The Hidden Cost That Can Make or Break Your Garden
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- Today's video covers 3 topics; seed saving, a hidden cost of self-sufficiency, and electroculture.
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I could swear you were putting broken sticks into your coffee pot.
Naw, that’s a Kelly kettle. I believe, I might be wrong, but it work’s rather like a rocket stove. The fire chamber is in the middle while the water is enclosed around the perimeter. You fill and pour from the same spout. You can get them in the states. I also have a cooking attachment for mine.
The sticks add flavour, it's the way we drink coffee here in the UK.
@BlessingsfromNorthIdaho my dad used these in Port Said in mid 1950s and called it a Bengazi Burner
@@iandavies9154so funny, :) I’ll have to give it a try.
@@cassieoz1702 interesting, I bet there are many names for them depending on the place. I might be mistaken but I think I read that the British military used them to prepare tea, meals etc. in the field. As we all know the British military got around, lol.😎. I don’t know if the pots are a British invention or they just utilized it well. They’re awesome though. I have a quite large one.
I'm going to take a moment to recognize the shear beauty of the rosemary hedge behind you. It is just stunning!
My old dad always said feed the soil not the plant. He grew organically and recycled/ upcycled before the terms were well known tbh. I follow his ways and it doesn’t ever let me down
The great Steve Solomon says (I paraphrase), Do what works for you.
I think it's important to not get pedantic or stuck in one way of thinking. We make our own compost, because of the prevalence of persistent herbicides found in bagged compost. We do get several loads per year of our county's "compost," which is basically aged wood chips. We use that as mulch for our perennials, the 'brown' for our own compost, and as the basis of our chicken yard. We utilize the "chicken dirt" from the yard to top off raised beds, and to mulch row gardens in the autumn. We also have left plenty of 'lawn' on our small property, to use the clippings as mulch during the growing season. All these things (compost, aged wood chips, chicken dirt, grass clippings) add fertility over time, feeding the soil life.
Do we till? yes, some. Are we "no till"? yes, mostly. Do we apply permaculture principals? Yes, where appropriate.
"Do what works."
Great advice. We save some seeds, make compost and very occasionally dig, too ( and also don’t dig). It works really well for us. There is no one right way.
I practice anarchy gardening.
I grow plants and then I look around and go, yep, that looks good.
Do a bit of weeding, bit of no dig with my homemade compost, and compost tea, job done, it's awesome and easy.
Grow plants, plant them, have a coffee/beer.
I once was a midwife for a baby in 1983 his name is Brandon McKay/ He is a proud Pappa w/4 boys of his own now/ Funny heh?
I don't have to garden to save money, I grow just because I love it. You are correct in that it can be costly, like putting up a high tunnel and putting in hot beds, but that is what I'm going to do as it gives me a chance to garden all year long. I keep chickens for eggs and chicken poop for the garden, it does not save me money, but it does make me happy! I worked over fifty years to have what I have now and the rest of my life is to do what makes me happy. I know I'm lucky to be able to have my small garden, nine chickens and a great family and all of it is worth the fifty years of hard work. It is time to Thank GOD for all that I have and to also say "thanks" for all you have shared with all of us. God bless y'all and keep growing!!!!!
I quite agree! Our chickens cost us much more than they produce in egg value. But they are composting experts! Also, we give the eggs away to the widows at church, a small help to them.
Just wanted to say what a joy it is to watch a young lad develop his hobby and become so successful and competent as an adult. On all levels, you're doing SO well. Really coming across well in presentation, knowledge etc. Well done.
At my allotment I use one small raised bed for a “compost berm.” All cuttings and weeds end up here in a neat rectangular pile. It’s almost a meter high by late fall. I put a last layer of seaweed on top and cover it until spring. It will be ready for a pumpkin / squash crop in late spring. No moving or turning compost, no walking to some far corner. Excellent for overcoming clay soil issues. Thanks for this thoughtful garden catch-up .
Question: What is an allotment? Is this your land? Is it an area that the government set aside for people to use? Sorry, you know us folks from across the pond don't have this.
@@Blynn-md4dxfrom what I understand (as an American), an allotment is like a plot in a community garden, where people can sign up to get an area to use for whatever they want to grow.
@@Blynn-md4dx in my case, in Canada, it’s a piece of land donated to community for people who don’t have gardens or an arable piece of land to grow a garden. Also known as Community Gardens. I rent a 20’ X 50’ plot of this land and there are 100 plots plus a larger one for social services community. Rents are very cheap per year and there is an obligation to contribute 6-10 work hours per year for upkeep and maintenance of shared site in general.
I’ve only had my allotment for 2 years and after following advice from yourself and Charles Dowding I began creating a compost bay in April 2022. I used garden and kitchen waste, wood chip/shavings and coffee grounds & only turned it 2-3 times. It was filled last autumn. I planted a pumpkin in it this spring and that gave me 5 gorgeous fruits last month. After harvesting, I was overjoyed to find a heap of absolutely perfect compost ready to spread on my growing beds, magic 🪄🌱💚 It felt like Christmas 😊
That initial bay was 1x1m sq when full & it reduced by about 40% when ready.
As it was filled and maturing I created a second slightly larger bay which has been filled over this growing season. I’m going to turn more often this time to try and speed up the process.
In year 1 I bought in 2 builders bags of compost, same again in year 2. That was whilst creating the garden beds. Hoping that in year 3 I can reduce to one ton bag & fingers crossed be self sufficient in compost by year 4 🤞🏼🌱💚
Thank you for your content, it has been very helpful and inspiring for me ⭐️
I think the more self-sufficient we become (taking some responsibility for our own food, energy, etc), the more we realize we can't do it all alone. We need to work just as hard at creating local communities of like-minded people who can support each other.
That’s so true. I live in a rural community where we help each other and produce/swap/share/ and buy food and skills. It’s very small scale and very local. I love it!
@@sowgrowandcook What a beautiful thing! I love that!
Absolutely!! I think absolute self sufficiency is an illusion. It might be possible for extremists but what for? People thrive much better in a supportive community where work and spoils are shared and swapped ❤️🙌
Ugh, I LOVE Unpopular Opinion Huw! These are questions many of us wrestle with. Your thoughtful, measured, practical insights are so valuable in a world where extremes get so much attention.
I just started to make more compost by using leaf mold. I cut leaves up with mover and make small cylinder bins with fencing. Plus I pile leaves up over winter where I want to start new beds using the extra elsewhere in the spring. Works great!
Good plan! Leaf mold has many minerals because the trees roots go much deeper in the ground than most plants. And leaves are easy to gather.
I have a trellis up our bathroom wall on the patio with 4 large pots to grow in, beans and a pumpkin last year and tomatoes this year. I use these pots for composting in the winter, filling 3 and turning them once a week. It helps me to get outside in the winter months and has also allowed me to learn how to compost as i can see whats happening in there. Ive learn that i actually like composting 😂
Love this, happy composting and growing 🥰
@@sharon1615 thanks! And you
The way I look at it, growing locally adapted crosses is often worth a try. I love the varieties that seed themselves if they like the spot. By encouraging that I have ended up with multiple beds that just pop up when the time is right for them in our area. This has worked well for us with some lettuces, kales, chives, leeks, savory, parsley, lots of herbs, tomatillas...It's my favorite kind of "seed saving".
Agreed! My parsley & oregano self seed and spread readily, and I share cuttings and seeds with my friends. Also arugula, radishes and squashes have such abundant seeds and they grow year after year- not always TRUE to type, but no living thing on Earth ever is.
The same here. I dedicated some spots for these crops permanently, I save their seeds just in case but always let them to reseed themselves at the same place, then just thin them when too many pop out. Why should I bother and worry about what crop plant where if many of them just tell where they want to be, so I let them.
Check with local garden clubs and even public libraries for seed saving programs. I use a library based service to swap seeds. It is mostly the easy to save types like beans, peas, maize, sunflowers, herbs, ect. However, the open pollination and local climate variables are saved in those seeds. It is a great way to find what grows well in your area, and it helps create heirloom varieties naturally.
Mine too! I have a true fondness for volunteers.
And the volunteers are always so prolific and at least for me, grow with a lot more vigour too! I get excellent tomato volunteers early spring and they always fruit months before my deliberate starts
You don’t have to aim to save all your seeds: Saving seeds from tomatoes, chilies or peas takes so little time and is simple and nearly always successful. Choose a few easy,non hybrid varieties. It’s quick and fun.
I just leave a few tomatoes or peppers on the ground after getting rid of the plant. Most times they grow as the weather warms up here in the UK. Dill and fennel just sprout willy nilly so satisfying to see
While starting up my allotment I have bought zero compost. Instead, I have used some home made compost I was given, some organic material I found on site but alot of the beds were just straight fresh manure. It was what I had on hand, it was free and I gave it a go. It worked like a charm. No burned veggies, everything grew well. 😅
In southern Alberta, a local mushroom grower makes compost available for free - substrate of cow manure and wood chip that has been used to grow mushrooms and isn't as productive for that use anymore, but still has nutrition available for other plants. I used it this year as a mulch/compost layer, and the garden has done just fine with it. The only cost is the drive to go fetch it.
I’ll have to look into that in Edmonton
That’s interesting. I have a mushroom grower about a mile away from me. I wonder if he would be willing to part with some.
I have something similar here in southern ontario - do you find it's more 'brown' or 'green'? Last compost cycle I assumed it was more green but the way the pile performed, perhaps it was more brown!
Most people are lovely but it never hurts to show up with something in hand - a cake, or some excess from your garden, whatever, or ask if you can give a couple of hours free labour - or just ask if he'd like some cash. How I wish I had such an opportunity! Let us know the outcome please. Cheers from Oz. @@cynthiafisher9907
Where in Alberta?
Absolutely agree with your view on permaculture Huw. Sadly, it has become a very cliquey society that has created an image around it which has sabotaged the whole movement. Love your videos and your common sense approach. Keep them coming!
I'm glad you went with all 3!
My suspicions were correct regarding your views on seed saving. I went through a similar journey of trying to do what's best and most sustainable. But quickly discovered that as a solo gardener, I would never have time to maintain my garden if I dedicated myself to seed saving. Plus, I currently have a relatively small area to grow things. It would be a real challenge keeping everything organised.
And now I'm curious about electroculture. Not for my own use, but just to understand.
And I am enjoying these seemingly unscripted chats from the garden lately!
The copper antenna harness energy from the aether (there is energy in the atmosphere everywhere) and it used to be free 😅
Hi there focus on buying perenial seeds. You can get perennial kale, spinach, scarlet runner beans, walking onions etc. You will be surprised with a little research how many perennial edibles are available. Almost set and forget. Lol. 😊
I always save the easy ones--tomatoes, peppers, radishes, herbs, peas, beans, etc. Watch those "walking" onions. They should be called "running" onions. My sweetie has asked that I not grow them anymore since we've moved!
The current trend on electroculture reminds me of a number of years ago when the fad was on gardeners purchasing expensive test equipment to measure the Electrical Conductivity of their garden soil. I know one man that took a test meter to stores when shopping for compost so he could measure the electrical conductivity to ensure he was buying the best compost. He eventually learned that the moisture level had more to do with the measurable conductivity than the type of compost.
I recently saw a video about a lady who had invented a compost monitoring system. A rod goes into the heap, and then sends information about moisurte content, heat and so on. Honestly ? I'm sure it would be a great "boy's toy" Christmas present, but making composting far too high-tech.
Several years ago I decided to go Zero Cost Compost for my gardens. I got with some of my non-gardening neighbors to ask what they did with their kitchen scraps, and every one of them told me they put all of it down the garbage disposal in the sink. I asked if they would save all of it except meat for me to compost, and many of them said they would be happy to since it should reduce the need to pump their septic tank. I provided each of them with a 5-gallon bucket with a lid which they save their kitchen scraps in, and bring it to me once a week. I dump the bucket in a compost tumbler section, rinse the bucket, and give it back to them with my thanks for bringing it. I add an appropriate amount of carbon (sawdust or shredded paper), and start the composting. A takes a month to fully compost a tumbler section once it is full, and I have to empty 2 or 3 tumbler sections every week, which I dump into a large compost bin for holding until needed. An amazing amount of free high quality compost can come from what would otherwise be thrown out.
i do something similar. I have a 1m cubed bin. I take all the garden waste from 1 neighbour. I either mulch the beds with his leaves and clippings or compost it. I got 1/2 a ton a compost out of that bin in 1 season.
And then you give your neighbours some zucchini in the summer, right? 😅
@@LittleKikuyu Yes, indeed! We even share some winter squash with neighbors since we always have too many for our own use.
@@LittleKikuyu haha sometimes, but im mainly helping him avoid a £40 green bin collection fee.
May I put in my two cents? I don't purchase any compost at all. I regenerate all my own compost using scraps from the kitchen. I have 1/8th of an acre, and it has a few trees on it. Between the tree leaves falling, my kitchen scraps, my garden scraps, and my household scraps (i.e. cardboard and dryer lint), I don't buy compost. You're right about the seed saving though. I thought I 'd just save seeds, but when I realized I'd only be able to grow two types of tomatoes all year, only one type of corn (and no one corn suits all my family's needs), and I'd still have to buy some seeds (like kale), I said, "Forget it." Now, I don't use pesticides, and I am saving seeds when I find a variety of food that is pest/disease resilient, but I'm very cautious. Finally, I would like to point out that even when people thought they were self-sufficient, they weren't. No one person can grow or hunt or forage everything all the time. People have always needed to trade for what they didn't have and save when they had an abundance.
One way to save a few cents/dollars on your water bill is to water later at night around 10p-12a if you happen to be awake around that time. heat, light, and wind can evaporate water pretty quickly in tandem, so cutting out as many factors as possible while watering helps. It allows more water to absorbe into the soil and raises the available moisture within the soil. In particularity hot or dry climates a olla can help negate water loss, but they have to be pretty big to make an impact. Some months can really drive a water bill through the roof but this has helped a lot.
As an older woman I am no longer turning compost over but have always loved worm compost. I have a Tumbleweed worm bin in my kitchen - it is very discrete,never smells, no bugs. I have had it 3 years and love the process. There are many different types of worm bins available and a lot of information on line . Thanks for your thoughts , Hugh- very inspiring❤️
Electroculture was common place before the supermarket demonised it for obvious reasons.
My garden has flourished this year using it.
Amazing! Do you have any tips for beginners like me?
@@HuwRichards yeah well I'm a beginner too its my first year but I'm still learning. I noticed most climbing plants like cucumber tend to favour the cane with a copper wire attached to it🤯 I've seen seeds what didn't germinate for 2 months come to life a week later when I added some copper antenna to
Totally agree with you about making our own compost. I told myself I would stop purchasing big bags of compost. I’ll just wait till my own compost is ready and do other things first. But I hv the luxury of waiting because I’m only doing a tiny bit of gardening - some vegetables and fruit trees - as a hobby.
We live in South Snowdonia and started collecting seaweed from our local beach last year to use as a mulch. We’ve recently made contact with a local farmer who now delivers us sheep daggings as well... not a shortage of this in Wales. The farmer is more than happy to get rid of them and they make a brilliant mulch
Do you have to rinse off the salt prior to applying? Here in Wales, we have continuous rain. Is that sufficient to rinse it away? Insitu.
@@cherylprice1790 no you don't Cheryl. Just spread it on your beds in the autumn and it'll be fine. Really works wonders in feeding the beds. We had some giant brassicas as a result last year!
@@simongostick5443 thank you for your reply. I hope to get some this week then.
Seed saving became a bit of an obsession for me, for edibles and ornamentals.
Now it is simply how I garden - I plant ten of my onions and let them run to seed, I bag my tomatoes, isolate this and that - but then I also accept that some varieties such as brassicas will not come true to type. When I’m going for ‘self sustainability’ rather than preserving an exact genus, if something is not absolutely true to type but creates food to eat, then thats ok.
Sometimes it depends what your goals are, but if you can let go of perfection for a few crops then seed self sustainability is more attainable.
I don't worry as long as the results are edible.
How love the commonsense & practicality you apply to gardening. Everyone should have a go growing some vegetables or fruit just start with simple crops and talk to others about what’s worked what’s failed. It’s a great way to reconnect with people and nature. Basically I love to grow everything, even difficult plants it’s so rewarding to persevere and experiment
It's me Jason. Lol. The Pacific Northwest gardener. My weather i think is a lot like yours, I'm about 10 minutes from the ocean. Anyway I live in an upstairs apartment so I've only been able to garden on the balcony, up until a couple seasons ago until our landlord let us have basically our own fenced in Yard, off the side of the apartment complex. Anyway so I've had a compost pile going for a little over a year now. In the beginning I tried to get it to heat up mixing the proper amounts of greens and browns and had a rough time but I did finally get it to heat up. Then just kept adding to it over the winter not turning it to much. Then in the spring I noticed it was all pretty much broken down and just beautiful and full of worms, a lot of worms. That made me realize the rewards of your patience. I used some it over the spring and summer but basically just keep adding to it. I've come to find myself talking to maintenance people when I see them mowing lawns and getting fresh cut grass then raking up my neighbors leaves plus my food scraps and I work at a gas station and we have 2 big coffee machines that I keep the coffee grounds from and all the cardboard that I can take. All free, you just gotta look and ask. I love my compost setup and also really enjoy watching every episode you come out with. Keep up the good garden and I will also..
Would love to see a detailed video on the Seaweed mulching. There's not enough information about this online. What kind of seaweed do you prefer? Tough? Soft? etc.
Seawater diluted down tremendously can also be used as a fertilizer. It contains all the minerals found on land. Easier to gather just use a small amount with fresh water.
The way you plan and run your garden is often dependent on what you want from your garden. Do you want convenient access to staples? Do you want to grow produce you can't find locally? Do you want a broad variety of options or just a large quantity of things you will use and share? Your garden needs to serve you and fit into your personal lifestyle. Every garden is like every home; extremely personal and tailored to your needs. I love the very pragmatic approach that Huw takes toward gardening and how he is always looking for new, more efficient ways to tailor his garden. Happy New Year. Saludos desde Asturias.
I think you should absolutely make as much compost as possible on site, but if you can spend $200 (for a large garden) on bulk compost to double your yield and reduce the amount of weeding (a big benefit of commercial compost), it seems short sighted to pinch pennies. It's good to keep costs in perspective of how much you are getting back. If I'm eating $4000-$5000 worth of produce from my garden a year, plus fresh flowers, it's worth it to spend some money on compost, seeds, fencing, raised beds, etc. that will make it easier and improve my yields.
Food prices are only going to continue to rise, so your correct, it's worth the investment now.
Agree with you. There are times when a bag of commercial compost is well worth the money. When my own heap is still "cooking", when the burly grandson is not around to help turn the heaps, when planting needs to be done sooner rather than later .... However, as the daughter of a real Compost Meister, I do try to use as much as possible - food scraps, mowings, weeds, leaves, twigs, paper, to make my own compost. It's an ongoing process, but getting better as time goes on !
Exactly this. Another thing people never take into account when totting up costs is how much they'd be spending on something else if they weren't gardening. Far as hobbies go its still one of the cheaper ones
I'm trying a few different things this year composting-wise. I've had a compost bin in the back garden for food scraps - but it filled quickly and is like a giant worm bin. Had to leave it by the middle of summer for the worms to do their thing. On my allotment I have 3 dalek type bins, I put them on three different beds so that as the contents were composting they were also feeding that bed - this autumn I have moved them to different beds, spread the compost on the bed they were originally on and put any uncomposted material back into them in the new location.
To deal with food waste since September I have been trying bokashi and am planning to use the soil factories to fill 10 30l pots to grow potatoes in next year. The bokashi bins have been filling up quickly so I'm also looking at growing oyster mushrooms with coffee grounds and tea bags (as per permaculture magazine last winter I think). The spent grounds after harvesting mushrooms can be used as compost too.
I'd say one of the hidden costs is plant food (if you havent made your own) and water. When I first started my Garden it was April in lockdown and I didn't think I could afford to buy water butts. I tried to do it as cheaply as possible as I had lost my self employed income shielding. I only have a small garden when compared to yours and don't have room for an IBC tank. I thought I was saving money until I got my water bill the following year and it shot up. I need to restart when we move and the first thing I'm buying is a whole load of water butts and a pump to put to my soaker hose as I have a health condition that makes lugging watering cans difficult. I think if they are in place over autumn and winter then spring in the UK I'd get my money back probably in the 1st year but definitely by the 2nd.
I’m having my coffee and planning to plant my garlic today! It’s finally cool enough here in central North Carolina. I agree with you on all of your comments. Compost is the big cost for me so I’m going with burying my kitchen waste, piling on my grass clippings/crushed leaves and planting cover crops in my raised beds. It’s what I can afford and it’s organic for the most part. I try to keep in mind the cost/benefit ratio too. The benefits to myself, my family and the planet at large is inestimable.
I had tons of kale volunteers this past spring.
By making my own compost has turned into a full time hobby, am always looking for different ways to make it. Make 2 or 3 truck fulls equivalent each year, took time but as a older gardener am experimenting with smaller containers making in 10, 20 and 40 litre covered buckets or bins mainly using household scraps, some leaves, grass, straw and a starter of a handful of my tiger worms. For the big heaps use old hay, horse manure, daggy wool, cardboard, weeds not seeding, and old balage that animals won't eat due to mould. Allso use thousands if not hundreds of thousands of tiger worms.
My response when anyone asks whether I have tried or would incorporate any of the "less obvious" gardening techniques is always the same: I still have so much potential for increased success through simplifying and getting the basics right that it doesn't make sense for me to invest my time and resources into chasing some supposed obscure marginal gains. Talk to me again once I've managed to fulfill the instructions on the back of every seed packet ("vegetable 'x' likes well drained soils with high levels of organic matter") without compromising ecosystem health on any level.
But by all means, to each their own. Gardening has at least some element of escapism, and if the private world that you grow and nurture involves magic wands or potions or astrological alignments and brings you happiness, then that is sincerely wonderful and fully legitimate. It should not need to be justified.
Loved it, as usual. Your common sense and willingness to try many things is great! I agree whole heartedly, experiencing the garden as a part of nature and spending time getting to understand the holistic system is a lifetime pursuit and well worth the effort, but if you follow nature instead of trying to make nature follow a over-simplified human defined system you will get where you need to be much faster. There is enough magic in that to keep me busy! 💚
To me composting is keep it as simple as possible, don't overthink it. Can't wait to see and hear your take on peat free seed compost !!!
I do collect the majority of seeds and have found great success in the past. Doesn't seem too time consuming tbh, but there are of course certain things that are a pain to seed-harvest. Brsssicas are a good example but i had trouble with everything but kale this year in that respect. Seeds are expensive imho so it's good to cut a little of that cost. My biggest cost this year was definitely compost, but it's my first year in a new place so needed a lot of work to transform the land. The compost pile is huge now tho so hoping for a lot from it in spring. Great idea about the seaweed!!! Thanks for another great vid! always very 'thought-provoking' content on your channel and that imho, over simply 'informational content', is invaluable! :)
One more thought - i did try a bokashi bin this year that a neighbour leant me. Imho - not worth the effort, the smell and the time. Gave up after my first batch and won't be bothering again. :) As for Electroculture... the Georgians, Victorians and even Edwardians were OBSESSED with electricity and it's potential uses, convinced that it's properties were 'life-giving' or healing. 99% of which we now know is debunked nonsense. Electricity + lifeforms is rarely a good combination. My impulse is, like yourself, to scoff at the notion. We do know that mycelium benefits from lightening tho, so who bloomin knows?! 🤣
Look for seed swap programs through garden clubs and public libraries.
Love hearing your thoughts and opinions Huw 🙌We're still laughing about you laughing at Electroculture and forgetting the word for beach 😂 All the important stuff ! Hope you got your garlic in 💚✌🌿
Ok, I've never heard about electroculture, but I can imagine what it means...
I've only a small garden and making compost is one of my biggest problems, as I don't know where to get the space. So I'm thinking about a compost tumbler. I'm still not there to buy one, but I guess next spring I will do. Or maybe the pathways, like you showed in one of your videos. I now have the whole winter to think about it 🙂
Thanks for picking up this topic and have a nice weekend.
I recommend going for a compost tumbler - faster compost for less physical strain. Just remember that at some point you have to stop adding input so that it can finish processing and you will need an alternative (or second tumbler) for your self-generated inputs like kitchen scraps and cuttings during that time. Also, buy the best you can afford - there is a huge difference in life expectancy between metal and plastic models.
@@crankybanshee3809 Thanks for the recommendation. I will go and check. I guess I needed this push 🙂 Have a nice weekend.
Ohhh, looking forward to finding out about The Secret Garden next week! Longer term, I'm looking forward to growing my first crops from Real Seeds next year, since I just treated myself to some very cool tomato, courgette & cucumber varieties.
Hello Mr. Richards! I have a question about "hidden costs". Are you still doing "chop and drop" style composting? I'm starting to do more and more "chop and drop" and more cover crops to try to make the homemade compost I make go further. Please keep experimenting with gardening! I love your channel.
I bought a Kelly Kettle after seeing you use one a while back. I ❤ it! It's fantastic.
Wonderful! They are the best!
Totally agree with not seed saving, i never let anything go to seed anymore as it's a waste of nutrients and space. Only seeds i keep are tomatoes/peppers. Would rather spend the money on making my raised beds fertile. Compost cost for me is way less then the cost of buying vegetables so while i make my own i still need to buy some at a punch. Just bought your book so keen on seeing if there is anything i can pull from it that will be helpful.
Well, there IS the added advantage of flowering plants that draw in and feed the beneficial insects. I always let the odd plant flower and go to seed just to see them live their best life and have a pretty fun garden with some visual interest and food for the lil critters 😂❤️🌸
Another practical, achievable, accessible video, Huw! Hijacked is a good term to use for what’s happened to permaculture and organic gardening. I have been working to be compost-sufficient for the last few years. Comfrey, seaweed, food scraps, local horse manure and spoiled hay from the local horse owners have helped me get a little closer. Keep up the good work, Huw!
PS. I built my first hot bed this year after taking your couse, it it was a smashing success! BTW, I live on the atlantic coast of Canada👍🏻
Huw Could you please put a link to that amazingly useful contraption on your cable reel?😀
I am a seed keeper since I was a child(with dreams of being an artist sketching only plants) I have time and love seeing my lemon seeds, turn into trees that I sell for $65.00/ Pomegranate trees for a 2 year old $45.00/ and now that I'm retired I think I want to harvest carrots and sell carrot juice with vanilla ice cream by the glass/ $5.00 a glass
I found vintage strawberries that are completely red inside not white at all ever; worth keeping that seed and furthering the patch as it's fun to have breakfast in the garden
I really enjoy this type of video, thank you so much Huw! ❤️
I save seeds from my staples, like tomatoes, peppers, chilli, curly kale, coriander, cilantro, onions and leeks!
And a real game changer in the compost department for me was saving huge amounts of leaves in the fall and also any kind of paper/cardboard throughout the year (as I was struggling with too much green material and not enough brown). Plus leaf mould, that stuff is gold!
Much love as always ❤️
Very enjoyable Huw, yes having own compost and compost making area is so important. Sourcing some quality nutrients is so important. Enjoyable as always, all the best, Hugh 😁👌🏻👍🏻
Very nice video, I liked the style and the teasing quiz. Agree with all of it. My plot is currently covered with a mixture of seaweed and horse poo, since I have access to both. I'll also log all my gardening expenditure too next year. It should be educational! Cheers Hugh
Oops spell checker, sorry!
Awesome video! I have been thinking about a lot of that stuff, and it is so good to hear your perspective. Seed saving was something that I use to do a lot of, and then stopped for quite a few years, for many of the reasons that you mentioned. I have been devoting more space and time to saving seeds lately, partially because Brexit has meant that those of us growing in Ireland can no longer get access to seed supplies from places like Real Seeds in the UK, but it is a drain on potentially scarce resources, especially my time.
The question of compost is a big one, especially as more and more people are starting to grow their own food, potentially putting greater demand on local and regional supplies. I love that you are exploring the issues of compost in different ways, and look forward to you videos about the new grown space.
As for electroculture ... yeah, that is an idea that I have been fairly dubious about, but I really should try for myself before developing a stronger opinion about it.
Hi Bruce! Really appreciate you stopping by. I understand your angle completely, I would definitely have a mindset shift if put in the same situation regarding access to seed in Ireland. Perhaps crowdfund to create the Irish version of Real Seeds? It would be great to chat more about compost demands and thoughts/solutions/concepts to make growing more cost-effective. Best, Huw
@@HuwRichards There are some people working to increase the supply of seeds produced in Ireland, and a few people and organisations collaborating with that, which is great to see. I think a key issue is that with a much smaller population, and not a lot of people interested in growing food, it is had to sustain and fund all of that. Hopefully that will change soon.
With the interrelated issues of compost, and its availability, I have been thinking a lot more about the various tasks that we use compost for. We use it to improve the structure and nutrient holding capacity of the soil. We use it to supply nitrogen and other nutrients into our soil to feed the plants and soil biology, and to bring in carbon sources to feed the biology, often requiring the breakdown and consumption of the compost itself for them to be released. We use compost (and compost teas) to bring useful biology into the gardens, or to shift the biology within the soil. And we use it as a mulch to protect the soil and suppress the weed seeds. Generally a combination of all or most of them, and I am probably missing a few. But I think all of these actually take different forms or qualities of compost, but we expect the one compost to do it all. Efficiency and cost effectiveness, and better growth and quality, can perhaps be achieved with other methods or different forms of compost. In an ideal world we would have lots of clean and good quality, well aged and nutritionally complete, farmyard manure from a cheap, local and organic source. And I think many of our ideas and beliefs about using compost in the gardens are based on that ideal, but very few of us have access to that. So we need to adjust to what we can get.
Not much to contribute except to say I haven’t been able to view in a few weeks due to caring for my very ill dad. But I’m now curled up on the sofa with his 2 dogs, and watching this helped my soul. Just hearing those sticks crackle brought me joy and relaxation. Thank you! After my rest I may start planning my Spring garden 🙂
I'm sorry to hear about your dad; I hope he feels much better soon! It sounds like you're doing a wonderful job as his caregiver, and taking the time to take care of yourself in the process. Gardening vlogs (and gardening) have been very healing and therapeutic for me as a caregiver myself. Take good care, and happy spring gardening planning! 🙂🫑🥒🥬🥦🍄
@@fairwearth690 Thank you very much : ) Indeed, gardening is hugely therapeutic!
I use roughly 3m³ of compost a year which might sound a lot but it's just enough to put a 1"/2.5cm layer over 100m² of beds, both outside & in my greenhouse & polytunnel & fill my potato containers.
90% of it is home made from pretty much anything I can get hold of, including weeds & spent plants from other plot holders (why don't they get more compost containers...), seaweed, shredded privet clippings & shredded cardboard (about 200kg annually) for carbon.
I don’t know about the situation in your country but here in Germany cardboard is made from recycled paper and full of dangerous chemicals, micro plastic and debris 😞 It’s not safe to use, unless one wants to poison the ground and oneself. 😖 That’s one good option for compost making out of the window…but yeah, I too use anything else available for composting, mostly directly in the beds.
@@LittleKikuyuThe stuff I use is brown cardboard & you can't make cardboard from pulped paper, as the fibre as are the wrong size & type.
Inks containing metals & toxic chemicals have been banned in the EU for many years.
It's perfectly safe.
There is a perennial kale seed available. I focus on buying perenial seeds and plants. Many everyday edibles can be perenials, plant once and they come back every year. I grow everlasting spinach, scarlet runner beans, perenial onions, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, rhubarb, mint, parsley, all my fruit and nut trees, raspberry canes and many edible flowers. Many vines such as passionfruit, blackberries. I just plant a few extras each season with little energy and time as I have a well established food forest. This is a great way of gardening for someone like me who is 70 next birthday. Love to all from Australia.
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I love your practicality and advice.
Thank you for the sensible video. Permaculture, Electroculture, compost, seed saving, self-sufficiency are all time consuming and require space. I want to grow as much food as possible, this year is my first year at successful composting, have a few fruiting plants/trees and I saved a few seeds. Everything in moderation is the key. I will not be trying electro culture, if Mother nature finds cooper in the ground and wants to charge it, good for her!!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences.
Using seaweed to mulch your beds, you have to ensure it doesn't contain PFAS - we have had some serious challenges with that here in Denmark (for the self sufficiency community). It might not be an issue if the water changes a lot, but just a heads up :)
Something so satisfying about someone so successful (in a meaningful way) forgetting the weird beach 🤣🙏🏼🥰
We just finished our second year gardening. There are definitely a lot of up front costs, although we also save money by making the beds from pallet wood and such. At the beginniing it's daunting trying to fill all the beds with soil. What we've done in Autumn is make all the beds into warm beds and keep them composting all Winter. One of our biggest successes was growing onions on top of a leaf pile. We filled a bottomless frame with leaves, then covered that with black plastic that we cut holes into for drainage. We then put soil on top of the plastic and planted onions. Literally a few months later when we harvested the onions, all the leaves under the black plastic had turned into rich leaf mulch!
So validating Huw!
I love what you are doing. Very innnovative
Very good listening to you talk about this Huw. Received your newsletter and would love to work with you on any projects. If ever you're in France, come visit us. Dan et Hélène.
I think too many people collect the wrong seeds. They go for the biggest plants they have grown or the ones they think produced the most that season. In reality, the best seeds to collect are from those hardy plants that survived with the least care and not so much water. They are the plants that are adapting to your local environment.
Great to hear some of your opinions on these things. I order from real seeds also and noticed what they said about corn needing about 200 plants to save the seed! So some seeds I save (tomatoes) and some I just buy from them every couple years.
The great Kelly Kettle. Brilliant.
Was only thinking this week is this worth it . The energy the cost of bags of compost , veggie seedling mix , cow manure all in bags buy it pick it up .Colourbond garden beds . Watching a day of wind rush through . Cheaper too go buy my veggies . Still do buy some like corn, avacodo,s , cucumbers not good at growing those . Than 2 days later I,m thinking why do I persist on growing veg .One an hour trip there and back too town .Oh and I can just walk outside and pick herbs and some lettece leaves . Oh there's pickled beetroots I made ,grew the beets . Apples cooked in the freezer yum. The other reason is I have MS and for a very long time it gets me out of bed too see how the gardens going and water it . I,ve been on a gluten free diet for more than 30 years so as much organic food too help towards healing my immune system . Working in the garden yes I hurt as have damaged from a bad MS,attack at 31 and in a bad way back then .So my exercise is my gardening and walking around the big hardware shop in town too get....more garden supplies. Oh and the walk around the supermarket getting the groceries .Than 2 days rest from that then back out into the garden a few afternoons . Oh and you should see the house garden,roses about too burst out in bloom . A, about 30 year old walnut tree leaves coming back in spring .I,m here in cooler part of Australia . Love watching your video,s been so inspirational .
Thanks for this Huw. I am of the camp of "start with what you've got" gardening! Definitely if you've got lots of free seaweed use that!
May be worth separately plants' need for fertility and organic matter for the soil? So I have free woodchip available which is great when decomposed for soil structure and water conservation but not for vegetable fertility.
I can't remember where I read this but buying compost massively increases gardeners' carbon footprint. Nothing is as simple as "no dig is better for the environment".
When I got my first weedy allotment in Spring there was a load of communal partly rotted manure available so I dug up the weeds and dug that in instead. Just made sense with what I had.
I've had a small home organic garden for 20+ years. Admittedly I'm in a good climate (no serious frosts) but I seed-save without much effort at all. Potatoes self seed here and there seems no diseases - they self-select for hardiness. Lettuces are great for self-seeding, tomatoes too , also carrots- and several variety of green beans & peas. The advantages of saving seed is what survives is increasingly adapted and strong - especially if grown in great soil (from composting and organic techniques). I now do this entirely informally. A few plants always seem to escape me and go to seed, so I collect the seed. The fresh seed is quite vigorous to germinate. I think the last seed I purchased was a variety of summer squash - which will not stay true without great effort. And I got those seeds on a big discount related to being older seed - which still germinated quite well. It is easy to save seed. BTW I have a Kelly Kettle too and enjoyed watching you light yours up!
Huw, spot on about how the cost of compost builds up, even for us small garden / container growers. We make our own compost, however it is never enough and the cost of buying it in, is just becoming prohibitive now. Beginning to wonder, what with the time involved, Summer water restrictions, incessant pests, ever rising costs of compost etc, is it actually worth growing your own annuals on a small scale? Will look into perennial veg. If not, will just turn our veg beds and pots into wildflowers and maybe some soft fruit.
Thank you for adressingnThe Bottom Kine issue, as it is the basis of sustainability.
I do not buy complst 'cuz I don't want composted cardboatd. I make mine with leaves plus garden and housebold scraps.
Yes, there is always the need for more...that' life.
The garden besides recreation should produce even small but measurable benefit.
Otherwise it may be a good idea to grow flowers and supplrt local professional organic veg growers.
Thanks for your healthy reasoning....
Don't discount the mental health aspect of having a hobby when considering self sufficiency. It's not all a spreadsheet of minimizing cost!
Well, that stuff with elekroculture is a thing about the Magnetic Field in the surrounding.
When u stuff out your Garden and make Visions and Plans it has almost the same effect like Elekroculture, also every natural grown vital tree is charging positiv 'energies'.
Its about the possibilitiy from Biological cells to access Elektrons and different mikroenergies from the sun and the Earth too.
Very simple said (and technicaly not excactly true, but good for a first idea) Electrokulture can raise that amount.
A 'Lakovsky - spoole' is very simple and takes not much effort and time to build.
But every piece of dekoration which is placed with a sense for beaytiness, or the way the beeds are build in term of functionality AND at least some good looking shape is also raising the positive Vibrations at the place.
I would recommend a channel about that stuff, but its in German. I have no idea if you or the autocorrecture will understand the technical explanations.
The channel is called : 'Baumentor'.
Have a nice time!
Best Greetings from Saxony in Germany😊
I use several methods for compost; with two non-adjacent allotments I have space to experiment. One idea, based on the keyhole system is to create a space 3x3 metres, divided by boards into 9 squares. One of the outer squares is used for access to the central square. This central square consists of a slatted compost bin. To make it more self contained, you could put a small water butt in the central square and pack the composting material around it. My other method is to have a long bed, 1 metre wide with 3 slatted compost bins. When the first bin is full, begin number 2, then number 3, but begin the third with the top layer of number 1. As the contents of the first bin rot down, dismantle it and create a fourth bin. Continue this leapfrogging through the season. When the base of the emptying bin is reached you should have a square of fertile, weed free ground.
WAIT!!! Save those brassica seeds for micros! You don’t have to require growing to full
Size for that prized broccoli head. Have a brassica bolt? Save those ABUNDANCE of seeds for sprouting super high nutrient micros in the off season. 😊
Nice! for the first time i can watch your videos and feel like im on the right path. I use a lot of seaweed, its amazing, only drawback is the amount of plastic hidden in it :( I have only had an allotment 1.5 years but it has so many advantages as well recycling the nutrients back to the earth where we have washed it away by poor land management. Also i never use recipes, so another win for me from this video, thanks Huw!
Still haven't won vs slugs mind, i feel like Pembrokeshires coastal slugs are on another level! they have eaten my winter onion seedlings after carefully placing seaweed all around them hoping itd protect them for a bit but i think all this rain has washed any remaining salt right off :(
My understanding is that electroculture started as a way to get mushrooms to trigger fruiting rather than a broader application, I think it might be overhyped for other purposes it wasn’t originally for
I am trying to diversify my soil inputs. I have a compost bin, a worm bin and I’m setting up a leaf mold station. I am planning on getting into bokashi in the future.
I also like the chop and drop which adds nutrients for free back to the soil. I don’t have the capacity to do large scale composting but I do have the capacity to do various soil amendment type practices.
i love all your opinions
Look at that Rosemary in the background 😮😍
Interesting points and like you said in a fashion it’s what gets you out there growing, planting, seed saving, so each to there own. I’m a biodynamic grower so even more out there for some people, as well as a person who uses permaculture principles. The area I would like to comment on is that we are according to ideas that come from indigenous people and all applied in biodynamics….. the alchemists of the garden. Nature does not save seed in packets or dry herbs for teas and so I feel electro culture is part of that alchemy if you want to play with it and I have seen good results as with using copper tools using biodynamic preps go for it. It’s our individual relationship with the rhythms of the seasons, the soil our seeds and plants/growing that allows the us to experiment and interact with the magic of being part of that expression or becoming within our garden or growing space.
Did some experimentation with electroculture this year, very ad hoc, and to this point didn't see anything exceptional about it. Will do more research this winter and be more organized next year, but for me it boils down to marginal returns. If it doesn't put out results worthy of the time and effort put into it, it's not probably something I'm going to pursue.
Ah the French Press! It certainly makes you work for that coffee! As for seeds, I only keep the seeds from my sunflowers, then I share them with friends and family, and replant of course!
Very inspirational huw
Great video, spot on. I’ve calculated I need approximately 1 ton+ of compost. I grew a number of large plants and have collected many large bags of neighbours leaves in addition to my 17 bed garden plants for materials .I built a 4’ cubed compost box with roof and have succeeded in getting good temps. I am still concerned that by spring I won’t have enough product to cover all my beds in the spring. I was able to fill it this fall.
I’m looking for ideas on potential crops I can grow that may have some astetic appeal along with large quantities of material for adding to my system. What are other people doing?
I’ve considered asking a coffee shop nearby for it’s used grounds. And this year grew 1000 head kale and sunflowers to help create material. I live in zone 3 so we have winter half of the year.
I also collect from neighbors. I make compost from coffee grounds collected from the organic shop, leaves from neighbors, manure from whoever will part with it, old rotten straw the farmers can't use, kitchen/garden scraps, wood chips, leaves, needles from city projects nearby, lawn clippings from neighbors as well. I am zone 3/4 right now. Used to be a zone 2. I live in town so not a huge area like yours sounds like, so I would advertise somehow that you are looking to scavenge. I had a little sign at the end of my driveway when we moved in and I built my gardens/yard. People were all too happy to give away their clippings and leaves and trimmings so they didn't have to pay to haul to the dump.
Thank you for the video. I agree that buying compost and/or amendments can be really costly and that the goal, for me anyway, is to build my own soil via worm castings and home made compost.
As a side note, what kind of kettle is that? It looks amazing.
I find brassicas are cheap as chips to buy so I wouldn’t worry about them and it keeps the seed suppliers in business. I on,y have a small garden and do it for pleasure (my motto is :always try to remember gardening is an exercise for the mind, body and soul. Harvesting is a bonus you cannot simply measure in weight). Keep up the great work Unpopular Huw is quickly becoming my favourite 🤭🤭. Happy gardening, Ali 🌧️🇨🇦
Victorian gardens used to line the rows of strawberry plants with seaweed on the edges
I do seed saving just out of curiosity. Some plants will apparently over time adapt to one’s own garden micro climate and be especially hardy, but I’m not there yet 😅 I just love growing the odd plant from my own saved seeds. It’s so rewarding ☺️ But yeah, many seeds are still very affordable, especially considering how few one actually needs for a smaller garden 😅
I wonder who will get the other cup of coffee....I totally agree Huw, I am starting out a new garden on what was grazing farmland and realise that what I am spending on getting established may not be cost effective. Finding the happy medium is not that easy. All we have locally is lots of cheap horse manure and grass clippings.
we have 5 rabbits and 13 ducks which produce manure, we pick up mega maple leaves, we get trailer loads of seaweed off the beach, and we have a sawmill so we have wood chips but from fir, cedar and hemlock so not the best to put on compost right away tho good for our blue berries. We live on an island off grid so we dont bring in any garden additives besides lime which we use a lot of. a few animals make a big difference as well as cutting grass where we can. We have over a 100 fruit and nut trees too which we use humanure from our composting toilet. Dont use that on our veggies but its a good option if one can do it in a clean way.
this is on BC coastal island in Canada.
Absolutely in love with your rosemary hedge! I’m in Denmark, and I have never been able to get neither the height nor health of your beauties. Would you share the name, and perhaps some growing tips, pls? 🌸
Wise words sir 👏
This is SO true Huw, seed saving is very technical and here in Ireland we have the wonderful Seed Savers that have heritage and native varieties 👍🏻🪴
I get free woodchips from arborists and mix with duck weed from the pond ---Lemna minor (Previously known as Lemna cyclostasa,. )
I do lazy vermicompost and it works awesome.
Worms rule🎉🎉
I have a compost path and compost bin. Also save old compost and add some comfrey. leaves in an old dustbin. This I use for my pot growing veg.
Loved seeing your Kelly Kettle.