Happy New Year

Happy 2021! I don't think I'm the only one that's happy to see 2020 in the rearview mirror.

We've got a lot of great things planned for the upcoming year… I did several experiments this past year on tomatoes, peppers, lots of things so I'm going to be bringing that information to you this year in some great new garden how-to videos. We’re also going to be doing lots of videos on ornamentals and what I'm really excited about is our edible landscaping segments that we're going to be doing out in the front yard, combining edibles with some ornamentals and actually ornamental edibles. Putting a whole flowerbed together of edible food so you can have it in your front yard and people won't even know! One of the big focuses for me for this channel in 2021 is getting to know you guys better and having you get to know me better… not always easy to do on a platform like this but we're going to do our best.

2020 was tough on everyone in one way or another. On some people in lots of different ways, but I am an eternal optimist and I really believe 2021 is going to be much, much better. I'm hoping I'm not reading this back in December of 2021 and thinking “what an idiot” but I really think it's going to be a better year how about you?

Now 2020 started off bad for me before COVID-19. If you've been following me since then you know that I was in the ER last January 14th with some pretty scary diagnoses. January 14th is coming up and I was not excited about that date so I decided to take that date an recreate what it meant for me. So right now what that date means is that it is going to be the launch of our 2021 gardening season and we're going to kick it off with unveiling our new logo, officially switching over the channel name from California Garden TV to Next Level Gardening. The reason for the change is, this channel has grown so far beyond California. We have viewers in every spot on earth as far as I can tell and so it was limiting. The reason “Next Level Gardening” came about is I had so many of you this year write to me and say thank you so much for helping us take our garden to the next level… and it just clicked. I thought “that is the perfect name”. Don't worry about getting lost though because the channel will still be searchable under California Garden TV, it will just be the title that changed an actually last few months the title for the channel has been next level gardening California garden TV.

Now like I said for this year I am not only focused on bringing out tried and true gardening content, tried and true how-to videos… but getting to know each other a little bit better. I’ve had a lot of people contact me asking how they can support what we're doing here on this channel financially. The best way to support the channel is to “like” the videos, “comment” on the videos, and “share” the videos. But several of you asked about Patreon. I had never really looked into it and I didn't know much about it. I'm not real great at asking for a handout and I thought that's kind of what Patreon was. YouTube has come out with a membership program and I think it's really cool. It is a way for any of our viewers to support us financially an in return be a part of the Next Level Garden Club which is going to be an exclusive club as a way to say thank you for viewers who choose to contribute small financial support for the channel. As a thank you for that support you're going to get exclusive content and exclusive communication and I'll be doing another video on this in the next few weeks to talk about how it's actually going to layout. But like I said the best way to support the channel is to like, watch, subscribe and share the videos with others.

Another thing I'm really excited about this year is in getting to know each other better are the Friday videos. Now this may happen every Friday, every other Friday, we're going to see how it goes. But before I tell you what we're going to have on those videos I want to tell you WHY.

Like I already mentioned, back in January I had a pretty scary diagnosis and did a video on it. I got lots of support and prayers and good thoughts from all of you which tremendously helped.

But in that video I was discussing what happened and I had two viewers contact me who were having the same symptoms that I was having. When they wrote to me, I asked them to keep in touch. One of them did and it turns out that he had the same thing I had and thanked me for putting that out there because he probably wouldn't have gone to the doctor like I almost didn't go. It really showed me how powerful this platform can be to affect people's lives in so many different ways.

So this year on Fridays we're going to be literally hanging out in the garden together doing whatever activity or job needs to be done, something timely that we can all get something out of. But then also talking a little bit deeper while we do that into life and what's going on. Different things that are important me or that I've been up to… maybe things that you comment about and want to talk about.

Not exactly sure how it's going to lay out but I'm excited. My life has changed this past year… I haven't even shared some other things that have happened to me. I do plan to on our Friday videos but I had two other scary diagnoses halfway through the year and was also dealing with mental and physical issues. I will get into it later. I'm sure I'm not the only one this past year for sure!

But also, following your dreams no matter how old you are. If you don't see how those things (especially the physical and mental health) correlate with gardening then you might be a new gardener, because it is scientifically proven that gardening is so beneficial for both physical and mental health. I can honestly say without gardening in my life I might not be here. I've heard from a lot of you who said the same thing.

The last announcement… tomato hooks! We're just about ready! We're figuring out the shipping and everything but they should be available at least for pre-order on our new website (which will also be coming in a couple weeks) toward the end of this month. So if you guys have been excited about those tomato hooks they're coming finally and I will I will let you know in a video when they’re available. I'll be doing another video exactly how to use them so we'll all be on the same page.

I don't know what the world has in store for us in 2021, but I know here on this channel we're going to stick together, have fun and make the best of whatever 2021 throws at us!

Happy New Year!!!