Good day everybody! Today is the third day
of my YouTube lives, and the purpose of
being here is just to help you through
this time, and not just make it through
this time, but actually come out of this
time better off than when we went into it.
My hope is to be here of service, to help
you think critically, think rationally,
think differently about the world, and my
hope is to really reconnect you with the
basics of life, and try to live in a way
that is more fulfilling, full of happiness,
health, and living in a way that is more
environmentally friendly and less
environmentally destructive, and today we
are talking about gardening!
A lot of you probably saw my project
where I spent a year growing and foraging
100% of my food. No grocery stores, no
restaurants, nothing packaged or
processed, nothing shipped long-distance,
literally everything that I ate for an
entire year came from my gardens, and the
idea of that was not to get any of you to
grow and forage 100% of your food.
The idea was to get you to rethink your
food, question your food, and grow a
little bit of your own food, even if it is
just some tomatoes on your balcony, or
some herbs on your windowsill, or joining
a community garden, or going and
volunteering at a farm, my goal through
this project and through all of these
projects is to reconnect you with your
food. But you have to start where you are!
Today we are going to go through some
basics, and give tips on helping you to
get started, so this is really geared
towards beginner gardening. However, some
of the things that we are going to discuss
today are going to be useful for people
who have already been gardening for some
time as well, and I am going to go through
maybe 15 or 20 minutes of some suggestions
and some tips, and then I am going to take
questions, and I might take some questions
throughout as well, but mostly I will take
the questions towards the end. So I am
going to go ahead and get started. First,
one of my number one suggestions to
beginner gardeners is "start small".
Now, some of you
(drinking)
are going to want to start really big, you
want to change life drastically, you want
to want to be done with the grocery
stores, you want to grow all of your own
food, that is great! And if you feel
confident that you can do that, go for it!
But, if you are worried, if you feel like
you have a black thumb, and everything
dies, and you just feel overwhelmed,
maybe lost, one of my number
one tips is to start small. It takes time
to learn, and in some ways gardening is
easy, but in some ways it is also very
challenging, especially compared to just
going to the grocery store and buying all
of your food. So what I really recommend
is starting small. Don't feel like you
are not being successful if you just have
some pots on your balcony, or you have a
small raised bed that is just 3 feet by
4 feet in your front or backyard. Start
small, and then as you have success, then
you can expand, and each season or each
year, you can grow and you can grow more
and more and more. So start small, and
along the lines off starting small I
recommend making a plan.
With most things in life, if you make
somewhat of a plan, you are more likely
to be successful with it. If you know what
you are doing going into it. So before
jumping into it, have a plan, make a plan!
The next thing to go along with starting
small is to keep a journal. A lot of
things in gardening, if you know when you
planted something, or when you
transplanted it, it is going to help you
be a lot more organized and a lot more
successful in gardening. Just, in your
garden journal, just keeping track of the
basic things, like when you planted
something, when you transplanted it, you
can keep track of weather, and this is
also a beautiful way to connect as well,
to be able to go back and look at things,
and in future years, this can help you as
well. So, making a plan and keeping a
garden journal are just some basics to go
along with starting small. Now, one of my
big things is, it is really about seeking
local resources. A lot of people, when
they first start to garden, their thought
is to go to the big box store, like
Home Depot or Walmart, and buy their seeds
or buy their plants, but that is not my
suggestion. My suggestion is to seek out
local resources if you can. You might think
that your Walmart or your Home Depot is
local, because it is in your city, but it
is not local, because those materials are
being shipped in from elsewhere and it is
not really focused on your particular
region. In permaculture, one of the basic
ideas is to work with the earth rather
than against it, and working with the
earth means working within the region
around you, not the entire earth.
Once you start working with plants, you
have to work with the plants that are
growing in your area. So, seeking out
local resources. One big one is joining a
community garden. If you especially are
really just getting started and you are
not feeling confident, joining a community
garden is one of the most beautiful things
and most helpful things you can do,
because you will be surrounded by
community. Most community gardens have
veteran gardeners there that you can
learn from, that can share resources,
you can see what is growing well in other
people's plots and you can just feel
supported. So join a community garden.
Along with that, find other gardeners. You
don't have to feel lost. Everywhere you go
around the United States, around the
world, there are people growing food.
You might not know if because you have not
been paying attention, but once you start
to open your eyes you see that there is
people growing food all over. So one way
to do this is, ride a bicycle, walk, drive
around your community and find gardens,
and don't be afraid to just knock on that
front door and say, "Hey, I see you are
growing vegetables and fruits, and I so
badly want to learn, could I volunteer
with you in your garden and help with
weeding, in exchange for you taking me
under your wing a little bit, and teaching me?"
This is a great way to get involved and
learn from someone who is local and has
local knowledge. Another way to do this
is to go to a local nursery. Most local
nurseries are run by people who love
plants, have been gardening for, a lot of
the times, decades! So local nurseries can
be a really great resource.
And then, finding local classes.
University extension programs can be a
really great introduction to beginner
gardening, so find out if your local
university has an extension program. This
exists in all 50 states across the
United States, that is what I am
particularly referring to with this, but
there are many ways to find classes. Check
to see if there are classes in your area
that focus on local.
Another great thing to do is volunteer in
local farms. So many small farms need help
and are also passionate about teaching as
well. See if there is any farms in your
area that you can go to, you can
volunteer, you can learn how to grow food
organically at these organic farms, and
you can get involved in the community.
A great way to do that is through
WWOOFING, worldwide opportunities on
organic farms at WWOOF.net, and you could
do this in your area, or you can go all
over the world! How it works is, in
exchange for you working on the farm,
generally it is about 5 days a week for
5 hours, so 25 hours a week and you get
your lodging covered, and you get your
food covered, and you get to learn how to
grow food, so this could be a really
great experience if you have the time and
the energy and the flexibility to be able
to go do that.
And then also, local books. When I lived
in Florida, when I started gardening in
Florida to do my year of growing and
growing an foraging all my food, I was
pretty clueless, I had grown very
little food before, I didn't know how
much water a carrot needed, how much sun
I needed in my garden, I didn't know any
of these things, so I was feeling pretty
lost, and what I did is I went to the
internet and I was just searching every
question I had. How much water per carrot,
how far apart do you plant carrots, how
much sun does my garden need. I was
looking up all these individual questions,
and after a few weeks, I found a book that
was written by someone who lived in
Florida, I think it was called Fruit and
Vegetable Gardening in Central Florida,
it is by Robert Bowden. He was a 25 year
veteran of growing food, and it had all of
the information that I needed,
not just for growing food, but for growing
food in my region! So seek out books that
are written for your region, and if you
can't find one written for your particular
area, find books that are written for the
greater region. For example, if you are
in New Hampshire, maybe you can't find one
for New Hampshire, but there is definitely
books that are focused on the north east.
These books can be your absolute best
friend in the garden, because when it
comes to beginner gardening, these books
can answer most of your questions. Today
I will not be able to go over 99% of what
you want to know, but these books can have
all of that, right there, in one place.
So, seeking out books. And the library is
a great place to check, check your library
whether it is at the public library,
school libraries, see if there are books
there that you can check out.
I want to talk a little bit about where
to place your garden. Where do you put it?
If you have very minimal space, don't let
that deter you. If you just have a
balcony, you can put pots on there, you
can use 5-gallon buckets, any container
that can hold soil can be used to grow
food on your balconies, and I have seen
some very impressive balconies producing
tomatoes, and peppers, and all sorts of
herbs and greens and eggplants. You can
grow a lot on a balcony. You can grow on
your windowsill if you have neither of
those, or you have a roof that is flat,
you can grow a lot of food on your roof,
for example in apartment complexes.
But some basic tips on where to place your
garden. First of all, where it is easily
accessible. Where you are easily able to
get through. If your garden is ten miles
away and there is all these obstacles to
get to it, it is unlikely you will get to it
and it will not get the care it needs.
If it is located in a place that is really
obscure on your property, far away,
if you have a larger property, probably
you are not going to get to it. The key is
to put it in the most easily accessible
place, ideally where you walk past it, so
that even when you are not thinking about
it, you see it, and you know that you
should get in it. So, an easily accessible
place. Also, where there is easy water.
Whatever gardening you are doing, there
needs to be water, so having easy access
to water. And then, especially for
beginners, full sun. Again, when I started
I did not know the basics of how much sun
and things like that, but generally you
want to have full sun, and in colder
climates, like the northeast or the
Great Lakes region, most of these areas,
you want full sun as 6 to 8 hours of sun
per day on your garden location.
In Orlando, Florida, where I lived,
where it was really hot, we could do with
less than that, we would do with maybe
5 hours of sun per day. So you do want
full sun especially with beginner
gardening. The more experience you get,
there are plants you can work with that
don't need full sun but for beginner
gardening I would recommend full sun.
Let's see, one of my biggest tips is to
start with the foods that grow really
easily. What I don't recommend doing
is walking down the grocery store aisle
and say, "oh I love pasta so I am going to
grow wheat, and I love strawberries,
and I love blueberries and I love
mangoes". Don't think about what it is
that you love the most. Instead, figure
out what grows so easily in your area that
even somebody with a "black thumb" would
be successful. Talk to those local
gardeners and ask them, "what is the most
successful crop, what grows well every
year, what produces so much that you can
never eat all of it?". For example, I see
this with zucchini. It is so common, these
giant zucchinis, and I remember when I was
in port towns in Washington, there were
jokes about how people would have to leave
zucchinis on other people's doors to try
to get rid of them, but nobody wanted them
because they all had so much!
Some beginner plants to start with:
radishes are one of the easiest ones, and
they also produce the fastest. A lot of
radishes produce in just 30 days, so it
really can be beneficial to have some of
these faster producing ones to give you
that boosted energy and that feeling of
success. Greens can be very easy. Kale
and collards and lettuces... greens can be
a really easy place to start and they are
very nutrient-dense, so I highly recommend
starting with greens. Peppers are also an
often considered beginner plant to grow.
I have had easier time with hot peppers
than bell peppers, but peppers can be a
really easy one. And then, herbs.
An easy way to start is actually buying
herbs in the small pots at the store and
then planting those and letting them grow
much larger. Some herbs can be hard to
start from seed, but some are very easy to
start from seed. Cilantro, for example, is
an easy one to start from seed, but herbs
can be very easy to grow, you can use
them at every single meal, they can add
a lot of value to your life. So my
best suggestions for starting are greens,
herbs, peppers and then tomatoes. But
there is always differences depending on
where you are. As I read earlier, the
people watching this right now, you are
all tuning in from all over the world,
and all across the United States, so it
is going to be different in different
areas. In Florida, where I grew, for
example, large tomatoes did not grow well
because it was so hot and so humid that
they were more likely to get blight or
pests, so we had to grow really small
tomatoes, and the variety that I grew in
central Florida is called everglade
tomatoes, and they did extremely well.
The next tip is to plant at the right
time. What you can do is you can find a
regional planting schedule, and you might
have the questions like... Oh and I just
want to say, the other really ones is
radishes, and I grew daikon radishes,
which get really big. Zucchinis can be
really easy as well. These are just a
handful of the easier plants. So the big
one is to plant at the right time. If you
plant kale in the middle of the winter,
you are going to get a hard time with it.
In Florida, if you plant kale in July,
when it is so hot, you are going to have
problems with it, so the key is to plant
things at the right time, and the simplest
way to do this is to find a regional
planting schedule, and if you find one of
these local books, they actually have a
schedule that will tell you. For example,
in Wisconsin you will probably want to
plant your tomatoes in... you might put
them into seeds in April, get them into
the ground in late May or June, if I had
to guess, I have not planted there.
But, you don't have to figure this out,
because these calendars do that for you,
and they will basically give you a range
of time of when you can plant them, so
these regional planting schedules are
absolutely key, and there is one at the
national gardening association. Everything
that we are going through right now is on
my guide at
robgreenfield.org/freeseedprojectguide
and most of these things will be on there,
as well as links to resources. That
information is there so if you miss
something don't worry about it, there is
a good chance that it is in that guide.
The next thing is the question of
"How far apart do you plant things, how
deep do you plant things, do you direct
plant the seed into the ground or should
you put them in pots first?" And again,
the best way to decide that is through
these regional planting, finding
this local information. For example, kale
is on average, depending on how you are
growing it, about 6 to 8 inches, to 12
inches apart, but you can follow the
guidelines on seeds. On the seed pack
it has these informations, and in these
books , it has this information. There is
hundreds of different plants, and also,
on my guide, I give the basic idea.
There are basic ideas of how far you plant
things apart. As far as directly planting
in the ground, or planting in pots and
then bringing them out, the answer is
both. It depends on the scenario.
If you are in the colder climates, if you
want to get the earliest start possible,
planting inside can give you a 6-week
headstart, by getting your plants to be
large and putting them in the ground
already 6 weeks ahead of schedule.
I want to talk a little bit about pests
now, and I have a big disclaimer here, and
that is that pest is a human-made concept.
(drinks water)
Nothing by nature is a pest. That is just
a word that we decided to give different
species and different creatures. So much
about gardening can be about rethinking
the way that we think about basic things.
Some of my absolute keys to reducing
"pests" and having a healthy garden.
Number 1, diversity. You have probably
heard the term monocrop. Monocrop is when
you plant just one species, for example,
corn. When you drive past acres of corn or
soybeans, that is a monocrop. Monocrops
are very susceptible to pests. Just
imagine, you have one plant here, one
plant here, one plant here, one plant
here, the bugs can do the same thing.
The pests can just walk from one to the
next, to the next, to the next. Now
imagine with diversity. If you have a
hundred different species, in your garden,
those different insects want different
plants, so they can't go out of control
if they don't have that one specific
plant, so the more diversity you have,
the less likely you are to have these
plagues of insects. The plague of insects
is the reason we have GMO foods, because
designed that way, no crops, well, some
will, but most food crops, especially
annual crops will not work if you have
them as monocrop. Having as many species
as possible in your garden is one of the
keys to success, and along those same
lines, imagine if you have one tomato on
the north side of your garden and one
tomato plant on the south side, and one
on the east, and one on the west, what
happens is that you would be amazed at
you might get the tomato hornworm on one
plant, but it does not make it to the
other ones, whereas if there is one next
to each other, they will just walk from
one to the other, so diversity also allows
you to spread the different plants out,
so intercropping is a big part of that.
Planting different species next to each
other, that can work together and create
diversity. Another really great thing is
beneficial insect attractive mix. At
Johnny's seeds I buy something called
the beneficial insect attractive mix. This
is a mixture of about different flowers
that bring in beneficial insects, and what
a beneficial insect is, is these are
insects that eat the other insects that
you don't want or compete with them to
keep them out. For example, aphids are
a problem for a lot of people. Ladybugs
actually eat aphids, so ladybugs are a
beneficial insect. A lot of caterpillars
that eat your plants, one thing you can do
is, you can bring in wasps that eat those
caterpillars, or parasitic wasps that lay
their eggs in those caterpillars so that
when they hatch they eat these
caterpillars. So wasps are actually really
beneficial to have in the garden.
Ladybugs, honeybees, all bees. All of
these are beneficial to have in the
garden, there are many different creatures
that are beneficial to have in the garden.
So, planting beneficial insects attracting
mix, and also creating evironments to
bring them in. Along those lines, frogs,
snakes, lizards, these reptiles or/and
amphibians are really beneficial as well.
If you don't want rats in your garden,
then snakes are great, because they can
eat the rats and the mice, so these are
great to have in the garden. A lot of
people are afraid of snakes and frogs and
toads, but those are your friends as a
gardener. The next thing is healthy soil.
You have to have healthy soil. If you only
focus on the plants, the plants are less
likely to be healthy. The key is focusing
on the soil. Healthy soil creates healthy
plants. I am not going to go into the
depths of healthy soil today, but it is
just something really important to keep
in mind. Another big thing, and this is
one of the biggest things in all, is
perspective, keeping in mind that insects
deserve to live as well, and I am not
saying that I don't kill insects. I do,
and I actually don't have any problem
killing caterpillars on my tomatoes for
example, in order to make sure that I have
food. I believe this is one of the
standard parts of the circle of life,
and if we are not doing it, the reality
is someone else is doing it for us and we
are just not seeing it, but perspective,
just realising that the insects, or the
other species, deserve some of the food
as well, and it is okay for them to eat
some. If you plant abundantly, then you
don't have to worry so much. I remember
my first time planting, when I had very
little growing, it was so much bigger of
a deal to me, when some of my food was
getting eaten. But by growing abundantly,
you have enough, and you don't have to
worry about that. Another thing to keep in
mind, aphids for example. A lot of times
aphids are not that damaging to the plant,
but people just don't like the aphids on
there. Aphids are basically another
healthy, well, healthy... you have got
to listen for another second here, healthy
extension to the plant, and what I mean is
healthy to you. Aphids suck the juices out
of the plants, and then those aphids are
just as edible and healthy as the plants
themselves, so don't worry about eating
some aphids at all, they are plenty
healthy. I eat aphids almost every single
day. I ate aphids today because I am
harvesting stinging nettle in the wild,
and there are aphids on there.
Another tip for dealing with pests that
you don't want in the garden, and this is
especially if you are trying to keep
things organic, and that is really
connecting with your garden and being
out there every single day. If you go
through your garden and walk through every
single day, you will see when problems
start to arise, and you can deal with them
early on. Imagine, if there are 10.000
caterpillars, you are not going to be able
to deal with that, but if you start to see
when there is only a handfull on there,
often you will be able to pick these
caterpillars off before they start to
exponentially grow and multiply, using
your hands. And the beautiful thing is,
this is just a great way to
get down in the garden, get down on your
hands and knees, or your belly, and
really connect with that. So that is
another tip with pests. And again,
healthy plants. The healthier your plants,
often when there are pests it is not a
matter of treating the plant, it is a
matter of figuring out what the problem
was in the first place. Why are there
pests on these plants? And often there is
something to do with them not being
healthy. For example, are they getting
enough sun? Think of how we have an
immune system. If our immune system is
down, we are more likely for a bacteria or
a pathogen or a virus to be able to take
over enough, to make us sick. But if our
immune system is great, we are able to
resist that and fend off, and the same
goes with plants. They don't have immune
systems but if they are weak, the pests
are able to take over. If they are strong
and vigorous, they are more likely
to continue and fend that off. So healthy
plants, and that again comes down to
planting at the right time and planting
hardy plants, planting plants that are
are designed for your area. Another one,
and this is where I am going to end, and
then we are going to go on to some
questions, and that is focusing on
perennials. Perennials are so much easier
to grow than annuals. Imagine a plant that
you plant once, and it is there for you
year, after year, after year. In colder
climates rhubarb is a perfect example.
this can live for 25 years! You plant it,
and every year it will come back. The
snow and the ice go away, your faithful
rhubarb comes back. Strawberries,
raspberries, blackberries, blueberries,
these are all perennials. Fruit trees like
apples and pears and plums, or down south
mangoes and seagrapes and white sapote,
black sapote and mamey sapote. Fruit trees
are all perennials. Most of fruit bushes
are perennials, but there aree is also a
lot of perennial greens. If you watch my
video I released this week on foraging,
most of these are perennial greens. You
can grow perennial greens and you can grow
self-seeding annual greens that just keep
coming back year, after year and this
drastically reduces your work.
The thing about perennials is that they
are generally more resilient to pests, and
often they need less nutrients, they
don't need the tilling of the soil, so I
really recommend perennials, and one
video that is very helpful that I released
recently is "How to turn your yard into
a garden and it is right here on my
youtube channel, and you can watch that.
If you go to
robgreenfield.org/freeseedprojectguide
that has a lot of these resources. Also,
if you go to robgreenfield.org/grow,
that guide is specifically for central
Florida, where I did my year of growing
and foraging all of my food, but also has
a lot of great information and resources.
I did not go through a lot of the basics
because there is so much that we could
go through, but there are amazing channels
for that. I really like Epic Gardening
Kevin, and Niki Jabbour. She is actually
in the colder climates. She is a great
resource. Kevin is in San Diego, California
but he is a great resource for across the
country. There is hundreds of amazing
gardening channels on youtube, on social
media, websites, books, so find great
resources because this has the information
and you can have it right there at hand.
Those are some of my tips for beginner
gardeners to really help you get started.
Again, remember that starting small is
great. You don't have to feel bad about
starting small, or growing just a little
bit of food. A little bit is a lot more
meaningful than none. Remember, this is
about community, it does not have to be
alone. Connecting with other people,
volunteering at farms, volunteering with
other local gardeners. One of the best
ways to make friends with a gardener is to
pull their weeds, because almost all
gardeners need help pulling their weeds.
Do this with community, seek out local
resources and enjoy this!
Gardening is work, but if you love it, if
you are passionate about it, if it is
making you healthier, it is getting you
outside, it is connecting you to your
community, sure it is work, but it is also
life. It is living the life that you want.
So I am going to take a handful of
questions, and you can ask questions that
are more exact, and I will see if I have
an answer to them, or more general.
I will say that I have grown quite a bit
of food now, but there is so much that I
have not done, so there are a lot of
questions that I will not be able to
answer with exact things. My experience
is limited to the few places where I
have grown food, but ask questions away
and I am going to answer some of them.
Okay, let's see.
Melissa says, "Are seeds that are about to
expire still okay?" Yes. Absolutely
A lot of seed packs will
have an expiration date on them. There is
nothing that says that the seeds are bad
after that, it is just that some of the
seeds will not sprout, they are not viable
anymore. But generally when you buy seed
packs, the idea is they want to have a
viability rate of, say, 90%. But each year
all that happens is that some of the seeds
become not viable anymore. One second,
there is a dog that wants to come outside
and I want to make sure it does not so it
does not make noise.
[birds chirping]
Okay, so yes you can absolutely use those
seed packs, and what happens is, if the
viability rate is down 50%, it just means
that you need to plant about twice as many
seeds. Or, you can check the viability by
putting them in a wet paper towel and
letting them sprout, and seeing what
percentage of them sprout or just planting
them and see what percentage of them come
out. So absolutely, you can use those
older seeds, a lot of times they will
still be good 3, 4 years past those dates.
Let's see.
One thing I want to say when I am looking
through these questions is, don't feel bad
if some things die. If you have not killed
anything, you have not grown anything.
It is part of life. Don't worry about some
failure, don't worry about things dying,
but also, realize that even if you do the
right thing, plants are going to die, that
is how it works, so don't be overly
worried and overwhelmed all the time with
plants dying, it is just a part of
gardening. Plants are going to die in
order to have plants that are living.
Okay.
"What herbs are good to grow at gome, I
don't have a balcony or a garden".
Well, an important thing I have to point
out is, all the plants need light. These
plants photosynthesize so they need to
have sun. If you don't have sun you need
to have artificial lighting. I don't have
any experience with artificial lighting,
I know some people do that, but I only
have grown food with sun, so if you are
going to grow herbs at home, they need to
have sun. What herbs are easy to grow?
Some herbs that are very easy to grow
would be rosemary, cilantro, thyme, dill,
basil, those are just a few that come to
mind, but there is way more than that.
Also, you get past these popular herbs
and there is actually thousands of
different herbs out there. Jaypee lip
says, "What are your thoughts on growing
in the southwest?", my thoughts are find
local resources for the southwest. I don't
have experience for the southwest. I did
grow a little bit of food in San Diego, if
you want to call that the southwest, I am
thinking more like Arizona, New Mexico,
things like that, but my thoughts for the
southwest are that plenty of people grow
a lot of food, seek out local resources
and you will find out how to do it in your
area. Bruno asks "Can you speak a little
bit of French?"
No, not really, my French has been majorly
unused. But, I am going to do a French
live video with Christophe, who I am
staying with, and he is going to
translate, so we are going to do that.
Noah says "Rob, how did you get this
natural background from a green screen?"
This is not a green screen, this is the
real world. Okay, Anna Lopez says, "Do
you know of any online permaculture
classes you recommend taking?".
Geoff Lawton is an amazing online
permaculture class. If you go to
permaculture.org.uk, I believe it is
one of the best permaculture sources that
exists out there. That is focused on the
UK but it is really their permaculture
across the world, and if you go to
robgreenfield.org/coronatips, one of my
tips in there was to take a permaculture
design course, and that is in there. There
are so many permaculture designs
certificates though, and so many of them
are absolutely wonderful, but those are
just a few resources. I also really like
permaculturewomen.com
That is a great resource, it is a
wonderful group, a wonderful organisation
run by women and designed for women in
permaculture.
Okay.
So the question is "Is it okay to grow
hydroponically if you don't have land to
plant on?", Is it okay to plan grow
hydroponically? Of course! If you want
to grow hydroponically, go for it.
It is not my choice, I prefer land, and if
I don't own land, which I don't, then
finding land that I can grow on, talking
to a neighbor, finding an unused lot,
joining a community garden, figuring out
a way to grow on land. That is for me.
I don't have experience with growing with
hydroponics, so I can't give any
experience there, but there is plenty of
people who do grow with hydroponics,
it is not my choice.
Mike Jordan says "Did you ever have issues
with voles in Florida?", I did not have
issues with voles in Florida, so I don't
have experience there. Brandon says "Hi
Rob, I am starting a garden and I have 2
pallets and a cherry tomato plant I have
started composting, now what do I do?"
Now what you do is listen to this last
half hour of advice and go to that guide.
Now what do you do? You have got to start
a garden. I don't know if I can give a
good answer to that.
"Rob, do you have any good tips for
having a garden while there are pets that
might dig it up? I have a dog that I am
afraid would mess up my garden and
raised beds seem wasteful."
Yes, keep the pets out. Building a fence
around it, whatever you have to do
to keep them out. You have got to keep
them out if they are going to be digging
it up, and they can be a nuisance. I have
friends whose dogs run freely around the
garden. It depends on your garden.
I don't think raised beds are wasteful,
there are many ways to build raised beds
out of secondhand materials. You can find
fences, brick walls that are falling down,
a lot of urban environments have whole
brick buildings that are falling down,
you can make raised beds out of that. You
can find wood, you can take old logs and
just make raised beds out of that. There
is plenty of ways to build raised beds out
of secondhand materials.
Kathleen says, "How long after grass
killer is applied can I use the ground to
replant edible food to be safe? Killed my
pineapple chives, onions and radishes with
grass killer. The answer is that there is
no definitive answer to this, but you have
to also question the food that you are
buying at the grocery store or the
restaurant. Do you think that there has
been no pesticides used there whatsoever?
If it is USDA organic, it is about as
little of a guarantee as you can hope for.
You know who runs USDA, the current
administration does, and who ran it before
that? Other administrations. Not organic
gardeners. If you are worried about
something in your yard, I would think
deeper about the food that you are eating
as well. For me, personally, if there was
some chemical sprayed in my yard, and I
wanted to start my garden, I would start
my garden, absolutely. The chemicals in
there are gonna be probably minimal
compared to food that youare buying at
the store, and I just don't try to avoid
all chemicals, because the reality is
this. When I ride my bike down the street,
I am breathing toxic fumes from cars.
So many things that we are doing, we are
exposed to it. I don't worry about that
very deeply, and plants don't accumulate
tons of this. It is just a thought on
that.
Gaia says "Where can I find heirloom
tomato seeds? In Ecuador the tomatoes are
very unflavored."
I don't know how you can find them in
Ecuador, but local seed companies. If you
go to my Instagram page, just a few days
ago I did a post all about local seed
companies, and on my website at
robgreenfield.org/freeseedprojectguide
I list some local seed companies, so
find local seed companies. Go to the
internet, and type in "heirloom seeds in
Ecuador" on a web search. Search for
Facebook gruops, find local gardeners,
find community gardens. Seek out local
seed cmopanies, seek out local nurseries.
Find gardeners in your area that will be
able to share seeds with you.
Michael says, "Do you know of any less
popular plants that are worth trying out?"
It depends on where in the world you are,
the key is growing what grows in your
area. So absolutely yes, but it really
depends on where in the world one would
be.
Let's see, I am going to answer two more
questions, and then I have to get going.
Lauren says "Can anyone eat 100% out of a
garden, because of pasta, bread, we need
cereals so it is hard to do it by itself".
Well, you know what pasta and bread are
made of, they are made out of grains, and
many people grow their own grains. You can
also make pasta and bread out of
dehydrating tubers like potato and
yamm, and yuca and making that. All foods
are made from a food from the earth, so,
yes that is possible, absolutely. I did
live 100% for a year of food that I grew
and foraged so that shows that it is
possible. It was not just from the garden
but yes, absolutely possible.
Kay Malvin says, "I appreciate the content
and questions, is it possible to have a
home vertical garden or greenhouse in the
north and grow tropical fruits?"
I would highly, highly recommend against
that. It is just really difficult and the
odds of getting much are slim. You are
much better off growing blueberries and
blackberries and raspberries, and there
is papas, and pears, and plums, and
nectarines, and peaches, and apples,
cherries, there is so much to grow in the
northern climates that grows really
really well. I highly advise against
trying to grow things that are extremely
difficult, in areas, especially as this is
focused on beginner gardeners.
Peter says, "What is the most abundant food
in cold climates?", Hundreds!
Hundreds of different things. Everything
is abundant in cold climates except the
things that don't grow there, and the same
goes for tropical climates. The things
that are abundant in cold climates don't
grow there, so there is so much that grows
in cold climates. Any idea that any of you
have that food does not grow in cold
climates, get that out of your head. Get
it out of your head now! Food grows in
true abundance in cold climates, it just
has to grow during the growing season.
You don't grow it when there is 4 feet of
snow on the ground, you grow it during
the summer, and for people that live in
the colder climates, you have to grow it
during the summer, harvest it and
preserve it through the winter. So any
idea that food does not grow in cold
climates, I don't know how it is so deeply
so many people's minds, but it is wildly
incorrect. There are thousands of species
of foods growing in cold climates, and I
really do like to focus on the bigger
philosophy. There are lots of gardeners
out there that go through the details that
can help you with that. For me, my biggest
benefit that I can have to you is just
to rethink your food, get out of these
social constructs and these boxed ways
of thinking and just see that it is
possible. Connect with your local
resources, connect with your community,
use these basic tenets and ideas, and
start! Start growing some food. Starting
some is a lot better than doing nothing.
Some is going to die, remember that that
is okay, that is part of becoming a
gardener. When you become a gardener, you
become a part of death and a part of life
and that is the way that it is.
I love you all very much, I really enjoyed
this time here with you, and I hope that
this was meaningful to you, I am going to
do five deep breaths to end this, and you
are welcome to join me, or watch, or just
get right into that garden, or do your
five deep breaths in the garden, or the
woods if you can.
[Breathing deeply]
Alright, I love you all!