Gardening in changing weather can feel unpredictable — but what if the best gardening guide isn’t a book, a formula, or even a video… but nature itself? Learn how to read your own garden and grow with change. In this video, I want to share something that I believe matters deeply in gardening — and perhaps in life as well:
No guide, book, course, or video can ever know your garden better than you can.
Every garden is different. Every season is different. Even different corners of the same garden can behave differently. And in times of changing weather and increasingly unpredictable seasons, learning to observe nature may be one of the most important gardening skills we can develop. Today, I take you through the garden on May 11th to show what’s growing, what’s later than usual, what’s thriving, and how the plants themselves can help teach us when the time is right.
We’ll talk about:
🌱 Why gardening guides, formulas, frost dates, and planting charts only go so far
🌱 How to read your own garden instead of relying only on generalized advice
🌱 Why changing weather means adapting instead of forcing
🌱 How microclimates can completely change timing within the same garden
🌱 How perennial plants become living seasonal guides
🌱 Gardening with observation rather than over-control
🌱 Letting nature teach you how to become your own gardening expert
🌱 What’s growing in the gardens and greenhouse right now
Thank you for being here — and as always, I read and respond to all of your comments and questions.
🌱 Seed Catalogue
If you’d like to grow any of the varieties you see in our garden, you can explore our seed catalogue. We grow, dry and store all of the seeds in the catalogue right here at home. Every image you see on our website, in the catalogue, and on the seed packet labels comes directly from our gardens.
🌱 Visit our Seed Catalogue
👉 https://www.willowsgreenpermaculture.com
🌿 Consultations
Thinking about starting a garden: on a balcony, in a backyard, at a school, or as part of a larger personal or community permaculture project?
📧 Email: apdehors@gmail.com
Magali’s YouTube channel:
Raconte-moi l’invisible:
www.youtube.com/@lepodcastavecmagali
Magali’s blog and podcasts:
https://racontemoilinvisible.blogspot.com/
https://baladoquebec.ca/racontemoilinvisible/rss
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Thank you for being here — and for growing with us. 🌱
15 Comments
🌱 What has your garden been telling you lately?
Plant next to house is hoter .
From DD ,,PA
My garden has a lot to say! The original garden on the property says it needs organic matter heavily.
My newer gardens are thirsty. 18 days no rain. We put a lot of seeds in the ground anticipating rain in the next 3 days.
I always love your videos and I’ve learned a great deal from you! You’re such a calm teacher and you’re inspiring me to try new things!
That we need more water
Comparing any type of planting to slavery is insensitivity and naive.
I am a little farther along in a slightly warmer climate zone 6b. We had warm weather in the early spring but then got hit with a real freeze one night. All my mulberrys including wild varieties got zapped with the new growth dying and they are just starting to regrow now. My pear tree got all its blooms killed also. 😒 All the Maples are fullly leafed out but the Oaks are are just starting. When I took a walk in the woods I saw some wild plants that got zapped by that cold as well. It is supposed to hit 95 on Tuesday which is crazy for this time of year, but then cool down after that. The heavy spring rains we usually get did not come with only mild precipitation so hopefully we get some good rainstorms or things are going to dry out quick.
Thank you. One enjoyable interplanting mix for me is tomato, basil and cosmos!
Your basket of seeds is lovely! I'm in the seeds almost every day trying to get things done. I like to hear about others interplanting successes. I am trying bush green beans next to my cucumbers on a trellis. I currently have my lettuce at the base of my shelling peas on a trellis. I should plant carrots next to my onions I think I'll do that tomorrow. I love layering and growing more things together. It's also a busy time collecting wild spring herbs and greens to preserve by drying to have for the winter. I also hope to try new freezing recipes to preserve the harvest.
I log many things in my gardens, orchard, and vineyards. And yes, each year is different. I've tried to make a gardening calendar but I cannot follow it explicitly year-to-year. It can get me close, though.
Every location on my property is different. If a person finds that a particular plant will not grow, simply try planting it in a different location on your property.
Depressed plants. Lol! I call it negative energy. As gardeners we can feel the energy from our plants. If we pay attention to them it will help us to help them. If they have positive energy I will have positive energy.
If we let vegetables do their own thing they will return to wild plants that may no longer be beneficial for consumption. I work with my plants so we can benefit each other. I save seeds from the best plants. Nature gives us fruits and food to eat from plants. Nature will genetically adjust the plant to what wants to eat it the most and tweak it for that species because the life algorithm knows that if the animal consumes it, it may also spread its seeds around, thus creating more plants. I genetically engineer my plants the old fashioned way and they are superior in many respects in MY environment. I emphasize MY because when you tweak to get your own seeds, you are genetically engineering a plant to a specific location and climate. My seeds might not work well for somebody in another part of the world.
For years I let my garlic go to do its own thing. Eventually the plants turned small and hard. It took me several years of selecting the best from best to get back to a good garlic.
I do draw the line at GMO plants. That is pure science and not working with nature.
It is very rewarding to create a new variety and harvest it. It becomes a part of who you are. It is creating life.
In regards to chickens, I also genetically engineer them to be dual purpose chickens for homesteaders. I was just rounding them up tonight to put them into the coop because they are still being trained. I admired how nice and robust they were. I created them. I created life. Yes, I eventually eat them, but I have given life to many chickens and they lead wonderful lives. They never would have existed without me. Again, I work with nature. With that being said, factory chickens do not have much of a life. We can agree on that.
You said that you were in a 5b in other videos. However, I saw that you were more like my region, which is a 5a. I also check weather each night to look for cold snaps. I take our closest city and then lower the temperature prediction by 3 to 5 degrees.
Snow cover also helps to determine what your spring plants will look like, if they even come back at all. We had a lot of snow this year and many of the plants benefited from it. I prefer to have a very snowy winter than a dry one.
I was overly aggressive in preparing locations for planting this year and did not give my parsley a chance to come back. Normally it dies. This year it didn't, but I had destroyed it digging it out. Oh well.
I've been eating dandelions too. I just had some tonight with some lettuce, chives, and mustard leaves. I noticed something interesting today. Yellow Finch birds like to eat dandelion seeds and then use the fluffy part to make their nests.
My chickens will not eat creeping charlie. The only good I have found for it is to feed the honeybees and to have purple color in my yard.
We will be mowing for the first time tomorrow to get our mulch. We let the grass grow long so we can rake it up for mulch. Mowing later also benefits the bees with all the wild flowers.
A lot of my hardier plants are going into the garden tomorrow. The less hardy plants will be going into the garden a week afterwards.
My kale already has yellow flowers.
I've tried to get cabbage through the winter and failed. However, it would have worked this year because of the thick snow cover all winter.
One year I bought 10 pounds of chive seeds to spread around my fruit trees. Not a single seed germinated.
I heard that Queen Anne's Lace will cross with carrots and make them inedible. (toxic) It was suggested not to grow carrot seeds near where Queen Anne's Lace grows.
You must have found some heirloom carrots because the Red Core Chantenay carrots I like create mule seeds. The seed companies do that purposely.
I don't know how you can harvest berries from your service berry bush. Our birds eat them before they ripen. My cousin loses his to bears.
Wax Wing birds get my Haskap berries before I do unless I net them.
The marsh marigolds are pretty! I should get some of those for my wet area. Do deer eat them?
Good video! You have a lot of plants!.
yeah, you are going to have more cool weather from us. it cooled quite a bit for a few days. it was so warm for nearly a month here and all my plants are full. thankfully, it has not cooled enough to freeze in the evenings. warming up in a couple days🙂 from what i see with the la nina pattern, you are going to have at least one more dip towards the end of the month into early june.
just ordered a bunch of bare root varieties on sale last week which should be here next week. i went a little nuts with grapes. the three i already have are doing so well i got 7 more! also got a chinese chestnut a few cherries and cranberry. now i have to clear off the new area where they have to go!
i am looking forward to flowers from my jacob cline bee balm this year. it is one of my favorite flowers😍
i am trying to do the loofah as a perennial this year. i have it in a huge pot that i am going to keep in the greenhouse over winter. we will see if i can pull this off.
great vid as always🥰
Really enjoyed your video, this year my garden is telling me to be parient, so itching to plant everything, like you I tend to start things to early and this year I started luffa, and it is very overgrown. Is it ok to prune down, it’s still to cold to go outside, but have to wait. Thanks for your videos, they help a lot!
Thankyou so much for sharing your wisdom. I am learning so much from watching you, and from my own growing space. We have already been blessed with some lovely early peas and this week we have eaten our first courgettes! It is a busy time here in the UK for planting and sowing, and i so look forward to the season ahead. Have a wonderful week.
That garden really nice
I have Egyptian walking onions too and love them so much! I have them all over our property 😅