Grow What You Can in Your Garden – Don’t Worry about the “Experts!”

The point of vegetable gardening is usually to grow food.

One person may have his little “therapy garden” and another might have a few tomato plants just for fun, but usually people grow vegetable gardens in order to provide food for the table.

If you’re getting advice that is making it harder for you to grow food and making you question the success you’ve had, maybe it’s not great advice.

ramtharthegreat writes:

“There’s a gardening channel on here based in New Orleans, and she feels she knows enough about gardening to do paid evaluation/recommendations regarding viewers gardens. I should note, she does have very good information for her area. However, she was recommending that everyone, regardless of zone, just leave some potatoes when you harvest and you will never need to plant any. Several people pointed out that can work where the ground doesn’t freeze, but you’ll need a different approach in the north. Turns out, she had not only never gardened where the ground froze 3 ft deep for months at a time every year, but didn’t understand that places like that could be gardened at all. Point is, no plan works everywhere, and watch out for the ‘experts’.”

Yep.

This is why I don’t write a regional book called Idaho Survival Gardening, or perhaps a broader tome, such as The Good Guide to Cold Climate Gardening.

It’s because…

I also like to cut through unnecessarily complicated systems and dispose of what isn’t helpful.

In yesterday’s video, I share my problems with a “Swiss Army Knife” plant that does poorly in our area.

Comfrey is barely a butter knife here in hot and humid USDA zone 8b.

Forget it. I’ve got better plants to grow!

Yet I do indeed get some crazy people that refuse to understand my methods:

I hate it when people misuse apostrophes.

Jack commented before, leaving a string of insults. I responded graciously then, but now I’ve banned him.

When a person is willfully as obtuse as that, it’s not worth engaging. His vitriol seems mostly directed towards my refusing to recommend no-till gardening in all situations.

Look – if you don’t have enough mulch but you want to grow food don’t worry about it! Just plant an unmulched row garden and keep it weeded with a hoe. People have done it forever. Whether or not you think it’s ideal isn’t important. My ideal garden would probably be a food forest, with some permanent compost-rich deep mulched beds closer to the house. Or my Grocery Row Gardens. But I’ll also use single-row gardens to grow food.

Grow that food, people! Don’t get hung up. And please learn to use apostrophes correctly.

As Duncan comments:

“I am a classic “paralysis by analysis” kind of guy. Your videos and methods have eased my mind to stop finding the “best” way, and to embrace the practical way that fits with our family, life, and just how our property is. Thank you for putting so much work into sharing your knowledge and experience with the world.”

Thank you, Duncan.

I’m trying to use my mind and heart to help others and take care of my own family, despite not being an expert on everything.

I’m also addicted to growing food, so if something gets in the way of that I usually discard it. Grow what grows in your climate. Learn what works for you. Be joyful!

And remember:

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