Rob Greenfield Live: Gardening for Beginners - Grow Your Own Food

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!