3 Years of (Relative) Simplicity

[@DustySplinters]

Is there any problem with excess rodent activity with sheet composting ? I wonder the same thing when I toss food scraps out to the chickens, but at least the chickens will attack them if they see rodents, insects or snakes. Thanks for you hard work!

[@REDGardens]

Rats do get in under the fabric and burrow into the compost. I should have mentioned that in the video, as it is one of the main downsides that I have come across to sheet composting. But I also have rats in my other compost systems. I don't have a problem with rats being around this garden, but I realise thet some people would stay away form this method because of the possibility of rats.

[@ranchoraccolto]

@@REDGardens i could recognize the rat tunel once while you lift the sheet... i have had those while doing. Sheet mulch.

[@X35O]

@@ranchoraccolto Markus Burkhard has a Video where he is using buried buckets under the sheet to catch mice, which seems to work well. To catch rats it would have to be very deep buckets ...

[@ranchoraccolto]

@@X35O have tried but rats are way too smart for these traps, if one falls none other will. Experience talking, but have learned some from @mousetrapmonday

[@X35O]

@@ranchoraccolto I watched moustrapmonday but have never managed to catch a rat. Without the neighbours cats i'd only harvest stones... :)

[@j.reneewhite915]

Good morning and Happy Monday. This is a shout out from Aurora, Oregon, USA in zone 8b. The education you provide has challenged me to completely new levels of thinking about gardening. My goal has been to recycle as much as possible and to develop a sustainable ecosystem without excess work. Thank you so much for going to such extreme effort to educate us so we can understand, incorporate and be successful. You are making a difference my friend! Because you document it your work will be useful for hundreds of years beyond your life time. Woo Hoo

[@philandhannahslittlefarm1464]

This is exactly what we are planning for our homestead! A simple garden for all the potatos carrots garlic etc and a kitchen garden closer to the house for all the rest. Another great video!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Sounds like a great plan.

[@BedeMeredith]

your data is amazing, I wish more people kept track of things like this instead of doing things like "I think i had more last year" etc.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!. Glad you appreciate the data. I share the same frustration with people making guesses about how well things compare. I am concerned that it opens up decision making to a lot of potential biases.

[@gaboftak]

@@REDGardens You should count the yield not only in Kg but in calories or perhaps in value on market.....I know that will be complicated but interesting too.....anyway great work!!!All the best

[@richardmittmann1836]

@@REDGardens do you have any plans for a video dedicated only for data collection and management? and bonus may be analyse?

[@KnowledgeNerd123]

You're like Bill Nye and Bob Ross combined, but a gardener. Excellent analysis, soothing cadence, beautiful plants.

[@REDGardens]

HaHa! Thanks!

[@user-oq2mr8nt4u]

Still can't fattom the size of those carrots. Absolutly mind-boggling !

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I know! That 'Autumn King' variety is great for the winter storage carrots.

[@user-oq2mr8nt4u]

@@REDGardens Got to get me some of those then :p

[@BigAlSparks]

I probably soak up 10% of whats said in the video.... and I'm still 10x smarter after I've watched it! I hope your a guest lecturer who travels far and wide to spread your wisdom one day! In the meantime, youtube is blessed to have your input

[@Marialla.]

This reminds me of farming games like Stardew Valley. Quick crops may make a lot of money in the game, but may wear you out trying to keep up with them. Longer-growth crops that need less planting/harvest time help you progress in other areas, and give you a big one-time boost when you finally do harvest them, which you can plan other activities around.

[@dawnmorning]

Great video. Thanks

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@daydreamerprod]

brother I so enjoy your shared experiments, process & evaluated insights. So much experiential wisdom gleaned, though Im sure fairly subjectively and painful on your side when failures are first evaluated. Amazingly well articulated.. So much love & respect to all that you do! Carry on Brotha, health & prosperity! Dude those carrots were Stupid! lol

[@REDGardens]

Thanks so much for that encouraging comment. It really does help, especially when facing those 'painful' failures. And yeah, those carrots!

[@Tomhohenadel]

You have given me some really good ideas to improve my garden. Thanks for taking the time and energy to provide this info. Too much snow on the ground now but looking forward to spring and starting it all again

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for the comment. Glad you found this video useful. The wait for the spring can be a real drag, we are quite lucky here in Ireland, as the spring (usually) comes quite early.

[@PopleBackyardFarm]

The garden is just so amazing. We just grow for our family but this was so inspiring. New friend Ruthie

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@johnboyle4062]

Have tried your wire weedor it works brilliantly and so easy thank you

[@michaelmcclafferty3346]

Well done Bruce. You present your videos brilliantly. I'm glad to see that you are going to get some help.

[@paulm2380]

Excellent video. Thank you

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@flatsville1]

Excellent vid & presentation.

[@timobreumelhof88]

Your experiment inspired me to start exactly what you mentioned in the end. Thank you. :-)

[@bernardpare2509]

Bravo ! J’aime beaucoup ce que tu fais , et surtout, comment tu le présentes.

[@tanyaratti]

Very interesting to see your different yields vs time. I agree a more diverse cropping is preferable. I like the idea to put my potatoes and onions (storage crops) further from the house with more intensive care crops closer. I’m trialling a no dig approach where just once a year a layer of compost is added and becomes the top layer. Little to no disturbance other than small furrows for seed and slits in the ground to place seed potato or seedlings. As I’m getting older this is a huge advantage to my back! 😄. Weeds are less prolific as the soil has not been disturbed to bring seeds to surface. Scuffing any out quickly is advantageous. I like your fleece protection covers as the plants aren’t weighed down by them. I also like your idea of compost making in situ. Although for a smaller garden like mine, I’d still not waste growing space and just have it next to the garden I’m working with.

[@vossierebel]

The time you have spent documenting your efforts is really valuable. Thanks! I have not long ago found your channel and watched a few videos to get a better idea of your methods and thought processes. I'm rather impressed and at some point we may drive in your direction to meet personally and learn more. We are in Co Wicklow and actively looking for a bit of land to begin using - so, learning from your more "local" experiences makes great sense! I've been following Charles Dowding for quite a while and would love to go no-dig as much as possible (bad back) but some of your other methods make sense! Thanks again!!

[@pegpeg3939]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I always look forward to watching you movies

[@REDGardens]

Glad you like them!

[@SteveRichards]

We do almost exactly what you describe. We have a large simple plot where we grow climbing beans, potatoes, onions, winter brassicas, winter squash, beets, mainly in summer; field beans, garlic, and broad beans mainly in autumn/winter/spring. This plot provides perhaps 60% of our winter food for about 50 hours of effort, mostly harvesting and bed prep. We then have another much more complex plot with loads of under-cover space that provides all of the many successions of a dozen or more salad ingredients and spinach greens in autumn/winter and spring and all of our non-storage (eaten fresh) beets, carrots, peas, spring onions, onions, summer squash etc in summer. Then we have another herb and fruit plot focused on preserves. Finally in our back garden we grow almost all the fruit and veg that we eat fresh in summer (except the beets, carrots) so that we can pick and eat within minutes and easily water. : All the best - Steve

[@REDGardens]

That sounds amazing Steve! The climbing beans you grow, are they for dried seed, or do you pick them fresh?

[@SteveRichards27]

RED Gardens we eat almost everything fresh, we have so much food in winter we don’t really need to dry them

[@patrickconnolly2400]

Great video Bruce, I really like the idea of this setup and I'm adapting it for my own garden for this season. Will have a dedicated area for squash, main crop potatoes, onions, garlic, parsnips and carrots. All vegetables that I consider to be able to look after themselves a bit! The more high maintainence crops will be grow in a seperate area. Will be interesting to see how it goes. Having your detailed stats is helpful as usual. Patrick

[@REDGardens]

Thanks Patrick. Hope your explorations in this type of gardening works well for you. I think the separation of low and high maintenance crops can be a really useful one.

[@VagabondAnne]

This was very instructive! Thank you! I am currently doing all the high maintenance variety-veg at home, and am looking for a place to do these low-maintenance ones. At home are herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic, beans, greens, peppers, kale, lettuce, chard, etc. I have been doing squash at home because I love them so, and NOT doing potatoes. Onions are at home because I can overwinter them, but I'd rather do them elsewhere. Carrots are a mixed bag here, as I have clay soil and lots of rocks! But your sieving sequence after potatoes is inspiring, for sure. I'm on a waitlist for an allotment (or community garden, as we say here in California). For the moment I think I will do it all in my home garden, and try out your sieving sequence. Many californians do winter potatoes, so I will do that. At the moment I have too many garlic plants (160 for a family of 3? Oh dear, I went overboard!), overwintering onions, some Kyoto Red winter carrots, and greens. I am more passionate about all the different bean species (cowpeas! runner beans! Limas! winged beans!), peppers, and tomatoes, so I will do those in the summer. Thanks so much, I love your videos!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for your comment, it is so great to hear about the plans and experiences of other growers, especially ones who are in such a different climate! Sieving is a lot of work, but given how productive carrots can be, sieving only the carrot bed could be worth it. I like your distinction between hi and low maintenance. It would have been useful to include that in my video.

[@James.5703]

Your patience astounds me. I have a lot of respect for this kind of care and detail regarding measurable data. Will the statistics that you gather ever be available to the general public?

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Really glad that you find value in my approach to data. I wonder how many people are the same. When I started this project I wanted all the data to be publicly available, in real time. I just haven't found a way to do that yet, or haven't had the capacity to figure it out.

[@szabomarton8064]

@@REDGardens it would be awesome. Maybe try google spreadsheet, easy to share it via a link

[@eeor]

Your channel is inspiring. Thank you!

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@toom8rs15]

I see lots of healthy plants 👍

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@stevenhendershot658]

Great video!

[@dollyperry3020]

I'd love a video on observing-managing the gardening needs and how you time everything!

[@REDGardens]

That sounds like an interesting video, I'll think about it.

[@dollyperry3020]

@@REDGardens I'd love anything you do on this and succession planting :)

[@sandyb1184]

Thanks for another great video!

[@REDGardens]

Glad you like it!

[@PermaPen]

Learning so much from your experiments! I've just joined your Patreon.

[@REDGardens]

Thank you for your support! It really does mean a lot to me, and the project!

[@lkhfun6575]

I love the stats you show! I am going to go back and look at each one closer. You are right though, a control is always needed to know how effective the test was. :-)

[@REDGardens]

Glad you like the stats! I try to include a lot of information so that people can have a closer look, but to also not bore people who really aren't interested in the stats, or who don't 'get' graphs. Not sure if I have found the right balance yet, but it is nice to know that some people are going back for a closer look. The lack of a control is one of the key limiting factors in my gardens, but I just don't have the capacity for that next level of monitoring and control. I rely on the different gardens as a mediocre form of control.

[@jmacd8817]

@@REDGardens I'm another fan of the stats! Since I started watching your channel (over a year ago?) I've been trying to think of a low time investment option for doing controls. Other than cutting a quarter of each plot and setting it aside, I can't think of anything, and that suffers from reducing the test data, and would often be so close to your test beds that there is a risk of contamination. (It's difficult to get a "bright line" between neighboring beds, that won't affect each other) Cheers!

[@REDGardens]

Jeff MacDonald Yeah, it is tough. I started doing a few controls or variations a number of years ago, but then found that it made everything way too complex, or it forced me to really limit what I could do. I plan to do some more specific explorations in the Black Plot this season, but first I need to get that garden under control. For these family scale plots, I’ve given up on the use of a control, and see it as a space where I might develop some really interesting observations/questions that could then be the subject of a more scientific study.

[@andrewc7369]

Really interesting to see the how efficient in kg/h the simple garden is. Appreciate you detailed data collection.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I am quite amazed how hight the kg/h is with this garden, and makes me think that I need to do better in the other gardens.

[@MeandYouHello]

Thanks for sharing

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@WayneCarolan]

I’d love to come visit. You’re on a different level.

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@johnellis8401]

Great video! I've had less and less time to garden over the last few years and I'm thinking about implementing this in my own garden. I do have more time in the summer though to harvest so I'm thinking about doing tomatoes, okra, eggplant, and peppers. I use these the most and it would take a large load off my normal gardening practices. I also always grow sunchoke just because it's so easy and harvest is anytime in winter.

[@grannybeesgarden7874]

🐝💛 Great information reducing work load! Especially liked soil info 💛🐝

[@alisonburgess345]

This is my favorite garden of yours, which I’ve kind of copied but it looks as though my location is too cold to grow pumpkins. I think I’ll switch them for brassicas. Super video, again Bruce.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! Sometimes it is my favourite too - though, don't tell the other gardens! ;)

[@jeffreydustin5303]

Hi Bruce, it is Jeff from South Carolina! Great video. The sheet composting is pretty terrific. I am impressed with the composting in place you are doing under the sheet. Slug issues? I've got a 35-40 foot x 6 foot Square Foot Garden with grids and I'm just covering weeds with retail purchased compost. It is expensive. I want to grow my own compost but my household waste is just my wife and I and so can't generate enough kitchen scraps to make much if any compost. I have a lot of leaves and a petrol wood & leaf chipper/shredder with hammer mill inside. I've got lots of garlic and multiplier onions growing. Problem is there is a lot of uncovered compost and the weeds just jump right into it. I might use finely chopped leaves to go around the base of the plants and just dig down to plant seeds. It is tedious to seed and I haven't figured out a better way to get the seeds in rapidly without hunching on my hands and knees and pushing a dibber in to add seeds.

[@REDGardens]

Jeffrey Dustin The sheet composting works really well in this situation, with it being covered with landscape fabric, and then with squash planted into it. I haven’t explored this method in different situations. No slug issue that I have seen, but I do occasionally get tats burrowing under the fabric. I don’t mind so much, as they don’t cause any damage, but occasionally a local dog or fox will scratch and dig up the fabric to hunt down the rats.

[@SB-fj4om]

Such great insight every video!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@danielfisch655]

Very interesting, thank you for sharing.

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@danielfisch655]

RED Gardens 👍🏽👊🏽

[@philandhannahslittlefarm1464]

Have you done a video on your irrigation system in the simple garden? Do you have the same system in all your plots?

[@REDGardens]

I haven't done a video yet, but plan to later in the summer. It is the same system I use in all of my outside gardens.

[@goncalocorreia7489]

Can you do a video on how you prepare your harvest for storage and in what conditions you do it? I would love to know! Great video, btw!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! I am planning a video on storage, but it will probably have to wait until the autumn.

[@noelkealey]

Love these videos, where do you send samples for soil tests? Did you ever think of adding bees to your plots? Would be a very interesting addition!

[@REDGardens]

I use a lab in the USA for soil testing - Logan Labs. Better tests and cheaper than anything I have been able to find here in Ireland. There are a few hives of honeybees right beside my Polytunnel garden, though not many bees visit the vegetable gardens. Most of the pollination (not pollution - edited) is done by native bumblebees.

[@jmacd8817]

@@REDGardens GIven the shipping costs, the lab must be quite a bit cheaper! (btw, autocorrect gave you "pollution, instead of pollination)

[@REDGardens]

Jeff MacDonald It is about $25 per sample. Thanks for spotting my error - fixed!

[@noelkealey]

RED Gardens thanks for the feedback, I must check it out. You may need some strategically placed bee loving plants to get them in!!

[@ranchoraccolto]

Love the simple, but no te the limited variety, but amazing results !!!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I only like it because I have other gardens filling in all the other vegetables!

[@ranchoraccolto]

@@REDGardens yes indeed, btw I love your experiment and how good you keep record of everything, i have learned so much from your techniques, success and failures that i will keep in loop for more videos. Thanks for sharing such a valuable information.

[@faronandfriends155]

@RED Gardens Have you considered that your simple garden you could also eat the tops of the onions and of the carrots and the squash? Is there any chance that you could grow sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes? Because then you could harvest the tops of the sweet potatoes also. This could significantly contribute to your proteins and vitamins in addition to the starches you are growing.

[@wendysgarden4283]

The soil at 7:00 looks really healthy and rich with a nice tilth. This would be a good survival garden. High calorie, easy-to-store crops, providing probably most of the minerals and vitamins people need. Shoot/trap a few marauding animals in the garden, if you're an omnivore, and that'd keep you alive indefinitely, I'd think. Question: how do you record your time input and food weights? Is it a habit, that at the end of the time at the plots, you sit down and plug it in? Do you do it at home when you get back there? All in spreadsheets from the beginning, or do you take rough notes in the field? Thanks!

[@REDGardens]

Good point. It would be interesting to think about it from a survival perspective, to see how it might change or evolve to better fit that purpose. And to figure out how much space someone would need. I have been getting a few questions about data and recording stuff, I should make a video about it all soon. Basically I have a spreadsheet that I can access from my smartphone (or computer at home which is updated via the 'cloud'), and all of the data is entered into that. I enter the time for start and finish (pushing a button) of a task and fill in the details. It took me a while to get the right format so that it was easy to enter and easy to extract and anywise the information I wanted. Well, that is the way I work most of the time, but occasionally I miss a few things and need to estimate.

[@mrmysterycake]

How did you come up with your name? RED?

[@REDGardens]

Research Education Development

[@PaleGhost69]

@@REDGardens And here I thought it was Retired, Extremely Dangerous

[@sandsblue429]

@@PaleGhost69 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂oops

[@TheHyBriD3I6]

Blood makes the grass grow....

[@villagelifesitapur9262]

Nice

[@MartinMMeiss-mj6li]

Very interesting report. I especially like the kilograms/hour statistic you calculate; this could be very useful in making gardening decisions. One question, however: Since you refer to the four crops as "storage crops," wouldn't it be useful to include the time required to "cure" the crops for storage and putting them in storage, and if applicable, the time to make/prepare the storage room? I also like that you consider the issue of closeness to home vs the number of required visits. I do a similar thing for plantings within a bed. My beds are five feet wide, which means that reaching to the center is a bit awkward. According, I put harvest-once crops, such as turnips or potatoes, in the center of the bed and the harvest-many-times crops, like green beans an leaf-lettuce, near the edges of the bed.

[@elizabethsansom6447]

Awesome very thorough video loved it. Where do you buy your chicken manure pellets?

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I get them from fruithillfarm.com

[@neilcalliou896]

Man, those carrots are crazy !

[@ceili]

Have you ever considered planting a perennial vegetable garden (or a permaculture forest garden)?

[@REDGardens]

I have a (much neglected) perennial garden that I really need to rescue from the weeds this season.

[@emperorscorpiousii9675]

In your graph hours spent on different tasks, what constitutes as "care" and "general"? Everything else in the graph seem to cover virtually everything needed for a garden, I'm curious what those two sections account for.

[@REDGardens]

Good question. 'Care' includes everything that I do to manage and look after the plants from sowing/transplanting through to harvest - except for watering and weeding. This includes thinning the carrots, setting up mesh to protect the carrots, earthing up the potatoes, clearing off diseased leaves from the onions, covering the young squash plants with a mini polytunnel, and then removing the cover when they grew too big, cutting back the vines of the squash plants, etc. 'General' includes all of the general maintenance that I do to the garden, including fixing up the edge of the garden and cutting back the grass, securing everything before a storm, cleaning up after a storm, digging out rat burrows from the sheet composting, laying out the ground cover fabric in the winter, etc. I realise just now that I didn't include the 'General' stuff in the monthly breakdown of tasks.

[@feathernow]

Hi, you mention testing the soil for nutrients, can you advise the best resources or method for this. Thankyou for your detailed video.

[@careyjamesmajeski3203]

Frances Hankins soil testing is a great idea and lots of places do it. Just do a search for soil testing in your area. Shouldn’t be hard to find a place that will test and offer recommendations. Good luck. Cheers.

[@qtpwqt]

Your carrots look great

[@REDGardens]

They were good!

[@backyardfoodfarm6183]

Those carrots at the end of the video speak volumes

[@Marialla.]

Bruce, would some sort of leafy green work well into this system? Maybe cabbage or kale? I'm thinking kale might be good because it can be picked through winter, and cabbage because it doesn't need to be picked often. I'm trying to design a garden that works simply, on once a week attention at most, but that rounds out as much nutrition as possible.

[@liam314]

Man you must really like hard manual labour!😂💪 Ever considered starting a Martin Crawford style forest garden? Its a lot less work, no digging or composting, and much greater biodiversity and sustainability especially in a warming climate.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I don't mind some regular hard work, especially as a balance for the amount of time I spend at the computer! I would be really interested in starting a forest garden - will have to look into what Martin Crawford has done. Key issue for me is time. There are not so many successful examples in this maritime climate - the method seems more suited to warm/hot/sunny places. But it would be good to figure out how to make it work here.

[@liam314]

@@REDGardens True, it must be keeping you in fighting shape. Martin Crawford is based in the UK, Devon I think. He runs the "Agroforestry Research Trust" at www.agroforestry.co.uk His excellent book "Creating a Forest Garden" is specifically aimed at the UK and Ireland. Well worth looking into if you're interested

[@REDGardens]

liam314 Yes, I came across his work before, will have to take a closer look. Even though we are fairly close Devon has quite a different climate to us, and can apparently grow a lot of species that really struggle around here.

[@TheFriendlyStranger7]

Forest gardening is overrated. Sounds great, particularly for the uninitiated, but it’s not going to feed the world, or even the few. Who has a forest edge to grow on? Or the time to develop one? Permaculture la-la land.

[@liam314]

@@TheFriendlyStranger7 Guess we better stick with deforestation and petrochemical based agriculture then ;)

[@sufi5uk]

Do you have a video explaining the difference of all your gardens except the poly tunnel. Especially this simple garden. What does it mean exactly? I understand the no dig, extensive and intensive. And also why do you still keep other kinds of gardens when you see much more benefit on simple garden

[@selcalderbank6850]

Interesting to see your sheet composting. Does material break down quicker using this method compared to a normal compost heap? How long is it after the composting material is put down before the bed is ready for use? Thanks for your very informative videos, they are great.

[@REDGardens]

I am not sure if the stuff breaks down quicker or not. it doesn't heat up so wouldn't be as fast, but it also doesn't go anaerobic, and has direct contact to all of the organisms in the soil. For this purposes I only grow squash on that bed for the first season, and the squash plants can handle the active decomposition better than most plants.

[@ausbushman2347]

With the sheet composting, have you considered running an animal system over it instead? Would chickens, pigs or goats have the same or similar effect? You would still be able to dump the same waste in there.... interested in your thoughts on this.

[@TheogRahoomie]

My gardens are under a couple feet of snow and I’m really starting to get the itch for winter to be over. Where I live I can’t plant my gardens until the last week of May 😢

[@REDGardens]

Ah, that is a tough one. One of the great things about being in Ireland is you can get into the garden all year, if your soil isn’t waterlogged, and start growing quite early. But I miss the growth that is possible in a hot summer!

[@janstueken91]

Thanks for sharing your experiences! You do a great job in monitoring your work and results. As a market gardener, I wish I had the same discipline in keeping records throughout the season. How do you manage to log all the data in an efficient / practical way?

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. If I was a a market gardener, or just growing food for myself, I doubt I would maintain such detailed records. It is a lot of work, and it took me quite a few years to get to this point. This level of detail only makes sense because I can use it for the research project, and these videos. I plan to make a video about the data collection soon, but my main method is to enter everything into a spreadsheet that I access from my smartphone (and computer at home via the cloud). At the start of each task I create a new line with start time, enter the end time when does the task, and include any reveals such as the garden, crop, harvested, task type etc. It is a small amount of work on a very regular basis, but it adds up over time. It also took me a while to figure this all out, to make it simple and easy to enter data, and also easy to compile information and numbers.

[@ashleyhavoc1940]

Liked and commented for algorithm.

[@REDGardens]

:) Replied to say thanks!

[@recklessroges]

How much time is spent on recording and processing the data about time management and yields?

[@REDGardens]

Too much time!

[@michelemarble6799]

Do you practice crop rotation in this garden?

[@REDGardens]

Yes, a 3 year rotation.

[@tomjones4318]

Lots of TLC into that soil and it shows. For mice I bet the baited automatic gas ram hammer trap is unbeatable. They are expensive but I believe rats and mice are finished. Squirrels also. Best of all no poisen and totally automatic. I wonder if chickens will eat them when already dead.

[@REDGardens]

That hammer trap does seem to be excellent! I have been thinking of getting one, but they are quite expensive. I wonder if they are as effective if there is loads of other food available in the compost bin.

[@tomjones4318]

@@REDGardens Good point. I'd be willing to bet the included bait is irresitable and the scent probly overrides. I use pecans to trap squirrels gets them every time. I'm getting one in a year or so.

[@edashton1662]

What carrot variety ?

[@REDGardens]

Autumn King

[@tiffanyr5184]

What variety of carrots are those?

[@REDGardens]

Autumn King.

[@OrtoInScatola]

I’d love to see how you keep track of all this data. Do you walk around the garden with a time tracking device that let you categorize every hour you spend in each garden doing what specific task?

[@REDGardens]

I have had a few questions about that, and should make a video about it all. I have a spreadsheet that I can input into from my smartphone. Basically I enter the time when I start a task, then enter a finish time, then input the details. I try to do this for each task, but sometimes that is just too much data!

[@OrtoInScatola]

RED Gardens thanks! Sometimes I feel that all your resources could be combined into what would become probably the best gardening app ever existed: time tracking, harvesting tracking, garden space tracking, planting calendars, etc. just imagine it... combined with data visualization, charts, and a query engine. I cannot be the only other garden geek out there, am I? 😂

[@REDGardens]

Nope, you aren't the only one! That would be very cool!

[@douglasanderson7301]

@@OrtoInScatola perhaps something like some of the gyms are doing for fitness workouts with RFID chips on equipment 'attached' to the ubiquitous cell phone. I'm as Luddite as they come but tech is reaching a level of ease of use that could bring out my inner geek. Imagine a video game motivational approach. ' course it could turn into a nightmare of Siri hectoring me to water the beans and I'd be back to Luddite!

[@OrtoInScatola]

Douglas Anderson for now I simply keep track of my harvests on an online spreadsheet on Google Sheets, and I have a page on my website were I am tracking the yearly planting schedule and the trays I am preparing. Weather changes so much that nothing is really set in stone with gardening so in order to get to that level, which is fascinating, one would also need to deploy a plethora of sensors all over the garden, especially when using raised beds and sub irrigation with ollas like I do. Fascinating though.

[@garrettzuzik6510]

I cover my scraps in spent coffee. Seems to keep out pests. Wouldn't have to tarp. Could benefit of allowing volunteers to transplant. Its winter and my first time trying.

[@REDGardens]

Hmm, that sounds interesting.

[@garrettzuzik6510]

@@REDGardens would need lots of grounds for your scale but wouldnt need to purchase tarps possibly. Any insight?

[@REDGardens]

I think at this scale it would require way too much coffee grounds to be practical - especially as there aren't many coffee shops around here. I also have an issue of dogs and foxes digging through the compost that is not covered with ground cover fabric, so I would imagine they would scratch off a lot of the coffee grounds, so it would be less useful as a cover. In a smaller, more controllable context, it could work really well.

[@arnavrawat9864]

I have a feeling this dude is smart af. 120+ IQ

[@zazugee]

i guess the choice of a gardening methods depends on the context more than anything else like if you have larger surface, you become low on time and energy to work it all, so you pick a low energy and low time method whereas when you have a limited surface and you want to maximize yield, you use a more intensive method but at the expense of time and energy i have a limited surface (500m2) and using the raised beds, and many trees, i ended only having like 100m2 cultivable surface, but i could only make 20m2 because of the limited compost (only limited to house's food scraps and onsite weeds) i'm gonna add another 20m2 soon, and i think i will runout of usable surface soon unless i forfeit the future pond surface ( 60-80m2) I tried before to plant vegetables around the trees, but it didnt work and also when working around trees those vegetables end being walked upon (specialy around date palm trees) , and i heard some agronomists saying its a bad idea, because it deprives trees of oxygen, anyone tried to

[@nicklezetc]

Where do you live?

[@TheHyBriD3I6]

Well yea...isn't this the traditional industrial method? That's the idea behind the idustrial method, isn't it: produce as much as you can , with the lands that you have, and the simpler it , the more of the same work can be done at bigger scale, with tech or payed work force. Well at least it is the norme here in Romania from what i know. Also from what i know, some of the problem are when something hits your plants , it hits at large scale , and you might use alot of things to help you soil and plants. If thoes things are ok to you then yea ,go for it, i guess.

[@thomascastillo]

Great video. If you are open to it, I recommend checking out No Dig. That could save you a lot of time. Charles Dowding and others have videos on it. Keep up the good work.

[@REDGardens]

Yes. One of my other hardens is No-Dig, which I have recently transitioned to following Charles Downing’s method. Very interesting stuff, though not without its own issues. I am planning to make an update video about it soon.

[@thebraziliangardener8481]

i also like the shit compost method,i always use cow shit on my beds

[@hozzfozz]

First!

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@TheActualCathal]

In your recording of the work involved, report the man-hours rather than the hours. It's a technically-sexist term but a far more descriptive one.

[@TheActualCathal]

I guess "work-hour" or "labour-hour" are terms that get the same idea across in less gender-specific ways.

[@thecurrentmoment]

"Person hours"

[@REDGardens]

Out of all of them, I prefer the term "work-hour", but do you think some people will not understand this is what I mean when I simply say "hour"? Would be useful to change if that was the case.