Urban gardener reveals ‘fishy’ trick that grew ‘exceptional’ tomato plants, plus easy-to-maintain plants for beginners
AN urban gardener has shared a trick for growing ripe and luscious tomatoes.
He also shared a list of beginner-friendly, easy-to-maintain plants to start with.
Pablo Quintero Restrepo (@UrbanBackyardGardening), a gardening YouTuber, shared his advice in an interview with The U.S. Sun.
Restrepo advised novices to start off easy after researching the plants they’d like to cultivate.
“Start simple. Sometimes, we may not even start something because of all the overwhelming thinking,” he said.
“Use a small space in your backyard that you can easily prepare. Make it as fertile as possible so you can sow your seeds and see how they go.
“Once you have a few crops (maybe some success, maybe some failures), then I’d recommend looking into other crops to grow.”
The expert turned to gardening experts on YouTube for useful information and gardening ideas.
Restrepo urged beginners to consider growing herbs in pots, especially for other urban gardeners like himself.
“I personally use a lot of rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and chillis in my cooking, and I am sure lots of people do the same,” he said.
“Why not have a few herbs lying around, ready to be used? They are also easy to maintain, and they don’t require a lot of space.”
When it comes to saving money on materials and supplies, Restrepo explained it’s often easier than one might think.
“The beauty of growing vegetables is that it all comes from nature, so if you are organized and have all the systems in place, most things will be free,” he said.
Instead of relying on expensive fertilizers, he revealed that he used fish bones to add nutrients to his crops.
The trick worked brilliantly on veggies, such as tomatoes.
“Once, I tried burying fish bones in a specific part of the garden where I eventually planted tomato plants,” he said.
Gardening mistakes to avoid
Restrepo explained that while making mistakes is “part of every gardener’s journey,” a few can be easily avoided.
“One of the most common mistakes for beginners is planting in the wrong season,” he said.
“If you live in a zone of the world where there are seasons, then you will have to look at what vegetables can be planted at the specific month that you are at; if there are no seasons, then you will have to check what can be grown locally.”
“Another common mistake is not preparing the soil with adequate nutrients,” he added.
“People will plant in any soil hoping that everything grows well, and unfortunately, a few months later, the results will be very poor, leaving them disheartened and not wanting to keep on growing vegetables.
“They have to realize that soil is a living system, and the system requires nutrients so it can provide [them] to the plants. Feed the soil, and the soil will feed your plants.”
“The results were exceptional and quite cheap as the price of fish bones is very low on the market.”
The efficient gardener also relied on natural remedies to keep pests at bay instead of chemical-filled pesticides.
One homemade recipe used ingredients he had on hand at home.
“One of the most popular recipes is just water, soap, vegetable oil, and baking soda,” he said.
An additional trick is to make a naturally tailored pesticide for any crop you may have.
“You can also create a few more by extracting the specific repellent properties of a food by sort of making a tea and then diluting it with water,” he explained.