I restarted gardening last year at 70 years old. I did a lot when I was younger but life and health got in the way. Increasing food prices and bland tasting grocery produce got me back into it. I’m raising my two grandchildren and want them to realize the taste difference of homegrown food.
I’m 71 (or will be in a bit over a week!) and I’ve been gardening for a few years, off and on but with more of a purpose the past few years since 2019. I have made a lot of mistakes but have also had a number of successes. I WISH my grandchildren were close enough for me to teach them all that I have learned in the garden but fortunately, one of my sons-in-law has gotten bitten by the gardening bug and my 16-year-old granddaughter is learning from her dad and I am mentoring him a little. I also have 4 grandkids in Wisconsin so I don’t get to see them very often - but again, my son-in-law - their dad - grows a beautiful diverse garden in that beautiful rich Wisconsin soil and at least one of the children - the youngest - enjoys being in the garden with him.
DJ you are my hero/heroine. I thought my starting to grow food at 51 years old was crazy talk but I did anyway. Now I'm trying to expand my garden and my knowledge. Raising food prices and health has given me the motivation to do the things my dad and grandparents did. Coming from a family of farmers going way back gives me pride not only in what I'm doing but realizing how hard they worked for their families as well. You're doing so much good for your grandchildren.
@@vlunceford I am lucky enough to garden with my grandson every day. He will be four this spring and I am amazed at how much he has already taken in. Last year he did the garden walk with me every morning checking the plants, harvesting what was ready, watering properly, etc. I bought a seed square to help him with planting, peas are his favorite. He will be a great gardener one day.
I started growing as a kid, I’m 63. I’ve been in and out based on owning a home. I did great 25 years ago bringing lots of veggies to others I was younger then. In 2019 I came across your channel because I knew I was moving to the country. I made the investment and began to glean from your love of tomatoes. Last season I grew from seedlings. I made lots of mistakes. My peppers never survived but I learned why. But there were nurseries that had seedlings so I threw them in anyway. I had THE BEST TASTING harvest I ever ate. I’ve learned composting which I continue to do. This year I’m going bigger. I’ve already started my winter seed process. With gardening you get to see that the seasons really start sooner and end longer.
Love this ! I too have been gardening for ever , I became a holistic health coach and at 60 , I can’t wait for each season to begin❤️ I love to grow my herbal “medicine” garden it’s really my tea garden . This should be taught to everyone. It’s such good therapy mentally. And physically. Love is a garden.
I am in Essex England, and 52 years old , never grown anything, tiny garden that we concreted. then I discovered your channel in 2019, I put in a few small raised beds, I bought loads of seeds and LOVE IT. My husband has now started helping because he sees the benefit, not only to our food bills but to my mental health and my faith xx Thankyou Jess for giving me something I that helped me cope with Covid, family loss, stresses of work and general life. you are a total inspiration and I love you and your family x
I learned gardening as a young child in a family of eleven of us. (I was also washing dishes at age five standing on a chair !) Now at age 65, I continue to garden as it brings me such joy. My hope is that many people watch this and start gardening maybe for the first time ! I've always called gardening "therapy" because it truly is nurturing and satisfying to me just to get my hands in the dirt !
This will be my 5th year gardening. I started out with a 5x5 bed and bought plant starts from my local nursery. I grew all the wrong things together at the wrong times that first year. The only thing that I gained from that tiny patch for me was experience and learning a whole lot of what not to do. Each year I learned more and gradually grew more and more food. Now I start my own seeds and preserve my harvest. Don’t ever give up and have faith. You will be a successful gardener. 💚
I am a disabled College student who just needed an outlet that didn't have anything to do with school and that I could do independently. Gardening was that outlet for me. It truly had been my saving grace over the past couple of years
Well Morghan, well done! I think that deserves a gold star - like Jess said! You should be really proud of yourself. I have learned how to grow plants from watching Laura on Garden Answer, but tomorrow night I am ordering my seeds and growing them in my garden. That is my goal for 2023. Best Wishes, Wendy (North Wales, UK)
I started gardening when I had no idea how a seed grew. We had 4 4x4 squares in the ground. A pumpkin grew up through the fence on the other side, which was a school playground. The children must have watched it grow day by day. Then one day, someone harvested it and put it in our side of the fence. I’m tearing up remembering how amazing that was.
I’m soon to be 73 and just started gardening in 2020. Have loved the harvests and didn’t realize how good non-grocery store produce tastes. Had to step back and let the garden rest last fall but gearing up to start again with a new spring garden. It’s my happy place. You Luke and Eric played a huge role also for me getting started at this late stage in my life
I too am almost 73 and LOVE growing things. My father was a gardener who grew the majority of the food we ate. Now my 3 sisters and I all garden. I really got started 2 years ago when I went part-time at my job and it's been so therapeutic and fun (although a lot of work
Sorry, I'm better digging in the dirt than using technology. Just wanted to say "Go for it". I am wanting to start a group of ladies gardening no matter their experience so they can experience the joy it brings. Jess, you inspire me!!!
My first garden plan I made in 2019 has "JUST DO IT" scrawled across the top of the page. It was late in the season here, July, and I started some things from seed even though I was scared. We harvested SO MUCH food from that little bit of ambition I mustered up, and we harvested even more wisdom. The rest is history. ♡♡♡ You encouraged me then and you encourage me now. THANK YOU JESS!
Got a tomato story for you🤗. I've only been growing a garden for 4 years, so still lots to learn. My neighbor, an experienced garden, loves tomatoes but his wife doesn't. She is a chef at a local restaurant. She took ALL of his tomatoes to work and used them in her dishes. The customers LOVED THEM! He was not happy he didn't get even one! I had a good harvest that year so I went next door to share. Nobody was home so I left a HUGE tomato on the porch railing. They went to visit family the next day and took that tomato. They all said it was the best tomato they ever had. They named it the 'mystery tomato' bc he wasn't sure where it came from 😁. Btw- the variety is actually called Delicious. They don't lie. They get really big as well. Highly recommend.
This will be my 4th year really gardening on a big scale. I started 10 years ago with one raised bed and a couple bags of soil, just putting seeds in the ground, and pulling up tiny carrots and wondering why the radish greens got so tall. I tried again a few years later with some squash, and I was super confused why they didn’t really grow and were covered in “weird beetles”. Now I have a 1/2 acre garden, growing enough produce to share and sell. I’m devoting space to cut flowers this year and have 300 tomato plants going. (Thank you Jess!!!) If you are on the fence about starting, just hop over. We’re here to welcome you on the green side!!! 💚💚🌱🌱
YES! The distinction between 'becoming a gardener' and 'growing a garden' - i dig it (puns!). When you *become* something the emphasis is on the skill, the knowledge, not the end product. So if and when that end product is a disappointment, it doesn't mean you are the disappointment. Man do I feel this!
Seasoned gardener here, and I'm in complete agreement with the way you've prioritized these points 💗 Wanted to share my failure/success story in case it helps anyone. I learned to garden in the Bay Area of California, a region that has mild winters and relatively cool summers, with plenty of fog off the Bay to calm the temps. Gardening there was easy, it felt like there was barely any pressure, and I grew confident (smug?) In my gardening. Then I moved 90 minutes north to the center of Sacramento Valley. And while this region is known as the Bread Bowl of the US for the dominance of farming, the climate is so different from where I came from that my first few years of gardening were near total failure (turns out, you actually have to water daily when summers have regular 110 degree days!) I had a long work commute, and my marriage was falling apart, and so the heartbreak of failed gardens was too much for me at the time. I gave up. Fast forward 8 years, the marriage ended, now working from home, and COVID quarantine hits. In the stillness and solitude that followed, I turned back towards the garden. Not out of fear of scarcity, but out of the abundance of time and gratitude for the stillness. The need to put my hands to something life-giving and beautiful. To "grow something lovely." It was then that I found Jess, Googling around for vertical gardening tips, and have been here ever since. And you know what I discovered? My mindset had shifted, had humbled. No longer carrying the expectation of easy success, i got curious about what it means to garden well in this region. I started approaching it as a student again, doing experiments and slowly learning from failure and success alike. And I've had many failures since that resurrected garden I planted in 2020. But each season, more success. And what I know now to be true is that I am not someone trying to get food out of my yard. I am a woman in a deep, committed relationship with the land I live on, willing to listen and follow her lead, through success and failure alike.
Hello HeartScapes ReiKi, My name is Dani. I separated from my husband of 20 years, 1 year ago. I left a home of gardens of many plants. You inspire me. Thank you.
@@danihuff3389 Thank you for replying Dani. What a time of transition you're in, and a brave choice. Breathing with you in it, and envisioning the gardens you'll grow in the soil of this new life.
I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses... or maybe the tomatoes! It's a wonderful thing to stand in a garden and listen to God.
I am in Arizona, zone 9b. When I moved into my home it was all rock and mud. Arizona folks like lots of rock. I followed along for about two months and started watching others who were gardening. I had five tons of rock removed, underneath it was black plastic, and then more rock. I kept at it and got my first wood chip delivery four years ago. I hand-watered everything for the first three years, in the winter and summer, where temperatures are 100 or more for several months at a time. I would be sweating awful, and people would ask how I could do it. I felt if I was that hot, imagine how hot my poor plants were that had to stay out there all day. That is how I could do it, I learned compassion for my plants. Now my yard is full of worms and I can grow almost anything. I have tropical trees growing, fresh fruit, and vegetables. I am going to be 64 this month and the last four years have been some of my absolute favorites.
I started growing as a senior citizen. Lots of trial and error, but finally had a real harvest last year. In expectation of success, I bought the largest chest type freezer I could. By the end of summer it was full! Don’t give up folks and don’t think you are too old to start. BTW, programs like R&R and many other provide so much encouragement, but you have to get past watching and start doing - get out there folks!
Love this Diane, one of my fav comment-stories on here 🤩 what a fabulous act of faith, buying the freezer. I love it! ❤️❤️❤️ I'm into about my 3rd year and may need a chest-freezer next year.
Thank you Jess for having the heart of a teacher. My first experience with an heirloom tomato was with a Black Krim eight years ago. After that first bite, I was hooked. It was several years of trial and error growing a garden, until I found Roots and Refuge. Now years later, I grow way too many varieties of tomatoes. Being inspired by the tomatoes led to growing all sorts of food and every year I challenge myself to try new vegetables. Gardening for me is therapy. The challenge keeps me motivated and the food inspires me to keep growing it. It is after all what generations did, and history has shown that it has been often necessary to grow gardens. This is not a quick race but a marathon and each year I am impressed with how much more I accomplish in the garden. Gardening has taught me so much about life. This is why I think God wanted us connected to our food, to teach us to trust and rely on Him and not ourselves. For you newbies the journey awaits, take that leap and jump in. Start no matter how small, keeping in mind you can build a little each season.
I started my gardening journey in 2020 like most people, but I have learned so much in just three years that I'm now helping family, friends, and neighbors put in their first gardens. Im also helping people get into chickens for the first time. I started my journey because of my passion for growing things and to help my great grandparents eat better food, and since then I've built a garden at their house. I go over there and help manage it, but seeing their joy as they pull a tomato for the first time in 60 or more years is so... special. I'm able to help them eat better, but I'm also helping to spread the love that is gardening. I'm not the best by any means, but I looking into problems and come up with a solution. Let me also mention, I garden organically, I don't spray anything at all on my garden, and last year I had bees sleeping on my plants at night, and butterflies beyond count, and yes.... even spiders. But I built them a refuge and they put down their roots and stayed awhile. Thank you for everything you do Jess!
I'm helping my partner's grandparents by ordering seeds and growing tomato&pepper starts for them. I cannot describe the excitement and joy on his grandmother's face, when I showed her 250-300 varieties of tomato seeds to choose from. Unfortunately I have lost all four of my grandparents, so I'm trying to do whatever I can to help them just as I wish I could have done with my own family. ❤️🌱
@Meli Kert That's awesome!! My great grandmother was shocked at all of the tomatoes varieties too, lol. I'm sure they appreciate the help also! Your grandparents are watching over you and watching all of your accomplishments! They would be proud!
Jess, you speak so much truth talking about the anxiety, depression on top of just feeding you and your family. Gardening is healing me on a myriad of levels and will be healing my family on a physical level as much as possible. My husband has so many health problems stemming from diabetes and is a below the knee amputee. He is not able to do a lot anymore so this is something he can help with since he can do the plants in pots on our deck. THANK YOU for all you and Miah do!
I was in my city house for 10 years telling myself I'd grow a garden someday when we had some acreage. There was too much shade on our property was my excuse. When 2020 happened, I decided to start using "my waiting room as my classroom" and found 48 square feet by my front sidewalk that got some afternoon/evening sun and filled it with food plants and flowers. By the next summer, God gave us a half acre of land and I'm growing as much as I can stuff into the ground 💚💚💚 I'm so glad I got started with what I had 🌱🌱
My grandfather was a farmer and I have always felt a need to grow things. I love the smell of the earth, the plants, even the animals. As a kid I remember grandpa driving by other farms and telling me to take a deep breath. Aaaaahhhh, I will never forget the smells. I now have a small garden but I try to cram as much as I can of all the things I love and want to feed my family. Thanks for sharing Jess!
I adore the smell of well-fertilized and healthy rich soil. It makes my soul happy. Somebody should bottle the smell of fresh-turned earth after the rain.
My mom was always a gardener, so I grew up digging up worms from the compost pile. The only food we grew was herbs and Serrano peppers, but I’ll always remember how much flavor was in those peppers. Back in 2020 I was 25. My partner and I had just moved into our first house and were very busy getting things fixed and cleaned. We put a few plants by the front door. Everything was demolished by deer and pocket gophers. In 2021 I grew tons of greens in pots on our balcony. In 2022 I experimented with and successfully grew herbs by the front door. My partner is finishing up building a greenhouse. This year I’m going to build raised beds lined with hardware cloth to keep out the pocket gophers. My partner wants to put up fencing to keep the deer out and I’m going to put electric fencing to keep bears out. Next he also wants to build a chicken coop. I can’t wait to start chickens for the compost material. Eventually I want alpacas and he wants horses!
I needed this pep talk. You, Luke, and Eric all taught me how to garden in 2020. I’ll be forever grateful. And you’re right, it’s not just about the harvest. The community I gained might be the best part!🥰
Hi Jess, I’ve watched your videos since before the pandemic. I started gardening because of you. Almost gave up, but because you told us that we might fail and want to give up I didn’t give up. Not as successful as I’d like to be but much better than when I first started. Yes everyone should start now. Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing and I am happy to do the same. I actually started out with house plants because my mother always had a house full of them and it was so relaxing and beautiful. She also had an amazing yard. Once I got a house of my own, I grew some herbs and tomatoes in pots because it felt so cool to have the space to do so. When I realized how good they tasted, and could use my whole yard, there was no looking back, bye bye grass!. You get hooked for sure and then when you realize you are feeding your family, it is amazing. You'd be surprised what you can do to with even a very small space. And I have neighbors who cooperatively share and trade. The world is good !
Thank you so much for this video! I’m living proof that if you’ve never gardened or planted anything and if you’re planting seeds with no knowledge, you will fail! I started about 10-12 years ago and the first couple years were ruff and not much was harvested. But my soul was healed, and I found myself and had many talks with my Father above and here on earth. Some of my best memories was learning to garden as an adult with my very knowledgeable father. Last year I had an abundance of harvest so much that I was able to donate many tomatoes and peppers to a local food pantry. I also canned sauce, paste, ketchup, juice, whole and diced tomatoes, salsa, and bbq sauce. It is very rewarding on many different levels when you’re able to plant a seed and get the best tasting food you put in your mouth. Our Father is amazing! More should get to know him! God is good! Again, thank you for sharing with us.
Hi Jessica, this is my experience As a Dutch women I studied agriculture for six years In the Netherlands it was pretty easy with my knowledge and enthousiasmen over there to grow a garden BUT NOW Maaamamia I live on Crete Island Greece and a long story short after 7 years losing every garden each year I'm now on a point sooooooo Hippy Happy my soil that I build my chickens the compost proces the situation of my garden and last the most important the water I can say that my system finally works After that huge learning proces and didn't give up I have had dreams you can not imagine every year but it failed This year my dreams are even bigger and my vision just as I have Fun,work with my body and I'm outside connected with the power nature is every day You are right the harvest is not the most important it's the Path you put your first steps on
I have also experienced a learning curve after moving to a new area. So happy to hear about how you persisted and now you are finding success. Keep it up!
I'm about to take a similar journey moving from the swamp in Virginia to the top of the Mountains. We are buying a family camp up in the mountains and will be there most weekends and during holidays... until my husband retires. So I'm first going to set up orchards and berry patches, then stock a pond, then I'm going to set up several acres of open pollinated pumpkin, winter squash, sunflowers, melons and just let them self seed. I'll set up a few raised beds of garlic, onion and other low maintenance long growing crops... maybe some bush beans. Definitely getting a medicine garden started and some mushroom stands. Mostly edible permaculture landscape until I can be there full time to tend to livestock and develop more. We are so excited!
When I was working, I am now retired, we had a small garden. Once retired we knew we would be expanding it to grow more food to be able to preserve more food. So during the last five years of my working life I started buying things: canners, canning jars, dehydrator, hand tools, and all kinds of books on gardening and food preservation...but most importantly I gathered knowledge....watching growers like Jess provides a huge FREE education. I did what Jess teaches and I turned my waiting room into a class room. Once we expanded our garden I wanted to influence others to start gardening so I showed both the garden successes and failures on my Facebook page. My sister now grows in a greenstalk, my brother is retiring this year and starting a small garden, and a friend has three raised beds and grows what she can and cans a ton of food purchased from local farmers. Don't wait...start now. The taste is phenomenal and when you feed your family that first meal with homegrown food on their plates...well...I'm not going to tell you how it makes me feel...you need to grow your own and experience it yourself. Just. Grow. Something.
it was last a little over a year ago that i discovered your channel and then this past summer i started my first garden!! i have fallen in love with plants so much that i’ve actually switched my major to sustainable horticulture! you have effected so many people in such a positive way, thank you jess 🥰💘
I cannot praise this video enough on the importance of starting to learn how to grow food. It is so smart, even if you don’t have your dream garden situation to just plant some thing. I’m currently living in a city with only a quarter of an acre of land, including my house on that land. Start with pots, start with one raised bed, start with a indoor hydroponic system that you build from random parts at Lowe’s. Just get started and then continue to learn and build on your dream. I started my journey of my very first plant in an apartment on my balcony. I now have 16 raised beds on my quarter of an acre with dreams of a 10 to 15 acre property eventually. Just grow, just learn.
I’ve been gardening, for 40yrs… as soon as I could pick up a garden tool I was gardening with my mother and grandmother. When I bought my first home,it became a passion. Five years ago I decided to start selling seedlings out of my backyard, because gardening is infectious! grow some thing for the sake of watching a seed sprout, and grow big and produce flowers then fruit. What a beautiful process to watch the lifecycle of a plant. to enjoy those little Goldstar moments, where you are rewarded. Happy gardening, all!
I’m starting for the first time this spring. I am beyond excited. I’ve been preparing since spring of last year. I’ve done tons of research, watched all the RUclips videos and probably every single one of yours, and read books. I know I’ll still fail a lot, but I love learning. I started this because I want to get back to a simpler life, and be as self sufficient as possible. I have big dreams and this is just the beginning.
@@turtle2212 I can’t wait to experience it! Growing food is something I always fantasized about, but never thought I would actually do it. I feel very passionate about it already ❤️
I find every word of this to be so profound and true. I have hardened years ago, quit for many years because of massive lifestyle changes, and just began again last year with a few plants on my deck and a small herb garden. We live in 7.5 acres of heavily wooded forest, but this year about one acre is being cleared for a large raised bed garden. I need this back in my life. Thanks for the encouragement Jess!
Hi Jess you encouraged your listeners to comment on gardening so here goes. I am in the process of planning my 52nd year of gardening. My mother got me started as a kid in the raspberry and strawberry patch. My garden is quite small 30’X25’ but each year filled to the brim! This may have once been a hobby but, really has turned into a job of preserving so much produce it’s incredible. I would agree with what you are encouraging first time gardeners to do “just start.” There now is so much information out there to help solve most problems, in comparison to when I started years ago. I feel so “Blessed” to be able to continue to do as much as I can. As I look at the snow banks here in the Dakota’s and seed packets arriving in the mail, I hope for another wonderful growing season at your new farm, and to old and new gardeners alike, the garden will soon be calling. Happy Planting’
Hey Sharon, I'm in South Dakota and I started a garden last year. Jess is SO RIGHT that you have to start making your mistakes before it really counts. I didn't have that wisdom, of course. I started growing for more food security...and then discovered in the process that I love gardening! I have a lot of failures under my belt, a lot of seeds and seedling that didn't make it. But I tried my hand at 30 different crops and boy, did I pull up hundreds and hundreds of thistles. The tomatoes did great, and I got a big squash yield despite having to contend with the squash bugs. I had so many spaghetti squash that I ended up burying (trench composting) in the garden the ones that went soggy in my garage. I grew calendula and marigold, too, which did well and brought so much joy. I planted pear trees, elderberry and currants. My children loved pulling up carrots, and I had a green chili pepper plant that was particularly prolific (I can't take credit for growing it from seed, though. I got it from the nursery). I froze a ton and am still enjoying those in pasta. My biggest challenge going forward is keeping the soil covered when it gets so darn windy. Do I lay down more wood chips? I only started with a thin layer -- it's all I could get my hands on. Then again, I don't like how they constantly fall into the rooting zone when I'm planting, and how they blow into my rows of tiny seedlings and cover them. Any advice is welcome!
My grandma taught me. I was drawn to it at an early age but wasn’t able to plant anything until I was in my 20’s. I’m my 30’s I started a vegetable garden and in my 40’s I expanded it with my kids and taught them. It brings me so much joy to look at it and see what my kids and I created. It gives me joy teaching them farm to table cooking. We have learned so much together and love how much we’ve been able to do together. I’ll never move unless my kids help me build another garden.
Listening to you as I am sorting my seeds and cleaning up the saved seeds from this past year. I started with tomatoes because I remember walking through the tomato patch as a kid. Still love the smell of them. I am doing more landscaping food planting this year. Kale in the rose bed, onions lining the front bed under the bushes. Short on space? find those places you can underplant food.
My husband and I moved into his grandfather's home (after he moved to a nursing home) when we were in our early 20's. The 1/2 acre property was crammed full of fruit trees, vegetable garden beds, blueberries, several varieties of cane berries etc. We had very little money and were motivated to make use of the bounty. Once we began learning and growing we never looked back. In our late sixties now, we continue to grow as much as we can. In fact we expanded our vegetable garden last fall and can't wait to get seeds in the ground this spring. As for the superiority of homecooked meals from the garden - I couldn't agree more! Restaurant meals are a rare event for us now and we often end those meals feeling a bit (or a lot) disappointed and many dollars lighter. I will always be grateful for that early ready-made garden - all we had to do was learn by trial and error each season. There is nothing better than hands in dirt and fresh food from your own happy labor.
I started gardening in 2020 in a townhouse. All in containers. Had extreme success. Last year was my hardest growing season but still was able to help save money by growing.
Hi Jess!!I live in a small city. I rent a small house with not very much land to garden. But that didn't stop me from growing food. I'm growing in containers and I have a raised bed in the back yard. By the end of the summer last year we had a small greenhouse. Actually 1 real small greenhouse and then a bit bigger one. We expanded and this year I'm hoping to do a little bit more. My landlord said we inspired everyone in the park here to start growing something. I'm excited to start this year.Lots of learning to do!!!
Hi!I have been gardening for over 15 years now. In Alaska, my seasons are a you have explained! Ha ha, and my own mistakes over the years too. I absolutely fell in love with gardening as a child, picking tomatoes off of my grandfather's plants in his garden. I agree with what you say in your videos. It's a labor of love and worth it! I have been following your channel for years Jess, because I just love your enthusiasm and know how. I enjoy your personality as much as I enjoy gardening! Thank you for bringing me along on all your adventures!
I grew up watching my grandmother in her flower beds and my grandfather in his garden. They made it look so easy. Ive tried gardening several times at different addresses (I rent), and even had one landlord tell me that I couldnt have a garden anymore because it was ugly🙄. So I had just about given up because the bugs, the weeds, and tomato black rot seemed to alwsys win. Then about four years ago I had been watching Charles Dowding's channel about no dig...Wow! I could do that...but I got discouraged because I still couldn't keep up with the weeds and me and heat were not good together. The next year I saw Jess's channel. She showed me how to love to garden! I didnt end up canning a ton that year, but I ate out of the garden all summer and it was just beautiful!🌺🦋💜😭 I actually made a thank you video for Jess on my channel so you can see the garden. Im so excited every year now for spring! Thanks Jess..again and again!💜🌻🌻🌻🌻
Thank you Jess. My wish is for so many to just start like Jess says. You will experience such joy and a peace inside that you just don’t know until you feel it. If anyone has anxiety or depression of any sort, gardening is like a meditation and brightens your spirit and feeds your soul as well as your family
80 yr old gardener blessed to find a young girl who shares my philosophy on gardening and life I feel a beautiful connection listening to your videos bless you 🙏👍
I don't think it could be said any better. I can't believe how different I feel when I'm gardening and out in the sun. It's so special being out there and watching the changes everyday!! And yes so extremely rewarding and peaceful!!! I love listening to my gardener you tube "friends" and seeing all your wins and losses as well. I learn so so much!!! Thank you! Gardeners rock!!! 😁🥰 We grew this, we loved it, we believed in it!!
Hey Jess, I have had multiple surgeries. One lumbar fusion was done so close to planting time it caused me to have to crawl around on my hands and knees to plant the garden that year. Adapt and overcome. A knee replacement made kneeling impossible that year so I had to find ways around that with raising beds to 2-3 feet tall which I continued over several years up to now. A neck fusion, another knee replacement and another lumbar fusion. All these caused more need to change how I was doing things. More of the adapt and overcome activity. I have learned the meaning of having a time out and having the brakes applied to my dreams and plans. For his reasons God has had this as part of my plan. By the way every single surgery was 100% successful but there was a change in limitations afterwards. So I do as I can and I thank God for every day I can. When I can do this or that it is like a reward but when the stamina runs out then it is time to find other things to do that are productive. Let the joy of what you can do and praise God for that and give it more of your attention than what you can not do. Don't let the voice of the deceiver tell you that you can't do this or that. Listen to the voice of truth because God wants you to be productive and successful and he will bless you in your efforts.
@@karenm5681 When I was a boy my mom would get furious whenever she heard I can't. She would stop what ever she was doing and go help you get it done so you could never say that again!!! When I joined the Army our Company Commander told us we were in the can do army. You can do what I tell you or You can get out. Either way You can.
The green side. I love it! :) We moved into this house 5 years ago. And I KNEW in my heart that my goal was to finally have a garden. Life had been so crazy for so many years that I just needed to get that balance right and get my hands in the dirt. Along the way, no matter where we lived, I planted something, even if it was just the hen and chicks that came from my great grandma 20 years ago, or the ditch lilies that lived in a pot on my front porch, always coming back each year without fail. Something was growing. Now, 5 years in, this will be my 5th garden, and from the second we moved into this house, we tackled it with fervor. The first year, I could not even see the neighbor's backyards because of all the overgrowth. We DUG and DUG and DUG to get the land cleared, we tarped for the winter where we wanted the beds to be. I planted flowers that filled my space, and gave me time to get my hands dirty. The next spring, we made raised beds and I got to growing. The first year was a great productive year, we had lots of fun stuff happening, but we also had lots of loss in trying to figure out the best practices. I can't even tell you how much google has been my friend, or RUclips has supplied me with invaluable information from people like Jess, who have so much more experience in today's time. I've learned so much, I'm still learning so much. It is possible, and it is easy, and it is a labor of love, and it is a passion, and it doesn't take much. We are still working on being resourceful and not spending a lot of money to make this happen, and so far, it is working, my garden keeps growing year to year. This year I have a full 1/8 acre devoted to just food production, my lot is a half acre in the city. In 3 more years, I hope to be moved to 1/4 of an acre, but really, all in all, the space doesn't matter, I annually grow at least $1500 worth of produce in my garden to feed us. I expect that number to only rise. That's money I didn't need to spend at the store on something that just doesn't have the same flavor as what comes from my space. I will be 50 this year, and I only wish that my life had been more stable to be able to start this when I was 20, as I can only imagine where I'd be at this point. Thank you Jess for being a constant reminder, and source of knowledge, for me, for our community, for the new and the old growers, the lovers of dirt and good food. You are very much loved and appreciated!
I’m 68 years old and have had gardens on and off my whole life. My husband and I have plots in a community garden in our neighborhood. We can’t dig in our back yard but the gardens are down the street and we are there almost everyday in the growing season. It bonds us. It heals us. And there is no better way to enjoy food than to grow it yourself. Yes it is hard work and sometimes it overwhelms but we just put our head down and keep gardening. I must say that Jess has given me a Mantra to live by when years ago she told the story of an overgrown garden that she was wanting to give up on. Her mother told her get out there even if it’s overgrown and you will find food and life. Seeds and gardens want to grow. Partnering with the growing life force of nature is so satisfying. Thank you Jess for gentle nudge and downright joy of taking us along in your garden.
I started gardening at the early age of 12, I am now 67. You would think that I'd be better at this than I am, however, I took the easy way out! As a child, we always purchased our tomatoes and pepper plants at a garden center. So for years and years I did what I was taught....until I found your VLOG on tomatoes! I couldn't get enough....I have started my own peppers and tomatoes for the past 3 years (sad to say, should have been 20 years, just a slow learner) The knowledge was not available like it is today. I love RUclips. I have learned so much from your vlog...you are amazing and I watch everything you put out for us to see. I agree that people NEED to grow anything they have room for and they would be thrilled at the taste of "real" food. I've been canning as long as I've been gardening, I have this process down to an art. Just to look at the beauty that is in those jars is so satisfying, the taste is even better! People....please start NOW and learn the process....there is NOTHING better than getting a little dirt under your finger nails for the taste of some great food!
Your channel is one of my favorites. Inspiring, informative and community oriented and supportive of others, non competitive with other you tube creators and no drama! Thank you!!
I'd like to encourage others to consider growing in containers! I have a relatively large yard (for my neighborhood) but the back yard is heavily wooded - therefor, not much sun. This will be my 3rd year of growing a bunch of stuff in containers in my driveway. Thankfully, the HOA has looked the other way. 😅 So to Jess's point - don't wait until you have space for your dream garden. Start with what you have now and reap the many rewards!!
I started gardening in a couple small pots on my apartment balcony about 4 years ago, upgraded a couple years ago in our suburban back yard, and this year is our first year now on 11 acres with plenty of room to grow a garden. Excited to continue this journey and grateful for all I’ve learned over the years Jess!
Its taken me nearly a decade to get where I am as a gardener. But I've grown in almost every aspect of my life from the wisdom and lessons I've learned in my garden.
I too go into many sites and just observe and many times don’t comment. It is very interesting and at times worrisome some of the views by vloggers and subscribers. It explains some of the issues we are seeing in the U.S. today. I was hoping that the troubles reported in main media would not follow into homesteaders, but unfortunately many bring these issues along with their chickens and cows. I salute those RUclipsrs that strictly stay with the homestead theme as that is the reason why many of us watch in the first place and why we got rid of cable tv.
The absolute peace through hard work in the garden is an amazing thing. Something about hands in dirt in itself is healing. If anyone is on the fence about gardening, just do it. The whole body health peace you will feel cannot be described.
My husband found Jess on YT in the spring of 2020 to help me find solutions to cage my many tomato plants. We saw how she used cattle panels in her garden with such success and ease. He quickly picked up several panels and installed them in my 24’x48’ garden. They worked wonderfully! This year I plan to add a few more. It is so much easier to have permanent fixtures in the garden than those flimsy cages that need to be stored over the winter. I am thankful for my wonderful man that always helped me in my endeavors. Thank you Jess for inspiring us and showing solutions! I praise Jesus for the bounty on the table. ❤
I started three years ago, my first year my expectations were wayyy to high, then I found this channel and the inspiration to use my passion and excitement and now I’m able to offset some of the grocery costs. Biggest advice is to expect to fail, there are no black thumbs only green thumbs needing to rinsed. You got this
"Don't grow a garden, become a gardener", another insightful saying from you added to my list! I've been gardening for 10+ years but I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents as a child. They always had a beautiful garden every year! They have since passed but I often hope they are proud of me as a gardener :) One of my favourite things about gardening is getting to taste what a fruit/veggie should really taste like. It's amazing how easy it is to get kids to eat their vegetables when they are fresh from the garden!
I have been following you for years and still, even today, you are saying what I believe and living the way I’ve wanted to live for years. Thank you for sharing your home, gardening practices and knowledge. I too, cannot stand eating at restaurants when food from what I can grow at home tastes infinitely better. You are one of my gardening teachers and I thank you. Peace.
Thank you so much for sharing Jess! I am a young adult who has been struggling with anxiety since childhood. The garden has been an increasingly way of giving me a peace throughout the craziness, along with the Lord’s help ❤️
I have been married 20 years, and we have always grown whatever we can. Many of those years we were apartment dwellers and grew on windowsills or with grow lights. About 8 years ago we were able to sign up for a community garden plot, and we have learned so much through trial and error. The biggest wisdom earned so far is that by planting a diverse collection of plants, we can have success. Some years the weather is terrible for one thing, the next year it might be our biggest producer. We do it for the love of the dirt and the joy of the harvest! Thanks for your perspective, Jess!
I’m not religious, but gardening is so spiritual for me. Watching things grow gives me so much joy! And learning from my environment, what works and doesn’t. I’m addicted! And how to be better at it is a purpose for me. I just love it!
My husband and I have just discovered your videos, and we are so grateful that we did. This is our second year in our first home, and this year is our first year growing a garden. This affirmed and stated so profoundly what gardening can do us, feeding our bodies and our souls! Thank you for the positive content you produce and for being an uplifting voice in a dark world!
This will be my 6th year gardening. I began doing research on nutrition and learning how manipulative the corporate enterprise that controls our food supply was forced me into honesty!!! We began traditional style in the ground and in 2020 The Lord brought me to Jess 🙌🏻♥️🙌🏻 we have built 3 4x20 beds since & the education continues 😊 Thank You Jess for sharing your experiences, life’s challenges/rewards and your beautiful heart with us!!! God Bless Y’all ♥️🙏🏻♥️
I’ve gardened on and off for over 30 years. My favorite thing to do, is go out early in the morning with my coffee and “watch” my plants grow. The produce is so flavorful and it’s difficult to go back to buying my produce from the store. I’m planning a fairly large garden this year and I’m getting excited….it’ll be awhile since I live in Minnesota. I’m actually going out to Washington state next month to help my best friend start growing some greens and tomatoes, it’ll be fun. Thank you Jess, you are such a blessing. I so enjoy your devotionals and watching your videos. So enjoyable.
For seven years, my waiting room was my classroom and Jess and a small handful of others were my teachers. Everything she has said here is true. I moved from CO to TN for the express purpose of having a farm. And while there is some bridging of data aquired to implementation, I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for the things I learned while waiting. Last year, our harvest waa so abundant I could not keep up. New skills in food preservation had to be learned…and quick! Our rabbits and chickens ate like kings! We shared tons of food with our friend and family. But the reward came. Keep to it, don’t give up! Keep learning and grow with that garden! You won’t regret it!
One of the best videos. Ever. I grew up with my parents always doing a garden, every year. I HATED IT. The feeling of weeds and bugs on my sweating legs drove me mad. It stuck with me to the point I refused to garden into adulthood. I didn’t want anything to do with it. It took stumbling onto one of Jessica’s videos see see gardening differently and see I could do it in raised beds and not have to garden like my parents did. That was 2 years ago. I’ve been a gardener for 2 years now, going into my 3rd growing season and I am so abundantly greatful for my parents making me garden as a child because it gave me a leg up when I decided I wanted to grow my own garden.
Jess, you are so motivating. I love following you on this journey, building your homestead, growing your garden, building your business. As you share, you truly bless others. Thank you so much.
Three years ago while we were all shut down, I found you and your family. It was not only a blessing but a huge source of knowledge. Gardening has become a passion for me. Most of my conversations with family Around the table starts with how is the garden? They get to eat many of its bounty. Even the family learns from our conversations. I just wish Id have a larger space to sow more seeds and watch them grow and provide more delicious fruits and vegetables . I live in Florida, so many tropical veggies and fruits are able to grow here. My 5 banana plants are loaded right now. Perhaps later on a bigger land area can happen. Real estate in my state is very high, so…. Next year, it will finally be a reality for us. Not losing hope. I feel it in my heart. Working to get there. I’m in the waiting room.
You are so wise and have the ability to share your passion. We 70+ and have raised food to eat, preserve and share with family and friends. Now we garden small scale but the joy is still there. Ok, I do get miffed when the rabbits eat my beets but revel in the beautiful zinnias to bring into my home. Thanks so much for your hard work and passion. 🎉
I started gardening as a child with my grandmother. She watched us while my parents worked. I would be outside with her all day. She had fruit trees, strawberry patch, and a huge garden. Now I have my own raised bed garden! It is my peace when I’m out there. I love your videos, because it’s not always about how to garden but the experience of gardening. How it makes you feel and I love that Jess!!💕💕
Joyous -- for me, the experience of gardening, both in the successes and the failures, is just joyous. It's the process of thinking about the garden, starting seeds, amending and preparing the soil for planting, putting seedlings in the ground (I'm a northern gardener so most of what we grow, we grow from seedlings), staking and providing support, watering, pruning and watching things grow. Pulling a weed or two every time I go out to the garden helps keep those under control and the whole process is just joyous. I'm with Jess on this one: just plant something. Watch, learn and feel the joy.
Spring 2020. After watching a gazillion of your videos. That's when I started. Now, both myself and my husband are gardening and canning together and we LOVE it! Food grown and prepared with love is infinitely more devious and nutritious than anything you can get in a store. If anyone reading this hasn't started growing food, start it this year! Even if it's just a 4x4 bed of salad greens. You won't regret it.
I didn't know anything about gardening, but I stumbled accrossed this channel, and some of the other lovely gardening channels here on yt. I fell in love with the garden and now, 4 years later, I'm offering a small csa to friends and family. It wouldn't be possible with out the knowledge, support and perspective of this community. Thank you!!
This is a great presentation and makes us all reflect on why we love gardening. Here’s my nerdy way of describing my gardening: I feel like the conductor of a beautiful symphony as I pick the perfect time to start each seedling, turn the compost, shift the growlights, open the cold frame to cool the temperature, transplant the broccoli, prune a tomato plant, plant some flowers, pollinate blossoms. The symphony starts out slowly, deliberately…then flits from high notes to staccato. During the peak of summer all the instruments are blaring with harmonious melodies, cymbals crashing… and I the conductor and waving my arms, hair flailing as each section comes to maturity. I get so much joy from every aspect, every task, and especially seeing all my beloved children fill the measure of their creation.
Jess you would make the most incredible sales woman! You make me fall in love with gardening just buy hearing you. You make it sound so romantic and yet honest. ❤
I had grown small gardens and potted porch tomatoes off and on until 2019. That is when we found R&R and I was immediately drawn to Jess. I watched so many vlogs and couldn't wait for the next...My husband and I would exclaim "There's a new Roots!" when we would get the notification! December of 2019 we started looking for our forever home and some property. A few months in, Covid hit and grounded everything. That's when my waiting room turned into a classroom. I absorbed everything I could and found so many inspirational people that had a language that spoke directly to my heart. We were blessed to eventually find our homestead and moved in November of 2020. Our first full blown garden was started by seeds grown in our basement. We had a few raised beds and a massive 24ft tomato bed. It grew so lovely even though we had many failures. Despite those failures, we stayed true to what we held in our hearts and poured into it all we could. We are heading in to year three with close to 800 sq ft of growing space with plans to build and install two more raised beds, a no till three sisters garden and a pumpkin patch. I find so much joy in the harvest and the garden has become my dirt church. Thank you Jess for sowing that into my heart. 💚
Thank you! I soooooo appreciate YOU! My husband and I are just getting started with gardening. You are changing our lives with each of your videos. Thank you for the encouragement, the guidance, and sharing the love of what you do.
I really needed this video. Thanks! May the Lord continue blessing you and your family. Thank you for reminding me all the whys, and that even facing lots of difficulty, it's still super worthy. Thank you again!
I started gardening several years ago. We were growing more than we could use or give away and have scaled back some, but I still grow quite a variety of vegetables. Last fall was my first experience trying a fall garden and was thrilled with the results of radishes, greens, and some lessons learned for next time. I had missed the window for fall a fall garden a few times before that and felt a great sense of accomplishment that I finally did it. I have been encouraged to do it again this year and better
Hello, I am 62 years old, and I was introduced to gardening when I was 9 years old. I went to visit my great-great grandparents and I walked out to their garden and fell in love. They had green beans higher then 6 feet on trellises. Large tomato's and everything you could think of in their garden. They grew a year worth of food. The two weeks I was there I learned so much. When I got home, I started my garden and never looked back. You are correct, there's no instant gravitation. When you do start picking your own food, that's the self-worth to keep you going. I have had MANY fails, but the next year I remember and do something a little different. Thank you for your wisdom and for sharing.
This is very true I am new first year doing a large scale in ground garden. I was planted my onions and I have rheumatoid arthritis and I was in so much pain. I have been watching you for three years and growing in pots and on small scale for years. I sat in the dirt and cried and asked God to help me because I wanted to take care of my body to feel better and I want this lifestyle. So yes the garden can teach you faith lessons extremely well!
I grew up gardening as a kid. Even though we lived in a city suburb and had less than an acre, we always had a small garden in our backyard. My dad was from a family that had always grown some of their own food and he carried that on when he was growing his own family. So I thought I knew everything there was to know about gardening. I was so wrong. When I started my first garden after getting married, it was in a very different growing zone. It took me a while to figure out what I was doing and what I needed to change about how I was growing food before I was really successful at it. From learning to grow extra sunflowers for the deer so they'd stay out of the other vegetables to figuring out potatoes didn't do that well in the soil that I had, the gardening was full of lessons. After twenty years of growing in that zone, I knew how to garden fairly well. Then we moved. Went from zone 5b to zone 10b! So now, I'm a beginner all over again. It's been an adventure to say the least. I've been growing in zone 10b now for four years and I'm only just now feeling like I'm getting the hang of it. It's so completely different from any gardening I've ever done before. I do have to say growing tomatoes in the winter has been a fun and rewarding experience! But that's one of the things I have always loved about gardening. It's like an adventure. Stepping out into the space where I'm growing food is a happy place that gives me great joy and satisfaction. It's a place where I've learned some valuable lessons in peace and the ability to let go of the things I can't change. Nature has a way of doing that for you. Gardening has taught me how to pivot and move on without getting too hung up in the failures. There's always going to be failures. It's the nature of things when counting on an unreliable and sometimes unpredictable growing partner, and Mother Nature is always unpredictable even as forecasters try to do just that. But the lessons she teaches, carries a person forward and spills into so many other places of their lives that have nothing to do with gardening. At least, they have mine. Gardening is learning to adapt.
Thank you Jess! I don’t know any gardener that has ever had 100% success. I’ve been gardening both veggies & flowers for over 45 years. I still have failures. I can’t grow a parsnip to save my life. Last year not one carrot came up, but I keep planting them, every year. Don’t ever give up.
FACTS!!!💯 what it does for my mental health and peace of mind is so important. I know how I felt before I started and I wouldn't wish that upon anyone!! Everyone should know this level of happiness!!✌❤😁
I have memories from my very young childhood of being in the garden with my Papaw and canning with my Mamaw. I had a small garden here and there as an adult and then about 10 years ago decided to be more dedicated to a garden of my own and growing amazing food but also, and almost more importantly, creating those same memories in the garden for my children. Hopefully instilling a love for gardening in their hearts as well.
As a kid I remember my grandparents growing beans and corn but it wasn’t until 2020 that I myself decided to try gardening. I had no idea how much I would I would love it. We have since completely changed our lives. We moved from a suburb to a ten acre property and now have large garden beds, laying hens and do our own meat chickens. I never thought I could do it, since I used to kill every house plant I purchased. But I’m learning and growing- as a gardener and as a person. Watching God do what only He can do with these seeds has grown my faith in addition to my wisdom as a gardener. I bless you, Jess! You were one of my first inspirations to turn my waiting room into a classroom. ❤
This will be my go-to video if anyone asks me " Should I start a garden?" You're a great teacher. I'm 64 and have been a gardener most of my life.This year is different as I'm paying off debts that hindered my ability to buy soil enriching items.2023 is the year of soil for me. We all fail at things, but if at 1st you don't succeed... try,try again.
I restarted gardening last year at 70 years old. I did a lot when I was younger but life and health got in the way. Increasing food prices and bland tasting grocery produce got me back into it. I’m raising my two grandchildren and want them to realize the taste difference of homegrown food.
I’m 71 (or will be in a bit over a week!) and I’ve been gardening for a few years, off and on but with more of a purpose the past few years since 2019. I have made a lot of mistakes but have also had a number of successes. I WISH my grandchildren were close enough for me to teach them all that I have learned in the garden but fortunately, one of my sons-in-law has gotten bitten by the gardening bug and my 16-year-old granddaughter is learning from her dad and I am mentoring him a little. I also have 4 grandkids in Wisconsin so I don’t get to see them very often - but again, my son-in-law - their dad - grows a beautiful diverse garden in that beautiful rich Wisconsin soil and at least one of the children - the youngest - enjoys being in the garden with him.
DJ you are my hero/heroine. I thought my starting to grow food at 51 years old was crazy talk but I did anyway. Now I'm trying to expand my garden and my knowledge. Raising food prices and health has given me the motivation to do the things my dad and grandparents did. Coming from a family of farmers going way back gives me pride not only in what I'm doing but realizing how hard they worked for their families as well. You're doing so much good for your grandchildren.
You're a superhero DJ. 💜💜
@@vlunceford I am lucky enough to garden with my grandson every day. He will be four this spring and I am amazed at how much he has already taken in. Last year he did the garden walk with me every morning checking the plants, harvesting what was ready, watering properly, etc. I bought a seed square to help him with planting, peas are his favorite. He will be a great gardener one day.
DJ, You ripped a page from my book. I'm also 70 years old and garden with my grandson who I'm raising. Bless you, your grandkids, and your garden.
I started growing as a kid, I’m 63. I’ve been in and out based on owning a home. I did great 25 years ago bringing lots of veggies to others I was younger then. In 2019 I came across your channel because I knew I was moving to the country. I made the investment and began to glean from your love of tomatoes. Last season I grew from seedlings. I made lots of mistakes. My peppers never survived but I learned why. But there were nurseries that had seedlings so I threw them in anyway. I had THE BEST TASTING harvest I ever ate. I’ve learned composting which I continue to do. This year I’m going bigger. I’ve already started my winter seed process. With gardening you get to see that the seasons really start sooner and end longer.
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Love this ! I too have been gardening for ever , I became a holistic health coach and at 60 , I can’t wait for each season to begin❤️ I love to grow my herbal “medicine” garden it’s really my tea garden . This should be taught to everyone. It’s such good therapy mentally. And physically. Love is a garden.
I am in Essex England, and 52 years old , never grown anything, tiny garden that we concreted. then I discovered your channel in 2019, I put in a few small raised beds, I bought loads of seeds and LOVE IT. My husband has now started helping because he sees the benefit, not only to our food bills but to my mental health and my faith xx Thankyou Jess for giving me something I that helped me cope with Covid, family loss, stresses of work and general life. you are a total inspiration and I love you and your family x
I learned gardening as a young child in a family of eleven of us. (I was also washing dishes at age five standing on a chair !) Now at age 65, I continue to garden as it brings me such joy. My hope is that many people watch this and start gardening maybe for the first time ! I've always called gardening "therapy" because it truly is nurturing and satisfying to me just to get my hands in the dirt !
This will be my 5th year gardening. I started out with a 5x5 bed and bought plant starts from my local nursery. I grew all the wrong things together at the wrong times that first year. The only thing that I gained from that tiny patch for me was experience and learning a whole lot of what not to do. Each year I learned more and gradually grew more and more food. Now I start my own seeds and preserve my harvest. Don’t ever give up and have faith. You will be a successful gardener. 💚
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I am a disabled College student who just needed an outlet that didn't have anything to do with school and that I could do independently. Gardening was that outlet for me. It truly had been my saving grace over the past couple of years
God bless you Morghan, enjoy your garden!
Well Morghan, well done! I think that deserves a gold star - like Jess said! You should be really proud of yourself. I have learned how to grow plants from watching Laura on Garden Answer, but tomorrow night I am ordering my seeds and growing them in my garden. That is my goal for 2023. Best Wishes, Wendy (North Wales, UK)
I started gardening when I had no idea how a seed grew. We had 4 4x4 squares in the ground. A pumpkin grew up through the fence on the other side, which was a school playground. The children must have watched it grow day by day. Then one day, someone harvested it and put it in our side of the fence. I’m tearing up remembering how amazing that was.
That must have been such a gift to them!!
How sweet ❤️❤️❤️
I’m soon to be 73 and just started gardening in 2020. Have loved the harvests and didn’t realize how good non-grocery store produce tastes. Had to step back and let the garden rest last fall but gearing up to start again with a new spring garden. It’s my happy place. You Luke and Eric played a huge role also for me getting started at this late stage in my life
I too am almost 73 and LOVE growing things. My father was a gardener who grew the majority of the food we ate. Now my 3 sisters and I all garden. I really got started 2 years ago when I went part-time at my job and it's been so therapeutic and fun (although a lot of work
Sorry, I'm better digging in the dirt than using technology. Just wanted to say "Go for it". I am wanting to start a group of ladies gardening no matter their experience so they can experience the joy it brings. Jess, you inspire me!!!
My first garden plan I made in 2019 has "JUST DO IT" scrawled across the top of the page. It was late in the season here, July, and I started some things from seed even though I was scared. We harvested SO MUCH food from that little bit of ambition I mustered up, and we harvested even more wisdom. The rest is history. ♡♡♡
You encouraged me then and you encourage me now. THANK YOU JESS!
Got a tomato story for you🤗.
I've only been growing a garden for 4 years, so still lots to learn.
My neighbor, an experienced garden, loves tomatoes but his wife doesn't.
She is a chef at a local restaurant. She took ALL of his tomatoes to work and used them in her dishes. The customers LOVED THEM! He was not happy he didn't get even one!
I had a good harvest that year so I went next door to share. Nobody was home so I left a HUGE tomato on the porch railing. They went to visit family the next day and took that tomato.
They all said it was the best tomato they ever had. They named it the 'mystery tomato' bc he wasn't sure where it came from 😁.
Btw- the variety is actually called Delicious. They don't lie. They get really big as well. Highly recommend.
Loved reading this little story. Made me chuckle. So awesome that they enjoyed that little mystery that you gave to them.
This will be my 4th year really gardening on a big scale. I started 10 years ago with one raised bed and a couple bags of soil, just putting seeds in the ground, and pulling up tiny carrots and wondering why the radish greens got so tall. I tried again a few years later with some squash, and I was super confused why they didn’t really grow and were covered in “weird beetles”. Now I have a 1/2 acre garden, growing enough produce to share and sell. I’m devoting space to cut flowers this year and have 300 tomato plants going. (Thank you Jess!!!)
If you are on the fence about starting, just hop over. We’re here to welcome you on the green side!!! 💚💚🌱🌱
Fantastic thank you for sharing and congratulation. 🤩
YES! The distinction between 'becoming a gardener' and 'growing a garden' - i dig it (puns!). When you *become* something the emphasis is on the skill, the knowledge, not the end product. So if and when that end product is a disappointment, it doesn't mean you are the disappointment. Man do I feel this!
Seasoned gardener here, and I'm in complete agreement with the way you've prioritized these points 💗 Wanted to share my failure/success story in case it helps anyone. I learned to garden in the Bay Area of California, a region that has mild winters and relatively cool summers, with plenty of fog off the Bay to calm the temps. Gardening there was easy, it felt like there was barely any pressure, and I grew confident (smug?) In my gardening.
Then I moved 90 minutes north to the center of Sacramento Valley. And while this region is known as the Bread Bowl of the US for the dominance of farming, the climate is so different from where I came from that my first few years of gardening were near total failure (turns out, you actually have to water daily when summers have regular 110 degree days!) I had a long work commute, and my marriage was falling apart, and so the heartbreak of failed gardens was too much for me at the time. I gave up.
Fast forward 8 years, the marriage ended, now working from home, and COVID quarantine hits. In the stillness and solitude that followed, I turned back towards the garden. Not out of fear of scarcity, but out of the abundance of time and gratitude for the stillness. The need to put my hands to something life-giving and beautiful. To "grow something lovely." It was then that I found Jess, Googling around for vertical gardening tips, and have been here ever since.
And you know what I discovered? My mindset had shifted, had humbled. No longer carrying the expectation of easy success, i got curious about what it means to garden well in this region. I started approaching it as a student again, doing experiments and slowly learning from failure and success alike. And I've had many failures since that resurrected garden I planted in 2020. But each season, more success.
And what I know now to be true is that I am not someone trying to get food out of my yard. I am a woman in a deep, committed relationship with the land I live on, willing to listen and follow her lead, through success and failure alike.
Hello HeartScapes ReiKi, My name is Dani. I separated from my husband of 20 years, 1 year ago. I left a home of gardens of many plants. You inspire me. Thank you.
@@danihuff3389 Thank you for replying Dani. What a time of transition you're in, and a brave choice. Breathing with you in it, and envisioning the gardens you'll grow in the soil of this new life.
I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses... or maybe the tomatoes! It's a wonderful thing to stand in a garden and listen to God.
I am in Arizona, zone 9b. When I moved into my home it was all rock and mud. Arizona folks like lots of rock. I followed along for about two months and started watching others who were gardening. I had five tons of rock removed, underneath it was black plastic, and then more rock. I kept at it and got my first wood chip delivery four years ago. I hand-watered everything for the first three years, in the winter and summer, where temperatures are 100 or more for several months at a time. I would be sweating awful, and people would ask how I could do it. I felt if I was that hot, imagine how hot my poor plants were that had to stay out there all day. That is how I could do it, I learned compassion for my plants. Now my yard is full of worms and I can grow almost anything. I have tropical trees growing, fresh fruit, and vegetables. I am going to be 64 this month and the last four years have been some of my absolute favorites.
I started growing as a senior citizen. Lots of trial and error, but finally had a real harvest last year. In expectation of success, I bought the largest chest type freezer I could. By the end of summer it was full! Don’t give up folks and don’t think you are too old to start.
BTW, programs like R&R and many other provide so much encouragement, but you have to get past watching and start doing - get out there folks!
Love this Diane, one of my fav comment-stories on here 🤩 what a fabulous act of faith, buying the freezer. I love it! ❤️❤️❤️
I'm into about my 3rd year and may need a chest-freezer next year.
Thank you Jess for having the heart of a teacher. My first experience with an heirloom tomato was with a Black Krim eight years ago. After that first bite, I was hooked. It was several years of trial and error growing a garden, until I found Roots and Refuge. Now years later, I grow way too many varieties of tomatoes. Being inspired by the tomatoes led to growing all sorts of food and every year I challenge myself to try new vegetables. Gardening for me is therapy. The challenge keeps me motivated and the food inspires me to keep growing it. It is after all what generations did, and history has shown that it has been often necessary to grow gardens. This is not a quick race but a marathon and each year I am impressed with how much more I accomplish in the garden. Gardening has taught me so much about life. This is why I think God wanted us connected to our food, to teach us to trust and rely on Him and not ourselves. For you newbies the journey awaits, take that leap and jump in. Start no matter how small, keeping in mind you can build a little each season.
I started my gardening journey in 2020 like most people, but I have learned so much in just three years that I'm now helping family, friends, and neighbors put in their first gardens. Im also helping people get into chickens for the first time. I started my journey because of my passion for growing things and to help my great grandparents eat better food, and since then I've built a garden at their house. I go over there and help manage it, but seeing their joy as they pull a tomato for the first time in 60 or more years is so... special. I'm able to help them eat better, but I'm also helping to spread the love that is gardening. I'm not the best by any means, but I looking into problems and come up with a solution. Let me also mention, I garden organically, I don't spray anything at all on my garden, and last year I had bees sleeping on my plants at night, and butterflies beyond count, and yes.... even spiders. But I built them a refuge and they put down their roots and stayed awhile. Thank you for everything you do Jess!
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I'm helping my partner's grandparents by ordering seeds and growing tomato&pepper starts for them. I cannot describe the excitement and joy on his grandmother's face, when I showed her 250-300 varieties of tomato seeds to choose from. Unfortunately I have lost all four of my grandparents, so I'm trying to do whatever I can to help them just as I wish I could have done with my own family. ❤️🌱
@Meli Kert That's awesome!! My great grandmother was shocked at all of the tomatoes varieties too, lol. I'm sure they appreciate the help also! Your grandparents are watching over you and watching all of your accomplishments! They would be proud!
@@farmerzach05 Thank you, this really warmed my heart ❤️
Jess, you speak so much truth talking about the anxiety, depression on top of just feeding you and your family. Gardening is healing me on a myriad of levels and will be healing my family on a physical level as much as possible. My husband has so many health problems stemming from diabetes and is a below the knee amputee. He is not able to do a lot anymore so this is something he can help with since he can do the plants in pots on our deck. THANK YOU for all you and Miah do!
I was in my city house for 10 years telling myself I'd grow a garden someday when we had some acreage. There was too much shade on our property was my excuse. When 2020 happened, I decided to start using "my waiting room as my classroom" and found 48 square feet by my front sidewalk that got some afternoon/evening sun and filled it with food plants and flowers. By the next summer, God gave us a half acre of land and I'm growing as much as I can stuff into the ground 💚💚💚 I'm so glad I got started with what I had 🌱🌱
My grandfather was a farmer and I have always felt a need to grow things. I love the smell of the earth, the plants, even the animals. As a kid I remember grandpa driving by other farms and telling me to take a deep breath. Aaaaahhhh, I will never forget the smells. I now have a small garden but I try to cram as much as I can of all the things I love and want to feed my family. Thanks for sharing Jess!
I adore the smell of well-fertilized and healthy rich soil. It makes my soul happy. Somebody should bottle the smell of fresh-turned earth after the rain.
My mom was always a gardener, so I grew up digging up worms from the compost pile. The only food we grew was herbs and Serrano peppers, but I’ll always remember how much flavor was in those peppers. Back in 2020 I was 25. My partner and I had just moved into our first house and were very busy getting things fixed and cleaned. We put a few plants by the front door. Everything was demolished by deer and pocket gophers. In 2021 I grew tons of greens in pots on our balcony. In 2022 I experimented with and successfully grew herbs by the front door. My partner is finishing up building a greenhouse. This year I’m going to build raised beds lined with hardware cloth to keep out the pocket gophers. My partner wants to put up fencing to keep the deer out and I’m going to put electric fencing to keep bears out. Next he also wants to build a chicken coop. I can’t wait to start chickens for the compost material. Eventually I want alpacas and he wants horses!
I needed this pep talk. You, Luke, and Eric all taught me how to garden in 2020. I’ll be forever grateful. And you’re right, it’s not just about the harvest. The community I gained might be the best part!🥰
Great comment, and I agree fully.
Hi Jess, I’ve watched your videos since before the pandemic. I started gardening because of you. Almost gave up, but because you told us that we might fail and want to give up I didn’t give up. Not as successful as I’d like to be but much better than when I first started. Yes everyone should start now. Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing and I am happy to do the same. I actually started out with house plants because my mother always had a house full of them and it was so relaxing and beautiful. She also had an amazing yard. Once I got a house of my own, I grew some herbs and tomatoes in pots because it felt so cool to have the space to do so. When I realized how good they tasted, and could use my whole yard, there was no looking back, bye bye grass!. You get hooked for sure and then when you realize you are feeding your family, it is amazing. You'd be surprised what you can do to with even a very small space. And I have neighbors who cooperatively share and trade. The world is good !
7:50 I started a youtube gardening channel, because my family was tired of me talking about gardening 24/7 haha 😂 -Cara
Thank you so much for this video! I’m living proof that if you’ve never gardened or planted anything and if you’re planting seeds with no knowledge, you will fail! I started about 10-12 years ago and the first couple years were ruff and not much was harvested. But my soul was healed, and I found myself and had many talks with my Father above and here on earth. Some of my best memories was learning to garden as an adult with my very knowledgeable father. Last year I had an abundance of harvest so much that I was able to donate many tomatoes and peppers to a local food pantry. I also canned sauce, paste, ketchup, juice, whole and diced tomatoes, salsa, and bbq sauce. It is very rewarding on many different levels when you’re able to plant a seed and get the best tasting food you put in your mouth. Our Father is amazing! More should get to know him! God is good! Again, thank you for sharing with us.
Hi Jessica, this is my experience
As a Dutch women I studied agriculture for six years In the Netherlands it was pretty easy with my knowledge and enthousiasmen over there to grow a garden BUT NOW
Maaamamia I live on Crete Island Greece and a long story short after 7 years losing every garden each year I'm now on a point sooooooo Hippy Happy my soil that I build my chickens the compost proces the situation of my garden and last the most important the water I can say that my system finally works After that huge learning proces and didn't give up
I have had dreams you can not imagine every year but it failed This year my dreams are even bigger and my vision just as
I have Fun,work with my body and I'm outside connected with the power nature is every day
You are right the harvest is not the most important it's the Path you put your first steps on
I have also experienced a learning curve after moving to a new area. So happy to hear about how you persisted and now you are finding success. Keep it up!
I'm about to take a similar journey moving from the swamp in Virginia to the top of the Mountains. We are buying a family camp up in the mountains and will be there most weekends and during holidays... until my husband retires. So I'm first going to set up orchards and berry patches, then stock a pond, then I'm going to set up several acres of open pollinated pumpkin, winter squash, sunflowers, melons and just let them self seed. I'll set up a few raised beds of garlic, onion and other low maintenance long growing crops... maybe some bush beans. Definitely getting a medicine garden started and some mushroom stands. Mostly edible permaculture landscape until I can be there full time to tend to livestock and develop more. We are so excited!
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Bless you and your determination!! What a testimony for life
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@@jeas4980 I am sending you well wishes on your new home. That is a big switch, but you will completely love it no doubt.
When I was working, I am now retired, we had a small garden. Once retired we knew we would be expanding it to grow more food to be able to preserve more food. So during the last five years of my working life I started buying things: canners, canning jars, dehydrator, hand tools, and all kinds of books on gardening and food preservation...but most importantly I gathered knowledge....watching growers like Jess provides a huge FREE education. I did what Jess teaches and I turned my waiting room into a class room. Once we expanded our garden I wanted to influence others to start gardening so I showed both the garden successes and failures on my Facebook page. My sister now grows in a greenstalk, my brother is retiring this year and starting a small garden, and a friend has three raised beds and grows what she can and cans a ton of food purchased from local farmers. Don't wait...start now. The taste is phenomenal and when you feed your family that first meal with homegrown food on their plates...well...I'm not going to tell you how it makes me feel...you need to grow your own and experience it yourself. Just. Grow. Something.
it was last a little over a year ago that i discovered your channel and then this past summer i started my first garden!! i have fallen in love with plants so much that i’ve actually switched my major to sustainable horticulture! you have effected so many people in such a positive way, thank you jess 🥰💘
I cannot praise this video enough on the importance of starting to learn how to grow food. It is so smart, even if you don’t have your dream garden situation to just plant some thing. I’m currently living in a city with only a quarter of an acre of land, including my house on that land. Start with pots, start with one raised bed, start with a indoor hydroponic system that you build from random parts at Lowe’s. Just get started and then continue to learn and build on your dream. I started my journey of my very first plant in an apartment on my balcony. I now have 16 raised beds on my quarter of an acre with dreams of a 10 to 15 acre property eventually. Just grow, just learn.
I’ve been gardening, for 40yrs… as soon as I could pick up a garden tool I was gardening with my mother and grandmother. When I bought my first home,it became a passion. Five years ago I decided to start selling seedlings out of my backyard, because gardening is infectious! grow some thing for the sake of watching a seed sprout, and grow big and produce flowers then fruit. What a beautiful process to watch the lifecycle of a plant. to enjoy those little Goldstar moments, where you are rewarded. Happy gardening, all!
I’m starting for the first time this spring. I am beyond excited. I’ve been preparing since spring of last year. I’ve done tons of research, watched all the RUclips videos and probably every single one of yours, and read books. I know I’ll still fail a lot, but I love learning. I started this because I want to get back to a simpler life, and be as self sufficient as possible. I have big dreams and this is just the beginning.
I’m so excited for you!! Enjoy the process.
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You will be amazed how much joy you will get from your first crop! Nothing you can buy with money is comaprable, go for it 😘
I wish you an abundant harvest of both wisdom and vegetables, Rachel!
@@Joyfulfarmer i certainly will, thank you!
@@turtle2212 I can’t wait to experience it! Growing food is something I always fantasized about, but never thought I would actually do it. I feel very passionate about it already ❤️
I find every word of this to be so profound and true. I have hardened years ago, quit for many years because of massive lifestyle changes, and just began again last year with a few plants on my deck and a small herb garden. We live in 7.5 acres of heavily wooded forest, but this year about one acre is being cleared for a large raised bed garden. I need this back in my life. Thanks for the encouragement Jess!
Hi Jess you encouraged your listeners to comment on gardening so here goes. I am in the process of planning my 52nd year of gardening. My mother got me started as a kid in the raspberry and strawberry patch. My garden is quite small 30’X25’ but each year filled to the brim! This may have once been a hobby but, really has turned into a job of preserving so much produce it’s incredible. I would agree with what you are encouraging first time gardeners to do “just start.” There now is so much information out there to help solve most problems, in comparison to when I started years ago. I feel so “Blessed” to be able to continue to do as much as I can. As I look at the snow banks here in the Dakota’s and seed packets arriving in the mail, I hope for another wonderful growing season at your new farm, and to old and new gardeners alike, the garden will soon be calling. Happy Planting’
Hey Sharon, I'm in South Dakota and I started a garden last year. Jess is SO RIGHT that you have to start making your mistakes before it really counts. I didn't have that wisdom, of course. I started growing for more food security...and then discovered in the process that I love gardening! I have a lot of failures under my belt, a lot of seeds and seedling that didn't make it. But I tried my hand at 30 different crops and boy, did I pull up hundreds and hundreds of thistles. The tomatoes did great, and I got a big squash yield despite having to contend with the squash bugs. I had so many spaghetti squash that I ended up burying (trench composting) in the garden the ones that went soggy in my garage.
I grew calendula and marigold, too, which did well and brought so much joy. I planted pear trees, elderberry and currants. My children loved pulling up carrots, and I had a green chili pepper plant that was particularly prolific (I can't take credit for growing it from seed, though. I got it from the nursery). I froze a ton and am still enjoying those in pasta.
My biggest challenge going forward is keeping the soil covered when it gets so darn windy. Do I lay down more wood chips? I only started with a thin layer -- it's all I could get my hands on. Then again, I don't like how they constantly fall into the rooting zone when I'm planting, and how they blow into my rows of tiny seedlings and cover them. Any advice is welcome!
Gardened my whole life via my wonderful hard working parents. It's HARD WORK AND MORE HARD WORK but OMG, what goodness it produces!!!!
My grandma taught me. I was drawn to it at an early age but wasn’t able to plant anything until I was in my 20’s. I’m my 30’s I started a vegetable garden and in my 40’s I expanded it with my kids and taught them. It brings me so much joy to look at it and see what my kids and I created. It gives me joy teaching them farm to table cooking. We have learned so much together and love how much we’ve been able to do together. I’ll never move unless my kids help me build another garden.
Listening to you as I am sorting my seeds and cleaning up the saved seeds from this past year. I started with tomatoes because I remember walking through the tomato patch as a kid. Still love the smell of them. I am doing more landscaping food planting this year. Kale in the rose bed, onions lining the front bed under the bushes. Short on space? find those places you can underplant food.
I love the racks you did for the seed starters.
My husband and I moved into his grandfather's home (after he moved to a nursing home) when we were in our early 20's. The 1/2 acre property was crammed full of fruit trees, vegetable garden beds, blueberries, several varieties of cane berries etc. We had very little money and were motivated to make use of the bounty. Once we began learning and growing we never looked back. In our late sixties now, we continue to grow as much as we can. In fact we expanded our vegetable garden last fall and can't wait to get seeds in the ground this spring. As for the superiority of homecooked meals from the garden - I couldn't agree more! Restaurant meals are a rare event for us now and we often end those meals feeling a bit (or a lot) disappointed and many dollars lighter.
I will always be grateful for that early ready-made garden - all we had to do was learn by trial and error each season. There is nothing better than hands in dirt and fresh food from your own happy labor.
I started gardening in 2020 in a townhouse. All in containers. Had extreme success. Last year was my hardest growing season but still was able to help save money by growing.
Hi Jess!!I live in a small city. I rent a small house with not very much land to garden. But that didn't stop me from growing food. I'm growing in containers and I have a raised bed in the back yard. By the end of the summer last year we had a small greenhouse. Actually 1 real small greenhouse and then a bit bigger one. We expanded and this year I'm hoping to do a little bit more. My landlord said we inspired everyone in the park here to start growing something. I'm excited to start this year.Lots of learning to do!!!
That's so cool! Congrats! 💜
Hi!I have been gardening for over 15 years now. In Alaska, my seasons are a you have explained! Ha ha, and my own mistakes over the years too. I absolutely fell in love with gardening as a child, picking tomatoes off of my grandfather's plants in his garden. I agree with what you say in your videos. It's a labor of love and worth it! I have been following your channel for years Jess, because I just love your enthusiasm and know how. I enjoy your personality as much as I enjoy gardening! Thank you for bringing me along on all your adventures!
I grew up watching my grandmother in her flower beds and my grandfather in his garden. They made it look so easy. Ive tried gardening several times at different addresses (I rent), and even had one landlord tell me that I couldnt have a garden anymore because it was ugly🙄. So I had just about given up because the bugs, the weeds, and tomato black rot seemed to alwsys win. Then about four years ago I had been watching Charles Dowding's channel about no dig...Wow! I could do that...but I got discouraged because I still couldn't keep up with the weeds and me and heat were not good together. The next year I saw Jess's channel. She showed me how to love to garden! I didnt end up canning a ton that year, but I ate out of the garden all summer and it was just beautiful!🌺🦋💜😭 I actually made a thank you video for Jess on my channel so you can see the garden. Im so excited every year now for spring! Thanks Jess..again and again!💜🌻🌻🌻🌻
Thank you Jess. My wish is for so many to just start like Jess says. You will experience such joy and a peace inside that you just don’t know until you feel it. If anyone has anxiety or depression of any sort, gardening is like a meditation and brightens your spirit and feeds your soul as well as your family
80 yr old gardener blessed to find a young girl who shares my philosophy on gardening and life I feel a beautiful connection listening to your videos bless you 🙏👍
I don't think it could be said any better. I can't believe how different I feel when I'm gardening and out in the sun. It's so special being out there and watching the changes everyday!! And yes so extremely rewarding and peaceful!!! I love listening to my gardener you tube "friends" and seeing all your wins and losses as well. I learn so so much!!! Thank you! Gardeners rock!!! 😁🥰 We grew this, we loved it, we believed in it!!
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Again, wise beyond your years. You truly do nurture the people that are watching your channel.❤
Please grow whatever food you can!!! Even with no access to space or good light you can grow sprouts in a jar, and even that is so rewarding!!
Hey Jess, I have had multiple surgeries. One lumbar fusion was done so close to planting time it caused me to have to crawl around on my hands and knees to plant the garden that year. Adapt and overcome. A knee replacement made kneeling impossible that year so I had to find ways around that with raising beds to 2-3 feet tall which I continued over several years up to now. A neck fusion, another knee replacement and another lumbar fusion. All these caused more need to change how I was doing things. More of the adapt and overcome activity.
I have learned the meaning of having a time out and having the brakes applied to my dreams and plans. For his reasons God has had this as part of my plan. By the way every single surgery was 100% successful but there was a change in limitations afterwards. So I do as I can and I thank God for every day I can. When I can do this or that it is like a reward but when the stamina runs out then it is time to find other things to do that are productive. Let the joy of what you can do and praise God for that and give it more of your attention than what you can not do. Don't let the voice of the deceiver tell you that you can't do this or that. Listen to the voice of truth because God wants you to be productive and successful and he will bless you in your efforts.
You are such an inspiration! 💞
@@karenm5681 When I was a boy my mom would get furious whenever she heard I can't. She would stop what ever she was doing and go help you get it done so you could never say that again!!! When I joined the Army our Company Commander told us we were in the can do army. You can do what I tell you or You can get out. Either way You can.
The green side. I love it! :) We moved into this house 5 years ago. And I KNEW in my heart that my goal was to finally have a garden. Life had been so crazy for so many years that I just needed to get that balance right and get my hands in the dirt. Along the way, no matter where we lived, I planted something, even if it was just the hen and chicks that came from my great grandma 20 years ago, or the ditch lilies that lived in a pot on my front porch, always coming back each year without fail. Something was growing. Now, 5 years in, this will be my 5th garden, and from the second we moved into this house, we tackled it with fervor. The first year, I could not even see the neighbor's backyards because of all the overgrowth. We DUG and DUG and DUG to get the land cleared, we tarped for the winter where we wanted the beds to be. I planted flowers that filled my space, and gave me time to get my hands dirty. The next spring, we made raised beds and I got to growing. The first year was a great productive year, we had lots of fun stuff happening, but we also had lots of loss in trying to figure out the best practices. I can't even tell you how much google has been my friend, or RUclips has supplied me with invaluable information from people like Jess, who have so much more experience in today's time. I've learned so much, I'm still learning so much. It is possible, and it is easy, and it is a labor of love, and it is a passion, and it doesn't take much. We are still working on being resourceful and not spending a lot of money to make this happen, and so far, it is working, my garden keeps growing year to year. This year I have a full 1/8 acre devoted to just food production, my lot is a half acre in the city. In 3 more years, I hope to be moved to 1/4 of an acre, but really, all in all, the space doesn't matter, I annually grow at least $1500 worth of produce in my garden to feed us. I expect that number to only rise. That's money I didn't need to spend at the store on something that just doesn't have the same flavor as what comes from my space. I will be 50 this year, and I only wish that my life had been more stable to be able to start this when I was 20, as I can only imagine where I'd be at this point. Thank you Jess for being a constant reminder, and source of knowledge, for me, for our community, for the new and the old growers, the lovers of dirt and good food. You are very much loved and appreciated!
I’m 68 years old and have had gardens on and off my whole life. My husband and I have plots in a community garden in our neighborhood. We can’t dig in our back yard but the gardens are down the street and we are there almost everyday in the growing season. It bonds us. It heals us. And there is no better way to enjoy food than to grow it yourself. Yes it is hard work and sometimes it overwhelms but we just put our head down and keep gardening. I must say that Jess has given me a Mantra to live by when years ago she told the story of an overgrown garden that she was wanting to give up on. Her mother told her get out there even if it’s overgrown and you will find food and life. Seeds and gardens want to grow. Partnering with the growing life force of nature is so satisfying. Thank you Jess for gentle nudge and downright joy of taking us along in your garden.
I started gardening at the early age of 12, I am now 67. You would think that I'd be better at this than I am, however, I took the easy way out! As a child, we always purchased our tomatoes and pepper plants at a garden center. So for years and years I did what I was taught....until I found your VLOG on tomatoes! I couldn't get enough....I have started my own peppers and tomatoes for the past 3 years (sad to say, should have been 20 years, just a slow learner) The knowledge was not available like it is today. I love RUclips. I have learned so much from your vlog...you are amazing and I watch everything you put out for us to see. I agree that people NEED to grow anything they have room for and they would be thrilled at the taste of "real" food. I've been canning as long as I've been gardening, I have this process down to an art. Just to look at the beauty that is in those jars is so satisfying, the taste is even better! People....please start NOW and learn the process....there is NOTHING better than getting a little dirt under your finger nails for the taste of some great food!
Your channel is one of my favorites. Inspiring, informative and community oriented and supportive of others, non competitive with other you tube creators and no drama! Thank you!!
I'd like to encourage others to consider growing in containers! I have a relatively large yard (for my neighborhood) but the back yard is heavily wooded - therefor, not much sun. This will be my 3rd year of growing a bunch of stuff in containers in my driveway. Thankfully, the HOA has looked the other way. 😅 So to Jess's point - don't wait until you have space for your dream garden. Start with what you have now and reap the many rewards!!
I have the same challenges woods, and HOA .😕 Crossing fingers for a nice small patch this year! 🌿🌿🌿
Yes, start with what you have. Still building the knowledge and experience regardless of outcome 😊
“A harvest of wisdom”. Perfectly said Jess
I started gardening in a couple small pots on my apartment balcony about 4 years ago, upgraded a couple years ago in our suburban back yard, and this year is our first year now on 11 acres with plenty of room to grow a garden. Excited to continue this journey and grateful for all I’ve learned over the years Jess!
Its taken me nearly a decade to get where I am as a gardener. But I've grown in almost every aspect of my life from the wisdom and lessons I've learned in my garden.
I too go into many sites and just observe and many times don’t comment. It is very interesting and at times worrisome some of the views by vloggers and subscribers. It explains some of the issues we are seeing in the U.S. today.
I was hoping that the troubles reported in main media would not follow into homesteaders, but unfortunately many bring these issues along with their chickens and cows. I salute those RUclipsrs that strictly stay with the homestead theme as that is the reason why many of us watch in the first place and why we got rid of cable tv.
The absolute peace through hard work in the garden is an amazing thing. Something about hands in dirt in itself is healing. If anyone is on the fence about gardening, just do it. The whole body health peace you will feel cannot be described.
I am always thinking about gardening haha
My husband found Jess on YT in the spring of 2020 to help me find solutions to cage my many tomato plants. We saw how she used cattle panels in her garden with such success and ease. He quickly picked up several panels and installed them in my 24’x48’ garden. They worked wonderfully! This year I plan to add a few more. It is so much easier to have permanent fixtures in the garden than those flimsy cages that need to be stored over the winter. I am thankful for my wonderful man that always helped me in my endeavors. Thank you Jess for inspiring us and showing solutions! I praise Jesus for the bounty on the table. ❤
I started three years ago, my first year my expectations were wayyy to high, then I found this channel and the inspiration to use my passion and excitement and now I’m able to offset some of the grocery costs. Biggest advice is to expect to fail, there are no black thumbs only green thumbs needing to rinsed. You got this
"Don't grow a garden, become a gardener", another insightful saying from you added to my list! I've been gardening for 10+ years but I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents as a child. They always had a beautiful garden every year! They have since passed but I often hope they are proud of me as a gardener :) One of my favourite things about gardening is getting to taste what a fruit/veggie should really taste like. It's amazing how easy it is to get kids to eat their vegetables when they are fresh from the garden!
I have been following you for years and still, even today, you are saying what I believe and living the way I’ve wanted to live for years. Thank you for sharing your home, gardening practices and knowledge. I too, cannot stand eating at restaurants when food from what I can grow at home tastes infinitely better. You are one of my gardening teachers and I thank you. Peace.
I even made a wine from Kajari Melons that I grew because of how you recommended them. Delicious.
@@message3381 Great idea! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for sharing Jess! I am a young adult who has been struggling with anxiety since childhood. The garden has been an increasingly way of giving me a peace throughout the craziness, along with the Lord’s help ❤️
Jess, I have such respect for you. Thank you for being a voice of such encouragement, and also light, goodness and faith.
I love listening to you and your enthusiasm and encouragement thank you so much for your help
I have been married 20 years, and we have always grown whatever we can. Many of those years we were apartment dwellers and grew on windowsills or with grow lights. About 8 years ago we were able to sign up for a community garden plot, and we have learned so much through trial and error. The biggest wisdom earned so far is that by planting a diverse collection of plants, we can have success. Some years the weather is terrible for one thing, the next year it might be our biggest producer. We do it for the love of the dirt and the joy of the harvest! Thanks for your perspective, Jess!
I’m not religious, but gardening is so spiritual for me. Watching things grow gives me so much joy! And learning from my environment, what works and doesn’t. I’m addicted! And how to be better at it is a purpose for me. I just love it!
My husband and I have just discovered your videos, and we are so grateful that we did. This is our second year in our first home, and this year is our first year growing a garden. This affirmed and stated so profoundly what gardening can do us, feeding our bodies and our souls! Thank you for the positive content you produce and for being an uplifting voice in a dark world!
This will be my 6th year gardening. I began doing research on nutrition and learning how manipulative the corporate enterprise that controls our food supply was forced me into honesty!!! We began traditional style in the ground and in 2020 The Lord brought me to Jess 🙌🏻♥️🙌🏻 we have built 3 4x20 beds since & the education continues 😊 Thank You Jess for sharing your experiences, life’s challenges/rewards and your beautiful heart with us!!! God Bless Y’all ♥️🙏🏻♥️
I’ve gardened on and off for over 30 years. My favorite thing to do, is go out early in the morning with my coffee and “watch” my plants grow. The produce is so flavorful and it’s difficult to go back to buying my produce from the store. I’m planning a fairly large garden this year and I’m getting excited….it’ll be awhile since I live in Minnesota. I’m actually going out to Washington state next month to help my best friend start growing some greens and tomatoes, it’ll be fun.
Thank you Jess, you are such a blessing. I so enjoy your devotionals and watching your videos. So enjoyable.
For seven years, my waiting room was my classroom and Jess and a small handful of others were my teachers. Everything she has said here is true. I moved from CO to TN for the express purpose of having a farm. And while there is some bridging of data aquired to implementation, I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for the things I learned while waiting. Last year, our harvest waa so abundant I could not keep up. New skills in food preservation had to be learned…and quick! Our rabbits and chickens ate like kings! We shared tons of food with our friend and family. But the reward came. Keep to it, don’t give up! Keep learning and grow with that garden! You won’t regret it!
I love to hear you talk about gardening and seeds, I can just hear the joy and love in your voice, you are such an inspiration to help others
One of the best videos. Ever.
I grew up with my parents always doing a garden, every year. I HATED IT. The feeling of weeds and bugs on my sweating legs drove me mad. It stuck with me to the point I refused to garden into adulthood. I didn’t want anything to do with it.
It took stumbling onto one of Jessica’s videos see see gardening differently and see I could do it in raised beds and not have to garden like my parents did. That was 2 years ago. I’ve been a gardener for 2 years now, going into my 3rd growing season and I am so abundantly greatful for my parents making me garden as a child because it gave me a leg up when I decided I wanted to grow my own garden.
Jess, you are so motivating. I love following you on this journey, building your homestead, growing your garden, building your business. As you share, you truly bless others. Thank you so much.
Your joyful heart is appreciated 💞 When I consider that God could have placed his first children ANYWHERE and he chose a GARDEN 🌱 it makes me smile 😊
Three years ago while we were all shut down, I found you and your family. It was not only a blessing but a huge source of knowledge. Gardening has become a passion for me. Most of my conversations with family
Around the table starts with how is the garden? They get to eat many of its bounty. Even the family learns from our conversations. I just wish Id have a larger space to sow more seeds and watch them grow and provide more delicious fruits and vegetables . I live in Florida, so many tropical veggies and fruits are able to grow here. My 5 banana plants are loaded right now. Perhaps later on a bigger land area can happen. Real estate in my state is very high, so….
Next year, it will finally be a reality for us. Not losing hope. I feel it in my heart. Working to get there. I’m in the waiting room.
You are so wise and have the ability to share your passion. We 70+ and have raised food to eat, preserve and share with family and friends. Now we garden small scale but the joy is still there. Ok, I do get miffed when the rabbits eat my beets but revel in the beautiful zinnias to bring into my home. Thanks so much for your hard work and passion. 🎉
I started gardening as a child with my grandmother. She watched us while my parents worked. I would be outside with her all day. She had fruit trees, strawberry patch, and a huge garden. Now I have my own raised bed garden! It is my peace when I’m out there. I love your videos, because it’s not always about how to garden but the experience of gardening. How it makes you feel and I love that Jess!!💕💕
Joyous -- for me, the experience of gardening, both in the successes and the failures, is just joyous. It's the process of thinking about the garden, starting seeds, amending and preparing the soil for planting, putting seedlings in the ground (I'm a northern gardener so most of what we grow, we grow from seedlings), staking and providing support, watering, pruning and watching things grow. Pulling a weed or two every time I go out to the garden helps keep those under control and the whole process is just joyous. I'm with Jess on this one: just plant something. Watch, learn and feel the joy.
Spring 2020. After watching a gazillion of your videos. That's when I started. Now, both myself and my husband are gardening and canning together and we LOVE it! Food grown and prepared with love is infinitely more devious and nutritious than anything you can get in a store. If anyone reading this hasn't started growing food, start it this year! Even if it's just a 4x4 bed of salad greens. You won't regret it.
I didn't know anything about gardening, but I stumbled accrossed this channel, and some of the other lovely gardening channels here on yt. I fell in love with the garden and now, 4 years later, I'm offering a small csa to friends and family. It wouldn't be possible with out the knowledge, support and perspective of this community. Thank you!!
Thank you Jess! Growing a garden is such a joyful experience.
This is a great presentation and makes us all reflect on why we love gardening. Here’s my nerdy way of describing my gardening:
I feel like the conductor of a beautiful symphony as I pick the perfect time to start each seedling, turn the compost, shift the growlights, open the cold frame to cool the temperature, transplant the broccoli, prune a tomato plant, plant some flowers, pollinate blossoms. The symphony starts out slowly, deliberately…then flits from high notes to staccato. During the peak of summer all the instruments are blaring with harmonious melodies, cymbals crashing… and I the conductor and waving my arms, hair flailing as each section comes to maturity.
I get so much joy from every aspect, every task, and especially seeing all my beloved children fill the measure of their creation.
Jess you would make the most incredible sales woman! You make me fall in love with gardening just buy hearing you. You make it sound so romantic and yet honest. ❤
I had grown small gardens and potted porch tomatoes off and on until 2019. That is when we found R&R and I was immediately drawn to Jess. I watched so many vlogs and couldn't wait for the next...My husband and I would exclaim "There's a new Roots!" when we would get the notification! December of 2019 we started looking for our forever home and some property. A few months in, Covid hit and grounded everything. That's when my waiting room turned into a classroom. I absorbed everything I could and found so many inspirational people that had a language that spoke directly to my heart. We were blessed to eventually find our homestead and moved in November of 2020. Our first full blown garden was started by seeds grown in our basement. We had a few raised beds and a massive 24ft tomato bed. It grew so lovely even though we had many failures. Despite those failures, we stayed true to what we held in our hearts and poured into it all we could. We are heading in to year three with close to 800 sq ft of growing space with plans to build and install two more raised beds, a no till three sisters garden and a pumpkin patch. I find so much joy in the harvest and the garden has become my dirt church. Thank you Jess for sowing that into my heart. 💚
Thank you! I soooooo appreciate YOU! My husband and I are just getting started with gardening. You are changing our lives with each of your videos. Thank you for the encouragement, the guidance, and sharing the love of what you do.
I really needed this video. Thanks! May the Lord continue blessing you and your family. Thank you for reminding me all the whys, and that even facing lots of difficulty, it's still super worthy. Thank you again!
I started gardening several years ago. We were growing more than we could use or give away and have scaled back some, but I still grow quite a variety of vegetables. Last fall was my first experience trying a fall garden and was thrilled with the results of radishes, greens, and some lessons learned for next time. I had missed the window for fall a fall garden a few times before that and felt a great sense of accomplishment that I finally did it. I have been encouraged to do it again this year and better
I’m already a gardener but Jess could sweet talk me into jumping into anything !!!❤
Hello, I am 62 years old, and I was introduced to gardening when I was 9 years old. I went to visit my great-great grandparents and I walked out to their garden and fell in love. They had green beans higher then 6 feet on trellises. Large tomato's and everything you could think of in their garden. They grew a year worth of food. The two weeks I was there I learned so much. When I got home, I started my garden and never looked back. You are correct, there's no instant gravitation. When you do start picking your own food, that's the self-worth to keep you going. I have had MANY fails, but the next year I remember and do something a little different. Thank you for your wisdom and for sharing.
This is very true I am new first year doing a large scale in ground garden. I was planted my onions and I have rheumatoid arthritis and I was in so much pain. I have been watching you for three years and growing in pots and on small scale for years. I sat in the dirt and cried and asked God to help me because I wanted to take care of my body to feel better and I want this lifestyle. So yes the garden can teach you faith lessons extremely well!
I grew up gardening as a kid. Even though we lived in a city suburb and had less than an acre, we always had a small garden in our backyard. My dad was from a family that had always grown some of their own food and he carried that on when he was growing his own family. So I thought I knew everything there was to know about gardening. I was so wrong. When I started my first garden after getting married, it was in a very different growing zone. It took me a while to figure out what I was doing and what I needed to change about how I was growing food before I was really successful at it.
From learning to grow extra sunflowers for the deer so they'd stay out of the other vegetables to figuring out potatoes didn't do that well in the soil that I had, the gardening was full of lessons. After twenty years of growing in that zone, I knew how to garden fairly well. Then we moved. Went from zone 5b to zone 10b! So now, I'm a beginner all over again. It's been an adventure to say the least. I've been growing in zone 10b now for four years and I'm only just now feeling like I'm getting the hang of it. It's so completely different from any gardening I've ever done before. I do have to say growing tomatoes in the winter has been a fun and rewarding experience!
But that's one of the things I have always loved about gardening. It's like an adventure. Stepping out into the space where I'm growing food is a happy place that gives me great joy and satisfaction. It's a place where I've learned some valuable lessons in peace and the ability to let go of the things I can't change. Nature has a way of doing that for you. Gardening has taught me how to pivot and move on without getting too hung up in the failures. There's always going to be failures. It's the nature of things when counting on an unreliable and sometimes unpredictable growing partner, and Mother Nature is always unpredictable even as forecasters try to do just that. But the lessons she teaches, carries a person forward and spills into so many other places of their lives that have nothing to do with gardening. At least, they have mine.
Gardening is learning to adapt.
Thank you Jess! I don’t know any gardener that has ever had 100% success. I’ve been gardening both veggies & flowers for over 45 years. I still have failures. I can’t grow a parsnip to save my life. Last year not one carrot came up, but I keep planting them, every year. Don’t ever give up.
FACTS!!!💯 what it does for my mental health and peace of mind is so important. I know how I felt before I started and I wouldn't wish that upon anyone!! Everyone should know this level of happiness!!✌❤😁
I have memories from my very young childhood of being in the garden with my Papaw and canning with my Mamaw. I had a small garden here and there as an adult and then about 10 years ago decided to be more dedicated to a garden of my own and growing amazing food but also, and almost more importantly, creating those same memories in the garden for my children. Hopefully instilling a love for gardening in their hearts as well.
Reading these comments, all the stories and overcomers ❤️❤️❤️ my heart is so full right now hearing and reading this.
As a kid I remember my grandparents growing beans and corn but it wasn’t until 2020 that I myself decided to try gardening. I had no idea how much I would I would love it. We have since completely changed our lives. We moved from a suburb to a ten acre property and now have large garden beds, laying hens and do our own meat chickens. I never thought I could do it, since I used to kill every house plant I purchased. But I’m learning and growing- as a gardener and as a person. Watching God do what only He can do with these seeds has grown my faith in addition to my wisdom as a gardener. I bless you, Jess! You were one of my first inspirations to turn my waiting room into a classroom. ❤
This will be my go-to video if anyone asks me " Should I start a garden?" You're a great teacher. I'm 64 and have been a gardener most of my life.This year is different as I'm paying off debts that hindered my ability to buy soil enriching items.2023 is the year of soil for me. We all fail at things, but if at 1st you don't succeed... try,try again.