Teaching garden tips with humor
Move over Martha Stewart, P. Allen Smith and all other smallscreen garden gurus and make room for Jed and Selim, San Rafael residents who, for internet privacy, go only by their first names.
Jed and Selim are the entertaining creators and hosts of “Late Bloomers Permaculture,” an instructive garden series on YouTube.
“Permaculture is essentially an approach to growing food that works with nature as opposed to fighting it,” says Jed, a Novato native who works as a communications consultant and improv teacher. “Organic is part of it because our goal is to encourage life, not kill it, but it's a much bigger philosophy than that. The real goal is to produce our own nutritious food in a sustainable, life-affirming way.”
Neither Jed or Selim, a Tunisian-born neuro-linguistic programming life coach and COVID compliance officer, grew up gardening but, after watching a video by French permaculturist Philip Forrer three years ago, Selim says he “was immediately hooked on the idea of growing my own food.”
His epiphany inspired Jed, and two years ago, they transformed the back lawn of their hillside San Rafael home into an edible garden that last summer blessed them with 300 pounds of produce.
The new permaculture promoters decided to document the building of their garden — with all its lessons, surprises, humor and even mistakes — in a YouTube series (youtube.com/Latebloomerspermaculture).
Each lesson focuses on a topic such as “better call soil,” “seeding arrangement” or “fence with benefits,” and generally lasts no longer than 10 minutes.
“For me, (the YouTube series) was partly out of creative frustration,” Jed says. “I'd been a comedy writer and improviser in Chicago for eight years and then the pandemic struck and I lost all my creative outlets.”
Then, his mother died and he needed focus.
“From the get-go, I told Selim, `If we do this, it can't just be another boring, dry gardening channel. It needs to have a sense of humor like we do.' We
both like to laugh and be a little silly and playful in our daily life. At the same time, we both knew it wasn't going to be only comedy. It had to strike a balance between informing and entertaining.”
Selim, who is deeply concerned with reducing the world's carbon footprint, agreed. “I wanted to show people that we can make a difference, even in a small space and with little experience and we can have good results and a lot of fun,” he says.
“I've found that a lot of people think gardening is very difficult, which isn't surprising considering how disconnected society is from nature. Our primary goal is to educate, but I think humor is such a great tool to make everything feel more doable. I think people learn better when things are fun and playful.”
Selim, in particular, appreciates permaculture's whole-system aspect. “When we start to understand (nature's) interactions, we can place every element in time and space in order to maximize those interactions and minimize the work I have to do. It's like a fun puzzle to solve in order to become very lazy and harvest a ton.”
Jed likes its scientific approach. “Permaculture is all about observation and correction. You spend more time observing than you do digging or planting. Every piece of land is different. Water flows differently. Soil conditions differ. Local flora and fauna differ. So, the goal of making something that shapes to your conditions by simply observing and correcting is just really cool to me.”
The two grow herbs, artichokes, beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, corn, cucumber, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, eggplants, garlic, leeks, lettuce, mixed greens, onions, parsnips, potatoes, peas, peppers, radish, spinach, tomatoes, turnips, zucchini, cantaloupe, grapes, watermelon and berries.
“Some of those we grew multiple varieties and while most grew pretty well, a few were on the struggle bus,” Jed says. “Our turnips sadly didn't survive the winter, may they rest in peace.”
They started small the first year but when they discovered that Permaculture Design (permaculturedesign.fr), the French organization with which Selim had been training and now partners in their YouTube series, released a three-year, fully designed permaculture plan, the two gardeners hit pay dirt.
“Our 750-square-foot space was just perfect for it,” Selim says. “The design is really the heart of permaculture.”
They divided their garden into three main zones — annual, fertility and biodiversity beds.
• The annual beds — the zone that feeds them — are filled with 30 varieties of annual fruits and vegetables.
• The fertility beds feed the annual plants when nutrient-dense perennials are cut back and used as mulch.
• The biodiversity zone is planted with a wide array of perennials that support the garden's other missions, such as attracting beneficial insects and repelling harmful ones, a pond and small trees to regulate the microclimate and fast-growing shrubs as a source for biomass.
They support local wildlife by leaving part of their hillside natural and providing a bird bath inside the garden.
“We also leave out several plates filled with rocks and water to help hydrate our beneficials,” Selim adds. “We even have some niches, which don't look like much — a pile of rocks here, a pile of sticks there — but they're invaluable in providing a safe habitat for beneficial insects and small animals.”
There's natural rodent control, too.
“We just set up our first owl box with the help of the Hungry Owl Project, based here in San Rafael,” Jed says. “Stay tuned for an episode this upcoming season all about building and erecting an owl box, plus a full-length interview with Jacqueline Lewis from the Hungry Owl Project. She's a real hoot.”
Show off
If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I'd love to know about it.
Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it, and a photograph or two. I will post the very best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.
Don't-miss event
• The UC Marin Master Gardeners' tomato market returns to the Bon
Air shopping center at 50 Bon Air Center in Greenbrae and Pini Ace Hardware at 1535 South Novato Blvd., suite A, in Novato on Saturday with 3,000 starts of six heirloom and 10 hybrid varieties chosen for their taste, disease-resistance and performance in the Marin garden. The sale starts at 9 a.m. and continues until the last seedling is sold. Seedlings cost $4 each. Call 415-473-4910 or go to marinmg.ucanr.edu.