I am a life long gardener, I am going for my Cornell Cooperative master gardener title. I find myself giving your You Tube channel and the book Garden Way’s Joy Of Gardening as my two main sources of information to people!

I've been gardening for over 60 years. This year, for the first time, I randomly planted flowers in my vegetable garden. Observers try to find the scientific basis behind this arrangement. I did it just because it looks pretty. You are right, Luke, the garden is my canvas.

Long time subscriber, certified arborist. I once visited a vinyard in california that had a rose bush at the end of each row of grapevine. I was told that roses can attract insects away from the crop, and are also a great indicator of unfavorable soil conditions, showing the effects before the issues become problematic for the crop. Thanks for the good discussion. Monoculture be damned!

I’ve planted in poly culture for years. It works exceptionally well. My most effective mix for summer is tomatoes, basil, marigolds, calendula, nasturtium and bush beans. The beans in particular are hidden from pests by the other plants, and it creates great habitat for beneficials. I have a phenomenal population of hover flies, lace wings, etc. I never get hornworms either. Also, I leave wasps alone unless they’re aggressive or have built their nest in an inappropriate space - e.g. in the hose reel. Yellow jackets hunted down every last cabbage worm on my kale last year. Seriously- they picked it clean. Great hunters and extremely helpful in the garden.

I started planting marigolds and basil around my garden last year and it was the first time I didn't get hornworm or cucumber beetles. It really does work :)

I planted out a bed of garlic last fall and then my dog ended up trampling it and I didn't handle it fast enough, only about 5 or 6 of them ended up coming up this spring. I had a bunch of seeds lefts over from a few years ago and so I emptied all the oackets in a cup. Sprinkled them over the bed and covered it with a some soil. So it is ny mystery bed. I have carrots, different brassicas and radishes growing that I recognize. It was fun to see how much actually came up. I wasn't sure much would germinate, a lot did and I am enjoying the heck out of it! YOLO

1. Pest Control 0:20 2. Environmental Benefit 3:11 3. Pollination Benefits 5:35 4. Decoy Plant 7:46 5. YOLO Intercropping 10:59

BIG FAN of yolo intercropping, it's my go to. I just love the way the garden looks when it's a bit wild lol

Now, THIS makes sense. Your anti-companion planting video from 6 years ago confused a lot of people as you were essentially arguing semantics and you've improved so much since then, as evidenced by this great video.

I have never felt as confident in gardening as I do after finding your channel. Your videos are always packed with so much information but simplified for some of us more simple folks. Thank you for all you do to help us be better gardeners!

I have only been gardening since end February this year and have an allotment. I still felt totally overwhelmed with all the info, but your videos always put a smile to myface. You explain things so well and with passion that I feel a lot more confident now.Thank you so much for all you do.

Thanks Luke! I realized last year that I really wanted flowers in with the fruit and veggies. I started planting more flowers for the esthetics. They make me smile. Yes, the bees and hummers like it too. 🙂 Blessings! 💜

Would love to see more on container/raised planter gardening as I am disabled, love gardening and that is all I can do. I have already binge watched your very old videos on the subject and enjoyed them.

Luke, you're doing a great service to many so don't worry 😉 i have learned from you and I'm 61 😊 love all your videos ❤️

In the late 70's I came upon 2 books. Carrots Love Tomatoes, and Roses Love Garlic. Both books were written by Louise Riotte. They are both about companion Planting. I have referred to them often. I'm sure there are many other books too. By companion Planting you also draw in beneficial insects like Honeybees! It makes your garden beautiful too! GOD bless

No.4 Decoy. I use Nasturtiums for that. But I don't like to participate in a discussion (in my local gardening group) because most of the formally educated/experienced gardeners disagree and discourage ppl to do it. Kinda being a little mean to ppl who likes to try different/various things. They think decoy plants actually attract pests (that might not come to your garden and destroy your plants in the first place). We live in an area surrounded by canola fields etc and yes, flea beetles always come by every year 😅 No.5 YOLO 😂 I just found out a few days ago that I shouldn't plant alliums next to legumes. I already planted everything in my small garden for the past month. I was in panic mode, thinking I should move one of them again and give them an unnecessary transplant stress. I then sat with my coffee and just watching my peas and onions growing in front of me and realized, my peas are doing fine! They are not stunted (direct sown after I transplanted my onions). So yeah, we'll see what happens. Whatever happens, it's a learning curve. Might as well enjoy it and not stressing out about breaking the rules all the time! Thanks for the video, Luke! Happy gardening!

You definitely did YOLO intercropping when you randomly spread the seeds in the bed. That was such a cool experiment!

One of my favorite things that you did, was a couple years ago when you just threw 6000 of seeds in a bed and watched to see what happened! That was such a lesson in natural selection for me! As a matter of fact, I think I'll go back and watch those videos again now. Talk about YOLO gardening at its finest...😁

Thank you sir ! It’s funny how over years of watching you I find myself planting in similar styles and patterns . Thank you for being such a good Influence!

Hey Luke, hope you and the family is well. Thanks for all the good info, I will utilize more of these intercropping ideas.

Garden as Art, yes that makes me happy. My garden is absolutely my art and creative outlet 😊

I SO appreciate the nod to what I like to call “chaos gardening” 😂😂 I move around a lot, and if I’m only going to be in one spot for a season or two, I’m gonna grow whatever I want wherever I can! The magic and serendipity and variety (of foods, learning experiences, colors) that results from mixing a little mischief into the order is soooo worth the potential sacrifice in yield.

I did the YOLO a few years ago. I planted 2 varieties of pumpkins. Never grew pumpkins before. They took over the whole garden, but I had a blast growing them!

Yes I love planting flowers throughout my garden!

I’m going to try some new stuff this year but I always plant marigolds and basil with tomatoes.

Thanks MI Gardener Team! The berry bushes I ordered arrived healthy and ready to go. Great Job.

Luke, you are amazing and you keep doing you, please do not censor yourself ever! You have great knowledge and incredible passion for gardening and anyone who picks apart what you say, or says it doesn’t work has not looked very closely at your success! I wondered, do you think you will ever sell plants or do you and I just haven’t found them?

I have tried for 8 seasons now to grow lavender in iowa and I can't get one to survive the winter TO SAVE MY LIFE. Had no problem in Michigan! I love lavender but I ain't movin back lols

"Yolo!" I had no idea I was intercropping. My fingers are crossed for an abundant harvest.

Oh, please try to find out what that plant is that the farmer was growing between his blueberries. I have such a hard time getting blueberries from my plants because of the birds. I'd love to try planting those to see if that helps. Bird netting is such a pain.

Thank you!!!! Intercropping- your experience and explanation are simply invaluable!!!!!

Well said, Luke! I know what you could do -- how about a "YOLO bed"? Kind of like making a "cut flower bed". Yes, a dedicated space to experiment, cut your own flowers or whatever!!

We love your attitude and content of course. Stay positive! Blessings

I’ve gardened for several years now and I have always taken the YOLO approach. Sometimes I win because of it and sometimes I lose 😂 I’m OK with either outcome.

My garden has been a 5 year experiment. If one thing doesn't work, I do something different next year. I've found out that some things work and some don't. Enjoy the process.

YESSS, YOLO all the way! And being an artist, I love that you used that creative analogy. ❤ I have all kinds of experiments in my garden, and I look to folks like you for pertinent info, but I enjoy the freedom of taking that knowledge and doing with it whatever works for me. Thx again for another great video! ❤❤❤

Luke, you’re wonderful. Thank you for your informative videos. They’ve brought so much additional joy to my gardening. I’m so very grateful.

You should make a Yolo bed!! Create a new canvas just for you! It would be fun to see you Yolo a bunch of seeds into a large bed and help them all grow and let us watch! Thanks for all your hard work, you have definitely inspired me to do what I can, but ultimately learn about all different types of plants!

I enjoy and learn something out of all your videos. I live here in Michigan as well so that's one of the things I like about you. Let's me know when and how to plant. Thank You. Except for the sweet potato I only needed one sweet Potato and I got about 60 slips out of that one. I kept pulling them off and putting them in water in a few days there were more ready to pull off.

Thank you for the great information and breaking it down for the intended purpose 😊

I am as waiting for this, you gave us a teaser during your live today. I had to miss a few minutes of the live because the mailman rang my doorbell and handed me 2 packages from some MIgardener place lol. I was we very excited to receive my bare root strawberries, I grabbed the Seascape, as well many packs of seeds, some beautiful lettuces for succession planting, I'm especially excited to try the Pablo lettuce as well as the Atomic red carrots! Also, I'm finally attempting to start green globe artichokes from your collection to overwinter them for production ~ harvest next year! I'm currently growing Imperial Star artichokes, a proven NJ annual. All 9 seed packages were beactiful and informative! And the strawberry roots were fresh and healthy! Thank you!

Luke I love your views on life as well as gardening. And you are so young! I wish more people of all ages would be more aware of what they say, who's listening, and not want to set people up for failure. Gardeners are nurturers!

I love the content of your videos. I learn all the time from Mi Gardner Videos. Thank you .

So glad you mentioned YOLO intercropping! That's definitely my style. If I had to research every last little thing, I wouldn't plant anything. I'm trying to plant as many different plants as I can in my tiny plot, and while I do give some consideration to how much space something will take and what might get shaded out, mostly I just do what looks good. My garden is very pretty!

I planted a YOLO 18 gallon tote with a Dr. Wyche’s, Hibiscus Roselle, and Cosmos. That’s a lot of roots and height in one place, but so far, so good. I have two more DW tomato plants, so it will be ok if this one performs a little less vigorously.

First I want to say that I'm so envious of your soil. But I'll get there eventually LOL. Your content is always, always beneficial to me as in beneficial intercropping. ( I know bad pun) As always thanks for your knowledge, Luke. 👍

Thanks for the reminder to keep gardening fun! Sometimes I think we get too rigid in our thinking or ways of doing things and forget to enjoy the moments no matter how things turn out!

I used to help my dad in the garden so I thought I knew a lot. Nope. I only caught the basics. Last year I put a few Marigolds in my tiny bed that I call my "micro garden lab". Somehow those Marigolds grew into a two foot tall bush! 😮 I planted tomatoes next to cucumbers which over shaded the tomatoes which was a problem. I did have a lot of cucumbers but my tomato crop was small. Lessons learned. Much better this year! I hope😅

I’m trying to help my family live during these difficult economic times. Thank you for the information!

For the plants to decoy pests, I've usually seen this referred to as a trap crop. I think it gets lumped into pest control because that's the reason to plant it at all, but it's most effective planted away from your harvest crop so it's not an obviousness to the pest buffet. Good reminder that that approach is indeed an intercropping method.

All very good ideas, but I really love the yolo! Never know until you try.. If you really depend on the garden for food, just try in a little spot, not whole planting. And, of course, need to keep in mind basic needs of the plants. Wouldn't want to put a swamp plant next to a dessert plant for instance.

Thank you for the encouragement to do what gardeners want to do! I planted tomatoes in shade and they were fine and planted veggies where I want them to be. I learned from observing what plants like to grow in my area and what doesn't and that volunteer veggies thrive than what I plant. Experimenting and being a good observant to your own garden is more useful than listening from somebody who have a different growing climate than you. Love the videos you shared! ❤🙏

I have a long stretch of chain link fence on the east side of my garden (40+ feet). I plan on trellising summer and winter squash, along with cucumbers, all in a row! We’ll see how it works!

I’ve been gardening for over 50 years, I agree how people will take what you say as law. That’s happened to me. Oh well, evidently my dedication to my garden will never be the same as another’s dedication to theirs. That being said I have used host trees for trapping pests and only those trees will get sprayed with pesticides. For example, I have birch trees that attract the Japanese beetles like crazy. That leaves my garden and other fruit trees less affected. It’s easier to gather what beetles I get off of my desirable fruit trees. Also early cherry trees do the same thing. It only takes a tree or two, but the space donated to these trees are well worth donating. I don’t get every single beetle but it sure puts a dent in them.

Luke- what are good companion plants for blueberries?

I did a trap crop last year of tobacco to keep the tomato hornworms away from my tomatoes- it worked great and tobacco plants have beautiful flowers to boot!

My experience with three sister gardening was amazing. The yield was much better than when I didn't do it. I've experience as well that calendula is very helpful for growing tomatoes 🍅🌱🌼

My daughter and her friends have been on a YOLO kick....this video made me giggle and think of her 😄

I'm thinking about planting tomatoes, beans and celery in the same bed. Seems like they should all help each other out. And after seeing your video, I think there will also be marigolds.

I try to follow the principals of scripture and within those guidelines I plant what we enjoy eating plus a few new varieties to learn about. Gardening is such a beautiful art. The delight it brings to our lives is rooted in our desire to return to Garden of Eden. HalleluYAH!

I love watching your channel I live in Michigan as well and I am just learning how to do all of this and I'm learning a lot of it from you thank you I appreciate you

Great video! I have become a companion planter and I love marigolds! I always inter plant them in my raised beds and in my squash beds! One summer I basically surrounded my squash bed with marigolds and the deer just walked by! I interplanetary lettuce, basil scallions or onions and nasturtiums and marigolds in my tomato beds! Keep up the great videos!

It would have been very helpful to know what the little red berries that attract bird away from blueberries are… thank you.

Thank you for the advice

I will definitely be putting intercropping into practice this year ❤

I’ve definitely put my own spin on your methods to fit my climate here in zone 7a. Thank you for all the years of videos and the 10 Giant Crimson seeds I’ve turned into beautiful young plants. I can’t wait til mid July and I’ll get to harvest and spread those genetics for next years gardens.

Perfect information and timely for the planting season.

Thank you for all you do.

Thank you. Love your positive attitude.

I’m so thankful for your channel ❤️

Great content, Luke! Thanks for this info. My purple sprouting broccoli doesn't seem to be doing well, I'm going to try interplanting some marigolds.

Love how informative you are. Thanks

Much better now there isn't ads in the videos. Thank you Luke!

Fantastic video keep up the amazing work

Thanks for the info... You help me with my Michigan garden 😊

Thanks! I've been pondering intercroppig a lot lately. I do some. I appreciate your information 😊

Loving the detail and the freedom - thanks for this video, Luke!🙂

Thanks for giving me a name for the bulk of my planting style 😂

I am thrilled that you are so real! Thanks for all the inter planting tips with this video!!!

Thank you!!!! I appreciate your energy and experience!

Great video Luke! Thanks for all your hard work for us! We appreciate you and your knowledge! I learn something new every time I watch! :)

I am a life long gardener and old fashion farm kids who just can’t stand “Master Gardeners”. Except you. I send all my friends and family to your channel when they ask questions because you give real answers. I am 57 but I am still a “YOLO” gardener. Experimenting is fun and sometimes I don’t have enough space for everything. I love beating the odds

Learned a lot from your book but learn even more from your videos.

Great minds think alike, I had a couple plants peter out for the season and I was just thinking about what i could replace them with, thanks for the intercrop ideas 👍

Great video! I learned so great new things about intercropping

Great video! Take care!

You are inspirational, Luke, like it or not! 😂 I finally germinated and planted Rosemary from MI Gardener seed! Thanks.

one of my current favorites! thanks for the great info and creativity encouragement

Love your content!!

Luke, you’re so awesome to be so real and down to earth. High five.

Thank you for the great content. I am just learning how to companion plant and appreciate all of the info. You share! God Bless You!

I’m definitely a YOLO gardener. I kinda just plant something wherever I have the space

Love this. Yolo gardening.

Thank you for shari g your insight and experience, Luke! Best wishes to your family!

I love your videos! I get so much out of them and really helps keep my garden healthier! Thank you Luke!

Thank you, Luke! Love the bunnies in the beginning!

Appreciate the info in particular about the marigolds and brassicas!

Sacrificial crop is the term you were trying to spit out. I gotchu bro. Another good video with a lot of knowledge!

Love the content. Lots f good information for sure. Would you be willing to do a video on worm compost. Trying out worm composting with buckets all throughout my small garden. Not worms in them yet but hopeful. Thanks.

I absolutely love your seeds!! Best ever ❤