I’ve made a decision. I’m getting rid of the vegetable garden… to create something that I think will be more impactful, beautiful and a garden that will make me happy. I can’t wait to share my plans with you!
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// Timestamps //
0:00 No More Vegetable Garden
0:37 The End of the Veg Garden
2:01 Why Change is Needed
3:43 Will I Still Grow Vegetables?
4:16 Creating my Guild Garden
5:09 My Guild Garden Trees
7:00 An Exciting Garden Experiment
#gardening #irishgardener #irishgarden
I’m getting rid of the vegetable garden no joke the vegetable garden as you’ve known it is no more so stick around to find out why and most importantly what is going to become of this Space hey everyone how’s it going and welcome back it’s looking a little bit sparse isn’t it well in 2021 I created this my raised bed vegetable garden and since then I’ve been making changes to it I’ve been adding to it I’ve been subtracting from it but most importantly getting it
Closer and closer to where I want it to be well now it’s time for radical change so no more standard vegetable garden this year it’s becoming something new this entire vegetable garden is going to be filled with fruit tree guilds so I’m going to create what I’m going to call a
Guild Garden essentially it’s going to be a polyculture where each of these ra beds and there are 16 beds in total here are going to be an individual fruit tree Guild it’s going to be an experiment on for me what’s going to be quite a large
Scale but I think it could be really worth it if you’re new to fruit tree guilds or you’re not even sure what one is I’ve got three brilliant videos that are linked up here that will explain all for you and if you’re enjoying this video please don’t forget to like subscribe
And hit the notification Bell down below it really helps me and it really helps the channel thanks everyone so why change well when you start out gardening or when you start out with a space that’s new to you you have an idea of what you think it should be but
Inevitably that changes as you work the space as you learn and actually just as you experience it I’m becoming increasingly aware for example of how I really think I need to be using this Garden to give back we’re fortunate that here in Ireland even if we buy food from
The supermarket say much of it is actually really locally sourced so food miles are comparatively low also in my personal circumstances there’s a limit to the amount of food that I need this Garden to give me so over the last year I’ve begun to question whether I’m actually trying to produce quantity from
Here and whether that’s the right thing to do where we live we’re surrounded by gorgeous Countryside but it’s mainly agricultural land because the soil’s here are just so rich and fertile so they’re productive but they’re not actually particularly supportive of wildlife because there’s very few Meadows or large suedes of flowers it’s
Really just grass so it got me thinking what if the best contribution I could give to this area and I suppose the planet as a whole would be to support biodiversity and Wildlife as a priority over the sheer quantity of food that I could make this veg Garden produce and
That’s what I’m going with fruit tree guilds like the one that I have here can do just that they’re beautiful productive spaces but they also really support biodiversity pollinators and Wildlife don’t worry though it’s still going to be productive gardening I’m not turning my back on growing vegetables
Not one bit but what I want is to have a garden where rather than having rows and rows of one particular vegetable what I want instead is that I can work my way through the garden harvesting small amounts of lots of different interesting things almost like a kind of
Pre-arranged like foraging Mission I just think that’s going to be really good fun right here in the center of the vegetable garden are the four fruit tree Guild beds that I created last year and these are going to be the blueprint for the rest of the Garden in each corner
There’s a dwarf apple tree normally I would aim to keep the vegetable garden going over the winter with a few overwintering crops and bits and pieces but as you can see this year I have pretty much stripped it bare it wouldn’t be my usual choice but what I want is a
Really nice blank canvas that I can work from it’s going to make it easier to plan the guild Garden itself see what it’s going to be and visualize that and it lets me get some serious planting done nice and easily but do you want to see what I’m going to be planting first
I got these a few weeks ago and I’ve been really looking forward to showing you them they’re up here look at this look at all of my baby fruit trees I can’t wait to get these into the ground each bed needs its own fruit tree which means I needed to get 12 more
Fruit trees so that I have every bed here filled and all of these are going to get planted over the next few weeks now I can totally hear you at home asking how are you going to fit all of these fruit trees into this one space well they’re all dwarf varieties or
They’ve been grafted onto a dwarfing root stock and I’m hoping hoping that their height and spread which is only going to be about 5T High by 5T wide maximum will be just right for here they’re all fruits that I love for starters there are four pear trees
Chosen to ensure that the trees are going to all be well pollinated in the hopes of really good crops I’ve got a conference pair one that’s called doen deise it’s known for its incredible flavor and then two other pear trees called be Hardy again chosen for flavor
They’ll be going into the four R beds immediately on either side of the four Center beds that already have apple trees then it’s on to cherry trees I’ve got a Mell a Sunburst a Stella and a lapans they’re going to be planted in the next row out so really radiating
Outwards from the center and then finally it’s plums and gauges I’ve got the classic a Victoria Plum and one called opal they’re going to be planted in the two raised beds down at the very bottom of the veg garden and then two gauge trees a Cambridge gauge tree and
One called Islands they’re going to be planted right up next to the greenhous I think it’s going to look incredible just imagine in a few years time when this whole Space is filled with lovely little small small fruit trees so all this year I’m going to share with you what is
Going to be a massive change and a really big experiment if it works and I think it will this Garden could be something a little bit special over the months I’m going to show you the elements that make up fruit tree guilds how I use them and
How you can integrate them into your own garden it’ll be the perfect place to show you great things to grow whether it’s things to eat or things to benefit biodiversity I think it could be really Powerful I’m so looking forward to doing this and I really do hope that you’re as excited about it as I am this has been a few months in the planning and I’ve been dying to tell you about it for ages and now I have so I’m going to get stuck in
Over the next few weeks to some serious tree planting and on till next time see you later
48 Comments
My Vegetable Garden is covered under a foot of SNOW….your garden is great, even though you plan to change it to a fruit tree guild ! Cheers my friend!
Oh I'd love to have so many !
Good morning Niall, hope you're doing well,no snow here as yet but been very cold, keep walking down the garden to have a look what's happening but far too wet to do anything yet, the snow drops are sprouting up,can't wait for them to flower,love them. The bulbs too still keep poking through. Can't wait to see your fruit tree guilds in blossom,will look very pretty,all the best hope they work out well,thanks for sharing, off to church now,take care,keep warm, 🌺🥰🪻🏵️x
What??
Looking forward to following the progress of your fruit tree guilds as that’s just what I’ve been thinking of doing to some of my vegetable beds.
This is going to look wonderful, Niall 😍 🎉 the stone is already making everything so crisp and smart 👌 and to have the voluptuous planting spilling over the raised beds planters plus tall, fruit filled trees and flowers everywhere, just dreamy 🥰
You really are making the garden work for your family and giving you a space to relax and rest, too ❤️
Love it 💚🌿 Very excited to see it all come together 🤗🥇
Sry, forgot to ask….did you take out all of the asparagus then too? 😊
You really did enjoy that first guild garden in Kerry, and it sunk into your heart Niall. It's your garden and it's what you love, I know you will make a great success of it, because you did so far with last seasons ones that you did. Well done young man,as ling as you are happy in the garden,that's what matters. I can see you are very happy about this adventure. Whoohoo roll on your great fruit tree guilds. Your garden has brought you so many adventures, thanks for bringing us along with you.
That sounds amazing! Love what you're doing for biodiversity
Outstanding idea. I look forward to this new experiment. Take care and Happy New Year, DA
I love this for you 😍 I had a feeling you were gonna do it and can’t wait to see how it turns out!
I started off my gardening journey in 2021 committed to growing some vegetables amongst my flowers in a kind of polyculture. However, after 2 years I realised that I want to support pollinators as much as possible and that's where I find real joy. I'd rather let vegetables go to seed than eat them! (Bees love broccoli and leek flowers!). It's ended up 90% flowers, a couple of fruit trees and some herbs- so I'm really excited to watch your journey 🙂
looking forward to hte next steps. We bought a house with room for a orchard last year and last year I started with some new fruit trees in the front garden, The problem we have is the grass, looks great because we let all kind of wild flowers grow but you have to mow now and again and that is a pain. You plan seems like a very good solution, Love your video's, thanks!!!
This is brilliant!
Looking forward to see how it goes Niall, it will look good over the April and May with the blossom coming out.
It reminds me of the old Victorian walled gardens.
Good Morning. Absolutely beyond love the idea/experiment. Looking forward to seeing the results 😃
Can't wait to see how these develop! Awesome video Niall
Really looking forward to seeing the progress on this, you got me interested in the idea of fruit tree guilds when you started yours last year, I already have a number of fruit trees and have mostly kept the areas directly surrounding them clear for several years, but this is inspiring me to maybe clear slightly bigger areas of overgrowth and turn them into wildlife friendly guilds instead of fighting back brambles and bracken.
Loving your new project! I am starting something similar like a mini food forest from nothing. Looking forward to seeing how you get on ❤
The decision makes perfect sense Niall! I see lots of fruit salads, desserts and smoothies in you guys' future. Very exciting!
Leave a comment to tell me what you think! I love getting your opinions!
Love this idea! You can keep your fruit trees small, regardless of the variety or root stock. Search YT for Dave Wilson nurseries. They have an amazing series on maintaining small fruit trees for backyard orchard culture.
Ooh radical!! Looking forward to see how it goes. Take care the trees don’t break from their graft. I planted a minaret Victoria plum that went rogue and now is a ten foot feature at the bottom of the allotment! Also beware plum moth! Good luck!
I'm in mourning. I don't know a lot about guild gardening. I like the thought of bringing in fruit trees. But I can't imagine being without veg outside my backyard.
Good luck with the project, Niall! Your thumbnail gave me a little shock — glad to see theres still food but your decision makes a lot of sense. The finances of veg growing (mostly) works out if you grow high-value & organic crops and, even then, the time required to process it all so it isnt wasted…. Your foraging plan sounds like a more enjoyable and exciting use of space. Cant wait to see how it grows
I recently came across your channel and for the first time heard about the guilds and it was like a light bulb moment as a new gardener. I’m so looking forward to this “experiment “ and seeing how it works and learning from you
Not surprised as it seems like a natural path for this space to take. It looks like it will give the feeling it was always that way with a little time. There are lots of herbs and veggies that will do well in the new environment, and it will become alive with all kinds of pollinators.
Congratulations! I’d love to grow my own apples, pears, apricots, cherries and berries. Such good childhood memories picking the sour cherries off the trees.
Is that a vegpod in the back ground? I'm thinking of buying one this year
Wow!!!!that is a brilliant and inspiring plan….more delicious fruits to harvest!!!!it makes a lot of sense!! Happy New Year !¡!🎉🎉
Adore this! Nearly half of my allotment is now dedicated to fruit trees / bushes and I plan to plant flowers (and maybe veg?) around them. How the devil will you keep the birds off (they had all my gooseberries last year and I wasn’t impressed)
Great video – funnily enough I've been going through similar ruminations (leading to a slightly different action plan) although I think you've put it more coherently than I have.
Hi Niall – new to your channel from a piece you published in the Irish Garden Magazine. Love finding local gardeners who are growing in my same climate to follow! I'm really interested to see how this goes for you and I look forward to the results! Have you any thoughts on multi-variety trees for smaller, patio gardens?
So exciting, Niall!! I have an Apple tree, Peach tree and Plum tree on my property and they are such a treat to have! Enjoy!! 🎉🌳
So exciting, Niall! I have an apple tree, peach tree, and plum tree on my property and they are such a treat! Enjoy!! 🎉🌳
Niall. Apologies for tardiness. We have had some bad weather in Boston area . Am definitely looking forward to watching the tree guilds garden evolve!! Stay safe. Susan.
❤ your videos.
Hi Niall, I love your videos, can you add information like where do you buy seeds or plants from, which will be helpful for people who are beginners in gardening
Looking forward to this and see if those trees stay at five foot high???
Brilliant idea! I can't wait to see your garden in the spring.
I have 3 large raised beds and it is enough to produce for us. Good for you trying something different.
Love this ❤❤❤
Garden fruit trees are the BEST! The fruit tastes nothing like the fruit you buy at the store, so sweet and juicy, you'll love them.
excited to share this journey with you!
I look forward to seeing it progress. I'm at the start of my gardening journey. Where did you get the arches? Just what I want between raised beds for climbers.
Exciting times !
How will you manage pests if you cant cover crops so easily , from say cabbage white butterfly or carrot 🥕 root fly ?
I made a fruit tree guild in my raised bed garden. Sadly, my plum tree didn't make it, but I won't give up. I aim to have at least two fruit tree guild beds during the next growing season. And where I can't have a tree, a berry bush will do. 😀 Sometimes change is a good thing!
It seems to be a theme that started bubbling last year… I have a plum tree and 2 dwarf apple trees in buckets and they will go into my raised beds once I can dig into them properly this year. They will provide some structure. And more flowers!
Your garden continues to inspire and impress me! By the way, I love your flower jacket.