We all learn from our mistakes. 😧 But you don’t have to! 😍 Learn from the advice of a gardening expert instead. Find out what the pitfalls are so that you know exactly what to avoid. Your garden will thank you for it! 🙏
In this week’s episode, Ben talks us through the 5 most common gardening mistakes, so you can start the growing season with a spring in your step.
For our video on companion planting, see https://youtu.be/YkSU5dkAREA
If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
https://www.GrowVeg.com
https://gardenplanner.almanac.com
https://gardenplanner.motherearthnews…
and many more…
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If you’ve noticed any pests or beneficial insects in your garden lately please report them to us at https://BigBugHunt.com
26 Comments
Sound advice about starting off small! During the Spring of 2020, I started not one, but TWO vegetable gardens at our new house, and it was a lot to maintain. I overextended myself again last year, but this year, the garden that's furthest from the hose spigot is going to become a wildflower patch instead. 😃 I'm consolidating everything into the front garden, interplanting, and instead of growing 30 tomato plants again, doing 6 or so and adding new crop species in their place. I've been growing far more than my wife and I could possibly eat, then trying to give the excess away. Time to be smarter about this.
Can you not grow on the weaker seedlings in a different pot to save waste?
I’ve decided to garden as I’m fed up of going to supermarkets and for eg broccoli has come from Morocco or tomato’s from Spain. Yes tomato’s are not in season but surely they are mass produced in this country in industrial size greenhouses?
It all has to do with the carbon footprint and supporting our own farmers and growers – apologies for the rant! 😔
A big mistake is not picking the most optimal growing locations in your yard. Finding the most hours of sunlight for a patch and factoring in its drainage are biggies for me. Some things I couldn't help at all; like my neighbor putting up a 6 ft high fence that took away at least 3 hrs of direct sunlight from my South side garden everyday, and the other neighbors spraying chemicals too close or over the property line that drifts in the wind. Sometimes luck happens, like when the neighbor's huge maple clump was rotting & had to be taken down. My backyard got lots more light after that happened! Oh, another problem for my garden are the animals. The squirrels dig up and chew the planters, the deer and rabits eat whatever they please. I've tried cayenne pepper but I need to be so diligent doing that. I may need fencing or other barriers.
I didn't garden for several years due to back & nerve problems and a major surgery. Last year was going to be THE YEAR I restarted my gardening; April hubby & I got COVID, we lost his mom in June & my hubby in July. Between the long COVID and grieving, I need to find a way to get digging in the dirt again. I have two GreenStalk vertical planters and just bought two raised beds, and I have several large containers. If I do nothing else, I will at least work at planting those. I dream of buying a green house, since I'm in zone 3-4, but prices have skyrocketed on those too! I'll make due with what I have for now, its more than enough for now.
Love your channel, so helpful! 💜
Avoid F1 seeds if possible as to harvest seeds maybe pointless. Research as much as possible ways to get seeds from your veg plants. Keep in dry cool place. I use those little stay dry silica sachets that come with some electronic/ damp sensitive goods – to keep damp away from my seeds. A quick heating in a cooling oven drives away moisture so they can be used again.
Old plastic butter, meat trays etc make fantastic and durable plant pots don't forget some drainage holes though.
Cheap electric tube heaters are ideal to heat small greenhouses – don't forget to use an RCD though.
Old bubble wrap, polystyrene bags that come with deliveries make very good frost protection to put gently on top of seedings- with tube heater below the bags collect and store heat around the plants.
Happy digging!!
Can you help me please?
Is there any way I can obtain a copy/disc of a 1980s C4 tv series called – ALL MUCK AND MAGIC. It was an inspiration organic gardening prog based at Ryton near Coventry
Many thanks
I am a new to growing veg I have started with tomatoes and bell pepers. For me I like seeing the seeds growing aslo got some wild flowers to save the bees
April 25th 2022, in Central Texas, USA…
This is my second 'container' garden adventure.
I already have tomatoes (fruit, not just flowers) and leaf lettuce (2nd harvest).
Cukes are doing really well as are my herbs and assorted peppers.
Onions failed as did my solitary spinach.
I have a large container that I call a 'mixed salad' container.. It contains Leaf Lettuce, Mustard leaf and Spinach.
This is going 'gang busters'.
I'm in Australia and my interest in growing was revitalized by fruit trees that sprang from my compost/veggie garden area. I've since taken out all other trees from our front yard and planted the fruit trees in (mostly nectarine but I believe there is also apple, apricot and peach). I have since gone on to buy an apple tree, lemon, lime, gooseberry and a red grape vine from our local hardware store and am putting those in as well.
I still need to work over our veggie patch but there are still zucchini coming up and snow peas are looking good… so once those die off I plan to go over it all, turn it all over and start putting mulch down over the top and then get ready to plant the next lot of veggies.
Seeing the seedlings pop has been Awesome!!!
Ben – great video. Yep, I've done most of those things.
Quick question- do i need a dog for assistance? 😉
How do I access your garden planner?
I'm new to gardening. My parents used to be big gardeners but they got too old for it. I've now inherited the house and it's my time to bring the garden back to life
Second growing season in new house with a garden. Looking to build on what I learnt last year….
Hello Ben i am in Arizona, i am starting to do container planting since we do not have a big yard, my mint is not doing well, some part are drying , my tomatoes have fruit but very small, its cherry tomato though, do not know what to do, bought worm casting will that help with the miracle grow for veggies too? God Bless you for what you do
I sort of followed the first tip. I started small and then expanded. It happened a bit quick, is all.
Great advice
I just love your videos…. I'm new to gardening and am growing lots in pots, container & baskets at the moment. I've bought plants this year but have just been given a bumper lot of veggie seeds (free) and next year I'll think of raising my own plugs and plants…… it's still a bit confusing but with the help of you videos perhaps I will have some success! I'll post again at the end of the season with success or not!
Riddle me this:
I’ve been wanting to do raised beds and everyone I talk to says they need to be at least 12” but preferably 16” deep. You and a lot of others have what looks like 6” beds. What’s the deal? If I plan to rotate, I would need deep rooting capabilities in all of my beds right?
I'm most excited to get my first ever veggies! This is my third year trying but I actually am doing research this time so my garden is thriving! Thank you for the advice! I decided to start gardening because I wanted to teach my 5 year old son where his food comes from and how to garden as well as save money and provide healthy food for my family.
I started growing vegetables for the first time this year in my garden. I’ve decided to document it on my channel as well. I’ve always wanted to and finally moved into a house with a garden. I have watched so many of your videos and find your videos incredibly helpful! I must watch at least 2 a day! Thank you for your informative videos!
I got 2 allotment plots next to each other in 2019 the covid hit. one has a lovely hazel and a cherry tree. The other has loads of fruit sticks and two pear trees (huge) and a cherry tree. I started last year with a few potatoes and beans just a a small area as the whole site was full of tall weeds and brambles. I didn’t have much success just a few potatoes and more weeds. This year I turned as much as I could and chopped back as much brambles but still need work I have planted beans broccoli and sweetcorn before I found your videos. Plan to do raised beds and try the veg planner. What size beds should I use? 1m x 1m or 1m x 2m👍
My depression only got worse when I realized I needed to apply for SSI. My sister tried a little bitty flower pot just for the process of it. It kinda hooked me in as well, seeing the leaves get bigger every day. Now I’m growing a jalapeño plant and the peppers are growing visibly bigger every day!!! I’m hooked. I want to grow garlic and parsley and some sweet peppers because we both love these. My mental health is improving now that I have something motivating me to get out of bed every day.
You and other gardening You Tubers have been such an inspiration! The cost of living in the US just keeps climbing, while our pay remains the same. I'm a young father of soon to be 2 children and I want them to be able to eat healthy. I want also want them to have the knowledge to be able to provide for themselves. Thank you for the education you are providing for me and my family. I am forever grateful!🙏
For me it's really simple, I have quite a big garden and my wife and I are not particularly enthusiastic about maintenance. We decided that growing our own veggies might get us more willing to look after our garden. And, yes it sort of worked, the next step is choosing the veggies that we actually want to eat 🙂
Given the current situation with energy bills and general cost of living, it’d be very useful if you could perhaps harvest a bunch of different crops and try to work out how much each bundle cost you to grow (inc time) and compare to shop bought equivalents