Can This Garden Bed Be Saved? Some Tips and Tricks on Saving It!

Years and years of poor handling has left this garden patch in a dismal state. With new knowledge gained, I will try to revitalize and rejuvenate it. We used to plant tomatoes here year after year, thinking that was a good idea. I explain why it’s not. Then I attempt to save this garden patch using some of the good stuff. Enjoy!

#soil #tomato #vegetables

0:00 – 0:46 Should I Plant Tomatoes in the Same Spot Every Year?
0:47 – 1:40 What Do Plants Hate?
1:41 – 2:24 Is Manure Soil?
2:25 – 3:01 Plants Don’t Like Growing Here Anymore
3:02 – 4:16 Native Soil is the Best!
4:17 – 4:47 Adding My Secret Weapon
4:48 – 5:05 Dead Roots Everywhere
5:06 – 6:17 Why My Secret Weapon Works
6:18 – 8:00 How I Mix in the Good Stuff
8:01 – 8:35 One Foot is Deep Enough
8:36 – 9:26 Where to Put Manure?
9:27 – 10:27 Thinking Long Term Instead of Short Term
10:28 – 11:33 This is Only the Beginning

ladies and gentlemen I think I finally
ruined this Garden patch right here take
a look we have been planting tomatoes
here for the last few years two years
ago the crop did not do well the plants
barely grew last year the crop failed
entirely and that is because we insisted
on planting tomatoes here in this patch
year after year after a year you’re
seeing the result of a fallow field that
we ruined because we want didn’t do crop
rotation pretty much crop rotation is
you plant tomatoes one year rhubarb the
next year kale the year after that then
you go back to tomatoes something like
that you rotate your crop year after
year so the plants have a chance to uh
different plants have a chance to grow
into the garden bed because if there’s
something if there’s something a plant
hates like a tomato plant if it’s
something that it hates it hates the
dead roots of its ancestors so if we
took a to plant tomatoes last year those
PLS grew and then they died and then we
plant tomatoes again this year there
those new tomato plants are grow growing
in the roots of last year’s dead plants
and most plants hate that it’s like if
you move to the
cemetery and you live there and you
sleep in a grave kind of like that
imagine that some crazy freaky people
actually might like that and in the
Plant World some plants actually don’t
mind that like grasses for example or
some weeds don’t mind that but most
plants don’t like it at all so imagine
Year many many years of builtup dead
roots of tomato plants in this Garden
patch in addition what we did which is
probably equally as damaging is we would
go every year this was back in the days
where we didn’t know any better we would
go and get steer manure chicken manure
all this fancy stuff that you see in
those brightly colored bags at the big
box store we would get that bringing
into this Garden patch right here we’d
bring it into this Garden patch and we
would mix it into the soil we thought
that manure was soil back then and we
thought like oh Tomatoes love it and you
know Tomatoes actually do love that
stuff but there’s a big distinction
about where to place that maneuver and
I’ll talk about that in in a little bit
okay I’ll talk about it in this video
but for now I’m going to try to save
this Garden patch because it’s important
we don’t have a lot of space out here
Southern California Zone 10 and we need
to use this place spot okay plants are
now starting to hate the spot let me
show you an example look at this rhar
plant we planted it here recently it’s
not doing well it’s barely
growing it’s kind of like rotted out
here in the center part and this is a
sad looking little rhar plant this is
what plants look like now planted here
in this Garden patch nowadays because
the soil is uh kind of soil was kind of
messed
up I should have listened to my neighbor
Fred who lived over there and he passed
away rest in peace he was an old man
back when we knew him he had been
guarding in this area of Southern
California for decades and he said he
would see us going to The Big Box store
and getting those soils and he would
tell us guys what are you doing don’t
change the soil don’t add anything to
the soil this soil is great and he was
right the more and more I learned about
soil the more and more I learned about
what good soil is I realized that my
poor neighbor Fred rest in peace was
smart and he was right and we were wrong
we thought Fred was wrong this is some
of the best soil the native soil here is
some of the best soil I’ve worked with
anywhere I’ve planted trees all over
Southern California and the soil in this
spot is the some of the best doesn’t
need any Amendment doesn’t need anything
it does actually it does need Amendment
but again the placement is key and I’m
going to talk about that but this is
some of the best native Soul I’ve worked
with because it’s just dirt it’s just
crushed up Earth sand a little bit of
clay it’s excellent it’s fantastic so
I’m going to attempt to revitalize this
this little patch I’m going to try to
bring it back by doing some things and
I’m going to show you now let’s get
started let’s
go
guys here’s some of the Dead roots of
past plants I was talking about they’re
all over this Garden patch it’s at this
point it’s kind of impossible to take
out all these dead roots but we’ll I’ll
try I’ll try my best to remove as much
of the Dead Roots as I
can and what you just saw me put down
there if you have been following my
channel for maybe the last year or two I
think you can guess what I just put in
this Garden patch and it’s my old friend
my trusted friend decomposed Granite DG
as it’s known for short I’ve already put
six bags of DG here in this Garden patch
which is about this Garden patch
is I’m going to say 10 to 12 feet by 4
feet wide I put six of those 50 lb bags
of DG already I think I’m going to put
two or three or four more and I’m going
to mix it into the soil because DG is
purely mineral soil it’s such a friendly
neutral soil that it’s so versatile has
it’s multifaceted has a lot of uses but
in this case for this garden bed it’s
just going to provide a nice neutral
soil something that plants have been
growing in for Millions and millions and
millions of years it’s something that
plants are comfortable growing in
including tomatoes and other vegetables
uh it’s not going to rot plants out it’s
not going to cause problems problems for
plants and it’s just something that
works okay so let me show you how I mix
it in I’m going to try to mix it in so
that way the the the next year’s
vegetables could move out of the
cemetery that they’re living in and they
could move into a slightly better
neighborhood probably a AC cross the
street from a cemetery or down the block
from a cemetery think of it that way
we’re going to use that Cemetery
analogy
I see some more dead Roots here oh look
at
this more dead roots from past
crops
okay guys you just saw me mix a bunch of
DG into here I made sure to get the DG I
made sure to get the DG in the top foot
of soil I don’t need to go deeper than
about a foot why is that well most
vegetables most fruits in fact too most
fruit trees you be surprised how shallow
their roots are most vegetables and
fruit trees their Roots don’t go that
deep most of their root system are
within that one foot of soil because the
roots need oxygen to breathe and they
can access the most oxygen the closer to
the soil the surface that they are so
they don’t need to go that deep okay so
I mixed in DG whereas in the past I
would do the exact same with steer
manure now you’re asking what’s the
difference what’s wrong with steer
manure and chicken manure for vegetables
and that’s great question and it’s great
plants love steer manure they love
chicken manure but they hate it when it
the roots are touching their their roots
are touching that stuff because as you
start Watering your plants your
vegetables and your fruits you start
watering it and the roots are touching
steer manure or any other organic matter
it could be anything bat guano what’s of
the other popular organic matter bat
guano all that fancy stuff that you
could find online or at The Big Box
store that stuff as water is added it
starts to rot and as it rots it steals
oxygen from the roots that oxygen that
the roots need the Roots can’t breathe
and the plant suffers and then it starts
to decline and then it starts to die and
this is a long-term thing because you
can get away with one season
of planting uh vegetables in pretty bad
soil you can go to The Big Box store and
plant your your your plants in a that
those brightly colored bags of soil and
they might look good for about a year
but then we’re thinking long term here
all right most people think short but as
Garners we want to think long long term
many years in the future over over the
few years long term it’s not a good idea
plants are going to start to suffer
especially plants that can live for more
than one year like uh for us here in
Southern
California a lot of our vegetables are
perennials like chilies for example can
be
grown uh not for one season they can be
grown long term so we have to think a
little bit longer term for our plants so
that’s why we’re going to use something
mineral something stable that plants are
just used to growing in for many many
years and that’s a big distinction I
hope uh made that clear okay I’ve only
tried this method with fruit trees only
so with vegetables I’m new this is an
experiment I’m trying this I don’t have
any expectations and this is just the
beginning this is only April uh we could
start planting our vegetables here
starting February but we’re starting
here in April this is spring plants are
starting to grow things are starting to
flour and we’re going to start planting
vegetables here and I’m going to show
you the progress as the season
progresses we’re only here in April and
so you’ll see how these plants perform
in this Garden patch with this
experiment that I’m doing by adding DG
into here as a as an effort to save this
Garden patch so of course you will see
the results and to see the results you
got to subscribe so subscribe then give
me a like leave me a comment let me know
how your plants plants are going and as
always thank you for watching
byebye I almost forgot to give a shout
out to my main man Gary matsuoka of
Laguna Hills Nursery he taught me all
this stuff and I’m now I’m sharing it
with you so sh out to Gary boka thank
you