(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome to the jungle.

This is not fun and games here, though.

We have massive vines growing everywhere and my grapes are just outta control and taking over the sumac.

So it's time to do some pruning.

This is a great time to prune back roses if you want another flush coming in end of August.

It's also a good time to make sure that your garden is under control so it doesn't get too jungly.

Best thing to do is always prune right above a leaf node so that you get more growth later on.

And also just to make your garden look prettier.

Because sometimes, especially grapes, they get outta hand.

Now this is not a great time to prune any of your fruit trees yet.

Let's wait until about August.

But everything else, it needs a good haircut.

Just like me.

I know it's July and it is really hot outside but it is time to start thinking about your fall crops and what you wanna grow or if you're gonna grow.

I am about to start my brassica plants which include your cabbages, your broccoli, your cauliflower, all those yummy, tasty veggies that you want in the fall that you usually get in the spring, we're gonna do it again.

Now there's a bunch of ways you can do it.

If you have space in your garden, go ahead and just seed it into the ground.

I recommend putting the shade cover over the top just to keep the ground cool so it doesn't get totally scorched by the sun.

Otherwise it may take some more time for it to sprout.

Since my garden is already jam packed full, I don't have space to put things in the ground I'm gonna start my seedlings by tray and put 'em in my basement under a grow light.

That way in a couple weeks when I am ready to pull things out, I will have my plants already up and growing.

So I like to use just some potting soil that I get from any nursery and make sure that you have clean trays.

I have a tray that will catch the water and you can use any kind of six tray cell container.

So this is what I'm gonna do.

Now this soil is pretty dry, so after I put it in, I'm gonna make sure that I get it real wet Just so it can absorb all that needed moisture to keep those little seeds growing and germinating.

Okay, I got that.

You can see my tray.

I pack it down because this is pretty loose fill and now I'm going to soak it.

And see that it's kind of hydrophobic right now where it doesn't want to absorb the water just because it's so dry.

So I'm not gonna plant my seeds yet.

I'm going to wait for it to really absorb and I'll probably water it one more time and then I'll put my little seedlings in.

So we waited.

Now my little planting cells are ready to go.

It's nice and moist and I am gonna get ready to plant some of my brassica seeds.

I will probably put bok choy.

I love bok choy, but I'll put it in a little later probably like in another week or so just because that one grows really fast.

So when you plant a seed, kind of general rule of thumb is the size of the seed is is about as deep as you go.

So this I'm just gonna barely put into the soil and I'll just kind of scratch the surface with my finger or even just push the dirt on top of the seed once I plant it.

So this one is a Caraflex cabbage, which I love and it's great because its germination is pretty quick.

I'm gonna put this on top here.

And I usually do about two seeds.

In general, about two seeds, you'll see something spurt.

But you can't just plant one.

I mean you can, but just know that sometimes the germination rate on seeds is not fantastic.

So plant a second for a backup.

Okay, I'm just gonna lightly cover this up.

And most importantly, this is something I often forget, so don't be like me, is label.

Otherwise you don't know what you're growing and sometimes it can be a great surprise and sometimes it's not a great surprise.

So make sure you label your plants cause I have had lots of bad surprises.

These little seedlings are now ready to go on the grow light.

I like to do it downstairs in my basement.

However, like I said you are welcome to go and grow these outdoors.

You don't even need to start it in the tray.

This is just my way of doing it.

I also like to put a cover on top until the seedlings germinate.

This just helps keep the moisture in, keeps the temperature at the right temperature.

It's not necessary, but I'm a lazy gardener and I want this to do the work for me so I don't have to keep watching and misting it and keeping things wet.

So this is a great solution.

If it works for you, great.

If it doesn't, there are a million and one ways to garden and this is not the only way.

Thanks so much again for watching, and make sure you check out next month's episode by hitting that subscribe button.

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