Want a garden that genuinely feeds you – not just supplements meals, but carries your food needs across an entire year? In this video I break down exactly what it takes to do that, using real results from this 125m² (1/30th acre) garden: over 700kg (1,500lb) of harvests in its first 12 months, averaging around 2kg of fresh produce every day.
You’ll learn the core “infrastructure” that makes high yields possible (raised beds, trellises, hoop beds, polytunnel, water storage, composting and pathways), the key crops that deliver self-sufficiency across the seasons, and the simple strategy that ties it all together; including goal-setting, tracking data, succession planting (“one out, one in”), and focusing on staple crops first.
By the end, you’ll have a clear, practical blueprint you can adapt to your own space whether you’re aiming to feed one person on a mostly plant-based diet, or support two people eating a mixed diet. This is how to create a garden with resilience and productivity built in from day one.
Order your copy of How to Grow Food: https://geni.us/HowToGrowFood
00:00 What It Takes to Be Truly Self-Sufficient
01:06 Infrastructure: The Non-Negotiables
01:33 Raised Beds: Size, Depth & Filling
04:31 Trellises: Vertical Growing
05:04 Hoop Beds: Season Extension
06:20 Polytunnel: Why It Changes Everything
07:53 Water Storage (Off-Grid) + Why It Matters
08:25 Rainwater Math: How Much Can You Capture?
11:48 Composting Setup (2-Bay System)
12:59 Hot Beds: Maximum Output Per m²
14:21 Pathways & Layout: Moving Materials Efficiently
15:43 The Essential Tool List
16:05 Mini Greenhouse (If No Polytunnel)
16:29 Key Crops for Self-Sufficiency (Overview)
17:36 Roots
19:04 Legumes
20:54 Brassicas
23:11 Alliums
24:03 Leafy Greens
24:49 Fruiting Crops
26:10 Fruit: Currants
27:06 Herbs: 6 Favourites
27:37 Flowers: Edible + Pest Control Benefits
29:10 Strategy: Putting It All Together
29:39 Define Your Goal (Why It Drives Everything)
30:37 The 3 Principles (Harvest First / Practical / Change = Growth)
32:02 Planting Rule: One Out, One In
32:24 Planning System: Staples + Monthly Plan + Succession
34:50 Yield Per Square Metre (8–12kg/m² Target)
36:09 Seasons Overview: Spring → Winter
40:18 Year Two+: Why Productivity Jumps
41:09 Soil Health (The True Foundation)
41:31 End
#GrowYourOwnFood
#GardeningIdeas
#KitchenGarden
21 Comments
Don't forget to use the chapters function to help you navigate around☺️🌿
Best video yet!👏👏👏
As always great information and very encouraging! Thank you gentlemen and looking forward to the new book! Let the gardening begin! 🙏💚🌿
Great information Hugh. our timber from DIY stores comes in 6m lengths, so I find a bed 2m by 1m means in get 1 bed out of 1 length, saves money because it means less cutting or waste, and i'm a shorty so can easily reach.
The more I become obsessed with your videos; it is the more I realize that there is land that I am overlooking for gardening!!!
I find it interesting that you right away stated that you needed more land to feed one person on a plant-based diet then you did to feed on a mixed diet
Thank you! Inspiring! 🙏
This isn't next level planning and detail – it's next, next, next level planning and detail. It is also food for my ADHD brain 🙂
When I’m using wooden raised beds, I have ‘modules’ that are 1.2m x 800mm each. I used to have these in threes with low tunnel tops (so 3.6m long) but found that this was too much for me to move the top when I needed to, so have now gone to a max of two modules with a single low tunnel top each. So – don’t forget to factor in having to move these things around from season to season! I’ve got a system where I can either have poly or netting over my hoops depending on what’s needed and that also helps with flexibility.
What an amazing, information packed video!! Amazing job! Happy 2026, may you have many happy days in your garden!
Okonomiyaki are great! But don't use Chinese cabbage; the batter requires some time to cook through, and Chinese cabbage tends to sweat out too much water from the get-go. The normal, firm Greyhound or Danish are preffered.
I love that your books have recipes in. Also love how much info you provide in your videos. Can do some videos with a focus on storing and preserving crops later in the year?
Great video. Just a self sufficiency question: why haven't you established a Hazel coppice for stakes, rods, poles, firewood and the nut crop? Also provides better habitat for wildlife.
This is really amazing. I am growing gardens on a property where I don't live here in Minnesota. I struggle with it because it's so big. This video is helping me lay out the space to get the most production in a manageable space. Yes, I am trying to make the most harvest possible. I have pre-ordered your wonderful new book. Love using your books as reference guides.
I am going to build a couple of raised beds in my neglected backyard and grow a kitchen garden for the first time. The ground is compacted soil, full of weeds, grass and lots of bare dirt/mud. I know we have a lot of ants and probably aphids and worms. What the heck should I do to the rest of my yard so that I don’t sabotage the raised beds with pests?
Growing in raised beds is not different from growing in the ground because you have “a defined area.” I grow crops in the ground in garden beds that are just as defined as any raised bed. There may be reasons to grow in raised beds vs. ground-level beds, but that’s not one of them.
I have 130m² in total, including paths, hardstanding compost bays etc.
Remove all those & I have 78m² of actual growing area. Of this I have a 3x6m polytunnel & 1.8×2.4m greenhouse.
I do NOT use raised beds & removed them 7 years ago, as this increases the rooting area by 30% & removes slug havens.
Brassicas seem to love rooting into the decomposed woodchip more than into the actual bed – something thy can't do in raised beds.
My total harvest for 2026 was just over 600kg & even now, I've harvests of leeks, brussels sprouts & salad leaves & celeriac.
I’m curious about how the battery powered hose works. Do you connect it to your tank and the powered hose provides the power to suck water out of the tank? Or do you have a separate water pump? A very informative video, thank you.
I love your videos Huw. I’ve been growing veg and fruit for a few years now and rarely buy veg/fruit from the supermarket. I’ve just moved to raised beds this year but have a wider space than in your garden to allow for wheelbarrows etc, but I’m lucky to have a larger garden space.
I’m learning a lot from your videos. I love the idea about the IBC with a battery hose, and growing beans up them!
What kind of tool are secretaries?
Excellent gardening video.
One hint;;
SunChoke / Jer.Artichoke. The gaseness can be eliminated buby fermentation for 7 days. Before cooking