Huw’s videos are pure gardening hypnosis. I’m mesmerised by the blue skies, sunshine and lovely healthy luscious foliage. Listening to his gentle voice transports me to another world!! Would love to sit and paint in his garden.
Hi Nita, I solved many issues and gained confidence in my gardening watching..especially how he shows that experience and observing is the best lessons. I havent painted in years but love drawing observing and interpreting nature and animals anything that inspires.🙂💗🌿
I just drip irrigation on my raised bed, and have had great success with it. I have the timer set to water for 1 hour every 5 days. This does a deep soak of the water into the soil, and then lets it dry out before the next watering. The plants get their roots down deep to take advantage water that soaked in on the watering day, and don't mind the top of the soil drying out. My beds are mostly compost, along with some biochar, so it hold water well.
I had to rewatch this a couple of times. I got distracted by all the beautiful growth in that garden, and stopped paying attention to what you were saying - sorry Huw LOL
Love your videos! Been bulking up on my knowledge as a beginner veg grower in wales 🏴 I’ve now successfully started to grow onions, carrots, beets, peas, cucumber, pumpkins, courgettes, butternut squash, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet corn, radish and finally Cauliflower not to mention a plot in the garden for a massive meadow of wild British flowers! Love it thanks for the knowledge sir
He just confirmed what I have been doing for years, my grandma always grew like this, she always told me not to over water, this all makes sense as to why, really good information!
That might work in some Climate's but not all great video thanks for sharing, I have been growing vegetables for over 35 years all the best from Canada!
Here in Cornwall we still have a hosepipe ban from last summer(2022) so I rewatched this video and I’m glad I did as it has allayed some of my fears that I can’t water everything as much as I would have normally.
Hew, and other gardeners, in my grow room I have an oscillating fan on my seedlings at all times. It results in much stronger plants. Also it helps prevent problems with mold if I over water.
I live in Canada and love you videos so informative . I just can’t stop watching your videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with sincerity, I learned so much and plan to use these tips this summer
Clever idea , this year I planted 45 tomatoes.I will definitely apply this method to a few of them to see the outcome. your garden look so green and healthy.
Huw thank you I have been over watering new to vegetable gardening learning something new everyday so thanks praying for your gardens to be blessed n bountiful
I don't water my vegetables at all and they love it! Just posted a video on some of the techniques I use, and the local university has been doing more and more research on dry farming. They've done blind taste tests and people actually prefer the taste of vegetables that are grown without irrigation.
I’m pretty new to gardening. I can grow stuff but keeping it going is another thing. It’s because I’m over watering. I have also mulched with heavy straw this year so they are staying super wet. I need this slap on the hand today. Thank you for this video. New subscriber. We have been in the 100s here in utah for almost 4 weeks and are in a serious drought. Overmulching will help but I just need to water less. Thank you so much!
Hi Huw, when we get really hot weather, and the leaves wilt, I hold off the watering until the next day because if the plant is reacting to heat and then recovers during the evening, otherwise I'll end up over watering. I use a water meter to check the soil moisture deep by the roots. God bless.
Wise! I over watered my orange tree and all the flowers dropped. It was an incredibly hot summer and we had several fires in the area that made it difficult to see the sun from all the smoke in the air. It lasted a month. I wanted to wash out the smoke and ashes that landed on my garden plants.
I live in northern New Mexico, high desert area, and we havent had a real rain since March, so everything is dry as a bone. I have been thinking and not watering as much, it makes sense like you said. But even tho I soaked the area before seeding, there isntt much water below 6". so Im flooding areas every few days, trying to get the water deeper and mulching everything. But even if we do get a good rain (prowling thunder storms), it mostly runs off since the ground is so hard and dry. . Its a real challenge to grow anything but wild sunflowers up here! Sure do love seeing what a real garden looks like, yours is so lush and beautiful!
That's where sub-irrigated planters are really a life-saver! The water is supplied from below so roots still reach deep into the planter. There is less water wasted through soil surface evaporation. Even if the soil forms an upper crust, the bottom portion is still nice and moist!
Hello neighbor! I like direct sowing stuff. You don't need to water deep, just the soil around the seeds needs to stay moist (which can be hard for us in the high desert). I'll cover my seeded area with boards after I water them (like scrap 2x4 or 2x6's). Once they're sprouted, you can take the boards off, but then the hard part is getting the water deep enough to get the plants well established. I've had good success with irrigating my raised beds with drip tubing, and using mulch to reduce water loss. Drip is really good for controlling exactly how much water to give your plants and how often. For plants in the ground, you need a good bowl that you can water and let it soak in deeply. Mulch helps, but some xeric plants don't tolerate bark or wood based mulch (but you can get away with gravel). Monsoon should be coming soon. Hoping for some good rain!
Interesting and very useful, even life changing. In the hot spell I’ve been watering every day and thinking I cannot stay over elsewhere and worried about the water bill.
I just LOVE your videos ! As gardener in a botanical garden in south of France, even if ours weathers are quite differents, yours tips are so intelligent and easy to put in practice. Thank you also for your perfect prononciation, i don't need any subtitle because everything is clear and concise. And finally, a HUGE thanks for your tricks and tips, as the gutter or the wood on seeds, it makes the difference as pro-tips. Take care !
I do this out of necessity, I don't have a ready source of water in my garden and I sometimes don't visit for a week or more at a time (is out of town). So I mulch heavily (no slugs in my climate) and hope for the best. It's very hot here in summer (Serbia) and yes, things run to seed early and tomatoes can suffer in August, but I am trying to get to the point of relying solely on rain, we'll see.
It must be so good not having the climate for slugs! I have been out every evening (until recently) gathering molluscs and disposing of them. It seems to have made a difference though as the numbers seem smaller now. My rocket salad has gone to seed and other things may do the same.
Your garden looks awesome! I do a lot of container/ grow bag gardening. I wonder if that would apply to me as well since I operate with the limitation of space per unit plant, in a restricted soil area. I become anxious once I see the leaves beginning to droop. But I'll be brave. I did loose a lot of parsley by not watering consistantly.
@@SpecialgiftsLA hi. Simply, forming flowers and hence, seeds. Not a great state of affairs if what you are growing the plant for is the leaves as the plant’s resources then go flowers, fruits and seeds. The edible parts, such as taproots, may become too coarse to eat. Thanks for asking.
@@TerryMcGearyScotland ohh I see..So glad I asked. Its always interesting learning as I go..I have sown lemon seeds and find them barely growing ..I suspect they need larger room or pot aswell as less watering..Thank you for that!! Lia x
I totally agree with your philosophy. I have heavy clay soil and often have problems it getting too wet. This year I have avoided watering unless absolutely necessary. and right now we have a very warm and dry period, and most plants seem to do very well. Thanks for a nice video 👍.
I just like to hear this guy talk. Yes it is helpful information that I've been using but he could read an instructional book or a recipe and I would enjoy it.
I plan to move to Wales one day so I'm preparing myself by watching all your videos. I come from Australia - you can't even water in the day time. I was really concerned about growing in Winter over there. It just doesn't get that cold here. Thanks for your videos, they're a great help.
They use dry farming methods in India too but in addition to not watering, what they do is make sure the soil is super rich with lots of compost and organic matter to retain water and provide nutrition (mimicing Nature) so they can get through droughts until the moonsoon/rainy season comes.
In West Texas the Pecos Cantaloupe was grown this way. Irrigation only. They were the best melons always. It is hard now to find these. What you are advocating really works with flavor.
I have some strawberries wandering around under fruit trees that get no irrigation. They only make a couple berries per plant each season but they always have exceptional flavor and are very juicy and tender (opposite of the crunchy California mutant strawberries), compared to the real strawberry bed. But I sow carrots in the strawberries. so I have to water them.
Fantastic videos Huw! Very Informative and therapeutic and so much work involved. I can't believe it's only at 585k subs...come on people let's get Huw to over 1million.
Good advice with the seed sowing directly, Huw. I did both myself this year as I had a hectic start with the new plot! Now that crops are established they get little water from me - just the new transplants get watered until they root down. Keep 'em coming mate!
I could not agree with him more. I have been gardening for more than 30 years & I always grow my seeds in the same pot that they will grow & be harvested. I am not a full time farmer so have no time to garden except on weekends so I use lots of shirt cuts & they do work but I do live in CA where every day is the growing day.
Here in N.C.,USA,Thanks for your advice on growing veg.I have been a hort. person for 30 yrs growing shrubs,flowers and etc, L grew up on a tobacco farm and done some veg. gardening when i was young and did not enjoy it much.
Another question. We had a big cloud of Sahara dust striking. It was dull, hot and all my plants were covered with dust. You could see the dust collection in the hairs of the tomatoes. Do you think that will affect the photosynthesis due to the leaves were coated in dust? I waited until it was less dusty and showered them with some fresh water. What's your opinion about it?
Thank you sharing your experience. It's the only way we will make it.
4 года назад+5
so helpful! kinda makes me think about humans too and building resilience during stressful times... love your channel! i'm a new gardener. just started this year. and you've been helping me so much! thanks so much :)
Direct sowing hey. Like the sound of it - good theory and less transplant shock stuff and stronger roots and stronger stems etc. less time spent moving bits around too!
If you are growing in containers, you can "stress" them too. Air circulation from a decent (but not too powerful) fan(s), opening windows often because of the different weather points, wind speeds, etc and so on for air exchanges. Then finally you can encourage root development of frequent enough up potting until final potting/transplanting. Along with slight leaving wet (e.g. water trays NOT left for more than few days at a time) and drying out in between watering might also helps. Won't replace direct sowing but most of us can't direct sow peppers, tomatoes, etc reliably so it's the next best thing.
We have watering restrictions in the summer, even in the interior of lush British Columbia. I don’t mind. It’s a precious resource. And restrictions make us cannier in our use and understanding of water and watering systems. This video gives one much to ponder. 👍🇨🇦 Dec1/2021
I'm in Auckland, we're in the middle of, ironically, a drought with days of heavy rain. I've been mostly leaving them to survive on their own and they are getting quite strong. Mulch if you can.
Thank you Huw! Great advice as always! Please if you have time one day can you advise on what lettuces and salad green varieties you grow and/or can grow when it's very hot? All my salads are running to seed in the heat and I LOVE summer salad! Thank you!!
Presently I’m watering two varieties of potatoes, a bunch of corn and onions, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, garlic etc. every other day, and I don’t drown them, I just keep the soil consistently moist. Two medium waterings a week would even suffice. Cheers and thanks for the video!
Good to know about the tomatoes... I’ve got four growing and a bunch more in seedling transplants... I have been thinking I should cultivate two more... Taste is my focus... I’d rather have six plants w less yield per plant, than four with more. Plus I live in the desert and I’d like to see if I could collect enough rainwater to grow enough for my household with little to no city water... anything to reduce water usage is another one of my goals... I’m always testing my plants to see how little water I can give them. Great vid. Thanks!
Hi there., Huw. Thanks again for shaking us out of traditional plant care and making us think more carefully about what is going on. Once again, a thoughtful vid. Thanks for helping us to focus what is going on underground. I hope that m watering regime will give us our first real 'harvest meal' of new potatoes and fresh peas in the coming weekend. I'm with you all the way, Huw, but the UK Midlands transition from 'monsoon' to heatwave does not help in gauging water needs. Yet another innovative vid. Thanks ag again - best wishes Paul
Loved your video. I noticed you pinched the top off your broad beans, is that to reduce blackfly aphids on the tops? Try letting a celery plant to go to flower nearby. The amount of parasitic wasps that it attracts will deal with them.
Hi Huw. I have add organic material on top of my garden, vegetables...(straw or grass clippings) And after rain, there is wet in top soil for a week longer, than neighbourhood dig garden without material on top of soil.
5-6 days without water here in Georgia WILL kill your plants, and it almost doesn't matter what it is. 2 hours in 92 degrees with low humidity can destroy many plants in your garden. My watermelon plant just kicked it even though I watered it early afternoon every day for the first few days, then "stressed" it for a day. My tomatoes, peppers and some other plants were obviously really unhappy. Just be aware of what your conditions are when you choose to stress your plants. This is good advice for early to mid spring but summer in hot places, I wouldn't.
@Erin K sounds good. How much topsoil did you put on the straw? I am using a wood chip base that I got from the city, with wood shavings and manure on top. Water soaks in quickly however I am not sure how much the plants can access. Thank you for your suggestion.
The potted cherry tomatoes were doing great. I put some fertilizer into the pot and then the plant started dying. I am not sure if it was the fertilizer. I was trying to water the prize potato plant in a cardboard box. I thought it should be watered really well and frequently since the cardboard can dry easily. Recently I found a swarm of really interesting bugs swarming over this prize potato plant. I immediately got out my crazy concoction of insect soap which has started stinking. I squirted this stinking liquid onto the potato plant and immediately the crazy bugs started dropping away. Thank you for sharing informative and helpful videos!
I am from the Philippines, and i have been enjoying your videos. This video is very timely, i am.currently growing my lettuces in a module, and I mist it 3-4x a day. Am I doing it right? And I just transplanted my 15-day old seedling to a styro cup. How often should I water it. Is it Ok to water it with SNAP solution, a solution being used for hydroponics. Thank you and more power!
Morning, Huw. I was wondering about carrots, etc. I have limited growing space in my garden, which means I usually only get one crop of carrots a year. Is it possible to stagger the growth, so I plant new carrots between more established carrots, so by the time the newer ones have begun to grow, the earlier ones will be ready for harvest to free up space for them? Or would the more mature carrots hinder the chance of the newer batch growing? I've also noticed that you seem to sow a lot of your seeds a lot closer together than most seed packets recommend - yet they still seem to grow well for you. When is the best time to follow these guidelines, and when to bend the rules?
If regular watering of tomato plants is reduced, how do you cope with blossom end rot? Which is normally caused by lack of calcium and/or irregular watering. At the same time if one reduces frequent irrigation, when heavy rain occurs, it leads to fruit cracking, especially in the ripening stage. Thoughts on that?
I get your point - but it's all I can do to water enough. in SW Idaho we average about 300 millimeters of rain/year about a third of what you get in the UK. And brutal heat in the summer... really hard to visualize stressing little plants here on purpose.
I have relative humidity as low as 20% and almost no shade in my property here in Oregon. I used to water my strawberries twice a day or they would just die right in front of my eyes. LOL You are just lucky and you didn't realize how lucky you are when you made a video like this. LOL LOL
Plants that are watered from below, as in wicking beds, are also stimulated to put their roots down deep. Particularly if your bed has an adjustable overflow level, you can start a crop with moisture right to the surface, and then progressively lower it to the normal range as the plants grow.
I'm growing everything in containers this year because all I have is an apartment balcony. Would these principles apply to container gardening as well? My containers are fabric, a few plastic ones. Also, I didn't quite catch the instructions for onions. Should they be watered after planting the bulbs or wait 3-4 weeks before watering? Sorry, this is my first time growing them so I'm still new at this. Thanks!
Living in the tropics, we can apply this certain times of year. We can grow year round, but we have very wet periods. We also mostly direct sow and stick to unconventional varieties that work with this hot, humid climate.
Here in my zone 9 2B area in the central valley of California I've been experimenting with less watering for a few yrs and I've had less fungus, mold, and bugs, but this year it's hard to call it, instead of growing in rows " mounds like conventional farming " I started my first " back to eden " garden and with the mounds I could grab a garden hoe and scape at the mound to see how dry or humid the rows really are and it's worked for most of my 43 yrs of gardening, but on flat surfaces im kinda clueless, normally I read the plants as well and if they wilt like crazy and it's hotter than 90 degrees well then ide water in the morning, but this past week we got hit with 104 - 107 highs and I dugg around the base and the dirt was a little dryer than what I liked, so I watered a little and now we're back to our normal 90's, hoping they recover before the inevitable 21 - 30 of 100 plus straight days in latter July and most of August, love the weed smothering aspects of the back to eden garden, but venturing into unknown " waters " with this new method can be tentative to say the least, but who can argue with the results!!! God willing this might be one of my most productive seasons for my little back yard garden........if not the best, ill know more in November- December THKS FOR THE ADVICE AND GREETING FROM CALIFORNIA!
There is a further aspect to watering less, that you did not mention, Huw. I try to harvest most of my seeds myself and by "educating" your vegetables you will be able to select seeds from those plants, that are more draughtresistant. I never use a hose, only a can and when my larger pond is almost empty I have to decide, which plants get the precious water. Well, it works, normaly there is a puddle left when the rain starts to fill up the buckets, barrels and ponds.
I agree with everything you say. Your method makes the Tomato grow roots up to two meters deep. The result being fantastic crop. But how do you go about replenishing the deep soil that that deep rooting Tomato sucks up all the minerals of?
I haven't been watering my garden quite enough this year. My strawberry plants have gone a bit feral, what with the reduced watering plus getting no fertiliser plus being allowed to wander around my garden as they please with their runners . They've still gotten enough water that the leaves look healthy and plentiful. But the strawberries are sparse and smaller. But they have so much flavour! So I'll experiment to find where the balance is for more plentiful, but still more flavourful berries. It must help that the variety I have is very vigorous and already flavourful.
I grew those tumbling varieties last year and although they were heavy cropper the flavour snd texture were very poor.. I am sticking to cordon varieties this year
Loving these videos. Grew onions for the first time this year and found out that it’s bad if they “bolt” & go to seed (thought it was normal). Some people recommend cutting just their heads off while others recommend harvesting them straight away. Any recommendations? 🤔
rinnin . If the onion starts to bolt and it is not big enough for picking yet then you MUST cut the top off if you want to leave it in the soil to grow bigger . If on the other hand you are happy with the size as it starts to bolt then you might as well bend the foliage over lift the onion carefully and leave it to dry off in the sun for a few days or up to a week or so depending on the weather , then bring it indoors ready to use . Onions that are bolting tend not to store very well so it is best to use them up first . They will still taste delicious .
Shwmae Huw, interesting to hear about the dry grown tomato method. I've always been taught that tomatoes like regular feeding and watering with the same volume otherwise they develop a thick skin. Is this only the case with certain varieties or is it an old wives tale? Diolch
Huw’s videos are pure gardening hypnosis. I’m mesmerised by the blue skies, sunshine and lovely healthy luscious foliage. Listening to his gentle voice transports me to another world!! Would love to sit and paint in his garden.
Hi Nita, I solved many issues and gained confidence in my gardening watching..especially how he shows that experience and observing is the best lessons. I havent painted in years but love drawing observing and interpreting nature and animals anything that inspires.🙂💗🌿
My same sentiments.
Same
Yes, the magic of marketing
Congratulations on your books. Thank God your father brought you out to the garden so early in your life. It has been a blessing to the world
Remember the fourth commandment of Exodus 20:8-11 reminds us of Genesis 2:2&3❣️
I just drip irrigation on my raised bed, and have had great success with it. I have the timer set to water for 1 hour every 5 days. This does a deep soak of the water into the soil, and then lets it dry out before the next watering. The plants get their roots down deep to take advantage water that soaked in on the watering day, and don't mind the top of the soil drying out. My beds are mostly compost, along with some biochar, so it hold water well.
Are your drip hoses safe for drinking from?
This was a very informative comment. Thank you.
Sound like a great set up. Lovely
I had to rewatch this a couple of times.
I got distracted by all the beautiful growth in that garden, and stopped paying attention to what you were saying - sorry Huw LOL
🤦♀️I thought I was the only one. 😁
Such a nice compliment!
Me too.
Yes, happens to me a lot with his videos. I have serious garden envy.
His eyes are up there
Love your videos! Been bulking up on my knowledge as a beginner veg grower in wales 🏴 I’ve now successfully started to grow onions, carrots, beets, peas, cucumber, pumpkins, courgettes, butternut squash, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet corn, radish and finally Cauliflower not to mention a plot in the garden for a massive meadow of wild British flowers! Love it thanks for the knowledge sir
He just confirmed what I have been doing for years, my grandma always grew like this, she always told me not to over water, this all makes sense as to why, really good information!
That might work in some Climate's but not all great video thanks for sharing, I have been growing vegetables for over 35 years all the best from Canada!
Ya...like here in hot southern California. If I missed a day in summer, I lose whole plants.
I was thinking the same. His accent indicates that he is in a very different climate to mine - Northern tropical Australia....
Your honesty and your knowledge giving attitude ...will definitely help many unsuccessful farmers and home growers...thank you and God bless you
Here in Cornwall we still have a hosepipe ban from last summer(2022) so I rewatched this video and I’m glad I did as it has allayed some of my fears that I can’t water everything as much as I would have normally.
Hew, and other gardeners, in my grow room I have an oscillating fan on my seedlings at all times. It results in much stronger plants. Also it helps prevent problems with mold if I over water.
I live in Canada and love you videos so informative . I just can’t stop watching your videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with sincerity, I learned so much and plan to use these tips this summer
I do this to my plant, depriving of water. I learned this from permaculture where plants become hardy and resilient from bugs. 😊 thanks
Clever idea , this year I planted 45 tomatoes.I will definitely apply this method to a few of them to see the outcome. your garden look so green and healthy.
Huw thank you I have been over watering new to vegetable gardening learning something new everyday so thanks praying for your gardens to be blessed n bountiful
This has been my instinct for a while now, nice to see it articulated so clearly
Thank you so much Tom!
Exactly what I think.
Good comment.
ruclips.net/video/9UPq0FanXPg/видео.html
I learned too with my recent experience 😵
This was really helpful! My garden has really been struggling this summer and I think a lot of it might be down to overwatering and I had no idea!
I don't water my vegetables at all and they love it! Just posted a video on some of the techniques I use, and the local university has been doing more and more research on dry farming. They've done blind taste tests and people actually prefer the taste of vegetables that are grown without irrigation.
I’m pretty new to gardening. I can grow stuff but keeping it going is another thing. It’s because I’m over watering. I have also mulched with heavy straw this year so they are staying super wet. I need this slap on the hand today. Thank you for this video. New subscriber. We have been in the 100s here in utah for almost 4 weeks and are in a serious drought. Overmulching will help but I just need to water less. Thank you so much!
Hi Huw, when we get really hot weather, and the leaves wilt, I hold off the watering until the next day because if the plant is reacting to heat and then recovers during the evening, otherwise I'll end up over watering. I use a water meter to check the soil moisture deep by the roots. God bless.
ruclips.net/video/9UPq0FanXPg/видео.html
yep same! it's incredible just how much plants can recover from looking totally wilted and sad
Wise! I over watered my orange tree and all the flowers dropped. It was an incredibly hot summer and we had several fires in the area that made it difficult to see the sun from all the smoke in the air. It lasted a month. I wanted to wash out the smoke and ashes that landed on my garden plants.
I live in northern New Mexico, high desert area, and we havent had a real rain since March, so everything is dry as a bone. I have been thinking and not watering as much, it makes sense like you said. But even tho I soaked the area before seeding, there isntt much water below 6". so Im flooding areas every few days, trying to get the water deeper and mulching everything. But even if we do get a good rain (prowling thunder storms), it mostly runs off since the ground is so hard and dry. . Its a real challenge to grow anything but wild sunflowers up here! Sure do love seeing what a real garden looks like, yours is so lush and beautiful!
That's where sub-irrigated planters are really a life-saver! The water is supplied from below so roots still reach deep into the planter. There is less water wasted through soil surface evaporation. Even if the soil forms an upper crust, the bottom portion is still nice and moist!
Hello neighbor! I like direct sowing stuff. You don't need to water deep, just the soil around the seeds needs to stay moist (which can be hard for us in the high desert). I'll cover my seeded area with boards after I water them (like scrap 2x4 or 2x6's). Once they're sprouted, you can take the boards off, but then the hard part is getting the water deep enough to get the plants well established. I've had good success with irrigating my raised beds with drip tubing, and using mulch to reduce water loss. Drip is really good for controlling exactly how much water to give your plants and how often. For plants in the ground, you need a good bowl that you can water and let it soak in deeply. Mulch helps, but some xeric plants don't tolerate bark or wood based mulch (but you can get away with gravel). Monsoon should be coming soon. Hoping for some good rain!
Interesting and very useful, even life changing. In the hot spell I’ve been watering every day and thinking I cannot stay over elsewhere and worried about the water bill.
The intro sequence was fantastic! Your videos are top notch 💯
I just LOVE your videos ! As gardener in a botanical garden in south of France, even if ours weathers are quite differents, yours tips are so intelligent and easy to put in practice. Thank you also for your perfect prononciation, i don't need any subtitle because everything is clear and concise. And finally, a HUGE thanks for your tricks and tips, as the gutter or the wood on seeds, it makes the difference as pro-tips. Take care !
I do this out of necessity, I don't have a ready source of water in my garden and I sometimes don't visit for a week or more at a time (is out of town). So I mulch heavily (no slugs in my climate) and hope for the best. It's very hot here in summer (Serbia) and yes, things run to seed early and tomatoes can suffer in August, but I am trying to get to the point of relying solely on rain, we'll see.
It must be so good not having the climate for slugs! I have been out every evening (until recently) gathering molluscs and disposing of them. It seems to have made a difference though as the numbers seem smaller now. My rocket salad has gone to seed and other things may do the same.
Your garden looks awesome!
I do a lot of container/ grow bag gardening. I wonder if that would apply to me as well since I operate with the limitation of space per unit plant, in a restricted soil area. I become anxious once I see the leaves beginning to droop. But I'll be brave. I did loose a lot of parsley by not watering consistantly.
@@TerryMcGearyScotland Terry .hi..what does it mean to go to seed? LIA X
@@SpecialgiftsLA hi. Simply, forming flowers and hence, seeds. Not a great state of affairs if what you are growing the plant for is the leaves as the plant’s resources then go flowers, fruits and seeds. The edible parts, such as taproots, may become too coarse to eat. Thanks for asking.
@@TerryMcGearyScotland ohh I see..So glad I asked. Its always interesting learning as I go..I have sown lemon seeds and find them barely growing ..I suspect they need larger room or pot aswell as less watering..Thank you for that!! Lia x
For the wind, and starting seedlings, I brush my hand or arm across the plants, to imitate wind. It makes them stronger before transplanting.
I wonder if you could put a fan in the greenhouse and turn it on for a few minutes every day? Thanks for your tip!
ruclips.net/video/9UPq0FanXPg/видео.html
Genius.
Brushing them with your hand or board works great. Can also use oscillating fan but you have to watch out for drying the seedlings.
I totally agree with your philosophy. I have heavy clay soil and often have problems it getting too wet. This year I have avoided watering unless absolutely necessary. and right now we have a very warm and dry period, and most plants seem to do very well. Thanks for a nice video 👍.
Love your videos! Very educational and well presented.
I just like to hear this guy talk. Yes it is helpful information that I've been using but he could read an instructional book or a recipe and I would enjoy it.
I plan to move to Wales one day so I'm preparing myself by watching all your videos. I come from Australia - you can't even water in the day time. I was really concerned about growing in Winter over there. It just doesn't get that cold here. Thanks for your videos, they're a great help.
They use dry farming methods in India too but in addition to not watering, what they do is make sure the soil is super rich with lots of compost and organic matter to retain water and provide nutrition (mimicing Nature) so they can get through droughts until the moonsoon/rainy season comes.
Lovely, clear, to-the-point narration. So nice to listen to after so many appalling RUclips videos.
Seeing lots of greens around is very relaxing 💚😍. I'm watering my plants morning and before sunset, or once a day every morning 🙂
In West Texas the Pecos Cantaloupe was grown this way. Irrigation only. They were the best melons always. It is hard now to find these. What you are advocating really works with flavor.
You really notice it with tasteless watery strawberries which have been over-pampered
ruclips.net/video/9UPq0FanXPg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/9UPq0FanXPg/видео.html
I have some strawberries wandering around under fruit trees that get no irrigation. They only make a couple berries per plant each season but they always have exceptional flavor and are very juicy and tender (opposite of the crunchy California mutant strawberries), compared to the real strawberry bed. But I sow carrots in the strawberries. so I have to water them.
I have always done this. Funny, I knew this. Even when friends told me " You need to water deeper." I have trained my beloved plants to need less.
You don't train them, they're trained.
Fantastic videos Huw! Very Informative and therapeutic and so much work involved. I can't believe it's only at 585k subs...come on people let's get Huw to over 1million.
I'll try that watering schedule on a few plant to compare results. Thanks for sharing the knowledge Huw.
Hi Huw, your videos are very good, love all the advice you give on each vegetable 🙂 thanks for sharing and take care 🙂
My pleasure! As always, more to come :)
As with children... Huw you speak wisdom applicable to all living things.
I always find my plants start growing so much quicker when i forget to water for a short time. Clear indicator I have been watering too often! :)
Good advice with the seed sowing directly, Huw. I did both myself this year as I had a hectic start with the new plot!
Now that crops are established they get little water from me - just the new transplants get watered until they root down.
Keep 'em coming mate!
Thank you so much Steve! I hope you're keeping well and you're having a great season☺️
I could not agree with him more. I have been gardening for more than 30 years & I always grow my seeds in the same pot that they will grow & be harvested.
I am not a full time farmer so have no time to garden except on weekends so I use lots of shirt cuts & they do work but I do live in CA where every day is the growing day.
As ever Huw -really clear, informative advice. And perfect timing with a period of warm weather on it's way for me on the Isle Of Wight. Thanks Huw!
Here in N.C.,USA,Thanks for your advice on growing veg.I have been a hort. person for 30 yrs growing shrubs,flowers and etc, L grew up on a tobacco farm and done some veg. gardening when i was young and did not enjoy it much.
Another question. We had a big cloud of Sahara dust striking. It was dull, hot and all my plants were covered with dust. You could see the dust collection in the hairs of the tomatoes. Do you think that will affect the photosynthesis due to the leaves were coated in dust? I waited until it was less dusty and showered them with some fresh water. What's your opinion about it?
I just want your garden then I will think about watering... Amazingly beautiful....👍👍👍
Your garden is so green so healthy
Thank you sharing your experience.
It's the only way we will make it.
so helpful! kinda makes me think about humans too and building resilience during stressful times...
love your channel! i'm a new gardener. just started this year. and you've been helping me so much! thanks so much :)
Direct sowing hey. Like the sound of it - good theory and less transplant shock stuff and stronger roots and stronger stems etc. less time spent moving bits around too!
If you are growing in containers, you can "stress" them too. Air circulation from a decent (but not too powerful) fan(s), opening windows often because of the different weather points, wind speeds, etc and so on for air exchanges. Then finally you can encourage root development of frequent enough up potting until final potting/transplanting. Along with slight leaving wet (e.g. water trays NOT left for more than few days at a time) and drying out in between watering might also helps. Won't replace direct sowing but most of us can't direct sow peppers, tomatoes, etc reliably so it's the next best thing.
Well done for not being "unprecedented". I really appreciate your videos.
We have watering restrictions in the summer, even in the interior of lush British Columbia. I don’t mind. It’s a precious resource. And restrictions make us cannier in our use and understanding of water and watering systems. This video gives one much to ponder. 👍🇨🇦 Dec1/2021
I'm in Auckland, we're in the middle of, ironically, a drought with days of heavy rain. I've been mostly leaving them to survive on their own and they are getting quite strong. Mulch if you can.
Thank you Huw! Great advice as always! Please if you have time one day can you advise on what lettuces and salad green varieties you grow and/or can grow when it's very hot? All my salads are running to seed in the heat and I LOVE summer salad! Thank you!!
Presently I’m watering two varieties of potatoes, a bunch of corn and onions, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, garlic etc. every other day, and I don’t drown them, I just keep the soil consistently moist. Two medium waterings a week would even suffice. Cheers and thanks for the video!
Thank you very much for this wonderful information! Watching from Northern Alberta, Canada.
Good to know about the tomatoes... I’ve got four growing and a bunch more in seedling transplants... I have been thinking I should cultivate two more... Taste is my focus... I’d rather have six plants w less yield per plant, than four with more. Plus I live in the desert and I’d like to see if I could collect enough rainwater to grow enough for my household with little to no city water... anything to reduce water usage is another one of my goals... I’m always testing my plants to see how little water I can give them. Great vid. Thanks!
Great video Huw..... and boy have I been over watering my tomatoes.....- I've been mean for at least 5 days
I guess I've been doing this accidentally for years simply by being sort of forgetful...
Hi there., Huw. Thanks again for shaking us out of traditional plant care and making us think more carefully about what is going on. Once again, a thoughtful vid. Thanks for helping us to focus what is going on underground. I hope that m watering regime will give us our first real 'harvest meal' of new potatoes and fresh peas in the coming weekend. I'm with you all the way, Huw, but the UK Midlands transition from 'monsoon' to heatwave does not help in gauging water needs. Yet another innovative vid. Thanks ag again - best wishes Paul
Loved your video. I noticed you pinched the top off your broad beans, is that to reduce blackfly aphids on the tops? Try letting a celery plant to go to flower nearby. The amount of parasitic wasps that it attracts will deal with them.
This video compliments the one on mulching to conserve water in the soil. Great job!
Hi Huw. I have add organic material on top of my garden, vegetables...(straw or grass clippings)
And after rain, there is wet in top soil for a week longer, than neighbourhood dig garden without material on top of soil.
buried my tomatoes about 20-30cm deep this year, that and the wood chip mulch seems to retain water really well.
Thank you, Huw. I value your advice
Very nice and TIDY garden !
5-6 days without water here in Georgia WILL kill your plants, and it almost doesn't matter what it is. 2 hours in 92 degrees with low humidity can destroy many plants in your garden. My watermelon plant just kicked it even though I watered it early afternoon every day for the first few days, then "stressed" it for a day. My tomatoes, peppers and some other plants were obviously really unhappy. Just be aware of what your conditions are when you choose to stress your plants. This is good advice for early to mid spring but summer in hot places, I wouldn't.
In SC you can go 2-3 days until about July. If it's over 90F you have to keep a close eye on it, though.
@Erin K sounds good. How much topsoil did you put on the straw? I am using a wood chip base that I got from the city, with wood shavings and manure on top. Water soaks in quickly however I am not sure how much the plants can access. Thank you for your suggestion.
Great video. Just a note, this would depend on the type of weather in the country. Here, can't go up to 5 days. They will all die.
The potted cherry tomatoes were doing great. I put some fertilizer into the pot and then the plant started dying. I am not sure if it was the fertilizer.
I was trying to water the prize potato plant in a cardboard box. I thought it should be watered really well and frequently since the cardboard can dry easily. Recently I found a swarm of really interesting bugs swarming over this prize potato plant. I immediately got out my crazy concoction of insect soap which has started stinking. I squirted this stinking liquid onto the potato plant and immediately the crazy bugs started dropping away.
Thank you for sharing informative and helpful videos!
Wow this come just in time when I'm about to reduce some watering for my plant! What a timing, great video nonetheless.
ruclips.net/video/v2Jp9bFFfsg/видео.html
You should do as Charles downing does and do a comparison on this theory it would be very interesting
That would be super interesting to see
Good idea I’m going to try with a couple squash
Thank you Huw.
How do your watering cans always look so neat? Mine are battered😂
He has the ones he uses everyday and then the ones he uses for videos.
I doubt that he uses watering cans often on a garden that large hence why it is so new
Thank you so much for sharing your garden tips 👍🍀🙏
I tend to be an over waterer 😕 good advice , il give it a go.....although we get a bit of rain here in Scotland 😆
I am from the Philippines, and i have been enjoying your videos. This video is very timely, i am.currently growing my lettuces in a module, and I mist it 3-4x a day. Am I doing it right? And I just transplanted my 15-day old seedling to a styro cup. How often should I water it. Is it Ok to water it with SNAP solution, a solution being used for hydroponics. Thank you and more power!
Morning, Huw. I was wondering about carrots, etc. I have limited growing space in my garden, which means I usually only get one crop of carrots a year. Is it possible to stagger the growth, so I plant new carrots between more established carrots, so by the time the newer ones have begun to grow, the earlier ones will be ready for harvest to free up space for them? Or would the more mature carrots hinder the chance of the newer batch growing? I've also noticed that you seem to sow a lot of your seeds a lot closer together than most seed packets recommend - yet they still seem to grow well for you. When is the best time to follow these guidelines, and when to bend the rules?
Loving the camera work in the intro. Another great video!
If regular watering of tomato plants is reduced, how do you cope with blossom end rot? Which is normally caused by lack of calcium and/or irregular watering. At the same time if one reduces frequent irrigation, when heavy rain occurs, it leads to fruit cracking, especially in the ripening stage. Thoughts on that?
Mulch and companion planting.
I get your point - but it's all I can do to water enough. in SW Idaho we average about 300 millimeters of rain/year about a third of what you get in the UK. And brutal heat in the summer... really hard to visualize stressing little plants here on purpose.
I have relative humidity as low as 20% and almost no shade in my property here in Oregon. I used to water my strawberries twice a day or they would just die right in front of my eyes. LOL You are just lucky and you didn't realize how lucky you are when you made a video like this. LOL LOL
Such a beautiful garden.😊
What perfect watering cans.
Plants that are watered from below, as in wicking beds, are also stimulated to put their roots down deep. Particularly if your bed has an adjustable overflow level, you can start a crop with moisture right to the surface, and then progressively lower it to the normal range as the plants grow.
I'm growing everything in containers this year because all I have is an apartment balcony. Would these principles apply to container gardening as well? My containers are fabric, a few plastic ones. Also, I didn't quite catch the instructions for onions. Should they be watered after planting the bulbs or wait 3-4 weeks before watering? Sorry, this is my first time growing them so I'm still new at this. Thanks!
Living in the tropics, we can apply this certain times of year. We can grow year round, but we have very wet periods. We also mostly direct sow and stick to unconventional varieties that work with this hot, humid climate.
Here in my zone 9 2B area in the central valley of California I've been experimenting with less watering for a few yrs and I've had less fungus, mold, and bugs, but this year it's hard to call it, instead of growing in rows " mounds like conventional farming " I started my first " back to eden " garden and with the mounds I could grab a garden hoe and scape at the mound to see how dry or humid the rows really are and it's worked for most of my 43 yrs of gardening, but on flat surfaces im kinda clueless, normally I read the plants as well and if they wilt like crazy and it's hotter than 90 degrees well then ide water in the morning, but this past week we got hit with 104 - 107 highs and I dugg around the base and the dirt was a little dryer than what I liked, so I watered a little and now we're back to our normal 90's, hoping they recover before the inevitable 21 - 30 of 100 plus straight days in latter July and most of August, love the weed smothering aspects of the back to eden garden, but venturing into unknown " waters " with this new method can be tentative to say the least, but who can argue with the results!!! God willing this might be one of my most productive seasons for my little back yard garden........if not the best, ill know more in November- December THKS FOR THE ADVICE AND GREETING FROM CALIFORNIA!
There is a further aspect to watering less, that you did not mention, Huw.
I try to harvest most of my seeds myself and by "educating" your vegetables you will be able to select seeds from those plants, that are more draughtresistant.
I never use a hose, only a can and when my larger pond is almost empty I have to decide, which plants get the precious water. Well, it works, normaly there is a puddle left when the rain starts to fill up the buckets, barrels and ponds.
I agree with everything you say. Your method makes the Tomato grow roots up to two meters deep. The result being fantastic crop. But how do you go about replenishing the deep soil that that deep rooting Tomato sucks up all the minerals of?
I suppose this not apply to container plants since they have finite room for roots?
I love the intro to this video, sort of a little story-telling. I learn quite a bit from your intro!
Fantastic information Huw. Thank You ☀️🍓🌼🐝
I haven't been watering my garden quite enough this year. My strawberry plants have gone a bit feral, what with the reduced watering plus getting no fertiliser plus being allowed to wander around my garden as they please with their runners . They've still gotten enough water that the leaves look healthy and plentiful. But the strawberries are sparse and smaller. But they have so much flavour!
So I'll experiment to find where the balance is for more plentiful, but still more flavourful berries. It must help that the variety I have is very vigorous and already flavourful.
New subscriber here, this channel is informative and I really enjoy getting techniques and best practices in gardening.
Trying hanging balcony tomatoes for the first time. Will also try dry-growing them because that sounds wonderful hahaha. Thanks, Huw!!!
I grew those tumbling varieties last year and although they were heavy cropper the flavour snd texture were very poor.. I am sticking to cordon varieties this year
I don't think this applies to my zone. I'm in So. California. It's very hot and windy here.
Nice video. Always a pleasure to watch. Where do you get your watering cans from? I'm always so jealous of them!!
Loving these videos. Grew onions for the first time this year and found out that it’s bad if they “bolt” & go to seed (thought it was normal). Some people recommend cutting just their heads off while others recommend harvesting them straight away. Any recommendations? 🤔
rinnin . If the onion starts to bolt and it is not big enough for picking yet then you MUST cut the top off if you want to leave it in the soil to grow bigger . If on the other hand you are happy with the size as it starts to bolt then you might as well bend the foliage over lift the onion carefully and leave it to dry off in the sun for a few days or up to a week or so depending on the weather , then bring it indoors ready to use . Onions that are bolting tend not to store very well so it is best to use them up first . They will still taste delicious .
Shwmae Huw, interesting to hear about the dry grown tomato method. I've always been taught that tomatoes like regular feeding and watering with the same volume otherwise they develop a thick skin. Is this only the case with certain varieties or is it an old wives tale? Diolch
another very useful vlog Huw, thanks!
Quick Q re tomatoes: when should I start pruning/cutting the lower stems?
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