Simple Garden - An Introduction

The Simple Garden is the latest addition to the series of family scale trial gardens within the RED Gardens Project.
Unlike the other gardens which generally follow broadly accepted and reasonably developed methods or approaches, the Simple Garden is my own exploration of how to radically simplify the management of a vegetable garden.
By growing a very limited range of crops, and relying on sheet composting, plastic ground covers and carefully designed crop rotation, the effort of managing this garden is greatly reduced. But the limited variety of vegetables it produces wouldn’t suit everyone.
Help me develop these gardens and make more videos / redgardens
Or use www.paypal.me/... as a simple way to help support this project and the time and energy that goes into making videos. Thanks so much!
/ cjredgardens
/ redgardens
Part of the Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Tipperary, Ireland www.thevillage.ie

[@oleungeheur7709]

I just became a 1$ Patron for you :) It is not much, but if some more of your 6500 regular viewers would spend a dollar... come on guys, this is more then "normal" youtube, this is really helping us gardeners to save time and money!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks so much for your pledge! Every little bit helps!

[@victorybeginsinthegarden]

you have a uncanny ability to jam a lot of information in a single sentence i like you channel

[@REDGardens]

and I like your comment! :-)

[@samantharobles3715]

As a horticulture student, you're basically a superhero lol. Your approach is so wonderfully scientific yet realistic, it's very admiral. Thank you so much for sharing, I hope I can be in a situation to become a Patreon for you soon!

[@REDGardens]

Ah, that comment made my morning ! I can now go to the gardens happy! Thanks!

[@georgehart1122]

best gardening channel on youtube by far

[@REDGardens]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@biancat7761]

I'm absorbing everything like a sponge for when I buy a farm. You are an absolute godsend to this community. Not alot of fluffing around but giving your opinion in a consise and detailed way. THANK YOU! Im gonna go binge now

[@REDGardens]

Thank you!

[@chainepotagere]

Hi, We wants an update! How is going?

[@StreetMachine18]

Love the comparison to a zone 3 garden. Having an annual vegetable garden that needs less maintenance, further away, is a good use of time and space

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! I think it is useful way of looking at it. So much gardening advice is based on zone 1 or 2 type gardens. I’m only trying to get my head around it all myself.

[@Marialla.]

I like that the tasks of the Simple Garden are bunched up and simplified, because that would make asking for help much easier. It would make a good choice for groups who want to garden but don't want to get bogged down in too many fiddly tasks, and whose members may not all be willing or able to work every week on the project. But if different members could pledge to come in at least a few times a month, and all join in on Big Work days such as digging and harvest, then it could be successful. It might be an excellent way to not only increase group bonding through service work, but to provide for members and perhaps for a local food bank.

[@trockodile]

Back re-watching these videos after your latest update as I consider something similar for an as yet unused area of our land. Thank you again for all your work, help, and generous contribution to the ever ongoing conversation regarding food production in an ethical, sustainable and on a human family focused scale. 👍

[@REDGardens]

I should probably go back and rewatch those videos as well, even just to see if how I describe things has changed! Glad you appreciate the work I do, and hope you have a good growing season.

[@bago696]

Really like this idea, no matter how busy life is, I reckon a garden like this is possible

[@REDGardens]

Yes, when my life gets too busy I dream of managing gardens in this way!

[@dangthatscool1]

I stumbled on your channel and I wanted to say that I am really impressed by your open-minded approach to growing food. This is a realm that suffers from an overabundance of information which is shared always with total confidence, even when it is based on nothing but anecdote, tradition, or ideology. I admire the care you take to qualify your claims and clearly articulate the ambiguities inherent in drawing conclusions based on limited trials and experience. I also appreciate your willingness to test received wisdom (e.g. your no rules composting) to see what really matters and what doesn't -- at least for your particular situation. On top of all this, your videos are aesthetically pleasing, especially the sound and cadence of your voice. Best wishes and thank you for your work.

[@emmettroche313]

I find this an ingenious yet simple approach to gardening. I will adapt to this next season. Thanks

[@REDGardens]

Cool. Hope you have good success with your version of it!

[@dutchbeef8920]

Absolute genius, love it

[@elemeno9463]

Fantastic system! I love it.

[@LauraTeKiwiBirb]

I really like this method, its a good choice for those that don't have much time to manage crops. Its also a good introductory system for beginner gardeners.

[@REDGardens]

Glad you appreciate the method. I think you are right about it being a good for introductory system, and am starting to recommend it to people.

[@TheNewMediaoftheDawn]

Awesome garden, my favourite of all yours! Like many, my staple at home bulk veg purchases are carrots, potatoes and onions. This system would combine well with a poly tunnel for fresh greens, warm crops like tomatoes and others... good stuff.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@ciarfah]

As someone who's away from home more often than not, this is great

[@REDGardens]

I think there are a lot of people who would be in that situation, but still want a garden.

[@nicf1555]

From a system-building perspective this is a great "baseline" garden. You can expand/experiment around it while having a tested and true method at the core. Some interesting room for contamination/application of permaculture thinking there. Very elegant design, kudos

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I am really proud of the elegant design of this, and it is great to know others see the value in the design as well.

[@tnason04]

It seems like you have reinvented the tradition of field crops. My understanding of pre-modern agriculture is that this essentially what would have been done. You would have had a small kitchen garden close to the house and then a larger area that would be analogous to your simple plot, growing a small number of crops with minimal inputs that would be harvested at the end of the season and stored for winter. That said, your rotation and approach is, as usual, well thought out. You are doing a wonderful job of comparing a variety of approaches to gardening. I love the humility and the thoughtful acknowledgment of the importance of context. This is something that I find is missing from many gardening books and systems. Now if only you were gardening in a climate even remotely similar to mine. :) If you know of anyone doing anything similar in a cold (very cold) continental climate, I'd love to know about it.

[@REDGardens]

I definitely borrowed the idea of single crops rotating, rather than clusters of crops, which is more of a traditional field scale rotation idea. And the concept of an area for simple storable crops, separate from the more active garden. i think a lot of growers/gardeners (myself included) mix it all up together. I don't know of anyone doing similar in colder continental areas, but it would be fascinating to see how this 'Simple' idea can be adapted to different regions.

[@peterk.6093]

I know people who have this kind of garden a few kilometers from their house. Besides to potatoes, onions and garlic, they also plant giant pole beans there - they require no work, just seeding and providing them with high poles. And then you just come to pick them up dry at the end of the season to be stored and used during the winter. Robust plants and seeds also somehow minimize the amount of work at this type of garden. These folks also have another "intensive" garden just next to their house, just like you mentioned. Oh, and the relative advantage of the beans is also they come into the soil relatively late, even as late as in half May. So if you did not have enough time to plant other crops earlier, you can still give it a try with the giant beans when everything else is already growing.

[@why7069]

I like your style! your videos are a pleasure to watch and your attitude towards learning is generous

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Feedback like that really helps.

[@SapioiT]

One thing you could test is using using a mulcher or shredder, if you don't have lots of preparation time between when you add the matter to be composted and when you add the plants, Possibly even adding the material to compost into a bucket/recipient in the sun, to make a compost tea, which would somewhat kickstart the breaking down of the matter into compost. Another thing you could test is creating a quick compost by having a compost bin into a greenhouse tube made specifically for "cooking" the matter with high amounts of water. This would break down the biomass so it can more easily be digested into compost.

[@REDGardens]

Shredding the compost directly onto the soil would probably speed things up, though I'm not sure if it really matters if it takes longer, or all season, as it will provide additional fertility as the squash grows.

[@beni141000]

The thought process and approach you bring to gardening is amazing! My approach is more random but will develop with experience.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for commenting. Very glad my approach to this garden is appreciated, even if it is different from yours!

[@PetalsonthePavingSlabs]

You've given me a bit to think about with the holding back on crops that need regular harvesting, thank you!

[@REDGardens]

Cool. it is interesting when we think about what we actually grow, and how it could be different.

[@yergman]

I love the comparison of results you provide. Keep up the good work!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@crpth1]

Red Gardens - Got a "knot" on my throat around 4:08. Don't waste the carrot greens! They're perfect for soup or even better mashed (my preference). Traditionally vegetable purée it's done with spinach. But you can take my word. Creamy vegetables can be done with an assortment of veggie leaves. Carrot greens are just one more and a delicious one, I might had. ;-) Since usually there's plenty of them we can even be picky and just use the very tender tops. The rest can follow straight to the compost pile. Cheers

[@REDGardens]

I have started to eat more of the carrot greens, though these ones were in quite poor shape.

[@dylanashley799]

This really just shows that you don’t have to have anything ridiculously special to grow very nice crops

[@wipeoutxl21]

im so jealous of all your space, just quadrupled my garden space by moving to a new house but its still just 5% of what you have!

[@REDGardens]

It is so great having all that space to experiment with, but it is a big task managing it all!

[@brianwhite9555]

It was interesting to learn how you rotate these nutrient dense, highly storable crops. I imagine you could incorporate parsnips and rutabaga into the rotation at some point.

[@REDGardens]

I really like the rotation in this garden, it all fits together quite well. I was thinking of incorporating a few other crops like parsnip, but for this season I am going to stick with the 4 I grew last season.

[@gnarlytreeman]

I need to remember this. Simple is good. I have trees for variety.

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@Mrader1983]

Awesome

[@dollyperry3020]

Very nice!

[@johnatkinson512]

Great plan

[@REDGardens]

:-)

[@johnatkinson512]

RED Gardens when collapse happens , how much lettuce you grow will become irrelevant

[@REDGardens]

Very good point, and something I think about quite a bit.

[@dimitarzlatanski]

Interesting!

[@megpie417]

Love the video! Really great to see such an easy way of composting.. I'm never going to fit enough pile turning into my life!

[@REDGardens]

Hey Megan! Thanks for the comments. I am quite intrigued with this method of composting, it seems so good in principle, but I don’t have enough experience to really understand the pros and cons.

[@qtpwqt]

Maybe this would be a better for our back yard , thanks Bruce.

[@REDGardens]

It might work well, just watch out for the raccoons getting into the sheet composting (if you use that method).

[@qtpwqt]

We would just use the compost from the garden and lawn , that way we can muke use of it sooner then waiting for it to completey decompose. But we are away from home weeks at a time in the summer so it just might be the way for us.

[@alionofengland4059]

I am officially naming you, Garden Guru

[@REDGardens]

Lol

[@mvandell]

Looks like it could also be used as a great ground breaking method too.. Nice vid man!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! I hadn’t really thought about the process from that perspective. But you are right. It would be a great way to start a new garden - or extend one. If I had been the patient kind of grower, I could have started only 1/3 of this garden each season, and let the fabric, compost and squash do the work!

[@mvandell]

RED Gardens haha yeah, I know what you mean regarding patience! So, what other crop would do well other than squash that could be used for the first years work as a good ground prepper in your opinion?

[@REDGardens]

Hmmm, that's a good question. I think the bigger brassicas, like a strong kale plant would do well in this kind of situation, though I'm not sure if their roots are long enough to occupy so much of the space under the ground cover. But they are continual harvest types of plants, not the kind you can walk away from. Courgettes could also work - though basically the same as squash, just different harvesting. I think if couldn't plant squash, I might just leave the sheet composting to do its thing for a season, then plant potatoes or whatever the following year.

[@mvandell]

One thing I'm learning about brassicas is their love of bacteria rich soil, whereas I think that most other crops prefer a fungal charged soil. So not sure how that would work.. What's your experience with that? Courgetts I think could be a good bet. I'm thinking the job of the plastic really is to act as a mulch, but does it give the flexibility of say a thick straw layer? Straw does everything that you require, plus it composts to add to your soil.. something along the Ruth Stout method lines.. dinno just thinking out loud :=)

[@REDGardens]

That is interesting about them liking bacterial rich soils - haven't heard about that. Do you have any references where I can learn more about that? I have tried suing deep little mulches, and variations of grass/hay/straw and have found them to be problematic in this climate. They insulate the soil, preventing it from warming up in the spring, and become a haven for slugs. The plastic seems to do the opposite (though I'm not sure about the slugs ...).

[@ericsantos8213]

Salute from mexio, my dear friend

[@REDGardens]

Hello there in Mexico!!

[@johnatkinson512]

Brilliant

[@timothybarr8983]

This garden and the intensive are my favorites. Also, a self-sustaining, "cut and come again" garden requiring little or no outside inputs is something I ponder. I.e., where peas and beans feed inputs almost exclusively for low input requiring crops that have high frost and heat resistance, such as collards, chard, parsley (no bolt biennials). To rotate a nitrogen fixing legume with the aforementioned trio may not require much, if any, compost.

[@REDGardens]

The idea of a 'cut and come again' garden is an interesting idea. Your suggestion of selecting no-bolt biennials is a good one, jus need to convince people to eat lots of that kind of veg!! I think there is a lot of possibilities with integrating different cropping and planting rotations - probably climate specific - that would work really well, with very little input and minimal time.

[@paorahekenui6616]

great video very informative

[@REDGardens]

thanks!

[@thomasreto2997]

Love your videos....thanks for the knowledge😃🌈🤙

[@REDGardens]

Glad you like them.

[@ceedee2570]

Also, you might want to reference and link your past videos into current videos to help keep all of your great work in the present.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I need to do that more.

[@randyhans8426]

Great video and ideas, try asking established prairie farmer gardeners on labour saving and planting techniques from spring to fall. They have been living off their gardens for generations.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks.

[@fxm5715]

Space is one thing I have in abundance; perhaps I should shift my mindset to a larger, easier garden, and not put as much effort into productivity per plant or per bed. One limiting factor is availability of water, though, as mid-summer can be very dry here in southern Maryland. I do have a few acres of woods, so perhaps generous applications of leaf mould each Spring would take care of that. Thanks, as always, for the great information!

[@REDGardens]

It is an interesting mental shift - going from intensively managing a smaller area to trying to figure out how to manage a larger area more easily. As always it depends on context, but I am intrigued by how much I/we are conditioned to go with the stuff that is more intensive and active.

[@ceedee2570]

this is fantastic. what about some revisit videos on what you else you have learned related to this?

[@REDGardens]

I have done a few more videos on the Simple Garden. The latest is kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqGxlKmPqp6joNU

[@shean7890]

Such joy to watch your videos , when you get a chance would you explain what is the difference between composting, burning, or letting those organic materials dry in the sun , such as hay , grass clippings...etc . Thank you 🙏

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Interesting question - I hadn't thought about this before, or all least not in this way. Composting is generally a damp or wet process of decomposition (aka rotting) where microbes, fungus and worms and the creatures eat the organic matter, well mostly eating the various forms of carbon in the organic matter, as well as all the other minerals/nutrients. Burning by definition causes all of the carbon (and a few other things) to be burnt and released to the atmosphere, leaving only the elements and material that could not burn, which is ash - no carbon but lots of minerals. Drying removes the moisture so that the decomposition can't take place, or at least not in the same way, and basically preserves a lot of the carbon and other nutrients until moisture is added again and the decomposition can take place. Hope that helps.

[@shean7890]

RED Gardens wow, thank you so much for the precision and the details and you speedy answer. , I’m satisfied perfectly with the answer, I’m a bit lazy by nature and worse ..impatient , in my vegetable garden, so I rarely compost , I think I’m moving into a new perspective of action. Just getting such knowledge and self awareness is the secret. , by the way I love mixing leafy greens with one clove of garlic and a tablespoon of seeds and nuts ( mixed already) with a banana and some others fruits , then I add waters down blend , and drink such healthful smoothie almost ever morning for breakfast . I even put any wild grown weeds or plants in there as well. Consider that if you wish. Thank you again. I’ll keep watching your videos.

[@REDGardens]

That smoothie sounds good.

[@crpth1]

@@shean7890- Impatience or laziness being an issue. The best method is to chop&drop, my personal preference. LOL :-) You'll always have to chop, so drop it in place for even less work. Problem solved. ;-) No waste, no trouble. Just let nature do what it does best. At least it's not wasted and improve the Biome as it goes. On the other hand burning is a big no, no, that should be illegal. It's like burning money. Since you, literally, see the value in it go with the smoke. Adding to the fact that after that you'll run to the store to buy artificial fertilizers, to try to add what was trow away in the first place. Focus on the word "try". Yes it's true it doesn't even make sense... ;-) Cheers

[@almightyderpy]

love this man keep a going! been waiting a while for this :)

[@REDGardens]

Thanks man!

[@format102]

Would be interested to see the same simple garden divided in 4 parts, with the fourth the year before squash, being a composting area for a year, just dropping kitchen scraps, and maybe with chicken access to it (25 m2 could make it for a couple of chicken in a small homestead) Thanks for the good work and for sharing :-)

[@REDGardens]

It would be interesting to insert chickens into the process. If they were before the squash, they would be useful to clear new ground.

[@joansmith3492]

It's a very nice looking, thriving garden. Are you familiar with Ruth Stout's way of gardening?It's pretty simple as well. I'm trying her method for potatoes this year. You just put them out on bare ground, you don't even plant them. You cover them with 8-12 inches of mulch (she liked rotting hay, I'm using leaves because that's what I have). you keep adding mulch as the plants grow. Pretty simple. She didn't even water her garden, but she lived in New England. In Texas, we have to water. Thanks for sharing your garden.

[@REDGardens]

I have come across Ruth Stout’s method (and some similar to it) but have had serious issues with mulch based gardening in Ireland. It keeps the soil too cool (very different problem to what you have) and becomes a perfect breeding ground for slugs. You might be interested in my video from December about my No Dig Garden.

[@joansmith3492]

Yes, good point. I garden in a community garden that doesn't have snail issues, the deep mulch have worked there. My garden at my house does have lots of snails, so deep mulch systems have been a disaster there.

[@REDGardens]

We get slugs everywhere!

[@timstewartuk]

Thank you for the videos, which are generally helpful. Your site looks very exposed. How about creating more windbreaks? Trees, hedges, fencing and suchlike, would help reduce buffeting of your poly tunnels and large leaved plants, in particular.

[@REDGardens]

Yes it is quite exposed to the wind. I have used some windbreak material on another area that I am growing in, and hope to be able to set up similar windbreak for these gardens. in the long term trees and hedging would be the ideal approach, but is a bit trickier in this location with the layout of the site. You are correct that any reduction in the wind will help.

[@timstewartuk]

@@REDGardens For what it's worth, I would recommend growing willow as a crop. It matures quickly, thus providing a filter to the wind, it's easy to cultivate with little maintenance. When suitably cropped it would provide materials for basket making, fence building and fuel for fires (charcoal), for instance. Larger growing tree varieties would be beneficial around the perimeter of the land. Whatever you choose, I wish the project well. It all looks very interesting.

[@REDGardens]

@@timstewartuk Willow would be a good one. I'd love to do a area of willow coppice.

[@mothepractitioner]

Great

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@MrKmanIce]

Bruce, the Simple Garden idea led my mind to consider the concept of specialization/trade/insurance. I do wonder though if, say, one family specialized in making squashes, the other onions/carrots, and a third family potatoes. Then the three families combined their bounty by trade or a means of insurance. Would the same space used for these *gasp* monocultures have a total sum harvest greater than if three families grew their own identical Simple Gardens? These ideas though are perhaps outside of the scope of RED Gardens as it is focused only on a single isolated family's self-sufficient garden. But the idea of making a cash-crop or a surplus of one kind does intrigue me, and hopefully you too.

[@d.e303-anewlowcosthomebuil7]

You might just give a try to planting sunchokes and winter squash amoungst the weeds so as to smother them some..saves a lot of work....can grow in a grassey field.

[@REDGardens]

That is an option, though I am not overly fond of sunchokes. I suspect that one year of that would not be enough to get rid of the grass and especially the nettles.

[@chanoone7812]

I'm very interested to hear how you deal with blight and potatoes?

[@babybalrog]

Had to come back and rewatch this after the recent updates and thoughts on a cover crop. A question I have, if you only sheet compost before the squash crop, are you not adding any material at any time other than winter? Another way to ask, can you only deal with "fertility bombs" in the winter? If one arrived mid summer what would you do? I think I was under the impression you had 4 sections not 3, and one was always composting. It's hard to imaging a cover crop being comparable with the black tarp, and the exposed sheet compost. Yes, you could get a few weeks growth right around harvest, but I don't think that would be vigorous enough to take over the space and suppress weeds. Not in that time frame. And the goal being to minimize time inputs. Only if a crop could be found that like squash, only needs a small access point to get below the tarp, and would produce most of it biomass on top of the tarp would it seem to fit the context. That rules out many of the grasses, or ground covers like clover. As I believe these need roots under their expanse. But a bush bean seems to fit. Two minutes of googling says Austrian winter peas can be planted up to a week after the first frost, not sure how that aligns with your harvest. I can't get any good photos that show if it spreads or not. But what I do see looks decent.

[@REDGardens]

That is an old video. I should probably rewatch some of them again, to remember what I said! I can deal with 'fertility bombs' from August/September after the onions are harvested, right through until the squash started to really grow in June. It is easiest in the winter and early spring though.

[@OrtoInScatola]

Do you really speak this fast? 😅😂 I had to replay it at 0.75x and take notes because I have the perfect place to try this in my garden (and was actually thinking about something similar), but since you have clearly shown that this works really well in your last video I am re exploring this idea I’ve just become a patron because I really enjoy your methods and the clarity with which you explain your experiences. Keep up the good work!

[@REDGardens]

Apparently I speak that fast when I am nervous/anxious, which I usually am when I am trying to get the videos recorded. Sorry for that, but glad you found that slowing the vide works better for you. And thank you so much for becoming a Patron!!

[@TheJunkyardgenius]

Have you checked out Curtis stone the urban farmer. The methods he employs are about ruthless efficiency and the yields this type of farming gets are phenomenal.

[@REDGardens]

I am an avid follower of Curtis Stone. His methods are great, and he shares them so openly. I have been using some his methods within my Intensive Garden. This Simple Garden is about trying to get a yield from a more passive approach.

[@sabriawadh2490]

Plants look well. What do you use to protect plants from insect infestation ?

[@superdigua]

it's interesting that hard to find any channel talking about beneficial insects. Is it still part of the modern farming and gardening ecosystem?

[@REDGardens]

It is still a part of farming/gardening but not as big or developed as it perhaps should be.

[@flowergrowersmith449]

All those apples!!!!

[@REDGardens]

Indeed - a lot of apples!

[@OneMorePeak]

Great Video as always. I actually always grow like your simple bed here in Tullamore, but instead of the squash we have strawberry’s and the rest is exactly the same. Do you save your own seed or do you have to buy stock in every year? Because that’s a lot of carrot seed. Keep up the great vids they are thoroughly enjoyed.

[@REDGardens]

Hey, thanks Steve. Good to hear from someone fairly local! Interesting about the strawberries instead of the squash. How many seasons do you leave the strawberries in place? I have been buying in seed, but get it in larger quantities, very inexpensive compared to the typical consumer packs. Hope to get back to seed saving soon.

[@OneMorePeak]

Only two seasons for the strawberries at the moment but as yourself I am trialing different methods.

[@rasalanka6069]

cool...tx

[@saintmaxmedia2423]

Thank you for the video, beautiful images of your garden. Do you film with a drone for those beautiful images? I do try different options for gardening as well. But why would't it be better to grow cover crops during the winter?

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! A friend has a drone and was able to film a few years ago - red to get him back in this summer when the gardens are at their best! The big issue with cover crops is that you have to do the work to dig them in or remove them in the spring. And if it is a cool wet spring, then that can delay planting. I might try cover crops for this garden in a few years, but I want to see how the plastic ground cover works over time first.

[@saintmaxmedia2423]

I am growing oats and will till them 4 weeks before planting, that is supposed to be enough time. My no dig garden is wood chips only, just keep adding them. Hope you have a good growing season. Gardening is not as easy as I thought. Blessings. Eva

[@crpth1]

@@REDGardens- I'm not sure if you make use of any mechanized equipment, since I never see it in your videos, but for what it's worth, here goes my 2 cents. Sow your cover crops (varied) by the end of season. Let them do their "thing" over Winter. When the time comes (Spring) with them still on the soil. Spread the seeds of your choice! Then mow/mulch everything that Winter left standing, as low to the ground as possible. Results may vary, but can produce a nice surprise with extremely low input. Basically one passage. Did I mention you'll also "grow" soil like crazy. ;-) Notice I spread the seed mostly by hand. So this will never produce a nice "clean" and perfectly aligned rows, etc. But for bulk crops, ex. corn, can be a nice thing to try. I tried it in small plots, in Norway ("damn" cold, wet, no Sun) and in Portugal (hot, dryer, tons of Sun). Climate in Ireland is probably something in between these two. I didn't quantify results in numbers, but seem to work better in hot/dry climate. Moisture is kept at higher levels and the mulch layer can really "shine" it's advantages. But in here the growing season is ridiculously short and for most of it the Sun is somewhere else. Ex. I picked this year cherry crop in Portugal almost 2 months ago, here they haven't started yet... :-( Either case might be worth a moment of your time. ;-) Cheers

[@proinn2593]

I have an allotment that is quite far away and I am trying out the simple garden out there. Up to now it is not going very well. I have one part squash, one part potato's and one part carrots and parsnip. However, only the squash is still doing well. As the compost beneath the sheet I use horse manure which is freely available at the allotment, and the squash seems to like it. But the other two part are not going well. The carrots and parsnips had a very hard time coming up, and only a couple are left. But now also all out potatoes are infected with Phytophthora and need to be harvested. This will lead to more than half of the garden beeing empty already in the middle of the summer! What can i do to fill the failed parts of the garden? What easy to maintain crops can I now try to fill my garden with as a backup?

[@trungson]

Wonderful! I will have to try this as I think it's perfect for my property and situation. Even though I don't grow veggies, soil and compost management is the goal. What is the dimension (width and length) of your ground cover?

[@REDGardens]

Cool. Glad you found the method useful. The sheets I use are 2m x 10m (6.5 x 30 ft) that I cut from a 50m roll.

[@tinnerste2507]

hi! do you have wild boars in ireland? have you found animals ripping up your garden to get at the food waste?

[@callyscraftycorner2463]

Hello, would Gray ground fabric work as well as black to kill weeds? Or would the gray cause the weed to grow?

[@REDGardens]

I don't know.

[@kristofferammitzbll1811]

Maybe i missed it, but did you say how the simple garden beds were prepared? Great videos by the way!

[@REDGardens]

The bed with the squash was just covered with compost and ground cover> The beds for the potatoes, carrots and onions were manually dug over to remove all of the perennial weeds (had been abandoned area for a few years). If I was doing it again, I'd start with only the squash bed, and leave the other two beds alone. Then the next season, move the squash bed, and plant potatoes in the old squash bed. Then onions and carrots the third year - but I was too impatient.

[@thesteviesun]

@@REDGardens I've got a patch that I think fits your description - it's further away and I have less time to invest there. I will follow your advice and start with the squash bed and then move on. Really useful video, thank you.

[@REDGardens]

@@thesteviesun Cool. Hope it works out for you.

[@gavinmatthews5618]

ever done experiments with potato towers?

[@REDGardens]

Not yet. I am hoping to do a few experiments next year.

[@crpth1]

@@REDGardens- With that amount of land, trust me, you don't want or need potato towers. ;-) Cheers

[@pitermarx]

I have currently a full time job and am looking to buy a house with some land I can turn into a garden. This low work method would be a great start for someone with little time to invest in a garden but wants a bit of extra income from the land. Is this something you think someone with no experience with gardening can handle?

[@REDGardens]

I don't know how much experience you would need, a lot depends on context. But I am intrigued by the possibilities of this garden, especially if you only start one new bed/area each season with the squash - and proceed from there.

[@crpth1]

Sure it can be done, certainly results may vary with experience. But observation, study and persistence will payoff in the end. Two key words to keep at hand. Mulch and compost. ;-) Especialmente importante em Portugal devido ao clima. Boa sorte

[@pimcramer2569]

Don't go gardening for the money. At least not in Europe. Food here is incredibly cheap and agriculture is highly automated and professioanlised. Only do it for the fun!

[@Redat23]

The difficulty I have found with these ground covers is they fray really quickly, and I'm forever pulling ribbons off it. Have you considered a geotexile permeable membrane instead?

[@REDGardens]

It is a real hassle when these ground covers fray, but I have started to melt the edges with a propane torch, which works really well. I have even used the torch to 'cut' sheets by placing two pieces of wood about 1cm or 1/2 inch apart over where I want to cut the fabric and used the torch to cut and seal the edges. I also have used this method to fix or repair old sheets. (I notice that one of the sheets in this video needs attention!) I have't tried the geo textile material. I might look into it. Do you know if it is UV stabilised, as I most oftenest it used under mulch or gravel?

[@Redat23]

I have an allotment garden comprising 7.3metres long beds x 8, so 58.4metres of 750mm wide beds. A strip of 350mm between each bed gives me room for harvest and weeding. I haven't been covering the beds over-winter or between crops either for that matter. I saw your video and then the word 'geotextile' popped into my mind, and I reminded myself of what is a common complaint with that ground cover. I do recall Richard Perkins (on this channel) using a torch and funnel to blow holes in the centre of it for planting his nut trees. So that makes sense to use it on the edges as well! The cover I had my eye on is UV stabalised according to the manufacturer. It's 70g/m2 and comes in rolls of 1.6m x 50m, so 80m2 coverage per roll, more suited to my situation perhaps due to my bed layout? The cost is £32.99 free delivery on amazon (I'm in the UK). There are many variations though, I notice 50m x 1m rolls for £11.99. From what I have seen they are all UV resistant. www.amazon.co.uk/Long-Wide-Control-Fabric-Membrane/dp/B004SNHGFW/ref=sr_1_22?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1518178520&sr=1-22&keywords=geotextile+membrane www.amazon.co.uk/Non-woven-Geotextile-Ground-Control-Membrane/dp/B01LXM081B/ref=sr_1_19?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1518178520&sr=1-19&keywords=geotextile+membrane I am growing mostly staple crops this year, so your video is very useful.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting that it is UV stabilised. Might give the geotextile a try.

[@Redat23]

I suspect the covers you are using now may have better tear resistance and, perhaps better lifespan. Still, maybe worth a trial comparison :)

[@REDGardens]

Tear resistance is important, especially with all the wind around!

[@beware_the_moose]

The black weed membrane is a brilliant idea, I will try that this winter. Do the apples not smell really rank though as they break down?

[@REDGardens]

The ground cover fabric works really well. No real smell from the apples.

[@Theorimlig]

A very interesting part of your very interesting project! This style of gardening is a bit closer to conventional large scale vegetable growing, which seems like it might give it more of a commercial potential. If you want to grow a few staple crops in bulk, this system is probably pretty close to ideal for someone who doesn't want to go large scale and use heavy machinery. I notice you decided against beans at an early juncture. Many legumes have to be harvested as the individual pods reach the stage of maturity you want, but to tie in with the storage possibilities of the other crops in this garden...why not grow dry beans? There are many different species and innumerable varieties to choose from. Broad beans ought to work well for example, they can be left until all the pods are dry and harvested late during the season. They also don't require supports. Any dry bean would work, and would help some with nutrient management and cut down on the need to add fertility to the garden. Soup peas could also work. I'm sure they could replace the squash, which isn't really a staple crop for very many people in Europe anyway.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for the thought provoking comments. I agree that this is starting to approach more of a commercial or bulk quantities of crops, how to make productive use of a large section of ground, without much work. I feel it offers an interesting alternative to the conventional idea of a garden where high value and high effort 'salad' crops dominate. Your point about beans is a very interesting one. I will have a think about how I might include them. I think the only beans that would work here in Ireland would be the Broad Beans as you suggest, and I am very interested in developing them as an staple food crop. I wonder if they would work well instead of squash, and how they would grow over the sheet composting - with a line of plants down the centre between the sheets fo ground cover.

[@Theorimlig]

I think it's worth a shot. Dried pulses of any kind are very versatile in cooking, and compliment other vegetables well nutritionally. Here in Sweden a traditional way of growing broad beans is to grow them between potato plants. Not sure how that would work in this garden, but could be worth considering.

[@REDGardens]

Do you have any details about how the potatoes and broad beans are grown together? In the same row? in alternate rows? I am very fond of sprouting the broad bean seeds (just a bit until the main root is out) then boiling them, and making a hummus out of them. Very tasty!

[@Theorimlig]

I haven't done it myself (yet), but the idea is to grow them in the same row so that you can still earth up the potatoes. I'm not completely sure on spacing, but I don't think the broad beans' roots interfere too much with those of the potato. Maybe grow the potatoes on a slightly larger spacing than you normally would if you grow them very intensively, but if you give up potato space for bean space you might almost as well grow them separately (though apparently growing them together reduces disease problems).

[@REDGardens]

Interesting, that is the approach I have been trying in my Polyculture Garden kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJqQpXyvi82ea5I Haven't had great success with it yet, I think because of spacing.

[@A.I.-]

I would swap Onions with Shallots. Less work; no need to harvest seed, no need to grow seedlings which takes more work to look after, sowing is easier... Shallots are more expensive in the market than onions which brings more higher income.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting idea, thanks.

[@myt9125]

comfy

[@muguapanda]

Do you farm and sell or just eat the produce yourself?

[@REDGardens]

I sell the surplus from my various gardens on a 'farm stand' to my neighbours and others in the community.

[@wcomalley]

Are you worried about microplastics getting into your food with that black plastic covering?

[@paulabeattie8565]

What are the dimensions of your gardens? 35 x 35 or so?

[@REDGardens]

about that - 10m x 10m so 32.8' x 32.8'

[@michaeltodd813]

One word, PERMACULTURE!

[@REDGardens]

Indeed!

[@Dufffaaa93]

Can you explain why permaculture? Noob here.

[@ciarfah]

Dufffaaa93 From my limited understanding, it's the principle of doing to your garden what nature would. Sheet composting would fall into the category, since that is how organic matter naturally gets incorporated into the soil

[@AussieDownUnder]

Please forgive my ignorance, but is there a reason you rotate the crops in the different sections? Why can you just plant the potatos in the potato area like the previous season? What is the thinking behind that?

[@REDGardens]

The thinking behind it comes form managing field scale farms, where the potatoes will deplete the nutrients from the soil, and there will perhaps be a buildup of pests, diseases or certain kinds of weeds. Rotating reduces the possible pest/disease issues, and allows crops with different fertility needs to be grown. A lot fo this stuff has been adopted in smaller scale gardens, with possible good benefits. But there is the case to be made that if you can manage the fertility, and the pests, then growing the same crop in the same space every year can make sense. Or at least that rotaing crops isn't such a big issue. But there is significant debate about that.

[@fatbap]

Thats such a waste of apples. Get a load of cider on the go.

[@REDGardens]

Cider would be great, but those apples were already rejects from a friend’s apple juice pressing business. When the remnants of hurricane Ophelia passed by it blew every apple off the local trees, and many rotted before they could process them all! And they were looking for somewhere to dump the rejects!

[@johnatkinson512]

ACV for your chickens

[@johnatkinson512]

You would have all the pulp to compost as well after making vinegar

[@jennak.8541]

And it’s not so much a waste if it’s adding nutrients to the soil for crops:)

[@colonialroofingofnorthcaro441]

It seems (but I'm not sure) that you like to work with maybe no help of devises or machines that would cut down on your actual back labor, a simple lawn tractor with a trailer would cut down on transporting, I'm not against hard labor and admire the amish for what they do buy with them they have more help and their way of life is accomplished by numbers, I have noticed and of course none of this is criticizing, I just don't know where you might stand, but you try to stay as cheap as possible instead of maybe investing in some equipment to make life a little easier and production easier as I have noticed your statements on not having or being able to dedicate time to certain areas and that's why along with other things, the reason the yield wasnt as good or it just didn't get done, I'd invest if you can in some small items that will help to be more productive, keep down the need for outside help especially when they're isnt any available and of those are the times we need them when they're not available, anyway God bless, droo me alone, let me know what kind of gardening is your kind of thing, maybe it's all about what you can do with the minable amount of help from anything but yourself, thanks

[@REDGardens]

Good observations and questions, and thanks for the supportive and critical comment. I do have a preference for the manual approach for most of these tasks, or at least in these videos. There are a few reasons for this. One is that I do like the hard work, so long as it is not too much. Another is that I have a few friends and neighbours who are machine mad, and always buying in the equipment and tools that will make the job easier, which from my observation has them tripping over a lot of their stuff all the time and perhaps even getting less work done. I see this everywhere in the world and it turns me off. The third, and perhaps most important reason is that I want to show in my videos that you can do it all without special equipment, or that people don't feel that they need to get the special tools and equipment in order to grow food for themselves. A part of this is that i want to have a good sense of how long it takes to do all this work manually, so that I have something to compare it to when/if I do get in more machinery and equipment. An example is that I hand watered my polytunnel for years, and recently bought in a sprinkler system, so I will have realistic data for how much time I saved and what the differences are between the methods, all of which I can share in my videos.

[@nathanbishop4897]

Speech should be slower. Sorry, had to turn it off.

[@REDGardens]

There is a feature on KZbin where you can slow down (or speed up) the video.

[@MistressOP]

you really need either a pig, or a goat or something. Because that is really wasteful

[@REDGardens]

Wasteful? The apples, or the compost in general?

[@MistressOP]

yup that's a lot of calories wasted. Even if you did black solider flies it would be a better use.

[@REDGardens]

I can understand that, and have got a batch of hens to use as primary composers for another part o the project. Getting eggs is great! For this garden I figure I am feeding the soil organisms.

[@agustasister5624]

Lol..guess u dont have squash vine borers...i pray u never will..

[@REDGardens]

No, thankfully we don't.