Garden Better, By Growing Less
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- This year I realized I was growing more than I could manage, so I decided to scale back and grow less. Unproductive land was taken out of garden space and I focused on the remaining land that was left and deciding which crops were best suited where.
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I should stitch that on a pillow..."Quality over Quantity". And I need to remember that if I want more later, I can do controlled succession planting. thanks for giving us permission to do less.
Great perspective!! As new gardeners it's easy to fall in this trap. Especially when watching other CZcams channels. It's easy to forget that it takes trial and error, observations and adjustments over time to know "what works for you". Especially when everyone's context is different.
Happy Holidays
I needed to hear this. My problem is I'm fairly convinced the food supply chain is gonna collapse... So why not just plant that half acre of potatoes? 🤣🤦
lol...Right??? I wanna grow enough of everything to preserve till this time next year!
Feeling the same way. I'm only worrying about brambles, berries and tomatoes this year. My wife is narrowing her garden priorities as well. She likes herbs, squash, etc. I think it'll be helpful to have the two of us focused on and responsible for our own interests. Come harvest our family should benefit from that form of diversity. Hoping to get better results from the crops we really value while reducing stress and depression 😂 Will probably shift focus and or add on as appropriate in the future. Thanks Diego!
Seems like a great idea. My problem was that I didn't get enough food last year. Was a bad growing season and I had no compost to add. I also had a bad battle with field bindweed. I plan to grow even more this year. I am planting more fruit trees, because there is no such thing as too much fruit. We make jams, jellies, and wines. I also plan to start drying and vacuum packing fruit to eat year round. For annuals, that was where we had a bad year. Was just too sunny and too hot, hence more fruit trees to give some partial shade to the annuals. I love to forage the garden for a meal on a regular basis. I love to eat in general. I live on a little less than a half acre lot and want the whole property to be food. We have a canal arteries that we can flood our property with weekly, so going to use permaculture ideas to get small swales going, so we can use that water more efficiently.
Its a similar struggle of mine finding just the right amount of time in each of my growing interest, Fruit trees, edible perennials and vegetables.
Another well thought out and well articulated video Diego!! Keep it up with the high quality content. I have applied bark mulch in walkways and your new design of the Johnson-Su bioreactor on my market garden.
Fantastic reality check ❤️
I have 2 areas where nothing grows well, because of tree roots. I built large raised beds for apple trees, cherry bushes and strawberries in one area. In another I'll eventually do the same. We'll see
I always over-plant in the Spring, and by July my garden is a vege-jungle. I'm gradually converting my garden to raised beds, to force myself to be more disciplined. I will have to enlarge my garden a bit, but will have less plantable area. Unfortunately my perennial garden has been overtaken by weeds, but next Spring I will aggressively pull them out or transplant them to flower beds (some are edible flowers such as monardas).
Any bit of garden space that I just don't need automatically becomes my dumpster pit where organic matter is buried.
So true, we need a better plan year after year here in my zone 5 I will grow better that why I put 9 fruit trees and sow around them (permaculture) than less watering, more protection from the sun and the wing. Last year I let the lettuce, radish, tomato etc growing until flowering next year it will grow again for free no more sowing in the house plus 2 small urban greenhouses next year I will put small tomato plant (24-36 in) sowing small vegetable it grow fast less job and all the vegetable not growing at the same time I will divise the garden 1 part 30-45 days radish etc. 1 part for 45- 60 days. 1 part 60-80 days etc it will be more easy with a calendar to go clean the bed (sacrifice few vege for the seed) and put some new vegetable. Next the watering I will put a bucket fixing whit hose 20L of water let watering by gravities the water will go in a clay pot 1L (block the hole) (OYA) I will put the water only in the bucket 1 a week plus homemade compost tea etc directly in the bucket. thank you for video I appreciate
Good advice. 1 of the things I want to do this coming year is to hone in on planting the "just right" amount. Based on past harvests, what do I need less of and what do I need more of. More potatoes, reduce tomatoes by 1/3 for example. The peach trees will start to come into production this year with younger apple trees starting next year. (or the year after)
That's a really good idea.
You are right think I will grow 3 crops and if all 3 are super productive and ridiculously easy to care for I can always add a 4th or more
Preach Brotha' preach!
Does one really need all that? Some might offer that it could be donated or sold. Donating is a wonderful idea. Until the cornucopia of regulation rears it's head. Selling from the home. Pardon me, can I see your permit. Not HOA either.
This is what works every single time. There are community gardens around. Not once when presented with the abundance has there been anything but smiles and gratitude.
Great vid Diego.
Merry Christmas 🎄🇦🇺🎄
Same to you!
So true. Merry Christmas!
Very good!
So... crazy ideas that often get criticism.. are just what we need to hear. No one ever said "plant less" but tomatoes I eat are better than tons of zucchini that I throw out. Keep analysis' coming. Thank you.
That's a pretty big issue about trying to grow vegetables near hedges etc. I'm gonna have to shift my veggie garden about 6 - 8 ft after this season - the thought of doing this makes me groan, but the advice is - stay away from trees, shrubs and hedges in the first place! I'll use that strip for benches and a tool and equipment storage structure of some sort. It could actually work out nicely, but it'll be lots of work.. Good, thoughtful video Diego!
This is honestly my theme going into 2022. I'm finishing up grad school and I have other hobbies. I decided I am banning myself from starting any new beds this year (moving a bed doesn't count, and I'll cover crop the old bed or put in something long season). I did fairly well this past season, but did a poor job keeping up with harvesting, weeding, and watering.
I'd actually reccomend considering growing just mulch cover crops in the beds you are retiring this year and actually putting in perennials next year. You're already figuring out how to simplify the garden overall and focusing on that change this year and then focusing on adding perennials in coming years once you have the simplified garden figured out more.
What perennials do you recommend?
Agree. The bed next to the trees might be excellent for perennial berry bushes, for example.
@@Thats_Unfortunate perennial herbs are a great start. Thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary.
I planted 8 zucchini last year, never again. Only 2 this season.
I have switched to planting more perennial crops like asparagus, strawberries, Bush berries and herbs and artichokes so that it is less to intensively manage.
5:00 are any of those trees walnut, hickory, pecan? some trees produce a chemical called juglone, and that interferes with some plants.
No. But good point.
Thanks for the video Diego! Just been amending sandy soil, waiting on trees for food forest here, annual chicken,rabbit,and Lady tiger garden already planned! Merry Christmas pal!
Hey Diego!
For that bed of yours that won't/didnt produce well, it looks like you have a Locust Tree or something similar on the other side of the fence. I'd bet my daily driver, that is a huge factor.
Love your content. I dont onow how i wasn't already subbed. I fixed that issue. Lol
Have a good one brother
Its simple. You create a system that manages itself
I had no idea that Men in black do gardening in their leisure time. (Sorry, I could not resist it :-) Anyway, interesting information
Hey Diego.
Nice practical video, thank you dude.
I have decided not to grow in the summer and cut my bed space from 83 standard beds to 40. The open beds I will be running chicken tractors on.
Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
Raspberries might do pretty good in that bed you took out they are an understory crop
Maybe you should grow some sweet corn if it's not to shady. A minimum of 24" rows, final stand of 12" to 15" apart in the row, 12 plants per row, 5 rows per planting. Needs a good amount of NPK. Very easy to grow if done correctly.
Hey Diego,
You could use a partially sunken pot in that area with low yeild. Have the same problem where I was unable to grow kalo (taro) due to surrounding trees ('ulu/breadfruit) outcompeting them for nutrients. Went the partial sunken pot method to continue to use this area and it worked quite well.
How big of pots are you using?
@@DiegoFooter I initially utilized 3gal pots, but I've found this is not good enough for Kalo and upgraded to pots 5-10gal.
Land is precious,, why just cover it in woodchips? I’d consider semi dwarfing apple trees grown in an espalier to save space , or erect a walk in fruit cage with blueberries, blackcurrant bushes and strawberries,, best wishes, Lisa
Good question. I already am growing as much as I need and water is a limited resource in our area. I don't need more.
Have you considered parental flowers and herbs to encourage beneficial insects?
Not in this area. That’s what the rest of the property is - natives and such.
uses way less water too... less transpiration
So guilty! 🤓
I have NOT went BIG so I don't have that problem
My buckets grew best. I am still trying to build soil, I have clay now for the most part