLY! Everyone else GET OVER YOURSELVES! Stop acting like you know someone else's situation.
Thank you for another awesome video and for sharing invaluable information & tips! Ginormous is a word. It was originally military slang blending giant and enormous but it’s currently an informal word ☺️
Oh really! This is awesome info. It’s like my own personal, “ Away with words”!
This is my first year in the desert of Southern California. Throughout the summer and fall I've been using deep layer mulch from my chickens to prep my garden area. Also, because I have no earthworms or red wigglers, plus I don't have enough organic material for them, I've been utilizing the flies that are so abundant here. I've created a maggot trap, the flies lay eggs on fermented chicken pellets/rotting food and the maggots convert the organic material into castings. Seriously looks like I've turned the native desert sand into the black dirt of Illinois. Also, my chickens get to dig through this maggot trap and eat the larvae. Much cheaper than spending $50 or more on a 5 pound bag of meal worms.
If you buy bags of soil you can use those to kill weeds. Those bags don't tend to break down that fast in the sun as well.
Yes, great example of reusing!
i put new mulch in my garden for the first time this year and all the veggies didn’t grow as big as they normally do. someone told me newly mulched wood depletes the nitrogen in the soil😳 do you know anything about this? thank you i’m trying to learn🤗 christy
Great question, and that is true. As it breaks down, it uses nitrogen so it's important to also add compost and/or manure.
Great video as always! Where do you get your water and enough for the farm? By the way, love the word ginormous.
Just learned that’s not a word! Who knew? 🤣
Have you tried broadforking either instead of tilling or after an initial one time till? If so, but what is your experience with that? Many market gardeners doing 'no-till' will do this strategy and then over time reduce their use of the broadfork to either nothing or just very occasionally (I think once every few years? not sure). Perhaps this is also where always keeping living roots in the ground would come into play, so that over winter with snow and rain etc you do not get compaction.
Broadforking is a great option. I mention it in another video, but sometimes I like to do it gently (just enough to open up the soil without turning over soil) before a rain to allow moisture to get in there too. It's a good way to keep the soil from getting too compacted.
Great advice. I will say however that cardboard in my experience, properly done (e.g. 4-6 inches overlap between all pieces) will kill alot of weeds, if you are doing no-dig and adding compost over top the cardboard and not planning to remove it ever (it will break down over the course of the season). It will not kill persistent perennial weeds however and rhizomatic (am I spelling this right?) ones will at most be set back, especially if they have other connected sections outside of the covered area. It will weaken quite a few persistent perennial weeds and when they finally pop through your growing material that went overtop cardboard, they are often fairly weak and easy to remove at first.
Yes, that's true about cardboard. It inhibits most weeds, but it's not going to take out the really stubborn varieties. It will just stunt them. We did the lasagna method at our other location, and it's worked well.
What kind of manure would you recommend for a raised bed? Thank you for another informative video.
It depends on what you're growing, but local & organic is best (what the cattle eat is what ends up in your garden)
Gophers are destroying my garden here in Ramona. How do I make them leave without using traps? Thanks
If you're doing raised beds or planting a tree, wire can protect roots. Otherwise, people say strong smells like coffee, pepper, laundry sheets, or canine urine can repel them.
I may be wrong but I believe using black plastic has an occultating effect and using clear plastic would have a solarizing effect. Occultating the soil with black plastic will allow microorganisms and worms to thrive in the top of the soil layer with no UV exposure... Solarizing with clear plastic will have a greenhouse gas effect and will kill all microorganisms and bacteria. This may be needed if you have high levels of toxicity in your soil and you need to bake it all and start over