YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → 20 Years of Gardening Knowledge in 44 Minutes

20 Years of Gardening Knowledge in 44 Minutes — Transcript

by Epic Gardening · 10,274 words · 1,470 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00I've been gardening for over 14 years.
0:03And I've been gardening for six.
0:04>> So Jacques and I are going to put our
0:05heads together and distill down our
0:0720-plus years of gardening experience
0:09for you in this video.
0:10>> And by the end you'll have only the
0:11proven wisdom nuggets that we've
0:13gathered over these years through
0:15painful mistakes and wins, so you don't
0:17have to waste your time with any of that
0:18noise. And at the very end we'll give
0:20you an action plan that you can
0:21literally go out into your space and do
0:24right now to set yourself up for the
0:26best season of your life.
0:27>> Before we get into the nitty-gritty tips
0:28of actual gardening Mhm. we have to talk
0:30about why are you specifically
0:33interested in either starting your
0:35garden or expanding your garden this
0:37season. For you Jacques, in the early
0:38days it was it was the flavor. [music]
0:40Yeah, every garden has a purpose or a
0:42reason why you're drawn to it whether
0:43it's you want to spend more time
0:44outside, you want to feed your family,
0:46or you just want to control the food
0:48that you're able to grow and eat. Yeah,
0:49in my early days it was I want to grow
0:51cool plants [music] and kind of look at
0:53the science of how a plant grows, which
0:55is why I gravitated towards hydroponic
0:57gardening, but that is the most
0:58important place to start when it comes
1:00to distilling down all this gardening
1:03wisdom cuz as I look back over the years
1:05my reason has changed as seasons has
1:08have developed. These days I would say a
1:10lot of it is for the mental peace, the
1:14joy of it, trying to experience the
1:15present, whereas in the past it was
1:17weird plants, then it was maybe growing
1:18your own food.
1:19>> Yeah. Of course it's still that, but
1:21there's that primary reason which really
1:22informs the way that you approach your
1:24entire garden. So really think about why
1:26you personally are excited to garden,
1:28but here are some general
1:30>> Mhm. rules of thumb to approach a garden
1:32with that will save you probably seasons
1:34of headaches I would say. And so the
1:37first one Jacques is
1:39when you design that garden, that first
1:40one or whether you're expanding it,
1:42don't follow anyone's rigid suggestion.
1:45Start small is one that you often hear,
1:47grow the easiest plants is one that you
1:48often hear. Those are fine. There aren't
1:51technically any rules, but I mean in
1:54your case when you start a garden you
1:55went pretty aggressive.
1:56>> pretty big because I wanted to actually
1:58grow enough food to feed everyone in the
2:00home. So, in my opinion, it's okay if
2:02you start a little bit bigger. Just try
2:04to keep it all in one area. It's going
2:05to make your life so much easier to keep
2:07the weeds out, keep the watering in, and
2:09just manage the whole thing. Like
2:11tearing out an entire new yard like
2:13this, you're going to be battling a lot
2:14of weeds. So, doing it at least in
2:16chunks is what I would always recommend.
2:18Well, especially because as you garden,
2:19you get better at the craft. And so,
2:21seasons in, you'll go, "Oh, I know
2:23exactly how to transform that space."
2:26Whereas if you were to do it in season
2:27one, you would probably have to redo it
2:29a couple different times, which which is
2:31also fine, by the way, and you've seen
2:33in our space how we've done that over
2:34the years. Now, another thing people get
2:36hung up on, especially when they start,
2:37is thinking they have to do everything
2:39the right way. Truthfully, when I first
2:42started gardening over 14 years ago, I
2:44was using hydroponic synthetic nutrients
2:46and water. We barely ever spray, barely
2:50ever, and we do fertilize, but a lot of
2:52the times it's with our own compost or
2:53organic fertilizers.
2:54>> [music]
2:55>> And pretty much that's it. Do we have
2:56pest problems? Do we have disease
2:57problems? Quite a bit. We've lost some
2:58serious crops, but to me, 14 years deep,
3:02I view that more like a [music] loss, a
3:05natural loss in a system, rather than a
3:08failure as a gardener. Every season's
3:09not going to be perfect, and that's
3:11okay. And all that really just brings us
3:12back to the basic, like starting with
3:14soil. In fact, there are three S's that
3:16we think every gardener should
3:18understand, whether you have a garden or
3:20you're going to have a garden, and it
3:21would be sun, site, and soil. Here we
3:25are out in the front yard raised bed
3:26garden jacques, talking the three S's,
3:28starting with sun, the most important.
3:31>> Without sun, you're not getting
3:32anything. That's for sure. Absolutely
3:34not. I mean, the thing is, plants, of
3:36course, need sun, they need some level
3:38of oxygen, they need water, and they
3:40need nutrition. Sun being the absolute
3:43most important of all of those, although
3:45they're all very important. And where
3:46you locate your garden, consider that
3:48your site, there's some really good
3:50rules of thumb, especially if you're a
3:51home grower. Yeah, if you wanted to
3:53really choose the best garden, you want
3:54it accessible to your house. So, right
3:56here we're right next to the door. That
3:58could be close to your kitchen. [music]
3:59But, the other thing to consider is
4:00where do you have the most sun? Some
4:02crop will not grow without enough sun.
4:04But, it doesn't mean you can't garden.
4:06It does not. And so, what you need to do
4:08is [music]
4:08walk around your space, whether it's a
4:10apartment, whether it's a town home,
4:13whether it's a suburban home, and do
4:15what we would call a site report, I
4:18guess you could say, or a sun audit. So,
4:20the best way to do it is wake up in the
4:22morning. I would come out and I would
4:24look at how the sun falls on this space.
4:26>> [music]
4:26>> In my case, most times of the year,
4:29about this is in the shade until maybe
4:31mid-morning. This is always in the sun.
4:33So, I have a full sun, maybe half the
4:36front yard. Pretty good.
4:37>> Yeah, and full sun is exactly where you
4:39want to put things that fruit, like
4:40peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers. If you
4:43only have shade to work with or part
4:44sun, just grow a lot of greens. You
4:46could grow lettuces, spinaches, anything
4:48that doesn't produce a fruit. That is
4:50why, when you look at the bed behind us
4:52here, you see kales and cabbages, which
4:54would be our leafy crops over here. And
4:56as you move forward, of course it's
4:58winter right now, so you do see a lot of
4:59leafy things, but we're growing a little
5:01bit more sun-loving [music] stuff up
5:04front. But, what I'm going to say here
5:05is come out in the morning, come out in
5:07the afternoon, and come out in the
5:09evening, and make note of where that sun
5:11falls, cuz it allows you to understand
5:13where to place [music]
5:14either your raised beds or your
5:16in-ground beds.
5:17>> Absolutely. And the other thing to
5:18consider is that when you're choosing
5:19your site, make sure you have water
5:21nearby. You know, a lot of places do get
5:23rain. Here in San Diego, we cannot rely
5:25on the rain. So, we have a hose spigot
5:27right over here, next to the garden
5:28beds, and that's going to always cause
5:30you problems if you don't have easy
5:31access to water. Yeah, you want to think
5:33about, when it comes to site, aside from
5:35sun, ample space, ample access to move
5:38around. For example, water access, but
5:40the space to actually move around. So,
5:42back in my old spot, where Epic
5:44Gardening really they
5:45I didn't have as much space, so I made a
5:47bit of a sacrifice and crammed my beds a
5:50little bit closer together. No
5:51wheelbarrows. No wheelbarrows allowed up
5:53in that spot. So, we'll get into spacing
5:55a little bit later, but really think
5:57about this. Where you place that garden
6:00is going to determine every single thing
6:02that comes after, including what kind of
6:06soil you use. If sunlight is the number
6:08one most important input to a successful
6:09garden, I would argue soil is number
6:11two. Yeah, and if you mess up your soil,
6:13which I know you've had experience with
6:15in the past, not that you personally
6:16messed it up. Oh, I did.
6:17>> [laughter]
6:18>> I did. It can entirely change the
6:19trajectory of your garden. I've bought
6:21soil before that made me think I was a
6:23bad gardener. It turns out it was just
6:24bad soil. Yes, 100%. So, back in the
6:27day, I had purchased some soil in bulk
6:30because I had a lot of raised beds to
6:31fill
6:32of what was called a topsoil compost
6:34mix. And really, it worked. Yeah, for
6:38the first season it worked. The problem
6:40is that summer, that fall crop was
6:43absolutely terrible. It was cakey, it
6:44was very clay. And so, now what you
6:46really want to talk about is how do you
6:48even know what good soil is, Jacques?
6:50So, you've got I mean, we have
6:52>> [music]
6:52>> an ex-geology PhD sitting right over
6:55here. So, why don't you take this? All
6:56right, let's try. So, the thing with
6:58soil is that it needs to hold water, it
7:00needs to hold nutrients, and it needs to
7:01hold air.
7:02>> Yes. If you do not have the ability for
7:04any of those, you're not going to have a
7:05good time. So, a couple different
7:06things. If you're talking about raised
7:08bed soil or container soil, generally
7:10it's actually a soilless media. This is
7:12something like peat or coconut coir or
7:15wood chips or compost, but you need that
7:17drainage element. The drainage is going
7:18to allow the water run free, it's going
7:20to allow oxygen and air to get in your
7:21soil, and that's usually things like
7:23perlite, pumice, [music]
7:24vermiculite. And beyond that, when you
7:26get into the in-ground soil, it gets a
7:28little bit different. That's a true
7:30living soil. Yeah, so what you get into
7:32there are basically the three major
7:34particles that compose any type of soil,
7:36which would be a clay particle, which
7:39are the smallest ones, silt particles,
7:41which are the second smallest, and then
7:42sand, which is the largest particle. The
7:44perfect soil, in theory at least, would
7:47be what's called loam, 1/3 of each of
7:49those particles. Now, Jacques, how many
7:52soils out there just magically you go
7:53into your yard it's perfect loam? I
7:55highly doubt it's going to be high.
7:56>> I've never seen one.
7:57>> Yeah. Personally.
7:58>> And the thing about that is that clay is
7:59really good at holding nutrients, it's
8:01good at holding water. Silt is kind of
8:03in the middle of sand and clay. It does
8:05hold a little bit, but it allows
8:06drainage. And without enough sand, it's
8:08going to just sit too wet and have a
8:10vineyard never going to have oxygen.
8:11>> Yeah. That's why you want that little
8:12blend, but there is a secret ingredient
8:14that helps all soil, and what is that?
8:17That's organic matter. I mean, to be
8:18honest, if you just have silt, sand, and
8:19clay particles, you actually have dirt.
8:22You don't really have soil. So, when you
8:23add in organic matter in the form of
8:25compost or fertilizers or even mulch on
8:28top, eventually what you start to get is
8:30something called soil, which is not
8:33dirt. It is basically dirt plus the
8:36entire ecosystem of life that is within
8:39and underneath that soil, which of
8:41course is supporting the life that we're
8:43trying to grow above the soil.
8:44>> Yeah. And there is a saying that is
8:46usually coined for organic growing, but
8:48it's feed the soil, not the plants.
8:50Because if you have healthy soil, it
8:51will provide the nutrients for your
8:53plants. That is how it works in nature.
8:54Nobody's out there fertilizing the trees
8:56they're growing out there, right? It's
8:58all about that balance with the soil
8:59life. So, I think that brings us to
9:01another little minor discussion that
9:03maybe we should go out to the back
9:04board.
9:04>> Let's do it. So, Jacques, we're in the
9:05backyard garden, which has gone through
9:07quite a few transformations over the
9:08years, but the most important thing to
9:10note is that there are no raised beds or
9:12containers
9:13>> [music]
9:13>> in this garden. This is an in-ground
9:15bed. Yeah, it's actually how I started
9:16my entire garden. I think it is a good
9:18way to get started because it's not very
9:21permanent. If you decide that maybe you
9:22don't have enough sun here, you could
9:24always just move your garden along cuz
9:26you don't have to actually move a whole
9:27bed.
9:27>> Well, over the course of the four or
9:29five years we've been growing in this
9:30space,
9:31>> [music]
9:31>> this particular section has gone through
9:32a lot of transformations, but I want to
9:34focus on the first one for those of you
9:36watching because it's the most important
9:38decision and it is to till or not to
9:41till. And tilling is basically the
9:43process of breaking up the soil to
9:46either break it up literally or to
9:48incorporate something else into it,
9:50fertilizer, organic matter, etc. A lot
9:52of people are anti-till. It's a movement
9:55that's kind of gone around, the no dig
9:57movement, it can be no tilling. It's
9:59something that has a lot of validity to
10:00it. The only caveat, which I think is
10:02pretty well accepted these days,
10:03Jacques, is that when you're working
10:06with effectively dirt, remember soil
10:08devoid of life, too compacted, not much
10:11going on in it.
10:12>> ever grown in it in your recent memory.
10:14>> Besides weeds, yeah. It might make sense
10:16to do a till, which is exactly what we
10:18did in this space when we first started
10:20working here. Have we ever tilled since?
10:22Not a single time, even though this
10:24garden has undergone multiple
10:26transformations. There used to be eight
10:284x4 grids here, now it's more of this
10:30organic structure. That's what I have to
10:32say on tilling. I think it's fine to do
10:34once. I don't think it's something you
10:35make a a decent habit. Yeah, cuz the
10:37idea is if you keep tilling, you're
10:39going to kill that soil life that we
10:41were just talking about. It takes a
10:42while for that to build up. And now, the
10:44thing that can happen is eventually if
10:46you don't till for too long, you might
10:48end up with like a pest or disease.
10:50There's other ways to manage it, but
10:52don't be scared of tilling to fix a
10:54problem, just don't make a habit out of
10:56it. Now again, similar for me, I haven't
10:59tilled my garden except for the first
11:00time, and that allowed me to get a lot
11:02of compost deep into the soil
11:04>> Yeah. Which really kick-started that
11:05garden. I will say too, you know, when
11:07we use the word tilling, I rented a
11:08tiller from Home Depot. You don't have
11:10to do that though. In fact, in your
11:11early days, you took a shov- a shovel
11:14and he just dug it out, which is
11:15completely fine way to do it.
11:17You can he lost he leaned I might need
11:19to do that. And then he also took you
11:21can take what's called a broadfork. It's
11:22a big old fork, stab it in and you just
11:24pull that soil up, loosen it. We will
11:26sometimes still do that, but that's not
11:29what I would consider a a break. The
11:30main thing is to not flip your soil. So,
11:32you don't want to bring the soil from
11:33deep up above. That's what really
11:35tilling does. It mixes the soil layers.
11:37>> Yeah. But, if we had not tilled in that
11:39first year, this garden would not look
11:41like it does today. It would have taken
11:43years to get to the point where it it
11:45looks this prolific.
11:46>> So, as I mentioned, it is easier and
11:49cheaper to get started with in-ground
11:50gardening, but raised beds do offer a
11:52lot of great advantages. It's the way I
11:54started when I started outside
11:57gardening. When I hung up my hydroponic
11:59hat, because I did not have really
12:01almost any space in the front yard, and
12:04I think if I dug down in that old, you
12:06know, house that I was in, I had maybe 4
12:08to 6 in of
12:09>> concrete. topsoil. I think I did hit
12:10concrete, so I had to use raised beds.
12:13Now, like Doc said, cheaper technically,
12:16but more work to go with in-ground.
12:17Raised beds, there's actually a lot to
12:19consider, but there's a lot of
12:20advantages. For me, I'm tall, I like
12:22working in a tall bed. Even something
12:24like uh determinate tomato bush would be
12:26very workable right here. Whereas over
12:29here on these lower beds, we like to
12:30grow our taller crops. You can see this
12:32big brussels sprout coming up. We would
12:34grow corn in this.
12:35>> Yeah, totally fine, no problem. So,
12:37there is definitely the height to
12:38consider, but really there's a couple
12:40things that are very important when it
12:42comes to a raised bed, and you're
12:42actually standing on one right now.
12:44>> Yeah, I think one of the things that's
12:45important is that you space things out
12:47enough, because the plants will mature
12:49over time and get larger. This celery,
12:52like it's sticking out at least a foot
12:53over the edge of the bed. So, if we only
12:54put these a foot apart, I really
12:56wouldn't be able to get through here.
12:58So, what kind of distance do you like to
12:59go for? I mean, in my olden days, I was
13:01cramming them a foot apart, but you can
13:03even watch in those old videos. I'm
13:05literally
13:06walking a line like this like crazy. So,
13:08to me, if you have the space, 36 in is
13:11now my new minimum, because most
13:12wheelbarrows are less wide than that.
13:14So, you can get a wheelbarrow down, you
13:15can get yourself down, and you also have
13:17that room like you mentioned. And as the
13:18shoots coming off, you know, these
13:20greens will will come off. You get a
13:21nice breaking of that border, but still
13:23with room to walk.
13:24>> For a long time, I actually had no
13:25raised beds in my garden. It was all in
13:27ground, but there was a day I think here
13:30where we were transplanting stuff and I
13:32realized that you could literally just
13:33like shove your hands
13:36in the soil, pick out a seedling, move
13:38it and replant it, and it would do just
13:40fine. I'm sorry I just did that to your
13:41box right there. But it's fine. I can't
13:43do that in ground. I didn't realize the
13:44soil was so free-draining and fluffy and
13:47light to work with.
13:48>> Yeah. And of course, the added advantage
13:50of this warming up a little bit sooner
13:52in the season because it's not buried in
13:53the ground. So, it catches the sun.
13:55Well, we talked the the the three S's.
13:57Second being soil. A lot of people,
13:59especially in urban environments, you
14:00don't have good soil. You straight-up
14:02don't have good soil.
14:03>> Right. So, you need to buy in that soil.
14:04We've talked about this endlessly here
14:06on this channel, but raised beds allow
14:07you to customize what you're putting in
14:10to the bed. Let's say you were growing
14:11something like a blueberry, which needs
14:13a totally different mix. Or even
14:14carrots, they might prefer a little more
14:16sand. If you just really love carrots,
14:17you want to do a carrot bed, you would
14:18even make a different mix. Now, it can
14:20get a little pricey to fill up a tall
14:22bed. So, we have a lot of videos
14:23discussing exactly how to do that on the
14:25cheap, but the long and short of it is
14:26just throw some logs and sticks and
14:28stuff in the bottom till you get to
14:29about halfway and fill the rest up. But
14:32as far as raised beds go, another thing
14:34that I think as far as placement and
14:36spacing, Jacque, is thinking about how
14:39that light's going to come over the
14:40space, your sun, Yeah.
14:42>> and then thinking about how your spacing
14:44and planting in the beds themselves. If
14:46you look over here, what I call our
14:48stadium seating bed, that's the bed with
14:50a little bit less sun, so it's got all
14:52of our greens. And if you even look,
14:53you've got the cabbages low, you've got
14:56the the kale high. So, in the case of
14:58kind of the overall spacing, you would
14:59never take corn, tomatoes, and put them
15:02on the west side of the garden here.
15:03Why? Because it's going to block all of
15:05the sun. The sun goes from east to west,
15:07so that late afternoon sun tends to be a
15:09decent amount, and you don't want to cut
15:11off the rest of your garden. We're
15:12finally at the part where we discuss
15:14what the hell to grow, Jacque. Of
15:15course, it's always radishes. Everyone
15:17should just grow radishes. They grow
15:18quick, they grow easy. No, I'm just
15:19kidding. Really, I think that's a common
15:21piece of advice. And yes, it is an easy
15:23plant to grow and it grows quickly, but
15:25is it exciting to you? If it is, grow
15:27radishes. But I like the grocery store
15:29rule. If you buy it at the grocery store
15:31often, maybe you should prioritize
15:33growing that. Yeah, 100% I mean for me
15:36I I want to say the first thing I ever
15:37grew is as OG's know on the channel is
15:39hydroponic cucumbers. So disgusting, my
15:41brother puked them up. But what did I
15:43grow after that? Hydroponic onions. I
15:45mean I would again, why do you garden
15:47though?
15:47>> Yeah, I was growing for interest. I was
15:49growing for the science of it. I wanted
15:50to understand how the plant grew. So I
15:52grew the weirdest stuff possible,
15:53weirdest methods possible. These days I
15:55gravitate towards production.
15:57>> Yeah. I want to grow these beautiful
15:59cabbages. I don't need that many for my
16:00own consumption at least. So the grocery
16:02store rule is great if you really are
16:04budget conscious. I think a great way to
16:06approach it is literally look at the
16:07grocery store bill and just say what are
16:10the most expensive items of produce that
16:12I grow that I buy that I can actually
16:13grow? And just start there. There's
16:16another approach that I think is really
16:18great as well, which would be just grow
16:19to your interest. If you're just a
16:21tomato person, like this guy right here,
16:24just grow tomatoes because even if
16:26you've never grown before, even if you
16:28don't know what anything to do with a
16:30tomato is, you're still going to be more
16:32excited to grow that and that's going to
16:34carry you through the season. And it's
16:36going to shock you how much better it
16:38tastes. That's really why I started
16:39growing for flavor. And the first thing
16:41I did plant was tomatoes cuz it's just a
16:42different vegetable when you grow it
16:44yourself.
16:44>> Yeah.
16:45>> And I've also discovered that for many
16:46common things as simple as potatoes and
16:48onions even. I converted him on the
16:50potatoes and onions. He never grew them
16:51at home.
16:52>> think it was worth it.
16:52>> some of Plant Daddy's potatoes and
16:54onions. Stole it.
16:55>> I I didn't even let him. He just stole
16:57them.
16:57>> I did.
16:57>> And he was absolutely sold. But then you
16:59get into the question, okay, well I have
17:00some ideas. I've talked to my family, my
17:02friends, whoever I'm gardening with. I
17:04know what I want to grow, but do I start
17:06those seeds or do I buy them from a
17:08nursery? Jacques, and for that I think
17:09we have to hit the greenhouse. Jacques,
17:11I would say here in the greenhouse,
17:12everything on the table you see right
17:14here was started from seed. It's
17:15actually one of my favorite activities.
17:17I love seed starting, but it can be a
17:19little intimidating. The alternative is
17:22to just go to your local nursery and buy
17:24ready-made seedlings. Now, they can come
17:26in six-packs, individuals, but that can
17:29get expensive, and let's be honest, we
17:31have leaned on it every once in a while
17:32when
17:33>> something goes wrong or you just need a
17:34plant or two. It's always fine to do,
17:36but seed starting is exciting, and
17:38everyone should at least try it. I think
17:40so. I mean, I would say the first year
17:42or two that I gardened, I don't think I
17:44started seeds at all. Way back then.
17:46This would have been 2012, 2011,
17:48something like that. So, it's quite a
17:49while ago. Epic Gardening was not a
17:51thing. I was just Kevin Gardening at
17:53this point. So, what I love about seed
17:55starting is it is in the in the end it
17:59is cheaper. Yeah.
18:00>> season progresses, it does become
18:01cheaper,
18:03but you get access to far more
18:04varieties. I mean, even at our own seed
18:06company, Botanical Interests, we have
18:07750 varieties to choose from, which you
18:10can buy it at the nurseries that carry
18:12us, but if you were to go to the nursery
18:13and try to get that as a seedling,
18:16there's maybe 50 to 100 varieties.
18:19Certainly, let's say of an onion, there
18:22there might be one or two when there is
18:24dozens on the internet that you can try
18:26different seeds out. So, I think it's
18:28really fun for customization, getting
18:30those varieties that you want, which of
18:31course does impact how they perform in
18:33your garden, but also, Jacques, as far
18:35as timing goes. Yeah, with seed
18:37starting, you are in full control of
18:39your destiny. You could start the seeds
18:40as early or as late as you want, and
18:42they will be ready when you want them to
18:44be ready. All you have to do is look at
18:45your seed packet, how long is [music] it
18:47until it emerges, and just do a little
18:49bit of simple math. For most plants,
18:51it's basically like 4 to 8 weeks. Some
18:54are a little bit slower. And the thing
18:56is is that I started seeds almost
18:58immediately at the beginning because
19:00there's nothing more magical than taking
19:02a tiny little spec, like tomato
19:03seedling, putting it in a pot, growing
19:06it in your garden to have something that
19:07feeds you all summer long with just one
19:10seed. It's amazing.
19:11>> It's incredible.
19:11>> when you really do think about it I
19:13think as the seasons go on and we we age
19:15in the garden, you do become maybe
19:17slightly desensitized to the fact that
19:19you're taking basically dormant life,
19:21which is what a seed is, and you're
19:22transforming it into that cob of corn or
19:25that big ass tomato that you're going to
19:27have on that dinner table in a couple
19:29months if you're lucky. And so when it
19:31comes to seed starting now, we've made
19:32many videos on seed starting, but if
19:34we're to distill it down Jacques, what
19:36would you say are the fundamental
19:38principles? The fundamental principles
19:40are whatever the seed is, bury it like
19:42twice as deep as the seed is large. And
19:45basically I would recommend probably
19:47starting with direct sowing. So that is
19:49the idea of taking a seed, just putting
19:50it in your garden bed directly. And
19:53larger seeds are easier things like
19:54beans, corn, sunflower, even peas and
19:58squash. Those are the ones I would
19:59recommend starting with. And as you get
20:01more and more kind of seasoned and
20:03curious, that's when you want to start
20:04doing seed starting in like plug trays
20:07and then doing transplanting. But you
20:09have to make sure it's stay is watered,
20:10you have to make sure it has enough
20:11light, and you have to make sure it is
20:13actually properly set in the soil. Yeah.
20:16Those would be the mechanics of the
20:17starting a seed itself. And then of
20:18course, depending on where you live, you
20:21need to know when that seed should be
20:23started. The simplest possible way you
20:26could ever figure this out is to just go
20:29to Google. You go to Google, you type in
20:31your zip code, and you say planting
20:33chart. You'll get something that's
20:34pretty close. Now, do you need to know
20:37frost date this, last frost date,
20:39[music] days to harvest? Eventually,
20:40yeah. But you'll pick that up over the
20:42seasons. If you need to just Google it
20:44and say, "Hey, it's February in Chicago,
20:47Illinois. When do I plant a tomato?" And
20:49it'll say, "Not yet." In In Chicago,
20:51it'll say, "Not yet." Not yet. And so
20:53what you could do to your point Jacques,
20:55is you could start those indoors if you
20:56wanted to. And for the crops that are
20:59your kind of your summer bangers, your
21:00tomatoes, your eggplants, your peppers,
21:02a lot of those it makes sense to start
21:05indoors in seed trays. And we have a
21:07full guide coming out on that soon by
21:08the way and kind of grow them up to the
21:11point where you can get them in the
21:12ground [music] when it's time. And the
21:14reason why you're doing that compared to
21:16maybe direct sowing like you've
21:17mentioned with the beans or the peas
21:19>> [music]
21:19>> is because the shorter your growing
21:21season, the less time you really have to
21:23get those beautiful harvest out of the
21:25ground. And so what you want to do is
21:27put that somewhat mature plant in
21:29instead of the seed when it's warm
21:31enough to do so.
21:32>> to give you like a 2-month advantage.
21:34Absolutely.
21:34>> And a lot of times I would even
21:35recommend if you're just getting
21:36started, some of those things are a
21:38little bit harder to manage. You have to
21:40keep it inside for like 8 weeks. So just
21:42buy your first round of tomatoes and
21:44peppers, but start things like beans
21:46directly in the ground. It's so easy.
21:47It's a big seed. You literally just push
21:49it into the dirt and you'll get beans in
21:50like 2 months. Yeah, what we'll do often
21:52is we'll have all these seeds and often
21:55times we start more seeds than we
21:57theoretically would need because you
21:59never know. You might lose some, you
22:00might have under planted, you might drop
22:02a tray, you never know. But at the same
22:04time, sometimes our timing will be a
22:06little off and so we'll always
22:08supplement with nursery bought seedlings
22:10to plug and play. Oh, we didn't get
22:11quite as many tomatoes as we wanted or
22:13this tray of corn didn't really work
22:14out. And so [music] to me it's always a
22:16bit of a hybrid with a bias towards
22:18starting your seed. Yeah, absolutely. I
22:20love the control of variety. That's the
22:22main thing that brings me in. I want to
22:23be able to grow the tomato that I want,
22:25not just whatever is available at the
22:26store. Yeah. And by the way, while we're
22:28in my greenhouse, I want to tell you
22:29about the greenhouse, our membership
22:31program at Epic Gardening
22:33>> [music]
22:33>> in 42 seconds. It's 10% off our store
22:36even inclusive of sales, free shipping
22:38and returns no matter how small the
22:39order, you'll get five free packs of
22:41seeds sent to you the day you sign up,
22:42you'll get three packs of seeds sent to
22:44you midway through our season of our
22:46newest varieties exclusive to greenhouse
22:48members, you have a free access to our
22:50garden planner, and you have free access
22:53to live horticultural support from
22:55trained horticulturists on our team that
22:57you can message pretty much any time,
22:58and it's $50 a year for all of that. So
23:01pretty much pays for itself. You can
23:03sign up in the link in the description
23:04and now let's get on to the next bit of
23:05gardening wisdom. Out of the greenhouse
23:07and into the garden, Jacques,
23:09>> [music]
23:09>> our tips for successfully getting
23:12seedlings into the ground and setting a
23:14garden bed up. Whether it's in ground or
23:15in a raised bed, there are some
23:17principles that apply across the board.
23:19Yeah. Whenever you transplant something
23:21into the garden, always water it. And
23:23especially as we get into spring and
23:25summer,
23:26without mulch, you're not going to have
23:27a successful garden. Mulch is life. It
23:29keeps your soil alive, but it also does
23:31a couple other things for you. Yeah,
23:33absolutely. So, what you can see here is
23:34we have some basic wood chip mulch that
23:37delineates between a pathway and a bed
23:39here in the garden, but then there's
23:41also mulch that you would apply to a
23:43garden bed itself.
23:44>> Whenever it comes to mulching an actual
23:46garden bed, one of my favorites is
23:48always going to be straw. The reason why
23:50straw is so great is that A, it breaks
23:52down very quickly, so it's not going to
23:54always be there. It's going to feed your
23:55soil over time as it breaks down. It
23:58blocks weeds from germinating. Almost
24:00should do that. Retains water, which
24:02reduces how much water you need, keeps
24:03your plants happier. But another great
24:05option is actually compost. Compost can
24:07serve as a mulch. There's even more
24:09chunky types of compost that are a
24:10little bit more mulchy. And it's going
24:12to do the same thing. Block weeds, keep
24:14moisture in, and just make your plants
24:16grow better overall. So, it looks like
24:18there's no mulch in this onion bed here,
24:20Jacques, but in fact there's probably
24:21about 2 to 3 in of our own homemade
24:24compost, which [music] is effectively
24:26doing everything that you mentioned. The
24:27other thing that I think is interesting
24:29about straw is that it's light. So, it
24:32does reflect quite a bit of light and so
24:34it can actually keep the bed a little
24:35bit more cool. Some crops like that,
24:38some don't. For me, I think mulch is
24:40mandatory. The type of mulch [music] is
24:42really up to you, your own budget, and
24:44maybe even what's local to you. Some
24:46people will just use their own fallen
24:48leaves.
24:48>> Yeah, fallen leaves are fantastic. I
24:50mean, you can use wood chips in your
24:52garden as well, but wood, when it mixes
24:54into the soil, can cause like some
24:56nutrient lockout. Um I would just avoid
24:58it, but pathway
24:59>> annoying to work in.
25:00>> It is [laughter] actually really
25:01annoying to work in. I tend to get a lot
25:02of splinters when I do that, so keep it
25:04in the pathways. Okay, the next one that
25:06trips up almost everyone, Jacques, is
25:07watering. And it I think it's
25:09deceptively a lot simpler than it's made
25:11out to be, but there's a lot of ways it
25:13can go wrong. It's one of the hardest
25:15questions to actually answer. Somebody
25:17is like, "How much water do I give my
25:18plants?" I'm like, "What time of year is
25:20it? What kind of soil do you have?"
25:21That's what makes it a little harder.
25:22>> is it? Exactly. What kind of plant is
25:24it? So, that's really where I think the
25:26finger test is best. Yeah. So, that's
25:28where you take your finger, you shove it
25:30right into the soil or dirt, whatever
25:32you have, and if it comes out entirely
25:34clean, that soil is probably too dry. If
25:36a little bit sticks to your finger, that
25:38means it's probably just wet enough. If
25:40it comes out absolutely soaked and
25:41dirty, maybe ease back on the watering.
25:44Yeah, that's a good rule of thumb, and
25:45then there's
25:46ways of watering. So, so yeah, as your
25:48garden scales up, you want to make
25:51watering easier for yourself.
25:52>> Absolutely. But what I will say is early
25:54on as you start to garden, you you would
25:56rather be doing it manually, even if
25:59it's a little bit of a chore. Why?
26:01Because that's going to actually make
26:02you observe your garden, and there's
26:04that saying it's like the farmer's
26:06footsteps is the best fertilizer. If
26:08you're walking around literally looking
26:10at each plant and watering it, you will
26:11notice everything that is happening in
26:13your garden, whether there's pest,
26:15whether you have enough water, and
26:16whether maybe you might need a harvest.
26:18So, I think that's best, and it's also
26:20the most controlled. Yeah, I would say
26:21the first year and a half to two years,
26:24two seasons really, of growing more more
26:27in the front yard, every few times a
26:28week manual watering of 17 raised beds.
26:31>> Yeah, it can get old. It gets old
26:33eventually, but when you you need it's
26:35like any skill you're building, you need
26:37to build the familiarity, and then you
26:39can sort of systematize and automate it
26:41a little bit, which we have done here
26:42now. So, what we have is what's called
26:44drip irrigation. So, I'd say level one,
26:47like literally a watering can and one
26:49raised bed, there's nothing wrong with
26:50that. Level two, grab a hose, and then
26:52just kind of walk around and hit it with
26:54a hose. Level three is kind of where
26:56we're at. We're maybe at level four cuz
26:58we've gone pretty extreme with it, is
27:00automating your watering in some fashion
27:01with drip irrigation or irrigation kits.
27:04So, what we've done is we have different
27:06beds. Those beds have irrigation lines
27:09on them, and it is hooked up to what are
27:10called irrigation zones that basically
27:13drip out water. We don't want to get too
27:15much into that, but it's all to say that
27:17watering is [music]
27:19almost the fourth S of the three S's.
27:21It's just a W. But, plants need water as
27:24much as they need something to hold that
27:25water, soil, and the light, of course,
27:27to generate that energy. And so, when
27:28you're thinking about how to water, when
27:30to water, I think when is actually
27:34not as important as some people think,
27:35but definitely still worth considering.
27:36Yeah, generally early in the morning is
27:38best because you're trying to water the
27:40soil, not the leaves of your plant. Now,
27:43don't worry too much about it. Of
27:44course, it rains, plants will get wet,
27:47but by reducing the amount of water on
27:49the leaves, you're going to reduce the
27:50likelihood of getting disease, and
27:52that's why doing it in the morning's
27:53better because it has time to dry out.
27:55And also, in the morning is before it
27:57gets hot, so you want to give the plants
27:58the water they need before the sun comes
28:00out and really starts forcing them to
28:02draw all that water out. And that amount
28:04of water, what people say is like an
28:06inch to an inch and a half, whatever
28:08that is.
28:08>> think it's very helpful.
28:09>> Yeah, I think maybe it's more helpful
28:10for you guys at home that actually have
28:12rain on a consistent basis, but to me,
28:14it almost means nothing. So, I just go
28:16in there manually and make sure that
28:18that soil feels like it has sufficient
28:20water. Yeah, and another thing is you'll
28:22find that over-watering and
28:23under-watering, the plants can sometimes
28:25respond similarly. Yeah, it's true.
28:27>> So, they'll do this wilting sort of
28:28action. I would say combined with the
28:31soil test and your own sort of
28:32gardener's sense of, "Hey, did I water
28:34it that often? Did it rain most
28:35recently?" You'll be able to say, "This
28:37one's definitely over-watered. This
28:38one's definitely under-watered." But,
28:40[music] keeping it in that range is
28:41really all you're looking for. You got
28:43to remember, when it comes to
28:44fertilizer, which we'll talk about, when
28:45it comes to soil health, water, you're
28:48really not going to get a plant to do
28:50more than it's able to do. So, watering
28:52it more is not necessarily going to do
28:54anything. It's all about doing it the
28:55right amount. Remember, we don't grow
28:57plants, they grow themselves. We put
28:59them in an environment in [music] which
29:00they thrive. One last thing I do want to
29:02say though is just keep in mind that as
29:04you get deeper into the season, that
29:06same plant is going to need more water.
29:08As a tomato gets larger and starts to
29:10produce fruit, it will need more water
29:12than it when it was like this big. So,
29:13just keep that in mind as it gets
29:15warmer, as the plants get more mature,
29:16you're going to have to step up the
29:17watering a little bit as you go. There's
29:19something that both Jacques and myself,
29:21I think, chronically underutilized
29:24earlier
29:25in the seasons of us gardening, and that
29:26would be fertilizer. Now, it isn't
29:29something I would say is absolutely
29:30crucial or mandatory, but it does work.
29:32It absolutely will have an impact, and
29:35it's one of the few things that might
29:36actually give you more plant from your
29:38plant. You know, the only time I'd say
29:40it's like truly, truly required is
29:42probably in like a container Yeah.
29:44because eventually you only have so much
29:46soil in there, and it's going to run out
29:47of nutrients. Yeah, well, not only that,
29:49but when you're growing in a grow bag,
29:51even if it's one of our line grow bags
29:53or a big tote or something like that, it
29:56better have drainage holes. If it If it
29:57doesn't, then you got a different
29:59growing problem at hand, but you are
30:01literally going to wash the fertilizer
30:03out of that usually soilless medium cuz
30:06it's a potting mix of some kind. And so,
30:08with containers, I would say fertilizing
30:09basically mandatory, especially if
30:12you're doing those container tomatoes,
30:13container peppers, anything that's
30:15fruiting up. But even something like my
30:18dragon fruit alley here, which of course
30:20is a tropical fruiting cactus, without
30:22fertilizer, I would not get anywhere
30:24near as much production out of it. And
30:26then I'd say in recent years, even
30:27yourself, you started using it in your
30:29in-ground beds.
30:30>> Yeah, I've actually started following
30:32the recommendation, and I have to
30:34substantial results. I am getting much
30:36larger broccolis, much larger cabbages.
30:39And now, that's the thing is I am
30:41getting bigger ones, but do you need a
30:42cabbage this big? That's up to you.
30:45Really up to you.
30:45>> I kind of do. I like it.
30:47>> Yes. Absolutely. So, the way to do it
30:49though, the thing that's worked for me
30:50at least, if you're doing containers,
30:53at the time of planting, you're going to
30:55want to usually amend that mix with some
30:57sort of granular fertilizer. Granular
30:59organic fertilizers break down, but they
31:01break down slower of course than liquid
31:03fertilizers, which are immediately
31:05bioavailable to a plant. So, if you need
31:07to give it a quick hit, I'd go liquid.
31:09If not, I'd go granular. In ground beds
31:12or in raised beds, I almost always use a
31:14granular fertilizer, and I'll do it at
31:16the time of planting out a new crop, or
31:19sometimes when I turn the bed or I
31:21harvest that whole bed, I'll reset with
31:24a little compost and fertilizer, just
31:25because I know eventually I'm going to
31:27put it in. And it Remember, it's organic
31:28granular. It needs to break down. Yeah,
31:30that's actually one of the things It's
31:31one of the things I really like about
31:32those organic granular fertilizers is
31:34that they do break down over time, which
31:36means that I don't have to get out there
31:37and do it all the time. It's just going
31:39to slowly feed my plants through the
31:40season. And if you want to get stressed
31:42about what's called the NPK, or those
31:44three numbers that are on every packet,
31:46you definitely can, but if you want to
31:49keep it simple, any sort of all-purpose
31:51organic granular fertilizer, like a
31:535-5-5 even, is probably fine. Now, we
31:56have to talk about pruning. A lot of
31:58plants [music] don't need pruning. You
31:59don't need to prune a cabbage, but what
32:01did you do to get this rosemary to look
32:02so giant, lush, and beautiful?
32:04>> You want to know the answer? I actually
32:06took a hedge trimmer and I hedge trimmed
32:08the whole thing to be a perfect globe.
32:11And then of course it's now broken that
32:13a bit, but you're totally right. So,
32:15there's the care of plants going in the
32:16ground, the watering, the fertilizing,
32:18sort of the But then there's the daily
32:19maintenance or trimming or pruning of
32:22it, which does shape the outcome of the
32:24plant. When it comes to something like a
32:25rosemary, Jacques, of course, this is
32:27more rosemary than I'll ever need. So,
32:29do I really need to prune it anymore?
32:30Maybe it's for aesthetics.
32:31>> It looks cool. It looks great. But,
32:33let's say I was growing a tomato. Yeah.
32:36Right? There's different ways to prune
32:38tomatoes and there's definitely ways in
32:39which plants will grow that's sort of
32:42counterproductive to what you the human
32:44gardener wants them to do. Right? So, if
32:46you think about like an indeterminate or
32:49vining style tomato with no trellis,
32:51what's it going to do?
32:52>> Nothing. It's just going to sprawl and
32:54branch and creep and take over the whole
32:56area basically. Right. And so, if you
32:58don't support it and if you don't give
33:00it at least some kind of trimming or
33:01pruning to control that space, maybe
33:04prevent a little bit of pest or disease
33:06pressure, but also just kind of optimize
33:08its growth, [music] then you're not
33:09going to get exactly what you want. Now,
33:12I don't want to say like it's hard and
33:13fast rule. We've done all sorts of
33:14different videos on pruning. Some plants
33:16need it, some plants don't.
33:17Understanding which plants do and how to
33:19do it is the important thing. Of course,
33:21we've made many videos on that, but this
33:23just kind of speaks talk to the overall
33:25daily care of the garden once you plant
33:28it out.
33:28>> think one of the cool fun things about
33:30pruning is that you can use it to your
33:32advantage just like this. The more
33:33branches you trim, the more side shoots
33:36are going to form, which means the
33:37bushier it's going to get. That's really
33:38useful for things that you want a lot
33:40of. Like for example, basil is a great
33:41example. You've created gigantic basil
33:44bushes, but if you don't prune it, it'll
33:46keep growing vertical. It will produce
33:47some branches, but just not nearly as
33:50much. Same thing with like flowers. If
33:51you trim the top off of a like a young
33:54zinnia, it's going to branch more,
33:55you're going to get more overall flowers
33:57than if you left it entirely unpruned.
33:59[music] Yeah, I would say like when you
34:01first start growing, it can be
34:02overwhelming. Like everything seems to
34:04have different rules on how to prune it.
34:06Take it Take it piece by piece. And also
34:08use your growing intuition in the
34:09garden. Like you mentioned, you don't
34:11prune a cabbage. Why? Because the
34:12cabbage you're growing is the whole
34:14plant. Yeah. So, if you were to prune
34:16it, what would be left? Right? You don't
34:18prune things like lettuce or kale, but
34:20that kind of brings us to how you would
34:22harvest plants to increase their
34:24production. So, this reminds me of
34:25something in Jacques's yard that's been
34:27bothering me for years, which should be
34:29his 5-year-old tree collards that look
34:31kind of like this, but they're way
34:32taller and spindlier. But actually, you
34:34know, to your credit, you do a great job
34:36of maximizing your harvest off of
34:38plants. And this is, for most plants,
34:41there's a way to do it. Now, sometimes
34:43with like a carrot, a turnip, a beet, a
34:45radish, you just wait till it's the size
34:47you want, you pull it out of the ground.
34:48There's not really a maximization here.
34:50>> harvest. It's just a one-shot, one-kill.
34:52But talk to me about the kale, cuz this
34:53is you do this all the time.
34:54>> Yeah. Basically, the idea here is that
34:56as this is growing, each one of these
34:57little, like, rough spots on the stalk
34:59here is where a leaf was. So, if you
35:01don't actually harvest your plant, so
35:04all I'm going to do here is just come
35:05through, pick off some of these leaves.
35:07It might look like you're removing
35:08everything, but what's going to happen
35:10to this plant now is that it's like,
35:11"Oh, I don't have enough leaves. I
35:13should produce more." And that is the
35:15beauty of continuous harvesting. If you
35:17don't do it, you will actually end up
35:19with less of a harvest because it will
35:21encourage the plant to continue to grow.
35:23And sometimes, it could really make a
35:25big difference. Like, what happens if
35:26you let a single zucchini turn into,
35:29like, something like this? What's going
35:31to happen to the plant? Yeah, that I
35:32mean, the plant's going to say, "Great,
35:33I fulfilled my mission, right?" I mean,
35:35I don't need to produce that many more
35:37zucchinis because this one zucchini is
35:39going to produce seed, and it's going to
35:40produce more zucchini.
35:41>> Now, your zucchini plant's dead, and
35:43you're no longer harvesting from it. It
35:45is important to get out there and
35:46actually maintain your harvest.
35:47>> Well, when you think about, I mean,
35:48kale's a really, I love kale because of
35:50the example of it's very clear where the
35:52leaves used to be, and it's very clear
35:54where the growing tip is coming out of
35:56this plant.
35:57>> they look a little bit more tender. It's
35:59just naturally going to keep producing
36:00as it grows up. I would say for leafy
36:02greens, you're basically doing something
36:04like this, where you're taking the most
36:05mature leaves. When it's a lettuce like
36:07this guy over here, you're kind of
36:09cutting and coming again around the
36:10sides of it,
36:12>> [music]
36:12>> leaving that middle crown, or you're
36:13chopping the whole thing off, again,
36:15leaving the crown, enough of it to keep
36:17reproducing. But then it gets [music] to
36:19your fruiting plants like a tomato,
36:21Jack.
36:21>> Yeah. And that's where it's really
36:23important, again, similar to the
36:24zucchini, the more you're harvesting,
36:26the more it's going to keep producing,
36:27because it's whole purpose in life is to
36:29create seed to propagate itself. If it
36:31does enough of that, it's like, "I'm out
36:33of here." So, you want to make sure
36:35you're actually picking those tomatoes,
36:37not letting them rot, not letting them
36:38get too ripe, either. And by doing that,
36:40it's just going to keep growing, keep
36:42producing, you're going to keep
36:43harvesting, and you'll be much happier
36:44for it. I think another crop, or set of
36:46crops really, that this works really
36:48well on, would be anything in the legume
36:50family. Oh, yeah.
36:51>> So, a bean.
36:52>> Big time.
36:52>> A pea. Anything like that, you're going
36:55to
36:55>> [music]
36:55>> Even if you had like four plants, you're
36:56going to be coming out pick, pick, pick.
36:57Maybe every day.
36:59>> And that really will spur on production.
37:00Now, of course, like we mentioned, you
37:02can't make the plant do anything
37:03genetically it's not able to do. But, a
37:06lot of us will leave some harvest on the
37:08table by not coming out and harvesting
37:10>> [music]
37:11>> every so often. And this kind of ties to
37:12like when you do that daily water, or
37:14that walk around,
37:15>> Yeah. bring that harvest basket out, and
37:18clip a little bit here and there, and
37:19here and there, and you'll start to go,
37:21"Okay, well, with my kales I do this,
37:23with my lettuce I do this, with my beets
37:24I do this." And you'll really get that
37:26sixth sense, but you can get, I would
37:28say, from the same garden by optimizing
37:30your harvesting technique, 20 30% more
37:33yield out of some crops.
37:34>> Maybe even more.
37:34>> Maybe even more. And right here, I'm
37:36actually seeing something else that we
37:37should talk about, which is that this
37:39kale has a couple holes in its leaf.
37:41Pests. So, Jacques got pests, I've got
37:43diseases, two of the things that plague
37:45and discourage a lot of gardeners. And I
37:48don't want diseases, guys. I I do not.
37:50So, talk [music] to me, Jacques. There's
37:52There's kind of two schools of thought
37:54about how to approach this in a home
37:55garden. One more extreme, one like very
37:57much not extreme.
37:58>> Yeah, I'll say that I started off on the
38:00extreme end. When I saw this, I
38:02panicked, and I was like, "I have to
38:03kill whatever is eating my plant." But,
38:06over the years, I've learned that
38:08eventually your garden will find a
38:09balance. It can be hard to just let this
38:11go on, and not do anything about it. And
38:14here's the thing, first year, I fought
38:16everything that came into my garden. I
38:17wanted to defeat it. Second year, I
38:19basically just was like, "I'm over it. I
38:21gave up. And there was damage. There was
38:24sometimes where I lost more than I
38:25really wanted to, but that third year
38:27really everything started to come into
38:29balance. Yes, there were a couple holes
38:31in my leaves, but that's fine. I could
38:34still eat this. There's nothing wrong
38:35with this. You just wouldn't find this
38:36at the grocery store, but this is 100%
38:38edible and the majority of the plant has
38:40no holes in the leaves and that's really
38:42what it's all about is finding a little
38:43bit of balance and being okay with
38:45giving up a little bit of your garden to
38:47the natural ecosystem around you. What I
38:49found is year one when there was no
38:51garden in this space at all, there was
38:53an overabundance of specifically earwigs
38:56as my pest which Jacques personally
38:58can't stand. I remember those years you
38:59would like go wild when you saw an
39:01earwig.
39:02>> Yeah, they were destroying my Napa
39:03cabbages. I still haven't had a Napa
39:04cabbage cuz I love those crinkly little
39:06leaves.
39:06>> yeah. So, but what I notice is year one
39:09a lot of earwigs, year two I would say
39:11maybe 80% less. Why? Because we started
39:15building out an ecosystem. We brought in
39:17some birds just with the natural stuff
39:19that we were planting. Of course they're
39:20going to snack and so you start bringing
39:22things into balance and I would venture
39:24>> [music]
39:24>> to say that like if you have no pests in
39:26the garden whatsoever, effectively you
39:28don't have a a well-cultivated local
39:31ecosystem in your yard.
39:32>> of a red flag to me.
39:33>> It's a red flag. If you don't [laughter]
39:34have a single amount of damage or any
39:36pests, then what are you doing? How did
39:38you do that?
39:39>> Like that means you had to kill
39:40everything around you. Yeah, there's no
39:42there's no real way. Now, when it comes
39:43to disease, I'm a little bit more
39:45extreme sometimes. It really depends on
39:47what it is. When you talk about
39:48something like a cabbage is the fan leaf
39:50of a cabbage has a little powdery mildew
39:52on it,
39:52>> [music]
39:52>> the cabbage itself is pretty much fine.
39:55So, I'm not super stressed about that.
39:57I'm just going to wash it very
39:59thoroughly before I eat it. But when you
40:01come into things like maybe a blight on
40:03a tomato or maybe a rust on a garlic, I
40:06will sometimes get a little more extreme
40:08and it really just depends on
40:10how much I care about the yield of that
40:12crop. When you're talking about garlic
40:13crop
40:14>> you are in it.
40:14>> Exactly. So, with a garlic, you're 6
40:17months in on a crop like that. Oh, bad.
40:20And it lasts 6 to 12 months. So, if you
40:22don't get that harvest, it's very
40:24damaging to you as a spirit of a
40:26gardener. Like, we lost some garlic last
40:28year, very very sad. So, did I do an
40:30organic spray in that case? I did.
40:32[music] I wanted to give myself my best
40:34shot. If I was to lose one kale plant
40:37here, one kale plant there to maybe too
40:38many aphids or a little bit of of
40:41powdery mildew,
40:42it's a kale plant. I can plant another,
40:44it'll grow pretty quickly, and it's
40:46probably fine to give a little bit of
40:47forage to those local insects.
40:49>> Yeah. Now, this is where it really
40:49starts to get exciting as a gardener
40:51who's getting into seed starting,
40:52because now you could start choosing
40:54varieties that specifically have disease
40:56resistance or even pest resistance. Now,
40:59I can buy a tomato that has a little bit
41:00of powdery mildew resistance. Does it
41:02mean it's immune? No, it means that it
41:04could handle that disease and still
41:06reliably produce you a harvest. Yeah.
41:08Yeah, I mean, I think that's to me,
41:09that's one of the things that's caused
41:11the most success in the garden. Allowed
41:12us to not spray or do sort of
41:15overindulgent measures,
41:16>> [music]
41:16>> is powdery mildew resistant varieties,
41:18blight resistant varieties, maybe things
41:21that don't Yeah, nematode resistant,
41:23hornworm, any of those types of things.
41:26If the plant variety itself has the
41:28resistance, then you as the gardener
41:30have to do a little bit less work. Not
41:31something you have to do, but with seed
41:34companies, including our own, we have
41:36varieties selected specifically for that
41:38reason, because we know if you have a
41:40pumpkin you're growing and you're very
41:42excited to carve it for Halloween with
41:43your children, and then it gets
41:44absolutely smacked upside the head with
41:46blight or mildew, there goes your
41:48Halloween. So, you'd rather grow a
41:50variety that's resistant. But overall,
41:52Jacques, I would say 14 years deep, I'm
41:54much more on the laissez-faire side of
41:56gardening and allowing some things to
41:58just be. We know we just threw a lot of
41:59info at you guys. So, [music] what we
42:01did is we put this all into an
42:03actionable checklist that if your
42:04garden's workable right now, you can
42:06definitely go out and do it, or you can
42:08save this and do it the second that you
42:10[music] can get out in the garden. So,
42:12the first one is walk your garden and
42:14observe it in the morning, the
42:16afternoon, and the evening and just
42:18roughly mark on a piece of paper where
42:20you actually get six or more hours of
42:22full sun.
42:22>> Once you find that primary garden site,
42:24scoop up a handful of that soil and give
42:26it a feel. Does it look like it's rich
42:28in color? Does it look really pale?
42:30Chances are you're probably going to
42:31want to add some compost to it to get it
42:33to that better state. Next, grab a piece
42:35of paper, draw out a bed, and actually
42:38plan out what you want to put into it in
42:40the spring, summer, and the fall. Of
42:41course, you can do it on paper, you can
42:42also try our Epic Garden Planner, which
42:44is down in the description, but this
42:45will help you really get a sense for
42:48what am I going to get out of this
42:49garden this year? What am I excited to
42:51harvest?
42:52>> Next, set up a recurring calendar
42:54notification that says, "Go and check my
42:56garden." It could just be 10 minutes,
42:58maybe 30 minutes, but find a good day of
43:00the week where you know you could
43:01reliably do that. This one is probably
43:03my favorite tip, and it's what will get
43:05you to becoming a better gardener over
43:07the season. So, what I want you to do is
43:09this season, choose one system that
43:12you're going to add to the garden
43:14>> [music]
43:14>> this year. For me, over the years, it's
43:17been I'm going to build out a bigger
43:18composting system or a composting system
43:20in general. One year it was, "I'm going
43:22to put drip irrigation in my beds."
43:24Another it might be, "I'm building a
43:25worm composting system." Anything you
43:28can do that makes some of those
43:29repeatable tasks a little bit easier for
43:32you will result in better yields and of
43:34course a happier gardener. And now,
43:36challenge yourself. Choose maybe a
43:37single crop, maybe it's tomatoes, and go
43:40all in on it. Look at it different ways
43:41to prune it, look at it different ways
43:42to trellis it, and really try to
43:44understand it. Every year you could
43:46check off that item, add a new crop, and
43:48soon you'll become a garden master.
43:50Well, there you have it. Over 20 years
43:51of gardening wisdom distilled down into
43:53this chunky nugget of a video for you
43:54guys. If you are still hungry and
43:57clamoring for more wisdom, you can
43:58actually check out our seed varieties.
44:00We have some new ones this year. They
44:02are right here in this video. We'll see
44:04you on the next one. Have fun this
44:05season. Good luck in the garden, and
44:06keep on growing.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of 20 Years of Gardening Knowledge in 44 Minutes by Epic Gardening, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 10,274 words across 1,470 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.