The Future of Home Gardening? I Found It in Texas!

I flew to Texas for a gardening event, but what I found there genuinely surprised me because this just might be the future of home gardening. I'm talking about some seriously clever gear, stuff that could make growing your own food easier, more productive, and honestly, a whole lot more fun.

This is all coming from one of the biggest and most forward-thinking gardening companies in the world. And seeing it in person gave me a completely different perspective on where backyard gardening is heading. Some of this gear is so good, it almost feels like cheating. Not that I'd ever cheat in the garden, of course.

So let me show you what I found. It all started with a bunch of us creators being picked up in a bus from our hotel in Houston and taken to the Vego Garden Farm.

Thank you for driving.

No problem.

Hello, my love.

Nice to see you.

Nice to meet you.

Hi.

Hi, how are you?

Good to see you.

Good to see you.

Hi. Hi, nice to meet everybody.

Hey.

Good to see you.

Yeah, finally.

How's it going? I'm Luke. Luke, right?

We're so happy to have you.

You said Nina?

Wow.

Hi, good morning everybody.

This is Simon. You can draw your face. Well... Hi, good morning everybody. Alright. You can draw your face. Then there's gifts back there.

And food in the kitchen.

Coffee.

Very impressive.

Those are name tags. They map it to your shirt.

Put your name tag on it.

You can show a little face here. And see your names here.

Put your names back. So we can see your names.

I feel like we kind of, we kind of need to write that.

Yes.

Yeah.

Wait, wait, that you a little something. I'm going to get you a little something. I'm going to get you a little something. I'm going to get you a little something. Mark. Yeah. Wow, here it is in person. This is the two-acre and also we have the other three acres.

We have not started the building of three acres yet.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fantastic.

Okay, so the first time I watched one of your videos, it was on the YouTube channel. Yeah. And I was like, wow, this is really cool.

I'm like, wow, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

So the first time I watched one of your videos it was on getting rid of your ducks and I was

You and then we start filming and I'm like

We've had him for over 40 years, I'm like I can't get rid of my ducks But yeah every time we film and they start wah wah wah I think of you.

I don't know, that video there's been plenty of people had a good laugh on that video.

I love ducks. I do too. But they are so obnoxious.

G'day I'm Mark from Self Sufficient Me and we've just landed in Houston, Texas and we've finally got to the Vego Garden Farm. Check it out. It's amazing to be here in the flesh after about 24 hours of flying. I'm excited. Let's get into it.

What you can see in the background is the Vego Farm. Raised garden beds, raised planters on wheels, speciality planters for dragon fruit. This is some of the innovation that I'm talking about. No matter what size your garden bed is, you can have a frame to fit it and then over this you can either you can put some trellising material if you want or more specifically a garden net and protect it from critters or insects that might be eating your veggies.

You can feel it, it's really good, strong equipment. It's really well put together. It actually looks very nice. What Robert, the CEO was talking about inside is that with this ecosystem that he talks about of being able to have all this extra accessories

for your garden beds, you don't have to worry about that anymore because these types of things are already made specifically for their products. So you don't have to go and mix match stuff and make it even, I mean, yes, it might work,

but it looks ugly and sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes it costs you more money. Instead, you've got a product that you can grab off the shelf to match your garden bed and it all is designed to work together. You've got different trellis systems, you've got frames, you've got lights, you know, you've got watering systems.

All of it is, you know, even frames like this, all of them are made from the same company and all of them are designed to be in the one ecosystem. Here's some of that netting. It fits over it perfectly. There's no trying to scrunch up nets and like I've been doing in the past.

This is designed to go over a specific garden bed perfectly, no matter what size. You get the netting that matches your garden bed and height and everything. Yeah, good strong zips. I know the netting is very strong and good quality and it needs to be, otherwise one year in the Australian sun, a cheap net is just going to degrade. You want to at least get three or four, maybe five, six years out of a net.

And I'd be happy with that, you know, for the cost. You don't expect everything to last forever, but you can tell this is really good quality. And look at this.

I'm thinking, how do I roll this up?

But it's already been thought of. It's just Velcro that you stick on. Nice and simple, not hard to use, saves time. And then voila, your garden bed is open and you're able to get in there, get your veggies, do your gardening, and then put it back when you're finished.

We've got some type of blackberry here using that trellis. That's a beautiful specimen, or a lovely plant.

Look at that.

Springtime here in Texas. It's all just starting to come on. Gonna get a bucket load of fruit off this thing. Looks very healthy and nice and sturdy. And it's really well designed. It's not just strong and tough.

It's actually looks nice. And look, I don't, I'm not one that typically cares, like if I've got a trellis that's just galvanized steel, or I've made it out of scraps from the backyard, that's great. But there is something true about it looking nice and like if I've got an option and if I can purchase something that's a lot that's a reasonable price rather than me purchasing some galvanized mesh or something and then putting it together

that costs a similar amount I'm going to be purchasing this every day to stick on my garden beds rather than making my own stuff up cause I'm saving time, probably saving money and it looks better.

Look at that. What was that?

Oh, that was a little frog.

Look at that.

Look at this.

I accidentally grabbed it when I went on to this. But there you go, there's talking about ecosystems, ecosystems and equipment. Here's an ecosystem showing very well that it's going well because you've got actual ecosystem in animals and insects in your garden and this fellow would be eating all the nasties. So let's put him back.

High biodiversity.

Yeah.

How cool is that? But I was going to just show that here's another trellising system. You could put, obviously, a net over this or you could use it for climbing plants or tomatoes, but it also has a, you can hardly see it because it blends in so well with the equipment, a watering system that goes straight up the framework

and waters the whole garden bed. It just looks like it's part of the whole system, just blends in so well. Yeah, yeah. So I'm guessing they have a... It's got a, it's probably connected to an underground system. Yeah, yeah. This is mint. Oh, look how healthy this mint is. Wow.

Well, you'd make a nice mint sauce out of this. Vego is now getting in, well they have been into these greenhouses for a while now, the last 12 months, and they're getting better and better at them. This one here, I wouldn't mind something like this at home actually. You can see it runs down into a tank. Two tanks off either side, so you're salvaging water. Free water, very valuable, especially in dry climates, so why not harvest it when it's raining off your greenhouse?

I mean, so many times you have a greenhouse with nothing on it. This is designed to collect water. The whole design of the greenhouse is that it's not an afterthought. It's designed to collect water.

And this all is part of that product ecosystem. How many different colors can you get this in?

This one, I think it's three different colors.

Very modern, isn't it? No, fantastic. can you get this in? This one I think it's three different colors. Very modern isn't it? Fantastic. Yeah no I like it. My first seven or eight years on YouTube I was asking for this. I was wanting better products and innovation in gardening products. I was trying all these brands and like similar places like Home Depot but Bunnings in Australia, you know, those types of stores, they would break and fade in 12 months under the harsh Australian conditions. And you just, no one was making serious,

good gardening products that lasted. Having some lunch. Very nice spread, I'll tell ya. They're looking after us. Some chicken is it? A chicken roll. Avocado and all that.

Yeah, some condiments. Very nice. They're looking after us here at Veggie Garden. We've just been in the classroom and Veggie has gone through some of their new products and some of the inside things from a creator point of view to know, you know, the company that

makes the products that you talk about a little bit better. Yeah, it's been a really good day. So we're starting to wind up now. We've got a creator dinner to go to and this is going to be interesting because it's a farm to plate type of restaurant. They grow most of their own food and you eat what's

in season so I'm looking forward to that. Oh

The one I'm already started I'm already started I'll make sure the wine is good Welcome to Canada

This is a little like a farm and it's a couple of people restaurant

and today is only our event

so it's only for us

I said, what would you like for lunch on the boat for lunch on the boat

I said, what would you like for lunch on the boat I said the only time we open for lunch on Monday night

yeah come on over here look at this wicker pinot somebody made this

that's cool

some new triple time out I like it a new triple time out Look at this one.

Are you king? Oh, are you king of the castle?

Hello.

Hello.

Yeah, big greenhouse with the fan going

see how they can roll it up or roll it down

yeah to get more air in if they need to

go through the side

there's their composts

oh that's big isn't it? Yeah. I feel like I just need it all. Why cheers? Noncommittal.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yes.

That's one nice piece.

Our last frost date is April. And they would come in and say it's not going to freeze. It's not going to freeze. And I would argue with, park it before you. And finally I went, okay, here's your tomato plums.

Wow, what a lovely dinner.

Okay, back to the hotel. I think one of the future food gardening trends we're going to see more of is growing indoors. Gone are the crude benches, all those awful grow rooms, and in are the stylish cabinets and containers equipped with their own grow lights. I have one of these cabinets at home myself, but I haven't put it together yet. But when I do, the first thing I will grow are micro greens.

Super healthy and growing them inside in a controlled environment means you can grow them all year round. And they're just so easy to cut and come again and use in the kitchen.

I like it. I like it.

I appreciate it.

I have no idea about this.

Can I get the red one?

Yeah.

They are. Thank you.

You're so nice.

Then I have as much as I can.

I know it's weird.

For best results, eat them up.

Now that's breakfast.

Eat them 30 seconds at a time. All right, it's day two at the Vego farm and We're standing in one of their famous and new greenhouses. They've been selling like hotcakes. Apparently I don't know how much they are, but I'm thinking maybe I should get one Anyway today is the last day of our Vego garden experience here in Houston And we're going to go and have a tour of the factory We're going to do some more mingling with the other influencers.

And yeah, it should be a good fun day. So let's keep getting into it. Okay, so you want to know my number one tip for growing? Okay, my number one tip forever is to grow what you like. You'll be surprised at how easy pretty much all vegetables are to grow. So grow something that you like. You'll be surprised at how easy pretty much all vegetables are to grow.

So grow something that you like to eat and try that first and grow as much of that as you can and then start on the next thing that you like and the next thing and pretty soon you'll be growing a whole garden full of things that you love to eat.

That's my number one tip.

Awesome.

Thank you, Morrie.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, yeah, no worries, thank you.

Check out this dragon fruit planter from Veggio Garden. I've got one of these at home but I haven't set it up yet but it's good to see one that's set up on the Vego Farm. What I like about it is it's very simple. It's based on the citrus tree planter. It's about the same size. But what it has is this very sturdy frame that comes up from the middle and the sides, and it's perfect for growing a dragon fruit vine or two. You could have two coming up or even three if you wanted to and train them up to come out and bow over. If you're in a cooler climate and you've got this here on wheels, what you can do

is through the cooler months you can wheel it into a hothouse or a warmer environment or indoors or out of under cover somewhere and then bring it back out in spring summer for it to flourish and fruit. And I like how it's pretty small so it gives you easy access to dragon fruit growing. In the past I've grown them on big posts and they can sometimes get a bit too tall and the the crows and the birds get to them before you can. And I think this height is about perfect, about five foot. And also the dragon fruit can curl over.

And when it curls over, it's that curling over and semi-breaking of the vine that encourages it to fruit on the branches. Because if you grow a dragon fruit, if you let a dragon fruit grow upwards, it'll grow right up a tree, right up a pole

for meters, maybe 10-20 meters and it's only when it reaches the top of the canopy where it will then bend over and start fruiting. So the sooner you can get it bending over and fruiting the better. Yeah this is a really great design. Here's a really new product from Vego Garden. This is this outdoor kitchenette. Well it's not really a kitchenette, it's more like a potting up area but you can use it as a kitchenette and if you can imagine that there wasn't a wall here

you can have people on the other side and this could be a servery instead of a potting up bench or putting pots on there and you could be having a barbie and serving up people. But of course for gardeners this here is your ultimate outdoor potting up area or storage area. So if you start from this side you've you've got your rolling planter type seedling trays where you can roll up to your main area where you're going to be potting up. You've got these magnetic drawers and cupboards.

Nice and easily put together. Garden workstation, all these things are labelled. This is another new product by the way, these are these plastic buckets that can be used as growers as well. You just drill a few holes in it and they've already got the holes marked and you can use them as a planter or you can use them to carry your harvest in or carry potting mix or stuff in it. And it's UV protected, lasts for about 8 to 10 years in the harsh Australian sun they tell me.

But yeah, you've got places to hang stuff up and this is your potting bench. So this sink here is where you can mix your potting mix and all that and then you can put your plants up so you've got that area pre-moulded in and all this here is a powder coated, a special powder coated metal that should last for like 20-25 years. So it's a and I've seen the rigorous testing that it goes through. They don't just spray it with anything, they test these products out in these salt chambers, like a salty chamber, like it simulates,

it fast tracks the climate and over a shorter period and simulates years and years of weather and use like by the seaside and that. And these things constantly come out in the testing, lasting years and years in harsh environments. So yeah, they are

premium products but that's what you pay for, a long-lasting product that's gonna be well designed and last you for a long time. And then we keep coming down, you've got your garden sink and station, more cupboards, the sink all plumbed in if you want it, so that you can wash your hands, wash out the potting mix, sterilize things if you want. And the whole thing here is modular,

so you don't have to buy it all together. You can just buy one thing at a time and add it. And they just clip together as you go along, or of course if want to pull it apart and put it in different shapes or L shapes or wherever you want around your home, you can.

Yeah, so you don't have to buy everything at once, which I think is really clever. It just goes over the top like that. If you want more bench space and you don't want the sink. Yeah, plenty of places to hang tools. And by the way, this is their new tool range.

They used to have plastic handles, but now they've gone with this. I don't know what type of wood it is, but it feels very sturdy and nice in the hand and it looks very pretty. And yeah, these things are really strong. so I should last a long time in

the garden yeah very impressive I like it what's your favorite product Jeff

I really like the elevated garden beds yeah because I have a space that has a

concrete portion and it's really nice to be able to...

The raw ones.

Yeah, to wheel it around.

Yeah.

But they're tall too, so it's good for your back.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Really nice. And you don't need a lot of soil.

Because I have tall beds that I, you know, needed to fill with soil.

Exactly. Yeah, so true. What have you got there, Doug? I've got a little basil plant. Oh, smells like pesto.

Does it actually? That's what I'm...

Yeah.

It does, yeah.

Well, let's mirror that side and put the basil on the inside.

Like that one.

Just give it a little bit of a wriggle, loosen up the pot, pour it out, have a look at the roots. The roots are nice and clean, they're not root bound, they're not going around, so you can plant it straight like that. If the roots were constricted or the plant was a bit old, I'd loosen those roots out a bit but I don't have to

for this one.

Backfill up to the exactly where it was growing so you don't want to cover up the stem too much and then if you're not sure on what the plant is just stick that in there that's it and should give it a bit of a water straight away and that'll settle

the root zone That's heavy work. Check this out, we've got the Vego Garden Cube.

This is a self-watering raised planter. You'd be surprised at how expensive the molding for this was and the research that went into making this. It was like about 30 or so revisions but they've come up with a really excellent product whereby it's basically set and forget and you've got a gauge here that lets you know how much water is in it and whether it needs refilling and you can also regulate how much water that you want your plants to get by using this clever little flow thing here I don't know the exact term for it but you can, that's like maximum, maximum water and right down to minimum by

just rotating how much water it holds in the tank. So depends on what you're growing in there, like you might be growing, I don't know, cactus plants that don't need much water, or you might be growing a hungry tomato plant that needs a lot of water so you can regulate it as much as you want with that regulation thingy-ma-jiggy. But yeah this Vego Garden Cube Waterer raised garden bed I like it it's a really good product. It's not everyone's cup of tea but Vego Garden has got this fake wood. It's actually

metal, alu-zinc steel, so it's gonna last 25 years but unlike wood yeah it's not gonna rot or anything like that. If you really want the wood look but don't want the wood maintenance you can get something like this. Let's see. It's even got the texture. It feels like wood on the outside until you go on the inside and then you notice that it's steel.

Same with the raised garden bed here, the raised planter. You know, it's nice. It's a good height, great for gardening, nice depth for any type of veggie that you want to grow. Even long rooted veggies like asparagus could be grown in this, no problems. And then you've got the storage area underneath, and then you've got the rolling.

You'll be able to roll it around, rearrange it if you don't like the spot, take it out of the way if you're having a family function and you want to get rid of it or something like that and you want to use the area for something else or if you're in a cold climate you can wheel it into a warmer spot as the sun changes through the year or whatever. It's up to personal preference but yeah that option is there.

So here we are.

We're at Beja Garden HQ. This is where they do all the fulfillments. Obviously where the main people work and fulfill all the orders for pretty much all around America and Canada. And yeah, Australia as well. How many employees do you say?

A hundred.

A hundred.

A hundred employees working here.

One hundred.

Look at that. Look how they've named their rooms after.

I'll take a picture for you.

Congratulations.

Yeah, congratulations.

I know how hard it is to write a book.

Yeah, I know.

But it's so worth it in the end, isn't it?

It's so worth it.

Yeah, yeah. It's a long process, but it's really worth it in the end, isn't it? It's not worth it. It's a long process.

It's not really worth it.

It made me cry.

Okay, I'm going to steal that book. I need that one right there.

And I need yours. I have hers.

That's cool. You have both around here.

So for those in the USA, you can now buy my book online at vegogarden.com. And for Australians, you can still get it through Booktopia or you can get a signed copy through my own website selfsufficientme.com links are below Smells like a problem. Yeah. So this is our warehouse.

This is kind of like the behind the scenes is where everything happens. We're actually going to take you guys outside to see the greenhouses that we built outside of the building first. And show you some of the stuff

that we put inside.

Oh, sorry.

I'm so bloody fixated. I'm looking around. I'm running into everyone.

You and me both. I don't even knowated on looking around. I'm running into everyone. You and me both.

I don't even know who ran into who.

Fantastic, isn't it?

What a business.

It is the glass.

Is it real glass?

Yeah.

How many cars?

Yeah.

And how many guys can all fit in?

Eight bikes.

Fantastic. Team Victoria. How many guys can hold this? G. Victorious

This is the size we have in our house.

Is it? Right. Do you find it a good size? Yeah.

It works for us.

I've got to get one.

For sure. This is more like you

right here. You reckon?

Yeah. You reckon? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's no real, there's no real like heat difference or? They heat just the same. So. Okay, yeah. I reckon I like the look of

that. Yeah, this is one, this one is my favorite because I can see straight through. And I suppose

those rounded sides would be better for snow as opposed to that. Okay. But apart from that, there's no real difference.

So I keep my soil moist all the time.

Okay.

And I keep everything clean.

Oh, so you keep that top on there?

Yeah, I keep the top. So that, otherwise the soil will be dry out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's actually a few boxes of my book there.

I haven't been into something as big as this. Before I quit to do social media, I was in manufacturing for like 15 years.

So warehousing, manufacturing, all this, I love it.

Oh, you're used to it.

Yeah, yeah.

I was a senior training specialist with my job title.

Yeah.

The first time I said I wanted

a book full of glossy pictures, they told me that, look, you're better off with black and white because it's cheaper to do and you'll be able to make more money out of it and you'll be able to sell the book for less but still have a bigger markup and more people would buy it. And I just was not interested. I wanted premium, like the Vegeo beds.

I wanted a premium product and a premium book so that people could be inspired and enjoy reading it. So I said, no, I'm out. And then they came back to me and said, righty-o, we'll have it your way then.

So.

Those 20 in there that I recommend you don't grow. Yeah, I'm trying to backpedal here as much as I can. Finally, I just want to say Robert and the Vego garden team, Vego garden team. Right, I said it once. Thank you very much for this opportunity and thank you for the lovely two days as well, if I can say that now, and for this. It's just amazing. It's very surreal for me at the moment. Yeah,

but thank you. What am I doing? I'm signing surreal, my books and giving it to other content creators, which is a really great feeling, I can tell you.

That's awesome. Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate you.

Thanks, mate.

Nice meeting you guys.

Yeah, lovely meeting all of you.

Yeah, thank you so much for your vote.

Yeah.

I'd love to see you.

Yeah, yeah. It'd be nice to have a reunion. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One, two, three, cheers! Cheers!

Good job, guys.

This was a really great trip, and it's good to see such innovation and development in gardening products. It's about time in my opinion. Don't forget to check out my online store and all the links below if you're interested in some of the products shown in this video. I understand that many of these products are premium and no you don't have to purchase premium products to be able to grow a food garden or any type of garden. You can do it on a very low budget but for some people spending a bit extra is a

worthwhile investment for looks, durability and practicality. Well I hope you enjoyed this video if you did make sure you give it a big thumbs up, share it around and subscribe if you haven't already. Thanks a lot for watching, thumbs up, share it around and subscribe if you haven't already. Thanks a lot for watching, thanks for your support, especially over the last 15 years. Cheers, bye for now.