Don't Make These 5 Food Gardening Mistakes!

In this video, I give you 5 gardening mistakes not to make in your fruit and vegetable garden when growing your own food.



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Self Sufficient Me is based on our small 3-acre property/homestead in SE Queensland Australia about 45kms north of Brisbane - the climate is subtropical (similar to Florida). I started Self Sufficient Me in 2011 as a blog website project where I document and write about backyard food growing, self-sufficiency, and urban farming in general. I love sharing my foodie and DIY adventures online so come along with me and let's get into it! Cheers, Mark :) #gardening #vegetables #fruit

*Disclaimer: Some links to products in this description and comments sections are affiliated, meaning, I receive a small commission if you follow these links and then purchase an item. I will always declare in a video if the video is sponsored and so far since starting my channel in 2011, I am yet to do a sponsored video.

[dholmes]

Biggest mistake I have made starting a garden and so on, now going into my third year is this: Trying to do too much at one time. It's real easy to plant way more than you can care for and then feeling miserable because it all goes to weeds or whatever. A dozen good producing tomatoes will make plenty for you to eat, you don't need 48 or whatever. 20 feet of salad will grow more than a person can reasonably eat. Also, make friends, give away food, make that a part of your ministry of life.

[craigandsnowwadam]

Gawd, ..I love this man !! He gets to the point, ..and he’s NOT afraid to talk about his mistakes!! Your my hero !!

[zk.]

No mark filming wasn't a mistake
Thank you for sharing

[ohio_gardener]

Experience from the mistakes I have made in the past 7 decades of farming & gardening has been invaluable in my current day gardening. As I've aged, raised beds are not a luxury, but a necessity. They allow me to grow enough vegetables for our year-around needs. If one person benefits from your sharing your mistakes, it was worth it.

[SingleWingAcademy]

I appreciate both the confidence and humility it takes to show the whole world your mistakes and the lessons you've learned so that we can all benefit from them

[rickobrien]

On your avocado mounds have you considered growing alfalfa instead of letting weeds in? I've had great luck with that because they fix nitrogen as well as being great erosion preventers.

[simplesimon]

Thank you for sharing your past mistakes. As a person in his mid-50's now and just starting to get into gardening I could use all the hindsight lessons I can get without having to experience them myself. You actually covered a couple of the ideas I had for my own gardening plans. I'm sure you saved me a lot of frustration. Thanks again!

[DanielNavetta]

Avocados are great in clay soil when you live in a dry climate. It never reaches saturation because there is never enough rain. The clay keeps the irrigated water longer than other soils, so its more efficient that way.

[lvee]

Such a fun video Mark! My top mistakes starting out were (a) digging the soil in my raised beds. Charles Dowding has converted me to no-dig and the soil is way better and more productive (b) putting in irrigation. An expensive waste of time, eventually it just gets blocked and is more trouble than it's worth. Hand watering for me now, so relaxing too (c) trying to grow veggies in pots that were too small, they will never thrive (d) planting veg in beds that didn't get enough sun (e) using horse manure from a roadside stand on my veggie beds, contaminating them with herbicide 😣. I recently put in eight big Birdies beds. These are awesome, though I've already run out of space. Might have to bulldoze the house soon to make more room for my veggies.

[jaydeebulje]

I like how he discusses soil. Soil is critical and a lot of these videos don't mention it. Some soils just do not support certain fruit and vege and he has talked about this with the Avos. Bees are critical too. I've seen people have the best soil, garden beds, seedlings, food, water, but no bees, no bees means no food ( or wine ) as grapes are self pollinating but the secondary crops that provide nourishment have to be pollinated. This is a good tutorial

[valhallaproject]

In my experience mistakes are better teachers than successes. Excellent video.

[slimtattooz]

New here, one of the greatest channels I've come across 👍

[lisam]

I'm 53 and raised beds/container gardening is so much easier on my body. I recommend it. Plus you can grow a lot more in a small area than you think!

[pplusbthrust]

Sorry for the excess heat over there Mark. It's 'wintah' over here in California
and we're freezing cold. Geez.

[DwightHayles]

A sequel to this video would be a highly viewed production piece Mark. As we all know - we make a TON of mistakes gardening - - gardening in general is a series of mistake after mistake - with the successes coming from - avoiding/overcoming the same mistakes we make the year prior. Thanks - keep up the awesome work.

[howtogrowdragonfruitplant]

The leaning trellis of dragon fruit :-) haha

[joemccall]

As a 50-something who has been gardening for a couple of decades as well these are (unsurprisingly, coming from Mark) all great tips. When first starting out, new gardeners don't always think about what those tiny little seedlings are capable of becoming in one season or ten years. Planning ahead for a four-meter tall/wide fruit tree when it's small enough to hold in your hand isn't always on the minds of new growers excited to be working in the soil.

I would add to the list, which Mark alluded to with fruit trees and has other videos about, is that happy soil makes happy plants. One of the most common mistakes I've seen is new growers make is buying "miracle" soils or trying to grow in existing hard clays. Some plants may be fine but the best advice I offer is to build up your ecosystem and think of the soil as the foundation. Treat it right, nurture it, and you will be rewarded.

[freespirit]

Your Qld humidity has ventured into Victoria the past week or so. We are sending it back with love! 😆 Love your videos, keep them going. Always get something from them 👍

[storedaway]

I love when people share their mistakes, and how they have learned from them. Part of the reason I really enjoy your channel.

[elisabethsiegmund]

Great channel. Thank you for passing on your knowledge.