Planning & Starting Our 16 Bed Vegetable Garden! HELP!

[@jenniferreads6536]

If you are overwhelmed by the amount of beds, putting a wildflowermix in some of them will make your garden more beautiful and are amazing for the bees. Adding some compost will help as well! Carrots, radish, lettuce and onion are easy to start with.

[@eboleen]

oh my gosh yes! I wildflower mix would look so beautiful and be amazing for the bees!

[@erinnormandeau4162]

For strawberries: they spread like crazy over the years! Which is great because more strawbs but they can take over a veg bed. I recommend dedicating a bed to just strawberries, so they can just take over! Each year you get more and better tasting fruit with minimal effort

[@ShroomAndMoss]

I agree !! They replant themselves, the ultimate lazy fruit :)

[@javabeanstudio]

That opening clip straight up looked like you were going to run into Mr. Darcy at any moment.

[@MadeleineOlivia]

Oh I wish 😅

[@chee60]

Oh my gosh yes!!!

[@HighLadyoftheSpiteCourt]

Literally my husband walked in and was like “are you watching pride and prejudice rn?”

[@mickilicyes5399]

I have been an organic gardener for many years and I think you are right on the mark. My main thing I recommend to new gardeners is to start small and don't be afraid to make mistakes for two reasons. 1 because you will make mistakes so you might as well reconcile yourself to that and 2 I believe you learn the best by doing and mistakes help you learn what doesn't work. Invaluable! Most of all have fun and something I learned from UK allotment gardeners the motto 'do little and often'. You might try the channel Emma Bailey she is a new allotment gardener who is just going for it. Good luck and happy gardening!

[@MadeleineOlivia]

Thank you so much for the advice and vote of confidence! I think doing little and often will be the best approach for us! Very excited to get started!

[@Wheezywatches]

Love this! Also remember some mistakes are going to be determined by Mother Earth. There’s not much you can do about random frost days or too much rain or a pack of hungry squirrels. You’ll learn about your plot with time for those sorts of things.

[@carnamilinga]

@@MadeleineOlivia It's the best advice, because others don't live in your exact place with all the same conditions. Even if a lot of us or books or podcasts give you a lot of good advice you'll still have to figure out what really works for your garden and you.

[@sugarbomb26]

I LOVE Emma's channel!

[@Shelbizleee]

100% the best way to learn how to garden (successfully) is by trial and error (A LOT of error if you're anything like me LOL). Good luck Maddie, your garden is going to be spectacular once you get it figured out!

[@MadeleineOlivia]

Haha thank you so much! I think I have to throw away the perfectionist in me for this garden! It's going to be a lot of fun but I know I'll make a lot of mistakes. But that's how I'll learn! Excited to look back on it when I get the hang of it!

[@Nettietwixt]

Theres a KZbinr called Huw Richards who has a veg garden planning short course. Might be really useful since you're starting out from the beginning. The other thing is that it's quite normal to leave a new garden for the first year so you get to know it. You'll figure out the path of the sun, any parts that sit wet or dry out, what plants you already have where etc.

[@anacristina_40fit]

The nets might be to protect the plants from birds. I have a vegetable garden in Germany and usually I need to protect, at least on the first two weeks, the lettuces, brocolis, cauliflower, kale and cabbage from doves. They literally eat all the little plants. Also, just two overall suggestion, always plant some flowers on the beds to attract bees for polinization, and always check on package of the seeds the right time to plant each veggie.

[@light_and_sound]

Same

[@debbieg1621]

The best way to learn is to get your hands into the soil. If you like salads plant lettuce and kale those go directly into the garden and they like cooler weather. Don't worry about doing everything right now. If nothing else you could have garden fresh salads this year and worry about the bigger stuff later.

[@MadeleineOlivia]

Great idea! Start small!

[@MC-ko2mx]

This is such great advice. Lettuce is so beginner-friendly, and fresh greens are always welcome.

[@Bloome_]

With the gardening, instead of saying you need to do everything all at once and plant 16 beds and feeling overwhelmed you could simply say to yourself “I’m just going to go into my garden today” for 5 minutes. Just stand in it and observe. Something might spark your interest and you’ll be there for an hour... or three. But it’s just getting out there that can be the hardest part! You got this! 💛

[@beatricemarsilius5585]

If you have the house at your back, in the sixth bed on the right side there is a quite big rhubarb plant :) This can be moved if you want to, just make sure not to cut off too many of the roots. If some of the roots come off it should still be fine! Just give it lots and lots of water if you move it :)

[@crunchchrissy]

Check out Charles Dowding, also, one of those beds had strawberries coming up. Don’t yank those!

[@thehappymezzo3985]

So excited to see your garden grow! Just pop over to your local garden center, grab what excites you, and start putting 'em in the ground. Ooo! Such fun!

[@by6011]

Hey Madeleine! I've been gardening with my dad and grandpa's for years but I still feel like I'm learning. This year, I finally convinced my dad to try a no-till garden so I'll be learning right there with ya :) I've got a couple tips for you though, if I may: 1) It seems you've already discovered this but if you feel overwhelmed, take a step back and decide what you can salvage and what needs to wait till next year. I'm a perfectionist like you and I know I've brought myself a lot of undue stress over the years trying to grow a huge garden and getting upset when I don't have the time and know-how to take care of it. 2) The compost bins *do* look a bit worse for wear... You may be able to use the existing bins for a bit longer but the compost is much too dry like you observed. I would recommend mixing in some new "green" organic matter (like the food scraps you have in the barrel) and -- it sounds silly but -- water the compost and turning it with a pitch fork every few days. It should look (and if you are so adventurous, FEEL) moist but not sopping and after a week or so, when turning it you should feel some heat in the middle of the pile. 3) Definitely find ONE or two resources to reference for most of your gardening, at least when starting out. When I was a teenager and had an interest in gardening, I looked at every gardening book I could find and would get overwhelmed with TONS of ideas for the same 100 square feet of garden space. Keeping with one resource at least for your first few years will help stem the information overload that can happen. I use Carla Emery's "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" because it has information about every type of plant I could ever wish to grow. She even has a good number of vegetarian/vegan recipes (not too necessary for you but I'm not a recipe developer so it was a helpful surprise for me). I'm from the US so I'm not sure if that particular title will be helpful for you, but something similar would suffice. That said, you're going to learn as you "grow" (HA get it?) and you'll never stop learning. There's only so much you can read about in one volume, and once gardening becomes as much a part of your lifestyle as cooking, you'll welcome all the information you can get. Just baby steps, okay? :) Finally, I remember you mentioning using Trello in another video about the new home. I personally use Trello as an online journal and I have a few cards on my main board for gardening projects and planning. That might be a helpful idea since you're already familiar with the platform. I'm excited to watch and follow along with you and Alex as you explore the world of growing your own food :)

[@gemma4005]

You should have a look into the three sisters planting method! Its a way to lay out beans, corn and some kind of squash in the same bed and they help each other grow and work really well to enrich the soil and naturally deter pests/weeds.

[@568vh8]

Perennials and self seeding annuals will mean less work in the long run. Potager gardens are pretty. A tea garden, a cocktail garden, a smoothie garden, a foragers garden, a herbal first aid kit, ingredients for beauty products and a cut flower garden are fun ideas to try. Don't wait until you feel you know enough. The Weedy Garden is a beautiful KZbin channel. He's a photographer doing permaculture.

[@kathleenclark5877]

568vh: what a great idea!

[@katecook576]

Lettuce, rocket, spinach, radish can all be sown from seed straight into the beds, not too late to plant. Stagger sowing rows by a few weeks so you don’t get a glut. Really easy to grow.

[@annaargento2360]

I love this! We have a vegetable garden plot in our yard and have been really debating whether to do raised beds instead of just planting in the ground. Raised beds just look so beautiful and definitely limit the amount of weeds. So excited to see how yours turns out!

[@Janeoffools]

The plant you’re wondering if you can eat looks like carrots to me. Pull them up and see if there’s gold at the bottom 😉

[@elizabethpeters423]

I thought the same

[@CharlotteRawles]

Yeah I thought carrots too!

[@hesta72]

and you can eat the carrot tops, I think there are some recipes for making pesto with it

[@FadeWinter]

Just be so careful with identification as other wild plants in the carrot family are deadly poisonous.

[@wendyp4135]

Lovely Greens and Homegrown Garden are fantastic channels, especially for help with growing veg! I also adore Garden Answer for inspiration and motivation.

[@chiaramancin3288]

In our vegetable garden, we hang up old CDs or DVDs to keep the birds from eating the little plants (the light reflecting on them does the job) so that we don't need to resort to pesticides :)

[@emilyclarke8222]

We used to do this at my school too! Always did the trick

[@LeapBeforeLooking]

I'm so excited that you're doing this! I'm 28 and my partner and I just moved into our first home and I'm doing my first year of gardening this year too! I have two large raised beds and my started seedlings are almost ready to be transplanted into the beds in my zone (zone 5a in Canada!) and I'm so nervous that I'm going to kill them! I'm very much like you in that I feel like in order for me to do anything, I must do it well, and it has been a pressure that I've been trying to manage. From what I've seen, gardening isn't a task, it's a lifelong journey of becoming harmonious with the space that you occupy. My biggest tip for new gardeners: please garden with the knowledge that you are an ambassador for the land, gardening safely means being responsible for your native wildlife too! If you are planting anything, please make sure you aren't planting anything considered invasive to your area, Plant native whenever you can!

[@iits_val]

I recommend watching Roots & Refuge Farm on KZbin. I’ve always wanted to own my own farm & watching their videos has taught me SO much! Plus, Jess is an amazing human being and is such a great teacher. She’s also really encouraged me to, “use my waiting room as a classroom” and I bought two greenstalk planters! So, I’ll be right along with you gardening for the first time 😊

[@michellelarbus2733]

Her book is also an amazing source of knowledge, especially if you're relatively new to gardening. It answered all my questions and more.

[@iits_val]

@@michellelarbus2733 yes! I’ve had it in my amazon cart for a while. Need to make the leap and just purchase it 😂 just feels like I’m forever adding more books to that cart though lol.

[@iits_val]

@foliageandforensics Yes! Love Whispering Willows ❤️

[@michellelarbus2733]

@@iits_val I totally know what you mean. I pre-ordered mine shortly after she announced it and I'm so glad I did because I could see myself going back and forth. Now, I wouldn't wanna miss it, it has so much useful info and it's written beautifully, filled with all of Jess' love for the garden.

[@thefarmerswifecanada]

I am so excited for your journey in gardening! I am on my fifth year, and every year you learn new things. It is one of the most rewarding things you can do. I like your idea of going slow. Things that you need to start early, you would need to buy already started plants for, but there are things that you can direct seed into your garden now (I’m in Canada, so your timing might be different). I highly recommend that you use one of your beds for winter squash (if you like squash), because you can easily direct seed a few plants and with very little effort you will have squash to keep over the winter months. As long as you keep them watered every once in awhile, they pretty much take care of themselves. Beans is another thing you can direct seed, and will give you a really good harvest. Best of luck! Oh, and something I’ve learned along the way, only grow what you love to eat, but experiment with new things!

[@jolienwinters2610]

Starting an effective compost ASAP is always advised, so you have material ready by next year. Nettles are great to feed nutrients to the garden, cut them before they flower and rot, ferment or dry them to put back into the soil. I also seem to spot some flowering brassica-family plants, you could try saving seeds, either from the garden or from store bought vegetables.

[@kitchentablecrafting7111]

Only grow what you like to eat. Just go for it one bed at a time and enjoy!

[@MadeleineOlivia]

Thanks for the advice!

[@myrtew6432]

Wow, it's great that you're starting your garden! I think you'll love it. I've had my veg garden for the second season now, and I've found Charles Dowding's youtube series on his small 25m2 garden very helpful! Also, I recommend buying his Vegetable Garden Diary, because it tells you exactly which plants to sow indoors or in the ground for each week of the year and just contains a lot of additional information on types of plants and no dig etc etc. He's also in the same climate zone, which makes his recommended dates very accurate. There's still plenty you can sow, you're definitely not too late to start your garden. May and June are perfect for direct sowing of lettuce, beets, carrots, and beans, which are all quite beginner friendly. They don't need much in terms of soil improvement, and the only additional effort is that the beans may need support if they are a climbing variety and protection from birds until they've sprouted. You can also still start courgettes and pumpkins or squashes (I prefer sowing them indoors because they need heat to develop). They'll need a good layer of compost, but will give a lot of harvest. Plant what you like to eat, that's the only rule in gardening really :) As you said, you'll learn most by just doing something. Some things will work out and some won't, and that's all okay. When you've started your own seeds you'll learn to recognize the plants in your garden much easier too. There are still some soon-to-be-flowering vegetables in there that you could save seeds from (I think I saw parsnips in the third bed on the right), but don't worry about that too much. If you want to start over or sow flowers in there, that's all fine, it's your garden. The nettles you can use as a vegan manure for your garden, google it! Oh, and last things, better remove the netting for now before it gets ruined by the weeds and save it in the shed, you'll learn to use it in your own time. And keep your tomato (and basil) plant indoors till June; tomatoes don't do well in wet and cold weather. ;)

[@granolagirl795]

Potatoes are super easy and you can plant them and just water them now and then. When they have wilted down, you pull them up! Also, plant a row a mixed lettuce next to a row of carrots. The lettuce has shallow roots and the carrots are deep rooted so they complement each other. Lastly, in the autumn plant a whole bed of garlic. It will winter underground and grow up come spring. You can harvest it late June/early July.

[@annamartin3824]

There is a wonderful man on KZbin called Charles Dowding. He is an amazing organic and no dig gardener. His channel is fabulous.

[@MC-ko2mx]

I'm a Charles Dowding fan too! So happy to see so many viewers recommending his channel!

[@jessicasinclair1547]

Feel free to pick up horse manure, but you have to compost it for a year before putting it on your beds. Also remember that there will be remnants of any meds given horses in your area in the manure, so be careful at certain times if year ( like when they worm)

[@rosiedillon23]

We have an outdoor garden that was overgrown when we moved in recently. It’s our first home and it’s overwhelming. I’m not a gardener either and I really want to learn so I can grow our own veg too. Thanks for posting! This has inspired me to get started! 🙂

[@jadehampton9375]

Hi Maddie. My little bit of advice is find your local allotments and speak to a few of the owners for advice. I have had an allotment for a couple of years and I was a complete novice. I leant a lot by speaking to the other owners x

[@jodyderuiter]

your planting intuition is spot on. everything you said I was thinking. start small but just jump in. plant what You want to eat and then throw some wild flower seeds and seedlings in the other beds. :)

[@shaygonsalves3933]

You can use the extra beds to put wildflowers and such for pollinators! It helps your local honeybees and whatever veggies you plant in your intentional beds!

[@MC-ko2mx]

I've suggested the same! Even if they did pollinator-friendly plants for the rest of the beds, it would be awesome. Or better yet, pollinator-friendly *and* nitrogen-fixing plants like clover.

[@mellymeepmeep]

Courgettes, kale, onions and potatoes are the best new starter plants, just stick them in the ground and away you go! Really easy.

[@22daisymae]

You will absolutely love having a garden! It is my personal form of therapy during the warmer months in Iowa, USA. Also, Skillshare has a whole bunch of videos aimed towards the new gardener. You should totally check them out...I've learned so much from them!

[@LindseyMaeWhite]

I started gardening last year, and started with a bunch of herbs and tomato plants. I was also overwhelmed! It was really lovely to learn by trial and error. I killed 2 basil plants (but finally figured it out and had a HUGE plant) and could not keep any cilantro/corriander plants alive! This year I did herbs, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, strawberries, and flowers. Next year I plan on doing more as I learn :)

[@karenhakamaki3766]

Look for local gardening groups - they may have gardeners with a wealth of knowledge and may help to identify what is in your veg beds.

[@jacquiadamson1349]

Your garden is so lovely, it's like your own allotment at home. I've had an allotment and grown edibles at home for a year or so and am very much a beginner still. It's such a therapeutic and rewarding hobby. Can't wait to see your garden develop over the coming years. Lovely greens is a good KZbin channel. Good luck, embrace the mistakes and the whole journey.xxx

[@scminor99]

If the number of beds is overwhelming, you could also share with your neighbors and have a sort of community garden set up! That might be really nice!

[@s30123]

My garden advice is absolutely plant all the perennial plants right away, herbs, berry plants, asparagus, flower shrubs etc.... And don't stress over the time of year too much, planting today is better than waiting a whole next season to " do it right" cos plants want to grow... Lastly the channel "Roots and Refuge" is amazing! 😊

[@carolineholland4178]

Charles Dowding, Lovely Greens and Huw Richards all have really good advice on KZbin. You are right, you really have struck gold. Can't wait to see some gardening vlogs.

[@meganhamlyn1694]

Very wise to start small- weeding and maintaining can be overwhelming when you’re getting to know the garden. Good luck!!

[@dutches8384]

I think my advice is, enjoy it! Enjoy the process, enjoy the learning and the growing of the everything. Just start. Some things will go amazing, other things will fail, that’s gardening. And it’s fine. Enjoy! That’s the most important thing and you will learn while doing it. ❤️

[@flamingoliz]

Your garden beds are amazing! How wonderful to have those. Don't get too overwhelmed trying to do stuff this growing season. I'd fertilize and plant a variety of things in a couple of beds and start small with those and then spend this summer and fall to research and prepare for next year. It's ok that you aren't an expert or doing everything in the garden right this second. You have a lot on your plate with getting settled.

[@hederahelix4600]

This has been so fascinating. I recognize so many traits of yours in myself. Trying to plan everything, wanting it to be perfect immediately, not being able to just get started and go with the flow, always finding a very good reason why you can't just get started. I truly hope you can get out of this "perfectionist headspace" as you called it so aptly. It takes the fun out of things and leads to this feeling of being overwhelmed that you felt as well. Good luck with the garden. You have enough space to experiment without doing everything perfect. 🌳🍀🌻🌼🌷

[@isabelleer7501]

Being in England you are so lucky that you have access to Gardeners World. I have to watch episodes on KZbin but have learned so much from them. I also love the Gardening Australia channel here on KZbin. They are awesome!

[@nim_19]

So in love with your new home and garden 😍 can’t wait to see how it goes ❤️

[@MadeleineOlivia]

Thank you so much!

[@theamyabeja]

Just plant anything! Let go any idea that it's hard. Ultimately plants want to be alive and grow, even if it's not perfect just enjoy seeing it all grow. 😊 You can always dig something out at any time and replace it. Nothing is permanent. Good luck, excited for you/jealous of all those beds

[@valarya]

your outtake on why you haven't started gardening yet is all the feels. same. same. maybe this will inspire me to also hop over that wall D:

[@aaronmoon150]

Hello - love your garden can see so much potential! Lots of great recommendations here already but wanted to add a few more: - Don't be overwhelmed by the beds and I think its a good idea to start with the beds you've cleared and grow over time. As others have said I'd sow the rest with wildflowers (I recommend a good quality mix that isn't bulked out too much with grasses and is all definitely native!). Another option is 'green manure' such as clover, which you can plant now and chop in the winter to break-down and provide nutrients. - One bed would be great for strawberries, the best time to plant these is over winter. You can buy bundles of varieties as bare-root. These are much cheaper and you can get a mix which will spread out the harvest (early and late varieties). For example I got a bunch of 36 plants very affordably on ebay. The netting could be for strawberries as sometimes birds love them, another trick which I haven't needed to try is painting stones red so they get confused and stop bothering! On the whole fruit is my favourite thing to grow as its almost always perennial (less effort) and fruit is so expensive but delicious straight off the plant!! - I'd also use a bed for climbing beans and runner beans. Hugely productive, fun to grow and you can store them in various ways for the rest of the year to cook with. - Don't be afraid to experiment - it's all the fun! You can find crazy coloured veg and other varieties that you wouldn't even find at a market. These make it even more fun to grow. Also I like to interplant with flowers, as its more of a hobby I don't obsess over harvests / maximising the space for production. This can also help with beneficial insects or repel some 'pests'. Over time I'd recommend reading more about permaculture and food forests for your wider garden if you want to plant beyond the raised beds. - When planning I randomly like to use powerpoint, you can draw out your beds (I also have raised beds) with basic shapes to make a template. Then you can print this to do planning on or do it all on powerpoint with clip art ahah I've been gardening for around 7yrs and learnt from scratch so feel free to message if you'd like any more advice :)

[@Cerrydwenn]

I started last year with one courgette plant and one butternut squash plant :D Then i got 2 beds and planted bought leeks and garlic starts :D Now a year later we expanded to 8 beds with various self started seedlings. I recommend binge watching Mr Charles Dowdings videos, wealth of knowledge there.

[@BThirstyPretzel]

Yoga with Adriene is seriously life changing. Her videos are the only yoga programs I can actually stick to. So glad to hear you enjoy her yoga vids as well. Idk a thing about gardening but I have recently started an indoor herb garden that I'm excited about.

[@sydneybaldwin3514]

I’ve just started a veg trug, which is small but I would recommend just getting stuck in. Get your hands in the dirt and try anything. I’ve used plugs for parsnips, beetroot and cauliflower and tomatoes. I’ve grown flowers from seeds for a cut flower bed. It’s so fun and so rewarding. You will have a wonderful garden with 16 beds!

[@victoriawolfe686]

PictureThis is so great, I’ve stopped pulling up things I want to keep 😁 and I absolutely recommend starting small and buying seedlings your first year. You’ll want time to watch what the garden does. Liz Zorab and Huw Richards are both brilliant here on KZbin and if you’re doing no dig you already know about Charles Dowding. I’m in my second year and got a greenhouse this year. I’m glad I waited, it’s less overwhelming! In the first year I wish I had concentrated more on developing good soil and choosing an irrigation system. Can’t wait to see you go on your journey! PS: chives and oregano in particular can be very invasive and take over. You might consider planting those in containers.

[@patriziadelorenzis378]

You have One of the world's most famous gardener's in England. That dear man Monty Don! I'm sure he may inspire you. Remember there Is a right moment for everything in Nature. Please don't go cutting Roses in the wrong period. Your garden Is beautful. Your wisteria reminds me of Jack and the Beanstalk. All the best to ... you , your garden and the awesome house Ciaoooo from Italy.

[@tracygavigan5217]

Plant tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers ,flowers, herbs, jalapeno's, carrots, Its so much fun...have fun with all those beds!!!

[@jmarie1647]

Gardening is such a rewarding hobby! I started small with some tomatoes last year and this year I have a whole assortment of plants on the go. Starting seeds seems intimidating but it's super easy if you have a sunny area to keep them. My biggest bit of advice is to give plants enough space, most seeds or seedlings come with the amount of space the fully grown plant will need and it's one of the things that is actually really important for getting a good yield. Staggering your seed start will also make for a longer harvest time 😊

[@isabelleer7501]

I see celery, carrots, potatoes, and chard mixed in with the weeds. Since you're a beginner my recommendation is to pick maybe four of five beds that you want to do vegetables in this year and the rest maybe sow with annual cut flower seed mixes. So things like zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, and sun flowers. This will make it look pretty and you'll have free flowers to decorate your home with, while also supporting the bees and taking up space while you're learning. Things like watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkin also do take up a lot of space so if you wanted to just put two of those things in one bed that would fill them really easily. Cantaloupe is super easy to grow from seed!

[@AdventuresOfMoi]

I'm going to work on my garden some more today! Thanks for some inspo! Cannot wait to see what all comes up out of yours!!!

[@MadeleineOlivia]

Good luck today and thanks so much!

[@kanykamal]

Just be happy dear! always remember this, that you've got alot of followers and we all love you! So keep it up and do whatever makes you happy. 😘😘

[@theshrimptons6574]

Hello from South East Cornwall! I love watching Jessie at Plot 37 - find her style very reassuring and relaxing. Good luck with your growing.

[@cloverdoll1228]

I've been into gardening for about 6 years now. My advice is to pick a handful of plants and just focus on them for a year. Then in the following years add a couple more. Soon you'd have a nice sized garden without feelings of being overwhelmed.

[@MC-ko2mx]

This is such good advice! Even if it's just salad greens and herbs for the first year, it would be awesome. Nothing beats homegrown veggies.

[@cloverdoll1228]

@@MC-ko2mx I like to add 2 veg, 1 herb, and 1 floral each year. Some years it's an edible floral like nasturtiums, some times not like a poisonous daffodil... because they're my fav. :)

[@MC-ko2mx]

@@cloverdoll1228 A good progression. Adding a handful of plants every year is very do-able, and makes things less overwhelming.

[@hannahc4641]

So excited to follow your gardening journey! I’ve grown up with a mum who’s a keen gardener and I’ve definitely inherited it. In recent years we’ve switched to No Dig and it’s been fantastic. Definitely collect horse poo if you can like your mum said, it’s fantastic for the garden, I’ve got two rescue ponies so I’m lucky to have a ready supply. For No Dig gardening I really recommend looking at Charles Dowding, he’s got a fab KZbin channel and lots of books. We also have his calendar which tells you the dates to plant things on according to the seasons and the moon, we’ve had a lot of success following it. There’s another book called Veg in One Bed which is quite good but I can’t remember the author, Hugh someone. I also learn a lot watching Gardener’s World and it’s a nice relaxing programme for a Friday evening. Getting a polytunnel/greenhouse would be really useful, there’s a kind of polytunnel/greenhouse hybrid you can get called a polycrub that’s like made out of a solid plastic tunnel instead of a frame covered in plastic sheet, it’s more expensive but lasts longer and is better for the environment because I think the tunnel they use is reclaimed/recycled. One last thing - the cheapest way to get herbs to grow in your garden is getting those pots of growing herbs from the supermarket. I bought parsley from Tesco, divided it up (there’s always loads of plants in one pot) and plant it out, I put mine in the polytunnel and it thrived. You can let it grow, cut it back and let it regrow, let it go to seed and self-seed, then you’ve basically got unlimited parsley (as long as you don’t mind letting it grow wherever it sends its seeds!) We did the same with a thyme plant from the supermarket, planted it out (the whole thing, didn’t divide it into multiples) and it’s still growing several years on. It’s a perennial so it flowers and we cut it back, then it grows. It’s fantastic and so happy in the polytunnel. If you like fresh mint tea I really recommend getting a Moroccan tea mint plant, but keep it in a big pot because mint is invasive. It’s the BEST mint for tea and delicious in salads.

[@luciep09]

Hi Madeleine, perhaps for this year, you could not focus on all 16 beds and just decide what you’d like to plant for a winter crop, like potatoes and perhaps some cabbages/kale etc and other root veggies. Then look at RHS website or similar for planting times and crop type (main crop etc). Then you could always choose some of the veggie beds and convert them to cut flower beds so you get them ready for bulbs and seeds for next flowering season and you can have a couple of beds of beautiful cut flowers for the house....whilst encouraging loads of bees and insects to those flowers xx

[@Duffetrut]

Hi Madeleine! Wow, what a lovely garden!! My advice is to invest in learning about PERMACULTURE to have lots of produce with little effort and to be as sustainable as you can be!! Gooooood Luck!

[@noyramartinez7177]

So excited for your vegetable garden. We also used raised beds because we had clay soil and new construction so it helped us not have to amend the entire garden. I found that lining the bottoms with weed barrier and cardboard helped and we filled with leaves and twigs and then added soil, mushroom compost, and soil conditioner with some of the existing clay soil. We’ve just used pine mulch around the beds to help with weeds. I would also recommend starting another compost pile or adding to the ones you have when you clear the other beds maybe you can use some of that to get it going and it helps mitigate some waste from the kitchen.. the palettes didn’t work for us but we used portions of metal fencing and those have been going strong for 3 years. Hope this helps. Can’t wait for updates!!

[@purplerain4062]

Start one bed at a time, otherwise it can seem overwhelming but very exciting at the same time. I've got my own allotment now, I'm very excited too 🥰 if you need any advice or recommendations just give me a buzz xx

[@humajhaider]

Just go for it ! You have a great plan ..start small so it doesn’t get overwhelming .. This is my 3rd season gardening and you won’t believe how quickly you’ll pick up things. Also try cosmos and zinnias for cut flowers .. they are super easy to grow and cosmos attract hummingbirds! Wish you all the best !

[@carlottadix]

My best flower advice invest in perrenial plants you will be so much more happy and productive. Also some vegetables come again yearly like asparagus and horseradish once you get started. I think onions are fun to grow and easy to store. You are so kind to share your garden with all of us. I ate only raw veg and fruit for years. I love pesto on sandwiches. Yea did you say you were planting bok choy. I love it.

[@Sarah-ij3hg]

My advice is concentrate on just those 4 beds, record what you plant, etc. Next year you can expand into more beds following what you learn this year. It doesn’t matter if you remove something that you end up wanting to bring back, the goal is to learn as you go. Good luck ☺️

[@RillaG]

I find gardening super overwhelming too. I recommend the book Lasagna Gardening. It's great in that it kills all the weeds (with cardboard/paper) and uses all your kitchen scraps, yard leaves, etc to build beautiful organic soil and it is very much a low maintenance, low weed technique. It's also super easy in that you plant starts right into the mulch and the produce is just so incredible. I have potatoes that come up on their own every year from layering in my kitchen scraps. Each year I add a few lovely plants like tulip bulbs, a rose plant, a rhubarb (perennial), and I love it! Another idea, if you have the budget for it, see if there's a local gardener who could come give you a consult and help you identify what to keep or pull.

[@hannakaraniuk6393]

Regarding meditation - you've probably seen it already, but there is a really nice Headspace series on Netflix, and each episode has a guided session targeting a certain issue. Hope that helps😊 And goodluck with your beautiful garden!!! 💜

[@orangutan539]

Me and my partner are sitting with two desks together back-to-back and we are both having a window on our sides, you can try this with your wooden ones and your window-doors. And then that additional desk put under the side-window :) Love your vlogs, hope to see more! Cheers

[@Blue-pb7kz]

If you're going to pull out the stinging nettles, you can keep them to make soup so long as they aren't flowering yet. It's actually really good - I'm almost envious, as I've had to forage for mine and haven't found much yet!

[@hennamelender]

& salty stinging nettle pancakes or pesto! : )

[@sandrar4981]

this is a great project, have fun! We have a small garden but last year I started to plant 3 tomato plants, 1 cucumber, 1 pumpkin, strawberries and different herbs. It is great, when you can buy less from the supermarket 😀

[@Juuanaa2014]

About year ago we move out from city to countryside with my husband. The house is after his grandparents. There's a lot of fruits trees, lots of really old stuff. And in 2020 I plant everything that I could:) that was overwhelming and stressful. I have had so much tomatoes 😄 this year I told myself - ok just relax! And now the gardening makes me so happy. I learn everything by myself by making mistakes :)

[@nicolastrachan9194]

lovely video your garden is amazing. Don't be scared everyone needs to start somewhere. My advice is to see what comes up. Pull out any weeds you can identify and just fill the gaps with some plug plants and good quality compost. The first year is just getting to know your space and soil and have fun seeing what works and what won't work. Good luck and thank you for the lovely content.

[@helenyoung8012]

Look at Charles Downing no dig gardening here on KZbin. Start small, cover the twelve beds in black plastic to keep the weeds down until you are ready to use them. I think one bed had rhubarb in it. I would not worry too much about the rest. I could not see anything else worth keeping, a lot had gone to seed and are therefore not good to eat. Plant your own wild garlic!! Good luck and enjoy. Don’t expect perfection, it is all trowel and error!!!

[@Leglag724]

My hubby plants marigolds along the edges of our boxes. We plant tomatoes, peas, cucumber, onions, lettuce, bell pepper and hot peppers. we have separate small beds for each type of plant.

[@racquelle87]

I recently got an allotment but am still very much a gardening novice. It’s so rewarding to see little seedlings developing and the allotment community have been so helpful. I’ve learned so much already. Don’t overthink it and just have a go 🙂 Potatoes, leeks, carrots etc are great to grow as a beginner. One goal I have is to be able to make a soup with the vegetables I’ve grown. Good luck with it and look forward to seeing it.

[@mackenzieaustin3310]

Hi Madeleine! I started my first garden this spring. It’s become my favorite hobby. Hands down the easiest/quickest thing I’ve grown so far are summer squash varieties. Direct sow the seeds when the soil is warm enough and they’ll produce all season. Yum!

[@thirdeyecat3593]

What a dream garden, even if you are a beginner it's just such an exciting place to learn and experiment.

[@coline6880]

A few things that are quite low maintenance but tends to give a good harvest that we always do in our garden are zucchinis (the plants just keeps on growing more flowers and then vegetables during the entire summer), potatoes and sweet potatoes (it just does its thing under the ground and can give quite a lot), green beans (I recommend the one that grows on a structure so you don't have to bend down to harvest them. In french we call them climbing beans) and pumpinks. Good luck Madeleine 😘

[@eboleen]

I love that you're taking the time to grow your own veg! your plots remind me of my grandad's alotment at the bottom of his garden! He was super green-fingered! Maybe you could dedicate a bed for just herbs, maybe the closest one? It might save having to buy new herbs in pots every time you need them! I recently bought my dad some garlic and he's so grateful for it as he's always using it! (we have a lot of pasta dinners so essential really, ahaha!) I don't think there's any harm in planning the veggies you use the most and splitting the beds into summer and winter veg!! I'm so excited to see how you guys get on

[@cindymarie2475]

I've been doing yoga for six months and I love it!! I agree meditation is difficult!!! Lol

[@fridai5594]

I started my garden from scratch last year and have expanded quite a bit this year. My best advice is to find a few people to follow, KZbin is a treasure cove! My favourite gardening channel is Roots and Refuge, she's amazing and have so many videos for beginners!

[@aliciacato9331]

What you can add is a simple glasshouse for more plants to grow in for example cucumbers, chilli, tomatoes... and then plant your own seeds since it’s much more beneficial and less expensive

[@CharlotteRawles]

I'm sure I saw Rhubarb in one of the back end beds? Look well established! I think you're doing it the right way! We only started last year and I learnt SO much in just one season!

[@lucindaalzua6766]

This was a great video! hope to see more of your garden as it grows 😊

[@emilymae8416]

If you wanted to dedicate a planter to them, potatoes are a really good one to start with! My mum chucked a few off potatoes onto her tiny flower patch and when she went to weed a while later, found about 4 kilos worth of potatoes, they never stopped either, we had to give them away! I'm not sure what time of year is best for them (I know nothing about gardening) but they sprout seemingly really easily, might be worth looking into x

[@RazemLepiejPodcast]

Hi Maddie, I started my veg garden from the scratch last year and “Veg in One Bed. How to Grow an Abundance of Food in One Raised Bed, Month by Month” by Huw Richards was a great help. Fingers crossed for you, gardening is such an amazing adventure! 🌿 There’s still time to plant tomatos, courgettes, herbs and I recommend that. Last year we had loads of tomatos just from 5 plants 👌

[@knowthyselfandyoullknowthe8216]

I love love your videos, they are absolutely lovely, can't wait for one each tuesday :) Your garden is incredibly beautiful, thank you for letting us enjoy it too (especially those of us who dream of having one) :) love to all 4 of you

[@jenniferbooks214]

We’re new to gardening and beg growing as well. Love Gardeners World but also Charles Dowding here on You Tube is amazing

[@cansukurt8879]

new to urban gardening, thought i could utilize my front garden and put some raised beds and couple of lessons i learned so far 1) dont do it all at once, take your time 2)you really dont need to put in all the seeds lol i have way too many carrots at the moment 3) some plants grow well big! need to be mindful of your space 4) it all takes time so dont be upset, may has been cold and nothing germinated in their usual timeframe, but even if they take double the time they do in the end, so dont rush and do more seeds 5) invest in various size seed trays 6) dont dump all the seeds in a pot lol, seperating them takes ages. Have fun x

[@leamontegut4992]

You have a beautiful rhubarb in one of your beds on the right side ! Those are so low maintenance. For gardening ressources there are so many great youtube channels out there to document yourself, learn and watch at the same time. To name a few : roots and refuge farm, No dig by Charles Dowding, Modern Homesteading and Huw Richards. Gardening is a wonderful experience, where you constantly learn and do better, and fruit and veg from the garden always taste better.

[@Abby-dx1jy]

i started off with potatoes and they are quite easy, all i do is give them a water. you can put them in drills with straw or soil over the top for a 'no-dig' method. plus potatoes don't need really any weeding, sarpo mira are a good disease-resistant variety. you can pick the stinging nettles for tea as well!!

[@malinp4491]

Early Stinging Nettles are great for soups and smoothies. A friend of our family puts buckets over them to slow their growth in order to keep them from getting too fibrous

[@jenniferkessener1111]

Many vegetables are so easy to direct sow from seed right in your beds. Salad greens of all kinds, peas, chard, Kale, green beans, bok choy, arugula, radishes, spinach. Squashes. I do start tomato and pepper plants inside or buy starts. If you keep the plants inside, then you have to acclimate them outside again. If they were outside at the nursery, they will do well outside. You may want to do the herbs in one bed. Some are perrenials, and will come back every year. Tomatoes need some support, and do like companion planting with basil which is an annual plant, and seasonal. Good for you buying some things to get going. You will fall in love with gardening.

[@hattiea]

11.52: the plant looks like fennel. If it is you can eat it in salads and it gives a licorice type taste. Nettles can be used in soups or as part of compost! Hope Alex feels better soon!

[@itsmehaley2]

Keep us plenty updated on this journey please! Been dreaming of learning this myself and I’m also perfectionistic!