Frost can literally define the beginning and end of the gardening season. Gardener Scott discusses how frost dates and Hardiness Zones influence gardening, offers advice for gardening success, answers gardening questions, shares gardening philosophy, and more. (Sep 29, 2025)
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Greetings, global gardeners, and happy Monday to you. Can you believe that September is almost over? It’s kind of crazy. Where did this summer go? As fall is at our doorstep. Now, it’s time to start thinking about some of those things that affect our gardening season. And I always, of course, define the gardening season from the last frost in spring to the first frost in autumn. And I haven’t had my first frost yet. So, my gardening season, as I define it, is still active. And as I look at my forecast, I have at least another week of my gardening season. So, I’m still harvesting tomatoes. My peppers are so close to being fully ripe and I can get outside. I can do a lot of the actual manto plant activities that I like to do. But when that first frost threatens, all that starts to change. So today I want to talk about the frost dates in particular and also talk a little bit about hardiness zones because as we move into winter the hardiness zones actually become more important. The thing about the frost dates that are really good to talk about, I think, at this time of year is some of us are ready to experience or maybe have just experienced our first frost dates while our friends on the other side of the planet in the southern hemisphere are looking at it from the other side. They’re waiting for their last frost date or maybe have already experienced their last frost date and their gardening season is beginning. So, as we talk about these dates, it’s it’s one of those things that I find not many gardeners fully understand. We might know what our first frost date is, but do you really know what it means? And so, for instance, depending on what I’m talking about, I’ll use a first frost date of October 2nd. That’s generally what I tend to think of as a frost date. So, as I look to my forecast, and October 2nd is just a few days away. I’m not going to have a frost on October 2nd. In fact, for me, this year, we actually have some warm weather coming. So, on October 2nd, the day I normally think of my season as ending, we’re going to have daytime temperatures in the 70s, about 77 Fahrenheit, 25 Celsius. It’s a pretty warm day. The nighttime temperature is going to be 50 Fahrenheit, 10 Celsius. far from frosty conditions. And that’s what I think we really need to begin talking about when we talk about frost dates. It’s just a day on the calendar. And really, it’s not a day that you can expect to have a frost or not to have a frost. It is a date where there’s a probability that a frost will happen. And so I’ve put a link in the description below and I’ll be talking about the probabilities, the percentages of the different dates. So feel free to click on that link below, open it up on another window and you can see what I’m talking about when I talk about the probabilities. And so generally when we talk about that first frost in spring or or the first frost in fall and that last frost in spring, we use a 5050 date. the average last frost or the average first frost. And by average, it’s it’s more really a median date. Half of the time you will have a frost before that date and half of the time you will have a frost after that date. And so when I look at at my my date in particular, my 50% date for 32 degrees Fahrenheit, 0 degrees Celsius, falls on that October 2nd. And so for me, that’s why I use that date. There’s a 50/50 chance this year. I’m obviously seeing that it’s coming later than that. You should have in mind what your 5050 date is just for general planning purposes. When we were talking about starting fall gardens a couple months ago, when we were talking about cleaning up the garden a few weeks ago, it was with that thought in mind that in the fall you’re going to have a frost and it’s going to kill your summer plants and you need to get ready for those garden activities that the weather brings. And when we talk about starting seeds outside in spring or transplanting in spring, we often talk about that last frost date as a time to start thinking about doing those type of gardening activities. Well, that 5050 date is a baseline. It is a starting point to determine when you should do those activities. If you really want more precise dates, you really need to get into the meteorological data, which is where this information comes from. And that link that I have below is the link for the US and parts of Canada from the National Gardening Association. And you just enter your zip code and it will give you more dates than you even know what to do with. And that’s why I want to talk about some of these other dates. So when I use October 2nd as a 5050 date, 50% of the time it’s going to be frosty and 50% of the time it’s not going to be frosty. If I look that a little bit differently, and the nice thing about this chart from the National Gardening Association is that it gives percentages from 10% to 90%. So, if I want a 90% chance, what what date should I pick in my calendar year where there’s going to be a 90% chance that on that date, I can probably expect a frost. It’s later in the year. It’s two weeks away from now. Basically, October 15th is what it works out for me. So, right now, even though the forecast is great and I’m looking at my 5050 date, I’ve still got a lot of good warm days ahead. But as I start thinking about when I’m going to plant my garlic or when I’m going to get my last harvest of those tomatoes, I can see that historically on October 15th, there’s a 90% chance that I will have a frost. There’s only a 10% chance that I can go past October 15th. I got two weeks left in my gardening season. I’ve got a lot I still want to do before that frost hits. And so I need to start thinking about what that really means for me. When we talk about the frost, we need to think about just exactly what that means for us and our plants. So that 90% frost date and I use 32° F, 0° C as that frost date. It’s a freezing date, but we really don’t refer to it as a freeze date. Generally, we call it the frost date. That’s enough to kill all of those tomatoes and peppers when it starts getting that cold. It’s going to zap your squash. It’s going to zap your melons. those kind of plants just can’t handle that much cold. But if you’re growing a fall garden anticipating that those cool conditions are coming, those temperatures won’t kill beets or turnipss or kale or many of the brassacas that you might be growing right now. as we look to those gardening activities and what plants are going to be dying first so that we clean up our beds and begin amending in the fall. That’s kind of where that date begins to set in. So, right now I’m looking two weeks out and thinking, okay, so my plants are probably going to be dead at that point. My tomato plants are going to be shriveled up. I now have my gardening tasks in mind two weeks out. I can clean up those beds. I can throw the tomato plants on my compost piles. I can do what I need to do to clean up those beds and get ready for the fall amending. Could happen before then. It could happen next week. I’ve only looked at the forecast for a week out. Here in Colorado, we have the roller coaster temperatures. It could literally happen overnight. When we talk about the frost, I want you to be aware of frosty conditions where it might not actually hit a freeze, but it might get so cold that frost will form. And the cutoff for that is generally 36° F, 2° C. And it’s because of where temperature is measured and how cold air sinks and based on the humidity whether frost can actually form. So the the meteorological data this historical data that comes from different government organizations around the world to determine these dates most of their measuring tools their thermometers are at about six feet or 2 meters above the ground. Good to know. How tall are your plants? Most of the plants we’re growing are at ground level or maybe just a few feet above that. So, while the temperature at 6 feet might be 36°, the temperature at the ground might actually be less than that because during night time, as the cold air drops, it’s going to sink to the lowest spots in your garden. And I think now, this time of year, whether it’s spring or fall, is a really good time of year to start looking for microclimates within your garden. Basically, the low spots when we’re talking about the frosty conditions. What’s the lowest spot in your garden? And if you go out and were to measure the ground temperature at that low spot versus six feet in the air or the high spot in your garden, you probably see a few degree difference. And so it took me a long time as a gardener to to figure this out that the the nighttime temperature might be 35 degrees, which is just just about 2 degrees C. And I’d go out and my tomatoes would be all shriveled up and I couldn’t understand why supposedly they would survive a day or a night of that temperature, but that was enough to kill them. Well, it’s because of where those plants were and the fact that the temperature measurement really wasn’t as accurate as we would hope it to be to protect our plants. So while that that 32 degree first frost date 50/50 point is important to use as a planning tool, I suggest that you look at the 36 degree point when it really comes to what you’re going to do in the garden. That that point that’s just over 2° Celsius. And so the nice thing about the chart from this National Gardening Association is it it shows that 36 degree date. And for me, the 50% chance that we will have a 36° Fahrenheit date happens on September 26th. I’ve already passed my 26 or my 5050 date on the 26th. And as I begin to look at October 2nd, which is the date I typically use as a frost date for planning, that’s my 70% date for 36°. So when I hit October 2nd, historically speaking, 70% chance past that point that I’m going to have a temperature of 36°. The 90% date is October 10th. So October 10th now, a week and a half away, I can expect the likelihood of those nighttime temperatures beginning to drop down to that 36 degree point, which really threatens my tomatoes and peppers. And so when I talk about covering your plants in the fall, when I talk about trying to extend your growing season, don’t look at when it’s going to drop down to a temperature of freezing. Look at when it’s going to drop down to a temperature just above freezing because that’s really when you want to trap that warm air around your plants and to keep that potential frost off of the ground that might kill your plants. So, going to talk more about that. Let me go ahead and scan and see what we have. And actually, yeah, Sam says, “Ugh, not the f-word 32 or more, please.” That’s good. Yeah, I know. The cult’s coming, so I want to talk about it. It is coming. And it’s one of those things that we need to just be aware of. And too often we don’t understand how important just that few degrees can be in this transition period where we’re trying to extend our season either on the front side or on the backside. Dusty Flats says they had frost in UK already that they are probably considered to be zone 8. Hard to understand that. And they are farther north latitude. So this is really good. Let’s go ahead and transition into this because I did want to talk about the hardiness zones. And so hardiness zones have no impact, zero influence, no correlation at all with frostates. Hardiness zones and frostates are not correlated at all. The hardiness zone is purely the coldest average temperatures in winter. And so the way they’re determined is over here by the USDA, the Agricultural Research Service determines these dates. They look at 30 years of data. They look at the average coldest date over 30 years, and that’s how the hardiness zone is determined. Well, very few, if any, of us are encountering our coldest date as the frost date. Our coldest date typically is in the deep dark depths of winter. And so for me historically in recent years, because I also track my temperatures within the garden, my coldest temperatures happen either the third week of December or the second week of February. That’s that’s when it tends to happen for me. So when I talk about the frost dates, the dates when the season starts and ends, it has nothing to do with the hardiness zone. So yeah, it’s all about weather patterns and it’s about climate and the UK. Some regions have started to see frost. I was emailing with Eli from Scotland this morning and they’ve already had those frosty conditions in Scotland, but the equivalent hardiness zone that we have here in the US, they’re closer to eight than they are to seven. So, they have a hardiness zone. That means their winters are pretty mild. they don’t get the deep heavy cold. You know, I for me my hardiness zone is 5B, which means my average coldest winter temperature is minus5 Fahrenheit, minus 26 C. I’m still months away from that, but my frost could happen any day. and my frost particularly this year is going to happen weeks after it has hit the UK. And so that’s that’s why I wanted to bring these two topics of discussion up today because I I see it every year. I see the videos, I see the blogs, I see the articles that talk about when you can expect a frost in zone 5, when you can expect a frost in zone 7. really has no correlation. They’re they’re two completely different things. And I talked about this in the spring. I talked about it months ago as I was talking about the frost dates. And when you see a guide that says you can start planting corn in zone 5 at the end of April or whatever the suggestion might be, don’t follow that advice. Don’t base your planting. Don’t base your gardening activities when the plants are actively growing based on your hardiness zone. Hardiness is purely a winter number. When we talk about our fall planning, our fall garden and the first frost, take hardiness zone completely out of this the discussion when we are talking about uh zone 8 for instance, which is a pretty warm region. Well, Seattle, Washington has zone 8 areas as does Atlanta, Georgia. They’re both zone 8 conditions are completely different and when they experience their first and last frost going to be completely different dates because they’re completely different climates and completely different areas of the United States. So when you look for your frost dates, don’t even think about the hardiness zone. Okay? And a a big important consideration when we talk about these frost dates is recognizing that even within your region, even within your your city, you might have a different frost state than somebody who lives just over the hill. And a lot of that comes down to the way the weather patterns flow, the microclimates, the valleys, the hills. We already have had snow here in Colorado and and that is probably not surprising to you, but I haven’t had snow yet. And my garden is at 7,000 ft elevation. And so when you look at some of these places in the UK that have already experienced frost, they might have an elevation of a,000 ft and they’ve experienced a frost. I’m at 7,000 ft and haven’t experienced a frost. This is why you have to look at your own climate and your own weather patterns to to see what is happening in your garden. Try not to use generalizations that at certain altitudes you’re going to have certain dates. That doesn’t work either. I’m I’m at least a week, probably closer to two weeks away from that 36 degree 2 Celsius point and will experience potential death of my plants and a little further down the road, lower elevation, not too far from me, they’ve got at least another three or four or maybe a week worth of days before they hit that point. So elevation can be important when you look at a a regional or localized setting, but generally it it doesn’t make a difference from one part of the planet to the other to try to determine what is actually going to happen when we’re talking about these these frostates in particular. So uh what is your frost date and feel free to share it. I’d like to see how some of you go ahead and tell where you are and what your frost dates are if you know them. If you don’t know them, click on that link in the description and then tell us in the comments where you’re from and what your frost dates are so that you can begin to see how how we’re all different, but even when we live in different areas, we might actually use the same dates. So, when Eli and I chat, we pretty much have the the same last frost date in May. Both of us use around May 18th. So, they’re in Scotland. I’m in Colorado and we have the same last frost date. But when we look at the first frost date, we’re we’re different. We’re we’re at least this year two weeks different from what’s actually happen happening. Sarah’s asking, “You grow blueberries in pots. What do you do with them in the winter? Do you bring them inside? Leave them outside? How you protect them?” So, yes, I do grow blueberries in pots. In fact, in in the photo I have over my shoulder, you can actually see one of the pots that I have blueberries growing in, and I leave them outside. And so this this this also does bring us back to the hardiness zone discussion because when I grow my fruit bushes and my fruit trees in particular, I try to choose a variety that is hardy to a zone colder than mine. So I’m in zone five. When I choose plants I put in the garden that are perennial like that, I try to look for plants that are hardy to zone four and even zone three if I can find them. And that allows those plants to go totally dormant and not be affected by my cold at all. And so the blueberries that I have growing in my pots are those kind of blueberries, the kind that can handle those severe cold days. And that’s what I have growing in the pot. And I I leave them outside. I’ve I’ve moved my pots to being just in front of the fence I constructed. And that that’s actually created a little microclimate. So I’ve got the apple trees that are in front of the fence as well. And that little bit of fencing that absorbs and reflects the sun’s heat has warmed up that area just in front of that. So, I have blueberries that can handle very cold temperatures. I have them in pots that are in a microclimate area that’s a little bit warmer than the rest of the garden. And I just mulch the soil. That’s all I do. And and blueberries came back great this year. And they’re still too young and they were nibbled on by deer last year. So, they’re almost having to start over again. So, I don’t have blueberries yet. Um, but that’s all I do in in winter is is just protect them with a little bit of mulch on the pot and put them in an area that has a little bit extra sun and then choose a variety that can handle the cold conditions that I have and that works pretty well for me. It doesn’t work for all plants. I talked about strawberries in recent weeks. um for strawberries, even if the strawberry is suitable for zone five. So, so most of my strawberries growing in my raised beds are zone five strawberries. Uh I do have one that’s a zone four strawberry. They do great. They come back every year, but in containers, they really need that extra protection. and and so a zone five strawberry in a pot or in a container or in a green stock won’t survive my winter. I do have to cover them or bring them inside. And that’s what I choose to do with strawberries and containers is actually either put them in my greenhouse, move them into my garage. They get a little bit extra heat and protection. But the the perennial hearty bushes and trees, many of them can handle the the pots as long as you you choose a variety that is is able to take that. Lawrence is saying, “My 50% day for first frost is October 21st and my 50% day for last frost is April 16th in Maryland, just north of Washington DC.” So good. Thank you for sharing that. And and so when we talk about the the length of the gardening season, I I this is this is how I I do it. When I choose my dates of of May 18th to October 2nd, that’s how I define the length of my garden season. So using Lawrence as an example, the number of days from April 16th to October 21st means that that your your growing season is about six weeks longer than mine. So, when I say I’ve got a short growing season, here’s a comparison of what it’s like on the east coast just north of Washington DC. A full six-w weekek difference in in our gardens between Lawrence and mine. And and that that impacts what we grow and how long we can grow it for. So, I I hope to be harvesting tomatoes as long as possible this year. And I have to rely on that 90% date, hoping that that the the days are going to continue to be warm as long as possible rather than the 50% date, which is kind of a a dice roll to decide what it happens to be. South Florida Sunshine says they say we have a frost date, but have not seen frost in the last eight years in zone 10. So, good for you. Yeah, that that’s why we talk about the different climates and the weather patterns we have because uh particularly so Florida having exposure to uh the water on both the west coast and the east coast and you see this in the UK as well where you’ve got the the Atlantic current running up and warming the waters to the west of the UK in particular and then you’ve got the water to the east of UK. That’s why some of these areas of the world have more moderate temperatures and they don’t have the extreme cold that some of us who live in the mountains might have. But it doesn’t mean that you aren’t susceptible to the frost. And so let’s talk a little bit about latitude because the latitude is is important. This is one reason why Florida doesn’t see frost is because they’re much closer to the equator than Scotland. Eli was telling me how it’s getting dark and we’ve all seen that with the seasonal change, but but they are hundreds and hundreds of miles north of where I am when you look at the latitude. And so the the decreasing daytime influences our frost dates because the nights are longer and the cool nights that are lasting longer and the warm days that aren’t lasting as long, that’s going to influence the temperatures within our garden. Particularly when we start talking about those microclimates and their impact on the the the plants that we’re growing. Sam says around October 18th for a definite frost date in 6B Ohio. Uh Big Will is is asking, “I’ve recently built a decent compost bin and I’m considering composting over winter. Do you just compost in place or do you also compost in some way?” And so, uh, when we when we start looking at our gardening activities and we talk about the the freezing, I’m I compost. I have a compost bin, but I for the most part practice lazy composting. I have a video about lazy composting. And so over the winter, I don’t do anything with my compost. I just let it go and the pile freezes and then warms up again in spring. I worked with a guy, I reference him occasionally when I was in the Air Force, who was just passionate about compost. He was fanatical. And here in Colorado at high elevation with our cold winters, he would still maintain a hot compost pile in winter and actually used snow to his advantage because the snow would melt and help help um add moisture to the compost pile. But he was monitoring the temperature daily, turning it, keeping the conditions perfect. I’m just not worth or it’s not worth it to me to to take that much effort. So, I kind of just let it go and don’t do much with compost in the winter. The the vermma composting that I’ve made some videos about the worm method of composting. Uh that’s that’s really the only thing I’ve ever done in the winter is just feed my food scraps to the worms and get the worm castings as a amendment for my potting mixes in particular. But the actual compost pile um I don’t do much with it just because I’m not willing to take that extra effort to keep it going. But you definitely can. uh and and a lot of people do and if you you know we talk about the the zones in this case if you are in a zone seven or eight or above the temperatures those cold coldest average temperatures are not that bad and you can probably manage a compost pile with with labor but not as much as I need when I’m confronting those extremely frigid days of winter. So, I just let it go. I just I just figure I’ll get back to it in the springtime. 54 cow says in northwest Pennsylvania, the the first frost date is October 8th and the last is May 12th. So, you can see closer to what I experience, but in Pennsylvania, it’s about a two week longer growing season for planning purposes than what I have here in in my Colorado uh garden. Gina says, “The San Francisco Bay first frost is officially Christmas, but we haven’t had a frost in about 12 years.” And San Francisco, the Bay Area of California, is a perfect example of the water effect. The the water rolling in off the Pacific Ocean. You have fog. You have cold fog, but you just don’t have those frosty conditions. And that cold fog can feel pretty darn cold, but it’s not technically cold enough for frost. So the California coast all the way up to much of the Oregon coast doesn’t have the frost that just a few miles inland might experience. And it’s it’s because of the the microclimate that is is created by the the water and the humidity that is rolling inland. So, uh yeah, I’ve I’ve been in San Francisco at that time of year. Uh, I lived in Reno, Nevada for much of my life and uh, we were always cold and frigid and then we’d go to California to to visit relatives around Christmas time and it would be nice and warm and frostfree. So, uh, it’s it’s it’s good to know those differences. Minds Eye Production, thanks for the video, Scott. You’re very welcome. Question zone 3A, what dates would be good to plant garlic? So, I’ve I’ve got a bunch of garlic videos and I encourage that you look at my my video that is is a complete guide to garlic because I I spend the most time talking about it. But basically, uh it’s it’s again not the the zone that you’re in that determines when you’re going to plant different things in your garden. More importantly, look at the frost dates. And so for many of us as a a guideline, the week after our first frost in fall is the time to start thinking about putting your garlic in the ground. So I talk about the first week of October is when I put my garlic in the ground because I expect that I’ll have my first frost on October 2nd. Now, this year, it’s not playing out that way. So, I’m still waiting. I was thinking originally to putting my garlic in the ground this week or early next week, but it’s still too warm. It’s not cold enough yet for me to put garlic in the ground. So, I I typically wait until I have that first frost and then a week after that is when I generally put my garlic in the ground. And that holds true for most of us. wait until that first frost and put the garlic in the ground. But particularly in zone three, I’m guessing that you’re in in Canada or Alaska, someplace it gets really really cold really really fast. And so that is a determination. You want to try to have your garlic in the ground four to six weeks before your ground freezes. And so you put the cloves in the ground and you really want them to wake up a little bit, start sending out some roots, and then the cold hits, the ground freezes, then they go dormant. Okay? If you put them in the ground too late and they haven’t started that cycle where they’re they’re they’re starting to send out some roots, they’re probably going to rot. They’re they’re not a plant yet. It’s just a clove that’s buried in the soil. And when spring hits and the soil is all soggy, you’re probably going to have it melt. So that’s why you want to get the cloves in the ground far enough in advance before the ground freezes that those cloves can can become a little bit established. You don’t want to do it too early because then the clove actually sprouts and it uses a good amount of energy from the garlic clove to send up that little green sprout and break the soil surface. So if you do it too early and that sprout develops and then the cold comes which kills the foliage. It doesn’t necessarily kill the clove but it kills the foliage. Now, in spring, the clove has to send more energy to send up that green chute to get the plant growing. And like seeds in general, the clove has a finite amount of energy. And if it’s already expended some of that energy too early for a failed attempt at growing, now in the spring, it’s operating at at less energy and the plant might not do as well. So finding that sweet spot that is near or after that first frost date so that the conditions are cool enough that the soil temperature is suitable to support the root development of the garlic clove but not so warm that it’s going to send up the plant. That’s one of those things that we all need to figure out our own dates individually. And so that’s why I say generally use the first frost date as an idea of when you’re going to to plant your cloves and then measure your soil temperature. Find out when your soil actually freezes. For me, that tends to come about in December. Remember I told you the coldest days of the year often hit that third week of December. So, I can expect my soil to be frozen to reach that 32 Fahrenheit zero Celsius the beginning of December. And so, I’ll say December 1st, my ground is going to be frozen. So when I back that up through November into October, that’s why the first week of October, I’m looking at what the conditions are like, whether I should be putting the clothes in the ground. And this year, it’s going to end up being the second week of October that I put my cloves in the ground, which is 6 weeks before I can expect my ground to be frozen in December. So, those are guidelines and and try it and keep track of it. Find out what your soil temperatures are, how well your garlic does next year, and and keep track of the the trends that you might see. So, what I’ve noticed in recent years is because I’m putting my garlic in the ground in October anticipating that that December freeze is going to happen. The last couple years, actually, we haven’t had those freezing conditions. And so the temperatures were still warm enough going into December that I think my garlic may have used more energy than I expected because I haven’t had as good success in these last two years in particular with my garlic in spring. it just not all of the clothes are popping up. And I think maybe as I think about it talking with you, I might want to wait a little bit longer than I have in the past to put my clothes in this year rather than chomping at the bit being anxious to put them in the ground because it’s still just too warm and it’s staying warm longer. So, um, keep track of your own garden. And so when I when I give this this advice, these suggestions, generalizations, it is to just give you a baseline to to start the planning and the experimenting and the planting. But it really is going to be unique for all of us as to what actually works best in our particular garden. And we’ll just have to wait and see what it is. And speaking of wet and cold, Eli and Kate are on today. Nice to see you here. It’s been a while since you’ve been on. So, uh, I don’t know how Wendy checked in, but I was telling everybody about my correspondence with Eli this morning and the cold conditions. So, good to see you here. Always nice to have any everybody that returns on a regular basis. Whether that regular basis is once a month, once a year, doesn’t matter. We’re all friends here, right? Dusty Flat says, “Yes, totally agree. Had too much growth three years ago when the heat started going into fall. Takes too much energy out of the garlic.” Yeah, definitely a consideration. Dennis is asking, “What is the free what is this freezing ground of which you speak? That never happens here. I have to put my garlic clothes in the refrigerator to verilize them.” Yep, there you go. And that’s why we we all have to track our own individual temperatures and know what works for us. If you’re in, you know, that that zone 10 location and you’re not getting these frosts that we’re talking about and you want to grow garlic, grow a cinjun variety that doesn’t need the that severe cold and then put the clothes into the refrigerator because there there’s a lot of plants and I’ll be talking about this when the weather actually gets cold for many of us that plants require some of these differences in temperature and garlic is one of those. Uh, fruit trees require a certain amount of cold hours before they will set fruit the following year. Perfect example of that is an apple tree, which is why apples aren’t being grown in Florida is because it just doesn’t get cold enough. They don’t have the the chill hours. And the garlic cloves need those freezing conditions to to flip the little switch that’s inside the the clove far hidden into the genes and develop into a bulb. So you can plant garlic cloves at any time of year, but if you want a garlic bulb to develop, then that clove needs to be exposed to those freezing conditions. And that’s why we grow or we plant our garlic in the fall so that those cloves can be exposed to those freezing conditions. But if you don’t have cold, you got to throw it in the refrigerator and fool it into thinking that it was exposed to a cold winter. And and you know, we do a lot of of fooling our plants, making them think that they’re growing in a place that they don’t normally grow. be it the soil or the protection or fertilizers or whatever we’re doing to the plants. Uh we we often fool our garden so that we get the the best production as that we can. Patina says, “We plant our garlic in the first week of November. Soil usually doesn’t freeze until mid December here in 5B6A Eastern Ontario, Canada.” And so, uh, yeah, you can see that’s why I say, you know, the basic guidance. So, when you look at at Patina, their their soil is freezing in mid December. You back that up six weeks and it makes perfect sense to be planting your garlic in the first week of November. And it works. It It does work unless the weather isn’t cooperating and throws something unexpected into things. But uh for the most part, you can you can expect that it’s going to work. Now, when we when I say that I I track my my conditions, I track my temperature, it’s mainly to see the trend. So, if you if you click that link and see the chart and put in your zip code and see what your frost dates are, you can actually graph it out. Now, I’ve I’ve never grafted, but I know some people who have grafted the the expected date versus the actual date. And so, I keep track of those actual dates. And I was just talking about this with with some gardener friends recently uh a few years ago. I think it’s four years ago now, we actually had our first frost uh and it and the as it actually turned into a hard freeze suddenly. So we we we didn’t hit the frost date where it just nuzzles freezing temperature. No, we went straight to a hard freeze. And so about four years ago, the first time we went anywhere close to freezing, it was 28 Fahrenheit minus 2 Celsius. Just damn overnight. Killed everything. The trees hadn’t even begun changing colors yet. and and September 15th, suddenly the season is over. That was a weird year. And so, that’s why I say it’s interesting to track what happens in your own individual garden because in in my garden, the leaves on the trees around me are just beginning to change because we haven’t had the cold temperatures to to start that color change. And so as we hit the end of September, some of the trees are just beginning to think about changing color. Well, last or those years ago in the middle of September, none of the trees were even beginning to change at all. And we had a hard freeze like that. We went through the winter with brown trees. Normally, like many of you, the trees will the deciduous trees will change color. They’ll drop their leaves and then the hard freezes come. But no, it was so cold so fast that it killed all the leaves on the trees. So, they never changed color and they never fell off. We just went through the whole winter with the leaves still on the trees, but brown and dead. And that that was kind of eerie. I hadn’t seen that before. So, I’m tracking to see if that happens again. Hasn’t happened since. Didn’t happen for a long time before. Then it was just a weird Canadian Arctic front that rolled down and just froze everything. Instead, I’m seeing the opposite that instead of some of those frosts that would hit towards the end of September, they’re starting to move more into the middle and the end of October. Last year, we didn’t get our first snowfall until the very end of October, beginning of November, which is a little unusual for me here in my part of Colorado. We typically see a few snowflakes in the middle of October, but it’s changing. So, if you track that within your own garden, you might be able to see some of these trends. And it it’s dangerous. I’m warning you that when you start plotting out some of these trends and you see, wow, my season is is extending on the front side and the backside by a week. So, I’m getting two extra weeks of the gardening season. Maybe I’ll start growing something that needs a longer season. you choose a tomato variety like that’s a 110 day big beef steak tomato because now your garden is long enough to support that. Just be aware that it could be like I did a couple years ago when I experimented a little bit started pushing the limits that you get that hard freeze and ends up killing everything in your garden. So that’s the warning. Just be aware that weather is fickle and it changes from year to year. You can get an idea of what it’s going to be based on the trends that you’ve measured within your garden, but always be ready for the historical averages to raise their ugly heads and kind of make you a little more humble within your own garden as to what is really going to happen. Serena says, “I finally put down my ground cover last night.” Uh, or night before last. Um, and so that’s how we can keep our plants going as we that first frost is approaching. Go ahead and start thinking about covering your plants. Keep your soil warm. The soil temperature matters when we talk about the plants. And so don’t just look at the nighttime temperatures, those low temperatures. Start thinking about soil temperature and track and measure those and see the correlation that starts developing with the daytime highs and the nighttime lows and keep the heat around your plants, cover them, and chances are you might be able to to get some some extra days. And that’s all I need most years. All I need just a couple extra days usually with my peppers to change the color I want. So Jay Dixon is posting a a link for Shaunie Grows and shout out to Shaunie Groves hit a thousand subscribers on YouTube and I know many of you were instrumental in helping to to make that happen. So uh shout out to Shaunie Groves and thank you to all of you. the the video. I’m planning for it to come out on Thursday, but I I’ll be talking about the subject uh the to to help the the YouTubers, the real people, those of us that are making videos to help you, because it’s becoming more and more difficult for small channels to be found and to grow and to get those subscribers and those followers. So, we’ll be talking about that in the video, but Sean is a good example of putting out some videos, getting lots of support, and and crossing that threshold. It’s it’s it’s just a number, but on YouTube, a thousand subscribers is kind of a big deal. And so, congratulations to everyone when they get to that point and and hit that thousand subscriber mark. And then, of course, you get sucked in. Once you hit a thousand subscribers, you just want to hit 10,000. and then you want to hit 100 thousand and then like me you’ve been making videos for many many years because it just becomes part of who you are. So, uh that’s important. I see some of the the discussion about me and my background. So, yes, I was in the Air Force and that’s what I was talking about my buddy in the Air Force locally that that uh was into the compost. So, I had a full career in Air Force and retired. I’ve actually been retired longer than I was in the Air Force, which is kind of a scary thought because it just shows all of us that I’m getting older. Like every everyone we’re getting older, but I I spent a couple decades in the Air Force and that’s been a couple decades ago since uh I I was doing all that activity. So, you know, and that’s one of those things when we when we have these gardening stories that remember that we remember. And so, if I were to put a date on it, I I still vividly remember Kurt, uh, the that that the great compost maker. And this was before I was a big-time gardener, long before I was a master gardener. And I didn’t understand what he was doing. I understand it now, but I can remember him talking about it. And I can remember just how passionate he was coming in to work early in the morning and he’d already been turning his compost pile that morning. Well, that was um wow 27 years ago that that he was doing that. It was 26 years ago. 26 years ago is when that memory was created for me and I wasn’t and I’m the gardener at the time. But that’s that’s how important some of these these gardening things when they stick in our brain, they stick with us. And I’ I’ve been interested in compost ever since because of one guy talking to a non-guarder because I was a non-guarder at that time about compost. So when I when I advocate that you all get out and talk to other gardeners and when I advocate smaller channels in particular giving them the support, it often comes back to that one memory that a gardener can share with a non-guarder or a less experienced gardener. and it might stick with them for their entire gardening life just because of something you say about how you garden or what you’re doing. It can have a huge influence on someone else in the future. And you never know what that influence might be, but it could be there. So, just just be aware. That’s why I like talking gardening with with gardeners of all experience levels because you never know what’s going to to resonate with you in your own mind and in your own garden. And I think that’s that’s pretty cool. That’s what one of the things that makes we gardeners special people is because um you can do it. Uh, so Jane is asking, “Did anyone else see Scott in his Bob Ross costume persona for Epic Gardening’s preh Halloween video?” Very calming. Thank you. I didn’t realize it was out yet. It probably just came out today. Um, I I don’t think it came out yesterday, so I’ll have to take a look at it. So, yeah, last last month I was in the Epic Gardening what to plant this month video, and I’m also in their their video this month. And because this is the going into October, the the season of Halloween, uh the video was done with a Halloween persona. So, I’m glad you saw it. Uh I had a lot of fun making that. So, I’ll have to pull up that video when we’re done here and take a look to to see how it all turned out. But, uh there you go. You’ll probably see something in that epic gardening video that will stick with you for a while and it could be my Halloween costume this year that is now out for the whole world to see. So, thanks for that. Bow tie live says, “Thank you so much for the shout out on my watch hours.” Gardener Scott and Jay Dixon. We are so close to full monetization as well. Many in here have been helping reach our goal. Thank you, my heroes. And so, yeah, you know, we talked about Dave quite a bit. Has it been about a year ago? I think time gets away from us. But, uh, you know, we were we were given a shout out to Bow Tie Life. Um, quite a bit, you know, months ago. Jay is is so fantastic at this, highlighting those of you that are regular viewers that have channels that we can support as you start reaching these thresholds. And so, it’s it’s important. And and the reason I like to support the channels in particular, subscribers are just one aspect of of this life on YouTube. And one of the the aspirations for many creators like Dave Bowie Life is alluding to is to be monetized. You all see the ads that pop up in the YouTube videos. Those ads make a lot of money for YouTube. YouTube give back a portion of that money, less than you would think, to creators who have hit that first threshold. So, it’s not just a thousand subscribers. You also need to have 4,000 hours of watch time. And so the the thousand subscribers is is important. It’s a big deal because it’s part of that monetization process. But it’s really when I say support the smaller channels, I’m talking about watching the videos. Because the videos of all of these smaller channels, it needs to be a total of 4,000 hours before they make a penny on the ads that are being shown by YouTube. And none of us, at least in the gardening world here, are are making a fortune with these gardening videos. We all do it because we like doing it. you know, talk to to Eli and Kate and Tony O’Neal. We’re doing it because we just want to put out good information for gardeners around the world. None of us are getting rich on the YouTube revenue, but the little bit that comes in is enough to pay for seeds and pay for tools and pay for projects depending on how many videos you have and how many hours they’re being watched. And the more you have, of course, the more you make, but you got to hit that first threshold first. And so, you got a channel you like, a little channel, watch their videos. Don’t just click on thinking that the click is important. It’s really the watch time. You got to watch the whole thing. So go to Bow Tie Life in the Garden, check out Dave. They’ve got some great videos. Mrs. Bow tie and watch the whole thing. That’s really what makes the difference when we talk about supporting the other channels we have there. You know, I I try to make my videos so that you want to watch the whole thing. and hopefully you do. But that’s really the best way to support a channel is to watch the whole video or as much of it as you can so that you can get the information that that’s way more than more important than subscribing. I have no surprise to you millions and millions and millions of views on my videos. I have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. I know many of you are not subscribers to my channel. I’m okay with that. The sub subscriber count really isn’t that important. What’s important is that you’re watching the movie or the videos and watching as much of the video as you can. That’s the best way to support your channel. So do that with the the Chandi grows or or the um bow tie life. Um and uh Chandy’s Garden is another example to check out. I’m just doing a quick scroll scroll through to see if there’s any others that pop up. Of of course Eli and Kate. Eli and Kate are are among my favorite people on the planet and I just love their videos. Uh, again, it’s just putting good information out to people and and it makes a difference when you find that channel that you like and you can support. And Shaunie Groves is just at that point of starting to to see some of the results of all of those videos and all of that effort. South Florida Sunshine says, “Yes, I was excited. My first check was coming and it did not arrive. realized I left the tax info on hold because I was going to open an LLC. Would love a live geared towards creators. So, I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve had a few other people suggest that. So, I’m glad you said that. So, yeah, this this winter when I start looking for subjects that uh for the the live stream that are still gardening related, but there isn’t a lot of garden activity going on. for me in particular to be talking about. Uh that is one of those things I want to talk about going in. I know a lot of you don’t have channels, you’re not interested in a channel, but knowing the background, you know, what those of us who are creating videos have to go through, what we think about, how we approach it, the monetization. I think that is interesting even for people who aren’t making their own videos. So, I am planning in the winter. I don’t know when yet. We’ll see. um to talk about that. So um keep watching and one of these Mondays we will talk about uh creating videos and and I think it goes beyond the monetization. I’ve I’ve talked occasionally about just the idea when I earlier was saying, you know, document, track, figure out the trends. I use YouTube for that quite honestly. Now, I’m making videos about my garden, what’s happening in my garden with a lesson to help you out. But there are so many times that the angle that I use when I’m shooting my videos, it’s because I want to see something in the background. So, I’m using my own videos as kind of a video tool to monitor what’s happening in my garden and to track what is happening in my garden. I think that’s a great way for all of you if you are, you know, I talk about garden journals and I talk about, you know, temperatures and all these other things that are happening in the garden. Well, rather than pull out the spreadsheet or the book to write in, just go out and make a video, a short video for yourself, and post it on YouTube, and it’s going to be there forever. YouTube is a great way to create a library of what’s happening with you in your garden. And don’t do it expecting that you’re going to get people around the world watching. just do it for yourself. I’ve talked to to some people about this topic uh over the years and they’re afraid to do that because they’re afraid that people all over the world are going to watch and see them in their garden. Don’t be afraid of that. Don’t be afraid of that at all. Do it for yourself. And if other people happen to see it, yeah, so be it. But as big as I am, as many videos as I have, with the thousands upon thousands of comments that I have, I don’t see trolls. I don’t see people being mean. Very occasionally, I can probably I’m thinking really hard here. In the last nine months of this year, one maybe two comments I didn’t think were suitable and I deleted them. That’s it. And I get a lot of comments. So, this gardening community around the world is usually pretty supportive. And so if you start documenting what’s happening in your garden and I would love next week if if any of you all of you come back and in the comments say I posted a video about my first frostate. I’d love to see that. And I I would hazard to guess that if you post in the the comments that you have posted a video about your first frost date or your last frost date as appropriate and it’s the beginning of you tracking what’s happening in your garden. I’ll take a look at it. I know others will too. So think about that as just one of those ways we can share information back and forth because what happens when you have people watch your videos if you are amenable to it you’ll get recommendations you’ll get advice I give the information but there are so many channels that I will watch a video on and I’ll read the comments and the comments are from people saying yes I agree with what you’re doing. Or maybe you should try this other thing and you might have better results. Or I did that same thing, but I changed it and found that this worked and this other thing didn’t work. It’s like what we’re doing in the comments right now. We’re talking back and forth. You can actually create some of that dialogue by just posting a video and then telling us about it. You never know. It it it could actually have some fun. and South Florida says it’s gotten better with the trolls. Yeah, I I I think the gardening community if if there were trolls that were coming trying to to mess with our heads and make us mad, realized we’re not those kind of people and we’re not going to engage in conflict online. and so they’ve left to move on to some other genre that is more reactive. And so, yeah, I’ve I’ve seen that across the board as well that it’s gotten better. The the trolls just aren’t out there. So, if you’ve been wanting to make some videos for your own channel to document what’s going on in your garden, go for it. Go for it. and we’ll be here to to help out because uh it it it’s just it it’s kind of fun to get some of the support from other people when you can and that way you might be able to share it. Dennis says, “Even though I don’t have a desire to be a creator, I would be here for a live stream on the background of being a creator.” So good. Thank you. I appreciate that. That helps validate the concept. You know, I’m in that that precarious position because I have so many people that watch my videos and I have so many supporters and we all have our different reasons for liking a particular channel. So, my my general approach is to try to approach gardening from all perspectives, for all gardeners. And I know because I can see it in the analytics. Some of my videos resonate with almost everybody and some of my videos resonate with almost nobody. And I just accept that because I just want to get the information out there for the the people that are interested in it. When I started this channel, seriously started this channel about 12 years ago now, all I wanted to do was help a single gardener. I figured if I made a video and one gardener learned something, then it was worthwhile. And I still do that. I still make videos that I know are not going to get thousands and thousands of views, but I know there are those single gardeners out there that are looking for that kind of information. I’ve got the video that’s coming out. I haven’t figured out exactly when it’s going to come out. I think it’s going to come out on Saturday because my Thursday video is the one where I’ll be talking about some of the issues I I’m seeing on YouTube. Uh it’s about cactus. More specifically, it’s about prickly pear cactus. And more specifically, it’s about making jelly from prickly pears. Now, first off, how many of you have cactus in your garden? How many of you have the prickly pear cactus? And how many of you are interested in making jelly with the prickly pears from your cactus? I’m guessing I enter in the comments if you are actually one of those people that is interested in doing that. U but I know this video isn’t going to go viral. I know this video is not going to get thousands and thousands of views, but it’s what I’m doing in my garden right now. So, I’m going to make a video about it for anyone that is interested in that information. That’s the way I approach YouTube. And that’s the way I recommend most people approach YouTube. Just show what you’re doing. And if it helps one person, then your video has made a difference in the gardening world and that’s important. So, Eli and Kate says, “I don’t even know what a prickly pear is.” So, there you go. another reason why I’m making the video because a lot of people don’t know what a prickly pear is. So that’s that’s funny. So just as a little teaser to give you more information about it, a a specific type of cactus is a cactus that flowers. And like most flowering plants that then develops into a fruit. And so the prickly pear is the fruit on this type of cactus. Like most fruits, they can be eaten, juiced, made into jam and jelly. So, that’s what I’ve done is over the years I’ I’ve um I’ve had it on my list of videos to make and I’ll probably make it this next year now that I’ll have this jelly video, but I’ve been propagating cactus as a garden plant. And so, when you see that video now, you’ll know a little bit of background behind it. But when I moved to this house, there was some cactus, like just a handful of plants scattered around. So, I dug them up and made a long row against my back fence. And then I started propagating them and growing more plants. And so, I haven’t counted, but I don’t know, I probably have 20, maybe more cactus plants along that fence. And this year had a great crop. nine and a half pounds of prickly pears. They’re called prickly pears because they have little prickles. They they’ll actually stick your fingers. I talk about that in the jelly video. Um, but they’re delicious. They’re sweet. They’re floral. They’re fruity. They make amazing jelly. That’s the video I want to make. Point being, I don’t know how many of you are interested or will watch that video, but it doesn’t matter. It’s because I’m tracking what I’m doing in my garden. And I do this with my my pumpkin pie video. I I do it with uh with some of my uh pickle videos. I do this with I’ll put the the recipe in the description. Well, it’s easy for me when I want to make that again to pull up my own video, pull up my own recipe and make it again without having to pull out, you know, my recipe book and figure out what I need to do. This is going to be the same thing. I’m going to put the recipe for my prickly pear jelly. It’s really easy. I’ll probably be able to have it in my mind without looking for it. But next year or the year after, the year after when I make my prickly pear jelly, the recipe is on YouTube because I put it there for myself to use. Think about that as an option as you are trying to figure out the best way to to document your garden particularly during the course of the year. So, when I talk about making the trends, and so I’ve been doing this for a couple years now on Instagram, I take pictures at the solstice and I take pictures at the equinox just because it’s a cool date, but I can now go back and look at those pictures and I always have my garden in the picture at sunrise on those dates. It’s a way for me to document what’s happening in my garden on those dates. You could do that with YouTube. If there are important dates on your gardening calendar, just make a video, a minute video. You’re talking to yourself and you put it on YouTube and now it’s there for you to reference at any point in the future. Bow tie life is saying the pads of prickly pears is what uh makes up no palitos. No palace is a real good Mexican dish when done correctly. something to look for for future development. You know, as I was looking up different recipes for the prickly pear jelly, I was coming across some recipes for the pads. I haven’t ever done anything with the pads. So, um, thank you for that suggestion. I I actually will look into that because, uh, cactus, the cacti, they’re plants and they’re edible. So, yeah, you can eat the pads, you can eat the the the fruit. Um, but I haven’t done anything with the pads. Good suggestion. I will I will definitely have to take a look at that. Gardens happen says I’ve got a couple of prickly pears growing. Cool. And so, you know, the the cool thing about it when when you talk about fruiting a plant. So, my fruit trees uh started most of them started producing last year. Uh, some of them started producing this year. It takes a while for fruing plants to fruit like that and and the cacti are no difference. So this year had a great harvest of the prickly pears, but this was really the first year because it’s been about three years, four years in some cases, uh, since I put the the little pads to propagate in the ground. So, it took about 3 years for most of those plants to really start fruiting. Just like a fruit tree that you’re going to put in the ground, you can expect going to take at least three years before you get fruit. So, uh cactus is is no different. So, consider that. Think about putting cactus in your garden if it’s suitable for your climate. And the nice thing about the prickly pear cactus is they are among the cold heartiest. So, I can grow them in Colorado. They’re they’re native to this part of of the country. They survive the winter. No issues whatsoever. You think of cactus as a desert hot climate plant, but just like any part of your garden, I was talking earlier about choosing uh the different varieties of of fruit trees and bushes that will survive the winter. Cactus falls into that category as well. Finding a variety that is suitable for your climate holds across all plants that you might want to choose to put into your garden. Robin Garden says, “OMG, had to go back to my videos to figure out what was seed saved in my white sheet and what was saved in my pattern sheet because mazuna and arugula look exactly alike.” There you go. Perfect example. And Robin’s got some great videos as well that you should check out. And and I do the same thing. I I particularly in those years when the plant tags get pulled out by the the dogs or the weather. I’ve had to do that, too. Go back to a bed to to see the video where I’m putting something in the ground to remember what it was I was putting in the ground or to check out your your sheets that uh that tell the difference between the plants. So, that’s good good to see. good example of how it it really does work. You know, those of us that are making videos for other people, we’re also making them for ourselves. So, you can do it the other way around. Make it for yourself and you might end up making it for other people. Annie Joe’s Plants says, “I live in the desert for 33 years. Not big on growing cacti because they bite, but I will watch your video on making jelly.” Cool. You never know when I might. Besides, I love learning new things. Um, it’s easier than you think. Uh, and so I I kind of avoided the cacti because yeah, they’ll stick you and they do hurt. I talk about that in the video, how I avoid that and keep my hands safe. But I did get poked a few times while I was making the video. I’ll be honest, but I didn’t get poked as much as you would think that you would get poked if you did it. just a couple times, you know, just more a little uncomfortable than uh and and really, you know, this is I don’t talk about it in the video, but I use leather gloves because I’m dealing with cactus that has um the thorns that hurt if they poke you. And I’ve been using those leather gloves all around my garden. Well, on the the pointer finger on my left hand, because of the other activities I’ve been doing with wood and with bricks and and tools, I had worn a small hole in that finger. I mean, so small I hadn’t even noticed it with all the other activities I was doing. And so as I was working with the cactus and as I was harvesting and as I was collecting the fruit, that’s where I got poked was in the one spot there was a hole. And you know that’s inevitable. If if something’s going to fail, it’s going to fail at the worst point. And it was when I was working with cactus that I discovered I had a hole in my glove. So that’ll get your attention. It’s one of It’s one of those things you know immediately that you have a cactus thorn in your finger and that you have to to pull it out. So, Pepper Gardener says, “I lost some labels on some of my super hots this year. Not fun.” You know, that’s again another good reason why you should take videos of your super hots so you know which is which because uh I did that uh unintentionally at the Galileo garden um years ago growing some super hot peppers and I and they faded into so I had a bed with peppers. On one end it was super hot, on the other end it was sweet peppers and they just were lined up next to each other and had a a lemon pepper that I thought was a sweet pepper and tasted it and it ended up being one of those hot peppers. So keeping track with labels or with video is a big deal. It makes a difference. That was not fun because it uh it’s it’s too much of a surprise when you find that you can’t breathe because you’ve eaten a pepper that’s too hot. So, always fun. Backyard gardener says, “I’ve gone back and looked in some of my videos to refresh my garden log because sometimes you forget to add things into the log and then you have a perfect reference videos on YouTube.” Absolutely. Yet another channel to go check out some videos. backyard gardener and it’s it that’s a good point. I I’ve done the same thing. It’s one of you know you log what what you think is important on that day and then it might be months later that you realize you forgot to log something that now months later is something important. So, uh yeah, good point. Use your own videos to keep track of your own log and it it can make a a big difference as to what the results might be in particular the the importance of it all. Sam is saying, “Started a little filming last year but had to move. Wish I would have documented moving a garden for YouTube.” Yeah, you know, I it’s ironic. you you would think I would have learned the lesson sooner, but the same thing happened to me, particularly with the Galileo garden. I I had started my YouTube channel. I was just starting to make more and more videos and then I was hired to build this 24,000 square foot garden from scratch with no beds. And it was so much work and so much effort and I did so much research that I just stopped making videos on YouTube. I I didn’t prioritize YouTube with what I needed to do to get that garden built. And oh, I missed out on incredible opportunities to document exactly what you’re talking about. And and so I I have I learned a little bit. I did in creating this garden show every single step. And mainly it’s because at the Galileo garden I didn’t I I missed out on the opportunity of documenting what you do to build a garden from scratch. And I I you know it it probably is surprising to you with all the videos I’ve made that I would be there immersed in a gardens and not make videos about it. So I didn’t start making videos at the Gallo Garden until the end of my time at the Gallo Garden. So, there’s still some some of my older videos are are up in my library that show the Galileo garden, but there could have been hundreds more. And that’s why I’m encouraging you to think about it because you don’t realize what you should have done until often it’s too late. And oh, I so wish that I would have would have done some of that. I am glad that I did what I did so that it wasn’t lost completely, but get out there and try to do it. Texas Organic TV says, “I’m documenting my balcony garden now if you are watching.” Cool. There you go. That’s that kind of what happens. Big Will says, “I’m more than fine with making videos for free. I get to focus on what makes me happy and content. I feel can benefit others. Happiness is in the work yet again.” And yeah, check out Big Bulldog um for the same thing. You know, it’s my videos. You know, I spend time with the different um approaches I take, the angles, the editing, the subject matter. The the reason I do that is so that they’re seen because YouTube sends them out. If you don’t have those those worries, you can put all the time you want into editing or do nothing with editing. You can make that focus to try to make money or not worry about it and just make the videos that are are happy for you. And generally, if you think it’s beneficial for you, then yeah, it can benefit others. Happiness is in the work. Completely agree with you. And that’s I’ve been saying that for years. You know, you got to enjoy it. That’s really a big reason I’ve got uh because I was so busy in the garden because I did it again this year. I got so busy on so many of my projects that I cut way back on the videos because they just take too much time and they were interfering with the projects I wanted to finish this year. But now, as we’re moving to the end of the season, I’m back. I’ve got I’ve got one video that I’ll be finishing today. I’ve got another video that I’m shooting tomorrow. I’ve got another video that I’m planning to film on Saturday. I’ve got another video that I’m planning to do next Tuesday. And it’s just, you know, it it’s like a drug. I I was off of it. I’d kind of forgotten how enjoyable it was because I was just working and focused on my projects and should have been doing more filming of those projects. Now that I’m making videos again, I just love it. I enjoy it. I really do enjoy it and I enjoy making these videos for myself. My last two videos not seen by a lot of people. But my video on making daily dlies, that’s one of the best videos I’ve made for myself in a long time. I really like my video on how to divide dlies. I like how I did it and that’s all that matters. Really, ultimately, you got to like what you’re doing if you’re going to be doing this video thing on YouTube. So, start doing that kind of stuff and you’ll you’ll have some fun with it. So Serena says,”I think a week from Saturday I’ll be on Urban Gardener.” And yeah, I’m on Urban Gardener the live stream the second Sunday of the month. I missed this month because of a prior obligation. Um but yeah, I’ll be back. You can expect uh the first Sunday is coming up. So a week from this Sunday, you are right, Serena. I will be on the urban gardener live stream with Eno Graham and we’ll be talking gardening stuff. Probably a lot of the same things we’re talking about today, but we’ll definitely be doing that. John is saying, “Guart Scott, could you do a video of your garden club garden tours as it would be interesting to see some other local gardens to you?” Um, yeah, I’ll do that. Um, Sean isn’t on today. I haven’t seen Shawn. Sean is the the president of our club and he’s usually here on Mondays. But yeah, I’ll talk about that with Sean. Um, we’re not planning any garden tours again until next year. But that’s a great idea. I’ll I’ll check with my my fellow gardeners next year when we do some garden tours and coordinate it all with Sean. And thank you for suggesting that. I I hadn’t really thought about that. I’ve got a couple pictures in my book uh when I talk about I talk about garden clubs in my book and I have a couple pictures in the book of a garden club, but I haven’t made any videos about my own garden club. That’s a good suggestion. I I will add that to my list. Big Wheel Dog says, “Yes, my least viewed videos are some of my proudest ones. I always know what I put into them and what I learned.” Yeah, absolutely. You know what? One of my favorite favorite videos, I talked about it a little while ago, was my pumpkin pie video. I grew my own sugar pumpkins. I I and I show this in the video, harvesting the sugar pumpkins, preparing the pulp, making the pumpkin pie. It’s a delicious pumpkin pie. And I think that video is my least watched video. And that’s one of the ones I’m the proudest of just because of everything I put into it. And and I still go back, like I said, and and and check on that recipe. So, I’ve got a whole bunch of videos like that that I loved making the video. I love everything about the video, and they’re the least watched ones. You You don’t get into YouTube. Well, some people go into YouTube hoping every video is is watched by millions of people, but that isn’t the reality of it. You got to do it for yourself. And and you’re right, often it’s what you put into it and what you learn from making the video, especially if you’re documenting your own garden. what you end up learning about how you are documenting what you’re filming and what you’re saying to yourself in your video that when you watch it again later can really be eye opening and memorable for yourself. So keep that in mind uh as you start doing some of those kind of things. So Carla says I oh I’m growing sugar pumpkins I have to go back and look for that vid gardener Scott. So yeah, do it. Every step is involved. The secret is the nutmeg. I said that a couple weeks ago, I think. Secret is the nutmeg. So, uh, yeah, check out if you if you’re making pumpkin pie from scratch. Um, you can check out my video and I show you every step of the process to make it from scratch. And you might not be aware and and this this is one reason why I like that video so much. When we go to the store and buy pumpkin, that’s really not pumpkin. That that’s that’s a squash. Pumpkin is a type of squash. But the pumpkin that that is sold in the cans to make pumpkin pie, it’s a type of squash that does really well on an industrial level so that they can harvest and pulp it and sell it to you to make pumpkin pies. If you grow a sugar pumpkin or if you can find a sugar pumpkin at the store and make a pie from that, it’ll blow your mind. It’s completely different. It’s a new flavor and it really goes to show what pumpkin should taste like. And the color is different, too. And everything about it is different. So, if even if you don’t watch my video, get some sugar pumpkins and make some some pumpkin pie and you will be sold. It is definitely something that that you’ll start growing in your own garden moving into the future. So, I’ll give a shout out to Janet, an Air Force veteran here, too. Mostly Rammstein Air Force Base in Germany. Many backyard gardens are great, especially that tomato on there. kind of blurry on my screen, but um good for you. Congrat congratulations to to you and all the others who are vets as well. And I want to give a shout out to Lewis Turk who uh is a member of the Gardener Scott community. Thanks for joining. And Pat, good to see you back. I don’t know what YouTube does sometimes to to drop people off, but it’s always nice to see people joining and rejoining on the Gardener Scott community. And thank you for being here. And thank you to all of you who are here as well on this Monday. The the days are counting down to the snowy cold months. I’ve already started coordinating some guests. So in the winter when we start getting out of the active growing season, at least for for me, I can’t show you what’s happening in my garden. I I shift a little bit. So, I’ve been setting up some guests already for those winter months. So, you can expect to see that happening. And then some of these new topics like we were talking about today that that are still gardening related, but maybe something new, they’re coming as well. I will give you a heads up just as a reminder if I forget to mention it it next week or the week after, but in three weeks on the 20th, I will not be here doing the live stream. So, we’re going to still be doing this every single week that we can except for that October 20th date. So mark your calendars if you’re looking ahead that you can not worry about joining the rest of us because I won’t be here and we won’t have a date. So I’ll tell you more about that as we get closer to it. So great to to see you all here. Um Samantha looks excited. The big green stock sale starts tomorrow. Yeah, be sure you you you see the link below. Use the gardener Scott code when you check out at Greentock uh to save some money. And Greentock is having a big October sale coming up. So check out some of their stuff. The one of the the things about Greentock um this one sale that they’ve got coming up is they’re retiring some of their colors. So, if you’ve been holding out on a green stock or if you’ve been interested in getting a green stock as a gift for the holidays, some of those colors are going to be gone and you need to act fast because once they’re gone, they’re gone. They might bring one back occasionally, years later, but they’re retiring some color. So yeah, click the link in the description, use the gardener Scott code, save yourself some money, and shop during a sale like the one coming up and look for the colors that you’re looking for. So thank you, Betina. Another great live stream. I agree. Jay, of course, is on top of things. And Jay, I hope that you are feeling better every single day. We’re going to be back next week doing this all over again. And it’s so nice, such a great way to start a Monday. Hope you have a great Monday, a great gardening week, and whatever it is you’re doing in your gardening world, enjoy it. See you next week.
12 Comments
I love your channel ❤
It's great to be reminded of these important lessons.
I’ll look for the cactus video. I have them but haven’t harvested fruit. They’re known as tuna in Mexico I believe. And like a viewer said, nopales are delicious!
I was too busy getting drawings completed for clients and missed the show again😢
It's hilarious to hear a south floridian saying they haven't seen frost in a decade….some of us saw overnight temps as low as 28 degrees three years ago….and last fall brought us the best consistent cool down we've had in a while….cold fronts in the mid 30s for 2 and 3 days at a time almost every 2 weeks from the end of November all the way through January. Took out a lot of my seedlings multiple times. I LOVE IT….but our plants aren't ready willing or able to take so many hits without burns or death.
The discussion of gardening and your time in the USAF reminded me of when I was in the ANG in an aircraft maintenance unit. There was a nice sunny area next to our shop where we would get sunshine on breaks. Somebody mentioned that it would be a great spot for a garden with the sunshine and the multiple barbed wire fences that would keep the bigger critters out. Sure enough, the next drill weekend I found some of the technicians and the element chief had a nice little garden planted with tomatoes, peppers, and squash.
Longmont Colorado here, zone 5b – 6a. So happy to have found a channel by someone in Colorado. 80% day is October 6th, but forecasts this week look like we will have an extra few days.
We’ve been running about 5 to 10 degrees above average all summer.
Zone 6 b October 15, May 15 – Steve
Meanwhile here in Merced county CA we just keep on growing. My first frost is the middle of November and the last frost is the middle of March, but who knows whats going to happen this year. This is the first summer in the 23 years I've lived here where we didn't have any 110+ days.
I just ordered 2 more GreenStalks from their color retirement sale. I can live with pink for 65% off, plus another $10 off using your code. Those will be where I grow my onions and garlic for next year. 42 of each in less than 4 square feet for each Green Stalk can't be beat. My backyard is totally infested with Bermuda grass so containers are the best way to grow my veggies.
I got out of the USAF 44 years ago, yup, I'm getting old…
I wouldn't have known about the Greenstalk sale if not for this live stream. Thank you Gardener Scott for the discount code.
We have a large prickly pear plant and had a great harvest this year! We got roughly 100 fruits and made juice out of them. Last year, the rats wiped out pretty much all our fruit. We absolutely love prickly pear fruit juice! 😋
@Gardener Scott … oh my goodness!! I just got down my Watch Later list to your appearance as Scott "Bob Ross"… Ah hah hah!! I'm dyin' over here!! 🤣😂🤣