People who want to build new gardens often ask me for advice – so this video is an attempt to speak to what I see as the three basics for getting good results: location, design and soil.
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37 Comments
Thanks, Greg. Great video. Lots of helpful info. We're curious to know what you use the mallet for?
Hello Greg! Thank you for another great video, full of great advice, much appreciated!!😉
Hi Greg, when I pass a house being demolished, I ask for their lumber. I'm in Sydney Australia so often it's old seasoned eucalyptus. Second hand wood is awesome, usually becasue it's old hardwood and lasts a very long time!
Well I have to name this video "maritime gardening the movie" lol JK. I think you pretty much covered everything. Lots of good points but considering the seeds have disappeared from stores and the new found interest in gardening I don't think there is enough composted horse manure for all these gardeners. Many people will want to hit the garden running not crawling because everyone in panicking and thinking survival. So in all likelihood they will be buying all necessary supplies. Do you need borders for raised beds? I'm moving away from that as long as you can identify walking paths with either with wood chips or cardboard or just leave the grass which is a bit of a pain when it Needs cutting. I have a hilly property and building and maintaining wood boxes is hard work. Yes it looks nice and tidy but it's costly especially if you are building boxes that are 12 to 36 inches tall which some people are doing it's very expensive. For soil many first time gardeners will need to buy soil to get started because they can't wait for compost or find ready composted manure for free. So figure out how much soil you need and add 25% more to your calculations and order a truck load of triple mix or organic compost. It will still be much cheaper than buying bags from Walmart or Canadian Tire. This will get them started and then mulching and composting will keep improving their soil in future years. I went to get a few packs of seeds from the feed store and it was empty. I have tons of seeds and I think I'm going to put them for sale on Kijiji. I'm not sure if your sponsor has any left but if they do order quickly before they disappear.
Another great informative video, thanks again for bringing commonsense and your vast knowledge to the masses 🙂
I am 73 and have been gardening for maybe 6 years. It has been fun and I have learned to use dead things to make fertilizer from you and I learned it doesn't make any difference about how I make the beds. Weeds I just pull up and turn upside down and don't worry about. It has been so much more fun than worrying about the garden. Weeding takes way less time. I put leaves in the fall and grass clippings in the summer. I use what ever I can. And I use a plastic cover to eat green things all winter here in North Carolina. Thanks to you I can relax and garden. I don't worry abut it all the time.. Currently in April my potatoes are coming up, green beans are coming up. Lettuce is growing high and doing great and have had them to eat. Kale is starting to grow and mustard greens are starting to grow. Peas are starting to come up. Easy Peasy growing thanks to you. Thanks for great advice.
Greg, i unsubscribed for a while but I am back! I feel that I need to support local you tubers. Almost everything that you said in this video is great, I applaude you for what you are doing. The one bone that I have to pick with you is that I believe that there is -solar gaiń under plastic cover EVEN WHEN THERE IS NO SUN. In my hoop hose, which has a large volume under cover then temp inside is about 10 C above mientras outside air when it is not sunny. In a smaller volume, like you have, I’m sure the gain is not as much but it will be several degrees C above ambient. Also, I have Sid this before, I encourage you to but a tall 7-8foot high hoop house. You can build a 8 by 20 area, to 7 foot high with 5 cattle panels. I know that they are costly in Canada (about $80 each) but that’s still cheap when you consider that you can start growing in March and get edible material in April and May). When you can travel to Maine, obviously not yet given the Covid-19 issues, you can get them for about US$25 each. There are people, like me, who go down there and get 20 at a time and you can make. Deal to get a few :). Keep on doing what you do, I will add my 10ç worth once in a while but you are doing a great service for maritime gardeners 🙂
Another good video. I'm curious what part of the province you're in. My husband and I are looking to retire to Nova Scotia (one day), and we've been looking at properties on line. I tend to look at lot size and if there's an existing garden, or outbuildings, he checkes distance from the ocean. Do you have any advice in that regard? I'm not against starting from scratch for the right place, but to have a good base to begin with would be a bonus, lol. Take care, and thanks.
I thought I had over wood chipped my garden a 18 months ago, going a foot deep, but now I’m finding this has mostly broken down and there’s an explosion of wood chips. And this is I. A very dry Colorado at over 6000 feet elevation. The net is use what you can get for free and use it deeply!
great details THANKS
thx for your efforts.
Thank you for the video!
What a great episode! It is chock-full of valuable information! I can really relate to your explanations of building the soil.
In the past, every garden I had, I had to "grow the soil" from scratch. I started out with horrible soil and it took several years of adding leaves, lawn clippings and compost to build it. I bought my current home 4 years ago and as I am older, I just went with raised beds and nursery-bought organic garden soil that was delivered in a dump truck. I still add a layer of homemade compost on the top every fall.
Kudos, kudos and more kudos to you for building your soil! The proof is when you showed the handful of soil from your strawberry bed! Wow! Just like chocolate cake… right?!!!
When we first moved here 35 years ago, we put our garden in a nice sunny spot, below our house in a spot in an old hay field, where we could tie into our water line. It seemed perfect. Except it’s in a little dip, where the frost settles. That spot gets frost when the rest of the field doesn’t. Learning curve, we worked around the problem for quite a few years. Now I’m putting tender things upslope, where the frost doesn’t settle.
You’re absolutely right, as you get older, things get harder! And everything takes longer to get done 😂.
I'm starting a vegetable garden for the first time this year and your videos are so helpful – I've been binge watching as much as I can! I live on the Fundy Coast in NB so similar climate. Thank you for taking the time to make this great content!
I moved next door to my mom 9 years ago and have been sharing her garden with her since then. She has been gardening for many years and every time I tell her about something I learned on some youtube video she laughs at me. We live in Cape Breton so I really appreciate listening to a Nova Scotian's advice and I think she might even listen to yours too. Thanks so much!
Do you find there's any difference or benefit to orienting your garden beds north/south vs east/west?
Ants begin a lot of decomposition acting as wood chippers, along with termites. They give access to the log to fungi/ bacteria and others.
thank you
You could put pool noodles on the beds that don't have the space between them. Cut them in half and screw them on the edges
I am enjoying your channel, thank you! Question… What do you think about using Blackberry cuttings for Hugelkulture? DOes it need to be totally dried out before you use it? I was told that they can regrow from their cuttings….
I live in the hills of West Virginia and know how tough it can be to garden .We have a short growing season for many crops and plants. I do everything I can to stretch out the growing season and I use cold frames too. I try to get all the sun that I can get by locating them where they get the most exposure to the sun. I'm also building a 6 x 8 pallet pvc greenhouse that should be ready in a couple weeks.I love ideas on how to make do with what I've got . Ggetting more bang for my buck is very important for those of us on a fixed income(I'm retired)Keep making these video's! I love watching them!.
Thanks for your tips Greg! I've been in NS lots lately. I've been doing the same thing with lawn trimmings and leaves. Makes great mulch.
I love your videos. Always to the point and easy to understand. I'm going through alot if your videos this morning and I am learning alot. I am a new gardener trying to learn as much as I can. I'm 32 I wish I started when I was younger lol but better late then never I guess
I'm in Florida and still learn so much from you and other northern gardeners. Thank you for sharing your knowledge 🙂
I enjoyed this video, very uplifting. 👍🏻
Very informative. Even after 60 years of gardening you teach me something new all the time. I have chickens so instead of horse manure I use chicken poo
Just wanted thank you for sharing. I also I was thinking when they start to rote I think I just put rocks around it and let the wood go back natural
Hello!!! Wonderful job you have done in your land, vegetable garden in Nova Scotia. Here in my city, 25 kilograms of straw and horse manure cost $ 6 dollars. During last year because of "stay at home" (covid) I had the opportunity to understand about vegetable garden and trees. I live in 3,200 m2 about 3 blocks from the riverside so my soil is bad, mainly sand. I began to bye compost and verm hummus until now. It is very expensive every time I need it. But as you said, last year I began to prepare compost and I got verms for the hummus. Perhaps next year I will not need to bye it anymore. Hugëlkultur is a very good solution but for a couple of years more. Now, with covid vaccine, I will be working again as in normal time soon. Thank you very much for your knowledge and advice. Greetings from the south of Chile 😊 🌱🌸
I have two horses that I board at an equestrian facility, so now, after watching this incredibly informative video I will be mucking out their stalls and taking the manure home in a garbage bin that I will keep in the truck just for this purpose. I’m starting to see my way clear to finally creating some garden spaces on my land. Thank you. I’ve saved this video and be watching it again but taking notes. 👍👍
I like your approach. Subscribed.
Any eat Aphids. Ants won't harm plants.
Take one plank out and correct the space.you can run from vertical stuff there
My grandmother used to say I have green fingers. As a little girl I would just shuff things in the ground and it would grow. Some things don't change. I watch h hundreds of videos and what I don't do is starting seeds indoors. I still just shuff seeds in the ground. In nature seeds fall, get carried by animals and birds and the grow. So all this indoor stuff is unnecessary. Seeds grow when they ready to grow. I also make my own compost and I don't dig. I do rise beds as i have a back problem and digging weeds or grass is just hurting my body. My plants grow well. I don't have a problem. I plant seeds and I shuff scraps in the ground. All grow and I have plenty of earth worms that are happy.
Hahaha you must be gonna be about 49 this year then.
Thank you, a lot of insights and encouragement. Got some big pots, will put twigs and shredded dry leaves, then top with soil, for some savings. God bless.
Yes very interessant. Thanks you.