As a beginner gardener, it's great to see someone struggling but still having a blast! You get your wins and losses but the journey was the best part 😌
Most definitely!!! Even I get inspired watching this video and I literally am in it haha. These overviews of the garden progress really force me to remember and consider all that I’ve learned and done so far, even if everything’s not surrounded with lush canopies of abundant fruit!!
Thanks so much for enjoying this! The summer heat makes a lot of the plants look rather tired but I’m very optimistic about the upcoming fall semester and what cooler weather has to offer~~
Finally got to using the protected raised beds more extensively and it has drastically improved the rate that plants survive all the hungry creatures around here! Really optimistic about the native plants and the monarch butterflies we’re attracting already!! Those seem to be a little more critter proof
I love this so much. Tbh, early adulthood is 100% falling forward into things and rapidly learning (source: I'm 27, and started the queer club at my campus and the whole first year felt like a dumpster fire BUT at least we did it!).
Oh and some general gardening tips that might make things easier. You can *direct* pests away from your plants by planting something more desirable to them next to that. You can *attract* the pests' natural predators to take care of business (ladybugs will obliterate those aphids, dragonflies are predators of flying insects). Try the "three sisters" method and other indigenous agriculture methods. Three sisters is planting squash, corn, and pole beans together bc they benefit one another. Makes your life easier! Since you appear to be in a hot dry climate, provide shade to you cold-weather crops using material over those cages, or by strategically growing them under another plant that will shade them. For example, growing a trellising plant like beans which grow up a 45 degree inclined panel, and putting lettuce under that panel! They also need water to stay cool. Generally speaking, some of your struggles *could* be from trying to grow crops out of their season, but I don't know where you are so I couldn't really say. Plus you're trying to establish stuff anyways, so it's a good investment to just get going. Look up your area on the farmers almanac site for timing advice. Speaking of watering, be careful not to water the leaves of plants, which can lead to rotting. Water the ground (roots). Pinterest can be a good brainstorming source for us DIY'ers. For instance, I saw people deterring pest mammals by putting wire waste bins over their seedlings. And using old water bottles pointed into the ground and filling that with water in order to more deeply water their plants roots. Last idea is to talk to the college's teachers in environmental science and botany! Or a master gardeners program near you.
That sounds so amazing that you started the queer club at your school! I feel like we’re kind of in that messy period still since it was just seven months ago that I started to all in into building this food forest school garden and the club behind it! It had fallen apart since covid and no one seemed to want to put in the time to revive it until I came around!!
I’ve heard of the trap crop technique you mentioned. For now, I feel like insects aren’t a huge worry for us. It’s more the small furry creatures that do the most damage haha I tried the three sisters and the real struggle is that stuff LOVES to eat the bean plants and the squash leaves, leaving it in a very sad and sorry state… Maybe next year or later might be a better time to try it to kind of protect the plants from any hungry little monsters That cooling system by growing beans above lettuce sounds really innovative. Gotta find some plant that’s pest proof and similar to a bean now 🤔 I’m trying my best to water below the leaves but sometimes, it just be a little difficult. Luckily the sunny and dry weather helps dry off the leaves within minutes
I love this !! If i can make one suggestion: it was really hard for me to watch because the camera was quite shaky and moved very fast at times. If you could walk a little slower and thus have the camera move slower that would help a lot❤
As a beginner gardener, it's great to see someone struggling but still having a blast! You get your wins and losses but the journey was the best part 😌
Most definitely!!! Even I get inspired watching this video and I literally am in it haha. These overviews of the garden progress really force me to remember and consider all that I’ve learned and done so far, even if everything’s not surrounded with lush canopies of abundant fruit!!
Excellent 😊🎉
I subscribed to your channel 🙏
this was fun to watch!! i’m excited to see how the space continues to change
Thanks so much for enjoying this! The summer heat makes a lot of the plants look rather tired but I’m very optimistic about the upcoming fall semester and what cooler weather has to offer~~
WoW! It's really coming along! Congrats on your growth!
Finally got to using the protected raised beds more extensively and it has drastically improved the rate that plants survive all the hungry creatures around here! Really optimistic about the native plants and the monarch butterflies we’re attracting already!! Those seem to be a little more critter proof
I love this so much. Tbh, early adulthood is 100% falling forward into things and rapidly learning (source: I'm 27, and started the queer club at my campus and the whole first year felt like a dumpster fire BUT at least we did it!).
Oh and some general gardening tips that might make things easier.
You can *direct* pests away from your plants by planting something more desirable to them next to that. You can *attract* the pests' natural predators to take care of business (ladybugs will obliterate those aphids, dragonflies are predators of flying insects).
Try the "three sisters" method and other indigenous agriculture methods. Three sisters is planting squash, corn, and pole beans together bc they benefit one another. Makes your life easier!
Since you appear to be in a hot dry climate, provide shade to you cold-weather crops using material over those cages, or by strategically growing them under another plant that will shade them. For example, growing a trellising plant like beans which grow up a 45 degree inclined panel, and putting lettuce under that panel! They also need water to stay cool.
Generally speaking, some of your struggles *could* be from trying to grow crops out of their season, but I don't know where you are so I couldn't really say. Plus you're trying to establish stuff anyways, so it's a good investment to just get going. Look up your area on the farmers almanac site for timing advice.
Speaking of watering, be careful not to water the leaves of plants, which can lead to rotting. Water the ground (roots).
Pinterest can be a good brainstorming source for us DIY'ers. For instance, I saw people deterring pest mammals by putting wire waste bins over their seedlings. And using old water bottles pointed into the ground and filling that with water in order to more deeply water their plants roots.
Last idea is to talk to the college's teachers in environmental science and botany! Or a master gardeners program near you.
That sounds so amazing that you started the queer club at your school! I feel like we’re kind of in that messy period still since it was just seven months ago that I started to all in into building this food forest school garden and the club behind it! It had fallen apart since covid and no one seemed to want to put in the time to revive it until I came around!!
I’ve heard of the trap crop technique you mentioned. For now, I feel like insects aren’t a huge worry for us. It’s more the small furry creatures that do the most damage haha
I tried the three sisters and the real struggle is that stuff LOVES to eat the bean plants and the squash leaves, leaving it in a very sad and sorry state… Maybe next year or later might be a better time to try it to kind of protect the plants from any hungry little monsters
That cooling system by growing beans above lettuce sounds really innovative. Gotta find some plant that’s pest proof and similar to a bean now 🤔
I’m trying my best to water below the leaves but sometimes, it just be a little difficult. Luckily the sunny and dry weather helps dry off the leaves within minutes
I love this !! If i can make one suggestion: it was really hard for me to watch because the camera was quite shaky and moved very fast at times. If you could walk a little slower and thus have the camera move slower that would help a lot❤