Jacki Cammidge is a Certified Horticulturist specializing in frugal, low-input gardening and propagation, with lifelong hands-on experience and years as a wholesale nursery head propagator.

Garden Experiments

What Works, and More Importantly, What Doesn't

Gardeners are the most curious bunch, always experimenting with different ways to do things, finding new systems or methods, and trying to find out why some things work better than others.

Of course, what works in one place might not work the same way in another, depending on the climate, growing season and the different conditions.

That hasn't stopped me yet!

I have discovered that even different kinds of water make a huge difference in the way plants grow.  Some prefer rainwater captured off a roof into a rain barrel, others don't mind well water or even city water from a tap.

One thing that there is in common with all these kinds of water is that in all cases the plants do better if it's tempered, or brought to room temperature or even lukewarm.

Learning by doing is the best way to really grasp why something works (or doesn't) so most gardens will always be a scientific lab in progress, to determine the best way to do something.

The Hay Bale Garden Project is not without it's own set of issues, but figuring out the solutions is only possible by using the garden itself to tell you what it needs.

Use your eyes to notice issues before they become a problem, take steps to mitigate them.

Learn about an interesting procedure for growing tomatoes - all year!

In any garden there will be a few things that you're trying at any given time - some will succeed, others will be a dud, but how will you know unless you try?

It's best to keep a record - my system is to take pictures, which then have the date on them when stored on the hard drive of my computer.  Even scratching out quick notes in a note book will work, especially if you make a diagram or picture to jog your memory. 

When I worked in a wholesale nursery as the head propagator, my entire year was taken up with figuring out better systems for more production, using the same footprint of greenhouse, growing beds and so on.

Some garden experiments could be years or seasons long, other theories can be proved in a few weeks.

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