0:00:01.020,0:00:02.854 Hey everyone! I'm Rob Greenfield, and 0:00:02.854,0:00:04.920 today I'm going to teach you how to turn 0:00:04.920,0:00:08.055 your yard into an abundant garden that 0:00:08.055,0:00:10.678 produces delicious and nutritious food for 0:00:10.678,0:00:12.135 you, right at home. 0:00:12.135,0:00:14.347 And I'm going to do that through my [br]example. 0:00:14.347,0:00:16.296 Where I'm standing, right now, two years 0:00:16.296,0:00:18.950 ago was just a lawn and now it is an 0:00:18.950,0:00:20.446 abundant food garden. 0:00:20.446,0:00:22.407 And this is actually the first lawn that 0:00:22.407,0:00:23.815 I ever turned into a garden. 0:00:23.815,0:00:25.918 So, it shows what can be done. 0:00:25.918,0:00:27.967 Now, I'm here in Central Florida, and I 0:00:27.967,0:00:30.100 want to show you what I had to start with. 0:00:30.100,0:00:34.171 We're talking about...anybody who lives in 0:00:34.171,0:00:36.336 Central Florida knows that we're bascially 0:00:36.336,0:00:39.306 working with straight sand. 0:00:39.306,0:00:41.331 Wherever you are, you're going to have a 0:00:41.331,0:00:43.239 different situation and you're going to 0:00:43.239,0:00:45.491 have to adapt this to your climate in 0:00:45.491,0:00:46.639 your region. 0:00:46.639,0:00:48.478 But this model that I am showing today 0:00:48.478,0:00:50.344 is something that can be, generally, 0:00:50.344,0:00:52.565 done across the United States. 0:00:52.565,0:00:54.561 I'm going to keep things pretty simple for 0:00:54.561,0:00:57.247 you today to help you really get started. 0:00:57.247,0:00:59.646 Just two years ago I had never really 0:00:59.646,0:01:02.579 hardly grown any food and all of this came 0:01:02.579,0:01:04.631 from just learning the basics that I'm 0:01:04.631,0:01:06.532 going to share with you today. 0:01:06.532,0:01:09.117 So there are 6 basic ingredients to this [br]method. 0:01:09.117,0:01:10.453 Cardboard. 0:01:10.453,0:01:11.872 Mulch. 0:01:11.872,0:01:13.719 Soil or compost. 0:01:13.719,0:01:15.053 Sun. 0:01:15.053,0:01:16.503 Water. 0:01:16.503,0:01:18.022 and then plants. 0:01:18.022,0:01:19.707 Those are the 6 main ingredients. 0:01:19.707,0:01:22.126 And I want to say, this is my method, but 0:01:22.126,0:01:25.009 there are many methods out there that you[br]can do. 0:01:25.009,0:01:27.341 This is really focused on working with 0:01:27.341,0:01:29.512 nature, rather than against it. So, I'm 0:01:29.512,0:01:31.226 going to get into each of those 6 0:01:31.226,0:01:33.169 ingredients and break them down a little 0:01:33.169,0:01:35.278 bit for you to help you start your garden. 0:01:35.278,0:01:37.444 The first ingredient is cardboard. 0:01:37.444,0:01:39.362 And it's as simple as getting cardboard 0:01:39.362,0:01:42.566 and doing a layer all across the whole 0:01:42.566,0:01:44.958 area that you are going to turn into a [br]garden. 0:01:44.958,0:01:46.950 Now, you don't need to buy the cardboard. 0:01:46.950,0:01:49.350 You can get it from recycling dumpsters. 0:01:49.350,0:01:51.550 So, that could be grocery stores, liquor 0:01:51.550,0:01:54.107 stores, or if you want to make your job 0:01:54.107,0:01:56.185 really easy, get it from appliance stores 0:01:56.185,0:01:58.337 where they have huge boxes. 0:01:58.337,0:02:00.688 And, Ideally, take out the tape or the 0:02:00.688,0:02:02.689 staples. That cardboard is going to 0:02:02.689,0:02:06.190 suppress the grass and kill it and break 0:02:06.190,0:02:08.442 down along with the second ingredient 0:02:08.442,0:02:10.288 which is mulch. 0:02:10.288,0:02:12.979 What you do with mulch is you get a thick 0:02:12.979,0:02:16.060 layer, ideally about a foot, and you lay 0:02:16.060,0:02:18.561 that down over the cardboard everywhere 0:02:18.561,0:02:21.528 that you are turning the yard into a [br]garden. 0:02:21.528,0:02:23.563 Again, this is not a resource that you 0:02:23.563,0:02:24.855 have to buy. 0:02:24.855,0:02:26.798 Actually, the idea is to be able to do 0:02:26.798,0:02:29.484 this in a very inexpensive manner and use 0:02:29.484,0:02:32.801 mostly wasted, local resources. 0:02:32.801,0:02:35.500 So, the best way to get mulch is from tree 0:02:35.500,0:02:38.002 cutting and tree trimming companies. 0:02:38.002,0:02:41.050 Their waste product is the shredded trees. 0:02:41.050,0:02:43.021 A lot of the times they take that to the 0:02:43.021,0:02:45.022 landfill, and instead, you can get them to 0:02:45.022,0:02:49.008 dump it right on your yard and get it for [br]free. 0:02:49.008,0:02:50.426 So, why mulch? 0:02:50.426,0:02:51.774 Well, let me show you. 0:02:51.774,0:02:54.186 First of all, this is the method that 0:02:54.186,0:02:56.220 actually kills your lawns so that you can 0:02:56.220,0:02:58.084 grow food instead. 0:02:58.084,0:03:00.538 But mulch does a lot of other things as [br]well. 0:03:00.538,0:03:04.173 So, just pulling this mulch back, you've 0:03:04.173,0:03:06.476 got the woody mulch on top, and just going 0:03:06.476,0:03:09.109 back a little ways, you can see this mulch 0:03:09.109,0:03:11.425 already is breaking down into a rich, 0:03:11.425,0:03:15.728 organic matter. So, the mulch does a few [br]things. 0:03:15.728,0:03:17.713 It holds in moisture. Every time it 0:03:17.713,0:03:20.096 rains, rather than it running straight off 0:03:20.096,0:03:23.315 a lawn, it has all this area to soak in. 0:03:23.315,0:03:25.834 This is nice and moist even though I'm not 0:03:25.834,0:03:28.151 irrigating or anything like that, and it's 0:03:28.151,0:03:29.884 very dry out right now. 0:03:29.884,0:03:31.817 It also creates an environment for 0:03:31.817,0:03:34.251 important microorganisms and 0:03:34.251,0:03:36.036 mychorrhizal fungi. 0:03:36.036,0:03:38.452 Just imagine if you're out in the blazing 0:03:38.452,0:03:41.038 heat or if you have a wall in the blazing 0:03:41.038,0:03:44.206 heat, things aren't going to grow there. 0:03:44.206,0:03:46.491 They need protection, so that bacteria 0:03:46.491,0:03:48.868 that you want in your garden, and that 0:03:48.868,0:03:50.837 fungi you want, needs protection. 0:03:50.837,0:03:53.121 Over time, all of this mulch breaks down 0:03:53.121,0:03:55.303 into the nutrients that you need. 0:03:55.303,0:03:58.657 Now, the third ingredient is what I am 0:03:58.657,0:04:00.774 holding, right here. It's what my mulch 0:04:00.774,0:04:03.110 turned into, which is soil. 0:04:03.110,0:04:05.063 Depending on where you are you are going 0:04:05.063,0:04:07.073 to have very different scenarios. Where 0:04:07.073,0:04:08.860 I'm from in Wisconsin, for example, 0:04:08.860,0:04:11.182 there's a lot of rich soil already. 0:04:11.182,0:04:13.127 So soil wouldn't need to be brought in 0:04:13.127,0:04:14.748 there in a lot of scenarios. 0:04:14.748,0:04:16.797 But when I started here, as I said, I just 0:04:16.797,0:04:19.681 had a sandy lawn. So I needed to bring 0:04:19.681,0:04:22.882 in compost or soil. So, where can you get 0:04:22.882,0:04:24.900 compost and soil? You, ideally, want to 0:04:24.900,0:04:27.989 get organic if possible. Now, what [br]I did, 0:04:27.989,0:04:30.268 here in Florida, is there 0:04:30.268,0:04:34.253 is a mushroom farm, or mushroom factory, 0:04:34.253,0:04:37.236 basically, not far from here. And their 0:04:37.236,0:04:40.438 spent material makes great compost. 0:04:40.438,0:04:42.471 And so I was able to get a lot of that 0:04:42.471,0:04:45.575 really inexpensively dumped by the truck 0:04:45.575,0:04:47.488 rather than having to buy bags. 0:04:47.488,0:04:49.629 You can get it, a lot of times, from your 0:04:49.629,0:04:51.944 municipality. The ones that pick up yard 0:04:51.944,0:04:54.393 waste often will turn that into compost 0:04:54.393,0:04:57.045 that can be picked up for free by [br]residents. 0:04:57.045,0:04:59.897 So, that may be one of your main expenses 0:04:59.897,0:05:01.929 to getting the garden going, but it all 0:05:01.929,0:05:03.516 depends on where you are. 0:05:03.516,0:05:05.765 Now, talking about something that's not 0:05:05.765,0:05:08.636 expensive, which is ingredient number 4 0:05:08.636,0:05:12.485 and that is the sun. 0:05:12.485,0:05:15.537 It is the simplest and easiest of all the 0:05:15.537,0:05:18.169 ingredients, probably, but there are still 0:05:18.169,0:05:19.838 important things to know. 0:05:19.838,0:05:21.923 Especially for beginner gardeners, I would 0:05:21.923,0:05:24.222 recommend full sun. Where I am in Central 0:05:24.222,0:05:26.890 Florida, where it's a really hot sun, that 0:05:26.890,0:05:29.325 can be 5-6 hours. But in more of the 0:05:29.325,0:05:32.192 temperate areas, you're talking 7-8 [br]hours. 0:05:32.192,0:05:35.543 Ideally, you also get morning sun and 0:05:35.543,0:05:38.928 less of the afternoon or the evening 0:05:38.928,0:05:41.530 hotter sun. So, this garden is perfect 0:05:41.530,0:05:44.397 because the sun rises in the east over the 0:05:44.397,0:05:47.249 garden and then it's falling behind the 0:05:47.249,0:05:49.265 house in the afternoon. 0:05:49.265,0:05:52.233 Now, ingredient number 5 is also something 0:05:52.233,0:05:54.617 that can be free. You probably have heard 0:05:54.617,0:05:56.834 of it before. Water. 0:05:56.834,0:05:59.187 Water, of course, is an absolutely 0:05:59.187,0:06:01.123 essential ingredient. 0:06:01.123,0:06:03.070 I'm going to show you the two systems I 0:06:03.070,0:06:06.757 have, which are rain water harvesting and[br]drip irrigation. 0:06:06.757,0:06:10.258 I would absolutely recommend rainwater [br]harvesting. 0:06:10.258,0:06:11.891 It's extremely simple. 0:06:11.891,0:06:14.210 You simply need to collect the water off 0:06:14.210,0:06:16.543 of the roof, down a downspout, like it 0:06:16.543,0:06:18.788 normally would, and instead of sending it 0:06:18.788,0:06:20.862 off into the street, have it collect into 0:06:20.862,0:06:23.879 buckets, barrels, whatever that may be. 0:06:23.879,0:06:26.346 It's extremely simple and you and you can 0:06:26.346,0:06:28.947 rainwater harvest in every climate, even 0:06:28.947,0:06:31.306 in the desert you can rainwater harvest. 0:06:31.306,0:06:33.300 In fact, that's one of the most important 0:06:33.300,0:06:35.255 places to do it. 0:06:35.255,0:06:37.101 Now, drip irrigation can actually be 0:06:37.101,0:06:39.602 connected to rainwater harvesting units, 0:06:39.602,0:06:41.570 but it's a little more complicated. 0:06:41.570,0:06:43.869 Generally, you just have it connected to 0:06:43.869,0:06:46.655 your hose, your spigot. This is pressured 0:06:46.655,0:06:48.940 water, whether it's from the city or well, 0:06:48.940,0:06:50.645 or something of that sort. 0:06:50.645,0:06:52.726 And drip irrigation, what's great about it 0:06:52.726,0:06:55.474 is it's super efficient both in water 0:06:55.474,0:06:57.926 usage, it uses a lot less water, but it 0:06:57.926,0:07:00.910 also save a lot of time. 0:07:00.910,0:07:02.862 And how it works is you can either have 0:07:02.862,0:07:04.895 it set up without a timer, where you have 0:07:04.895,0:07:06.930 to come out and just turn it on or off. 0:07:06.930,0:07:09.414 Or if you have a timer, you can set the 0:07:09.414,0:07:11.962 days and the times that it waters and the 0:07:11.962,0:07:13.919 great thing about it is you can even go 0:07:13.919,0:07:16.300 out of town and your garden is still being[br]watered. 0:07:16.300,0:07:18.212 So, water comes out through this black 0:07:18.212,0:07:20.269 pipe and over to the drip irrigation line 0:07:20.269,0:07:22.184 so I'm going to take you back out to the 0:07:22.184,0:07:25.571 garden to see where the water actually[br]comes out. 0:07:25.571,0:07:27.971 So, here are the drip lines. And on this 0:07:27.971,0:07:29.992 one, about every 6 inches, there's a 0:07:29.992,0:07:32.093 little hole and the water, literally, just 0:07:32.093,0:07:34.372 drips right out. And by doing that, it's 0:07:34.372,0:07:37.158 actually targeted where you want it, not 0:07:37.158,0:07:39.526 spreading water across the whole area. 0:07:39.526,0:07:43.677 Some of the big keys to watering well, are 0:07:43.677,0:07:46.979 watering in the morning. Ideally, before 0:07:46.979,0:07:49.263 it's even light out, rather than the water 0:07:49.263,0:07:51.564 evaporating in the heat of the day. 0:07:51.564,0:07:54.616 And then watering directly rather than 0:07:54.616,0:07:56.999 overhead. Overhead is the most wasteful 0:07:56.999,0:07:59.150 way, where you water lawns with [br]sprinklers. 0:07:59.150,0:08:01.934 That's the most wasteful way to use water. 0:08:01.934,0:08:03.918 Now, when you are establishing a garden 0:08:03.918,0:08:06.220 like this, it's generally to say the first 0:08:06.220,0:08:09.271 30 days to 45 days, that's when you need 0:08:09.271,0:08:11.940 to water the most as you're establishing[br]the plants. 0:08:11.940,0:08:14.940 But if you set things up well, then you 0:08:14.940,0:08:17.807 can do this with very little irrigation or 0:08:17.807,0:08:21.209 even no irrigation, and that really comes 0:08:21.209,0:08:23.193 down to what you're planting. 0:08:23.193,0:08:27.260 And that is ingredient number 6. Plants. 0:08:27.260,0:08:29.152 There is an incredible amount that I 0:08:29.152,0:08:31.202 could go into here, but I'm going to keep 0:08:31.202,0:08:33.464 it just to the basics of how to turn your 0:08:33.464,0:08:35.431 yard into a garden. 0:08:35.431,0:08:37.500 So, first of all, how to plant. 0:08:37.500,0:08:40.281 With this method, the way that you plant 0:08:40.281,0:08:42.617 the perennials, is you simply would pull 0:08:42.617,0:08:44.434 back that mulch that you laid down. 0:08:44.434,0:08:47.286 Then you're going to amend that soil that 0:08:47.286,0:08:49.419 have there with compost and you're going 0:08:49.419,0:08:52.121 to plant into that and keep the mulch 0:08:52.121,0:08:54.773 away from that plant. 0:08:54.773,0:08:56.940 Now, if you're doing annuals, you're 0:08:56.940,0:08:58.874 generally going to have much more 0:08:58.874,0:09:01.509 compost that you're planting into. 0:09:01.509,0:09:04.126 But what I really recommend is perennials. 0:09:04.126,0:09:06.210 Here is one book that I really recommend, 0:09:06.210,0:09:08.460 Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier. 0:09:08.460,0:09:10.494 I really recommend getting books that are 0:09:10.494,0:09:12.428 designed for your area. 0:09:12.428,0:09:15.166 Now, some key tips. One is to plant 0:09:15.166,0:09:17.332 densely and then you can thin out later. 0:09:17.332,0:09:20.716 And that's going to do a similar thing to 0:09:20.716,0:09:23.383 the mulch, which is prevent weeds. 0:09:23.383,0:09:25.699 Now, what about when you do have weeds? 0:09:25.699,0:09:27.696 What do you actually do with those weeds? 0:09:27.696,0:09:29.751 Do you ship them off to the city to go to 0:09:29.751,0:09:31.720 the landfill? No, I'm going to take you 0:09:31.720,0:09:34.355 over to my banana circle...my banana spot 0:09:34.355,0:09:36.401 and show you what I do with my weeds to 0:09:36.401,0:09:38.739 keep nutrients on site. 0:09:38.739,0:09:41.455 What a lot of people do with their weeds 0:09:41.455,0:09:43.941 is they bag them up and they throw them 0:09:43.941,0:09:46.776 away. But what I do with all of them, is 0:09:46.776,0:09:49.750 I make a pile, right here, I do it with[br]bananas. 0:09:49.750,0:09:51.708 In different climates you can do this in 0:09:51.708,0:09:53.828 different manners, but I do it with the 0:09:53.828,0:09:56.846 bananas and everything from the garden 0:09:56.846,0:09:59.514 gets piled up, here. And that way all 0:09:59.514,0:10:02.115 those nutrients stay in the garden, rather 0:10:02.115,0:10:03.946 than getting rid of them. 0:10:03.946,0:10:06.000 And what we are doing, here, by building 0:10:06.000,0:10:08.083 up this soil and keeping the organic 0:10:08.083,0:10:10.550 matter on site, is that we're actually 0:10:10.550,0:10:12.589 sequestering carbon. We're taking it out 0:10:12.589,0:10:18.838 of the air and we're locking it into the [br]ground. 0:10:18.838,0:10:21.504 So, why turn our front yards into gardens? 0:10:21.504,0:10:24.741 Well, you would, maybe, be amazed to learn 0:10:24.741,0:10:27.175 that lawns are actually the most 0:10:27.175,0:10:30.046 irrigated crop in the United States. 0:10:30.046,0:10:33.076 They use an incredible amount of water. 0:10:33.076,0:10:37.011 7 billion gallons of water per day! 0:10:37.011,0:10:39.595 They use incredible amounts of fertilizers 0:10:39.595,0:10:42.298 much of which run off into our waterway 0:10:42.298,0:10:45.116 systems and cause huge problems. 0:10:45.116,0:10:48.200 And huge amounts of pesticides that end up 0:10:48.200,0:10:49.985 in our drinking water. 0:10:49.985,0:10:52.752 So, lawns, as beautiful as they may be to 0:10:52.752,0:10:55.252 many of us, actually cause a huge 0:10:55.252,0:10:57.886 amount of destruction. And instead, we 0:10:57.886,0:11:00.839 can be using that space to produce food. 0:11:00.839,0:11:03.747 Now, during the World War I and 0:11:03.747,0:11:06.457 World War II era, of the victory garden 0:11:06.457,0:11:08.541 movement when the United States government 0:11:08.541,0:11:11.009 was, actually, promoting people to grow 0:11:11.009,0:11:13.810 food, close to half of all of our fresh 0:11:13.810,0:11:16.077 fruits and vegetables were grown right in 0:11:16.077,0:11:18.812 our own yards rather than being shipped 0:11:18.812,0:11:20.226 all over the world. 0:11:20.226,0:11:22.146 So, we've seen what could be done in the 0:11:22.146,0:11:25.314 past. We know that this can continue to 0:11:25.314,0:11:27.749 be done, which would reduce our dependence 0:11:27.749,0:11:30.401 on Big Ag, on a system that is causing so 0:11:30.401,0:11:33.149 much destruction to people, to the planet, 0:11:33.149,0:11:35.253 and to other species. And, at the same 0:11:35.253,0:11:37.251 time, we can improve our communities, 0:11:37.251,0:11:39.904 have healthy, delicious meals with our 0:11:39.904,0:11:42.588 family, with our friends, and do it right 0:11:42.588,0:11:45.672 at home and right in our communities. 0:11:45.672,0:11:52.126 (Music) 0:11:52.126,0:11:55.043 So, that is how and why to turn your yard 0:11:55.043,0:11:57.511 into a garden. I want to thank the Live 0:11:57.511,0:11:59.510 Like Ally Foundation for supporting this 0:11:59.510,0:12:01.861 video and helping me spread this message 0:12:01.861,0:12:04.496 to you, and help you turn your yards into[br]gardens. 0:12:04.496,0:12:07.129 And if you gained a lot from this, if you 0:12:07.129,0:12:09.447 gained education, if you're inspired, 0:12:09.447,0:12:11.722 then subscribe to this channel, if you 0:12:11.722,0:12:13.699 haven't yet. There will be much more to 0:12:13.699,0:12:16.268 come. Hit the like button to spread this. 0:12:16.268,0:12:20.069 Comment, ask questions, and turn your yard 0:12:20.069,0:12:24.268 into a garden!