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45 Comments
Luke I think your positive outlook is VERY uplifting. Keep it up kiddo. A lot of people profit from your kindness and your generous spirit. Never give up – Never surrender 😁😁😉 (sorry, nerd alert but I am what I am 😘)
I love watching your channel, you know a lot about gardening and it's nice that you want to share your knowledge with others.
I think just about everyone has been bullied at least to some degree in their lifetime, I know I was. I've always enjoyed growing plants, whether they're for eating or not, they definitely have a therapeutic effect. I grow all kinds of things all year round and my most favorite gardening experience is when the sprouts poke through the soil for the first time. Growing is an amazing experience that everyone should try at least once.
Happy gardening 😊☘️
Many times we just have to overlook the nay-sayers and do what we love – Garden.
I suffer from depression. Helping my garden grow has helped me so much.
I agree with you about the mental health benefit. I suffer with mild depression. I have a passion for starting seeds and growing food, and I know it helps me to focus on a good tomorrow.
Luke, thank you for your comments and the strength to say it. Maybe those with the negative comments need you and gardening the most. I work with a program that predominantly supports community gardens in underserved areas and see first hand how a few containers of lettuce, peas, spinach, tomatoes can impact the children in a very positive way. God speed to you and your staff.
Your video on how the gardening season doesn't start and end in spring was genuinely life changing for me. Those grow bags and some seeds ultimately fed my entire family in the winter of 2021 thanks to you. For every negative comment, know there are 50x the gardeners that trust and support you.
I started gardening during covid, and it has released a lot of my anxiety. I absolutely love it. Thank you, Luke, for this encouraging video.
I enjoy your videos and I agree with the plants grow positivity. Thanks for sharing.😊
Love this video Luke. In 2022 I had my third baby in four years, on top of four miscarriages in there too. I was overwhelmed emotionally and totally depleted physically. Somehow I got the flower bug and started seed shopping around April/may or so. Then I got the seed collection bug and by the end of the summer I was growing vegetables and flowers and herbs and had started the Mid-South Seed Exchange to share my obsession with unique varieties of heirloom seeds. It was something to work on and to see results when otherwise every day felt the same. Seeing a tomato or cucumber growing was more thrilling than a theme park! I now tell people there is never a more hopeful moment than when you have a new seed packet in your hand. ❤
Keep it up Luke…. Anything else can that’s great to grow in a pot? Thanks for planting optimism and hope as well!
Well said!! Keep encouraging our community! Thank you! Pulling out my lettuce seeds right now.
Thank-You for this video I am so glad I found your channel!. Your videos have been a motivator and wealth of information for me. I am wheelchair bound and last year was the first year I have been able to garden on my deck and ramp. I grew 2 tomato plants, 6 Green Bean plants, 2 Pickling Cucumber plants, 1 Zucchini plant, 6 Sunflowers and 3 Jersey Wakefield Cabbage. Yes, they produced enough food to justify a bottom line… More importantly are the long term positive healing effects it has had on me mentally. You are right, plants are wonderful healers. I am looking to expand my gardening area this year and plant more. Thank You again!
I agree with this. Good job out there
My wife paid $6 a head for live lettuce in San Francisco.
All of the eastern states polluted by the Ohio Chemical Bomb need to shift to hydroponics.
Luke, last year I had a garden at 8,000 square feet and my tiller went out on me that winter. I almost didn't have one because of that. But I was determined and got it done using my hoe and a rake. And living in Florida it's no easy task, fighting weeds and the heat. Your videos kept me inspired to continue growing and it paid off. I did a spreadsheet on expenses the previous year and we averaged $400 to $480 a month on groceries for a family of 4. During the peek growing months May though August we stayed under $80 a month on groceries. It really paid off financially for us. Thank you for what you do, you keep me inspired and I hope this comment does too.
Great video. But it so unfortunate you feel you have to defend your space. I have been watching your video's for some time now and even though my successes are not as great as my struggles, I absolutely love being in my garden. I do not suffer from any mental issues, plus being retired has relieved me of all those "work related" stresses. Again my yard, my garden, just being outside is so rewarding. Keep up the great work, always a joy watching and learning from you. Stay well and thank you.
Thank you Luke for taking the high road on this video. I enjoy watching you because you are always so positive, so don't let the haters get you down. I took up gardening during the covid lockdown and I am firmly convinced that it was my faith, and gardening that made all the difference in the world in my stress level during thar time. You can't make everyone happy, and folks who don't think gardening saves money should probably just find another hobby. 🙂
Your doing great. I appreciate your time in doing the videos
I think there’s extra vitamins too. I just crave homegrown lettuce in the Spring!
"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" – Audrey Hepburn 💜
Also, plants don't talk back 😂
I'm glad you mentioned the therapy aspect of gardening.
Its definitely helped me a lot.
Yes sir yes sir I agree totally 100 perceit's. And as for me going to school to be a psychologist yes it having time with Plants Relieve a lot of stress for me anyway. And I am all about positivity this year is positivity in my life positivity is the word of 2023
I have said it before but watching Luke's videos has made such a difference in my life. I first saw his videos in the fall of '21 when we were still in the midst of Covid. Like many, I was frustrated and sick of being told that I had to live my life in fear of getting sick. I am now a 57-year old man with severe knee issues (replacing one of them in four weeks) who basically struggled through work and life in constant pain. I would come home and sit in the house and do nothing. Luke inspired me to garden and last year ('22) I put in three 4x8x1 raised beds and about a dozen pots. I grew tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, onions and several different herbs and I loved it. Gardening got me out of the house daily, provided food for my table and gave me a sense of accomplishment. This year I am going to add two more raised beds and I will be starting seeds (purchased from Luke) next week. He has opened my eyes to a new hobby that I thoroughly enjoy and made a difference in my life. I agree with what he said in this video that if you are watching his videos and are part of this community but you complain about what he says then stop watching his videos.
Gardening is a big stress relief for me and my wife and we enjoy the time together harvesting and canning and freezing all are vegetables a lot of work but even more memories thanks
Luke : you are a super-hero gardener here and now ! You are helping us all get back in to nature ! High school is cruel ! , you kept strong and true to your self ! I fell in love with my husband who was a Master-gardener … and seeing him take care of tender plants moved my heart. I am a nature lover as is he and together we are planning the best garden in our back yard this year !!! We love plants and you are helping us all with your vast knowledge. Your M.I. gardener seeds are the best ever ! My germination rate with your seeds is awesome ! It is awful that you were bullied !!! You are loved and needed in the garden community. You got the power… Thank you.
Thanks for sharing about your challenges. I got into gardening when Covid stopped the world, which is when I found your videos. I always figured I’d garden “someday” and my someday came in 2020. I’ve learned a lot from you and your videos. I’m looking forward to the coming season, and I can’t wait to see if the pumpkins you got me to bury in my beds will make a difference. I’ve got a bale of straw “aging” so I can set up some beds with the core method. One of my compost piles is covered with black plastic. Maybe it was enough to keep the magic happening. I even ran over to Menards and picked up three bags of Promix! So, thanks for all your help along the way. Right now, I’ve got a pot of cilantro growing on my window sill. I grew it from seed heads I had picked from my first year and put in a vase as a dried floral arrangement. I wondered if they’d grow, so I did a seed viability test. They germinated, so I planted a pot. So, thanks, Luke! (I wish I liked ypur kind of lettuce more, but I’m more of an iceberg lettuce person.)
Luke, this was one of your best videos ever. You're such an inspiration to so many people. I'm so glad you found gardening and had the courage to start and maintain a gardening business. Gardening is satisfying on so many levels – not just emotionally and physically, as you mentioned, but there is also the intellectual stimulation of trying new things, solving problems, and planning out a garden,. There is also the social connection and pleasure of sharing what you grow with others. Some of the happiest times of my life are when I'm in the kitchen making something delicious from plants that I grew myself and sharing that food with others. It's priceless! Keep up the amazing work!
I garden for hope. I fail terribly , but sometimes the successes that do happen are worth the failure.
Gardening is doing battle all season long. Sometimes I win. Sometimes the bugs, fungi, and other diseases win.
You Go – we need more people like you.!!
Love your title! We eat organic for the most part. Purchasing it in the grocery store, that’s a lot of money! I agree! Plus the freshness is unsurpassed!
Hi, Luke. Thank you for all of your informative and inspirational videos. I started garden ing about 2 years ago. Your channels was one of the ones that I watched before starting to garden. I know that gardening has helped my mental health. I always look forward to my early morning quiet walk through my garden. It always lifts my spirits. I love watching things grow.❤😊
Hey Luke – Great Video – you should add Scallions / bunching onions to the pot for a more rounded, fast growing cut and come again Video. And a great salad – Sorry i am not telling you anything you don't know – just a fast growing addition to a salad and something fragrant. They say Smell is something that triggers memories or makes them. Get someone excited ( hey look what I did) I can do more, grow more. Something to look forward to – the first seed emerging to Harvest.
Wow! I can't believe someone actually said that to you. Why would anyone say that? Every little bit counts, and you're right about the mental health benefit. Just grow something, check it out everyday, get to know it so you know when things start going wrong, and learn how to help it out. It's great exercise to keep your mind solving problems, learning new things, and it is good to have something to take care of. I think having something to take care of keeps you more balanced, even if it is just a plant (which may, by the way, keep you from being hungry one day, right?). I just don't see why someone would actually think, nevermind say, that it's not worth it.
I spent £1.20 on butternut squash. 1 plant gave me 12 squash.
Good for you, making the link to gardening and mental health. So true that this helps so much with the Febraury blahs. A set of grow lights got me through COVID lockdown last year. Growing plants kept me sane.
I'm starting my Lettuce journey today 🤗
Totally agree!
An elderly gentleman who used to live next door to us used to tell me how growing a garden was a waste (although he wasn't averse to receiving bunching onions or some tomatoes or leeks from ours!) and that you'd never catch Warren Buffet growing a garden because "…a garden doesn't appreciate," and Mr. Buffet puts his time and money only into those things which do [appreciate.]
I started gardening when I discovered my own aversion to paying one dollar per leek at the supermarket and that I could buy, at that time, a packet of about four-hundred leek seeds for two dollars. Did the math, and the rest has been part of my personal history.
I personally am a great believer in the benefits of growing something you and your family can eat. I believe firmly that having even just one cherry tomato plant, or a couple of Swiss chard plants, or bush bean plants, both feeds you and yours, and it gives you the feeling of being just a little bit less at the mercy of the vicissitudes and vagaries of the times and their economics.
That alone will give you, the gardener, a tremendous lift.
If you've grown it, you know what did and, possibly more importantly, what did not go into the growing of it, such as AgriBusiness fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. (You may not want bugs or weeds in your garden, but do you want to eat what kills those? —I don't.)
Home grown food tastes better, sweeter or starchier or crisper or fresher. Fresher! Oh, my stars and whiskers, it doesn't get a lot fresher than when you step out the back door and into your garden—even if that is a self-watering planter made from a storage tub and holding three chard plants—harvest what you need, and immediately prepare and serve and then eat it!
Fresh, whole foods will reduce to a large extent the cravings we have for highly processed food (or "food") items.
We feel better, stronger.
It's purely amazing what the body can do and the extent to which it can and will heal itself given the proper nutrition.
You're absolutely correct, which you already know: A packet of seeds for a given crop, just one packet, costs less or only a very little more than a bunch of bok choy (I actually got lightheaded for a minute when I learned how much that costs at the supermarket, more than twelve dollars!) or two smallish to medium sized rutabagas, a Savoy cabbage or a large white/green cabbage, a bunch of beets or a whole winter squash….
Gardening can give you gentle aerobic exercise. You don't have to feel the burn, or get soaked by your own sweat, or do intense cardio workouts to derive benefit. Keep moving, and you'll be able to keep on moving.
So glad you spoke out about the benefits of gardening, and the power of two pots of lettuce! Thank you, Luke, for all you do to further gardening on this continent and wherever your viewers watch, and garden.
Much gardening love from the Buckeye State!
Terrific way of looking at growing. I've said it before: gardening has been even better for my mind than my body. I suffer from depression, anxiety, PTSD. Because of those, I haven't been able to garden every year, but I'm working hard to change that. I'm so sorry you were bullied. You got your calling (gardening) early, and look what you've done with it, how far you've come! Bullies are cowards, and yours probably had no idea what to do with themselves except tear others down. I'll bet most, if not all, of them, didn't turn out well, aren't leading good, happy, productive lives. I'm glad you survived, didn't give up, and became a big success at something you love! Now you're helping others do the same. Thank you. Good health and happiness to you and your family!
Thank-You!!! Great messages that I love hearing.
Thank you Luke for these videos. I have health issues and never thought I could garden. Last year I tried container gardening and it was so rewarding. Living in Wisconsin the winters can be long and at times depressing. I also have a very stressful job and the mental relief from gardening is so rewarding. Your videos are always energetic and fun and so thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences.
you hit the nail on the head Luke ! gardening keeps my anxiety in check and I have suffered my whole life with it. best natural medicine there is !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I definitely see the savings on our grocery bills since gardening. It's frustrating to try to explain simple math on how we save on groceries even with amendments, water, and other garden costs. I guess some people are just rigid in their thinking and don't want to see any other viewpoint. Thank you so much for explaining this in a simple way for others to understand.
You are so right, when I have a stressful day or am dealing with depression or just a bad mood, coming home to my mini indoor garden, it gives me something to do, and to focus on to get my mind off things. Add to that, I’m no longer throwing away the store bought lettuce that goes bad so quickly, because I can just cut what I need and eat it and it grows back! It’s been a total game changer for me this winter! Thanks for all your videos. I started with just a few plants and now I have a mini lettuce and herb garden in a small 5 tiered utility rack, using my space vertically. Love it!