7 Simple Skills That Increase Your Garden's Productivity | High-Yield Permaculture Gardening 

I have decided to take a break from RU-vid for September, firstly to rest, and then focus more on Autumn and Winter content, finishing my next online course which is about creating productive planting plans, and to start work on book 3. I hope you have a lovely September and I look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday 3rd of October 😀🌱

As a disabled gardener who lives alone, who can't drive, can hardly walk and has no diy skills, I have learnt two things this year. The first one is to NOT let my limations define my growing things. Yes, a big sack of compost is more than I can move, so open the bag and move smaller amount. It will eventually be an empty bag which I can then lift with no issue. Anything that can hold compost can be used to grow things - the right variety of tomato WILL grow in a yoghurt pot, potatoes WILL grow in a small bucket, that any crop size is still a crop to be proud of because I tried, I gave it my best AND hopefully, I will get better. The second thing I learnt is, in my case, little and often works better than a longer effort that puts me out of action for possibly weeks at a time. If I take smaller bites at watering, weeding, potting on etc, it gets done eventually. If I tried to do everything all at once, the chances are, I would not be able to move, never mind garden, for longer which can be devastating to seedlings, weed growth and pests building up. If I can only work for a minute today, tomorrow it may be two, and hopefully, before I know it, my stamina will build up so that I can do longer periods. As long as I keep trying, and giving it my best, I will succeed. I have managed to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and shallots, potatoes, kale, chard and lettuce, peas, broad beans and a climbing bean (i don't know if its a french or a runner but its climbing a wigwam), strawberries, raspberries, marigolds and nasturtiums, and herbs. I managed to create a raised bed using cardboard as a base and dumping 400 litres of compost on top, by hand ... I have no water supply in my garden, everything gets watered at the seedling stage with bottled water using a pressure sprayer, and then left to fend for itself by keeping my pots in deep saucers with lining fabric, and using everything from grass clipping to small animal bedding as a mulch. Some things died, some the slugs and snails got, but a few survived and cropped. And I even have two areas of my garden have been under black plastic since spring. I will hopefully order in more compost, and get another raised bed up by next spring so I can keep trying all over again next year.

Soil health Chop and drop Leave roots in ground to decay in situ Keep a journal Impact list Multi-sowing Layered planting Experimenting Late-season soil maintenance

i love what u r doing, i am a probably one of your youngest viewers,i am a australian, i love how u teach and show people around the world how to garden and grow fresh fruit and veg

My tomatoes just produced fruits this morningggg. It is my VERY FIRST crop ❤️❤️

One of the things I've done over the last several years, was to choose 2 or 3 vegetables per year (in addition to my normal vegs) and grow quite a few varieties of those, so that I can narrow down the selection to what produces heavily in my climate and limited space. The next year, I choose 2 or 3 different vegs and repeat. I'm serious about producing a lot of food and I need to be very intentional to get enough from my beds for my family. It's taken several years, but I know now which things are hard hitters for me. Also I try to invest in my garden each spring. By buying a nice tool or by installing permanent trellises as one example. It varies by the year (and budget), but over time that pays off in production too.

Thank you for all your incredible videos! I’m a retired female, 69 years of age, and you have inspired me to become a vegetable gardener. I wish you could visit Quebec Canada to help me grow in a very small space. It’s the 2nd of July so am going to plant broccoli; cucumber and red onion seedlings, plus some more kale seeds. It’s really hot here so hopefully they’ll be ok. Any tips for mid season planting? Thx Kelly

Not only you are very handsome, you are also a gentle soul. Thanks for your videos. I have learned a lot!

I'm so glad I discovered this channel. I don't know if it's a skill, but as someone who rents a home, it's been essential to build a great track record, always pay rent on time etc, and then be prepared to rent a place that's a bit rough and the owner is fairly absent and flexible. Combined with a good real estate agent, and the odd self-initiated improvement, it means I get away with pushing the limits a little and turning lawn into vegie gardens, and interplanting vegies in the flower beds.

I have what I call my “throw away garden” in the south corner. It’s 4x6 and anything I’m not sure about, it may or may not survive, something I’ve never grown before. And it always surprises me how well it produces!

As a 30 year veteran of growing no dig in the same garden, but in a different hemisphere to you, after 45 plus years of growing vegetables, can honestly say I am always learning something new. Climate and soil conditions are so important. My gardening method adapts to the climatic conditions, we haven't had a freezing winter for 3 years, no excessive spring wind for days or weeks on end for several years, two very moist summers in a row, a early spring this year, looked like it could be a great year. Then the wind starts up, 4 days so far, can't open any window on that side of the house. Compost freshly applied would been blown away, if previously hadn't learnt to apply 4 to 6 inch layers, carrot seed will need a board on them until close to germination.

My garden skill is watching informative RU-vid vids like yours, and making notes on it. I’m keeping a garden journal.

Fennel is my very favourite vegetable if I ever grow fennel like yours I will be a truly happy woman

Love how you encourage others to feed their soil. In my many years of gardening I know and have experienced the importance.

I bought a mulcher which mulches small branches and particularly leaves. It's been a valuable addition to my compost and garden. Also collecting and storing rain water.

Your videos are the best. I actually trust your advice more than any other on you tube.

The root leaving thing definitely works! I left my nasturtium roots in the soil last autumn, I sowed some more this year in the same area and there were lots of worms and microorganisms

Thank you so much for the time you take to share your knowledge and experiences with us. As we get back into gardening your videos have been a big help. I love how you keep things simple and inexpensive. Thanks again. ~ Cheryl

I'm super impressed. When I saw how densely packed your plants are I thought you're one more of the New Zealand or Australia guys with shit ton of sun. When you said you're in England I thought I'm not hearing well. It's honestly the first garden I see in such a cold region that looks so rich and luscious. Good job! Subscribed :)

VERY WARM WELCOME TO THE GARDEN ! :)

Good ideas here. One labor/time saver is to leave the clippings in rows/piles around beds and run mower over them with bag attached to catch chopped material for spreading. Of course this is mainly if you have a quick easy mower which means battery powered to me.

All so great! Especially love the thought about throwing out the crop rotation (having a hard time convincing some of my clients about that). I've also been looking into experimenting with mushroom growing alongside the veg, namely Winecaps in woodchip mulch, and oyster/shiitake/lions mane in logs. I've been playing with using raw logs/sticks as bed edging in a semi-wicker style (like modified hugelkulture), and am looking forward to seeing if mushrooms can be grown in that.

Cleaning while listening to this; I had to bring back the video several times, I kept getting distracted. Finally had to just sit down and listen.

I got a lot next to me overran by stinging nettle. Thanks to your video, I will now be using it for many things. My bunny seems to like it dry. I got 20 bundles drying already as we speak. More when the rain stops. Thank you. My mom had pain in the breasts and all she had to do is drink 2 teas from nettle and have 2 soups I made with fresh nettle. THANK YOU SO MUCH

I dream of having a full garden like yours!

I don't know if chop and drop will have the material composting faster, but it has to be the fastest way to build a soil ecosystem! Material of all stages of decomposition is there and the animals that feed on it. They till the soil keeping it soft. They leave their dung with water soluble nutrients to feed the plants. I was really surprised how fast earthworms and soil beetles were attracted to a layer of meadow clippings.

One thing that has helped me a lot is the companion planting book, CARROTS LOVE TOMATOES. One of my favorite things from that book is growing bush beans to be interspersed among corn. Beans give nitrogen to the soil to help the corn be healthy. Your film was WONDERFUL! Thank you!

I cannot say enough about Huw's book, Grow Food For Free. Definitely check out this master gardener's book. Within the first 10 pgs, the tips you'll find can help revolutionize your approach to gardening w/insight on personal and communal, as well as free and relatively easy ways to keep costs low, while maximizing yields. Great book!

Perfect timing for this video. Thank you!

I am so surprised to see your Grow Food For Free book in Thailand bookstore. I once thought of buying the book and had it shipped from abroad but idea abandoned. So I bought the book right away today. Thank you for all lessons you always share.

I just found your channel this morning and am thrilled with what I've already learned from your videos! I've always loved flowers and had been learning about the ones who benefit our pollinators. I planted some herbs and a few flowers last year and will be adding more of each as well as collard greens, etc this year. Because I have hard clay soil as well as an entire yard planted in Bermuda grass, all of my planting is done in containers. I'm calling them my mini raised beds as most of them are elevated. That means less bending down for me and very few weeds. I've also been saving my kitchen scraps and adding them to the soil and making compost tea to water the plants. The more I'm learning, the more I'm learning there is to learn. Love your 'out of the box' thinking! Even a small water feature of some sort attracts birds who will eat the bugs in the garden. I just have a shallow 12-inch saucer with some rocks in it for the birds to drink from and bath in. They especially enjoy it on hot summer days. I also tried what's called Winter Sowing this year with my seeds. There's a lot of information about it now on You Tube. If even half of them germinate I'll have a lot to plant and celebrate about. I'm looking forward to watching and learning more from your videos as I wait for my planting time here.

As soon as you recommended the taking of notes, I remembered I had done so a while ago, but failed to keep it updated. I didn't have a particularly good yield this year, BUT as I updated my logs I discovered some small victories I had overlooked, and came away feeling like it was a productive season in terms of experience, if not yields. Thanks for the motivation!

I really appreciate it am from Ethiopia 🇪🇹

Another brilliant video Huw. Great hints and tips. You’ve inspired me again to make the most of my space on the allotment. Learning all the time thanks to your help.

Your garden is so green and lush

Will slugs manage to get up in the raised beds? Excellent video Huw, with valuable information as always! Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge and experience in the garden! 👍😊♥️

This is my new favorite channel, great content.

I put mine all in a pile and go over the pile with my lawnmower it all shreds in the bag then I distribute over the soil. Enjoy your time off I guess I will just have to do a Huw binge of old videos 🇨🇦🥬🥕😂👍🌶☮️

Best optimizing skill I learned this year, is to let a couple of radishes go to seed. Just one radish produces masses of seed pods, which are delicious! And the insects love a blooming radish, especially the hover flies. (and later the white butterflies... Their larvae will eat the whole bush in juli/August, but hey, it is good for diversity, right) 💚🌞🌱

I watched a video on the "Plant Abundance" yt channel, (he lives in the State of Washington, and has a "Food Forest" in his backyard), where he uses the "chop and drop" method to improve soil. And he showed how he grows Hollyhock flowers, and uses the whole hollyhock plant as a "chop and drop" source, because the hollyhock plant has a deep taproot, and brings up vital minerals and nutrients to itself, and by using this plant as a chop and drop resource, it adds nutrition to the vegetables and other food plants you're growing in your garden.

Thank you for all the wonderful "let's think outside the box" information. Keep up the great work and suggestions. If you have a "Dollar Store" in your area, they have their garden items for spring and summer planting out now. Great inexpensive way to buy what you might need.

Well then, have a lovely, cosy and calm working september!! Here in Switzerland today was the real beginning of fall with low temperatures, wind and rain. I love August and September, because there ist all I need still in the garden but the working rhythm slows down. Our beds mostly are not going to rest in the winter. So I have no chance to cover them...? But mulching ist always going on:) One skill I discovered this year is, to let brassicas like black kale or purple sprouting broccoli live as long as they like. They came over winter flowered, I cut them back and since then they are producing lovely leaves and even little flower heads. So I'm relly on your side, that the outdoorplayground that we call garden is so much more than just produce after strict rules!!

Richards you have amazing skill in gardening I inlove with your garden lots of beautiful flower and most i love in your garden that yellow flowers you carry on i dont know what is called that things hahah thanks for sharing your amazing ideas its comes in gardening have a great day

Brother, I really enjoy your activity and the way you express to us. It's a feeling of being before you. I did following Charles, you and others and just without cutting in pieces placed coconut leaf with stem,banana leaves,tree leaves with small branches and sprinkled cowdung water, fish waste soaked with jaggery poured after 15 days mixed in water and bastilitis subsities made from raw rice in sugar for 15 days mixed in water in 25 days the lower got composed 50%.

Hello from the U.S. Thank you for all of your videos. They are so helpful and give me a lot of inspiration and encouragement. I live in a very arid, hot, windy part of the U.S. and, believe it or not, I have found that leaving "weeds" in the garden helps with moisture retention especially during snow storms. They kind of act like snow-fences catching the snow and dropping it to the ground. Whereas it would otherwise evaporate/blow away. I observed what did well here naturally, which was, of course, weeds. And I started planting veggies around them for protection. The weeds helped with shade, water and pest control. :)

Huw I LOVE your videos ! You offer such inspiration and such wonderfully helpful information! If you ever come to the US you must come visit Wisconsin! Thank you thank you for all that you do!

Great video:) ive actually found that woodchip mulch is one of the main things that reduces slugs in my garden!! But hay increases it. Definitely worth experimenting:)

HUW: Hello and a big warm welcome back to the garden. Me: Yay, story time!!! I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

I love yours garden very much.

Your garden is beautiful!!

Great video Huw. Enjoy your break mate

I love how you think, and I really enjoy your watching your videos. Your an inspiration. Thank you

Thanks for the tips. Enjoy a restful September. I have enjoyed growing winter squash and luffa in cold compost bins topped off with 6 inches of soil. The bins are black so they retain heat and sped up germination. After harvesting, the compost can be spread over the other beds and we start the bins over again with garden waste and leaves.

Loved this video Huw. Enjoy the break.

Gardening is fun, every day I grow vegetables for my family

Qué hermoso! 🙆 Bellísimo! Muchas gracias😃

I can’t wait to try out these productivity tips in my life, thanks for sharing! 💫 Keep rising to be who you want to be! 💫 #keeprising #risingtobe #aswerise #riser

7:00 inspiring and intimidating, that's just too perfect. :D

Take care and stay well. I've had the best year ever and one of the reasons was being at home more due to the lockdown. I've harvested 25 bottle gourds lol

LOVE this video! Sharing it with our Facebook group!

The more I watch your videos, the more I am encouraged to buy your book, I’m ordering it now!

Thank you so very much! I love your videos. Great info but so beautiful and calm. 💜💜💜

I have been experimenting, with great success, intercropping my veg with flowers as a pest deterrent. Whereas last year my beans were devoured by Japanese beetles, this year, the pesky things attacked my zinnias instead, though with much less relish than they had with the beans. I still plenty of zinnias, but with a nice harvest of beans!

I really need to start recording my progress. Thank you.

I look forward to your videos. Great work.

Amazing new info for me!! Thank you so much. So much heat here in SouthernCalifornia most times and I keep rewatering the beds to try and keep them from drying while I can’t plant much of new straight into the bed with full sun. I just did my first bed soul reviving and hoping it works and this adds a whole other great idea with the plastic or cardboard too.

Green coriander seeds! I use the whole plant green leaf and stem with ant remaining flower and seeds blend them into sauce give unbelievable flavours

Wow, very beautiful, I loved it (شكراا)

Love these videos, Huw! Dal ymlaen!

Have a happy and peaceful holiday. 🍅🍓🍉🍒🍋🍊🍉🍊🍊🍊

Enjoy your rest....well deserved. I’ve learnt so much from you.....thank you 😁🙏

So helpful! Thanks Huw!!

Exelente video, desde ahora en adelante tendre en cuenta estos 7 consejos e iré adaptandolo según mi huerto 😀❤

great video, inspiring me to keep following you, Sir Charles and Liz Zorab as my gardening guru's!

You made all the work looking good like you ;)

Awesome !

Wow you're very knowledgeable.. I'm glad I bumped into your channel! 👍

Thank you for the videos. Hope you rest well in September and see you in your next video!

Thankyou sir for your video....great one.

Hi I am moe living in a village close to the sea in shouthern part of central java island in indonesia It is so inspiring I have planted some fruit trees and this month i will plant various vegetables although it is in the beginning og the dry season. It is too hot at noon

I just watched a video of urs from 2012 on how to make a seed packet, very cool to see u stuck with it.

I love your content and filming! Have a great break ... see u in October

very good video sir. I also love planting and very interested in how you garden. Greetings from Oncu Farm in Indonesia.😊👍

All good information thanks

Love your work bro👍

Huw. New to your channel. Cannot believe it took me so long to discover your amazing videos. Read your article in Gardens Illustrated. So inspiring! Relatable and informative. Even life changing. Thank you. Enjoy your well deserved September break. Stay safe and take care. And again Thank You.

Hello Huw, Excellent tips!

I use wood chip mulch on my onion bed and have found it retains the moisture. Definitely going to try the chop and drop this autumn as have run out of room in my compost bins.

i sewed all my tomoatoes in march indoora and put tem out a bit too early being impatient. they looked crap for a month and then i put mulch down (woodchip) and they grew stronger since then. i also soaked my grass clippings in buckets and then after 6 days i squoze all the grass out into ball shaped clumps. i put them into my compost bin to add bulk matter. i then poured this liquid into my wormery and caught it in the same. bucket. i let that stoop for another 6 days and used this watered down to feed my tomatoes. im growing money makers and theyre constantly being picked. my spring onions are delicious too

You blow my mind ✌

Great information, enjoyed your video and the different but helpful tips 👍

Great video 📹 huw

Thanks 🙏

Excellent video Huw! Sorry to hear about the runner bean structure! Mine seemed to hold up, but there's a small case of the leaning tower of Wales but they haven't flopped yet! I've been looking after my soil this year much more than I used to by going 100% no-dig! Keep it up!

very informative.

Many thanks from Ukraine!

Organic food is very important

Chopping vegetable leaves right in the soil stimulates some bugs /insects Elateridae /some type of click beetles (they like to eat the leaves of some plants, especially the beans). So I have to first compost the material to keep it clean. However, I might try a serious cover by black plastic next autumn, hoping the insects will suffocate. I never use real toxic stuff in my vegetable garden.

Hello Huw, thanks for uploading this film and I hope you enjoyed your break. I've watched a number of your films now, have always appreciated them but this is the first time I've left a comment and I hope you don't mind me being very honest about my experiences with gardening and the current situation I find myself in. Growing plants and making compost have been passions for me since I was a child. Unfortunately, depression has been an almost constant companion for me from my early teenage years and often hampered my ability to pursue my passions for a long time until, at the age of 28, I found a magic combination of yoga, surrounding myself with the right people and gardening. This combo allowed me to respond effectively to depression for many years and gave me much contentment and fulfillment in life. Disaster has struck again and the last 12 months have been extremely testing and painful for me Huw. I have struggled through somehow but, 10 days ago, my thoughts and feelings had become so dark that I took an overdose ofopioid painkillers. I am still here to tell the tale and sometimes have a fight in me, determined to get through this but I also experience the most horrendous states of mind in which I feel that the fight is futile. I must fight this regardless of what the ending is for me. Perhaps I can find who and what I need again to thrive. I would be deeply touched to you and anyone reading this if you would consider sparing me a thought as I persevere and try to battle with this hell I have encountered. Thank you and best wishes to you in the work you undertake in your garden and the joy you offer others through your films. Michael

I just subscribed to your channel, these videos are very informative.