Abundant, Beautiful, & LOW-EFFORT Permaculture Kitchen Garden Tour

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Today's video comes from my original raised bed kitchen garden, which on average, over the growing season, has had one full day's attention every couple of weeks. It has been very much a focus on polyculture planting and growing LOADS of delicious food! I hope you enjoy!
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[@sharonknorr1106]

I always let at least one carrot stay in the ground and bloom the next year - they have more different kinds of bugs on them than any other flower, counted almost a dozen different bees, wasps, flies and other beneficials and there are probably more. Just have to be sure to not let the seeds fall, or I will have hundreds of carrots in that bed - happened last year when I got lazy and let them go. I have a soft spot in my heart for volunteers and it was difficult to rip so many of them out. The other thing is, though, I don't have to buy carrot seed anymore (or dill or calendula or borage or.........).

[@amy_soucy]

It's a pollinator party! I love carrot blooms. They are so lacey !

[@-cherith-]

As a New Zealander, I have to agree/ or at the least claim, with Oca being called New Zealand Yam. Potatoes and Oca were introduced from South America to the UK around the same time. UK horticulturists focused on potatoes, perfecting them without question. New Zealand, being of similar latitude and coastal climate to South America, perfected the "yam" as we call it ( there is no NZ about it here) , we grow it large, larger than most, my own yams are amazing in size, it is favoured in winter roasted, but I will chuck it in any stew, stir fry and at the moment I am grating it with carrot, beetroot, orange and sultanas for an amazing and extremely tasty springtime salad 😊 edit- forgot to add that I love your videos Huw, and Sam's cinematography is out of this world. ❤ to the whole team.

[@judifarrington9461]

I so enjoyed seeing your Dad's orchard again! I bet he's so proud of you!

[@everlastinggrass]

Shirts huw, come on..... ! I'm so glad your still here with us. Your a blessing ❤🙏❤️

[@smikewz]

over the years ive acquired too many gardening books. did i need another? absolutely! Huw's latest book is inspiring and different from the run of the mill.

[@ohio_gardener]

I never thin the carrots, but rather multi-sow them as recommended by Charles Dowding. I always get a lot of good sized quality carrots, and it saves me a lot of time by not having to thin. 🥕🥕🥕

[@Ed19601]

I do the same, but at a certain stage i pull out the biggest carrots for consumption and leave the rest to size up, as they have more space now

[@lksf9820]

They'll get even bigger if you thin them, CD thins his carrots, most people do.

[@janwilky]

We have just bought a small orchard of traditional apple varieties behind our house. I bit into a small yellow apple the other day and thiught "wow, pineapple!" so I think we have inherited a pitmaston pineapple 😁

[@theirishcailin333]

What a great thing to be able to buy!

[@jeffreyboyd4719]

You should try eating sweet corn fresh and raw out in the garden. It's amazing!

[@christianm.s.492]

In México we use amaranth alot we make nutritive bars with honey called alegrias you should see a video how the Little seeds pop up like tiny popcorns, put it on heat they will star poping up

[@bradlafferty]

I just grew amaranth for the first time this year. I’ve got lots of seeds. Thanks for the recipe idea!

[@christianm.s.492]

@@bradlafferty kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4OqhoWGobKaidEsi=UU0fN9NUKYdAmOPz

[@myrustygarden]

😂😂 do you ever slow down Huw. I’m seed saving where I can because if it grows well and seeds then I know it likes the climate in my garden. Lovely tour thank you, glad Agnes didn’t cause too much damage, Ali 🌧️🇨🇦

[@lesbrewer1378]

Hugh is there any chance you could do some video s on fruit bushes blueberry raspberry and blackberry pruning and any other tips please your videos are the easiest to follow and there doesn’t seem to any one in uk doing good fruit bush videos

[@thatgirlthatgrows]

Love these tours, makes you see what is possible 👍

[@imuliska]

Beautiful garden. Lots of inspiration and kind words. great

[@anwa6169]

Beautiful to watch, people who have a big garden are so blessed. Appreciate it.

[@judifarrington9461]

Don’t you just love how compact and how much diversity is in each of his beds! Even with a small garden, his gardening methods can be applied. With succession planting you can still grow lots of food in small spaces.

[@anwa6169]

@@judifarrington9461 Absolutely. I like learning how to!

[@hollydimig3998]

I love how you’ve combined beauty with function and take deep pleasure in your garden. So glad I found your videos when ai did. Perfect timing for me, as this is what I hope to one day achieve. I’m just starting. I’m on hold for a bit, so looking at this time as my research and planning and thinking stage.

[@sqeekable]

Thank you from Eastern Shore Nova Scotia, this video makes me so hopeful and happy.

[@Beingmemyselfi]

The first time I saw the oca was when I moved to New Zealand, it’s very popular here, it confused me that they called them yams, I knew yams as something completely different in England. The ocas come in red or white varieties and are quite small. I’m not very keen on them but people do love them roasted.

[@anavelaeshomestead]

Hi, I recently bought your Vegetable Growers Handbook. It's a beautiful well thought out book. Lovely photos. Considering how this is available internationally, my only suggestion would be to have a Northern Hemisphere growing chart and also a Southern Hemisphere growing chart. Then we southerners, 🇦🇺 don't have to rattle through and add 6 months to every seed crop planting. Otherwise it's well done. Australia is a bit varied for growing seasons anyway due to to size of the country and our varied climate. It still would be nice to have a Southerners guide.

[@Andromeda2976]

Absolutely amazing, all the blessings for your beautiful garden and thankyou for inspiring

[@tillys_garden]

I love watching your garden tours, give me inspo for my garden, I have a very different look to yours though. As we are in SE Queensland Australia 😅 so spring for us, about to head into our hottest summer, our uv gets so intense the plants all get sunburn without shade sails. And our variety’s all need to be tropical and subtropical. We also get abundant pests. Your videos have helped me change my mindset on how I grow, so I am growing a more permaculture mindset then before. And I am creating a small self sufficient orchard.

[@cbg769]

Well said! Huw's mindset can be applied to any climate zone. Wonderful:)!

[@tiffcat1100]

❤💜❤️ didn’t know about butterflies & rotting fruit, how adorable!

[@Mixxie67]

Did you know about butterflies (certain ones anyway) and poop?

[@tiffcat1100]

@@Mixxie67 😂😂😂

[@janwilky]

@@Mixxie67 ha ha yes, I see them on my horses' poop, mostly the cabbage whites 😃

[@Mixxie67]

@@janwilky there are definitely others that like it for various reasons. One is warmth. 😬

[@SadieScarlett]

Great to meet you and see your talk at permafesssst! Loved hearing all your controversial opinions and nerdy permaculture injokes 🤣 keep doin what you doin 🥰

[@Mixxie67]

The oca looked familiar so i looked it up and imagine my surprise to discover it's an oxalis!

[@LeahLovelessWasHere]

It's fun to grow and eat baby corn. Quicker too. Just an idea🌽😉

[@saltburner2]

Always interesting, though I don't have a garden myself.

[@partidaportet27]

It is said, for every one pest insect, there are around 1500 beneficial ones.

[@lksf9820]

Microwave is surprisingly good for sweetcorn.

[@steven458791]

Nice garden.

[@Jane-ky9fj]

Huw, I’m so glad I discovered your channel! I’ve just taken on an allotment and I’m learning so much. I appreciate the supportive way you teach. I have a question if I may ask. How do you stop cats digging holes and pooing in uncovered beds? 😳

[@erikahuxley]

I don't have a cat problem particularly but all kind of animals come to my garden to find foods and digging is a common thing. They like to dig exposed soil surface. If you can grow ground cover crop or mulch any exposed soil, my experience is they will less likely to dig there.

[@freedombug11]

All these videos are a great watching experience, but this is one of the particularly good ones, to me. A really beautiful day, a good peek at some of the crops we don't normally get to see, Huw very Zen with butterflies and bees and wearing such a nice seed-stitched sweater, too. It's like the perfect chill-pill for my brain.

[@Airboat-Fun]

great watching experience, nothing else, like all cook shows. sit down and watch....

[@meeganneville1205]

Hi Huw 👋😊 what do you save the amaranth seeds for? Highly recommend ulluco for growing if you can get your hands on some.

[@marthaegger5079]

How does your Kale not get infested with the caterpillars from the white moths, Huw? ... i see you do not cover it with netting. Genuinely want to know (bc my netting didn't work everywhere so for example my cauliflowerhas been eaten by them 😢)

[@tillys_garden]

We get infested with cabbage moths. I hand pick mine off and feed to the local birds. But I grow most brassicas when it’s cooler then the cabbage moths like.

[@marthaegger5079]

@Disabled.Megatron thank you. I picke them off too, and now even if it's end of September, they still are there! But tge cauliflower doesn't grow any bigger 😕

[@phirst55]

I'm afraid I don't like aniseed so don't grow fennel,, but I do grow a lot of carrots, beans, brassica, parsnips, swede, turnip, chard etc for the late autumn/winter

[@Temperate2Tropical]

great video!

[@franceshoward7112]

If you interplant your brassicas among tomatoes, especially tall and large leafed varieties, the butterflies will fly away fast when they catch a whiff of tomato smell. It is their worst smell. It's satisfying to watch them approach, eager to lay eggs and then taking off at top speed. I plant brassicas like that and never get a single caterpillar They are the very best repellent. I find tomato leaves a bit gaseous myself sometimes. I have lots of butterflies but no caterpillars. They must lay eggs in someone else's garden. Not mine.

[@sarahdean6441]

Gorgeous fennel ❤ might have to have a go next season. Did you just sow the leeks close together in rows? I'm interested as I have quite small raised beds in my garden which this type of sowing may suit. Thank you.

[@lksf9820]

Fennel is quite hard to grow so good luck there 😀

[@ayampelungmojokertoapemman720]

Know more your garden..thank you.

[@SuntiJunrod-uz3lr]

Hello. Huw 👋

[@charm938]

"Shout out to Fennel"!

[@Pixieworksstudio]

Huw, pleeeeease, would you tell me why my fennel goes to seed. I have only one which looks like yours and is nearly ready to harvest. I know they prefer cooler temperatures, and I tried Orion this year as they are meant to be ones that don't bolt as much, but off they went - they are truly my nemesis.

[@tillys_garden]

If it’s warmer it encourages bolting. And also it’s age. I typically let mine bolt, as the flowers encourage the good bugs into my garden in Queensland, Australia. I found I can still eat the fennel, when the flowers are just starting to appear. I tent to peal off the segments rather then remove the whole plant. This gives me an extended harvest in my growing area, and also I can keep the plant in the ground to flower and then collect the seeds.

[@Pixieworksstudio]

Thank you, it's been pretty cool here since we went onto shorter days. I just don't get it. One grew properly among all the rest. I have allowed the bolted ones to continue though.@@tillys_garden

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

Not going to agree with the bioabundance idea. The reason being is that there is a level of abundance were any species becomes an infestation. There needs to be a balance. Many species in balance is the key. Not too many or too few of any one species.

[@HuwRichards]

I'd welcome an infestation of red admiral butterflies any day😂

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

@@HuwRichards red admirals, probably so. Their larvae feed on stinging nettles.

[@janwilky]

@@ecocentrichomestead6783 I understand what you're saying, but I also agree with Huw that abundance is as important as diversity. But it needs to be abundance of multiple species, not a skewed abundance where one increases to pest proportions. As an ecologist and also as a wildlife and edible gardener I often notice that I am seeing a sad decline in the abundance of many species. Animals that used to be common, very often these days I see or hear just one and think "wow, when was the last time I heard a greenfinch or saw a holly blue butterfly?". I recall an elderly relative who was born around 1920 talking about walking along the hedgerows in Sussex and seeing literally clouds of butterflies, bees and birds rising up out of the hedge as he walked by. Has anyone alive now experienced that level of abundance? Sadly I doubt it, but we can all do our bit to try and make a little bit of space for more abundant nature. Huw, your lovely garden is an inspiration 😊

[@tillys_garden]

@@janwilkyin Australia we are the same. 20 years ago driving at dusk the windshield would be filled, now hardly anything hits as you drive. I don’t use any pesticides in my garden and have found my pest/predator collection has grown, from 3-5 now to just over 20 species that’s fluctuates with the seasons. But I’m a small suburban block, and my neighbours love weed killer, and pest sprays 😢

[@jeningle8288]

Im obviously not a very great gardener,; pak choi, brassicas, fennel, all useless, either bymillions ofslugs or run to seed (fennel). I have no purple sprouting broccoli, the few carrots i had are finished, the aslaragus kale totally decimated by whitefly. I am totally demoralised. Heyho, crack on!

[@colorsinthegarden2032]

I had the same issues as you - I tried fennel for 2 years in different seasons, it either did not grow at all or bolted right away, carrots either split or bolt and I don't have patience for most brassicas (the only thing that does well is curly kale). I just switched to things that grow well in my area - spinach, mustard greens, napa cabbage, beets, turnips and fava beans.

[@erikahuxley]

Lots of it have to do with timing. Some of the crops you mentioned, brassica category, for northern climate I do not like to start during spring precisely because of my climate with fluctuating temperature causes them to bolt fast. I grow mustard only during fall now and they grow big without bolting. The issue with starting the plants in late summer or early fall is the pest pressure from moth laying caterpillar eggs, so spraying with bt and using garden mesh netting help. Whitefly, I had to deal with it a lot in hot humid tropical climate, so when I was growing in South Florida, I only grow most plants between November till April when the pest pressure is less.

[@michelleh.7010]

Low effort... no kidding! Look at the greens hills behind him! Show me low effort gardening in a zone 9b desert, then I'll be impressed.

[@HuwRichards]

I almost gave up on this garden in late June after 8 weeks of no rain and we don't have any mains water

[@Mixxie67]

Every zone has it's issues. Don't presume. What a pointlessly negative comment. There's no such thing as an easy vegetable garden.

[@joannc147]

@@Mixxie67 truer words were never spoken! ❤❤

[@ohio_gardener]

In the past 6 decades of farming and gardening, I have seen good years, I have seen bad years, I have seen boom years, and I have seen disaster years. Years with record production, and years with fields destroyed by hail just before harvest. No matter where in the world a person is, they will have their challenges and their blessings.

[@Mixxie67]

@@ohio_gardener Here in RI the apple orchards got a hit because of *too much* rain. We had two sunny weekends all summer. I think we had 3-4 different flood watches.