Here in the maritime Pacific Northwest (USA) I dump winter stall cleanings from chickens, goats, and the horse directly onto my veg beds--manure and wood shavings together with copious amounts of rain make beautiful soil by springtime. This method absolutely wouldn't work in a dry climate, but we average 40+ inches of precipitation each year, so the manure breaks down really fast. I toss piles of fallen leaves into the chicken pen to give the hens entertainment and food (bugs); they scratch the leaves apart in a week or two which results in a beautiful addition to the garden. Our native soil is glacier till/gravel, so adding huge amounts of organic manure is essential.
I love making compost, since I started making it a couple of years ago it’s become almost as exciting as growing the vegetables! I’m very lucky to know a lady who has a horse and is willing to give me manure as long as I bag it up myself, my son is a tree surgeon so I get wood chips too. Along with foraged leaves, grass clippings, nettles, comfrey and veg waste I get everything I need to make most of my own compost. Thanks for your tips Ben.
Here in Nova Scotia we get a LOT of wind in winter so I have to grind up my leaves with a rear bagger mower. The smaller pieces compact much better and stay in place on my garden beds. Whole leaves would just blow away into the woods.
if you have access to manure but it is very fresh, make a deep raised bed with just manure and leave it until spring. Put a bag of compost on the top, just in the middle and plant an Atlantic Giant or cwt pumpkin in the compost. you will be rewarded with a show stopper. Next winter you will be able to dig out the manure which will be a fantastic soil conditioner.
Do you have a new doggy? 🐶 Cute 🥰 I’ve been collecting leaves from all over. I don’t have any grass to mix them. I use the leaves for top dressing and buried some with food scraps in the garden.
Thank you so much, the "ggoooosh it up" brought back wonderful memories of my British son-in-law. I was very fond of him, unfortunately my daughter wasn't.
One thing to add. Cut those crops off at the soil level and leave the roots in the ground to decompose. You won't lose the soil surrounding the rootball and you leave some snacks for the worms. In the spring you can easily remove any stems that didn't decompose.
Charles Dowding puts a layer of well rotted compost on his No dig beds annually with great results but with permaculture guru Hugh Richards in his latest video said he isn’t going to mulch his beds in the autumn due to having a lot of rain over recent winters which is understandable as the nutrients may leach out. On my allotments, I tend to put the home made compost directly into the planting hole where the roots can take them up easily and I sometimes chop up rhubarb leaves for brassicas (old wives tale to prevent club root) and comfrey leaves for fruiting plants such as tomatoes and beans, seems to work well.
I dump all of my potting soil into a pile nd add fall leaves nd pine needles nd hose it down. I would add grass clippings but not much grass growing rn. Come spring ima add peat moss nd perlite.
As a new veg grower I am finding your channel really helpful. Just planted garlic and shallots. Please could you advise me if I can use the sawdust from my husbands hobby wood turning? I have been layering up Green waste, vegetable and fruit peelings which the mice are eating unfortunately and then the waste from the logs my husband uses.
I get my wood chips free from the local electric company when they clean under the power lines every few years. They always have many loads to get rid of. You can check with your local power company and see if they have them, and maybe they will give customers some of them. I use my leaves for mulch and add to my compost also.
I'm a serious believer in compost but will also use something like Growmore or nitrogen fertiliser when soil tests suggest the need. Heck, a 20kg bag is less than £20 & at 40g/m² that's a 7 year supply if I apply it over all 76m² of my beds & in reality it's half that area. I make roughly 3m³ of compost a year but have found tomatoes, potatoes & brassicas all do better with that boost when they're growing strongest. I use wood chips on the 40cm paths between my beds & they get about 5cm annually, which has pretty much disappeared in 12 months. I'll have at least a year's supply next week, as yesterday's storm dropped half a 60' cypress on mine & my neighbour's garages. Time to get out the chainsaw & chipper/shredder (handles stuff up to 4cm)...
Thank you so much for your expertise and knowledge that you're sharing with us novice gardeners. I can't begin to describe how appreciative I am for your channel I have several questions first of all where do you live, what growing zone are you located in? How do you know if the manure in big box stores is safe to use in your garden since I live in a suburb outside a big city Many of the stores here sell composted manure that's what it's labeled so I'm wondering if that's safe to use to make richer compost? Another question is that I'd like to know what wood chips are safe if you have to buy them? They sell many different varieties in my area such as cedar, black colored wood chips red colored wood chips and raw wood chips which are very big pieces of what looks like raw wood. I would be immensely thankful for any suggestions you can give me and I look forward to your next video
Many wood chips for sale are contaminated with other things, including plastics, & are not well regulated. For wood chips, the safest is getting straight from the arborists. In many countries there are websites/apps that link you for free with arborists who can deliver freshly made wood chips shredded after they’ve pruned trees. Or local councils may have a pile of fresh wood chips that can be collected from.
For manure, if you search online you might find free, pure manure. Often riding schools or horse agistments give away their manure. You can also call them.
I used to get Alfalfa hay from a feed store. One year I went to get some hay. The man said, "you are going to like this, it's weed free.". I wasn't thinking. I took it home and spread it out. I tried to plant watermelon. Nothing sprouted. So I tried a different packet of seeds. Again, nothing sprouted. That's when I realized this hay had been sprayed. 🤮🤮. I went to a different store. I asked if their hay had been sprayed. They didn't know. That was the last time I used Alfalfa hay. Now I plant a cover crop of clover. It is hard to find organic products. Especially mulch or compost. Be very careful to avoid conventional raised products.
Your videos are so incredible and lively that if you lived in a concrete 3rd floor flat you'd want to dig up the sitting room and plant some tatties and carrots lol. Fantastic video, iv only got some buckets due to the fact of im in disabeld but i love what i manage 😀👍
You didn't mention leaf mould. Do you not make it - if not, why not? I have a large wire mesh container of year-old leaf mould, and would love advice on how to use it!
Your cinematography keeps improving. These videos have gotten more pleasant to look at over the years. Do you have a drone mounted camera that you use for the overhead shots?
I do agree about your additives, but after a year when every green thing the stuck it head up get chomped off by the massive numbers of slugs and snails…….will not the leaves spread on the bed, rather than piled up then used when broken down, simply provide a happy home for the dreaded sliders?
When I add any mulch on top of my pots, I get a proliferation of pill bugs that cover the surface of the soil when I lift up the mulch. By spring, and for the rest of the growing season, when I want to plant seeds or seedlings , their voracious appetite and numbers eat at least 2/3rds of the various types of herbs, vegetables, and flowers I try to grow down to the soil level. I water only when needed and manually relocate the pillbugs on a regular basis, but this is something I've been facing continuously for the past year and a half. I wish I could freely use mulch on the soil surface, but for now, it only creates another breeding spot for the pillbugs. Has anyone also experienced this?
Pulling the roots of those plants out of your soil is your 1st mistake. Leave them to break down and nourish your soil over winter. Also if you do no til (which you absolutly should be) it leaves passageways for water air and the following seasons plant roots to access.
Best gardner in YT
Totally agree.
Nope
Charles Dowding all day long x
I do enjoy Bens enthusiasm though x
Your joy is so inspirational! Now, if you will excuse me, I’m gonna go make some compost
Here in the maritime Pacific Northwest (USA) I dump winter stall cleanings from chickens, goats, and the horse directly onto my veg beds--manure and wood shavings together with copious amounts of rain make beautiful soil by springtime. This method absolutely wouldn't work in a dry climate, but we average 40+ inches of precipitation each year, so the manure breaks down really fast. I toss piles of fallen leaves into the chicken pen to give the hens entertainment and food (bugs); they scratch the leaves apart in a week or two which results in a beautiful addition to the garden. Our native soil is glacier till/gravel, so adding huge amounts of organic manure is essential.
I love making compost, since I started making it a couple of years ago it’s become almost as exciting as growing the vegetables! I’m very lucky to know a lady who has a horse and is willing to give me manure as long as I bag it up myself, my son is a tree surgeon so I get wood chips too. Along with foraged leaves, grass clippings, nettles, comfrey and veg waste I get everything I need to make most of my own compost. Thanks for your tips Ben.
You are so right--some things just please us. And building healthy soil is definitely one of them!
Here in Nova Scotia we get a LOT of wind in winter so I have to grind up my leaves with a rear bagger mower. The smaller pieces compact much better and stay in place on my garden beds. Whole leaves would just blow away into the woods.
Whole oak leaves will take years to break down.
Me too! Hi from NS.
Same here, couldn't have said it better. I've added a tarp or made the pile thicker so it'll hopefully hold
I also love to make compost and use it together with leaves 🍂🍁🍂 in my garden.
Thankyou Ben for cheering up this stormy day, great advice lovely to see rosie and robin xx
Good solid advice, delivered with infectious enthusiasm! Great stuff.
if you have access to manure but it is very fresh, make a deep raised bed with just manure and leave it until spring. Put a bag of compost on the top, just in the middle and plant an Atlantic Giant or cwt pumpkin in the compost. you will be rewarded with a show stopper. Next winter you will be able to dig out the manure which will be a fantastic soil conditioner.
I absolutely love Robins and Wrens
God bless you, Ben, you are a gem!!💎
Another great video, thanks Ben!
Great stuff Ben. Just what I needed to get me going for next season!
I like spent Mushroom Compost, always had good results with it
New favourite phrase: "to zhuzh something up" 😅
...and useful information that woodash is good for my vegetables.
Yeah, its below zero and snow here, so not possible to spread any compost at the moment. But next year....
Thank you. I added manure; worked it in then layers of cardboard on top.
Manure and woodash are on the alkaline side and are good if you want to raise soil pH
Great video i will start this on Monday keep up the good work top man and top gardening.
My neighbour had a visit from the foxs who jumped around in the pile of leaves, they were really enjoying themselves. Lying in it to.
Thanks for the tips appreciate it
Thanks so much! I learned so much this year thanks to your videos! :D
Do you have a new doggy? 🐶
Cute 🥰
I’ve been collecting leaves from all over. I don’t have any grass to mix them. I use the leaves for top dressing and buried some with food scraps in the garden.
Happy soil makes happy plants. Enjoy your off-season!
Definitely the best gardening channel like gardeners world but for UA-cam
Practical, Thank you
Your all videos have something to learn new... I enjoy these videos from Bangladesh ❤...
Carry on, dear bro.
Thank you so much, the "ggoooosh it up" brought back wonderful memories of my British son-in-law. I was very fond of him, unfortunately my daughter wasn't.
One thing to add. Cut those crops off at the soil level and leave the roots in the ground to decompose. You won't lose the soil surrounding the rootball and you leave some snacks for the worms. In the spring you can easily remove any stems that didn't decompose.
Great video! Thank you so much!
Another great video. Thank you! 👍🙂
Charles Dowding puts a layer of well rotted compost on his No dig beds annually with great results but with permaculture guru Hugh Richards in his latest video said he isn’t going to mulch his beds in the autumn due to having a lot of rain over recent winters which is understandable as the nutrients may leach out. On my allotments, I tend to put the home made
compost directly into the planting hole where the roots can take them up easily and I sometimes chop up rhubarb leaves for brassicas (old wives tale to prevent club root) and comfrey leaves for fruiting plants such as tomatoes and beans, seems to work well.
Thanks for the information
I dump all of my potting soil into a pile nd add fall leaves nd pine needles nd hose it down. I would add grass clippings but not much grass growing rn. Come spring ima add peat moss nd perlite.
I have been going more or less what you do for many years. I never give my leaves to the city and I even accept deliveries from friends and neighbors
As a new veg grower I am finding your channel really helpful. Just planted garlic and shallots. Please could you advise me if I can use the sawdust from my husbands hobby wood turning? I have been layering up Green waste, vegetable and fruit peelings which the mice are eating unfortunately and then the waste from the logs my husband uses.
Oh heck yeah this is Great information and teaching and reminder. 😊❤ Thank you Brother for sharing and teaching us all ❤😊
Thank you Mr Ben : )
I love your English Robins and Hedgehogs!
I get my wood chips free from the local electric company when they clean under the power lines every few years. They always have many loads to get rid of. You can check with your local power company and see if they have them, and maybe they will give customers some of them. I use my leaves for mulch and add to my compost also.
Cmooon Make a LIVESTREAM , push your " Performance " Skills to the limit , You can Answer Questions REAL TIME ❤
I'm a serious believer in compost but will also use something like Growmore or nitrogen fertiliser when soil tests suggest the need.
Heck, a 20kg bag is less than £20 & at 40g/m² that's a 7 year supply if I apply it over all 76m² of my beds & in reality it's half that area.
I make roughly 3m³ of compost a year but have found tomatoes, potatoes & brassicas all do better with that boost when they're growing strongest.
I use wood chips on the 40cm paths between my beds & they get about 5cm annually, which has pretty much disappeared in 12 months.
I'll have at least a year's supply next week, as yesterday's storm dropped half a 60' cypress on mine & my neighbour's garages.
Time to get out the chainsaw & chipper/shredder (handles stuff up to 4cm)...
Thank you so much for your expertise and knowledge that you're sharing with us novice gardeners. I can't begin to describe how appreciative I am for your channel
I have several questions first of all where do you live, what growing zone are you located in?
How do you know if the manure in big box stores is safe to use in your garden since I live in a suburb outside a big city
Many of the stores here sell composted manure that's what it's labeled so I'm wondering if that's safe to use to make richer compost?
Another question is that I'd like to know what wood chips are safe if you have to buy them? They sell many different varieties in my area such as cedar, black colored wood chips red colored wood chips and raw wood chips which are very big pieces of what looks like raw wood.
I would be immensely thankful for any suggestions you can give me and I look forward to your next video
Many wood chips for sale are contaminated with other things, including plastics, & are not well regulated.
For wood chips, the safest is getting straight from the arborists. In many countries there are websites/apps that link you for free with arborists who can deliver freshly made wood chips shredded after they’ve pruned trees. Or local councils may have a pile of fresh wood chips that can be collected from.
For manure, if you search online you might find free, pure manure. Often riding schools or horse agistments give away their manure. You can also call them.
I used to get Alfalfa hay from a feed store. One year I went to get some hay. The man said, "you are going to like this, it's weed free.". I wasn't thinking. I took it home and spread it out. I tried to plant watermelon. Nothing sprouted. So I tried a different packet of seeds. Again, nothing sprouted. That's when I realized this hay had been sprayed. 🤮🤮. I went to a different store. I asked if their hay had been sprayed. They didn't know. That was the last time I used Alfalfa hay.
Now I plant a cover crop of clover. It is hard to find organic products. Especially mulch or compost. Be very careful to avoid conventional raised products.
If your lucky enough to have a fireplace, use your wood ash and save those egg shells and coffee grinds.
Your videos are so incredible and lively that if you lived in a concrete 3rd floor flat you'd want to dig up the sitting room and plant some tatties and carrots lol. Fantastic video, iv only got some buckets due to the fact of im in disabeld but i love what i manage 😀👍
Rain rain and rain. The soil will be drained before starting the new season.
You didn't mention leaf mould. Do you not make it - if not, why not?
I have a large wire mesh container of year-old leaf mould, and would love advice on how to use it!
Your cinematography keeps improving. These videos have gotten more pleasant to look at over the years. Do you have a drone mounted camera that you use for the overhead shots?
How do you keep bugs from eating your kale?
Netting 😊
I do agree about your additives, but after a year when every green thing the stuck it head up get chomped off by the massive numbers of slugs and snails…….will not the leaves spread on the bed, rather than piled up then used when broken down, simply provide a happy home for the dreaded sliders?
Where did U buy your wood chip from?
Wish I could use my leaves, but I have a lot of black walnut trees and my maple has black spot..These two would cause an issue wouldn't they?
now if only i had all the organic mater round my garden to use lol best i got it sticks lots and lots of sticks
Hi. Are we going to receive the actual book when we subscribe to the newsletter? Thanks for your great videos.
Is there any leaves you wouldn't use
💚
Its funny how you use your bare hands to handle the manure, but then you put on gloves to handle the home made compost.
😂 I didn't that with the gloves 🤣
He probably sniffs it too when the cameras aren't running
@@46FreddieMercury91😂😂
The manure has broken down.
@@46FreddieMercury91if you don't sniff your compost, how can you tell it's good?
When I add any mulch on top of my pots, I get a proliferation of pill bugs that cover the surface of the soil when I lift up the mulch. By spring, and for the rest of the growing season, when I want to plant seeds or seedlings , their voracious appetite and numbers eat at least 2/3rds of the various types of herbs, vegetables, and flowers I try to grow down to the soil level. I water only when needed and manually relocate the pillbugs on a regular basis, but this is something I've been facing continuously for the past year and a half. I wish I could freely use mulch on the soil surface, but for now, it only creates another breeding spot for the pillbugs. Has anyone also experienced this?
Have you ever seen a leaf which has been decompossing and ends up looking like a cobweb.
I may have killed our little cherry tree with too much fresh chicken manure last spring.
Pulling the roots of those plants out of your soil is your 1st mistake. Leave them to break down and nourish your soil over winter. Also if you do no til (which you absolutly should be) it leaves passageways for water air and the following seasons plant roots to access.