Today I wanted to share why I’m a huge fan of grass! Not only is it a great way to redistribute nutrition around the garden, but it’s cheap and readily available. I’m also using my time this year to keep close documentation of all my experiments in the garden, from crop weight to brix readings. Let’s find out together just how powerful the techniques we use to grow food truly are. Join me in this fourth video in a new, more informal, video series to share thoughts, ideas, and discoveries as close to real time as possible – happy watching!
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29 Comments
Please clarify.
Isn't Brix rating a sugar carb rating? It is not an indicator of organics or minerals or other nutrition density?
Loving this fun back and forth editing with your crew!
Lol 🤣🤣🤣 love the new fun and less formal diaries format!
I feel the same when I look at a tomato seedling too lol 😂
I have a Yummy raspberry! I grow it in a container and it's surprisingly productive. I mean, I'm not going to be making jam any time soon, but it's enough to have a nice snack whenever I'm out in the garden.
I have used grass to mulch around my potato containers and noticed they have become a great home for slugs, so ended up taking all the grass out 🙁
Another beautiful day in the garden! Love the chickens! Blessings on your day Kiddo!🥰🌻🐛
Purple sprouting broccoli is downright pretty and one of my all time favourite. I appreciate all gardeners, all styles, all ages. Keep growing, you all remind me of my childhood and young adulthood on my parents ' smallholding. 🌱🏡💚😍
Thanks for another informative video, Huw. For those who might be confused about Brix…
Per Google, Brix is a unit of measure used in the refractometer – what Huw is using in this video. The Refractive Index of Crop juices are calibrated in percent sucrose or degree Brix. When the Brix reading is divided by 2 it will be equal to the percent of crude sucrose in the plant tissue. The Brix equals to percent crude carbohydrate per 100 pounds of juice. The higher the carbohydrate in the plant juice the higher the mineral content of the plant, the oil content of the plant, and the protein quality of the plant. For example, if you were to have 100 pounds of alfalfa that has a Brix reading of 15 it would mean that there would be 15 pounds of crude carbohydrates if the alfalfa was juiced and dried to 0 percent moisture. By dividing 15 by 2 it tells us that the actual amount of simple sugar would be equal to 7.5 pounds. Crops with a higher refractive index will have a higher sugar content, higher protein content, higher mineral content and a greater specific gravity or density. This adds up to a sweeter tasting, more mineral nutritious feed with lower nitrates and water content and better storage attribute. Crops with higher Brix will also produce more alcohol from fermented sugars and be more resistant to insects, thus resulting in decreased insecticide usage. Crops with a higher solids content will also have a lower freezing point and therefore be less prone to frost damage.
😂 made me laugh…grass 🚬 for fertility 💑 = 👨👩👧👦 🤣🌱☀️
I am completely off grid at my allotment have harvest plenty of water but looking at easier ways to water the plot could, you do a video showing how you have your water system working please thank you
What an adorable person.
My seedlings make me ridiculously happy so I totally know what you mean, I also decided this year not to label my cherry tomatoes & it’s been interesting to watch without knowing which is which how some are growing really strong while others are much smaller but I have no idea which is doing well until they start to fruit 😅 not sure this is the best approach but I ran out of labels so as one tray was several varieties of just cherry toms I figured what the hell 😊
I do know how you feel with the tomatoes. Mine just went out last week (Central California) and I did their first lower leaf and sucker trim. Reminiscent of baby’s first hair cut.
This style cinematography you guys have been doing lately reminds me of John Stockwell filns 😀🎥
Not really trying to get into an argument here but think about it in a different way. You are part of nature. There's nothing wrong with harvesting from nature and the idea that you put something in nature and therefore you can harvest whatever you want is kind of flawed because nature existed before you existed. So in order for you to put something there, you had to remove something else. Someone cleared that land. It may not have been you but it was still a human and you purchased or acquired the land in that state from that person. So it seems a bit snobbish to think that you have more right to the fruit of a tree that you planted. Then the fruit of a tree the nature planted. Who's to say that nature didn't have a tree with friut growing there before the land was cleared? The bottom line is you are part of nature and nature's part of you interact as such. Everything we use produce, discard, consume Even ourselves are part of the earth. The main thing we need to remember is that everything needs to be in moderation. We are most likely to destroy the ecosystem that we are part of by doing any one thing in excess. That will tip the balance of environmental conditions that could potentially cause a massive extinction event.
If the grass is brought in,,, how do you know if any herbicides or pesticides have been used on the grass??
Awwwww I love ❤ the ladies!!
I feel the same about my seedlings, but as soon as I plant them out, the snails have different ideas about them🐌
Best video yet! Love the banter & the chickens!
I know that 'tomato feeling' 😉👍
Do you work with 'tree guilds'?
Wow, you always have some fun new ideas to try out. I really like your deep mulch for the chickens. I built a 15 foot poly tunnel in the run for the chickens to have a warm dry place to dust bathe. They seem to like it so far. Now I think I'll collect grass and such to give them something other than wood chips. Once a year I collect all the beautiful compost from under their wood chips. It works great, a lot of work though. I love your videos, thanks so much.
Love this format so much!
🌈💚🍀
Absolutely lovely video, it really made me smile 🙂 Cool that you're testing so many different ways to make the garden a healthy and beautiful place for humans, plants and animals. And my lab tech heart now really wants a Brix measure reader 😍!
Chokes on purple sprouting broccoli, proceeds to slap microphone lol 😅
I love how you said good bye to your tomato plants and hello to your lady chickens. You and your team are marvelous! Educational and entertaining video. And so genuine! First class!
I really enjoyed this relaxed and casual video. Super fun and informative. Lovely to see how nice you are with the chickens 😂😊