I'm not a RU-vidr but I have thought many times t about posting a video identical to this one. I'm guilty of all the things you brought up. Most videos talk about things that make gardening more difficult like season extention and grow big or go home and beginners wind up overwhelming themselves. This should be a must watch for all beginning gardeners.
Thank you so much, Jeff. The sad thing is, many folks will give up if it becomes too overwhelming (and understandably so)... I'd much rather see someone start small and 'easy', have success and be encouraged to slowly keep learning and expanding, versus the alternative.
Going into my 4th year of seriously gardening. If I knew then what I know now, I think #1 would be more in ground beds. Over the past couple years, feeding the soil with the proper biology has allowed me to successfully grow directly into the soil. Raised beds are great, but very expensive, especially if you are purchasing the majority of materials to fill them. The 2nd big change would to have gone directly to cattle panel trellising of my indeterminate tomatoes. 1st year I used sting, 2nd year bamboo stakes, then last year the cattle panels, by far the easiest and most effective. 3rd thing would be the over-all layout of the beds. Making a complete change to a 20' X 8' bed due to the invasion of jumping worms. Actually, it might work out for the best. I will be giving up some garden space for 2 pathways, but the addition of 2 arched cattle panels will actually increase my over all growing area. 4th thing would be pay more attention to the sun. Mostly, where it lands on my garden, and how plants end up shading each other out. Gardening to me is a journey, I'm sure I will make more mistakes along the way, but what the heck... It's a lot of fun!!!
You are absolutely correct. Sun direction is very important. Container gardening taught me that. And... because of my environment, ground critters ie raccoons groundhogs, otters, I began with elevated raised beds and LOVE them. I have a couple deeper raised beds, three feet deep and used hugelkulture method to fill them. Thank you for sharing your gardening adventures! I love to learn from the stories. 😊
Great points here! I totally agree with you on the in-ground beds & cattle panels! And so imporatant to pay attention to that sun- that's an easy one to overlook when you're excited about getting a garden in and planting!
Points are nicely done. I ramble. Yes, I’m going back to in ground planting with a good filled trench under each row. I like the raised for certain reasons, but the moisture is better retained in ground.
i forgot about the sun too, so summer 2021 i watched how the sun moved through my landscape, spring 2022 i had a tree service heavily prune out tree branches, i said i want more of an umbrella, not branches so low…that allowed more sun. my landscape started fall of 2019, i have a garden journal and keep tweaking…i finally really watched and noted the weather. we cannot plant before memorial day, unless it has a mini greenhouse, water bottles and milk jugs serve as mini greenhouse…gardening is an experiment every season, that’s why i enjoy it, it’s never finished, always room for improvement, you have to admit a mistake and move on….all the things we should be doing with our lives….
You put on a great show with a lot of great content!!! When we started gardening in 1974 we had our parents teaching us the old school how-to's. My dad was raised on a farm in Italy before coming back to the U.S. at age 14...by himself in 1936. Mom was raised on a farm, they were tenant farmers, and in her grandmother's boarding house later on. My mom, her mother, and her grandmother had Victory Gardens during the war. My wife's parents were also farmers before they met. We were lucky we had great teachers! We started small and expanded as the family grew. There was a couple of decades that we stopped gardening, canning, and freezing produce. Then fifteen years ago we started again, first small for about five years. Now we are back to about the size when the kids were younger. Being older and retired the last five years, we found ways to make the work a lot easier. We slowly built 14 raised beds for vegetables and flowers and three years ago I started a no-till garden in the back yard...saves mowing lol. In the front yard I spread a few 12 inch by 12 inch high by about 20 foot long hills of rabbit manure for the winter squash. That takes care of about 25% of the front yard I don't have to mow lol! I was raised in a small village, my wife in the country. We bought a little over 4 acres after we were married...love the country! We give away all the extra produce to all the retired neighbors and her family. Gives us something to do lol! AND!!! We are still learning!!! You just can't know everything! Enjoyed as always! Take care!
Wow - how fantastic you had family who farmed. How wonderful to give food away. I have been thinking of the same thing. i have a small plot, 15 feet by 40 feet, in a community garden but will try to grow prolific vegetables again this year, like zucchini and kale, donating to local shelter/church with extras. Interresting about the rabbit manure. Does it deter squash bugs and/or is it simply good for the soil? Squash bugs did a number on my zucchini in 2022 but I did not keep up regularly with the water-peppermint oil-plant-based-dish soap-concoction to deter them. The amount of time spent picking off squash eggs and bugs off of 8 plants was intense and frustrating; this year will be different. A fellow gardener next to my plot did not have issues with bugs on his squash. He attributed that to rich soil into which he put many vegetable scrapes: no fetilizer or special anything-else-added whatsoever. Thank you for your comment.
@@michellejames5953 In the UK during WW2 it was called 'Dig for Victory', a government incentive for people who had lawns to dig them up and plant potatoes etc due to real shortages of food and severe rationing of basic essentials that continued until 1948. It was found that the population was generally healthier during the war than after because they didn't eat too much because they didn't have it e.g. meat once a week instead of every day like now !!
I am learning a ton after getting back into things using grow bags on my porch. Rabbits are my biggest pest and getting the fencing done is not going to be an easy task given what I am working with.
WRT planting all your perennials in the beginning, That only works if you know what perennials you will be planting and make a garden plan as to where to plant them. One would also need more money if s/he is going to put them in as transplants. I'd recommend putting in a few perennials every year while getting the benefit of the annual plants. That way it will feel you just put plants there and, almost ignored them until the year comes that they start producing. Put perennials in as soon as possible, but a garden is an evolving thing. If you put them in all at once, you might find you put some where they shouldn't be.
After over 30 years, (zone 6a), should have: • Adopted no-till practices earlier. Cover pathways with cardboard and woodchips and drastically reduce weeding. Plus there is no more tracking mud into the house. • Build / buy a greenhouse. Not only will you extend your season and have a place to start seeds (exposing them to full sun from the start), but you can also have an excellent place to putter around on a cold sunny day. On a windy 10 degree day, it can easily be 75 in the greenhouse when the sun is out!
Your channel is such a resource, your topics relevant and the delivery & knowledge engaging. Yours is my #1 go to on RU-vid and I thank you for it. I'm a new gardener (1 season and a bit) and I'm readying myself for a bigger piece of land by end '23, so I literally consult your channel for general and specific veggie gardening. Wishing you good health for 2023. From the UK.
This video was so eye opening and helpful for me right now!!! I've been gardening forever and got in a rut. We are moving this summer to our new 10 acres and I will be starting from scratch. The land hasn't been used for 20 years. So I have to do everything. This was so helpful. I had it all in my head LOL. NOW gonna draw it all out, including fencing, fruit trees and bushes, and then garden and flowers. I have a zillion things I say, oh I wish I would have.......... So Hopefully I can use all of yours and all of mine, for a great growing season 2024!. Thanks!!!!!
If you aren't already familiar with them, it might be helpful to look into the permaculture concept of 'zones' for planning your new space. It sounds like you are starting an exciting adventure - best of luck!
Thank you! Good video. Well, I got a few things right ... I used a permaculture technique right in the beginning to determine where the water flowed when my yard flooded, by observation, then I redirected it, and captured it using cachement areas. I also planted asparagus, rhubarb, sage, fruit trees, pecan, berries first ... and they all came up and are doing great. I also used a chicken wire to protect my whole backyard from rabbits, and that worked perfectly. In terms of things I would have done differently ... 1) I also tend to try to do too much, 2) I grow things that my family won't eat .. like hot peppers, summer squash, then I'm the only one amazed by the quality / taste, 3) I also wish I had learned about soil health earlier, 4) RABBITS, rabbit tractors .. why didn't I recognize the importance of rabbits? Their manure is gold for gardens, and they eat the grass. Maybe this year I will get rabbits, though my wife will !%@$!, 5) rocket stove mass heater for the greenhouse / shed. Such an efficient way to heat, like 1/10th the wood use. 6) Frozen tomatoes! Just pick them, and freeze them in a ziploc, that's it. I use them all year. I didn't know this in the beggining, I was canning, dehydrating, salting, fermenting ... and that's all good, but really, it's just easier to freeze them.
@@kittiew260 I also freeze one zip lock bag of the little cherry tomatoes, and then to use them I run a little bit of hot water over them and the skin pops right off, then I add them to my scrambled eggs breakfast
@Robert GulfShores yes, do the same as well, but I have been using to make a quick pasta sauce with dry herbs, onions, and garlic. It's definitely been the best use of cherry tomatoes because they are always so prolific.
I am totally guilty of planting too much of things my family doesn't eat! And I'm with you on the rabbits- I've had SO many people tell me what a big difference rabbit poo made in their gardens. I'd like to start keeping rabbits too, but like you, my spouse won't be thrilled 😆.
Jenna! A lot of valuable information I can really appreciate! I'm a Newby gardener and began two years ago as a result of covid. I've never been happier in my LIFE! 😊 I live in zone 6 in a residential area but near the Mississippi River and critters roam through the neighborhood all the time - groundhogs, raccoons, otters... So I began with an elevated raised garden bed. Last year, year two, I ended up with three pre-fab elevated raised beds, a custom built 8x3 cedar veg bed, a three foot tall 9x3 carrot bed and a 6x3 squash bed. It's true what you said, less is more so I have to limit myself and manage the varieties of fruits and veggies I'm growing because it can be overwhelming if not checked. I began small and am growing at a comfortable pace. I make my own compost, cover my soils when not in use and try to keep landscaping around the garden and my floating deck simple to decrease maintenance and workload with that situation. I understand the importance of soil health and was showing off my beautiful rich black soil to my gardener friend just the other, however, you were again correct about pH levels being careful not to overfertilize, etc. Finding that balance and maintaining soil health can be challenging.... Well thank you jenna, I really enjoyed your video, thx for sharing!
I am SO very glad to hear this!! Thank you for sharing your experience. And yes- finding and maintaining that healthy soil balance is a constant challenge!
Our raised beds are too high for bunnies but the deer found the garden last year. Had to buy a motion sensing water sprayer for now until we can get some fencing built.
You might have saved me a lot of trouble with this video. I’m planning to start my garden and you highlighted a handful of pitfalls I was running towards! Thanks from central Kentucky!
After 20 years, one site (zone 5b), should have: -Enhanced the soil as much as possible as quickly as possible. -Accepted I have to clear a lot of trees to get sun to my garden when I live in the woods. -Had fencing-animals can be devestating -Been starting earlier in the spring and growing later into the fall. -Been starting seedlings indoor and succession planting from day 1.
Jenna, thank you for this. I admit as a full time day job, starting small expansion as you go the best way. I like you peserve it all so I will say this fall was exhausting. Great tips for everyone. Keep up the great videos. What I would do differently like you soil health but also not expand too fast. I definitely don't have the space you do, but I will say I have 11 beds, grow bags, and greenstalks in every inch of my back yard with a swimming pool. This season planning diligently and using patience when seed starting. I still was a few weeks too soon last year so really holding off is a challenge. I grow thousand or so transplants for myself friends and to donate to local schools, community gardens and food banks. Patience is key all aspects gardening, restraining myself starting too soon so transplants are manageable.
Your videos always give me such a lift. Last year we moved from a property that had ridiculously good soil to a property with heavy clay. I was heart-broken to learn that this soil was going to be difficult to work with, to say the least. Your place looks so beautiful and lush and productive that I’m determined to figure out how to have the same. Thanks!
That would be a hard transition to make! In a way I'm lucky, because all I've ever had is heavy clay so I can't compare it to 'good' soil. But the good news is, even heavy clay can be improved!
@@kassandrapage4379 OMG! That’s what I’m worried about because the idiot that bought property next to us is letting the 1 walnut tree spread and I’m having to cut and treat with brush killer to keep it out of my acreage. He doesn’t live here so what does he care.
@@kassandrapage4379 : pigs love walnuts. Sell the walnuts. You've got a triple bonus with walnuts - 1) they are good for your health, 2) perhaps they could be profitable for others, 3) trees help retain soils. I never liked raw walnuts but use them in muffins, for example, and am glad I do. Walnuts are still "affordable" in the stores but, with prices rising.... be glad you have an excellent source of protein nearby. Are there very small scale pig farmers nearby who could bring over a few pigs to eat walnuts, perhaps paying you with eggs or something from their gardens?
Awesome information as always Mrs. Jenna. You not kidding those critters will wipe a garden out. Deer try to jump in my yard but when the dogs see them at the fence they put them on the run. Only bad thing is I had to put a fence inside of my fence around each part of my gardens to keep the dogs out. LOL.. We added a new 4x16 bed that is sixteen inches deep and right off the bat our pew brained 80 lb Bulldog plowed all over it. Instead of doing a fence down that side of the yard I am trying the underground hot wire to see if it will keep them out. If not then more T post and wire welded fence it will be. Keep up the amazing work my friend! Stay safe up there!! Spring will be here soon.
You have had a powerful positive influence on what I now do. My winter rye (first time) is up. I use tremendous amounts of shredded leaves /grass clippings as well as chicken poop compost. The one thing I did use on my fruit trees was kaolin clay (surround)...what a game changer. No codling moth or apple maggot. One disappointment...Bt and Spinosad are no longer effective in New England for Colorado potato beetles. I still till, can't stand the dandelions coming up year after year. Kind Regards. Craig
Can you explain how you use it around your trees to stop the moths, they are horrible here. Also where do you buy the garden variety of the clay, I see a lot listed under beauty products. Thank you!
@@elainevang9114 I use Diatomaceous earth, (readily available in garden centers). When you are planting your sapling you powder or paste the walls of the hole before you plant the root. When the grubs tunell towards the roots they stop when they start to hit that layer of microscopic knives (Diatomaceous earth). You can also dust the surface but this can take a long time to work into the soil. Note, a word of caution; earthworms dont like it either.
Yes!! Surround can be so effective (I'm terrible at keeping on top of reapplying it though). Sadly I think we'll start seeing more & more resistances in pests like that.
@Elaine Vang Surround is a finely milled version of kaolin clay that you mix with water and apply with a sprayer to the desired plants- insects don't like the feel of the barrier it creates and tend to leave the plants alone. It can also prevent fungal spores from reproducing on plants. It dries to a thin white coating and needs to be reapplied after rain or even heavy dew. www.arbico-organics.com/product/surround-wp-crop-protectant-omri-listed-kaolin-clay/pest-solver-guide-beetles
Instead of reducing the area, one can choose a type of crop that doesn't require care, e.g. sun flowers - the seeds cost nothing, they practically all germinate, they have deep roots and thus break up and aerate the ground, they draw up nutrients from deep down, they give loads of compost material, they feed the wildlife, and - they're beautiful!
Regarding "Starting Small" : Every season in the high heat of the summer I keep thinking of ways to downsize. Scale back, grow less. Then the next day I build 4 more beds. 🤠
I'm here in Arizona, we are to get a shower or two, hang over from the California deluges. I've had a 15 cu/yd load of tree service chips that they load on my big ole gooseneck for 6 months, today it gets unloaded, need my trailer. And it's going to it's locations to get another mulch blanket, my water bill sure likes it, veggies love it too, our peach, nectarines are at bud swell, ate my first asparagus spear this morning, yes I know, but 3 months in summer, it gets out of heat, let the chips keep the soil cooler.,
Love the thoughts. For myself ...I started my orchard and perennials early on 20 years ago but integrated pest management was not as well developed and I learned after many years of pest destruction that the Japanese plums i planted in the middle of my orchard were very strong magnets to bring plum curculio into the middle of all my fruit trees and begin their long season of 2 hatches i my MO garden, that resistant to fire blight is Not immune and that the lovely bees which are needed to pollinate also pass the bacteria around . Enough of those sad tales. I have become very fond of fruits with fewer challenges: berries have been more rewarding and less devastating overall. Learning how to keep my clayish soil covered , and the amazing transformation that consistent mulch and broadforking can make on it were too many years in the learning process. We have very heavy deer and rabbit pressure. The following is a design from a gardening friend who has tried many fences and deterrents. 7 ft deer proof plastic netting zip tied to T posts with 2 ft chicken wire around the bottom to keep the rabbits out. And a top wire to support the netting. I am now in central Indiana and your timing of indoor starts and outdoor seeding has been very helpful and appreciated. Thankyou for the great regional lessons .
I got rid of a groundhog by walling off just the slicing tomatoes and he ate like 12+ green cherry tomatoes, whole. Never came back, and I know where he (still) lives lol.
Sadly not all of us are allowed / able to add fencing. I would love to see more content on managing pests (the bets we can) without ring fencing. Even an idea that helps 10% is worth trying.
Wow Jenna……you really have a great way of explaining stuff, that makes people (me) truly understand. There’s a lot of channels with great advice, but your execution never misses the mark! Thanks for another well thought out video
As usual your video is packed with excellent information that is well presented. There IS one thing I would disagree with you. Perhaps disagree is too strong. ;-) You mentioned that perhaps people with small gardens would not want to make those paths and gates bigger. In that I disagree. Those paths and entry points need to be sized to allow easy access. I THOUGHT I made my paths big enough this first season here in my new garden but by harvest there were no paths, things grow more here than they did back in Ohio and everything went crazy. Okay, I will have to admit my choice of plants to grow in my tiny garden wasn't the smartest choices. That's what is so great about gardening, living and learning. I'm encouraged to focus on those perennials as you suggested now, so thanks for that. I was planning on fruit trees this spring already, but now I will branch out and consider what others I can put in sooner rather than later. That is a great idea.
Excellent point! And you're right- even small space gardeners need to consider access AND everyone needs to think about how much plants spread and take up potential room in the pathways- I struggle with this big time. I have enough room when nothing is growing, but come mid-summer it's SO crowded!
Mrs. J - many good tips here. I will add one. When I bought my house over 35 years ago, I was not a gardener even though my father grew up on a farm. Both of us worked, the kids were, well, kids, and there was no time for it. So, when I bought my house, it was in a subdivision, and the yard was not flat and covered in trees. If you are young, even if you don't think you like gardening, buy a nice piece of land and see to it that it is flat! As you get older, you will want the space and if you age well - you will want to garden eventually I plan my beds and garden area with the idea that I need to get my lawn mower in there and a wheelbarrow. Your point on the progression of what you plant at the beginning is right on. Many of us jump in willy-nilly. Out of all your points, knowing your soil was the best for me. I have struggled mightily with my soil composition and amendments. I have progressed to raise beds filled with a product called SOIL3 - an organic soil from Canada. This has worked very well in the raised beds. For my in-ground areas, I am still amending and experimenting, with some success of late. I have planted comfrey and nettles recently and am excited about these additions. Carry on, Northern Elf...your videos are much appreciated!
Haha! I love this! Our dogs do a pretty good job here, but I've noticed a big difference at mom & dad's since they no longer have a dog. SO many more rabbits over there!
Jenna - such good advice - you were talking to me about taking on more than I should. Expectations can take a person down. The amount of guilt we put in ourselves is too much and destructive.
So, so true and I struggle with this so much. It's so important for us to focus on what we have achieved versus all the things we 'think' we should be getting done!
I did try to focus on perennials first, roses, macadamia, lemon, cherry, blueberries, raspberry... I was going to say I ran out of money and didn't get far but looking at my list I can see its actually not too bad. That's the trouble with perennials- they are way more expensive than annuals so don't feel bad! I just destroyed my entire garden for a clean slate restart without critters. My dog cleaned up the massive nests of rodents and I think we are good to go.
Good point on the perennials- they do add up fast. I'm trying to get better about taking cuttings from plants rather than buying them (something else I wish I would have started doing earlier).
This is my first year gardening at my new house. We had at least 20 deer at a time wander through the garden last winter and we often saw deer through the summer as well last year. So my garden plan this year includes a 6' fence around the vegetable garden, hoping, as you do, that the crowded nature of my garden will discourage jumping. I really hope the fence works, because I love watching the deer wander through, and I'd like to keep enjoying that. I'm glad to see that you're getting away with a 5' tall fence!
This is coming from the woman who could consider giving "Wonder Woman" ....a run for her Gold Bracelets....😉....you have your big garden....a garden at your parents....all the early seed plantings the chickens and then your RU-vid...and probably Instagram....and maybe something else....who could find the time for all that....then the family....your most likely in that 1/2% of most people in North America....( and it's not crap content....it's all relevant 👍) from someone who has a patio to a small backyard garden to someone with an acre....can always get a refresher from your video content....ps...my favorite parts are the experiments....growing different peas....started or from direct seed....like last years ones....or the container growing....! The fact is as one gets older the garden ....well becomes tougher to handle....for me it keeping a succession of things to eat on the go....pests....heat....cold that's the thing....but you deal with all these things that will help those who really are just "getting their feet wet..." CAUSE THERES ALOT OF QUITTERS OUT THERE....and all they need is a few bites of help and advise....oh and your #3 Fencing....a walled garden that's my favorite....any yes the $500000 to do it....😏
Those canned candied jalapenos living in the pantry since 2020 would go great on a ham sandwich. Does anyone else like a sandwich setup that way? 🥪 Excellent job on the video, Jenna!
Thanks Jenna. Great breakdown. Enjoy your in sight and look forward to your video on butchering your own meat birds and canning the meat. 😉😂. You have a great set up. Like how you did the commercial 60s style. Reminded me of the commercials while watching Brady Bunch. All good points. Take care
Rome wasn't built in a day. Going too hard without the experience is a recipe for disaster. Add to how unorganized I am, it's not going to end well. I'm building a little more every year. This year, just putting up something for NFT next year, but using the stands I'll build this year for stuff that was on the ground in pots last year. If I did it all at once it would have been all built wrong because that's always the way it goes for me lol On another video, I brought up using Potassium Silicate for the harsh year we had last year, but that would have been too expensive. It did work but I wasn't going to dump that much money into it.
I agree that space to maneuver garden carts, etc ., is so important. I have to hand carry things into my garden space---it's just too tight for even a wheelbarrow. I curse my set-up frequently, yet lack the energy at my age to fix the problem. Sigh. Gotta say--I LOVE LOVE LOVE your jacket and hat. You look amazing in it.
I made many of the same mistakes with my garden. Space between raised beds too narrow for the wheelbarrow. Failed to line beds with hardware cloth, welcome gophers! Didn't put down 2' high chicken wire to keep out rabbits. On the positive side, I did well with amending the soil and using mulch to conserve water and suppress weeds, and the 5' tall fence plus trellises has kept out deer. I'd like to have a water source in the garden instead of running 120' of hose to connect to my pvc pipe irrigation system. Live and learn!
I used the metal T-posts as boundaries and drove the wheelbarrow around and probably looked just like you zipping it around empty to be sure it would fit! I have a very small space that gets sunshine and isn't standing water. The main problem I have is the groundhogs, they ate more spaghetti squash than I did last year and I had to go buy some from the Amish. They don't like acorn squash though? I picked over a dozen and still have two or three!
I am not sure about the perennials first plan. It's an ok plan, but at odds with your pest control plan. In my yard, the peaches and figs brought in squirrels, mice, and opossum. My cucumbers and tomatoes and other annuals suffer collateral damage.
Interesting- I can't say I've noticed that the fruiting plants have made the pests any worse here- we've got a lot of mature fruit tree at my parents' place and the only time it seems to become problematic is when we don't keep the fallen fruit cleaned up. But you bring up an important point that some folks may need to be aware of.
Thanks for the comment about hardware cloth under soil to hinder moles and burrowing critters. Don't get me wrong. Critters are cool, elsewhere! Also, thanks for mentioning elderberry, a good berry I had left out of my plan.
i had squirrels eat my sunflower seeds, never thought about it…so now i plant them in water bottles with the bottom cut out, as they get big i continue the side cut on the bottle and pull it out. i landscape garden mostly with some vegetables sprinkled in, that is the reason i planted the big stuff first, and ordered large junipers, large spruce…i didn’t wannabe to wait years, i’m grateful for that decision…but i’m way older than you, after seeing people plant little juniper’s i knew it would be an imbalanced landscape for years, and i wanted the privacy now. What I regret was planting a magnolia tree for privacy and to be a focus, it drops its leaves in winter, does not provide any privacy…so soon after it got moved, but then i picked something that didn’t make it through the freeze, so my regret is not figuring out how to solve the privacy holes, last end of summer i planted elaegnus, and cleyera to fill all the holes, plus perennial sun flowers, clematis, hollyhock, and many mid size flowering perennials….the holes are going to now be over filled with something for shade and flowers in front. i had a crew dig out the planting beds, all this yard had was grass and 4 trees, but they didn’t dig out grass according to my specifications, so last summer i dug out more grass to give the plants room.
With regard to your deer fence...I have done some research since we bought some land and see deer almost every time we are out to the property. We're building and I have set up an initial garden area. The very first thing I planted was asparagus and for a long time the deer didn't touch it, then suddenly they nibbled every bit of green off of the stalks, forcing me put up a fence. I wish I could give credit, but don't remember who I watched simply use fishing line. He said pretty much what you did, they don't have good distance vision and if they don't have wide open space they will not jump, further if they get caught in something (like a fishing line) they will stay away because they don't see anything and cannot make sense out of it. Rather than press their luck they will avoid the area. I found this to be true so far. They broke the fishing line once and have left the garden area alone. Even some space that I have created beds they haven't walked over at all. Crossing my fingers that this last as this spring will be the true test of whether it holds them off. Obviously this doesn't address the rabbit issue, but a very low cost way to address deer vs putting in a full fence.
Great info as always. Funny stuff when the video is sped up at 9:07- (kids and dogs at high speed ). I am learning to start less seeds because I have limited growing areas.....last year I gave away half of my grown from seed tomato plants. I have been following your tips on improving soil and I am looking forward to better soil each year. I always had gorgeous flowers and now more and more growing food. Will be trying potatoes in a new raised bed this year-(great pointer on hardware cloth on the bottom.). TY
I'd make my pathways wider, and even if meant eating beans from a can or ages I'd splurge the money to pour the pathways with concrete if I had to start my garden over. Also I'd have tilled the entire garden, I only tilled one side of it. The side I did not have tilled is much harder to pull weeds from, start seeds, and the water runs off instead of soaking in as quickly. I regret not doing that.
Omg preach with the space issue 😂 I’m an idiot and put my raised beds close together, which is fine for when I’m walking around but my poor dad gets his pants hooked on stuff all the time.
I’m new to your channel and from Pittsburgh PA and I was curious.. how do you water your garden of that size? Sorry if you mentioned it in a different video I haven’t seen yet
Hello Brittany and welcome to the channel! I share how I am currently watering in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2wVMBWbTsEA.html I'm also planning on adding some drip irrigation (www.dripworks.com/?ref=Growfully) for my raised beds this year.
I believe the landing spot theory to be true with deer. I did not have problems for years then decided to "clean up" my orchard garden and boom deer jumped in.
Can highly recommend fruittrees yes, they also provide shade where you need. Just make a garden design first, I had to relocate 8 fruit trees 😅 what a nightmare.
The number one thing I would differently is not simply use the veg patch that the previous owners built but started from scratch in terms of layout with irrigation and with walking paths in mind
I had the same issue with my gate not being big enough. To solve it I pulled the staples that attached the fence to one side of the gate and attached it to a 2x4 and put wire loops like in our pasture fences. Now I can open up a section of the fence when I need a bigger opening.
Great video and well timed! I think for many (including myself) it can be hard to commit to the permanence of fencing and fruit trees when you haven't had much time to explore your space. What steps do you wish you had done to improve your soil early? A few seasons of cover crops? A very large bath of compost to start? Thanks again for a great video!
Ooh- that is a great point! But in that case I'd say, just do it as soon as you feel comfortable with your new space. I've been here nearly 15 years and supposing I started in year 3 or 5, I'd still be better off than I am now. Regarding the soil, I would have immediately started with cover crops- probably winter rye, followed the next summer by a mix including at least a grain and a legume, maybe tiller radish the next fall. Definitely a batch of good compost and composted manure to start. I also would have started utilizing natural mulches on my beds immediately (grass clipping and leaf mulch).
Wow! So much content here! Great stuff. Yes, to all. Gradually start the large garden, But a Huge yes to start those perennial plants Right away! I wish also that I would have added my fruit, but I had failure starting raspberries and a peach tree 3x’s. There were other things in life that get in the way like money and time. I should have still tried other fruit. Now I’ve improved the soil more and last year added apples and we are trying blackberries, raspberries, honey berries, grapes and blueberries. I want to order the rest of my mini orchard, but wished I could know if everything will live. We have wild blackberries growing so I’m trying Again. I think it’s a water issue-not enough, so we will figure that out this year with some PEX line. Ah, Fencing! When I said $$$ was an issue in starting to enlarge, Well…Yes, the cattle (DEER) run through our property nightly! Then there’s the rabbits, coon, possums and thankfully only 1 groundhog that has left. Everything I plant has to have a fence! There is nothing worse than going out to see your expensive plant ate! And it’s getting more expensive every year!! The other night I looked out and a rabbit was looking right at me as if to say watch this, and he jumped through a spot I had loose wire fencing as I didn’t finish it yet. He was now in with my precious perennial flowers (roses, etc). So here I am out in my PJs chasing rabbit and mending fence 😂. I mean 6 deer and countless rabbits in one night can wreak havoc. I use 7’ 2x4 wire fence and T-posts. I know they can clear up to 12’ at a run, but it is true if they feel the other side is confining they won’t jump. They are starting to nibble at maples that are not native to my immediate area and find them a delicacy, so I wrap the lower limbs with cheap bird netting-hate the stuff, but it works. They even were checking out a shrub they never mess with. They ate all my day lilies last year and normally leave them alone. I never did get to see the lilies bloom that were gifted to me. THEN a Rabbit built a den under one!! Have to figure something out for them yet. I wish I could view my gardens without all this fence. We are at the point that we were thinking of doing the whole acreage as we seem to be close to enough fencing, but then they would know it’s not a small space and jump 7’ anyway, I’ve seen them do that at a standstill at neighbors while I drove by-it was amazing! Yes to leaving a large opening to enter. We have a gate, but we leave an area in fence we just unclip the wire to enter with trailer. Lol, all your helpers were burning up energy on the trampoline 😂 So for me it’s time, as we get older and realize it can take several years for fruit and nut trees to produce you wonder if you will ever see them. So my advice is start with those perennials and keep adding and expanding as you can afford annually. I’m feeling pressured to get the rest of the mini orchard plants this year-I have to and it won’t be cheap. If I don’t get the order in the varieties will be gone that I need and another year gone. I don’t get out to shop much so I have to forego any chance of a sale on a variety that will survive here. I’m getting keen on realizing I need late bloomers for are low frost/freeze microclimate. And this 40-50*F with RAIN weather isn’t helping in JANUARY IN WI! It’s not GOOD! The plants could break dormancy and bugs will survive and all the weather people think it’s great until they find out they won’t get their favorite apple this year.🙄😏. My soil is like the pic of the sand below the top soil-Of Which We Have NONE! I haul in everything I can get my hands on. If I get up to 10 worm sittings this year it will be a record. I have grubs though-go figure. I have no lush grass and a lot of oak leaves.🙁. I’m too cheap for a soil test, but have a basic home test. I think the soil needs boron because beets and carrots seem to struggle. I grew up playing and gardening in the sand, but this location is a challenge because of past usage of previous owners. Don’t fret over not restocking pantry. If you can put up 2 or 3 of your favs your good. Simple to freeze most and buys time to process later. We are getting chickens again after not having them for decades, wish us luck. We decided on the Rhode Island Reds. Starting with only a dozen as we use to get 50😂. I said let’s start small right now to cover the eggs😅. Now watch the price drop😂😂 Keep up the good work and remember my grandma always said, Fun on the Farm! 😂
I'm feeling a similar pressure to get a mixed orchard/food forest type planting done at mom & dad's- but your right, the prices are definitely not getting any cheaper. Now I'm trying to figure out what I can take cuttings from and/or graft myself to keep expenses down. Have fun with the new chickens- I will say this is probably the first time our eggs are cheaper than those at the grocery!
Got your western outfit. 1) You should always give viewers a heads up. 2) I've learned lots of things that feeds the plants also 👍 ? Maybe number 1 should be no stress 3) Make my do more help Thanks for improving me as a Gardener
I ripped out the last of my 3 foot fence and will be replacing it with 5 foot. Also, im going to start pulling all the dirt out of my raised bed, line with hardware cloth, and fill the bottom with sticks before replacing the dirt.
Such helpful information - thank you! I agree with your list completely. I have often been guilty in the past of setting myself up for failure with unrealistic expectations - starting way more seeds than my little garden can support! This year I'm thinking about going backwards somewhat - moving my garden boxes so that they get more sun and are more accessible for my gorilla cart. Great tips!
One of the things I love about your channel…besides the fact that you’re in the same state/region as me, so that the weather you deal with is the same as mine….is that I love how you approach gardening as science. It’s fascinating. I teach my kids that everything comes back to math and science, even things like cooking and literature. Your videos always speak my language. This will be year 3 for my garden. And I got a canner for Christmas. I’m going to start small. Grandma canned strawberry jam, which I miss. So going to just start there. I don’t have the room in the house to store and preserve ALL the things.
Love your videos and this is a great one. I've been gardening for a couple of years but want to get more serious with my setup. Will be fencing in an area as soon as I can (I'm in central Ohio) Have an area that I started last year that I'm going to expand. Going to be starting with soil health for sure! Had planned for some of these but not all. Thank you!
If I were to start over, I would plant the Fall Sweet squash since it is now my favorite. I would also like to have planted the Seascape strawberry but it wasn't available when I started. I now pick a gallon or two every 3 days from 500 plants all summer starting Aug 1
If Deer are your only or primary garden predator then a simple electric fence will work. You can get solar controls for around $100.00 that will last many years or if your close to elctric a plug in controller is best. Wire and step in post are not expensive. It can be taken down easily or modified easily. We are rural and I realize this may not be a good fit for smaller lots, but when you have acerage it's great. Now it won't do a thing for the smaller critters, but the deer will learn to avoild it. You can even string trim under it. I put up two strands, one at approx. 18" and one at 36" and that works for us. Be sure and ground it well. We protect two 1/4 acre gardens (one flowers and one large veggies ) with it every year. Our raised bed complex (16 beds and 1/8 acre ) however has a 7' high chicken wire fence around it. For raccoons and small varmits we live trap. Raccoons will climb any fence. I also like Kaolin clay. It seems to deter the critters, big and tiny.
Very true! Though some folks don't want to deal with electric fence for one reason or another. We used netting style electric fence at the farm I used to work at and that seemed to work well for the smaller critters too. Do you find that kaolin deters the raccoons?
@@GrowfullywithJenna yes, Some success with Kaolin but, the raccoons are still a problem, digging in the beds. Kaolin has definitey worked for small pest. Two things I have done for raccoons. Best solution is trap them out and the second I have used is a radio playing on a talk radio station. It seems they stay away from people talking, untill they get used to it. I don't put the radio out until I see damage. The Kaolin has worked keeping the squirrels from eating our apples and peaches. You just have to keep them coated.
Differently? A lot of this is "If I'd known then what I know (or feel) now...." I'd try to find a bit larger parcel with fewer, smaller trees. If I already knew that I wanted to end up growing vegetables I wouldn't plant holly bushes along one boundary because it's almost impossible to get rid of them unless I want to devote a good while of my time, i.e., life, to digging them out and then having to go after all their up-shoots emerging in the lawn or other vegetable beds (from the old roots) when the parent plants are taken away or clear-cut to the ground. I'd have had a fence in place from the outset before having done *any* planting, not because deer are a big problem but other two-footed garden marauders are (or, were. Fence is in place now.) And, I'd have timed the installation of the fence so we weren't doing that work on the two hottest and most humid weekends of that summer, which was plenty hot all by itself. I've had two varieties of table grapes, White Niagara and Blue Concord, but they're not trellised properly. That was one of those "...before the end of this season since the grapes are already planted" tasks [time goes by] "Well, by the beginning of next season" [more time goes by] "Really, we've got to get some kind of structure built to manage this thing----" If I were really on the ball and really diligent and responsible, I'd have done all the set-up before I bought the grapevines. And then, I might have purchased a different variety because I wanted these for the leaves: I so enjoy stuffed grape leaves! Concords and Niagaras aren't considered the first choice for leaves for eating. I would have planted a pear tree, most likely a Kieffer, and I'd have it espaliered on two sides of one quadrant of my little suburban garden. This is on the "under consideration" list because I'm willing to do the work but if this theoretical espaliered pear tree (and it's said that there ought to be two of them!) is going to become all that dense and will cast deep shade over a relatively small area as the shadows shift, then, No. I would have established a *clear* system of rotation of crops. The garden's in four quadrants, so at least in theory it should be easy to rotate what's planted and companion-planted right around the compass or the clock face, with all the companions in any given bed being the same, just located differently each year. *However!* I'm also wanting an asparagus bed, and a space for artichokes, and why this idea is holding on so stubbornly I don't know because while we like both, we don't eat either all that often and we can just as easily buy these foods. But I still want to have an asparagus bed and a place for a few artichoke plants. There is rhubarb, too: one plant in the south-east quadrant and one in the northwest quadrant. Identifying quadrants by compass direction must make this sound like acres and acres, but it's not meant to: we're working with just a little bit less than one-thousand square feet for this garden, and some of that is pathways. To ID them, we've numbered them going anti-clockwise so that if you're immediately inside the gate, by your right foot is Quadrant #1, and going around the clock-face backward we have #'s 2, 3. and 4. Sometimes it feels as if we ought to have named them (Huey, Dewey and Louie, and Fred, I imagine) I'll stick with the numbering system, though. It works for us.
I hear you! So much would have changed here if I knew then what I know now! I like your quadrant system (though I do prefer Huey, Dewey, Louie and Fred 😁)- and hope you get your asparagus & artichoke bed! You may find yourselves eating more of those veggies if they are growing readily in your backyard.
@@GrowfullywithJenna H'mm.... Upon having given the matter of Quadrant ID's some additional thought, I think we might go with Huey, Dewey and Louie----but not Fred, which is the name of one of the two-footed varmint pilferers who might interpret a little sign with his name on it as a declaration that that is *his* fourth of the garden and he can just get into the enclosure as best he can and then help himself. Do we like "Bob?" "Ted?" "George?" It must be a one-syllable name, to disrupt the rhythm of "Huey, Dewey, and Louie." "Hank?" "Josh?" "Floyd?" "Hal?"
Great content as always but I see an Income stream from your video 😀 HI Im Jenna and I am here to save the soil life. For only 50 cents per day you can help me save the soil. In addition you will receive a save the soil with Jenna tee shirt and a weekly update on the number of worms my garden has saved....... I agree with soil life as well bit it was a very touching segment. In fact I highly recommend a worm farm, they love scraps and nourishing my soil every year... Gives me something to do in my 5b garden here in CO.
Haha- I got such a kick out of this!! I tried a worm farm indoors a few years back (just a prefab kit) and ended up giving up and putting all the worms in my garden. It's definitely something I want to try again and build my own!
@@GrowfullywithJenna I recommend the urban worm farm. Garbage in the top gold out the bottom. I didn't like the stacking worm farms. Its taller and kid friendly.. Hint Hint. I figure I will pull out 60-100lb a year now that its been a year plus. Hope this helps. Waiting for the save the soil tee shirts...
I went with a 6 ft. Chicken wire fence after being told by my local farm supply I was wasting my time that the deer would jump over anything less than 8’ I have had it for 14 years now and I can probably get at least 20 years out of it. Not bad for the cost but knowing now I wish I had went with heavier guage like yours. Later an older man told me he had tried a 4’ and they would jump over and then switched to a 5’ and never had any problem with them jumping over it. No more deer and rabbits but still have occasional coons and ground hogs.
I garden in the dry west. I was so certain that I understood the water needs of my crops that I didn't get a hydraulic assessment or a unified water collection/cachement system in place before I began. Had to add Swales an ephemeral pond, etc. after the fact , and after my initial failure. My advice? Get help with the major planning issues pertinent to your garden (in my case, getting enough water to it without a well, in your case, saving your efforts from local critters, in my girlfriend's garden her biggest design dilemma was dealing with a virtually 100% clay soil (you could make earthenware dinner service with no amendment from the clay in her yard). In each case, we would have been better off to bite the bullet and pay for pro advice right from the start!
Welp, I have the same new garden year resolution every year, which obviously means I've never yet gotten it right. It's to mark and map what I've planted. I plant seeds, things come up. About 10% of them are the things I planted. Now if I could just remember what that was, I could find out what the seedlings are supposed to look like . . .
Love your gardening show !! , it's just awesome 👌 hope the wife and I can visit your garden .... we've been gardening many years and on top of that , we manage to grow giant pumpkins also .... well its January and just got my onions started ... zone 6a
