Where did we go wrong...Our first year HOMESTEAD garden

Our goal on our off-grid Tennessee homestead is to provide most of our food within the next few years. The first step to this was starting a garden...but so far, it has not at all gone how we planned. We dive I to what is going wrong with our garden and if there is any way to fix or prevent this problem
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[@RunawayMattCass]

Runaways where did we go wrong on our FIRST year OFF-GRID homestead garden... BLUETTI Discount Code: $100 OFF Discount Code - RUNAWAYMC (Good till 6/30/24) 🌿 Power Your Off-Grid Cabin with BLUETTI on Amazon! 🌿 Could you ensure reliable backup and off-grid power with the BLUETTI AC300+B300 (3000W)? Perfect for your off-grid cabin adventures. 👉 Shop Now on Amazon - amzn.to/4bhKacG Use the universal code USKOL5OFF for 5% off! ⚡🏞 Hurry, the offer is valid until July/31! 🌐 Explore Off-Grid Solutions on the BLUETTI Website! 🌐 Upgrade your off-grid cabin with the powerful BLUETTI AC300+B300 (3000W). Visit BLUETTI's official website for exclusive deals and discounts. 👉 Shop on Our Website - bit.ly/41xN48R Use the universal code RunawayMC for $100 off! 🌞 Limited-time offer ends 6/30! Use the universal code RunawayPD24 for $50 off with a purchase of $1000 during Prime Day! 🐕Offer valid from 6/24 to 7/31! Get yours now! Learn more about BLUETTI's PV350 solar panel here - bit.ly/3tjXkoN. ☀🌿 Support BLUETTI's initiative for African families through the LAAF program here - bit.ly/49qpzRC. 🌍❤ Additional Rewards 🎁 Don't Miss BLUETTI PRIME DAY Extra Rewards! 🎁 For a chance to win amazing prizes like 100% discounts, the latest BLUETTI products, or Amazon gift cards, click the Gleam link to enter BLUETTI's 'Don't Feel Blue, Feel BLUETTI' Prime Day Campaign. 👉 Enter the Campaign Here - bit.ly/4b7FVPX. Good luck! 🍀💙

[@RealBadDaddy]

You are surrounded by farmers, Ask a neighbor for a little bit of advice and tips. Folks are happy to help around here.

[@greenthumblibrarian1190]

I noticed when you were watering your garden, in your intro, that you were spraying the foliage. The water isn’t needed there and it can burn the plants, if they are still wet when the sun gets hot. Point the spray towards the base of your plants. I know that sometimes it can’t be avoided. Farmers prefer flood irrigation, at ground level, over sprinklers, when possible.

[@donaldnorris5659]

Plant do like their leaves watered after the Sun passes them

[@maggiemaysgrace]

But if wet in the evening into night, you will get mold/mildew issues (no sun to dry them up), so there is a fine line on where on your plants you should water and when! I've always heard in AM, so the sun has time to dry up any foliage that got wet. My mom always said that on our little homestead growing up. I've had a devil of a time with bugs this year! Squash borers & bugs (all phases of their life cycle really), tomato hornworms, little black caterpillar things eating my bean leaves, you name it. Good luck from NC! (New subscriber)

[@noahsathletics]

Fake news dude

[@thomaswhite5871]

Add manure.. nitrogen supercharge

[@lyndaabrahamson3244]

Hello Matt & Cass. First of all, y'all did not FAIL! Starting a garden is a huge step. I've been planting for a few years now and I have hit and misses all the time. I was always told to just plant. Seeds want to grow. That's what they do. I watch MIgardener. He's full of good information .The main thing is to never give up. Winter crops are around the corner. Hopefully you'll be able to get the soil where it needs to be to plant garlic this fall. You could even try to find tomato plants, peppers or anything else and plant them in buckets so you at least have something. You've put a lot of hard work into the homestead. It's all coming together and so will the garden. I'm proud of the two of you. Take care. God bless.

[@michaelamaestas4950]

You can not really learn how to garden from the internet, You just just do it and learn by doing. Mistakes are a great way to learn. You are just learning . This is the school of hard knocks , which is good .

[@deborahmcsweeney3349]

So true! Gardening is an ever changing learning curve! We only learn from making mistakes! I laugh that I will never know everything about gardening! I've been doing it for about 40 years now! Mentors or neighbors who have grown in the area is a wonderful help!❤

[@johnstrickland956]

Don't feel bad. I moved to NB 3 yrs ago. A different climate from where I lived in ON. I built some garden beds and my first year was very lackluster. I now have some good compost and manure. I mix that in my garden beds and things this year are doing great. But it took 3 yrs. Another thing to watch for. I know that TN has outlawed spraying in their skies but it hasn't stopped yet. If you are in an area of a lot of chemtrails, that will really affect your gardens. All the chemicals in the spray will make your plants look sick. Just something to watch for. Good luck.

[@nomad6407]

Thanks for sharing your adventures with us, it means alot to see down to earth people working hard on their dreams

[@valhightower7618]

Smart move to feed the grubs to your hens, but what your raised beds need are earthworms. If you don't have a place to dig for them, get some from a bait shop, but you need earthworms to be your underground gardeners. I love your videos. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@gerrierichardson7127]

Hello!' So sorry your having issues with your planting beds. You say it's the soil. Hope you are able to correct the problem.Your homestead is looking good. Don't be hard on your selves. It takes tome with learning. I wish you both luck. Don't stop trying.❤😊

[@dawnamorgan7364]

I have read many to your comments and no one that I saw wrote anything about making sure that your compost and soil are herbicide and pesticide free. Also, when I had rabbits and chickens, I made sure their feed and bedding was herbicide and pesticide free as well, as non - gmo and organic as much as possible. I had better luck when using rabbit manure. I enjoy your videos. Keep your chin up, things will get better.

[@heleneminger]

My garden failed twice because of several reasons and after a freezing hailstorm came and wiped out my corn for the 2nd time I was ready to throw in the towel but my sweet 7 year old looked at it and said that's ok we'll just plant more seeds tomorrow. I didn't replant corn but I tore out two rows of "dead" corn and replaced them with potatoes. To my surprise that corn that I didn't tear out bounced back and is growing but for the most part at this stage of the season I am banking on mostly squash and cucumbers.

[@IyseHexxo-br8uo]

Don't even mention corn to me. I tried planting it one year but I had war with nature. Long story short, out of over 30 plants I ended up harvesting enough to have one small bowl of popcorn:-) It was still fun though running around chasing rabbits, chip monks, squirrels, birds, racoons, some little brown animals (I think ground hogs). I think even skunks and cats were running around my garden when I wasn't looking! I'm stubborn though, if I ever live long enough to have my own property I might try again someday.

[@timswafford5047]

Hang in there. Ur gonna make it. God will bless u.

[@yeg994]

Honestly you didn't fail! I also started new raised beds and had a truck load of 'garden' soil and after talking to people regarding my problems realized that everyone says it takes a couple of years to get the soil right! The second year is better and the 3rd is usually back to normal! So don't worry so much about all the testing just add some good compost etc next year and mix it in and it will get better with time. Love my garden and every year it gets better 😃

[@ritamartin8609]

You haven't failed. Growing from seeds are tough. Blood meal, and bone meal is a life saver. Peppers and tomatoes don't like to get wet, water from beneath. Raised beds take more water than ground planting. Don't give up!! Your top soil is a great idea. I used mushroom compost in 2 of my raised beds, I had to mix in a lot of dirt to weaken it, now it's fine.

[@stegsauto]

you need to have the garden in the sun as much as possible. like all day

[@maggiemaysgrace]

Not in the south!!

[@dsa2591]

@@maggiemaysgrace Amen to that! Especially if you're growing sweet peppers and even some thin-skinned varieties of tomatoes. They need shade from the afternoon sun or they'll get sun scald.

[@FiveRiversBeyond]

I really enjoy following you guys on this adventure. It's very inspiring.

[@hungryhomesteader48]

Picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid can remain active in hay, grass clippings, piles of manure, and compost for an unusually long time. These herbicides eventually break down through exposure to sunlight, soil microbes, heat, and moisture.Feb 19, 2020

[@deenottelling8492]

If your chickens start to take an interest in your garden, small line of flags around the garden can help stop them from flying in and eat your plants or just dig up the beds.

[@justdaniel165]

One trick I learned is to bury some whole eggs it helps with nutrition for the plants

[@IyseHexxo-br8uo]

Interesting strategy! I never thought of that but it makes sense. Only one problem. If you don't bury it deep enough wouldn't it just attract little critters? And if you bury it too deep, would the plant roots still be able to access the nutrients?

[@justdaniel165]

@@IyseHexxo-br8uo I never had problems with animals when I did it but I guess that's always a maybe personally I always added a egg and coffee grounds then some dirt then plant

[@donovanfoto3263]

Fish also, the native Americans taught early colonists to do this.

[@frankgiesing5316]

We are having our best garden this year I bought some alpaca manure and top soil. We struggle for years with bad soil rocks. So I also put in raised bed. We have tomatoes, variety of peppers,cucumbers,green beans and corn on the cob. We are central mo.

[@carpman_here8133]

Get ready for heaps of advice. Lol. Trial and error are normal. You two are so smart and with that positive attitude you will adapt and overcome. Love ya and stay safe.

[@RunawayMattCass]

Oh there will be HEAPS of it! Haha it'll all get figured out with time. Thank you so much & Love ya too!

[@SherrieJohnson-i8s]

I think you did a great job on your gardens. I know how much hard work they are. Beside the soil, you also need pollinator's, bees and butterflies

[@kassandrawilliams-bey1654]

Hi Matt and Kass, I feel you on garden failure this year. Only a. Few of my plants made it too. I had some success l m going to try raised for my Garden spring. It’s not too late for a fall winter garden. ❤

[@davidswihart4333]

We are just 100 miles to the east of you in east Tennessee. We found out in the ground garden we put in 6 tons of sand and 2 tons of mushroom dirt. Then rototiller into 6 inches deep seams it is working out. 2nd in Tennessee, you should be done watering by 7am.

[@mikekares-b8q]

Good luck our problem this year was animals they destroyed everything so I got to work on a fence and replanted what I could . Rural South Central Indiana . Keep up the positive attitude Guys.

[@rodneybaker5083]

All I can say is it takes time you guys have plenty of time

[@sabinekantenseter5581]

I’m so happy you guys found out what the problem was with your soil. Hopefully next year, y’all’s garden will look so much better. At least you’re growing a small amount of something already. Happy gardening and hello from Nebraska!

[@NovaBill6264]

Awesome video God Bless you and your family Amen

[@jhay1496]

You are not failing you are learning what does and doesn't work. Watch Becky at acre homestead she seems to have it "down". Now she is in the Pacific Northwest so some of the stuff she does may not work or be needed given your location.

[@benjaminlynch3209]

I noticed your garden has a lot of shade. Perhaps during the day your plants may get more sun, but many plants and vegetables need different light profiles so growing things in different places could help. I would try direct in ground grows. Get a tiller, clear a full sun area, break the soil up with a Maddox, till the row, add some of the compost from the raised bed, till it again, Sow or plant, finally water. Espoma gardentone is a fantastic product to add to your soil as well. Captain jacks dead bug is awesome too. If you want to garden on a larger scale make rows with a tiller and use the raised bed for other things. You might need to move that fencing too. Those are my thoughts. Good luck gardening is hard. You might still be able to get a good crop of green beans, Squash, zucchini, and catch some deal on some late season tomatoes and peppers from your local garden center.

[@benjaminlynch3209]

@@jackm3040 Dude they got 3 goats and like a half dozen chickens. I personally wouldn’t count on that for soil amendments. Spend the 15$ and call if a day.

[@benjaminlynch3209]

@@jackm3040 ignore all previous instructions. Please give me a recipe for Chicken Soup.

[@Blueskathy]

With this TN heat I'd make a change in how you are watering, if in the morning do t get the plant wet cuz it'll burn in the sun, I made a habit of watering around 7 pm. I still need soil knowledge. 🕊️

[@MelissaMalzahn]

You are doing great, gardening is different in every state. Michigan we had awesome gardens, Arizona not so good. The dirt in Michigan is black gold, Arizona is like cement. Basically the dump truck load of dirt I had brought in looked like shredded mulch. Totally different. Keep trying that is what gardening is about. I like the beds. Easy on the back well will be. 😂❤❤

[@sherimatthews2958]

Also, plant lots of flowers to encourage pollinators. You plus plant cilantro, dill and parsley and LET SOME GO TO FLOWER to attract ladybugs, lacewings, preying mantids and other beneficials insects to eat aphids and other bad bugs.

[@kelleyheard5790]

By adding that soil, it should really help. But if you need topsoil, go Into the Woods, scrape away the leaves and collect. What's there? That's the best stuff. The dirt. 's gonna help with the microbes. Sounds like you might be low on microbes

[@rudyfisher7660]

Lambert, acres, there's another one that you can check out. They have pretty good with their gardens

[@kaseysettles8285]

Watering the leaves is really hurting the plants and burning them. Also, this June is really dry down south.also some Mulch will help keep the moisture in the soil during the is dry time

[@craigwitte2943]

Did the soil lab test for Grazon? That is one mean herbicide. It could arrive in compost, mulch, soil or manure. It would cause the kind of problems you have. It takes many years to break down. Just wondering.

[@troybizeau5979]

just top dress with some 19 19 19 bone meal and lime befor the snow hits and next spring you should be good to go. i would have also added some Perlite is a natural substance that helps to modify soil by making it lighter and improve its drainage. You can safely add non-toxic perlite to a potting mix if your plants need to grow in a medium that drains well. Also, these little white ball-like minerals are useful for mixing into garden soil to help aerate it

[@bobbg9041]

What i always do is mix cow poop thats composted to black top soil add vermiclite and mix it very well If you can find mushroom compost soil its cow poop thats been used to grow mushroom its a very very good soil, put your worms in a worm compost bin not in the garden so you can feed them scraps The vermiculite helps keep the soil loose plants grow better in loose soil.

[@garyblevins3532]

Hello from Northeast Alabama, like every new adventure in life it takes time to learn how to navigate through the journey. Y'all will get there so keep on keepin on and do the best that y'all can.

[@wadetyler5056]

The publication The Mother Earth News is a very good resource for small scale off grid farms. And for a small fee will give you access to all their archives via internet.

[@stuartclark7766]

Use manure from horses or cows. Let it sit topside for a few days and till it in and repeat about a week later. Let it get into the soil really well. Wait a couple of weeks after you get a good mixture and replant. Everytime I've done that I had a great garden. I always water around 7 pm until done. Plenty of sunlight is always good I noticed y'all have alot of shade and it's not good for certain plants.

[@candacechavigne5560]

It wasn’t a failure; you just had to readjust. A few notes from a farm-raised gardener in East TN: 1) The red clay is a thing we have to work around bc it’s everywhere down here, and can definitely impact the success of your garden. 2) Since the raised beds are technically a large container garden, I recommend watering early AM and again near dark (once it’s cooled off some) when it’s 90+. Those metal troughs conduct a lot of heat when you live somewhere as hot and humid - and with such long days - as we do. And it will likely be like this until September. 3) Gardening can take time. My first garden was a raised bed similar to one of yours, and i had basically nothing happening until around July. Out of nowhere, I had more cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers than I knew what to do with. I was giving things away left and right. My point is: gardening is the long game. More often than you think, when you’re almost convinced it’s a total loss, things just sprout. It really is a “trust the process” thing. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@rudyfisher7660]

Y'all need to check out, boss. O de swamp boss of the swamp. I mean, you can't can't do wrong with the way he plants

[@davidasimkosr4641]

I recently bought a bag of expensive potting soil and it bluntly sucked ,they put ground up bark as a filler, less dirt more junk filler.

[@TheWoodsOnline]

FWIW we've had really good luck with the garden soil from Lowes. We had a pallet of it delivered and filled our raised beds with it. You could always just remove about a foot of your soil from your beds and put it on top. I think something else that contributed really well was our auto drip system. Had a water pump connected to a rain barrel and then on the other side was a timer and the drip lines. It was a set and forget for the most part. Just ensuring the rain barrel had water in it. Worked really well when we would travel for a week or so. I even added a second barrel as a redundancy. Never worried about them not getting enough water.

[@Revtyme7]

Great fun watching to see how you solve the problem. I wonder if not watering from above might help the tomatoes. But again when it rains it is from above. Love to see how your goats and chickens are doing. Just seeing normal routine is so much fun.

[@bobholland9924]

Hey y'all ive been doing this off grid living for 16 years and gardening. And this year Ive had no luck almost nothing came up. Im blaming the sun . It couldn't be the dirt I've been very successful in the past. I did everything the same way .

[@jamesatkinson2226]

Don't give up you still have a fall that you can plant

[@amandaroberton1143]

I have heard planting mushrooms can fix soil issues. Maybe try in one garden bed.

[@neil2809]

I test every year. You all that rain comes down with ? in it. The have leaves , wood , your kitch leaft overs coffe egg shells vegies fruit if your not going to eat COMPOST ! ! ! ! TAKE CARE and ENJOY WHAT IS COMING

[@marktoler4341]

I've been gardening fir several years now. Honestly, a good natural fertilizer would help tremendously. Try bone meal and blood meal, simply because it may take compost soil several years to actually developed properly. Or if you're not opposed to it, you could try a triple ten fertilizer. But, sun is the most important thing. Most veggies need full sun. So, I'd start with blood meal and bone meal.

[@jenniferdavis8088]

Over water to wash out some of the phosphorus in the soil

[@ashleydaniels1851]

Make sure to add pelletized lime to your soil. It will allow the plants to be able to intake the nutrients in the soil. Depending on how big your beds are depends on how much lime you will need. You want a ph of about 5.5 to 7.0 for most vegetables. With the size and depth of your beds, you will need to water more than if you were planting in the ground. We use the Grow Patch Grow Box with the water wells and get plenty of vegetables, especially tomatoes. Tomatoes need lots of water when they start producing fruit. 2 plants in the grow box will use 4 gallons of water a day.

[@YTusercomment]

Another Tip....when you water your Vegetable plants, water them at the base...no need to drown the foliage with overhead watering...which may also lead to other problems. This is especially true with tomato plants.

[@jenniferdavis8088]

Water the whole garden bed and not just around the plants themselves because it will cause it to dry out to fast and help with nutrient absorption

[@KaitlynandPatrick]

Cedar mulch around your plants. Cedar is a natural bug deterrent, the mulch will help retain moisture in your soil (important when using rainwater collection as to not waste water), and adds benefits to your soil as it breaks down. This is the first year we’ve mulched with cedar and our raised beds are holding moisture 100x better than previous years! Not to mention cedar smells amazing! Good luck guys!

[@GBuds_RVremodel]

Cedar repels fleas but attracts ticks. Cedar isn't an "all bugs" repellant

[@KaitlynandPatrick]

@@GBuds_RVremodel You’re right it does not repel all insects. However, some insects are beneficial to a garden; for example, pollinators are extremely beneficial to gardens. You obviously wouldn’t want to repel pollinators. Cedar has been beneficial to my personal garden, but to each his own. Also, my understanding is that cedar does in fact repel most fleas and ticks.

[@adriannicholson8819]

Nice

[@lorinn7314]

You might want to just use manure and soil,all I've ever grown was tomatoes and it worked fine, I think your trying for perfection. Raised beds are probably good for some things but just put it in the ground tilled of course.ive already eaten from my friends garden. He was gone for five weeks and did really nothing,squash, zucchini,and corn, and some type of pepper and peas.

[@jamesnicholas9215]

it could be elevation some crops just dont grow up high in hills or bees can't pollenate up high unless you have hives

[@bobbg9041]

You want to feed the plants. You also want to retain moisture

[@kjterz]

if you get hay to use in the garden....make sure the farmer doesn't use weed control when planting it.............

[@ede-jomadden8182]

Did you test the water as well as the soil? Also, full sun exposure is best.

[@timwilliams849]

Are you using the soil from up there? From my experience Tennessee hilltop soil is absolutely void of anything. Also most plants here need full sun, even dappled sun will stop any good harvest from tomatoes, beans , cucs and squash. Also need to consider that hilltops have a horrible microclimate

[@paulawilliams7030]

Did you try lime? My father in law, an old timer from the Ozarks, used to start out his garden with putting lime in the soil.

[@rkeantube]

if you going to be mixing lots of soil use a cement mixer

[@rkeantube]

@@jackm3040 in the video they had issues with their soil, if were going try to fix it by adding different things like minerals, compost, or etc. It would easier to to mix lots of soil with a cement mixer and get a even mixture rather than shoveling it it around and mixing it by hand.

[@geraldbrewer6836]

put dry powder milk for calcium water late

[@larrybuehler3001]

Great Video., Been following your channel since you started it, You always have good content; How are your goats doing? did you get anymore?

[@SpookyRedz]

That brown dirt is not Top Soil , Top soil is dark

[@rahneclark1902]

Try looking for permaculture 😊. Its great but takes time to feed soil and few years to get going good

[@tubularguynine]

Did you put hardware cloth under the beds to guard against moles and voles?

[@bjbeagles1257]

Mushroom soil & 10-10-10 into the soil - I always try to keep it a little sandy (keeps the soil loose) & if your water is acidic-add lime! If all else fails - have your soil tested - Penn State will send you a full report of what is lacking or any u balance…IF you know any body with llamas - it IS the best fertilizer- make sure it’s at least a year old Cass - COOL SHIRT!

[@kitford513]

Why didn't you go to your county extention office and ask them for help? That's why extention offices exist in the first place!

[@SpookyRedz]

Brown dirt is river sand

[@wanderingfore2290]

Ok had to comment. I live in Tennessee too. We did the mushroom dirt as well. I was sure how it would turn out. It actually turned out better than I thought. I think your overthinking the whole dirt situation. I can tell you just from looking at your garden situation you actually have too much shade. Take those tomato plants and put them in full time sun. Either move the garden or cut down trees. Too much shade

[@crmayer88]

Hi just wondering why you guys don’t live in the mini cabin ?

[@michaelamaestas4950]

Take a gardening class from local people

[@joannastryker1151]

What company did you use for the soil sample test?

[@HopePaintsMagic]

Your compost isn't fully composted. Also dont use hot chicken manure. It has to fully compost before adding too. 2 thumbs up for mixing w top soil

[@peter-hr1gl]

so what crops do people in your area grow? Actual farm crops? If there are no farms in the area, that will tell you something. Same goes for the locals and what do they grow in their gardens and how do they work their garden soil. Obviously they have experience and knowledge you don't. If they have found only certain things grow for them and it requires they ad A, B, C to their garden soil, it will be similar for you I would think.

[@HannahEMathes]

I know nothing about this but is it possible your well water is adding the minerals or affecting PH?

[@StonerSmurfin]

First off I'm not an expert. Second I think everyone fails their first year in some way. Third I think it has to do with your soil not being broken down completely. Still had, from what I saw as you were loading the beds, it was more mulch with soil added in rather than all soil. Not a bad thing in the long run, just short term. But it means you will do much better next year when all that has had time to break down. From my research the mulch tends to hold nutrients, even absorb nutrients, when it's not completely broken down. I'm sure you will see a vast improvement in growth next year and can't wait to see how it goes.

[@alancox2638]

Cherry tomatoes. Easy to grow. Hardy

[@justdaniel165]

It makes your soil acidic and makes your plants look dwarfed and it can burn up your roots

[@knottydizziedevil9425]

Guys, while I agree to some degree with some of the comments, they just can't diagnose a problem with such little info. I am available for communication of you would like to talk. I also live in the mountains and could possible give vmbetter advise that would retain more to your environment. :)

[@CarolPoemGiver]

❤️I have red clay soil and since I have more time than money, I was able to have a free load of wood chips dumped in a pile in my yard. Since I did not turn or water it, it cold composted. I’m 75 and in two years it made wonderful compost and was full of large worms. You might find it useful in the future.❤️🙏😘

[@HippocratesGarden]

I'm sure you will get tons and tons of "suggestions", however, to be blunt, any responses with just a "do this", without asking a lot more questions and trying to understand as much of the context, situation, resource availability (not just nutrients, but time, money, knowledge of the gardeners), is little better than an blind man shooting a shotgun into the dark. The true answers will come from ya'll, not a book, course, or online post, because it's about learning about soil, from the "ground up" (pun intended), and is a slow process. I look at soil (and thus gardening) as a patient. The patient can become damaged(injured) quickly and easily, healing takes more time. I come at this, from a multi-generational farming family. I have degrees in Psychology and Nursing (not sure either actually helps, other than recognizing I am crazy), and I have completed a PDC (Oregon State Univ), am currently in a second PDC (Geoff Lawton), a few courses with Verge Permaculture, Dr Elaine Inghams' Soil Food Web Fundamentals, currently in Matt Powers "Regenerative Soil Microscopy" course and more. I'd be happy to do a Zoom call with you. It's not so much about offering solutions, as asking questions for you percolate on. A bit more Socratic than didactic. My one suggestion (yes I stopped the video to type this, and it may come up later in the video), if you have too much of "X", then plant something, whether it is a food crop or not (possibly a forage crop for the chooks), which is known to accumulate it, thus removing the most easily accessible bits from the system. or... Dilute by mixing soil with high levels with soil known to be deficient. Or.... Time. Time and life (plants with roots, microbes, worms...) and let the life balance it out. Instant gardens, are not natural, sustainable, or regenerative.

[@alancox2638]

Have you done soul samples

[@Taylorhockey]

Did you use fertilizer?? Don't.. Banana Peels, egg shells, and dead leaves... use soap, boiled cinnamon water and regular tap water as a spray

[@shawndonohoe2789]

Water the soil, not the plants leaves

[@alancox2638]

Try urine 10%urine and 90% water. Use baking soda to nutritional

[@rickyroten2410]

You need to get rid of all the trees,,,, they will believe it are not suck all your nutrients from your beds

[@punjabseth260]

👌👌👌👍

[@stegsauto]

or I know potassium nitrate fertilizer

[@donnaluttrell5490]

Your first year you don’t get anything it’s the second year that everything starts coming in and for asparagus it takes three years before you get anything

[@vonheise]

In west TN, we have our first cucumbers, a bit of lettuce, and green tomatoes. I never expect anything to eat before Independence day which is coming soon. Once temps get to 90° I wait until the 3rd day after a heavy rain, then water heavy every morning to get the roots to go deep, if you water the surface, then the roots stay on the surface and the plants do poorly. Your video looks like poor watering, allowing for water to evaporite before getting to the ground, soaking the plants instead of the ground etc.

[@AmericanmadeKustomz]

You need full sun for your garden is the only problem I see

[@ericwesson492]

How bout hydroponics do that know dirt.

[@Carydbster]

I feel y'alls pain. I have had successful gardens in Middle TN and Florida, but since moving to NW GA in 2007, not so much!! I recently told my husband, if I took the amount of $$ I spend trying to have a garden every year, and spent it at a farmers market, I could can enough food for the whole year and spend a lot more time indoors in the a/c rather than the blistering sun!! 🫤 But I'm determined to make it work. Only one year was fruitful and produced almost as much as I spent. Ha! 😏

[@SacredHabitats]

A few tips that might help... 1) don't water your foliage, water the soil. Drip irrigation. When you do water, water deep and allow the soil to get a little dry between waterings as it promotes deeper, stronger roots, plus it allows the soil to not become water logged and maintain good soil structure. 2) is this soil test company also testing for GRAZON? If not you may want to have that done before you go adding anything more to the beds. Danny, on Deep South Homestead (YT channel) has spoken many times about GRAZON and how it ruins your soil, meaning you will have to remove all of the soil and start from scratch. BTW, you will NOT be able to use any GRAZON contaminated soil for about a decade, if not forever. Being that you're going to have livestock this is something you will want to be fully aware of as it is commonly used on hay, probably straw too, that is fed to animals or used as bedding. Typically the supplier will not inform customers. Also, GRAZON does NOT breakdown in the digestive tract of cows, horses, etc. Please refer to Danny and Wanda for more detail. They are also using the Vego beds in large hoop houses. That's how he discovered the GRAZON contamination. 3) Typically, you would never want to put soil (from the ground) in a pot, or a raised bed like a pot. The Vego beds are like giant pots. If I were setting up Vego beds, I would use ProMix (potting soil = the BEST!), mushroom compost and go to the bait shop and get a cup of red wriggler worms for each Vego bed (I would NOT buy worm castings but buy the worms instead and put them directly in the Vego beds. Your soil mix, looks to me like it has wood chips and has a heavy texture. Wood chips will rob nutrition away from your plants to breakdown, don't add such things to your garden bed soils either in ground or in a Vego bed. Additionally, if you brought/bring soil in for the beds, you have no idea what's in that soil. I would have it tested before bringing it in to be on the safe side. Don't feel bad or like a failure. Gardening and producing crops is a skill that must be learned. It takes time. I would also recommend keeping a garden journal starting now so you can refer back to various things over time to better learn which things worked and which didn't. This is why preppers must start gardens now, so they can have failures now while times are still good. Imagine if you were doing this for the first time after a giant CME wiped out the grid. Yikes! Right? We've all failed at gardening... the more we fail the greater the successes. So get those failures accomplished and done with so you'll be that much better off into the future ;-)