- Because of self-quarantine we've seen
a renewed interest in gardening
spring up across the US.
There have been reports of record demand
for seeds and long lines at gardening stores.
As many of us have more time at home
and more concerned about where our food's coming from,
it makes sense that gardening is having a moment.
I know like me, many of you are interested in
starting a garden, or simply growing something.
So I wanna know,
This week I connect with my coworker Josh,
and we level up our gardening game
by talking to an expert gardener, Kevin Espiritu,
of the online resource Epic Gardening.
Then we'll use his tips to build our own gardens.
I'm Lucy Biggers, and this is "One Small Step".
Interest in gardening is having such a moment
that people are comparing this to World War II,
The spike in seed sales is also similar
to a rise in home gardening that followed
more recent catastrophes like 9/11
and the 2008 financial crisis.
No matter what your motivation
there are great benefits to gardening.
At least one study has shown that
And I think we could all use
a little garden therapy right now.
Josh is one of the video editors who works on this show.
He's been in self-quarantine in Brooklyn
and has plans to start a garden as well.
So what are you planning to grow this spring?
- I'm planning to grow beans, peas, cabbage,
beetroot, some kale, some lettuce, turnips,
radishes, a bunch of different things.
- What's your space like,
what's your vision for what you're gonna do?
- We decided that we're gonna grow in raised beds
because the soil is no good, it's like very clay-ey,
anytime it rains it just becomes like solid.
- So I'm doing raised beds too
because I'm out at my parents in the suburbs
and they have a huge yard.
And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna do raised beds.
- I'm gonna take all of my food scraps
that I've been collecting in my compost bin
and I'm gonna mix those with some leaf mulch
that has been left over in the garden from winter.
I definitely don't have enough of that
to fill all of my raised beds,
so I'm gonna mix that with some store-bought soil.
- What level of gardener are you?
- I think I'm pretty basic.
I don't really know that much,
to be honest, about planting outdoors.
- I think I'm like beginner novice.
I did one garden last year, and I had containers,
and it was nice 'cause there weren't as many pests.
So that's one thing I'm worried about,
is that having it be actually out in the yard,
if it's just gonna be more vulnerable.
So I'm really excited to talk to Kevin
because he is a great gardener and teacher.
I think he'll have the perfect beginner steps
for us, or even somebody who's watching this
who maybe has less experience than us even.
Just like the 101 I wanna grow something.
What has it been like seeing this
newfound interest in gardening
because people are stuck at home
and it also happens to be spring in the US?
- The insane growth, obviously I wish
it had come at some other cause,
but I'm not complaining about the fact that
more people are trying to get in to grow their own food.
- I would love to just get your top tips
for beginning gardeners.
- First thing you have to figure out
is what does my space actually look like?
Even if you have a balcony,
does that balcony face north, does it face east, west?
Is there a big building blocking it?
Light is the number one thing plants need.
It's like their oxygen in a sense.
It's the most important thing that they need.
- Now we're gonna assemble a raised bed.
(upbeat music)
(hammer tapping)
So we've placed our beds.
Now on the bottom we're gonna lay a layer of paper bags
so that we can kill the grass
before we put in things like the mulch and soil.
Oh yeah, that looks so good.
- After you kind of know how much light
and how much space you have,
then you figure out what can I grow.
And if you've never grown anything
what I always say is, number one,
grow something that you like to eat.
Maybe make a list of five of your favorite herbs,
or lettuces, or vegetables.
And then from there you will grow the easiest one of those.
Right?
'Cause simple herbs are very simple to grow.
Basil, thyme, oregano, these types of things
are really easy and you can leave them on
and just harvest what you need.
So it's continually growing and you can use it
in a lot of different recipes.
But I mean the basics of what you're gonna need
is going to be either seeds or seedlings.
Buy the seedlings, it's a little more expensive,
but you're skipping all the things that could go wrong
when you're starting your seed, you know.
And that helps a local nursery out.
Then you're gonna need some kind of container,
some kind of soil.
- It was so nice to talk to Kevin
and get some clarity on how to start a garden.
These are now ready to be planted.
And I'm gonna layout the greens that I wanna do,
everything about a foot apart.
(upbeat music)
Just finished planting, things look a little scraggly
and spread out, I might add a few more plants in.
But I think this is a first good step.
I'm gonna see how they act in a few days,
and I'll come back.
- The garden is looking really good.
All of the plants seem to have really grown.
Here are our radishes and turnips.
Kale that we bought and transplanted.
Tomato seedlings, they've been doing really well.
Been using these plastic cups to grow them.
And you can see the roots in there,
which is pretty cool.
And so I think that will help us decide
when these seem ready to go into the big pots.
- And what are the biggest mistakes
that you think you see beginning gardeners make?
- Let's imagine we have a container of lettuce,
and it's growing on our patio,
we're gonna go and water it everyday 'cause maybe
we're stuck at home, we have nothing else to do.
We're gonna fertilize it like crazy, all the time.
and we just give them what they need to grow.
Sometimes we give them too much,
so if you give 'em too much water,
too much fertilizer, I would say
those are probably some of the more common problems
you'll make, is you're just doing too much.
- And how do you learn what your plant needs?
Is it instructions that come on the back of a seed,
or just googling it?
- Early on, for me, I was doing tons and tons of googling.
Like okay, well how do all the brassicas grow,
all your kales, and your cabbages, and your turnips.
I'm like, okay, now I know that.
Oh how do tomatoes grow?
'Cause every plant, literally, is different.
And they all have these different growing characteristics.
So that's why I say, if you grown something
you like to eat, and you grow something simple,
it's kind of the double whammy 'cause you're invested in it.
- What would be your advice for people
who are in small spaces, apartments maybe,
with not as much light?
- Okay, so if you don't have a lot of light
the easiest thing you could literally grow
on the planet would be sprouts.
And so, sprouts it's just literally
exactly what it sounds like.
You're buying a ton of seeds, you put them in a jar,
and you just sprout them.
- Where would be the best place
to order your materials for gardening?
- I think right now, if anyone can,
it makes sense to support a local nursery.
I mean local nurseries already struggle
to sustain themselves when they're battling against
the Home Depots of the world.
But if you don't have access to that,
or you don't really know, then Amazon's great.
There's a bunch of seed companies online
that are still shipping.
- It's been about two months since I started my garden.
And I just wanna give you an update on
basically how everything went.
The thing I was most excited about growing,
my peas and my beans, didn't quite work out
exactly how I thought it might.
The peas, once we transplanted them from inside
they just didn't grow.
But I planted a new batch
and they're doing pretty well right now.
So hopefully in a couple months
I will have some peas to eat.
I must've got a bad batch of beans
'cause all of the beans that I planted outside
just didn't grow, so back to the drawing board with that.
But all of the other seeds that I grew did pretty well.
I thought as a way to sort of wrap this up
I would make a little microgreen salad.
And I just had it, it was really tasty.
So it's really been really nice to kind of
wrap up this whole thing, being able to eat something
that I grew myself.
- So it's May 5th, the weather is finally nice,
where I live in Connecticut.
And I'm gonna give you my final update on my garden.
We just put in this fence, maybe it's temporary,
probably could do something a little better.
But this is to keep out any rabbits and deer.
Oh boy!
And all three beds are almost in commission.
This one actually is seedlings.
That you can see are coming up.
This is gonna be some spinach, some radishes,
these are gonna be some peas.
Then these final beds.
I actually have this second half is gonna be
tomatoes and peppers when it gets warmer.
And here's what I planted a few weeks ago that I recorded.
And you can see there hasn't been much growth.
I think everything has just been waiting for
the warmer weather 'til it really has a growth spurt.
So this is May 5th, and this is what my garden looks like.
Hope things grow soon.
Whether you're just growing some sprouts,
or building raised beds like these,
I think gardening is one of the best activities
that you can do because it really
connects you with nature and gives you
a deeper appreciation for our food system.
So my one small step for you, this week,
is to grow something!
Whether it's the smallest thing
in your apartment windowsill, or a bigger project like this,
it is just so worthwhile.
And I cannot recommend it enough.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I had so much fun making this video.
I absolutely love gardening.
I'll see you guys next time.
Bye.
I mean, I guess, I'll just eat this little piece of lettuce.
(crunches)
It tastes really good and I can't wait
to eat more when my garden gets a little moving along.
(laughs)