Growing AMAZING Food Affordably Starts with THIS 

I really hope that this helps get you closer to growing your own food affordably, and don't forget about the Project LEACS website that is in the description. A massive thanks to Fiverr for making this project possible. Head to fvrr.co/huw to check out the services available to you and use code HUW for 10% off!

I find a lot of people treat gardening much like they treat diet - they latch on to one method and decide its the solution in every situation. But when you look at all the variables that affect gardens (climate, soil type, slope, aspect, local fauna etc.), no two gardens are going to respond exactly the same way. You are absolutely right about having a set of general guiding principles, staying curious, and gradually learning what suits your particular garden best.

I’m in love with all this information! Please MORE AUDIOBOOKS so a busy stay home mom can listen to it while folding piles of laundry! Regards from Austria (I’m actually Brazilian).

Grass clippings are all my mom used on our garden when I was a kid. We never added anything to it either, though my elderly neighbor added bags of potting soil to his. This was back in the 1970's and our tomatoes were fantastic. One time mom's bag of grass that was left to dry out was home to baby bunnies, so we had to wait a while for that bag

Thank you for your comments on diet awareness. I think that is one of the most important, yet least discussed parts of gardening. So often the advise is to grow what you like to eat, but that approach is limiting. Instead the advise should be to grow a diversity of crops and then learn to prepare them in a way that you like. There are so many foods that at one time I thought I didn’t like…until I learned how to prepare them in a way I enjoyed. After that a whole world of year-round fresh home grown food opened up for me.

I've adjusted what I ate with what I get from the garden since the onset of the pandemic... I'm cooking mostly everyday from what I can get from the garden and I'm glad in that process I'm able to invent new recipes! I would use weeds if crops weren't available or flowers too. I've invented chickweed soup, garlic greens with sardines, perilla leaf chutney, tomarillo jam, plantain salad, dockweed steam cake etc

Huw, your insight and wisdom are beyond your years. I appreciate your constant desire to learn and to challenge the paradigms that have been shaped over the years. Unless you/we try new things we will never know what we could be doing to improve our gardening. Thank you for always being our 'professor' and for teaching us what you know and for challenging us to not accept the status quo. (Kentucky, USA)

I started a small 200 square foot garden last year. Not only it feeds me and my girlfriend but also her mother who has a cancer surgery behind her. Little did we know how important that small garden would become for her. She needs a lot of natural, organic and chemical free veggies in her diet and my small garden is providing that for her. My point is : never give up, start your garden now even if it is a small container garden. When you grow your own food you get that one thing that all the money in the world can not buy... HEALTH. Cheers mates!

thank you Huw for being relentlessly pursuing efficient gardening by being in tune with your audience - comments and questions.j

You've got the most beautiful garden! Whatever you're doing keep doing.

Your soil is everything. I advise new gardeners to spend twice as much on compost than you do in plants. I love your posts Huw, fabulous and accurate

Never let anyone else change your core values Huw 😁🌱☀️

Patience is my most difficult gardening challenge.

I'm impressed, watching from South Africa

Letting go of judgement is a huge theme in my life these days and has been for a while subconsciously. I appreciate this video a lot, thank you.

I pull out weeds before they seed and use them as mulch and I presume the nourishment from them goes back into the soil. I'm enjoying your video.

Brilliant! Thank you Huw! 😊 I make my own compost, it's my other baby! My garden, my dogs.... and everyday, I eat my garden. Soups, salad, veggie sandwiches, homemade breads, pizzas. Healthy and happy! Thanks to you and your teachings. You're Brilliant! ❤️

What a wonderful mentality. I have always been a big fan of the eclectic method. Pick and choose, we need the best of allthat is out there! Love your work. I am trying to create soil out of pure sand….impossible to do without spending money, at least initially

Inspiring, all positive thinking, and very well focused on the important things. We need to learn more about these.

If space is an issue- An indoor or basement worm bin is invaluable. Drenching seedlings in a rainwater & vermicompost mix & using any remaining vermi mix water to "water in" the seedling is an amazing boost. Composting in place over fall/winter can be valuable if a winter kill covercrop isn't possible. Just rake back what didn't decompose to the edges of the bed in spring. Direct seed or plant into soil. Use what didn't decompose as a mulch covering once plants are up. I go heavy on leaves for this as partially decomposed leaves aren't terribly "hot." It's all there in place without turning piles, screening, lifting or pushing a wheel barrow around.

As always brilliantly stated - challenging the "norm" is how we learn and improve

Hey from the U.S. Always enjoy your videos. We are seeing a explosion of new home gardeners and they are getting confused with all the info out there because there is a lot of false info out there. This is why recommend you an a few others to learn from. Keep up the good work.

Huw. I had the most amazing slugs pressure in my garden for the first five years some nights I could go out with two big buckets and fill them with slugs some of the slugs were huge. Then I installed two pondsI was excited as I figured I could collect the slugs and feed them to the fish but the amazing thing is the. Slug pressure completely vanished. We occasionally get the occasional slug but I think we have attracted frogs toads and nudes and I think these eat the young slugs and slug eggs I.e. they have created a natural predator balance which didn’t exist before. So I recommend putting in a small pond This year we have been visited by muntjac deer which regularly drinks from the pond and they don’t seem to take any food from the vegetable beds they prefer browsing on the lawnThe increase in insects and various pieces of dragonfly is amazing and we have also noticed swallows skimming over the pond and bats in the evening eating the insects. We have had mixed blessings as we introduced some fish which then attracted herons - the most beautiful birds but with a big appetites

Love!!! Some common sense and support that is much needed in our age. (Chicago, IL)

Thanks again Huw

Thank you Huw, such valuable information, and so encouraging for everybody

Great point on curiosity. We try to plant less cold-hardy plants just to see if we can make them grow and thrive in our cold climate. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Either way, we win because we gain knowledge and experience in the process.

So much recognition, thank you! Great to hear another fan of a grass clippings mulch. Loved your talk.

One should never stop learning!

I remember my grandmother always asking me " hey shugah throw this( coffee grounds, eggshells,etc) in my good dirt"

Agreed. I only grow what I like and will eat.

Very helpful. USDA 4b, Western Wisconsin, USA. I use lots of grass clippings, chop and drop, and composted cow and poultry manure. We do most of what you reccomend here at Ridgetop House. We eat what is in season and spend very little on groceries during the growing season.

Thanks from Brittany, France. Mulching with grass clippings with dead leaves works really well!

I regularly use coffee grounds and grass clippings as mulch, especially mixed with the bedding that I pull from my chicken coop. The 3 seem to mix well.

For me building soil has been the biggest challenge

Wonderful information, and the videos are beautiful. Living in zone 4 in Alberta we have advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantage: shorter growing season and less rain. Advantages: 17-18 hours of sunlight and almost no insects (except white moths) or other pests. My 17 raised garden beds took a lot of basic grunt work to install but they have worked out great for no-digging. Potatoes aren't no dig but are extremely easy to grow and arguably our most important vegetable. You hit the mark when you said you can grow most of your food cheaply and of higher quality. Don't invest in huge lawns and mowing tractors, folks; you can't eat grass. Invest in garden labor. And yes, our own experience is the best teacher but your tips are great. Thanks a ton, Huw.

This video is full of wisdom. Thank you❤

I always use grass clippings as a mulch. It works amazing. 😊

Love this one! I agree as a chef for over 20 years the garden is where it starts and is so much more rewarding when u get to finally eat what u have grown. Great work Huw! I use my grass clippings a lot in my garden etc they never go to waste 👌

Amazing content as always!

OMG I have seen your videos before and only just realised that I hadn't subscribed (or google lost the link), This is the best and most gut hitting video that I have ever watched, I know that you need to feed the soil, I have practiced 4 year crop rotations for many years, I read the packets of seeds that tell me to plant X so many inches apart and rows x apart so have lots of uncultivated soil around my plants. I am also well aware that I don't produce a lot but what I do is utterly lovely . Keep the soil covered; I realise that particularly in the current drout. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LUCID AND SENSIBLE WORDS! I have now subscribed and hit the bell and will let others know about your wonderful intelligent and sensible channel.

Huw Richards, this video is by far the best I have ever watched from you and about the work you do. You covered extremely well the most important topics from a dedicated and successful gardeners life. Thank you for your holistic views and sharing your wisdom. greetings from New Zealand

Really appreciated this video. We took on a half plot allotment just over a year ago & have used no dig & permaculture ideas to get started, focusing on the soil up. Everyone told us we were doing it ‘wrong’ & that we wouldn’t get things to grow properly but we are on a pretty abundant second season. While I did appreciate that actually all everyone was trying to do was help us to get started based on what they know, I am glad I stuck to what felt right & cut out what didn’t feel like it would work based on the state our plot was in. There are definitely failures & last year it was tomatoes so this year I did some research & have grown Ukrainian & Russian varieties that are earlier & have faired far better outdoors (we don’t have the space for a polytunnel but that is definitely the dream!). For me learning what works & doesn’t & learning from failures has been a huge part of the enjoyment (though snails have been particularly bad this year which has been incredibly frustrating). This year we had our first cauliflower & cabbages; I learnt last year these have to be netted on our plot to survive the whitefly, butterfly’s, birds & slugs & snails & I make a point of buying something each month as a treat to help towards being able to improve things in the future (poles, net, seaweed meal etc) so it’s not overwhelming. I love vegetables so the point about adapting your diet, as a coeliac vegetarian, has been a huge part of my life already & is a huge part of the excitement for me; to try things I can’t easily get in shops. I have waited almost 20 years for a growing space & I have never been happier than I am now 😊

totally agree about using whatever's growing in the garden. It's winter here in New Zealand, but I have brassicas and baby leeks, beetroot and yams. They don't make a complete meal, but it all helps

How I would like this project to be massified to be happy... a big hug from the community of Maipu Chile😀👍👍

Huw, I am grateful for your tip about using a thin layer of grass clippings around trees; works a treat!

The beauty and vibrancy of your garden inspires me to the point that, rather than challenge you on any of your methods/decisions, I'm in danger of slavishly following your every suggestion. Thank you for fostering a spirit of continual exploration and experimentation. The information you offer on your channel is a gift, and encouraging people to be thoughtful, creative and free in their gardens is an additional gift. Many thanks!

“Diet awareness” - this is my learning journey! You put this so well, Huw, and I don’t think we appreciate this principle as much as we should. I need to work harder on eating ‘in season’ and growing appropriate quantities. I’ll get there, but in the meantime the family must endure courgette season!!

Well done!! You hit all bases, Huw!! 🌻🌻🌻

Another great video. Your videos resonate with me so much. I always have something new to apply to my garden or thought process after each video. I’m so glad you are addressing the affordability of gardening. I grow organically and want to grow delicious food as cheaply as possible. Thank you again for putting these videos out.

I've used grass clippings forever and never had any issues. It feeds, keeps the moisture in and keeps the soil cool. I remember one year I was living in an apartment and the management let me clear a small plot beside the building and I used grass clippings and we had a drought and the top was crispy n crunchy but lift up that layer and underneath it was green and moist and I had great results and awesome tomatoes that year. Have always used this great, free resource. :)

I have been very impressed with the growth of the healthy soil in my garden space over the years we’ve spent gardening. We started using no dig approaches a few years ago now. It sounds so cliché sometimes…. but it honestly seems to just get better and better every year, and the perennial plants pump out more in response. Keep growing and keep learning. It’s such a fun journey. Love the content brother. Thanks for all that you do!

I love gardening, even the low level combat in which you sometimes must engage in order to fend off the wildlife without poisons or minefields.

One of the very best videos I have watched. Thank You Hugh, very thoughtful and extremely helpful 🤗🤗

your videos are so good and peaceful

Valuable video..Cheers from Australia.🙂

Huw, before watching this video I really liked what you had to share in some of your other videos I’ve watched. After seeing this one and learning more about your gardening / food sovereignty philosophy I’m absolutely in love with you. Thank you for speaking into these things with clarity and directness. Much love, friend. 💕🙏🏽💕

I used grass clippings to mulch my French and runner beans. Worked really well in conjunction with nasturtiums shielding the roots.

I was in Wilko yesterday and all there seeds are 70% off,I got packs of seed for 5p. Didn't pay more the 30p per pack,as all prices different depending on the make etc.. Don't know if this will help others in this time,where money is tight,I brought things to grow next year I would never have brought at full price and only coz I couldn't afford to. Many others much be in same situation,so hope this helps someone.

Hello from Kentucky, USA. The only experience I have growing veggies is a couple of bowls of lettuce and kale. If I can ever get rid of the Bermuda grass infesting my yard, I hope to start growing a few veggies (even tho I don’t care for many of them, I’m thinking I’ll be more likely to eat them if I grow them myself). Your videos are an excellent resource that I often watch more than once, trying to absorb as much info as I can so that when I get my garden going I won’t feel like I don’t have a clue where to start. I’ve been composting for years, using it in my flower beds so I won’t have to start from scratch with that. Thank you sharing your vast knowledge so generously! 💚

giving thanks for everything..thank you..

Organic recipe to finish with the sloughs: surround your garden beds with coarsely shereded egg-shells. Sloughs soft body cannot allow them to cross this barrier because it gets all cut and scrapped.

100% on compostable paths -- no brainer.

Very timely video. Thanks for that. I found out how beneficial it is to plant thickly and keep the soil covered this last week. I was away from my garden for 5 days during a rather hot spell followed by a heat wave! The plants in my raised beds where I planted a number of different crops thickly (mostly because I am not a very patient person) not only survived but thrived. I'm cutting a lot of lettuce and kale. Kale is always my best crop, not that I like it a lot but because I just enjoy growing it. Then I'm forced to eat it too. LOL I got carrots too for the first time and chard...lots. It has really made a difference.

I’ve always considered compost to be soil, composting is just a sped up version of what the forest does, creating soil, so I thought it unusual to see that UK gardeners considered it a ‘mulch’. Gardeners in Australia wouldn’t dream of leaving their composted beds uncovered and I’m sure you guys discovered the reasons during your heat wave.

Great video, as always! Thank you for highlighting the crucial link between diet and gardening - shifting the focus to, “what am I fortunate enough to be able to grow in my garden/space that will nourish my body today?” 🌱

Amazing video Huw. I really appreciate you taking the time to make this, share your knowledge and your passion. I'm just about to have my garden and I'm so excited to use what I've learnt here

I find your approach to challenging and looking at "how to make it better" very rewarding - Well done Huw

So very inspirational. Blessings to you and this community.

Brilliant video, very excited to process this philosophy more, and I appreciate your approach to advertising, so grounded and providing real value

Thank u for ur time and effort in teaching us. U r an inspiration!

this was a really good video Huw. You covered it very well. love your vids. keep them up and thanks

Awesome shout out to Farmer Jesse! I love watching both of you. I’ve learned so much - thanks

Great points you made in your summary - tying soil health/growing to your diet (or modifying the diet to the growing seasons/capabilities). It's going to be a tough road for many people who don't know how to cook (always eating out or buying pre-packaged foods), and getting something to grow when the "feedback loop" can be 2,3 or 4 weeks until months later, and something could disrupt that (bad weather, pests, poor soil, mismatched watering, fertilizer needs)

Your garden always looks lush and appetizing Huw !

Been watching for years Huw. Thank you for all your great content. You are absolutely my fave!!

Hi Huw, some great ideas and information about soil. Thanks for sharing and take care 🙂

I cannot get enough of your garden!!! Stunning!

I would love more videos on using your in season produce to prepare meals for yourself.

Hello Hew, like you I have vege gardened since I was a young teenager. Which for me is 60+ years. I've gardened no dig for about 5. I love using grass clippings on my garden. Especially around seedlings. Snails won't go across fresh grass clippings. I'm not sure about slugs. I've also learnet that rabbits do not like the pungent smell of Calendulas. I love watching your utube channel for good ideas and inspiration. All the best. from New Zealand. 💖

This was really good. Thanks, man!

I use grass clippings and comfrey cuttings all the time. I'm in zone 7a. Thank you for all your videos.

fabulous theory.. thank you!

Huw you are teaching me so much. Thank you. I look forward now to each of your videos - it's perked up my intetest and passion no end! God bless you and all your family. 🙏👍😘

💚🌱 Thank you Huw, for such wonderful perspective. Spot on.

Good guidelines!

Brilliant. Thank you. Best regards from Vancouver Island.

I discovered by accident that used ground coffee tea got rid of allium leaf miner from my leeks. I’ve saved bags of used coffee grounds to mulch leeks this year. 👍🏻 We have to say we’re using it as a mulch because EU says coffee grounds can’t be used as an insecticide 🙄

Thank you.

Very interesting and informative video thanksxx

I really enjoyed this video

Completely agree!

I absolutely agree with this

Love you! Thank you!

Thank you for this! As a woman of principles, I consider this your best video ever. I am working on a project to help people grow food plants in their apartments. God loves city people, too!

*Steve's Seaside Kitchen and Allotment Channel*

I’m really interested in the coffee grounds idea. I have access to lots! No grass clippings here in drought ridden CA, no straw/ hay w/out additives…. Thanks for your quest for knowledge!

Thank you for your amazing experience

Great video! Thank you!

Huw, your garden looks fabulous - ‘lush’ I believe you would say. Over here in the South East our gardens and the countryside are baked brown. Talk of grass clippings is entirely academic as lawns haven’t needed cutting for months.