My Six Favorite Gardening Channels
on YouTube
Am I the only person who has a thing for YouTube garden channels? Talk about an infinity of garden information ā plus links - to all of the best supplies and equipment to use. The folks who create these channels are like your favorite teachers times 100. They have extensive knowledge and use their very own homes and gardens as their classrooms. They can take a beginner (like me) and give her garden wings to really grow some good stuff! Gardening has arrived and the coolest kids are doing it!
If you are like me and life has gotten stressful, then take yourself away. These trips are only a few clicks away. Switch off Forensic Files and the nightly news, and enjoy the gardens. Or - when the view outside your window is frozen with ice and snow - head on over to YouTube and enjoy learning to start seeds, see lush zucchini plants, skyscraper tomatoes, and happy little beans plump for picking. Marvel at backyard apples, huge heads of cabbage, figs and even oranges growing as far north as North Carolina. Get the fever for getting your own hands in the dirt. These videos have been a gift to me lately and here are a few of my favorites. Join me in the gardens on YouTube At Home My Way. It's a super happy place to be!
I started my love of Garden Videos with Gardener Scott (Colorado). Gardener Scott's extensive knowledge and video style really sing to me. He starts talking and I just cannot tear myself away. I love that he offers Live Video Chats on Monday mornings. Even if you don't want to ask your own questions, you can bet someone else will ask and you can just take it all in. Gardener Scott even has a new book which I will be getting my hands on very soon. He does it all, from explaining biochar to making sauerkraut. Interested in making hot sauce with your very own peppers? Yep, Gardener Scott! Chili Powder? Gardener Scott! Gahhā¦ I cannot get enough. Am I actually making hot sauce and paprika this summer? Oh yes! My seeds for this yearās peppers are growing as we speak. š
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Next, I started watching The Millennial Gardener (North Carolina). His videos show start to finish with whatever heās working on. I love that he's growing citrus trees in his backyard in North Carolina where he keeps them happy and healthy even in a snow storm. Whatttt?!! Yes - he does this and he knows the most cold hardy varieties for you to try. He even tells you things that don't work, like "Don't Do This!" The Millennial Gardener says it like it is and I love that about his videos. He conducts cool tests and comparisons. Some are quite funny (MiracleGrow vs. Pee as Fertilizer) but some are pretty serious ā like Protecting your Garden from Heat Using shade cloth for Incredible Results. He has videos about the best tomato varieties to grow, best cucumber varieties to grow. (Did you know that some varieties grow better than others? And yes, I have some growing for my garden!) Also, you just cannot have a bad day while watching The Millennial Gardener. And then thereās his dog, Dale. Thereās just everything to love about The Millennial Gardener!
The Gardening Channel with James Prigioni
The Millennial Gardener did an interview with The Gardening Channelās James Prigioni (New Jersey) and so I next became a huge fan of The Gardening Channel. James (and his sweet little dog, Tuck) have inspired me to incorporate more fruit plants (apple trees, strawberries, grape vines) into my backyard and even to use 5-gallon buckets (containers) for growing vegetables like peppers. James really packs it in and generally uses square foot gardening. His yard is the stuff garden dreams are made of and he has massive garden harvests. He is a complete wealth of plant knowledge like protecting your fruit trees and squash plants from pests with Surround Kaolin Clay, growing the best strawberries even under your trees and basically turning an ordinary back yard into a food forest. He makes it all seem easy peasy and just seeing the amount of food harvested in Jamesās backyard is reason enough to watch. After watching, you pretty much know that you can grow spectacular food in your own yard with his content. I never miss an episode!
And from there, James Prigioni did an interview with Luke from MI Gardener (Michigan) which led me to that channel. I believe his videos have been around since 2011 (when Luke was 16 years old, wow!). Incredible amount of information are available on this channel! To me, Luke is to general plant knowledge what Eliot Coleman is to organic gardening. Luke seems to have become the authority for all things plants. He takes the basics and does videos about them but in ways that are super interesting and super organized. Want to know why your cabbage isn't forming heads, how to grow broccoli, how to get free blueberry plants from storebought blueberries? Luke is your man. Lukeās videos all have a similar order to them which I find tremendously helpful. Luke is like a plant/garden doctor. When you watch his videos, you understand why you might have been doing it wrong and how to fix it. He knows his stuff!
I also have a few other favorites. These are content creators who offer a little more than gardening. Since I have a love for all things homemade, I just love these two channels. In every single video, I take away useful bits of information that I can use. Check them out and donātā forget to subscribe if you enjoy them as much as I do.
Seed and Sparrow Homestead (Pennsylvania) has a super comforting style to me and the branding is more old fashioned. Kelsey is a mom and wife, homemaker and gardener, and her channel has awesome old fashioned skill videos like baking a month of bread, making homemade snacks that are better than storebought, preserving and using the garden harvest as well as growing medicinal plants and how to store them, and even planting a cottage garden. (She also makes me want to wear beautiful aprons. Lol) Kelseyās garden is both romantic/ whimsical and utilitarian as it cranks out serious amounts of food but also features beautiful flowers. You get to see Kelsey and her family as they are loving life in their home with stuff they grow in their yard and cook in their kitchen. I love Kelseyās narrative, her beautiful background music and the real life views of her plants, meals and family.
Our Freedom Song (South Carolina) just brings me JOY! I canāt describe it better any other way. Taqueshaās family grows lots of food, beautiful flowers and medicinal plants in their yard using different growing options (Green Stalk, raised beds, grow bags). She even has plants growing in file cabinets that she has turned into some beautiful raised beds! I love-love Taqueshaās visits. I also love-love that her entire family helps and that she and her husband genuinely seem crazy about each other. The entire family gets stuff done together whether thatās moving gravel, setting up new garden beds or starting seeds. Taquesha and her husband are teaching the next generation (their children) what all kids these days should be learning and thatās how to grow and make their own food and mostly how to coexist in a loving family. If you get a chance, also enjoy some of Taqueshaās music videos. She is quite a talented singer and musical artist. I just cannot get enough of Our Freedom Song!
Iām kind of wordy here but I felt that each channel deserved a summary for what makes them special. I also feel like HGTV is completely missing the boat by not picking up these folks. Their videos require lots of creativity and tech. They nail it on all levels and in spite of good days and bad days, sickness and health, they keep cranking out the content and inspiring us everyday folks with real homes, gardens, and food.
I find a huge amount of peaceful energy in watching these videos. The world is a stressful place these days but gardening and homemaking are places of peace and joy. Join me in watching (and subscribing) to these awesome YouTube channels!
Enjoy!
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