Don’t you wish you could go back in time and do things over? Sometimes in gardening, we make mistakes, we cut corners, we fall for gimmicks, we get bad advice, or good advice and don’t act. In this episode, I’ll give you seven more things I wish I had known sooner. This is a followup to my five things video from the spring of this year. If you are new to gardening, or even and old veteran, maybe there is something here that will help you grow more vegetables, better food, and have a garden that is a source of joy.
The books mentioned or shown in the video (because several have asked) are:
The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery by Smith, Andrew F.
The Heirloom Life Gardener: The Baker Creek Way of Growing Your Own Food Easily and Naturally by Gettle, Jere and Emilee
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series) by Solomon, Steve
French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France by Goodman, Richard (not a gardening how-to)
Down the Garden Path by Nichols, Beverley (not a gardening how-to)
All About Muscadines, Blueberries, & Blackberries by Ison, William G
You can see all of my gardening books here:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/smhead&tag=Gardening
Our previous video is here:
___
Black Gumbo shares our suburban, backyard, sustainable gardening efforts. We work a small-scale, typical Zone 9a garden and raised beds, the kind of gardening accessible to all. We tend to take the slice of life approach and hope you will enjoy our family, our dog, our cooking, our adventures, and occasionally some commentary and advice. We love family, joy and friendship, and we invite you to enjoy these things with us!
Please subscribe to our channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/scotthead
Visit us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/blackgumbo/
Follow us on Instagram;
https://www.instagram.com/blackgumbosoutherngardening/
We’d be so grateful if you would like and share our videos if you find them useful. It helps us immensely.
38 Comments
When growing vegies, especially root crops, in 5 gal buckets, should a person worry about leaching chemicals from the plastic, ie BPAs, PCBs etc.
Thank you for your advice and encouragement . I really appreciate it .
Thank you for sharing what you didn’t know but know now . I’m starting over with a blank slate and will use every one of these .
All you said is so true thankyou soo much h
I'm an oI' Iady kinda Iike Ruth Stout was when she grew her very unconventionaI garden. I throw my kitchen scraps directIy knto the pIanters. The worms come up through the bottom and feed and fertiIize as they go. No muss, no fuss and no smeII.🌹
Thanks for all the great information!
you could fill blocks with gravel?
I loved your idea about the blocks! I love gardening and live in the city, where I’ll start with raised beds! THANKYOU you’re very informative! Take care
I am just beginning my second spring ever gardening. One that I would add that I am feeling right now is don’t be afraid to just grow some easy stuff and get some wins under your belt.
I am in Central Florida and I have tried to grow sweet corn a couple times. Both times it was a miserable failure. Tried regular bulb onions. Also a total failure.
Sometimes it is nice to just grow some things that you have success with. For me, those things are beans, cow peas, cucumbers, big sunflowers, and some tomatoes. It’s nice to just go outside and see a fence full of beans growing, knowing that no matter what you do, there is a 99% chance that you will have success and a good meal when it is all said and done
Thyme would probably grow well in your cinder blocks. It's perennial and would prevent weeds from coming up. Just food for thought. Great tips, thank you. ~ Lisa
I love Muscadine grapes. I grew up with my parents making wine and jellies using wild grape. As kids we loved the unique taste of this wild grape. We never grew this wild grape but would sometimes find them for sale at the Farmers Market. I have been thinking about trying to grow this grape plant again for awhile now. Tried a few years earlier and ordered the plant, which was shipped to me dead. Maybe will try again.
Why grow what everyone else is growing ? Especially if you have a market garden, roadside stand or use farmers markets.
I really appreciated this down to earth common sense video. I'm gonna get some cinder blocks, and lots of seeds. I look forward to your next video.
I really did enjoy this episode
Due to where I live, I can only grow in containers. So many people on my local FB gardening group have said that I won't be able to grow things like rosemary, eggplant, tomatoes etc in pots. They also think I'm mad for experimenting, I want to plant carrots in the same pot as my rosemary and cabbages in and around the peas, beetroot, kohlrabie and leeks all together. They only picture veggie gardening as straight rows in beds in the ground and nothing else will do. Thank you for this video, I will experiment, grow what I want and enjoy doing it
Do you know why they put styrofoam in most potting soil?
We call your grub hoe a mattock in Europe. Its a superb tool, now I know that I can till with it. Thanks for that.
I loved this video! It is informative and humorous. I especially loves your son getting down with you. Got a new subscriber!
You've probably already learned this, but while CINDER block contains toxins, CONCRETE block does not. Are you using cinder or concrete block? I use concrete block.
I’m new to gardening and I thank you for posting this video. It definitely adjusted my thinking! So great!
I FEEL ya on that 100 degree weather.
You should just make a rock wall!
You could also get a rubber mat or better… CUT OPEN A TIRE OR POOL NOODLE to cover the top of the cinerblocks!☝🏻🤓
That wasn't purslane. Just sayin that is a look alike, it's also poisonous. Purslane is/has a waxy leaf.. It does look similar.. But u don't want to eat the other sorry I don't remember the name of it.. It won't kill ya but it isn't good for u.
I let my two containers on my apartment lanai (balcony for continental U.S. folks) die out. About a month ago I weeded out this plant, and from your video found out that prolific weed was purslane. Well, learning is good. Even if late. You have a son I know must give you amazing joy and just that smile has by now produced a huge number of viewer smiles. You have a dog that you love, and so do a whole bunch of others. Thank you for clear and helpful videos with great information and wise advice. This was a great video.
Why do you have Martin Luther on the wall behind you? Like it.
Lilies to repot
Just enjoy and do the work. No body said garden is easy.😆
Recently came across David the Good's channel….. was watching some of his old episodes and saw you in one of his old live shows. Loved your interactions. Watched several of your episodes and have subscribed. What you say makes sense.
O I love this guy! ♥️
I noticed you used compost tea in revitalizing your used soil. Do you recommend using compost tea in your veggie garden? Thanks so much – I sure enjoy your videos.
Master Gardener Lynn
I love my gardening dad <3
Great video. I love the end of it. The more you know, the more you can troubleshoot and reason through issues. You take Gardening out of the last couple minutes of your video, and it’s a phenomenal statement that applies to anything. Especially politics these days! 😂👍
Thanks fo great advice
I put solid 4x8x16 concrete blocks on top of the regular block to cover the holes. That increased the depth of my beds and covered the holes.
Next I turned my blocks sideways and I pushed the beds together to eliminate mowing and weeding between the beds.
The sideways blocks give me more walking room. Doing this has given me two more beds in the same space.
I built a chicken coop that fits inside the beds. I move the coop from bed to bed every few months
The coop is 45 inches wide and 12ft 4 in. Long and 28 inches tall. On one end is a 45×36 upstairs henhouse.
A hinged ramp goes up to the henhouse. The henhouse has a wire floor so poop can fall through. It has a roosting pole across the end and a nesting box in the corner
I bought 2x4x12 rough cut red cedar from home depot. Red cedar is light, strong and weather resistant. I ripped the 2x4s into 2x2s and I built most of the coop out of that. The corners are 2x4x24". The top of the coop is covered with removable hatches For access to the inside of the coop.
When it's time to move the coop I wait until the hens are on the roosting pole and I raise the ramp to trap them in the henhouse.
Then I remove the hatches to reduce the weight. The hatches rest on 2x4s running across the coop. I build everything with long sheetrock screws and I screw the 2x4s to the bottom of the top side rails.
I move one end of the coop over a foot or so, then the other until I get the coop moved over onto the next bed.
I covered the coop with 1/2" rabbit cage wire to keep the raccoons from getting my chickens . I tack it up with a staple gun then I secure it with small fence staples.
I add rotted wood chips to the beds and i let the chickens process it into good soil.
I am removing the top two or three inches of garden bed soil and I use that soil for potted plants.. Its a lot cheaper than buying bags of Black Kow.
I top off the bed with chips and let the chickens do their thing again.
They provide eggs and build soil.
I have planted deer plot seed in the bed ahead to tie chickens and moved the coop over onto it when it grows about 6 to 8 inches tall.
I plant human food behind them.
Chickens need about a square yard of floor space each and a foot of roosting pole each. If you build your beds 3ft wide by 12 ft long then you want 3 or 4 chickens.
Chicken feed is expensive now but so are eggs. Black Low is expensive too so this Black Chicken is where the pay back really is.
You can find many ways to cut your feed costs. Growing forage is just one of them.
Chickens are an important part of the perpetual motion food machine.
Thanks for all you do.
thanks so much for sharing Scott. great advice!
when you menttioned the raised bed the wood ones rotting when mine rot i wont replace them
One of the best tomato garden I had I let the weeds go and.the bugs ate the weeds and left my tomatoes alone.