THIS Crop Took OVER My Garden - Here's What I'm Planting Next

G'day Everyone! I've been getting out into the garden and "getting into it" more lately. I'm really loving the winter sunshine and cooler conditions - so are the plants! All the best and thanks for your support! Cheers :) /support-me/

So fascinating to see how much the raised beds sink every season. I have had my hugelkultur Birdies beds cranking along for 7 or so years now, & it always amazes me how much I still need to add. And good to see your sweet potato - Im just a few Kms down the road from you in the NSW Northern Rivers, & sweet potato (or, Kumara as I call it) has been a godsend - we bought an old property that had some very compacted and dry beds, I used a combination of Sunflowers and Kumara to bring them back. I overplanted sunflowers at first because they grow exceptionally fast and have giant root balls; those root balls broke up the soil for me and then acted as worm hotels when I harvested the sunflowers. Then I planted kumara - it spread quickly, acted as a living mulch through the hot summer, protecting those worms so they could do their thing. That tired old dry dirt bed is now one of the most productive in my garden, currently it is producing big fat lettuces and I've even planted basil in a corner I previously considered a lost cause. You are the man, Mark - love your work.

Mark, you said something that really stuck with me when you said, "people think they need to be motivated to get things done, but often the motivation comes when you get going." I let my garden go this past year, but in late April of this year I got out there and got it all cleaned up. It took me almost an entire week but I had all of my summer crops (I live in the coastal panhandle of Florida so we share a similar climate and can grow much of the same veggies) in the ground by May 1st and my garden is the best it has ever been. I take one day out of the week to give an entire morning to my garden, to prune and manicure, cut the grass, bust out my string trimmer etc. I have stuck to that schedule without missing a beat, although there have been times, yet again, where I just simply didn't feel like doing it. When I feel that way, which is more often than not, I am still finding ways to push myself to get out there. Because once I get going, I find that motivation. A few weeks ago I let the weekend go, made excuses for myself to not "get into it," and I was standing in the garden on the following Monday where it felt like the weeds were mocking me, and I had a sinking feeling that my garden would return to the mess it was this past year. I didn't like that feeling more than I liked the idea of putting the garden off. Nothing is better for my mental health than sitting in my garden knowing that I have nothing to do for the rest of the week, where I can walk the rows and be in a good place. This mentality has slowly started translating into other areas of my life, and I am holding onto the idea of, "the motivation will come when you get into it." I start off slow, just a little of this and a little of that at a time, and the feeling of accomplishment slowly becomes more important than the desire for comfort. Thanks for the kick in the ass, Mark. Seriously.

"Here's a shovel, wondered where that went" I've said many of times 🍻

I quite enjoyed this slow paced video, welome back to the garden Mark :)

What I do with my wheelbarrow is to put a square of shade cloth in bottom, fill up wheelbarrow, and then when I get to the bed I push up against bed so shareclothnis wedged between wheelbarrow and bed, then I jump into bed and pull the soil into the bed. Takes me half the time to manually move soil (and compost)

lol found my glasses the other day cleaning out a bed I lost in the spring

Youre a great man. Never stop being you.

You are so great, I've missed you! I dont care what you post, its always comforting to see your lovely property and hear you talk about it all. Ive learnt so much from you. I like putting you on in tht morning on a weekend sleep in, and after a stressful day at work I like to put one of your longforms on to relax to, and hopefully drift off too. Watching your content in so much better than engaging in all the BS news. I could literally watch you on the ride-on for 2hrs haha. I hope your chooks are well! And love learning about your fermentation stuff az well. Thank you for all that you do 🌿🌸🌳🌼🦋

This longer video showing the transition of the bed from one season to the next has to be one of my favorites so far. Really enjoyed this and appreciate how much work you put into it. It turned out really great!

Oh damn, that's a nice yield of pumpkins! I always love seeing your garden videos pop up in my feed, keep up the great work mate ~

Green pumpkins will ripen, even quite large ones. They take a while, but are absolutely delicious thanks to that 😊long slow ripening process.

"I thought it was a lot bigger but it wasn't." That's TEMU in a butternutshell!

We are starting to see the positive effects of using French marigolds as well. Ladie bugs are showing up to the party now 😁😁😁

Mate, I enjoyed that vid a lot. Cheers

Don't forget to stop by Mark's very own forum Self Sufficient Culture! /

A lovely surprise upload whilst I'm relaxing and having some pints at 1 AM! Have you considered selling seeds of those gorgeous Japanese/Kent pumpkins? Cheers!

When potting up, instead of tearing the plants apart. A bucket of water, gently rinse the seedlings apart, in the bucket.

I'm amazed they grew so well and no sign of powdery mildew.

I really really enjoyed this video, Mark! So well done! Very satisfying to see beds cleared out.\nAnd new things planted. And what a variety you planted! I'm looking forward to see how those beds progress, and see what else you've got in store. When you said that things happen, I hope those were good things for you and your family and your property. See you again soon!