My First Video Blog - My Quest for the Twenty-five Dollar Victory Garden

Ironically, as much time as I've spent over the last several years being involved in the TV business, I have NO experience shooting video myself. Sadly, my girls are 9 and 11 now and I don't have any video of them to speak of (bad dad!).  But there's no time like the present to start with a bang, so here's the first reveal of my Twenty-five Dollar Victory Garden video.

Don't look for a Hollywood production here. These are just one-take (or in this case two-take) attempts to document in a raw, candid, organic way, what's going on with my garden efforts at the moment. I want you to be a part of this, just as if we were together talking about it. So, every couple of days or as it's warrented, I'll post a new one to two minute video to show you what's going on.

Please send me your comments and I'll be working on trying to get better quality out of the uploads in the mean time.

Comments

[Pamela Price/RedWhite&Grew]

This is AWESOME!! Go, Joe!

Someone needs to send you some catnip.

[Joe Lamp'l]

Hey Pamela, Thanks! Maybe I should change this to "feeding my family of FIVE"
I like the catnip option better.

[Colleen Vanderlinden]

Great job! As someone whose cat chomped down almost all of my heirloom tomato seedlings last year, I definitely knew what you wanted to do ;-)

How fun! Can't wait to see more of these.

[linda]

Doing a video series on veggie gardening on the cheap is great in this economic environment with so many people starting veggie gardens this spring. What a great idea!

It's been five years since I've grown veggies, but started last fall with a new raised bed in our sunny side yard. I learned veggie gardening at the knees of my very frugal parents, and am looking forward to picking up more tips for economical veggie gardening.

The video is engaging and entertaining, and I loved the outtakes - especially seedling-eating cat. I'm looking forward to catching more of this series. Brilliant Joe!

[Theresa Loe/GardenFreshLiving]

LOVE the video Joe - especially the outtakes! When the words came at the end about the cat, I actually choked on my coffee! I almost spit coffee on my computer screen! Thanks for that! So funny.

Thanks for making me laugh so early in the morning.

[Jae Dawn]

Think this is a great idea and helps inspire people to do this for themselves. Just one question the lights are they a particular kind of grow light or just regular fluorescent lighting? And thanks for Twittering this I am one of your many followers in England! Thanks ...

[Joe Lamp'l]

Hi Jae and thanks. Regarding your question about the grow lights, that's the beauty of this. They are not anything special. They are standard 40W florescent bulbs that you can find anywhere. Although "true grow lights" offer a wider light spectrum, I've successfully started and grown seedlings for years using just the cheap standard bulbs.

[Helen Yoest @ Gardening With Confidence]

Wonderful Joe, Out takes precious!

[Carol, May Dreams Gardens]

Great video. That cat was sure hamming it up for the camera.

I also just use std. fluorescent lights for my seedlings and it always works. They also get some light from a window, same as yours.

I'm looking forward to the next segment.

[Joe Lamp'l]

Right Carol, that cat saw a photo op and she ran with it!
Regarding the florescent lights, I'm with you. I've had years of great results with the basic 40W bulb. No need that I've seen to spend the extra money on the grow lights. And by the way, I have experimented in the past using them. But, I haven't seen any noticeable difference.
Thanks.
JL

[Clare]

I'm impressed, Joe! Keep it up. Great work. Love the out takes as well!

[Susan Harris]

LAUGH OUT LOUD at the cat, and hte hairbrush incident. Very fun. What camera did you get, and what program are you using to edit it?

[Joe Lamp'l]

Hi Susan. Thanks! I'm using iMovie since I have a mac and the very first time I've ever evened opened that program was within a few hours of posting that video. Pretty easy and a lot more capability that I used for this little stunt. My camera is the new Sony HD Handycam with a 240GB internal hard drive. Small but POWERFUL. My camera man suggested this one. Here's the link:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/597660-REG/Sony_HDR_XR520V_HDR_XR520V_240GB_High_Definition.html

Glad you had fun with it. So did I and that's my intention. These will all be fun, let my hair down stuff (and slip in some really great gardening info without anyone realizing it).
Thanks for checking in.
J

[John at JWLW]

HI Joe: I take it that the Camera was not included in the $ 25.00 budget.

Great video, looking forward to the next one.
You will have to include the Kitty from now on was a great Co host.

John

[Joe Lamp'l]

Thanks John. And you're right, the camera was definitely NOT part of the $25 budget!
As for the cat, yeah, she seemed to steal the show so look for more cameo appearances by her in future episodes!

[TC]

Good job Joe. The quality seems fine to me.

And I have a request that you use a little acoustic guitar music in the background for your videos (you should've contacted me personally for that, I could have donated an original piece of music for you).

[Joe Lamp'l]

Hey TC, I agree about the acoustic background music. I'm a big fan of that. Send me your file and I'll take a listen. Thanks for the offer.
JL

[Ellen Zachos]

I suggest keeping a few fully loaded water pistols around the planting area to deter Maccaroni...works wonders for our two adventurous (hungry!) felines.

[Mr. McGregor's Daughter]

I really liked the video. It was entertaining & educational. Next time could you include a closeup of the plants? (I really enjoy seeing plants, even tiny little seedlings.) In the interest of feline/gardener relations, may I suggest you plant plastic forks around the edges of the trays to deter the cat from further sampling?

[Samantha]

I'm not sure where you are located, but Habitat for Humanity has these stores across the country called ReStores, where all sorts of construction and homegoods type of materials are donated and resold at a fraction of the cost. Alot of the donations come from stores, contractors, hotels, and people remodeling. You may be able to find shop lights there for cheap if you have one near you.