I bought a leather Fanny pack to keep a pocket knife, zip ties, paper and pen etc. small stud I never know when I will need. Put it on when I head into the yard/garden in the morning. Has been wonderful.
It makes me so happy to see someone pottering around a garden with so much enthusiasm. I am binging gardening videos to help fight the January blues (and the week long rain we've had). Thank you so much for the smiles and the fun, Ben.
I know what you mean, Just like today, pretty grotty as usual. Roll on spring. I wanted to start planting seeds for February, just as Ben kindly listed in his latest video, but I was told not to use the kitchen (!), so will await another day, keeping inside and warm 🙂.
One more, when you're pruning, keep a rag soaked in surgical spirit /Jeyes/disinfectant/or similar, in your pocket, belt, whatever, and clean the blade of your knife or secateurs when you finish one Bush /tree, before you move on to the next. This minimises cross infection.
To fill my water butt, no hosepipes allowed, I have persuaded my plot neighbour to have a small post in the corner of his plot, so the pipe runs round his plot and I do not accidentally pull it over any of his plants.
For garden tools we have a large metal bucket with sand and we have mixed vegetable oil in it lightly. When we are done with our garden tools we have a paint scraper we used to scrape off the bigger clumps of dirt, then we plunge it into the bucket of oily sand a few times which helps get a lot of other dirt off of it too and coats it in oil. We then have an old hand whisk broom we used to brush off the excess sand. Then the tools are cleaned and oiled as soon as we are done.
On the farm, we used to put the oil in a bucket of sand next to the tool shed door. A quick thrust of the rinsed fork or spade or trowel oiled it for storage without breaking stride.
Brilliant tip with the croquet hoops, I will definitely be trying something like that as I always catch plants with the hose! Great tips as always, thank you. 😊
Like Diane, I store all my seed and growing info in a spreadsheet and add/subtract entries each year as needed so I have an annual record. Included are the seed packet info (source, sowing info for each season, # seeds left), transplanting, thinning, fertilizing, watering, pest/disease info relevant to my garden (when to add row covers, etc.), harvesting info (size, timing). These feed into another spreadhseet where I can show what's in each location by time (horiz axis) and see a snapshot of the entire year's crop layout by location (vert axis). It's a handy complement to the GrowVeg maps. Thank you so much for the wonderful videos, we always enjoy them.
You can mark out your parsnip row by mixing the seed with a bit of radish (use a long French Breakfast type rather than a globe shape) . If you sow in March, cover them and pull the radish young, you've got a bonus crop.
I took all my tools and covered the cutting parts. Then I painted all the handles blaze orange with spray paint. Ever since then, they've been much easier to collect at the end of the day. Doing it daily as you wrap up your work is smart. That helps you avoid accidents, keep track of valuable tools, and be all set for the next day. I learned the hard way and just dug up the hori hori knife I "lost" two years ago. I feared it was lost (or tossed out), but I've been able to recondition it all. Now off to paint the handle ORANGE!
To control my garden hoses, I hammer a piece of quarter inch rebar into the ground as a stake about a foot tall and then put a PVC pipe over it to cover it. It then becomes roller, making it very easy to work with the hoses.
My husband sprays all my tool handles bright yellow, as I also work off our farm as a gardener one day a week. No more running over lost tools in the long grass with the ride in!!!!!!! Happy New Year and cheers, Muffy from Oz (Australia)
I grow 3 lots of comfrey on my allotment (big clumps) . One for making comfrey juice, one for putting on the compost heap and the third to lay along the rows of crops in my raised beds. At any one time I let one of the clumps flower to encourage the insects. It seems to work well.
@@daveswords2112 It might as well be concrete!... and no, not as a cover, but as an aside to use for fermentation, animal feed, pollinators and such. Comfrey rhizomes are formidable foes in a veggie garden, but placing the harvest as a cover/amendment to feed the soil is a great use! Worms and top feeding roots/critters love the shade, moisture and nutrients derived through decomposition. I plant comfrey, for example, around my fruiting trees, but I would not plant them around greens, carrots, broccoli, peppers and such.
I do very similar…with 6 clumps…which I harvest in rotation, always allowing 2 clumps in flower and the others for adding to compost heap or making comfrey tea😀😀😀
Another! People seem to chuck out old plastic hanging baskets (I asked about locally and was given 30!) String strong wire between poles about 4ft high, plant strawberries in the baskets, and attach to the wires...... Saves a great deal of bending!
They make tools with green or black handles SO THAT YOU'LL LOSE THEM. White tape is no help to me. I've used bright yellow electrician's tape but even those disappear in some undergrowth so now I spray paint all the tool handles hot pink
Heeeey my fav gardening man. You helped me get the craziest yield in the overgrown raspberry bush in our new home we purchased last year. Thank you so much. I literally love your energy and the way you speak about gardening. Thanks for keeping me company and teaching so well ♥
Last year I put up a large peg board in my garden shed, painted it black, hung up all my hand tools, then drew around each one in white chalk. In just a glance I can see if a tool has been left outside. It will have an empty outline... kind of like a murder victim ;)
Thank you Ben. I've had a crappy day but even my mood couldn't stop me from laughing as you oiled that shovel!! I must get better at caring for my tools. Might make that my resolution for the year.
Cleaning the shovel was priceless!😂🤣🤣🤣. The bucket with sand is one of my favorite tips. Especially when you have no time to wash them. As always, great tips! 🙏
Had some spare heatproof tape from the poly tunnel wrapped around all my tools as being visually impaired it’s amazing I can see them amongst the grass and the cuttings and the flower beds
Good idea about the sticks as props for the peas. Laying the sticks on the beds also prevents the chickens from scratching up my beds when they accidentally get in!
🤣🤣 My hens are never in those beds “by accident”! 🐓🐓🐓 Those girls are a wee bit too clever (and found the berry plants way too quickly). I was just outside strolling about with the hens and figuring how I can be smarter this summer. I’m going with chicken wire fencing as needed.🐓🐓🐓
If you have an empty space but don’t want weeds, throw some red clover seeds and scratch them in. Cheaper and easier than mulch. If you want it gone, just hoe it up. If you want it to continue, let it seed. Bees love it.
I would say just get some workpant like constructionworkers use. U can then put neepads inside the pants and have some great pockets to sore some tools. Like pruning shears are a meter.
Ah the seed test... you don't need paper towel in the container. Just put ththe seeds in a clear container with lid, spray water, close the lid and put on top of the fridge. Wait a few days, checking daily. Paper towel will make it harder to plant the sprouts, since the roots will grow thru it. Hold by the tiny leaves to plant.
I ve got one awesome hack which will help the spring time.. sow in the autumn (carrot parsnip radish parsley scorzonera etc etc). I donno what is the climate range this would work, but it works in finland at least (our winters: normally 2-5months fully or mostly frozen, the average coldest temp may be from -15c to -40c). It really helps the spring time not being soooooo busy.. plus the stuff will start growing a bit earlier this way 🙃
This might work well somewhere really cold in winter which has one thawing season. But in the UK the temperatures in the winter go up and down like a yoyo. A warm February day might get them excited when there is not enough sun, or they die off in a cold snap later or get ripped apart from a windy storm.
@@Digeroo123 yes i think so. I always watch a few british garden channels in envy, when theres spring in february and we are still waiting for it like 3more months 😂
@@joan-lisa-smith yes 🤗 basically most root veggies will work. Also salads and many perennial herbs. Sow quite late, like just before the snow comes. Though i ve heard you could also so ON the snow, at least if you can still locate your correct sowing place etc 😄
@@tiarianamanna973 February can feel very damp and dull. Seedling damp off. One day they are all jolly and the next a total wipeout due to moulds. Apart from snow peas and broadbeans I do not do much until March, and last year the rats ate most of them. We all have to make the most of what we have. But I have to admit that self sown seeds of carrots, parsley, parsnips etc do seem to know when it is time to pop up, so maybe sowing in the Autumn is a good idea. I got a special offer on carrot seeds so I have loads, so I should have some left. Though parsnips sown too early are very prone to canker.
use reflective tape (3m scotch lite) and in the darkness you can find whatever is lost with an led flashlight. (think of it like a police car logo/stop sign)
I use a power mower with it's bag attached for picking up leaves. (we have LOTS) Not only does it make quick work of the process, it also chops the leaves into a finer consistency so they compost faster. Rather than put all the leaves into the composter, I plastic bag a few batches to keep over the winter and use as mulch the following year.
I love my foam kneeler! I even take it to the all you can pick strawberry fields. I work a little faster and happier when I am not muddy. It fits perfectly in my bucket of tools so I don't loose it or it doesn't blow away!
Hi we have a tip if you have more than one watering can on a big plot and wandering around looking for them why not keep them in one place. Put a long cane or old broom handle in the ground and put the watering cans handle over the cane one by one to form a tower there you have them altogether on one place and can always spot them👍
I wish people would stop calling tips "hacks". Maybe two on this list would qualify as a hack. TIP: If you don't mind dedicating a tarp for material transport, I sandwich one side of the tarp with furring strips. That keeps the tarp nice and flat, it helps keep it from blowing away before material has been placed on it, it keeps it from folding up while dragging it, and you can attach a rope to the furring strips and it becomes very easy to drag around. Bonus, you can roll it up and lean it against a wall for storage.
This as a great video with very useful tips. I don't know how useful this is outside the USA but I use 1 inch mini blinds in white or ivory/cream as plant markers. I cut them into the length I need and write on them with a #2 pencil. Sometimes it fades but I've only had a couple completely fade to obscurity and I've been using these for 8 or 9 years. I collect them at the end of the year, wipe them down, erase them, toss them in the dishwasher, and they are ready to use again.
Love the idea about the hoops. Soak rusty tools in vinegar, and once they're clean soak in water and baking soda to stop the reaction. Vinegar is amazing at removing rust.
I feel that tool handle comment in my soul. I've started going out of my way to look for tools that are that bright 'Safety Orange' since that is a color that doesn't occur often in my garden.
Thanks Ben I always come to your channel when I need advice. I didn't do well with my peppers last year. The other day I watched your pepper video and now I know what I did wrong last year.Such good clear videos. You've help me so much over the last 3 years of growing my own. 👍
I cut toilet paper rolls in half and use them to Mark where I have seeds planted. I just pushed the toilet paper roll into the soil a little bit so it won't move, and plant the seed in the middle.
Tip 8 Tried it Seeds expiration is last year which comes from the freebies (and the once I bought expiration is next year) 11 out of 30 seeds germinated
I lost my best ever pruners while trying to cut back huge overgrown branches at a church on my street. I put them down & they disappeared. Probably into the huge pile of brush & limbs. I will put white tape on my next pair!
Thanks for all the hacks ❤ When you plant nasturtiums as catch crop for cabbage pests, where should I plant them? Around, in between or something else? I fear it will attract more to the smorgastable for these buggers, and I grow a lot of brassicas. My plants are under cover though, and I spray with bacillus thuringiensis if I see a lot fly around, but I want to try with catch crops too. (Only broccoli and cabbage will be up to 100 plants, then I have the rest of them like kale, raab, chinese broccoli etc.).
I would consider planting nasturtiums towards the outside of your vegetable garden or the brassica growing area. Maybe in the next bed, away from the brassica crops. This way they should hopefully intercept some of the butterflies as they pass over, looking for somewhere to lay their eggs. Once they get affected I would lift the nasturtiums, or at least the affected areas of the nasturtiums, then remove them away from the vegetable garden.
I got a set of knee pads, but to keep them from moving around I had to strap them so tight they cut off the circulation, so I didn't use them that much. So I got a pool noodle (I don't know if they're called something else outside the US) and cut it in half and taped the two bits side by side. And I use that to save my knees.
I have learned not to give the plants away. They rarely appreciate it and it can even lead to bad feelings on rare occasions. If they cared they would grow their own.
Last summer I placed marigolds in with my tomatoes and they were earwig magnets! I have way too many in my area it really helped keep them at decent numbers just enough to deal the pests they enjoy 😅
Tip: Used coffee grounds keeps cats away from using beds as their toilet. I planted cherry tree in October and covered the area around the tree with fresh compost as mulch and long release feed. Few days later I saw a cat using it as a toilet. This happened again three times and after I spread grounds this cat has left it alone.
@@GrowVeg Cats don't like the smell of coffee, benefits are twofold, it works as a deterrent and fertilizer at the same time. Smell doesn't disappear quickly, at least for cats. I reckon even mixing more with fresh compost would work well.
I have spray painted the handles of all my tools a vibrant turquoise so they are easy to find in the garden, but more importantly easier to spot when loaned out so things actually make it back to me.
@3:52 Where's the NSFW warning, this erotic content is an outrage. What's more, that spade did not consent! :) Those secateurs with the olive green handles may be hard to spot against grass etc, but I do think it's a nice colour.
When planting bulbs i throw a handful of shredded bark mulch on top of the soil until im done and then top dress the whole lot. That way i know exactly where the bulbs are and it deters the squirrels and foxes from digging them up straight away!
For those in America, harbor freight has some really affordable and comfortable knee pads. I prefer the ones that are extra thick cloth covered with no gel, as a mechanic the ones I got from there have been saving my knees and back a lot of strain for the last few years.
My rain gutters have a few spots where drips occur during heavy rains. I collect the water for later use in 5 gallon buckets on pavers or long neck watering cans if they occur on a plant.
A Southern Hemispshere tip from Auckland, in New Zealand ! I have struggled to keep Tamarillo trees alive, as they were persistently getting some kind of mildew attack. I finally came across this simple remedy - One part milk to 10 parts water, plus a teaspoon of baking soda. Spray this on the leaves, and hey presto, healthy plants. I am intending to use this magic mix on pumpkins next year, and hollyhocks. Cheap and effective.
@7.0 Ha, I had to laugh at those trousers with holes in their knees. You might make decent profit if sold on Ebay! Only this last week. I commented on how it is a frequent sight on the High St, to see otherwise smartly-dressed young (and not so-young) people, mostly female, wearing such trousers out-and-about, quite unconcerned. I was told they are quite expensive, perhaps more expensive with rips!. In my long-distant past, we would have been ashamed to go out, so dressed. It's a crazy world, one in which I love t seek sanity and sanctuary in my garden 🙂. Thank you for those tips.
Old toothbrushes make excellent plant labels (with permanent marker). At end of season, once through the dishwasher (hot water!) & the pen comes off, ready to go again.
If I need to enhance light for seedlings and don't have enough window sill room for a large reflective board, or a supply of spare old aluminium foil, I turn crisp packets inside out, rinse off the salt from the silvery side, then pop them over a couple of sticks poked into the dark side of the plantpot or seed tray. Flexible, lightweight and absolutely free. And you can recycle the packets once you have finished with them. Cheers.
I made the mistake of not starting nasturtiams first last year. Bugs ate all my first round of seedlings. Pill bugs too. I had to smash them and use sluggo plus. Diamatacous earth didn't really do it. They were everywhere. Now I'm gonna give a little sprinkle around my plants when I plant them and I started a bunch of nasturtiams early this year.
Thank you Ben for the gardening tips. I thought I was the only one that lost clippers and trowels in the garden. Last year I bought florescent pink spray paint can and I'm spraying all of my handles this spring. :)
'Rake it to the tarp' is a brilliant idea! Thanks! I modified this into 'rake it to the cardboard', because tarp is a bit difficult to hold and carry, cardboard is much easy to pickup with the leaves on top of it.
@@GrowVeg Yes, if the weather is dry the cardboard can use for many days, but if the weather is wet i just through the cardboard together with leaves into the compost bin.
Band aids. Can't tell you how many young plants I accidentally broke off or bent a critical stem that would have killed the plant. Patched up the stem with a band aid and good as new! Use brand name band aids as they are more water resistant.
I ask all my Friends to share their egg shells as most folk bin them.I then crush them and add to my compost for some magic recycled calcium not to mention free coffee grounds from the local coffee shop.The garden loves it
It's nice when your raised beds are at least 2 ft tall. Then you don't have to crawl on your knees with knee pads! Makes weeding and harvesting a lot easier too!
Hi Greg! Waving from Central California where it is coming down buckets as I write. My weeds are loving this weather. Great for them and keeps me away from them.
I plant radish seed as markers for parsnips and long germination seeds and then they are up in less than a week and mark the row - plus if the radish pest dont get them too badly I can harvest them after the parsnips are up and thinned...Happy Gardening
I am now 72 years of age and when i was in my 50's i tried using washed river sand to grow plants hydroponically -the area i set aside for this experiement was10 sq mtrs -what surprised me was the seed strike rate when planted in the sand and just watered -it was extremly good- so i continued that seed raising process up untill today where i have about 1/4 acre of ground growing all my vegies-if you are lucky enough to have a heat matt this works very well uner the sand and assists with striking of seeds..all the best for 2023 John
We have a curbside clean up twice a year. It helps as I don't have to mince prunings up to go in the wheelie bin. My tarp let's me drag out significantly more, quicker, than hand carrying bunches of branches.
Hey to collect leaves set your lawnmower on it's highest cut and run over the leaves be doing that it cuts them up making them easy to handle. Hey you are not the only one that needs knee pads a lot of the young girls and boys must be kneeling a lot as well because their knee's and please don't tell that is style if i went home with jeans like that my mother would have chaste me back to get them changed she would have came with me and give the shop keeper an ear full for selling me second hand jeans and them tore to bits
![NOSFERATU - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters December 25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nulvWqYUM8k/mqdefault.jpg)
I bought a leather Fanny pack to keep a pocket knife, zip ties, paper and pen etc. small stud I never know when I will need. Put it on when I head into the yard/garden in the morning. Has been wonderful.
Simple but very effective move - great idea. :-)
It makes me so happy to see someone pottering around a garden with so much enthusiasm. I am binging gardening videos to help fight the January blues (and the week long rain we've had). Thank you so much for the smiles and the fun, Ben.
You're welcome Christina. February's not too far off now! :-)
I know what you mean, Just like today, pretty grotty as usual. Roll on spring. I wanted to start planting seeds for February, just as Ben kindly listed in his latest video, but I was told not to use the kitchen (!), so will await another day, keeping inside and warm 🙂.
One more, when you're pruning, keep a rag soaked in surgical spirit /Jeyes/disinfectant/or similar, in your pocket, belt, whatever, and clean the blade of your knife or secateurs when you finish one Bush /tree, before you move on to the next. This minimises cross infection.
Like the hack for the 'hoop' when watering. I suspect that will work for electric chords as well.
To fill my water butt, no hosepipes allowed, I have persuaded my plot neighbour to have a small post in the corner of his plot, so the pipe runs round his plot and I do not accidentally pull it over any of his plants.
For garden tools we have a large metal bucket with sand and we have mixed vegetable oil in it lightly. When we are done with our garden tools we have a paint scraper we used to scrape off the bigger clumps of dirt, then we plunge it into the bucket of oily sand a few times which helps get a lot of other dirt off of it too and coats it in oil. We then have an old hand whisk broom we used to brush off the excess sand. Then the tools are cleaned and oiled as soon as we are done.
What a great system you have. :-)
If u have birds stealing the strawberries, paint some rocks red before the strawberries ripen and the birds will get tired n move on.
I did this last year and it worked beautifully! I have now used those same 3 Strawberry rocks for 3 years.
Devious
I was wondering if this really worked....I usually have mine in hanging baskets...
Tried that and unfortunately it does not work on Cat Birds. Way too smart.
Fooled the sneaky magpies the last few years in my garden as well (Norway)
On the farm, we used to put the oil in a bucket of sand next to the tool shed door. A quick thrust of the rinsed fork or spade or trowel oiled it for storage without breaking stride.
Brilliant tip with the croquet hoops, I will definitely be trying something like that as I always catch plants with the hose! Great tips as always, thank you. 😊
Cheers for watching Bev. :-)
Like Diane, I store all my seed and growing info in a spreadsheet and add/subtract entries each year as needed so I have an annual record. Included are the seed packet info (source, sowing info for each season, # seeds left), transplanting, thinning, fertilizing, watering, pest/disease info relevant to my garden (when to add row covers, etc.), harvesting info (size, timing). These feed into another spreadhseet where I can show what's in each location by time (horiz axis) and see a snapshot of the entire year's crop layout by location (vert axis). It's a handy complement to the GrowVeg maps. Thank you so much for the wonderful videos, we always enjoy them.
Sounds like a great system you have Kris. :-)
You can mark out your parsnip row by mixing the seed with a bit of radish (use a long French Breakfast type rather than a globe shape) . If you sow in March, cover them and pull the radish young, you've got a bonus crop.
Hose hoops!!!yes. Thank you. Another great video.
I took all my tools and covered the cutting parts. Then I painted all the handles blaze orange with spray paint. Ever since then, they've been much easier to collect at the end of the day. Doing it daily as you wrap up your work is smart. That helps you avoid accidents, keep track of valuable tools, and be all set for the next day. I learned the hard way and just dug up the hori hori knife I "lost" two years ago. I feared it was lost (or tossed out), but I've been able to recondition it all. Now off to paint the handle ORANGE!
So pleased you've managed to salvage your hori hori knife!
To control my garden hoses, I hammer a piece of quarter inch rebar into the ground as a stake about a foot tall and then put a PVC pipe over it to cover it. It then becomes roller, making it very easy to work with the hoses.
That's a really clever move, love it!
My husband sprays all my tool handles bright yellow, as I also work off our farm as a gardener one day a week. No more running over lost tools in the long grass with the ride in!!!!!!! Happy New Year and cheers, Muffy from Oz (Australia)
Smart move Pamela!
I grow 3 lots of comfrey on my allotment (big clumps) . One for making comfrey juice, one for putting on the compost heap and the third to lay along the rows of crops in my raised beds. At any one time I let one of the clumps flower to encourage the insects. It seems to work well.
Comfrey is such an amazing plant! Planted my first five last summer; hoping to turn those five into 15 this season.
So your using concrete as a cover crop? Great ideas
Comfrey not concrete
. Autocorrect is rubbish
@@daveswords2112 It might as well be concrete!... and no, not as a cover, but as an aside to use for fermentation, animal feed, pollinators and such.
Comfrey rhizomes are formidable foes in a veggie garden, but placing the harvest as a cover/amendment to feed the soil is a great use! Worms and top feeding roots/critters love the shade, moisture and nutrients derived through decomposition.
I plant comfrey, for example, around my fruiting trees, but I would not plant them around greens, carrots, broccoli, peppers and such.
I do very similar…with 6 clumps…which I harvest in rotation, always allowing 2 clumps in flower and the others for adding to compost heap or making comfrey tea😀😀😀
Another!
People seem to chuck out old plastic hanging baskets (I asked about locally and was given 30!)
String strong wire between poles about 4ft high, plant strawberries in the baskets, and attach to the wires...... Saves a great deal of bending!
Such superb additional tips - thanks so much for sharing these! :-)
Great Hacks! BTW I also have a small gardening channel 🌱🌱
Great stuff Eden - will take a look. :-)
Change the water from thyme to thyme
Very, very good! :-)
Why the garden tools have green handles? Oh. The designers must have never actually used any tools in the real environment 😛
Otherwise, they hope that you lose them and need to purchase more.
They make tools with green or black handles SO THAT YOU'LL LOSE THEM. White tape is no help to me. I've used bright yellow electrician's tape but even those disappear in some undergrowth so now I spray paint all the tool handles hot pink
Hot pink is definitely a colour you're not going to miss!
I do no-dig. I'll never go back to digging. I'm too busy and tired to go back to it. Plus I have never been so productive.
No-dig works so well when you get it going, definitely!
Heeeey my fav gardening man. You helped me get the craziest yield in the overgrown raspberry bush in our new home we purchased last year. Thank you so much. I literally love your energy and the way you speak about gardening. Thanks for keeping me company and teaching so well ♥
Thanks Sarah, I really appreciate that - and I'm delighted your raspberry is thriving. Great news! Happy Gardening! :-)
Last year I put up a large peg board in my garden shed, painted it black, hung up all my hand tools, then drew around each one in white chalk. In just a glance I can see if a tool has been left outside. It will have an empty outline... kind of like a murder victim ;)
Ok that's pure genius
That really is genius!
Thank you Jo and Ben. I learned it from my dear dad, he was a Master Organizer :)
(bowing deeply) I'll never be that organized.
A hack video is a guilty pleasure. My "hack" is to learn the asian squat, no need for knee pads anymore.
Great suggestion!
We use or practice many of these tips. Learned a few new/better ways to do things in our gardening. Keep them coming. Great information and reviews.
Will do, thanks Jeff!
Thank you Ben. I've had a crappy day but even my mood couldn't stop me from laughing as you oiled that shovel!! I must get better at caring for my tools. Might make that my resolution for the year.
Delighted to have raised a smile Monique! :-)
Cleaning the shovel was priceless!😂🤣🤣🤣.
The bucket with sand is one of my favorite tips. Especially when you have no time to wash them.
As always, great tips!
🙏
Cheers so much! :-)
Had some spare heatproof tape from the poly tunnel wrapped around all my tools as being visually impaired it’s amazing I can see them amongst the grass and the cuttings and the flower beds
Good idea about the sticks as props for the peas. Laying the sticks on the beds also prevents the chickens from scratching up my beds when they accidentally get in!
🤣🤣 My hens are never in those beds “by accident”! 🐓🐓🐓 Those girls are a wee bit too clever (and found the berry plants way too quickly). I was just outside strolling about with the hens and figuring how I can be smarter this summer. I’m going with chicken wire fencing as needed.🐓🐓🐓
If you have an empty space but don’t want weeds, throw some red clover seeds and scratch them in. Cheaper and easier than mulch. If you want it gone, just hoe it up. If you want it to continue, let it seed. Bees love it.
Great idea John!
I would say just get some workpant like constructionworkers use. U can then put neepads inside the pants and have some great pockets to sore some tools. Like pruning shears are a meter.
Thank you for the tips. I keep hand towels in the garden to dry my hands :)
Great idea. :-)
I cut up plastic milk cartons for seed and plant labels the white ones are best but can use the opeque ones
Ah the seed test... you don't need paper towel in the container. Just put ththe seeds in a clear container with lid, spray water, close the lid and put on top of the fridge. Wait a few days, checking daily. Paper towel will make it harder to plant the sprouts, since the roots will grow thru it. Hold by the tiny leaves to plant.
Thanks for the suggestion there. :-)
Great idea! I reuse sandwich bags and use paper toweling but I set them with the towel facing up for that very reason.
I ve got one awesome hack which will help the spring time.. sow in the autumn (carrot parsnip radish parsley scorzonera etc etc). I donno what is the climate range this would work, but it works in finland at least (our winters: normally 2-5months fully or mostly frozen, the average coldest temp may be from -15c to -40c). It really helps the spring time not being soooooo busy.. plus the stuff will start growing a bit earlier this way 🙃
This might work well somewhere really cold in winter which has one thawing season. But in the UK the temperatures in the winter go up and down like a yoyo. A warm February day might get them excited when there is not enough sun, or they die off in a cold snap later or get ripped apart from a windy storm.
@@Digeroo123 yes i think so. I always watch a few british garden channels in envy, when theres spring in february and we are still waiting for it like 3more months 😂
I'm in Canada and have the same temps as you so will try that this fall, thanks :)
@@joan-lisa-smith yes 🤗 basically most root veggies will work. Also salads and many perennial herbs. Sow quite late, like just before the snow comes. Though i ve heard you could also so ON the snow, at least if you can still locate your correct sowing place etc 😄
@@tiarianamanna973 February can feel very damp and dull. Seedling damp off. One day they are all jolly and the next a total wipeout due to moulds. Apart from snow peas and broadbeans I do not do much until March, and last year the rats ate most of them.
We all have to make the most of what we have. But I have to admit that self sown seeds of carrots, parsley, parsnips etc do seem to know when it is time to pop up, so maybe sowing in the Autumn is a good idea. I got a special offer on carrot seeds so I have loads, so I should have some left. Though parsnips sown too early are very prone to canker.
use reflective tape (3m scotch lite) and in the darkness you can find whatever is lost with an led flashlight. (think of it like a police car logo/stop sign)
Great idea!
hi i haf won iet is about snals if you haf snals you gan huce bear and abakit in the gronsd and then wen they fal in thy die
Add lengths of rope to the eyelets of the tarp to provide a way to bunch it, making it easier to move when full or finished.
Smart move!
I put my tools into a small pail that stays next to me. When I need another tool or am finished, it goes back to the pail.
I use a power mower with it's bag attached for picking up leaves. (we have LOTS) Not only does it make quick work of the process, it also chops the leaves into a finer consistency so they compost faster. Rather than put all the leaves into the composter, I plastic bag a few batches to keep over the winter and use as mulch the following year.
That's a very smart move. :-)
I love my foam kneeler! I even take it to the all you can pick strawberry fields. I work a little faster and happier when I am not muddy. It fits perfectly in my bucket of tools so I don't loose it or it doesn't blow away!
A great endorsement for them!
Hi we have a tip if you have more than one watering can on a big plot and wandering around looking for them why not keep them in one place. Put a long cane or old broom handle in the ground and put the watering cans handle over the cane one by one to form a tower there you have them altogether on one place and can always spot them👍
Good idea Mandy.
I wish people would stop calling tips "hacks". Maybe two on this list would qualify as a hack.
TIP: If you don't mind dedicating a tarp for material transport, I sandwich one side of the tarp with furring strips. That keeps the tarp nice and flat, it helps keep it from blowing away before material has been placed on it, it keeps it from folding up while dragging it, and you can attach a rope to the furring strips and it becomes very easy to drag around. Bonus, you can roll it up and lean it against a wall for storage.
Great tip with tarp. 😀
@@GrowVeg Thank you. No disrespect intended in my original comment. I know you're just following the trend. :)
This as a great video with very useful tips.
I don't know how useful this is outside the USA but I use 1 inch mini blinds in white or ivory/cream as plant markers. I cut them into the length I need and write on them with a #2 pencil. Sometimes it fades but I've only had a couple completely fade to obscurity and I've been using these for 8 or 9 years. I collect them at the end of the year, wipe them down, erase them, toss them in the dishwasher, and they are ready to use again.
That's a really great idea Sara.
Love the idea about the hoops. Soak rusty tools in vinegar, and once they're clean soak in water and baking soda to stop the reaction. Vinegar is amazing at removing rust.
Great tip, thank you. :-)
Love your videos! Always filled with great information!
Love the garden hose idea! I always seem to damage a few plants no matter how careful I'm trying to be. Thanks!
I feel that tool handle comment in my soul. I've started going out of my way to look for tools that are that bright 'Safety Orange' since that is a color that doesn't occur often in my garden.
I have 3 cats, and the branches really do keep them out of my beds. Keeps the random neighborhood cats out, too.
Thanks Ben I always come to your channel when I need advice. I didn't do well with my peppers last year. The other day I watched your pepper video and now I know what I did wrong last year.Such good clear videos. You've help me so much over the last 3 years of growing my own. 👍
So pleased you've managed to work out what went wrong with your peppers. I hope they thrive for you this growing season. :-)
I cut toilet paper rolls in half and use them to Mark where I have seeds planted. I just pushed the toilet paper roll into the soil a little bit so it won't move, and plant the seed in the middle.
Great idea!
Tip 8
Tried it
Seeds expiration is last year which comes from the freebies (and the once I bought expiration is next year)
11 out of 30 seeds germinated
I lost my best ever pruners while trying to cut back huge overgrown branches at a church on my street. I put them down & they disappeared. Probably into the huge pile of brush & limbs. I will put white tape on my next pair!
Thanks for all the hacks ❤
When you plant nasturtiums as catch crop for cabbage pests, where should I plant them? Around, in between or something else?
I fear it will attract more to the smorgastable for these buggers, and I grow a lot of brassicas. My plants are under cover though, and I spray with bacillus thuringiensis if I see a lot fly around, but I want to try with catch crops too.
(Only broccoli and cabbage will be up to 100 plants, then I have the rest of them like kale, raab, chinese broccoli etc.).
I would consider planting nasturtiums towards the outside of your vegetable garden or the brassica growing area. Maybe in the next bed, away from the brassica crops. This way they should hopefully intercept some of the butterflies as they pass over, looking for somewhere to lay their eggs. Once they get affected I would lift the nasturtiums, or at least the affected areas of the nasturtiums, then remove them away from the vegetable garden.
I got a set of knee pads, but to keep them from moving around I had to strap them so tight they cut off the circulation, so I didn't use them that much. So I got a pool noodle (I don't know if they're called something else outside the US) and cut it in half and taped the two bits side by side. And I use that to save my knees.
What a great idea Stephen. :-)
Excellent again Benedict, I've lost a few hand tools because of green handles only to find them months later. Will get some bright tape. Atb 👍🌱
Thanks so much for your great practical advice.
Excellent advice and tips! You are a great speaker thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching. :-)
Keep a journal, jot down weather, sowing dates, when stuff germinates. Put down notes on what varieties were good or duds.
I love the cuttings tip! Great site.
I have learned not to give the plants away. They rarely appreciate it and it can even lead to bad feelings on rare occasions. If they cared they would grow their own.
Haha, you are so funny. Don't know anyone who loves gardening as much as you do. Enjoy watching you and always great tips!
Thanks Stacie! :-)
If you rake a large area consider a leaf blower of the appropriate size. I shred and bag all my leaves in the fall as soon as they fall and dry out.
Last summer I placed marigolds in with my tomatoes and they were earwig magnets! I have way too many in my area it really helped keep them at decent numbers just enough to deal the pests they enjoy 😅
Tip: Used coffee grounds keeps cats away from using beds as their toilet. I planted cherry tree in October and covered the area around the tree with fresh compost as mulch and long release feed. Few days later I saw a cat using it as a toilet. This happened again three times and after I spread grounds this cat has left it alone.
That's a really helpful tip - I'll have to try this myself.
@@GrowVeg Cats don't like the smell of coffee, benefits are twofold, it works as a deterrent and fertilizer at the same time. Smell doesn't disappear quickly, at least for cats. I reckon even mixing more with fresh compost would work well.
I have spray painted the handles of all my tools a vibrant turquoise so they are easy to find in the garden, but more importantly easier to spot when loaned out so things actually make it back to me.
@3:52 Where's the NSFW warning, this erotic content is an outrage. What's more, that spade did not consent! :) Those secateurs with the olive green handles may be hard to spot against grass etc, but I do think it's a nice colour.
It is a lovely colour Dan, true. Just need to be more disciplined at keeping everything together!
When planting bulbs i throw a handful of shredded bark mulch on top of the soil until im done and then top dress the whole lot. That way i know exactly where the bulbs are and it deters the squirrels and foxes from digging them up straight away!
Great idea!
All very excellent tips!!! Thank you ❤
For those in America, harbor freight has some really affordable and comfortable knee pads. I prefer the ones that are extra thick cloth covered with no gel, as a mechanic the ones I got from there have been saving my knees and back a lot of strain for the last few years.
I have bright pink tool handles ideal for me being able to find them 😊
I've lost count of the amount of times I've found a pair of my secateurs in my compost heap!
Or worse firepit after burning branches
They make tools with green handles so we lose them & have to buy more.
My rain gutters have a few spots where drips occur during heavy rains. I collect the water for later use in 5 gallon buckets on pavers or long neck watering cans if they occur on a plant.
Great to use every drop of precious rainwater. 😀
@@GrowVeg Yes I am on well water so even without a drought I have a limit.
Great video Ben. Thanks for sharing.
Great video, good tips. Loving the spade care section 😂
A Southern Hemispshere tip from Auckland, in New Zealand ! I have struggled to keep Tamarillo trees alive, as they were persistently getting some kind of mildew attack. I finally came across this simple remedy - One part milk to 10 parts water, plus a teaspoon of baking soda. Spray this on the leaves, and hey presto, healthy plants. I am intending to use this magic mix on pumpkins next year, and hollyhocks. Cheap and effective.
What a superb tip - thanks for sharing this.
@7.0 Ha, I had to laugh at those trousers with holes in their knees. You might make decent profit if sold on Ebay! Only this last week. I commented on how it is a frequent sight on the High St, to see otherwise smartly-dressed young (and not so-young) people, mostly female, wearing such trousers out-and-about, quite unconcerned. I was told they are quite expensive, perhaps more expensive with rips!. In my long-distant past, we would have been ashamed to go out, so dressed. It's a crazy world, one in which I love t seek sanity and sanctuary in my garden 🙂. Thank you for those tips.
Haha - seems I may have accidentally become fashionable!
I find my greenhouse gets very damp and it causes horrible damp soil that builds grime. Have you any tips on how to keep a greenhouse good?
Ventilate it as much as you can. I keep windows and doors open almost all the time, unless it's very cold.
Old toothbrushes make excellent plant labels (with permanent marker). At end of season, once through the dishwasher (hot water!) & the pen comes off, ready to go again.
Great idea!
If I need to enhance light for seedlings and don't have enough window sill room for a large reflective board, or a supply of spare old aluminium foil, I turn crisp packets inside out, rinse off the salt from the silvery side, then pop them over a couple of sticks poked into the dark side of the plantpot or seed tray. Flexible, lightweight and absolutely free. And you can recycle the packets once you have finished with them. Cheers.
What a great idea, Margaret!
The bucket idea is great, just drill some holes in the bucket for when you forget and leave it out in the rain :)
Smart move!
I made the mistake of not starting nasturtiams first last year. Bugs ate all my first round of seedlings. Pill bugs too. I had to smash them and use sluggo plus. Diamatacous earth didn't really do it. They were everywhere. Now I'm gonna give a little sprinkle around my plants when I plant them and I started a bunch of nasturtiams early this year.
The nasturtiums are awesome - you'll love them I'm sure. :-)
Thank you Ben for the gardening tips.
I thought I was the only one that lost clippers and trowels in the garden.
Last year I bought florescent pink spray paint can and I'm spraying all of my handles this spring. :)
Wow - you won't lose those then!
Finally moved into a house, very excited to have a ground to garden in this year! These tips were very helpful :)
That's fab to hear. Hope you enjoy working on your new garden - exciting times ahead! :-)
I don’t ever throw away old “expired” seeds. I had 50 % germination rate on 12 year old fava.
12-year-old bean seeds? That's incredible!
'Rake it to the tarp' is a brilliant idea! Thanks!
I modified this into 'rake it to the cardboard', because tarp is a bit difficult to hold and carry, cardboard is much easy to pickup with the leaves on top of it.
That's great to hear. And you can compost the cardboard along with the leaves too. :-)
@@GrowVeg Yes, if the weather is dry the cardboard can use for many days, but if the weather is wet i just through the cardboard together with leaves into the compost bin.
Hello Ben. In your lost pruning shears video clip you sharpened the blade on the wrong side of the blade.
Thanks for the heads up. I need to pay more attention some times I reckon! :-)
Band aids. Can't tell you how many young plants I accidentally broke off or bent a critical stem that would have killed the plant. Patched up the stem with a band aid and good as new! Use brand name band aids as they are more water resistant.
What a great idea!
I ask all my Friends to share their egg shells as most folk bin them.I then crush them and add to my compost for some magic recycled calcium not to mention free coffee grounds from the local coffee shop.The garden loves it
That's really fab to hear - they're clearly doing a power of good in your garden. :-)
Wonderful stuff Ben, thank you for sharing buddy 👍
It's nice when your raised beds are at least 2 ft tall. Then you don't have to crawl on your knees with knee pads! Makes weeding and harvesting a lot easier too!
Very true!
We’re quite wet in Northern California. 7:00 Perhaps a video on how to set everything straight.
Hi Greg! Waving from Central California where it is coming down buckets as I write. My weeds are loving this weather. Great for them and keeps me away from them.
Hope things settle down for you and you perhaps get some of that rain in the summer!
MY TOP TIP: NO RAISED BEDS IN MY GARDEN, ABSOLUTELY USELESS AND WASTE OF TIME AND RESOURCES
Each to their own. Totally agree they aren't necessary. I just like the order of them, but in-ground beds work just as well of course.
Put a small flower pot in top of watering can it prevents slugs snails mice etc climbing in. PS waiting for your book
Great idea! Hope you enjoy the book. Thanks for your support. 😀
I plant radish seed as markers for parsnips and long germination seeds and then they are up in less than a week and mark the row - plus if the radish pest dont get them too badly I can harvest them after the parsnips are up and thinned...Happy Gardening
Brilliant suggestion David. :-)
For the seeds that you tested if they will germinate, can you just put the germinated seeds in the soil right after? Thanks
Yes, you could do that - a lot of gardeners do that with trickier to germinate seeds such as parsnip, for example.
I am now 72 years of age and when i was in my 50's i tried using washed river sand to grow plants hydroponically -the area i set aside for this experiement was10 sq mtrs -what surprised me was the seed strike rate when planted in the sand and just watered -it was extremly good- so i continued that seed raising process up untill today where i have about 1/4 acre of ground growing all my vegies-if you are lucky enough to have a heat matt this works very well uner the sand and assists with striking of seeds..all the best for 2023 John
Sounds like you're incredibly productive there John - good work!
We have a curbside clean up twice a year. It helps as I don't have to mince prunings up to go in the wheelie bin. My tarp let's me drag out significantly more, quicker, than hand carrying bunches of branches.
I'm in zone 8.
Hey to collect leaves set your lawnmower on it's highest cut and run over the leaves be doing that it cuts them up making them easy to handle. Hey you are not the only one that needs knee pads a lot of the young girls and boys must be kneeling a lot as well because their knee's and please don't tell that is style if i went home with jeans like that my mother would have chaste me back to get them changed she would have came with me and give the shop keeper an ear full for selling me second hand jeans and them tore to bits
I think more of us - young and old - could definitely do with knee pads! :-)