Hit 50 subscribers on my tiny gardening channel after a year of crickets

I started filming videos in my Portland backyard last spring, but my first ten videos got maybe two views each. I was using my phone and the audio was full of wind noise. I almost quit in October. Then I made a video about fixing my sad tomato plants, and it slowly got shared in a local group. That one video got me to 50 people. It's not much, but it showed me that one real problem fixed is better than ten perfect videos no one needs. Has anyone else had a single piece of content finally connect after a long dry spell?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_dylan2mo ago

What was the actual fix that saved your tomato plants?

the_nathan2mo ago

So you're asking about tomato fixes, @the_dylan? I read this article about blossom end rot. Turns out it's not a disease, it's a calcium thing. The soil can have calcium but the plant can't take it up if watering is all over the place. The fix was super consistent deep watering, like on a strict schedule. Mulching like crazy to keep the soil moisture even. That stopped the black spots on the bottoms for good.

the_ben19d ago

Wait, have you guys tried watering with a soaker hose instead of overhead? I had the same black spot nightmare last summer, lost like half my Early Girls before I figured it out. @the_nathan is totally right about the watering being key, I started doing a deep soak every three days early in the morning with the soaker hose buried under the mulch. The mulch part is huge too, I used a thick layer of straw and it kept the soil from drying out between waterings. Within two weeks the new fruit coming in was completely clean, no more rot. What really sealed it for me was adding a handful of crushed eggshells to the planting hole at the start of the season, that slow release calcium seems to help even things out.