Gardener Interview #1 (HouseDadLife)

Hey gardeners – I thought we should try something a little different for this series of posts. I set out to interview gardeners who have blogs or YouTube channels.

I wanted to learn more about them, their interests, what kind of content they create, how they got started with gardening, and more.

Below, you can read our first interview with David Wiebe, who runs the YouTube channel HouseDadLife.

Enjoy!

1. What is your name and location?

My name is Dave Wiebe. I am from Manitoba, Canada.

2. What is the name of your website/channel, and what topics does it focus on?

I don’t have a website yet, but you can find my YouTube channel (HouseDadLife) here.

My channel covers various home topics, including hydroponics and indoor gardening, plus household tools and maintenance.

3. What is an interesting fact about you?

It is not related to my hobbies at all, but: I always wanted to learn how to fly. Today, I work as a corporate pilot and fly throughout the USA and Canada.

4. What is an interesting fact about gardening that not many people know?

I think a ton of people are totally unaware of how much of a role beneficial microbes play in gardening.

I’ve eliminated all of the root problems I used to have by adopting Bascilus Subtillus, Mycorrizal Fungi and Trichorderma use into both my hydroponic gardening and my soil gardening outside.

5. What is your favorite topic in gardening? What got you interested in that topic?

My mom got me started with gardening when I was just a little boy. Her green thumb rubbed off – so much so she now asks me for advice when growing plants.

We help each other with tips we learn, and she still teaches me – I think she’s just being mom.

6. What is your favorite plant? Why?

That’s a tough one. To grow for fun, I like any kind of exotic plants not native to my location.

In the garden, my favorite is probably tomatoes or strawberries. I enjoy learning year after year how to grow these plants to the maximum.

I need to do another exterior strawberry hydroponic tower. That was a ton of fun – not only did we get our fill of delicious strawberries for the year, but the plants got freak show big.

Most people didn’t recognize the plant by the type until they got close enough to see the red berries hiding underneath the foliage.

7. What is your gardening nemesis?

Patience in organic gardening. That might sound a bit wild to some, but it’s the honest truth.

Although I love to grow hydroponically, outside, organics is my preference – but that takes a ton of patience. I should clarify: when I say organic, I mean zero fertilizer or anything manufactured – no pest killers, and no chemicals of any sort.

So, building the soil takes time. I am a firm believer after helping a bunch of people build their soil, that it takes 7 years to get into balance – although you’ll have good results in a season or 2.

8. What is the biggest gardening mistake you have made? What did you learn from it?

Being hasty and rushing mixing a fresh hydroponic reservoir. I was way off on my mix and didn’t double check it.

I ended up killing my entire grow, and I had to flush and clean everything. Lesson learned: 5 minutes saved for an hour of work isn’t a time savings, so double check mixes to ensure accuracy.

The plus of hydroponics is you see changes fast, which is great if you get things right.

9. What is your favorite gardening gear? Why?

4 inch garden auger bit on a power drill, hands down. You can plant at an alarming rate with this thing, and the pots I use are sized so they fit exactly in the hole with minimum soil disturbance. Back to the whole organic farming thing.

10. What is your favorite gardening article/video on your site/channel?

As mentioned at the time I’m writing this, I’m only on Youtube.

Here is a link to a video that a bunch of people have found helpful and I’m pretty proud to help people get started with hydroponics.

11. Are there any gardening blogs, apps, YouTube channels, Pinterest pages, etc. that you like?

I wish he was more active, a ton of inspiration for getting into hydroponics more seriously has come from the Youtube channel mhpgardener.

Just an honest guy with great information.

12. How many posts/videos do you have on your website/channel?

No website yet, sorry, I have plans for one but am too busy with my Youtube channel. I’m up to 117 videos at the time I’m typing this.

13. How many posts/videos do you create per week/month?

I do my very best to release a new video on my channel every week on Friday. Not all of the videos are related to hydroponics, but a good chunk of them are.

14. How long have you been interested in gardening?

As long as I can remember. My mom started me young, and I’ve always found it to be a relaxing past time.

15. How many different types of plants do you have?

Ha Ha, I grow anything I can get my hands on. Sometimes I still fail miserably, but then I go a little OCD on research until I manage to pull something off.

Usually the internet gives me enough information to get through and find a winning tidbit.

16. Is there anything else about gardening or your website/channel you would like to mention?

Gardening is a great, relaxing past time, and I am excited to share my love of it with other people.

My wife had a brown thumb from the day I met her, but with my schedule being gone a lot, she started taking care of plants a few years back.

If something didn’t look right, she would send pictures, and I’d let her know what I thought would help.

She now absolutely has found a love for it as well. We garden together in the summer, and in the winter she enjoys growing seeds from anything and everything.

It’s fun to be a part of her journey. Some of my green thumb inherited from mom seems to be rubbing off – she grows some nice plants and has a WAY better feel on how to put it into home decor.

David, thank you for taking the time to do this interview!

If you want to check out David’s videos on hydroponics and other topics in home and garden, you can find them here on YouTube.

I hope you enjoyed this gardener interview, and I hope you learned something interesting today. Check back soon for more interviews!

You can read our next gardener interview here.

To find books, courses, seeds, gardening supplies, and more, check out The Shop at Greenupside!