https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHlmLMKsn2M

I've never been interested in writing a traditional gardening book, although lots of people continue to ask me to. I have however gradually come around to the idea of writing an eBook. An eBook appeals much more to my nature, because it's a much more dynamic, iterative, experimental and technical endeavour.

Here are the notes that I made about the approach that I decided to take when starting the book, back in 2020 and it's progressing well.

  1. I'm planning to create an eBook
  2. It's going to be free and available online
  3. It's a hobby, I'm not competing with anyone, it won't be perfect
  4. I'm hoping it’s not going to be yet another - me too - gardening book or course, I'm not interested in that
  5. It's going to be focused on growing all of your fresh veg (and some fruit) all year round
  6. It's going to focus on what I actually do and have proven, rather than lots of book theory
  7. It's primary purpose is not to tell you what to do, it's to help you find your own way to success. As a result there's a lot of focus on sharing what I do, I'm very keen on helping people figure out the best way to garden for them
  8. It's going to be true to the way I like to live and garden
    1. simple
    2. easy
    3. tidy
    4. efficient
    5. organised
    6. experimental
    7. 'organic'
    8. sustainable
    9. balanced
    10. beautiful
    11. fun
  9. It will include the practical, experimental and philosophical content that you get on my channel
  10. It's going to take forever, although the work in progress will be published in real-time

Why I made this decision:

  1. I want to create something that's an integrated whole, not just a string of random videos
  2. Self-sufficiency is far too complicated, writing this book will help me simplify it for myself and others
  3. It's much too difficult for people to find the answers they want in my videos
  4. Every year I end up making a lot of duplicated video content, I want to re-focus on building something better each year
  5. YouTube makes it hard to update content as I learn, the ebook makes it easy