How to Grow a THRIVING Food Garden Surrounded by BIG TREES

G'day Everyone, thank you for your support! For those I have bumped into lately at various random locations, I appreciate you coming up to me and saying hello and telling me what you are growing. It's great to hear first-hand about you "getting into it!" Remember to check the video's description (if you are looking for more information on specific products) mentioned in the video. I only work with Brands and products I personally like and use myself. Cheers :)

Gets notepad and write: first step, buy a big property with lot of trees. 😐 Jokes apart, love you and your work Mark.

Hi Mark. You do what your intuition and experience tells you. Too many so called experts give wrong advice. For example , even professors get it it wrong much of the time. Too much of the time for my liking ! Take care. Do what you know is right and not what others think they know about something they really don't. Love your content. Thanks for the journey.

Hey Mark, The Meyer Lemon tree originated from an old man who was a citrus farmer in Fillmore, California, USA. He was a friend of my Grandfather’s, who also grew citrus for “Sunkist”. One day when I was spending time with my grandparents, Old Man Meyer stopped by and my grandfather introduced me to him. I was 7 or 8 years old and I put out my right hand to shake his hand and said, Hi, Old Man Meyer. My grandfather got on to me because he thought I was being disrespectful. Old Man Meyer, said to my grandfather, Charlie, everyone in town knows me as Old Man Meyer. I thought you knew that. That day Old Man Meyer grafted a Meyer Lemon branch onto my grandparents citrus tree, which had oranges, tangerines, tangelos, lime and the Meyer Lemon. That tree was for their own personal purpose. The rest of the orchard was for Sunkist. Every time I buy some Meyer Lemons, even now, over 50 years later I think about meeting Old Man Meyer that day with my grandfather. Old Man Meyer figured out how to “create” the Meyer Lemon from reading about them from a long forgotten man from Japan who figured out how to cross 2 or 3 different citrus fruits to come up with the Meyer Lemon. My wife and I live in north central Washington state USA and here we grow apples, cherries, peaches, apricots, etc, so we have to buy our Meyer Lemons and other citrus fruits from my sister who still lives in Fillmore, California. Cheers !

I think that the fact that you are using raised garden beds has helped your gardening success.

hooray for big trees not plastic barriers!

Studies have shown trees that have mixing roots share resources through mycelium. I think advice should be to grow small trees close to big trees! 😊

1. That is a testament to properly preparing the soil, and caring for your plants 2. Einstein said, when you stop learning, you start dieing. ❤

Thank you for this video. Important message that native flora and food gardens need not be in conflict.

I planted a rain forest in my urban property. Blokes asked me if I was doing jungle warfare in my yard so I said "yes". Told them I had a bunker system as well. I then started growing veggies, and the same people said it could not be done, but it worked, I had only a small space left to use but I grew a number of veggies. I would prefer an acreage just to grow more trees for habitat and also food. Love your show.

Glad to hear your back is OK again.

Tree root spread is about the same as the canopy so if your fence is 20 metres from the trees then root penetration into your garden will be low. No worries Mark!! Your trees show the evidence of abundant fruit. Weed mat under the garden beds will also deter root growth from trees. 👍

I cannot wait to watch this. I’ve just bought a house with significant tree coverage. Couldn’t be better timed!

You add compost and leave spoilt dropped fruit under the trees, so plenty of nutrients getting returned even if those trees are using some.

I'm glad you kept those gum trees healthy. They are beautiful!

That the trees bring in birds is definitely a big benefit 🐛🐌🐜🐦👍

I have learned quite a while ago that conventional farmers are no source for information about any form of sustainable farming or gardening. Listen to what they have to say, learn from what they are doing and draw your conclusions. But a "that is not going to work" from a conventional farmer has very little meaning. Which is not surprising considereng that they see soil as a sponge for mineral fertilizer :(

It's a beautiful when everything lives in harmony... I always say, trust your instincts ... Thank you for a very informative video..

Like you I tend to ignore most other gardeners, but always try and new veggies at least 3 times before I give up. Now I do try to keep the full sun veggies in the sun, and plant shade loving plants under the taller sun loving plants. But I never listen to, it won't grow here, at least till I give it a try.

Don't let others bring negativity into what you do, especially these days. There are many out there who don't like self sufficiency. They'd rather see us starve.