8 Years Later, I Converted my NORMAL BACKYARD into a PERMACULTURE GARDEN

what's going on growers James Prigioni coming to  you live from jersey eight years ago i started   to turn this normal backyard into a garden so  today i want to show you what it looks like now   and what i'm harvesting from it let's go let's  start things off the best way that i know how   in new jersey that's by grabbing some fresh  homegrown jersey tomatoes and our tomatoes   are just starting to really come into their  full they're looking fantastic first we'll   cut one of these nice beautiful orange tomatoes  and there's nothing like homegrown organically   grown tomatoes like this especially from jersey so  sweet so good we've been making tomato sandwiches   and eating them all different ways now we're  getting to the point where we're going to have a   bunch of extra so we're going to be able to give a  lot of them away which is one of the funnest parts   so we'll grab a couple of these even though  they're about a day or two away i've got some   monster saldakis over there and then some other  big ones too i'm going to grab if you've been   watching the channel for years then you know the  next tomina i'm going to show this is the saldaki   it's one of my favorite all-time varieties this  is an heirloom tomato it's a big beef steak it's   a potato leaf tomato how it grows with a leaf  pattern and it's relatively disease resistant   it grows fantastic for me and it always grows  these beautiful monsters look at this thing here   so this thing is an heirloom organic and just  look at the color and the shape and the flavor   this thing makes my favorite tomato sandwiches  probably so i always grow this one variety   selection is huge with tomatoes here's another one  right down here on the same plant another sildaki   not perfect as the other one but still a  great tomato and then we've got some ones   right here that are just getting ready to  ripen you'll see this one's coming up soon   then as we move down here we've got some yellow  tomatoes nice and ripe a couple beauties and then   it looks like some rose of the burns right next  to me i'll grab some of those too so i'll just   grab this whole set right here beautiful set  rosetta burn another heirloom tomato a great   one and we've got a couple more down here we'll  grab and then i've got i'm pretty sure this one's   the pineapple tomato right next to it here looks  like a nice ripe one we'll cut that baby off and   look at the color the striping and stuff  on that one it's a beautiful tomato   and i just wanted to move up and show you how i'm  growing some of these tomatoes you'll notice that   we're growing them up these strings with the  trellis that we made this way we're getting   extra space with that vertical we're getting a  lot of light and airflow so we're avoiding some   more of those diseases or at least reducing the  chance of them and it's working fantastic for us   the main way we're keeping them up and it's making  it so easy this year is using these tomato clips   i've showed them before but they really have  made things a lot easier for me i'll put a   link in the description but we've still got  some more tomatoes i've got a bunch of these   large beef steaks just from this section i've  got a lot of other stuff let me grab some small   cherry tomatoes from here and some more over  there and just keep moving through the garden   we've got so much stuff to harvest not just  tomatoes so we're in peak production now all   right now we're going to grab some of these  cherry tomatoes we've got so many cherries   in here this is a great variety i've got a bunch  of different varieties as a lot of you know the   sun gold is my favorite so we're gonna put some  of those in we've got some sun golds over here and i'm gonna harvest all the cherry tomatoes  that i can well all the tomatoes i can today   that are ripe this way a lot of the other ones  start ripening and we keep up that consistent   production these things will produce as  i've said many times up until the frost   so we got a lot to harvest i  love these cherries so much and i want to bring you to a section to my right  here that gets a little more shade than some of   my other sections of tomatoes but if you have a  section that gets a decent amount of shade the   cherry tomatoes are going to be the ones you  want to grow because they don't need as much   light to ripen and it's a short amount of time  for them to ripen basically the smaller the   tomato the quicker it ripens makes sense let's  get some more cherries from this section here   beautiful ones too and more as i move up this is  just what happens when you invest in the soil and   stuff and what we did here was we put a we put  a one foot raised bed in width and then it's   about five or six seven feet long and then we just  cultivated some soil into there it kind of reminds   me of what masa nobu fukuoka says and what joel  salton talked about this idea of like a temporary   disturbance or a one-time cultivation one-time  disturbance in order to get the soil in the right   uh in the right scenario then you only have  to just add stuff in the future so one time   i put this bed in now all i'm gonna really  have to do is just you know add some   consistent compost and stuff through the years  and we're just gonna get this continued growth   so one time i came in made a little temporary  disturbance made a huge difference i've got some   more roasted burns over here i need to grab and  some other kinds of tomatoes too as i move down   and it's definitely super hot out here but that's  okay the tomatoes are are doing well through it   and if you're in a super super hot section you'll  notice how i prune my tomatoes where they're   getting a good amount of sunlight but some of your  tomatoes could blister if it if the uh if it's way   too hot out so what you want to do is leave some  of these fan leaves sometimes around the tomatoes   this way they don't blister and scars from your  tomatoes looks like tuck wants a snack so we're   gonna have to grab him something he's always  dedicated always loyal out here so we're gonna   turn around grab some carrots and stuff i'm sure  i got something over here for him we're growing a   pepper you'll notice in this just filtered shade  of this peach tree young peach tree right next to   that we've got carrots carrots are that root crop  so they're completely different from the peppers   different growing areas so they can occupy the  space growing right one with another hey talk you   want to carefully maybe harvest this one himself  want a carrot boy can i carrot right here boy i'll probably find his way in he just got to use  his nose he's got a good nose it might be hard   for him to pull out though these are pretty  big carrots i think you got a boy throw some   hearts down in the comments for tuck this guy's  a beast you got it boy come on keep going at it   i'll loosen it up for you i loosened it  up for there you go boy hey this good boy   look at that carrot that's a nice one huh boy oh  yeah he he always pulls the tip off you'll notice   and throws it away he knows and then he goes for  the sweet stuff so that's a little technique i   learned from him too tuck teaches me stuff in  the garden all the time so we'll let him just   continue to snack on that because we have a lot  of harvesting and some other stuff we need to do   we're only in the young food forest this one  garden i only put in about three or four years ago   and the other one i put in eight years ago so  we're not even to the section that has been uh   you know has been growing fertility and stuff  through the years but look at these carrots   really nice shape really nice size and again  always tuck approved we know that they're good   tasting too because look at this guy he's going  to stay busy on that carrot let's move down   to another section i want to show you uh some  stuff that i've actually replanted and how i'm   looking towards the fall not just focused on the  harvest we have right now i think tuck is thirsty   too because it's so hot out here so he's probably  getting some uh some water from that carrot we do   have a a water bowl out here for him because we  don't want him drinking some of the sitting water   here's the section where i already replanted some  of the stuff so we took out some of the brassicas   that have finished we've got some next round of  beets going in or that are in we've got some more   zucchini some cucumbers here's some swiss chard  and stuff and you'll notice here too the kale   a lot of the kale has gotten bit really bad by  some of the bugs that's because we hadn't sprayed   it recently but all the new growth is beautiful  that's because we sprayed it with a new spray that   we just started using this year and that spray  is called bt bacillus therogenesis i believe it's   called it's an organic spray it's basically just  a bacteria so it's like a beneficial bacteria or   just a bacteria we spray it on the plants and  that basically kills off a lot of the uh a lot   of the insects and a lot of things that are gonna  feed and eat on the leaves so we're using that one   this year it's an organic one it's made a huge  difference for me and i think that's one of the   reasons i got a lot of cabbages and stuff i still  have a few more that i need to harvest but i'm   going to put a link for that in the description  if you guys want to try that out and we've got   some more brassicas coming up a new round all  radishes here looking real well and then we've got   cucumbers along the outside so we're really going  to be harvesting a lot of stuff going late into   the season but there's so many more things i need  to show you tux hanging out in the shade being a   good boy not digging holes in our beds this guy's  the best there are a few more things that i want   to grab from this three-year-old garden before i  move to the eight-year-old one just a couple more   things i want to harvest so right here we've got  a cabbage like i mentioned i kept a few ones late   this is a small cabbage but we already have the  next round of cabbage planted so we've really   been eating a lot of cabbage around here and it's  really good it's a small one but it's packed with   flavor and still delicious then here we've got a  lot of carrots that i need to get on to harvest   too because i want to get another round of carrots  planted this is why i have carrots that are doing   really well late into the season so they get super  sweet because when the ground gets really cold   and starts to freeze that's when all the  sugars and the carrots come out so we got so   many carrots to harvest and we've got a bunch of  different kinds in here and i'm going to harvest   most of the rest of my beets today a lot of  them are getting massive look at this beat here   things big and you can see look we've got them  growing so close to one another so we're gonna   get most of those this way i can plant as you saw  i've had another section already planted for beets   we've got the next round so we'll just get  all these so i can plant something else but not bad i pulled a few from just another  square foot over there so it's a good amount   of beets we've got carrots and i've got zucchini  and stuff that i need to grab next and so many   cucumbers and just more and more stuff we'll put  those beets down and grab some zucchini but it   looks like tuck actually started to dig a hole in  the kale right behind me so let's go check on them   do you want to see and this is the second time  he's dug this hole in the spot and i can't really   blame him because i allow him to be in here  and sometimes he'll do something negative but   he looks so cute doing it and he needs to cool  off this guy he's doing a lot of work out here   but you know sometimes he'll dig some holes  but that's just a part of it i'd rather have   him be out here and be a part of it rather than  being fenced out or something i need him in the   garden with me he encourages me and he he's  part of the garden let's grab some of those   zooks there's a couple zucchinis we'll grab i  like them when they're this size about six to   eight inches is good it's a nice one here  and i'll grab one more that's right here   and we've been eating so many zucchini i'm i'm  doing a good job this year of keeping up with them   but i've got a whole nother round of zucchinis  planted that i want to show you right here   along this bordered edge and they're doing real  well so as my other zucchinis have started to   slow down you'll notice that they're starting to  wilt a little bit when it gets hot out they're   just a little overworked and they had a little  bit of pest damage so they're just you know   they're getting a little tired out so i still  have the next round but while we're waiting for   that next round we're making sure we get some of  these ones that are still finishing off and then   the cucumbers this has been an incredible  year for cucumbers for me i've gotten so   many it's been tough to keep up there's a lot  of cucumbers so this one is doing real well   this thing is growing along the fence another  one on the other side and then there's some   cucumbers that i missed i just noticed this one  today and i'm going to go show you it's a white   armenian cucumber i showed you it the other day  but i missed this one i didn't know how i did   hiding underneath here so we'll harvest that and  there's a bunch of other melons and cucumbers   in here most of the melons aren't  ripe yet some of the cucumbers are   but there's also a bunch of grapes that are  starting to ripen on that side let me uh grab   some of those grapes and taste a few of them and  then move into the eight-year-old food forest i   have a bunch of cucumbers that i have to grab  along the fence here before i get those grapes   and you'll notice we use these fences not only  to keep out critters and stuff but to grow a   lot of food up when you grow your cucumbers  and all your stuff up the fence line you're   going to get that added vertical space and you  can get those bigger harvests so i'm gonna grab   you'll see about five six seven cucumbers just in  this one little spot got a nice big one down here then we'll move forward and grab some of  these grapes here i'm so excited for this   whole grape wall look at the whole fence  line it's like it's the living fence that's   how we know we're getting good utilization out  of it so look at these grapes really starting   to ripen in here nice early one look at  this thing and they're getting a little   bites on them but that's okay they're still  so good this is one of the first earlier ones so sweet i showed you last week but we've so many  more grapes too even along this fence line that   just haven't ripened yet up here too you'll notice  we have a bunch and then as we move down here   there's a bunch up here and then down there so  we're trying to use a little bit of leaves to hide   them because we know the birds are really getting  crazy about them and they love the taste of them   as much as us i've got some wine grapes i just  want to give you a quick peek up too the grapes   where we were just at those were table grapes  these ones here are wine grapes they're slowly   starting to ripen but you'll notice how many  grapes there are they're supposed to be pretty   small wine grapes are going to be much smaller  they're going to be like a thicker skin they're   going to have more seeds in them but they're going  to be like more juicy they're specifically made   for making wine so you'll notice all these under  here so we're growing all different varieties of   things because in the future i'd like to make some  of my own wine out of my own grapes i think there   would be nothing better in new jersey some things  that i love growing so much are tomatoes and   grapes like those two things you got a perennial  on each side and even figs two are fun to grow   but these things i'm excited for them because this  is the first year that i've shown that uh that   i'm getting some actual uh wine grapes and these  little dots on them i think they're supposed to be   there that's kind of just a variety that happens  in some of the grapes like the interlock and   grape if you want to look at that it kind of has  those little dots on them that's just typical to   the variety i'm in the eight-year-old food forest  now and i want to show you some of these tomatoes   first look at this variety look how many tomatoes  this thing has on it it's insane it's most   productive i've ever seen and look at the beauty  of the tomatoes i'll put the variety down low for   you look at this a good size beautiful color and  they're delicious tomatoes really good and there's   another variety right below you i think that's  the costa luto genovese that's a really cool one   too with those strong ribs on it so i need to make  sure i harvest you know four or five six of those   and over here we've got some nice cherry tomatoes  too but one thing you'll notice is this section   i'm planting directly into the ground with  the wood chip mulch instead of planting into   the raised beds and you'll notice some of these  tomatoes right here i think these are probably   some of the healthiest tomatoes in the whole  garden so one of the reasons i think that is   is because i've built this soil for years you know  the last six seven eight years i've had this wood   chips down i've focused on building a good soil  but i also have good soil for tomatoes i live   in new jersey which has a sandy soil so tomatoes  like that sandy soil and i'll note it i'll show   you guys in just a minute but my tomatoes in the  palette raised bed that i built aren't doing as   well as these ones and one of the reasons i think  that is is because when they're in this section   with a thick mulch down in the natural soil that's  i've built through the years it's got such good   water retention that the level of water how much  how saturated it is stays consistent it doesn't   dry out a lot when this raised bed that i'm going  to bring you to now that thing has a little bit   of uneven watering and what can happen sometimes  when you get uneven watering is what can lead to   some blossom and rot so i've had a few issues not  too bad with the blossom end rot in here but this   is that same variety right here you'll notice  this is the tomato and as we look up it's got   it looks really good but not as good as the one  in wood chips so i think one of the factors was   that even watering so some people will think a lot  of times that the blossom enroute is because they   have a lack of calcium in the soil but sometimes  you have enough calcium you just don't have the   right ph or you have a very uneven watering so  that's a big thing when it comes to tomatoes   and all plants in general so there's some stuff  that i need to harvest in here but and there's   some big monsters on the other side some sildaki  i'll show you but like i said for this time this   year in my scenario i think that the tomatoes  in the wood chips from soil i built years ago   have done the best hey look at these monsters two  right next to each other too we're gonna cut those and look at these so let's go check out some more of the raised beds  where the peppers and stuff are just doing so good   get a couple of these tomatoes and then let's move  to the next bed where we have some lettuces and we   were harvesting some of these green peppers some  of the larger ones and some of the peppers are   starting to turn on us the colors too i've got  a lot more cherry tomatoes in here basil but i   want to bring you over to some of the grapes that  are still performing really well this section that   they haven't started ripening yet but they still  there's so many in here as we move in and it's   cool there's one spot here where the spiders have  like decided that they wanna i think take the spot   over and just protect the grapes i think for me as  much as i can so we're having nature do the work a   little bit for us this is my favorite spot to be  in the garden so this was one of the first areas   that i even put in the grapes are one of the first  plants that i put in i've always wanted this thing   where i can hang out underneath the shade of the  grapes and just reach up and grab them so the fact   that you can make that a reality that's that's  one of the reasons that i live to garden i love   doing this stuff it's my passion i love being out  here this is that spot where look at the spiders   the spider webs have all taken over the spot and  they're almost like protecting these grapes look   at the harvest these are the table grapes you'll  notice the size way bigger than the other ones   and the concord grapes are the ones that are  so hardy they're not hardy they're so disease   resistant from the black rock so let me show you  some of the concord grapes as we move to here   but you'll notice the the forest feel so this is  what we're talking about with a food forest it's   got the absolute force feel you can get lost  in here i've got so many things over top of me   and i've got things even down below me so you'll  notice we've got the concord grapes growing this   section right here doing real well i just cannot  wait for them to start uh to start ripening to   start changing color i know it's not too far away  and in that section you'll notice we've got the   grapes there that's the vine one below us we've  got strawberries some of these peaches fell but   we've got strawberries growing here to the left  of me over here we've got some blackberries that   are ripening so some of these blackberries are  ready to eat and you can see the birds they're the   ones who are getting to a lot of them first you've  got to be clever and find the good ones like here   and this blackberry is in full production while  the other black bear i have just finished up so   we're extending the blackberry harvest if you guys  have been with us since the beginning of the year   you know that like what was it may or something  we start eating strawberries then raspberries   and then gooseberries and then just every kind  of berry blackberries anything you could think   of we get that perennial yield while we're also  getting the annuals increasing the harvests   and above me here we have the peach tree and  this pea tree hasn't done great this year   the peculiar really hit hard there still are  some peaches on it this other peach tree is doing   better but that's kind of the give and take that  you're going to have when you grow a food forest   like this if i just put one pea tree in this whole  entire section just focused on the one peach tree   i'm sure i could get a bigger harvest than if  i didn't here but then i'd be losing the grapes   the strawberries the blackberries all that other  additional things that come with it so i like   that bigger system yield a lot of these have  been bitten by the curculio as you'll notice   but some are still ripening and doing real well so  the big mistake that i made this year and there's   more as we come in here the big mistake that i  made this year was i didn't stay on top of pruning   enough and then i really didn't spray as much with  the surround as i should have and that's my own   fault because i'm the kind of person where i have  this like blessing and curse where i can get super   hyper focused on certain things but then sometimes  i let other things slide because i get focused on   a certain section so this year i was so big on  like those square foot gardening raised beds   that i let a few things like slide off to the side  but i made sure i journaled that this year and i   don't make the same mistake next year so here's a  peach that looks like it got bit and it's ripening   prematurely but we'll still taste it and see  how it is because the other ones aren't ripe yet so not completely ripe still decent   i would say they they probably still need a couple  weeks before they're completely ripe so we'll come   back and and taste those when they're all done but  as an early taste it's a good little appetizer i   guess that's today's video growers thanks for  watching i hope you enjoyed it i hope you got   something out of it i hope you feel encouraged  to take a piece of your backyard and turn it   into a garden you don't have to go as crazy as i  am because you're probably not as crazy as i am   you don't have to turn the whole thing into a huge  garden a food forest and basically just like you   know natural habitat with a bunch of stuff in it  but you can grow some of your own food in your own   backyard and it will make all the difference to be  able to come out and grab some fresh tomatoes and   to be able to give a lot of these away to your  friends and stuff it's a it's a great feeling   knowing that it's organic it's grown from your  hand and a lot of people are going to enjoy it   so if you guys enjoyed this video hit the like  button hit the subscribe button share with your   friends don't forget to check out the merch  download and whenever you're doing any shopping   on amazon start your shopping with our amazon  affiliate link it doesn't cost you anything gives   me and tuck just a little piece we'll be back  to you guys with another one real soon we out!

Channel: The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni

Views: 1,104,260

Keywords: garden, gardening, permaculture garden, permaculture gardening, organic gardening, fruits, vegetables, how to, how to garden, how to start a garden, sustainable garden, backyard garden, James prigioni, epic gardening

Id: xsdXzrLvh1w

Length: 20min 9sec (1209 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 02 2020