1 00:00:01,020 --> 00:00:02,854 Hey everyone! I'm Rob Greenfield, and 2 00:00:02,854 --> 00:00:04,920 today I'm going to teach you how to turn 3 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:08,055 your yard into an abundant garden that 4 00:00:08,055 --> 00:00:10,678 produces delicious and nutritious food for 5 00:00:10,678 --> 00:00:12,135 you, right at home. 6 00:00:12,135 --> 00:00:14,347 And I'm going to do that through my example. 7 00:00:14,347 --> 00:00:16,296 Where I'm standing, right now, two years 8 00:00:16,296 --> 00:00:18,950 ago was just a lawn and now it is an 9 00:00:18,950 --> 00:00:20,446 abundant food garden. 10 00:00:20,446 --> 00:00:22,407 And this is actually the first lawn that 11 00:00:22,407 --> 00:00:23,815 I ever turned into a garden. 12 00:00:23,815 --> 00:00:25,918 So, it shows what can be done. 13 00:00:25,918 --> 00:00:27,967 Now, I'm here in Central Florida, and I 14 00:00:27,967 --> 00:00:30,100 want to show you what I had to start with. 15 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:34,171 We're talking about...anybody who lives in 16 00:00:34,171 --> 00:00:36,336 Central Florida knows that we're bascially 17 00:00:36,336 --> 00:00:39,306 working with straight sand. 18 00:00:39,306 --> 00:00:41,331 Wherever you are, you're going to have a 19 00:00:41,331 --> 00:00:43,239 different situation and you're going to 20 00:00:43,239 --> 00:00:45,491 have to adapt this to your climate in 21 00:00:45,491 --> 00:00:46,639 your region. 22 00:00:46,639 --> 00:00:48,478 But this model that I am showing today 23 00:00:48,478 --> 00:00:50,344 is something that can be, generally, 24 00:00:50,344 --> 00:00:52,565 done across the United States. 25 00:00:52,565 --> 00:00:54,561 I'm going to keep things pretty simple for 26 00:00:54,561 --> 00:00:57,247 you today to help you really get started. 27 00:00:57,247 --> 00:00:59,646 Just two years ago I had never really 28 00:00:59,646 --> 00:01:02,579 hardly grown any food and all of this came 29 00:01:02,579 --> 00:01:04,631 from just learning the basics that I'm 30 00:01:04,631 --> 00:01:06,532 going to share with you today. 31 00:01:06,532 --> 00:01:09,117 So there are 6 basic ingredients to this method. 32 00:01:09,117 --> 00:01:10,453 Cardboard. 33 00:01:10,453 --> 00:01:11,872 Mulch. 34 00:01:11,872 --> 00:01:13,719 Soil or compost. 35 00:01:13,719 --> 00:01:15,053 Sun. 36 00:01:15,053 --> 00:01:16,503 Water. 37 00:01:16,503 --> 00:01:18,022 and then plants. 38 00:01:18,022 --> 00:01:19,707 Those are the 6 main ingredients. 39 00:01:19,707 --> 00:01:22,126 And I want to say, this is my method, but 40 00:01:22,126 --> 00:01:25,009 there are many methods out there that you can do. 41 00:01:25,009 --> 00:01:27,341 This is really focused on working with 42 00:01:27,341 --> 00:01:29,512 nature, rather than against it. So, I'm 43 00:01:29,512 --> 00:01:31,226 going to get into each of those 6 44 00:01:31,226 --> 00:01:33,169 ingredients and break them down a little 45 00:01:33,169 --> 00:01:35,278 bit for you to help you start your garden. 46 00:01:35,278 --> 00:01:37,444 The first ingredient is cardboard. 47 00:01:37,444 --> 00:01:39,362 And it's as simple as getting cardboard 48 00:01:39,362 --> 00:01:42,566 and doing a layer all across the whole 49 00:01:42,566 --> 00:01:44,958 area that you are going to turn into a garden. 50 00:01:44,958 --> 00:01:46,950 Now, you don't need to buy the cardboard. 51 00:01:46,950 --> 00:01:49,350 You can get it from recycling dumpsters. 52 00:01:49,350 --> 00:01:51,550 So, that could be grocery stores, liquor 53 00:01:51,550 --> 00:01:54,107 stores, or if you want to make your job 54 00:01:54,107 --> 00:01:56,185 really easy, get it from appliance stores 55 00:01:56,185 --> 00:01:58,337 where they have huge boxes. 56 00:01:58,337 --> 00:02:00,688 And, Ideally, take out the tape or the 57 00:02:00,688 --> 00:02:02,689 staples. That cardboard is going to 58 00:02:02,689 --> 00:02:06,190 suppress the grass and kill it and break 59 00:02:06,190 --> 00:02:08,442 down along with the second ingredient 60 00:02:08,442 --> 00:02:10,288 which is mulch. 61 00:02:10,288 --> 00:02:12,979 What you do with mulch is you get a thick 62 00:02:12,979 --> 00:02:16,060 layer, ideally about a foot, and you lay 63 00:02:16,060 --> 00:02:18,561 that down over the cardboard everywhere 64 00:02:18,561 --> 00:02:21,528 that you are turning the yard into a garden. 65 00:02:21,528 --> 00:02:23,563 Again, this is not a resource that you 66 00:02:23,563 --> 00:02:24,855 have to buy. 67 00:02:24,855 --> 00:02:26,798 Actually, the idea is to be able to do 68 00:02:26,798 --> 00:02:29,484 this in a very inexpensive manner and use 69 00:02:29,484 --> 00:02:32,801 mostly wasted, local resources. 70 00:02:32,801 --> 00:02:35,500 So, the best way to get mulch is from tree 71 00:02:35,500 --> 00:02:38,002 cutting and tree trimming companies. 72 00:02:38,002 --> 00:02:41,050 Their waste product is the shredded trees. 73 00:02:41,050 --> 00:02:43,021 A lot of the times they take that to the 74 00:02:43,021 --> 00:02:45,022 landfill, and instead, you can get them to 75 00:02:45,022 --> 00:02:49,008 dump it right on your yard and get it for free. 76 00:02:49,008 --> 00:02:50,426 So, why mulch? 77 00:02:50,426 --> 00:02:51,774 Well, let me show you. 78 00:02:51,774 --> 00:02:54,186 First of all, this is the method that 79 00:02:54,186 --> 00:02:56,220 actually kills your lawns so that you can 80 00:02:56,220 --> 00:02:58,084 grow food instead. 81 00:02:58,084 --> 00:03:00,538 But mulch does a lot of other things as well. 82 00:03:00,538 --> 00:03:04,173 So, just pulling this mulch back, you've 83 00:03:04,173 --> 00:03:06,476 got the woody mulch on top, and just going 84 00:03:06,476 --> 00:03:09,109 back a little ways, you can see this mulch 85 00:03:09,109 --> 00:03:11,425 already is breaking down into a rich, 86 00:03:11,425 --> 00:03:15,728 organic matter. So, the mulch does a few things. 87 00:03:15,728 --> 00:03:17,713 It holds in moisture. Every time it 88 00:03:17,713 --> 00:03:20,096 rains, rather than it running straight off 89 00:03:20,096 --> 00:03:23,315 a lawn, it has all this area to soak in. 90 00:03:23,315 --> 00:03:25,834 This is nice and moist even though I'm not 91 00:03:25,834 --> 00:03:28,151 irrigating or anything like that, and it's 92 00:03:28,151 --> 00:03:29,884 very dry out right now. 93 00:03:29,884 --> 00:03:31,817 It also creates an environment for 94 00:03:31,817 --> 00:03:34,251 important microorganisms and 95 00:03:34,251 --> 00:03:36,036 mychorrhizal fungi. 96 00:03:36,036 --> 00:03:38,452 Just imagine if you're out in the blazing 97 00:03:38,452 --> 00:03:41,038 heat or if you have a wall in the blazing 98 00:03:41,038 --> 00:03:44,206 heat, things aren't going to grow there. 99 00:03:44,206 --> 00:03:46,491 They need protection, so that bacteria 100 00:03:46,491 --> 00:03:48,868 that you want in your garden, and that 101 00:03:48,868 --> 00:03:50,837 fungi you want, needs protection. 102 00:03:50,837 --> 00:03:53,121 Over time, all of this mulch breaks down 103 00:03:53,121 --> 00:03:55,303 into the nutrients that you need. 104 00:03:55,303 --> 00:03:58,657 Now, the third ingredient is what I am 105 00:03:58,657 --> 00:04:00,774 holding, right here. It's what my mulch 106 00:04:00,774 --> 00:04:03,110 turned into, which is soil. 107 00:04:03,110 --> 00:04:05,063 Depending on where you are you are going 108 00:04:05,063 --> 00:04:07,073 to have very different scenarios. Where 109 00:04:07,073 --> 00:04:08,860 I'm from in Wisconsin, for example, 110 00:04:08,860 --> 00:04:11,182 there's a lot of rich soil already. 111 00:04:11,182 --> 00:04:13,127 So soil wouldn't need to be brought in 112 00:04:13,127 --> 00:04:14,748 there in a lot of scenarios. 113 00:04:14,748 --> 00:04:16,797 But when I started here, as I said, I just 114 00:04:16,797 --> 00:04:19,681 had a sandy lawn. So I needed to bring 115 00:04:19,681 --> 00:04:22,882 in compost or soil. So, where can you get 116 00:04:22,882 --> 00:04:24,900 compost and soil? You, ideally, want to 117 00:04:24,900 --> 00:04:27,989 get organic if possible. Now, what I did, 118 00:04:27,989 --> 00:04:30,268 here in Florida, is there 119 00:04:30,268 --> 00:04:34,253 is a mushroom farm, or mushroom factory, 120 00:04:34,253 --> 00:04:37,236 basically, not far from here. And their 121 00:04:37,236 --> 00:04:40,438 spent material makes great compost. 122 00:04:40,438 --> 00:04:42,471 And so I was able to get a lot of that 123 00:04:42,471 --> 00:04:45,575 really inexpensively dumped by the truck 124 00:04:45,575 --> 00:04:47,488 rather than having to buy bags. 125 00:04:47,488 --> 00:04:49,629 You can get it, a lot of times, from your 126 00:04:49,629 --> 00:04:51,944 municipality. The ones that pick up yard 127 00:04:51,944 --> 00:04:54,393 waste often will turn that into compost 128 00:04:54,393 --> 00:04:57,045 that can be picked up for free by residents. 129 00:04:57,045 --> 00:04:59,897 So, that may be one of your main expenses 130 00:04:59,897 --> 00:05:01,929 to getting the garden going, but it all 131 00:05:01,929 --> 00:05:03,516 depends on where you are. 132 00:05:03,516 --> 00:05:05,765 Now, talking about something that's not 133 00:05:05,765 --> 00:05:08,636 expensive, which is ingredient number 4 134 00:05:08,636 --> 00:05:12,485 and that is the sun. 135 00:05:12,485 --> 00:05:15,537 It is the simplest and easiest of all the 136 00:05:15,537 --> 00:05:18,169 ingredients, probably, but there are still 137 00:05:18,169 --> 00:05:19,838 important things to know. 138 00:05:19,838 --> 00:05:21,923 Especially for beginner gardeners, I would 139 00:05:21,923 --> 00:05:24,222 recommend full sun. Where I am in Central 140 00:05:24,222 --> 00:05:26,890 Florida, where it's a really hot sun, that 141 00:05:26,890 --> 00:05:29,325 can be 5-6 hours. But in more of the 142 00:05:29,325 --> 00:05:32,192 temperate areas, you're talking 7-8 hours. 143 00:05:32,192 --> 00:05:35,543 Ideally, you also get morning sun and 144 00:05:35,543 --> 00:05:38,928 less of the afternoon or the evening 145 00:05:38,928 --> 00:05:41,530 hotter sun. So, this garden is perfect 146 00:05:41,530 --> 00:05:44,397 because the sun rises in the east over the 147 00:05:44,397 --> 00:05:47,249 garden and then it's falling behind the 148 00:05:47,249 --> 00:05:49,265 house in the afternoon. 149 00:05:49,265 --> 00:05:52,233 Now, ingredient number 5 is also something 150 00:05:52,233 --> 00:05:54,617 that can be free. You probably have heard 151 00:05:54,617 --> 00:05:56,834 of it before. Water. 152 00:05:56,834 --> 00:05:59,187 Water, of course, is an absolutely 153 00:05:59,187 --> 00:06:01,123 essential ingredient. 154 00:06:01,123 --> 00:06:03,070 I'm going to show you the two systems I 155 00:06:03,070 --> 00:06:06,757 have, which are rain water harvesting and drip irrigation. 156 00:06:06,757 --> 00:06:10,258 I would absolutely recommend rainwater harvesting. 157 00:06:10,258 --> 00:06:11,891 It's extremely simple. 158 00:06:11,891 --> 00:06:14,210 You simply need to collect the water off 159 00:06:14,210 --> 00:06:16,543 of the roof, down a downspout, like it 160 00:06:16,543 --> 00:06:18,788 normally would, and instead of sending it 161 00:06:18,788 --> 00:06:20,862 off into the street, have it collect into 162 00:06:20,862 --> 00:06:23,879 buckets, barrels, whatever that may be. 163 00:06:23,879 --> 00:06:26,346 It's extremely simple and you and you can 164 00:06:26,346 --> 00:06:28,947 rainwater harvest in every climate, even 165 00:06:28,947 --> 00:06:31,306 in the desert you can rainwater harvest. 166 00:06:31,306 --> 00:06:33,300 In fact, that's one of the most important 167 00:06:33,300 --> 00:06:35,255 places to do it. 168 00:06:35,255 --> 00:06:37,101 Now, drip irrigation can actually be 169 00:06:37,101 --> 00:06:39,602 connected to rainwater harvesting units, 170 00:06:39,602 --> 00:06:41,570 but it's a little more complicated. 171 00:06:41,570 --> 00:06:43,869 Generally, you just have it connected to 172 00:06:43,869 --> 00:06:46,655 your hose, your spigot. This is pressured 173 00:06:46,655 --> 00:06:48,940 water, whether it's from the city or well, 174 00:06:48,940 --> 00:06:50,645 or something of that sort. 175 00:06:50,645 --> 00:06:52,726 And drip irrigation, what's great about it 176 00:06:52,726 --> 00:06:55,474 is it's super efficient both in water 177 00:06:55,474 --> 00:06:57,926 usage, it uses a lot less water, but it 178 00:06:57,926 --> 00:07:00,910 also save a lot of time. 179 00:07:00,910 --> 00:07:02,862 And how it works is you can either have 180 00:07:02,862 --> 00:07:04,895 it set up without a timer, where you have 181 00:07:04,895 --> 00:07:06,930 to come out and just turn it on or off. 182 00:07:06,930 --> 00:07:09,414 Or if you have a timer, you can set the 183 00:07:09,414 --> 00:07:11,962 days and the times that it waters and the 184 00:07:11,962 --> 00:07:13,919 great thing about it is you can even go 185 00:07:13,919 --> 00:07:16,300 out of town and your garden is still being watered. 186 00:07:16,300 --> 00:07:18,212 So, water comes out through this black 187 00:07:18,212 --> 00:07:20,269 pipe and over to the drip irrigation line 188 00:07:20,269 --> 00:07:22,184 so I'm going to take you back out to the 189 00:07:22,184 --> 00:07:25,571 garden to see where the water actually comes out. 190 00:07:25,571 --> 00:07:27,971 So, here are the drip lines. And on this 191 00:07:27,971 --> 00:07:29,992 one, about every 6 inches, there's a 192 00:07:29,992 --> 00:07:32,093 little hole and the water, literally, just 193 00:07:32,093 --> 00:07:34,372 drips right out. And by doing that, it's 194 00:07:34,372 --> 00:07:37,158 actually targeted where you want it, not 195 00:07:37,158 --> 00:07:39,526 spreading water across the whole area. 196 00:07:39,526 --> 00:07:43,677 Some of the big keys to watering well, are 197 00:07:43,677 --> 00:07:46,979 watering in the morning. Ideally, before 198 00:07:46,979 --> 00:07:49,263 it's even light out, rather than the water 199 00:07:49,263 --> 00:07:51,564 evaporating in the heat of the day. 200 00:07:51,564 --> 00:07:54,616 And then watering directly rather than 201 00:07:54,616 --> 00:07:56,999 overhead. Overhead is the most wasteful 202 00:07:56,999 --> 00:07:59,150 way, where you water lawns with sprinklers. 203 00:07:59,150 --> 00:08:01,934 That's the most wasteful way to use water. 204 00:08:01,934 --> 00:08:03,918 Now, when you are establishing a garden 205 00:08:03,918 --> 00:08:06,220 like this, it's generally to say the first 206 00:08:06,220 --> 00:08:09,271 30 days to 45 days, that's when you need 207 00:08:09,271 --> 00:08:11,940 to water the most as you're establishing the plants. 208 00:08:11,940 --> 00:08:14,940 But if you set things up well, then you 209 00:08:14,940 --> 00:08:17,807 can do this with very little irrigation or 210 00:08:17,807 --> 00:08:21,209 even no irrigation, and that really comes 211 00:08:21,209 --> 00:08:23,193 down to what you're planting. 212 00:08:23,193 --> 00:08:27,260 And that is ingredient number 6. Plants. 213 00:08:27,260 --> 00:08:29,152 There is an incredible amount that I 214 00:08:29,152 --> 00:08:31,202 could go into here, but I'm going to keep 215 00:08:31,202 --> 00:08:33,464 it just to the basics of how to turn your 216 00:08:33,464 --> 00:08:35,431 yard into a garden. 217 00:08:35,431 --> 00:08:37,500 So, first of all, how to plant. 218 00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:40,281 With this method, the way that you plant 219 00:08:40,281 --> 00:08:42,617 the perennials, is you simply would pull 220 00:08:42,617 --> 00:08:44,434 back that mulch that you laid down. 221 00:08:44,434 --> 00:08:47,286 Then you're going to amend that soil that 222 00:08:47,286 --> 00:08:49,419 have there with compost and you're going 223 00:08:49,419 --> 00:08:52,121 to plant into that and keep the mulch 224 00:08:52,121 --> 00:08:54,773 away from that plant. 225 00:08:54,773 --> 00:08:56,940 Now, if you're doing annuals, you're 226 00:08:56,940 --> 00:08:58,874 generally going to have much more 227 00:08:58,874 --> 00:09:01,509 compost that you're planting into. 228 00:09:01,509 --> 00:09:04,126 But what I really recommend is perennials. 229 00:09:04,126 --> 00:09:06,210 Here is one book that I really recommend, 230 00:09:06,210 --> 00:09:08,460 Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier. 231 00:09:08,460 --> 00:09:10,494 I really recommend getting books that are 232 00:09:10,494 --> 00:09:12,428 designed for your area. 233 00:09:12,428 --> 00:09:15,166 Now, some key tips. One is to plant 234 00:09:15,166 --> 00:09:17,332 densely and then you can thin out later. 235 00:09:17,332 --> 00:09:20,716 And that's going to do a similar thing to 236 00:09:20,716 --> 00:09:23,383 the mulch, which is prevent weeds. 237 00:09:23,383 --> 00:09:25,699 Now, what about when you do have weeds? 238 00:09:25,699 --> 00:09:27,696 What do you actually do with those weeds? 239 00:09:27,696 --> 00:09:29,751 Do you ship them off to the city to go to 240 00:09:29,751 --> 00:09:31,720 the landfill? No, I'm going to take you 241 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,355 over to my banana circle...my banana spot 242 00:09:34,355 --> 00:09:36,401 and show you what I do with my weeds to 243 00:09:36,401 --> 00:09:38,739 keep nutrients on site. 244 00:09:38,739 --> 00:09:41,455 What a lot of people do with their weeds 245 00:09:41,455 --> 00:09:43,941 is they bag them up and they throw them 246 00:09:43,941 --> 00:09:46,776 away. But what I do with all of them, is 247 00:09:46,776 --> 00:09:49,750 I make a pile, right here, I do it with bananas. 248 00:09:49,750 --> 00:09:51,708 In different climates you can do this in 249 00:09:51,708 --> 00:09:53,828 different manners, but I do it with the 250 00:09:53,828 --> 00:09:56,846 bananas and everything from the garden 251 00:09:56,846 --> 00:09:59,514 gets piled up, here. And that way all 252 00:09:59,514 --> 00:10:02,115 those nutrients stay in the garden, rather 253 00:10:02,115 --> 00:10:03,946 than getting rid of them. 254 00:10:03,946 --> 00:10:06,000 And what we are doing, here, by building 255 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,083 up this soil and keeping the organic 256 00:10:08,083 --> 00:10:10,550 matter on site, is that we're actually 257 00:10:10,550 --> 00:10:12,589 sequestering carbon. We're taking it out 258 00:10:12,589 --> 00:10:18,838 of the air and we're locking it into the ground. 259 00:10:18,838 --> 00:10:21,504 So, why turn our front yards into gardens? 260 00:10:21,504 --> 00:10:24,741 Well, you would, maybe, be amazed to learn 261 00:10:24,741 --> 00:10:27,175 that lawns are actually the most 262 00:10:27,175 --> 00:10:30,046 irrigated crop in the United States. 263 00:10:30,046 --> 00:10:33,076 They use an incredible amount of water. 264 00:10:33,076 --> 00:10:37,011 7 billion gallons of water per day! 265 00:10:37,011 --> 00:10:39,595 They use incredible amounts of fertilizers 266 00:10:39,595 --> 00:10:42,298 much of which run off into our waterway 267 00:10:42,298 --> 00:10:45,116 systems and cause huge problems. 268 00:10:45,116 --> 00:10:48,200 And huge amounts of pesticides that end up 269 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:49,985 in our drinking water. 270 00:10:49,985 --> 00:10:52,752 So, lawns, as beautiful as they may be to 271 00:10:52,752 --> 00:10:55,252 many of us, actually cause a huge 272 00:10:55,252 --> 00:10:57,886 amount of destruction. And instead, we 273 00:10:57,886 --> 00:11:00,839 can be using that space to produce food. 274 00:11:00,839 --> 00:11:03,747 Now, during the World War I and 275 00:11:03,747 --> 00:11:06,457 World War II era, of the victory garden 276 00:11:06,457 --> 00:11:08,541 movement when the United States government 277 00:11:08,541 --> 00:11:11,009 was, actually, promoting people to grow 278 00:11:11,009 --> 00:11:13,810 food, close to half of all of our fresh 279 00:11:13,810 --> 00:11:16,077 fruits and vegetables were grown right in 280 00:11:16,077 --> 00:11:18,812 our own yards rather than being shipped 281 00:11:18,812 --> 00:11:20,226 all over the world. 282 00:11:20,226 --> 00:11:22,146 So, we've seen what could be done in the 283 00:11:22,146 --> 00:11:25,314 past. We know that this can continue to 284 00:11:25,314 --> 00:11:27,749 be done, which would reduce our dependence 285 00:11:27,749 --> 00:11:30,401 on Big Ag, on a system that is causing so 286 00:11:30,401 --> 00:11:33,149 much destruction to people, to the planet, 287 00:11:33,149 --> 00:11:35,253 and to other species. And, at the same 288 00:11:35,253 --> 00:11:37,251 time, we can improve our communities, 289 00:11:37,251 --> 00:11:39,904 have healthy, delicious meals with our 290 00:11:39,904 --> 00:11:42,588 family, with our friends, and do it right 291 00:11:42,588 --> 00:11:45,672 at home and right in our communities. 292 00:11:45,672 --> 00:11:52,126 (Music) 293 00:11:52,126 --> 00:11:55,043 So, that is how and why to turn your yard 294 00:11:55,043 --> 00:11:57,511 into a garden. I want to thank the Live 295 00:11:57,511 --> 00:11:59,510 Like Ally Foundation for supporting this 296 00:11:59,510 --> 00:12:01,861 video and helping me spread this message 297 00:12:01,861 --> 00:12:04,496 to you, and help you turn your yards into gardens. 298 00:12:04,496 --> 00:12:07,129 And if you gained a lot from this, if you 299 00:12:07,129 --> 00:12:09,447 gained education, if you're inspired, 300 00:12:09,447 --> 00:12:11,722 then subscribe to this channel, if you 301 00:12:11,722 --> 00:12:13,699 haven't yet. There will be much more to 302 00:12:13,699 --> 00:12:16,268 come. Hit the like button to spread this. 303 00:12:16,268 --> 00:12:20,069 Comment, ask questions, and turn your yard 304 00:12:20,069 --> 00:12:24,268 into a garden!