All plants have a preferred temperature Range light and water requirements when Those are perfectly met the plant has a Greater chance of thriving when they're Not the plant could exhibit stomach Growth filled a fruit or flower or just Simply die in this video we're going to Cover these critical considerations so Let's jump in Location figuring out your Zone a plant Hardiness zone is a geographic area Defined mainly by a 10-year average Minimum temperature some Zone Calculations also consider other factors The most commonly used hardiness scale In America is the United States Department Of Agricultural skill it Ranges on a scale from 0 to 13. I'll Link to that one in the description Section below so you can determine your Zone in the description section below I'll also link to the equivalent European and other parts of the world's Hardiness skill as a USDA system is Based entirely on area's average annual Extreme minimum temperature it is Limited in describing the full climatic Conditions a gardener may have to Account for in a particular place these Maps do not include maximum temperature Humidity light and soil moisture content All critical factors in a plant survival They're also irrelevant if you plan to Grow entirely indoors or in a greenhouse
They do provide a starting point for the Types of plants that will thrive in your Outdoor environment and a general idea Of when to plant Planning schedules like the one that I'll also put in the comments below they Give a grower a general idea of when to Plant in some zones successive planning It's possible and other zones a growing Season is very narrow so more attention Must be paid to when the last frost was Likely passed and when the first Frost Will occur Season gardeners understand their Zone And often start their plants indoors When snow is still on the ground that's Why they're harvesting well before Everyone else plants react differently Based on the temperature water and light They receive tomatoes for instance will Only set fruit of the temperature at Night for at least three days is above 55 degrees after pollination if Temperatures are above 100 degrees for Three hours or more in two successive Days the fruit will not set and likely The flowers will fall off the plant if You deprive a plant of water it may go Into cell preservation mode bolt and Raise the seed understanding the Goldilocks zones for each of your plants Will also help you to adjust your Watering schedule how vulnerable they May be in extreme weather conditions or
Even if shading Fanning or supplemental Light will be beneficial to them all of This stems from knowing the Zone in Which you're planting most all the plant Labels will carry an indicator of their Preferred zonal range these are broad a Carrot for instance can be grown in Zones three through ten pineapples can Be grown in zones 11 through 12. now That doesn't mean that you can plant Pineapples in Finland or carrots in the Tropics you can so long as they're Inside a structure where temperature Moisture and light can all be Artificially adjusted these zones are Guides for temperature ranges and Climates that help gardeners determine What plants will thrive in their Environment and what plants will need Special considerations if your vegetable Plant prefers a high Zone number it Won't like Frost and may require full Sun in your area if your vegetable plant Prefers a lower number it will not like High heat and may prefer partial sun or Shade download our small space high Yield Gardening Guide by clicking on the Link in the description and comments Section below enjoy the video Care High versus low maintenance plants I haven't seen a lot of discussion on This topic because most people assume if You're gardening you're also planning on Spending a good deal of time doing that
I don't have hours and hours to devote To gardening and I wish I did but other Things in life require my attention for This reason I've changed my grow areas To be as low maintenance as possible Over the years some plants will only do Well if you keep the weeds out other Plants will be encouraged to set and Produce good fruit by carefully pruning Them and controlling green growth over The years I've dabbled with this quite a Bit with my tomato plants tomato plants Are a perfect example of this there are Two types determinate and indeterminate Determinate tomato plants are smaller And grow like a bush they usually grow Up to five feet tall so they're perfect For a small garden or container Gardening in determinate tomato plants Often have a more vine-like structure And can grow up to eight to ten feet Tall obviously indeterminate tomato Plants must be trellis staked supported And pruned determinate tomato plants may Only need to be supported with Occasional pruning all tomato plants They need to be pruned and when I plant Mine I always plant the first set of Leaves furthest at the base these will Turn into Roots then after the plant has Grown a bit after prune the leaves at The bottom of the plant above the soil Line as the plant grows I have to Control growth and focus the energy to
The fruit by pruning what are called Suckers offshoots that will only create Foliage Some gardeners nearly strip their plants Of leaves when fruit sets but I'm afraid Of harming the plant so I leave the Considerable amount of green this also Means that I'm more susceptible to Tomato hornworms and other voracious Plant eaters I've had to learn how to Deal with these pests by spraying an Organic bacteria all that requires a Considerable amount of attention and Time because of this I have gone from a High of eight varieties to just two Plants per season over the years we're Talking about years of learning and not Just a season Another consideration about care and Space's dwarf varieties these tend to be More compact in smaller plants that can Still have excellent yields because They're smaller they require less Maintenance and are a popular choice for Apartments containers and small gardens At least at this point in my life I need Lower maintenance plans for instance I Have some pepper plants garlic sunchokes Amaranth huckleberries chard lettuce Onion varieties carrots and a few other Plants that I can simply check on every Other day or so then I can pull the Occasional weed fertilize water or Whatever else I need to do they're low
Maintenance plans because I simply don't Have the time when you lay out your grow Area keep the time you have to tend it In mine if you desire to set it and Forget it make sure you choose super Hardy independent and compact plants Melon squash beans peas and other Sprawling plants will require trellising Or guidance in your outdoor space and They only sometimes climb on their own If you plan on looking after them nearly Daily that's fine if you plan on Ignoring them you might find that They're not setting fruit properly Rotting where they came into contact With wet soil or have a bug infestation Eating them I've also learned over the Years that consistent watering schedules Are critical to well-developed fruits And vegetables If your lifestyle requires you to only Water when you get around to it every Third day and then soak the plants well Your plants will die the fruit will Crack and the vegetables will exhibit The stress by being poorly formed some Plants like water on their leaves other Plants do not for some plants it can Increase the likelihood of leaf light They're sometimes high in low Maintenance plants of the same type I Can grow a water Wallace sweet but it Has 14 to 16 hours of daylight and Requires 90 to 110 days to mature fully
That narrows a growing season for some They also need very particular and Consistent moisture levels every year I Do an onion patch but I have planted Egyptian walking onions this year the Smaller onion variety that sets bulbs at The top of the plant requires almost no Maintenance on my part it can be planted Much closer together With each plant you choose to grow Consider your time and lifestyle don't Rely upon the few lines on the label on The pot read up on your particular Variety understand the maintenance it Will require and how well you can Maintain the perfect growing environment For the plant you can still succeed with High maintenance plants that you ignore But your results will increase when you Give the plant the attention it needs Hybrids versus heirlooms Most vegetable seeds you purchase at Your local store are a narrow range of Cultivars that have been carefully Selected to provide Growers with the Best Harvest from the hardiest of plants Sometimes they've been cross-pollinate Or hybridized to provide the most robust Plant possible that's great for many but It ignores that thousands of other Varieties many look at the seeds section Of their local store and Marvel at the Possibilities I see this as a very Narrow range of options most seat
Sections try to emulate the local Produce section of your grocery store or Perfectly manicured displays of uniform Sized fruits and vegetables form neat Displays on the other hand heirloom Varieties offer the grower varieties of Plants that aren't typically associated With large-scale monocultural Agriculture operations I use the term Heirloom varieties quite Loosely to Include all those fruits and vegetables Our ancestors grew or forage that you Don't likely find in your grocery store The colonial Farm look far different From today's massive monocultural Agricultural operations that's an Application of the term that is far Broader than it was intended these Heirlooms often have much better flavors And character than the perfect cousins In the store The trade-off however is that heirlooms May be more susceptible to disease or Infestation and they may take more Effort to cultivate that's why Commercial Growers tend to refrain from Growing them the other reason is a Limited pallet range which many in our Modern culture have grown accustomed to We expect strawberries in the United States look and taste a certain way but They're an estimated 600 different Varieties of strawberries stemming from Five or six original wild species
The globe or garden strawberry you may Get at the store will taste and look Very different from Alpine forgeria Virginia Aroma Camino Real sweet Charlie Pinbury or wild strawberries I like to Read avocados it's one of over 500 Varieties but your store probably only Has us or Forte varieties you may be Impressed with your stores seven Different Apple varieties but you would Be missing out on the other 7 500 Varieties your local grocery store has Maybe eight different varieties of Tomatoes like Roma's Globes or beef Steak to Cherry and Plum varieties yep There are more than ten thousand tomato Varieties available I don't think a Person can say they don't like tomatoes Until they have at least tried a Thousand different varieties in your Local Grocers defense it would be hard For them to sell some of the Lesser-known varieties of apples over The beautifully polished hybrids it Would be harder to sell a green stripe Zebra black cherry or white cherry Tomato over your run-of-the-mill roma Tomato the same is true with almost Every vegetable or fruit we consume Consider all the varieties with each Plant you think about for your garden You might also take a trip to your Largest local farmers market there You'll often find a more varied
Selection and odd varieties with some Seed saving you can grow these same Heirloom varieties from the farmer's Market you are assured that the Particular variety you're growing is Successful in your local climate someone Has already tried to grow them in your Area and was successful or you wouldn't Be buying them locally the farmers Market also allows you to taste and work With a vegetable or fruit before you try To grow a bunch of it you may like the Taste of butternut squash but you will Find the taste of baby blue Albert even Better it's sweet flavorful and perfect For roasting baking pies or canning Tasting what you're going to grow and Cooking with it will help you decide as Well I grow several different hot Peppers in my garden to me to be honest Nobody else in my family eats them and I'm trying to figure out what to do with The jars of dried peppers for this Season alone I usually make at least one Massive batch of hot sauce per year but Even then they're hard to get rid of When many of the friends and family Can't handle the heat don't grow Something so lacking foreign to you that You or your family will have difficulty Getting anyone to eat it I wouldn't have Gotten anyone in the family dating the Amaranth I grow it and not stuck it in Their baguettes nobody in my family
Would have knowingly porcelain broadleaf Planting Carrot Tops or dandelion leaves That I forged from a yard and garden how To not snuck it into their salads and Nearly every meal I get a suspiciously Raised eyebrow with the accompanying Question of what's in it generally most Of what you grow will taste far superior To anything that you can buy at the Grocery store the vegetables you find There are often grown thousands of miles Away pick before they ripen and are Encouraged to ripen by spraying them With ethylene gas there are 110 Different chemicals in the official Florida guidebook for commercial tomato Growers that a farmer can spray on a Field over the course of a few months Many of these chemicals on their own the EPA rates as acutely toxic that means That they can kill you on their own look I'm not trying to scare anyone here but There is no comparison between the taste Of a homegrown Vine ripened tomato in Your standard grocery store Globe tomato A final note on heirlooms versus hybrids Heirlooms are often open pollinated Meaning that their seeds can be saved From one year to the next and will Produce plants with the same Characteristics as a parent plant if you Try to grow a seed collected from a Hybrid you may not have any luck at all Many hybrids are specifically engineered
Not to produce excessive Generations Think of hybrids as often the mule of Plants a mule is a cross between a male Donkey and a female horse but is Typically sterile and cannot reproduce One unique thing about open pollinated Plants is that they can cross-pollinate With other plants of the same or similar Species this can happen naturally Through the actions of wind insects or Other animals that transfer pollen from One plant to another so what you set out To grow can be influenced and changed Depending on how close it resides at Other similar varieties it's important To note that if you want to save seeds From open pollinate plants and maintain Their genetic Purity you must take steps To prevent cross-pollination this can be Done by isolating the plants from other Varieties of the same species or hand Pollinating the flowers to ensure that The pollen comes only for from the Desired plan Garden purpose keep one Question in mind as you launch into this Venture or redesign your current Garden What's your purpose if your objective is To be a self-sufficient food grower and Produce all the calories that you need To live you probably don't have the Space for that suppose you do have the Space great but you also have the time I Would love to grow squash and I have Before but many plants take up more
Space and I'm willing to sacrifice in my Backyard still some zucchini plants can Be relatively compact so I have options If your purpose is to supplement your Food supply you might be able to Accomplish that by just adding a few Plants this is a great goal especially For beginner gardeners a ginger or Turmeric plant doesn't look like your Traditional garden vegetable and you're Not going to sit down and eat a bowl Full of it either still the roots and Leaves are edible there are not many Calories there but there's a lot of iron Potassium and magnesium lemongrass Sage Basil oregano and other herbs don't Offer many calories but they do have Flavors growing them in a small space Teaches you how to grow you'll learn how To cook in dry herbs trying to use them All up and save them for the winter Months I'm also not going to grow tons of beans For survival when I can still buy them At the low prices in the stores I'm not Going to flood my backyard to try and Grow a rice eventually I hope to be Self-sufficient and grow my own food but I know that's not today Dwarf and Bush varieties may not seem as Fun to grow as a giant mortgage lifter Beefsteak tomato but you may not have The space for that enormous intermittent Variety most plants you buy commercially
Will indicate their average size of Maturity if that's a four foot diameter Bush do you have the space for it a more Compact Bush cherry tomato like Tiny Tim Could provide you with loads of tomatoes Throughout the grow season and it would Allow you to focus on one plant to Understand better how to grow plants in Your area This Garden series focuses on small Space Gardens like you would find on Your balcony apartment Still the whole series is valuable to Anyone who Garden so long as they can Ask and answer the questions of their Garden's purpose you might take a run at It and decide you would rather expand Contract trellis upwards switch to micro Greens and Sprouts indoors or even Mushrooms I want to tell you to be open To changing what you grow and how you Grow each year not all Gardens are Rigidly planned out and always the same Because of soil depletion in some types Of plants you can only sometimes plant The same things in the same soil year to Year you may find one thing you grew Left you with too much and another Barely a bowl full align your garden Purpose with your goal and allow your Plans to change you can start small and Figure out the best ways to grow more You can start big and resizing and Realign your garden as you understand
The plants the space required and their Time commitment you will be well Positioned to expand and fine-tune your Operations at the end of a few seasons You might start a garden on someone Else's property or community garden you Might work up a trading agreement with Your Surplus you will grow as a gardener Far more than your plants if you will Set out whatever purpose in mind and Adapt as your skills and knowledge grow Whatever you decide to grow understand The zone that you're in and what that Means to the plants that you're Considering That's the basis on which All of your decisions should really be Made consider the conditions in Space The plant will take you may want to grow One type of plant but you realize that You just don't have the space for it Understand how frequently you're going To need to tend to the plants most Importantly understand the wide Varieties available to you in your Garden's overall purpose when you look At the other videos in this series You're going to see a host of Considerations things such as climate Space soil personal preferences Difficulty levels seasonality and even Companion planning in this video we have Added location Zone care type and Purpose all of these videos together I Hope will help you narrow down the
Garden that's right for you and is going To be realistic for your situation I'll Post a link to the playlist up in the Cards above in the description section Below to this series on all these uh Videos that we've been doing for Gardening you have hundreds of more Options and varieties than you see in The grocery store the sea dial of your Hardware store even in a small space you Have many growing methods available use Our sun mapping video and thoughtfully Apply everything that we've been showing You draw out a plan sit down with it for A while and evaluate it daily and modify It as you consider plant size Zone and Purpose these winter months are the Planning months the next phase is to Order seeds prepare your spacing method And get the plants growing watch for More videos coming on that as always Stay safe out there
