Back to Eden Organic Gardening 101 Method with Wood Chips VS Leaves Composting Garden Series # 8
Вставка
- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- 2nd FAIL-Find out WHY? This is Part 8 of 12 Part Series that will help you understand the PRO'S & CON'S of Back to Eden organic deep mulch gardening 101 method with wood chips to composting just Fall leaves. Great start for beginners Tour our secrets for organic soil & growing gardening vegetables 101 documentary with pest control. Looking into soil food web & soil health in a no till organic garden. diy garden. Organic gardening and farming
I'm 79 years old and for five years I have been building a no work garden. I use a combination of logs on bottom then a lasagna of hay, fresh cut grass, leaves and wood chip mulch. I discovered leaves under wood chips works wonderfully. The year I tried it in a part of my garden I had okra and tomatillos 7 feet tall and very productive. I knew as I aged I would be less able to do the hard work of making a garden so now I'm at the point I can relax after two more loads of free wood chips from the city. Now, thanks to your very informative videos, I'm going to start cutting down weeds instead of pulling them up. And I've just planted some potatoes in a bunch of leaves. Thank you for all this useful information. It is very much appreciated! May God bless you and your family.
I realize this comment was left 5yrs ago, but thank you for confirming my suspicion! I am now planning on building my beds with leaves (hard to get) top dressed with chips (I have an abundance). The first of these will go directly on my weedy lawn this winter, with a mix of annual and perennial herbs and shrubs planted in the spring.
I've used fall leaves and my own grass clippings, going on 3 years now. It is wonderful. I live in zone 6B, southern Kentucky. My soil color, tilth have completely changed for the better. I have few weeds, rarely water and don't have to worry about fertilizing. I rotate the location of my plantings, though I don't think I really have to do this, but that's about all I do. My main work is during planting season and then harvesting season. That's all I do with an organic cover of about 8-10 inches deep.
Very nice to hear,, WOW. THANK YOU. And Yes, you do not have to rotate the crops any more.
This is an outstanding analysis. Local agricultural schools should take note of the kind of detailed and lengthy studies you do and the lengths you go to film, edit, study and explain.
I'm so lucky and blessed to have found your channel
Thanks for all the hard work
THANK FOR WATCHING. I just what to Know the truth about how thing work..
+I AM NJ ORGANIC:farm:garden Yes indeed. You have no idea how many of us are in the same boat but don't have the know how or the knowledge to do the what you do
I agree with Ed Allen totally! I just found this site and I believe I have become obsessed! It appears I have been doing it all wrong......
THANK YOU very much...
Judy, I agree with you totally. This has now become my default site for organic gardening information. Mark not only has a lot of knowledge, he also has the ability to explain it to others. His videos are the greatest!
We've been following you for a year. We now have a very nice food forest garden in our backyard. I just wanted to share that what you are doing with your garden is getting out there. In Southern Oregon I have a huge Ash and Maple tree so we don't bother to chop up the leaves, they disappear by the following spring. Because of you, we have rare butterflies and bumblebees in our back yard, wild kale, chard, and borage that comes back on it's own and so far, 15 varieties of birds. The neighbors had hawks nesting in their tree. We are also....in the middle of town....three blocks from the hospital. Thank you!
That is so great to hear about your garden. Sharing info is the Best thing about gardening , Plus the vegs. THANK YOU so very much.
Mark. I am so sorry for your loss. You have indeed been thrown some intense curve balls! It's apparent that you put your heart and soul into finding resolutions for the problems that come up. I am inspired by your persistence and your commitment to growing beyond organic as well as your commitment to raising your family on your own. I continue to be amazed by the quality of detailed information you share with the world through your YT channel! I look forward to watching more.
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. It would be nice if everyone had a garden, it would keep us down to earth...
I am so glad I watched this video until the end. What a poignant personal story. May you and your boys be always blessed.
I am blessed due to kind beautiful people like yourself. THANK YOU.
Hello Mark, I want to thank you for your videos, you explain things excellent.
My wife did our gardening for the last 15 years or so, the typical gardening till in the spring and fall. It was old cow pasture so we did good, for a average garden. My wife 2 years ago said she had enough she was not strong enough to garden anymore. I told her I would like to take over. I would like to experiment with the garden. Try things we’ve never done before. We still had success, but I was fed up with weeds and I put the wood chips in the rows this last summer. My son is a landscaper, excavator and gets all the city of Ludington‘s leaves dumped on his property for years. I seen how dark the compost was so I thought what the heck I’ll throw it on our garden. Both these methods were done last summer and fall. During the winter I have time on my hands and start watching videos. By accident, I came across Back to Eden Paul’s videos. His videos brought me to your videos. By accident I’m on track doing a Back to Eden method I am learning so much through your videos. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge to the public. God Bless
Thank you so much for this upload! In the first 15 minutes I wasn't sure where this vid was going to take us! And felt also a little negative! ( What i can Imagine) ! But the last 10 minutes It slowly changed and what a wonderful explanation! You really made this a wonderful (learning) documentaire! I also use the Garden Of Eden method this year for the first time, and have also more questions then answers! But I really Believe with the world today and the ammount of people , that This is the way to go not only for " small" farmers/people like say you and me, but also for really big farmers!
I'm really sorry for what happened to your family and I have great respect for you; the way you Handle the whole situation!
Thanks for the video
I am sure your son working outdoors with you gives him a lot of joy along with the sunshine, fresh air and exercise. He is very lucky.
Yes, thank you
Just a thought about the wood chips. I used wood chips along with leaves and grass clippings on my garden last year with fantastic success. However I only used about an inch of wood chips. This year I only used grass clippings and now last years wood chips are nearly gone. Also, you never want to work wood chips into the soil because they will suck the Nitrogen out of the soil as they decompose. If you leave them on the surface they will decompose apart from the soil and slowly drip a high nutrient compost tea into the soil.
Now my soil is very sandy so drainage is not a problem for me. Maybe for clay soils you should only add the wood chips an inch per year and layer it with leaves. That way the wood chips and leaves both hold moisture while the wood chips are not so thick they won't allow the soil to dry out a little. This method will build the soil cover slowly but after about four years you will have a very good cover that continuously sends compost tea into the soil.
It just takes awhile to build good soil.
Remember what Paul says about humble beginnings.
Good luck.
How tragic! So sorry to hear of your loss. I lost my father to cancer, and a good friend just got a stage 4 diagnosis. Food is our medicine and we need to do all that we can to bump up it's nutritional value. Life is short, health unappreciated (until it's lost). We all need to value both... a great deal more. So happy to see that you have found a way to be able to spend more time with you son, and quality time at that. Peace & Blessings. L.
Hi Mark I have watched this video again, I mentioned I have lots of leaves on my property the previous owner about 41 years ago grew many herbaceous on this land in leaf mulch. I always felt this sandy soil on a clay pan was never rich enough to growing vegetable. Last year I added about 6inches of wood chip to my veg patch and planted squash and kept watering them when I thought they were dry. Your experiment showed me my mistake. I will opt for the leaf mould as wood chip is very expensive in the UK. I also wish to point out Paul uses a mixture of wood ash from his wood burning stove, mixed with chicken manure and rotting vegetation all mixed in which he sieved and added to his kale, beet, cilantro, and cabbages, yes the base of his vegetable patch is years and years of rotted down wood chip. I have learned a lot from you thank you very much for taking the trouble to carry out such experiment brilliant thanks again.
I can’t tell you how much time and effort this video saved me in 2021. I would’ve drowned 40 pepper plants without this info.
VERY glad to hear this. THANK YOU for sharing. Happy New Gardening Year
Your gardening observation and analysis is satisfyingly detailed and your thoughtful consideration of your viewers continues to be truly inspiring.
All the very best to you and your sons - they are lucky to have you for a father.
That is very kind of you to say...THANK YOU.
I agree that the problem you are having with the wood chips is holding too much water. I'm in utah zone 4 desert area. The native soils here have only 2% - 3% OM. And we only get 11-12" natural rain fall per year. Here I recommend people add well rotted compost and till it in as deeply as possible. This is just a one time thing. Then don't use more than 4" of wood chip at a time. Straight wood chips in a tree orchard works great, but with ornamentals and vegetables, leafs and rotted chopped hay topped with 1/2" sized works best.
The other areas in your garden are fantastic. Your tomatoes and squash Great. And all organic? Wow! Thank you for sacrificing this one area so we can see what is going on. I believe this is where people are having problems and failing. Then they get discouraged and give up. Keep up the good work. God bless you and your family. I believe through Christ you and your wife can be together forever in the eternities.
I would enjoy finding a solution to help you.. First what is your soil like..? just sand, clay and sand and of what % each. And how well does it drain? AND THANK YOU for your kind blessings..My beautiful wife smiles down on us every day.
you know you're a horticulturr/agriculture freak when you watch videos just to see someone farming up north dig into their garden with a spade, just to remember what live healthy soil looks like. going from northwest Indiana back to the San Antonio area, boy how I miss the ease of just dropping a damn seed and watching it grow into a massive plant.
I can send you a jar if it if you wish..LOL Just keep adding coffee grounds
Mark, God Bless you. Thank you for doing these videos for us. You're a good person, a great dad, and a very knowledgeable farmer. Thank you.
THANK YOU..And THANKS for watching too.
This series has been brilliant. I love the way you explain things, thank you so much. In fact, all your videos have been so interesting.
I have a 20yr old orchard on a slope, and plan to use the wood chip/whole tree mulch. I also only have about 20 inch rainfall, and of the 20 years I've been here, there have been numerous years below 15 inches of rain. You have really helped to set up all the trouble shooting that will help this to be as successful as possible! (I would add, if I had leave mulch I would use it, but we really only have eucalypts here) I'm forever envious of your deciduous trees!
All the best to you and your family!
THANK YOU so very much. And Thanks for sharing.
God Bless you and your boys.
THEY SAY THANK YOU....
As a fellow father let me just say: Thank you for sharing, you're an asset to the planet.
THANK YOU, FOR YOUR VERY KIND WORDS...
Wow those roots in the Leafmold, I am well impressed. I have failed 2 years in the row with Back to Eden woodchips and will not try again and I'm on a slope so no real waterlogging. Time to give the Leafmold a try and confine the woodchips to the paths. Bless you for being a great Father, all credit to you.
THANK YOU, it will do just great with the leaf mod. Enjoy.
You can be proud to raise those two boys on your own! Thanks for the great video.
THANK YOU, The years have flown by as they say..MY BOYS are my best friends. We are a team.
The love of dad is beautiful... Thanks for sharing these information..
So nice of you to say. Thanks
Mark, thank you so much for this video. We live in Colorado, and you've helped us figure out what's been troubling our wood chip garden. We love your videos and are so touched by your story. You're an inspiration. Sending you and your boys all the best!
THANK YOU. YOU made my day much better...enjoy.
Appreciate your knowledge and experience and also I live in a very forested area and took a nature walk today and found leaf mold everywhere! It’s smells like the best rich organic soil that I have paid
$$$ for I am so excited. Perfect time to find your comparisons Bless you!
I found the best way to grow vegetables is in plain old home made compost...50/50 bacterial/fungal, cover crops and light mulches. Woodchips works better for perrenials that prefers a fungally dominated habitat.
Touching story at the end.
THANK YOU.Wish my wife was still here to see all for my sons..
Thank you for sharing it man...
God Bless you and your sons. Thanks for all you do. Great videos. We are blessed by your presence!
Your personal story regarding your son sounded so much like what happened to mine.. Keeping him physicaly active outdoors is great for him im sure! also calming. great detailed video on the ins and outs of woodchipping.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Please keep it up. And thank you for sharing your personal story too. You're a good man.
THANK YOU..
hi mark, just wanted to thank you for what you do, i now look at gardening a whole different way(thanks to you).have applied many of your techniques (with great success) also on a personal note you are one heck of a father, your boys are very lucky. thx WWW
THANK YOU for your kind words. Just kept at it and enjoyed being around my 2 sons when they were not in school.
Thank you for sharing your personal life. You are a good man, and I will keep you and your boys in my prayers.🙏 🤝
I THANK YOU in advance for you prayers..
When I had a BTE garden in Western Washington near Tacoma, we had the opposite problem. The topsoil was only a few inches thick with gritty sand and round rocks for several feet below that. Drainage was not a problem - retaining enough water through our dry summer months was. The woodchips made enough cover to retain the winter moisture and protect the soil through the summer. I visited Paul's garden and was blown away by the delicious produce and his generous spirit.
Likewise I am impressed with your thorough methodology and logical approach to finding the truth. I hear Elaine Ingham, Masanobu Fukuoka, Emilia Hazelip and others in your teaching. The idea that plants build soil is a Synergistic approach. Looking forward to finishing this series and seeing future updates. Blessings to you and your family.
THANK YOU.. I hope one day to visit Paul's garden. I am glad you got to see it and share. And many thanks to continue the series and you will see the very same point you express.. WOULD love to hear what you think at the end of the series. PLEASE write back. MY SONS and I THANK YOU for your blessings and the same you and yours ..
God bless you and your sons an thank you for the wonderful information in all your videos. Much appreciated.
Thank you kindly. Happy gardening.
Great grace to you and your boys. Our son is raising a 3 year old son and 7 month old son by himself now too.
Many Blessing.
This is such an amazing documentation! Thank you so much, Sir, for sharing your knowledge, research and analysis! This has been very educational!
Soil structure is critical to sucess of woodchip / back to Eden gardening. IThe soil need to be enriched with roots from weeds then the weed killed off by mowing etc.That is the best way of enriching the soil. My heart goes to you on your personal lfe hardship. May God bless you and your children.
I FULLY AGREE, and THANK YOU for your kind blessing too..
This video was very informative 👌 to me.
I have woodchips in my yard for a few years now. I was getting ready to reconstruct my yard to harvest the rain water. I am not sure if I should do that after watching 😅 your video. My yard is on a slight slope. Thank 😄you for sharing 🙏this wonderful video 🙏
Fantastic education for us rookie back to Eden starters. Appreciated.
We all have started that way.. I just learn from my mistakes. THANK YOU for your kind words and watching also.
I stumbled onto your channel just by luck and am so grateful that I did. All your explanations are detailed and make biological sense to me (e.g., "diversity" [vs monoculture] of planting sunflowers, strawberries, and tomatoes, etc together and next to each other creating mini "edge effect", etc. I wished I had discovered your channel earlier and the technique you used to build your raised beds using cattle panels, wire cloth and wood chips around the outside to better aerate roots in the centralized soil area where you plant. I know that would have saved me time, effort, and money. Your personal comments at the end touched my heart. I too am lucky like many others to have found your channel!
THANK YOU for your kind words.. Very glad that to hear that my videos help you to Enjoy gardening.
Thank you for sharing your personal story as well as the excellent studies you conduct to find effective methods of gardening. I agree with you about the woodchips vs leaf mold as well as the importance of mycorrhizal fungi.
I especially appreciate you asking questions and seeking solutions to problems, instead of relying on tradition and superstition as do both Gautschi and Salatin.
Hello, have you seen my video on Talking with Paul Gautschi....? Paul understands but can not explain it. THANKS
Mark thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge and wisdom as well as your personal story. All of your videos are an absolute treasure. I wish you success and peace.
THANK YOU and the same to you and your loved ones.
I have all sandy soil.
Wood chips work well for me to grow and build humid in the soil.
Thanks for the info.
I will add more sunflowers for cover crop. Love them.
Sounds great!
A neighbour friend of mine solved this issue by underground drainage system. He's heavy into the aquaponics but that is separate system. Very similar to septic drain field but oposite. The excess drains from the soil into the rock bed then into holes drilled on the sides of the pipe. I dont recall but think he employed a solar powered pump drain the collection tank. It was very nice of you to take time to explain the root cause was lack of roots. A strange sentance... I dont think I will be using wood chips now. I have been converting a big section of my front lawn (grass only) to a Ruth stout style garden. Interesting but an exercise in patients. I tilled the section of lawn which is not RS style but wanted to speed things up. After tilling I put a few bails of coastal hay bought from feed store, supposedly organic. Then I started reading about mulching and the Lasagna method (green, brown, green, brown, etc..) I found I had lots of old leaves, so I raked them up and covered the hay. I dont know if old brown leaves count as a green but this the point of where I am at now. Also forgot to mention I put some bags of cow manure with the tilled lawn. Any suggestions appreciated
You will find out all that mulch matter works wonders to cover your soil. ENJOY and THANK YOU for sharing.
Thank you for your time and effort to conduct these studies. I am a first year gardener here in GA and I used woodchips as mulch. I too want them to work but I see clearly what the problem is with the chips, my soil! We have hard clay soil and until that is worked loose my plants will struggle! Thank you! I will be composting with leaves next year
Glad to hear that is is helpful. Enjoy gardening.
God bless you and your son.
THANK YOU so very much. Many smiles from my sons too..
Thanks, very informative. I had the same issues this 1st yr back to eden garden. You just showed me everything that I saw and couldn't explain. Next year will be better!
THANK YOU so much for sharing your garden progress.
sometimes if you don't plant in the ground the plants will not do as well. planting directly into the wood chips will result in stunned growth. Thanks for you hard work.
THANK YOU for sharing this..
Wonderful video and analysis, thank you! I'm deeply touched by your love for your sons in such difficult circumstances.
I've learned so much from your experimental 'failures': know your soil and your drainage for a start, before launching into a popular approach.
One of my plots has quite good soil, the other is a disaster of pebbles and clay. I'll be thinking more closely about how to treat each after this. I can't plant trees there, but I've put in a few blackcurrant bushes on the 'good' plot, so I'll see what that does. I'm puzzling at the moment why my two identical beds of winter squash right next to other are faring so differently: one variety seems to like BtE, the other doesn't. Or just doesn't like my soil.
Ten thousand more videos like this please!
THANK YOU, I FULLY AGREE WITH YOU. You have to look are the soil first before applying the wood chips. or leaves. NOT just add them on top and all is done. You can us anything with a root all year long..like comfery , strawberries, your blackcurrant bushes. I think the next one is how to do a free soil test before covering with wood chips.
Great info once again Mark! I'm learning a lot. Would love to know your sons names. You're a great father to have raised a son to serve his country and another one to feed us. A big thanks to both of your sons!
Thanks for asking JOHN...oldest Matthew ...youngest.
I have tried the wood chips myself this year and my sqush are so huge a growing all over and looking better than the leaf mulch you showed. You might get that blue plastic away from your plants and that black paper so the plants can drain right. that might be your problem. We have had a lot of rain and is very hot this summer.
THANKS...
You are a great dad and a great organic gardener!
THANK YOU...so very much. And you have a great heart of joy.
Thank you! You have a great mind as well as a great heart! You are an inspiration to the world!
Grew Golden Squash in 1-1/2 month composted straw last year....the plants (2) where so vigorous and harvest was so bountiful...we were eating squash for 2 months, as much as we could, but had more than we could possibly eat, and gave many of them to neighbors. Will do same this year.
tannenbaum -- Could you please elaborate on how you made your straw compost, (as in what else you added to it) and how long you composted it?
Very detailed, I am also having difficulties. I found that not only was the soil staying wet, due to poor drainage and over watering, but our ph was at 5. Once we fixed the drainage and ph, the plants took off. Still not as good as we hoped, but better. We use a combo of chips and ground leaves.
That was a great start..You are on the right path.. You need to grow soil next. THANKS
Thank you for sharing your story. Blessings upon you and your boys. And thank you for helping me understand why I'm having problems with B2E method. This is first year I've used wood chips. Its been a learning experience though not successful as I hoped. I may continue a section of my garden with wood chips next year (with amendments) but also plan to use some of the methods you have demonstrated in your videos. You are not only knowledgeable but have the heart of a teacher (I borrowed that phrase). You are much appreciated.
THANK YOU for your kind blessings,. I think I can solve this problem for a lot of gardeners. I will be showing how in my next video after i check my facts twice. THANKS AGAIN. PS: my MOM was a teacher.
Interesting video and analysis of the situation. It's clear that your soil is very clayish and needs to be broken, even the healthy plants have long horizontal roots which can't go vertically, also, generally the micro nutrients are deeper in the soil. I'll see if you have an uptade on this plot.
I like all your experiments and trials, that's very interesting, and beautiful...
THANK YOU.. hope you found the other parts to this garden series..THANKS again..be well.
Thank you again for doing this, I saw the video before but this time I want to comment because you are a tremendous inspiration. God bless you and your family and the great work you do. Appreciated the clear explanations.
THANK YOU so very Much. Happy gardening.
LOVE your videos!
Back to Eden gardener myself since last year, but there's much more than only woodchips laying down.
Love to learn from you, thanks for all your work to make all those videos! :)
Keep up the good work!
I'm slowly working through your video. I so enjoy and appreciate your analysis. Thank you!
THANK YOU FOR YOU KIND WORDS...
I hope you can get some branch chips in your area and give this another go, I believe you will have much more success and some amazing food for you and your boys to enjoy. Good luck.
All work out fine. This is only part 8 in a series. Please watch the rest. I talk to Paul G. in the last video.
Thank you so much for these videos, which I just found! You have answered so many questions for me, and I can't wait to look at all of your videos and discover even more. You have obviously been through your share of heartache, and I hope things are going well for you and your sons now and into the future.
Thanks for the tips! May you be blessed with luck and happiness 🙂
THANK YOU for your kind blessing...
Bless your heart. You're videos are amazing and inspiring. Thank you SO much.
THANK YOU for your kind words and watching too..
Thank You for posting! I was deeply touched by your motivation. I will carefully consider before designing my own garden. Again THANK YOU for posting your AWESOME videos!!
THANK YOU FOR WATCHING...
Hi Mark great job! I have had great success with the squash in 1st year BTE in zone 6b. I don't believe I have received nearly as much rain as you've indicated receiving however they are planted in a flat area at the bottom of the hill. Hence water drains to the area where they are planted. A couple thoughts for you...reduce the thickness of the chips to allow for better evaporation and oxygen exchange as well as planting the squash on hills...your peppers have shown the benefit.
I have also noticed the contents of the chips does make a difference. Things I have covered with chips received in the winter are not doing as well. I believe it is because the chips didn;t have much leaf material and were more woody. Whereas summer chips have a higher leaf ratio which of course brings the nitrogen element as well as starts off the decomposition process faster. You can see the fungi in the pile (with high leaf content)in a matter of days.
Two questions I have. The leaf mold group has inter-plantings of sunflower and nitro fixer where as the BTE group didn't...were they not planted in the BTE or didn't grow? I would guess the nitro fixer would have a great bearing on the general health of their surroundings. It seems like you inferred squash bug problems in the BTE group but not the leaf mold? Potentially the sunflowers and flowers from the legume were beneficial attractors for parasitic wasps and such who kept the population to a minimum in that area? I have squash bug issues (kept under control manually) with very healthy plants....plants that have even overcome borer damage!
Hi Tony. Hope all is well. Glad to hear about your great success with the squash. I understand Paul says 4 inch. But that is only due to the fact it make it easy to rake back the chips to plant in the soil. He have 16 inch of wood chips in orchard where he plants vegetables. Drainage is very helpful. Yes, the peppers show that KEY. I have a foot of wood chips add a foot of soil/leaf mold on top of the hard ground soil and then cover with chips 2 inch thick. That is why my raise wood chip bed that is 2 feet tall is working so well. My chips this fall had more leaves and twigs then wood chips. YES, in you go back in the other videos you will see I planted winter rye, crimson clover, and sunflowers. Even added in pine trees and strawberries so the roots help support the mycorrhizal fungi. Just the sunflowers did not grow due to 5 groundhogs I have that ate them. OH and LOTS of field peas in with the potatoes. BUT FULLY AGREE WITH YOU THAT YOU ALWAYS NEED SOMETHING with a FLOWER to bring in the GOOD BUGS. But Paul says nothing about this. My next video will solve all these problems that I and a lot of other people are having the first year with BACK to EDEN gardening method. IT will work. THANKS for your suggestions..Blessing
I can't wait for the all revealing next video Mark!
I think Paul doesn't talk about IPM and bugs because he claims the general health of the plants is the deterrent to bugs...he says there is such a high water content the bugs would drown if they bit into the plant lol.
God bless you and your boys! You accomplish so much! I stand in awe of you!!
THANK YOU for thinking about my sons.. Many Blessing to your family and friends..
Mark, thank you so much for doing this experiment and teaching the science behind these techniques. This winter, when you 'don't have anything else to do,' will you be writing a how-to book? If you do, I sure would like to read it!
SORRY. I donate my time in the winter at my son's special ed school. He is Autistic..THANKS for asking
I'm learning so much from you! You explain things so clearly & you have depth and integrity in your study.
THANK YOU so much..that is very kind of you to say.. If you have any question, PLEASE do not hesitate to ask..
I love how you point out what the insect is and what it does to the leaf... all I ever call them are spots. Very educational to watch you show what the insect does!! Thank you!!
I'm so touched my your personal story
Thanks. miss her everyday...
God bless you.
That was great information. I think I'll use leaves in my beds and wood chips in the walkways.
Glad it was help full to you. Enjoy & Thank You.
I'm not sure if this has been brought up or not but in the documentary the couple put newspaper, compost, fall leaves, then wood chips. With you having an abundance of both fall leaves and wood chips. Try a smaller plot with the wood chips on top of the fall leaves and see if you have better luck, minus the newspaper since your plots are clearly already established. I'm doing four 4x8 raised beds this year with the back to eden concept. The area my garden is in is a low spot in our yard but with the most sun. I decided raised beds would be better since they dry out faster than your normal in ground garden. However I still plan to use the newspaper to kill the grass, compost, my leaves fall leaves from the yard I've been saving, then wood chips.
Hello, Thank YOU for your information. The video you watch is only part 8 of a 12 part series. If you have some time please watch the rest...Back to Eden method has to do very little about wood chips more about mycorrhizal fungi and the soil food weed with a living root in the ground at all time,,just like Paul's garden...just giving you more information.THANKS again.
I laid down composted leaf material called Leafgro, tilled it in very well, then topped with another less composted leaf material which is mixed into the tilled soil when planting. This system has shown to be great here in my yard in Baltimore. Another system I am trying now is doing the same only topping everything with wood chips. I have planted mostly flowers, but even the flowers are doing quite well. The wood chip area doesn't get additional irrigation. My garden areas without wood chips does get supplemental watering. We haven t had any decent rain in over a month. Our broad leaf trees are in severe stress now and losing leaves, which is a sure indication that watering is very necessary. THANKS FOR THE VIDEO!!!
If you are not familiar with leafgro, it is highly composted leaves that has been completely turned into a soil product...you can't even tell it was once leaves. The less composted leaf material I wrote about earlier is exactly like what you have used.
God bless you sir,
thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Glad to share and Help. THANKS
Hello. Maybe it’s the area you live. I live in North Buckinghamshire middle England and decided to try this method last October following reading several items on this type of growing. I can only say that my Potatoes were a very good success. I also tried growing Cabbage and Turnips, again both doing extremely well. I am having insect problems attacking the leaves of my Turnips, and seem to have an Ant problem. Apart from that I am happy. Oh and my Butternut Squash is rampant.
Thanks for the info! I love Back to Eden also.
Yeah, I think you have too have some inorganic matter in there. I dug a new bed and sifted rocks out then added almost finished compost with the native soil witch contained a lot of silt. I did it this spring and planted squash with some great success. Giant dark green plants with probably almost 20 fruit on it. Did have a couple get blight thought I think it was the rain. I did use a little organic fert though. Love your videos. Cheers
Outstanding comparison! I am changing what I am planning for certain now.
Glad it was helpful!
Good process of discovery to identify your growth issues. I've done some reading about the types of soils different plants prefer. Woody plants like to grow in fungally dominated soils while vegetables grow best in bacterial lay dominated soils. Woody soils are primarily fungal because only fungi can break down the cellulose. Leaf mold produces some fungus but also attracts worms that can digest the leaves. Worms excrete bacteria in their poop. Bacteria multiply quickly and the soils become bacterial lay dominated.
THANK YOU for sharing.. Most vegs like a balance between bacteria and fungi.. The best thing is the plant can control this by releasing sugars into the soil...
Thanks so much for the your thoughtful video and help with understanding the difference between the woodchips and leaves. I to had to raise two boys on my own after their mom passed away from cancer after Hurricane Katrina mold problem.
I just put in a layer of woodchips this pass week with a layer of leaves. I'm hoping that it works out. I'll find out more next spring.
VERY SORRY to hear. Fully understand.. Let me know how the chips and leaves work out PLEASE...
One my friend and a business partner encountered exactly same issue with his roses, propagated very well and then all of sudden start dying, upon inspection we found that it was hard clay underneath.
In my own small yard, I recently lay an additional inch or so of aged horse manure, I am going to add another inch or so and top dress with couple of inches of wood chips as my family will travel to USA in few days and I will travel to Asia for couple of weeks and like last year I don't have to worry about watering over the remaining summer months.
Taking your advice, I did grow sunflowers for early living roots, it seems to work really well, lots of life around it, asparagus and lupin will provide permanent fix.
THANKS for sharing... Wishing you and your family safe travel..
I had the same problem you had and fixed it in a new area by tilling the ground first by irrigating it first then applying the woodchips and that gave me a headstart until the woodchips fixed the soil. you cannot be anti tilling the soil because it works if you do it first.
fat jack I am trying something similar. My soil is so bad I had to till it once. I mixed in compost and organic matter when tilling. then I planted it out and put a thick layer of wood chips. it's a food forest so it has different needs but I think it's going to work. I planted a section of food forest last year without tilling and it is still not as good as I expected it to be. we will see next year when they have both been growing for a while. I don't think one till is necessarily a problem. especially if you've got really bad damaged soils like I have.
Thank you so much for posting this, such great information!
It was very hard to me to see.. BUT, BACK to EDEN does work..with a little help. THANKs for sharing.
The example Paul demonstrated was a plum tree .. I have Locust trees sending runners out much farther; they are the worst of my "weeds". I'm slowly replacing them with eleagnus multiflora, which will do the same job, and produce a crop as well. (Both locust and eleagnus supply nitrogen as well, bonus!)
Very Nice. Glad you wrote your experience with us. THANK YOU.
Mark,
This same situation is what I have been experiencing. I too put more than the recommended depth, I put 12 or more inches of wood chips. You are right about the soil. The deeper the chips the more the water problem. I am on my 4th growing season in some areas of my garden. There is a better percolation of water now and the produce is doing better. Paul specifically recommends green leaves in the chips and 4" or less. You are on to something with your video. Decomposition is key as well as absorption of water by roots, as well as too much oxygen in lesser decomposed chips. My squash is doing much better this year. One thing I have absolutely had great success with is perennials and wood chips. They don't need watering and you can use the chips at a greater depth. I did my landscape in front of my house, it is thriving. Planted it 2 years ago. No watering!!! I have also planted perennials in the back yard outside of the garden 2 apples, one apricot, one peach all dwarf and bare rooted. All are thriving with a wood chip ring around the trunk and no watering. There is a problem in this area with the Japanese beetle and they are working on my apples eating leaves. They were working on the apricot , but not so much on the peach. I sprayed with a soapy water solution on everything but it has not worked on the apples.
I don't want to ramble but I could say a lot. Maybe this is enough though. God bless you and your family.
Thanks
Steve
THANK YOU, for all the info. I am glad you wrote it all down for me..The roots in a way get air prune by the larger chips. I think I am going to try mixing the decompose leaves I have with new wood chips next year. 50/50 blend. Or put the leave on top on the chips. I do not think if is how much or how little the amount of chips. It is do to how much contact the roots have to both..THANKS
I also kind in mind always why things grow in all sand or all peat moss. It is due to drainage and air...
Mark I am the one whom shared about the two separate plots of potatoes fyi. both plots are wood chips. I have already harvested the potatoes I planted the way Paul recommends, plot 1, they were grocery store potatoes and died off nearly a month ago. The second plot is certified seed potatoes and were planted in the spring. this plot gets a bit more shade and I supplemented it with wood ashes. then I added compost layer then a grass layer and the plants are still semi thriving. Plot 1 I added one layer of compost then I considered not adding anything because the plants were dying off. I harvested inexactly about 10 pounds in plot 1 and will inform you about plot 2 when I harvest it.
YES. I remember, And I THANK YOU very much for sharing this all with me..LOOKING forward to the harvest in Plot #2.
Wow! This is great info. I’ve been trying to follow back to Eden and like his zucchini sample, mine were stunted. I tried growing cucumber & they were pestered by borers. I’ll try a different approach
thank you for enlightenment, I have been troubled with a very wet area that's hard as rock. this year we kept all our leaves and put them on this area. hopes for the best. bless you and yours. love your videos.
THANK YOU, for watching and glad to hear this might be of help to you...
Yet another outstanding video. In fact, this is exactly the info I was looking for. I have my first patch of garden, with inherited raised beds made out of 80%-90% clay, and they are just lifeless. Plants grow and are producing because we had to put a thick layer of compost on top before planting, but this is not a solution.
I want to create a soil food web, I want to mulch and not till.
So I need to decide what to do after the summer season is over. I think I'll go for leaf mulch on the raised bed, plant perennial plants (artichokes now in August) and probably a few others to have those root building mycorrhizae fungae. But I think this is not enough, so I'm considering sowing green manure in the mulch (i.e. mustard, clover, or something I can till manually and leave on the ground before the start of next spring/summer season. What do you think?
Again, many thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge!
I FULLY AGREE. I am researching easy good way and is low cost to build soil. The more thing you can mix together and plant as a cover crop the better it does.. THANKS FOR THE QUESTION..
Very moved by that ending, subscribed
THANK YOU for the sub and watching also. ENJOY
Hello Mark. Thanks for your videos; you put a lot of effort into them and are teaching many people. I wanted to mention to you that there have been several medical studies showing hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps children with autism a great deal. I recommend you look into it if you haven't already. It helps with a large variety of other things, too.
Thank YOU. I will look into it,, And have a fantastic - Happy New Year.
I always learn from your videos.I wanted to be sure to introduce Mycorrhizael fungi to my garden where I have been growing in leaf mold so I collected some nearby mushrooms and placed them under the leaf mold. The fungi began to grow where I placed it and I'm sure it has spread throughout my garden. Perhaps you can inoculate your wood chips with Mycorrhizae fungi to better utilize the wood chips.Thank you so much for sharing your life with us. May God richly bless you and your family.
THANK YOU...for your blessing.
Sending blessings to you and your sons. Thank you these amazing videos and for sharing your knowledge.
THANK YOU, that is very kind of you..my sons are very lucky to have nice people like you thinking about them..and many blessing to your loved ones.
Sending you and your sons love.
Sending it back to you with a BIG THANK YOU. Happy gardening.
Thank you, watching from the Philippines
Very NICE to meet you.
I believe Paul says don't put down more than 3 to 4 inches of wood chips. Perhaps that will be just right for allowing the soil to dry out. I have the opposite problem in California: It's so dry here, I need the wood chips to hold in the moisture! haha! Love your videos on this topic. Fascinating!
YES, he does say that. In my case even if I did that in still would drown due to the compact soil underneath. The only way to loosen it is roots from a large plant the can grow mycorrhizal fungi to build correct soil aggregates. THANK YOU so much for writing...
Wow! Touching story about your family. Can you show us more details about the raised bed wood chip technique you used to actually make the Back to Eden approach work for you? How much soil do you need for it? How deep should the soil be over which you put the wood chips?
GREAT IDEAL, I will try to take a picture of it and post it on goggle explaining it better in the next few weeks. THANK YOU
Back to eden requires about 3-5 years to work in my experience. Love your videos
I agree, but you can do it in two years by adding worm casting or grow a cover crop. Or like Paul keep a living root in the ground all year long ( like fruit tress, to grow mycorrhizal fungi all the time to build/grow soil. ) THANK YOU.
Great informational video! I was going to dump wood chips this year, but now I know there's much more to consider. Thanks for sharing this experience! 👍
Always my pleasure to share and learn from others. THANK YOU.
God Bless you brother! Thanks for the very informative video
My pleasure! THANK YOU.
Thank you for the wonderful teaching videos! I have enjoyed them. I hope all is well with you and your boys.
THANK YOU for your kind words. All is well. Have a fantastic gardening season forward.
Hi Mark, firstly thanks for your effort and time you spend into making these videos and conducting the experiment, they are very educational and informative. Very interested to see the progress.
Secondly I just wanted to mention i also started using back to eden/fall leaves method to my small urban polyculture garden. Preparing the beds last autumn by collecting leaves.
I've planted cucumbers at two different spaces in the garden/beds with big differences in results. One row was planted together with sunflowers(which are doing great) but the cucumbers arent doing too good( stunted growth, yellowing of the leaves,mildew and little production).
In another bed i planted cucumbers together with green beans. The cucumbers are just gone out of control here, very healthy looking plants, lots of new growth flowers, fruits every day.
I cant understand what was going on, why so much difference. This video makes me think it's because the 'good ones' are planted next to a 4 year old blackberry bush, which improved the soil quality, could that be it? I don't know if blackberries are a type of plant that 'makes soil'.
I also have another question if you would have the time. In couple of weeks i'm going to plant autumn and winter crops, what is best to be done with the summer crop plants to improve the soil? Cut them by the stems or pull out the roots? Also what about the ones that are less healthy(I have some tomato plants that are affected with blight)
Thanks again for your time Mark!
I was touched by the ending of the video, no words...
Big hugs from Southern Europe!
BOTH the sunflower and green beans form and share mycorrhizal fungi. But the green beans share it nitrogen that it makes with other plants ( MORE GREEN ) and the sunflower does not make nitrogen at all. JUST CUT all THE plants OFF the STEMS .And throw the unhealthy plants in the trash to take to the dump. NO NOT COMPOST THEM.
Thanks a lot for your advice Mark!
Is it ok to collect soil from the forest? I was interested to see how the soil was so i dug at a spot where there were lots of ferns growing and saw this composted matter, very light and full of white fungus, is this good fungus?
I also came across a dead tree where the inside was almost fully composted into this dark red soil, can i use this in my garden?
Thanks again and take care.
The fungi you might be seeing is called white rot.. This is a fungus that breaks the things down. Hard to say, but there is no bad fungi if everything is healthy and green nearby. Yes, the dead tree is fine. But, you only need a hand full of either one. TAKING MORE DOES NOT MAKE IT BETTER< IT HAS TO GROW ON ITS OWN..Thanks
Thank you for the video Mark, I have been trying to build up a permaculture garden in a 1/2 acre orchard and veg garden, I have read and watched everything from Paul G, Geoff Lawton, and our own Charles Dowding, etc.
They all steer away from monoculture and include deep rooted herbs, vegetables, trees and weeds, like the nettle and dock. My woodchips are in rows with grass paths between, and at certain times are covered in a huge selection of mushrooms and I mean thousands of fruiting bodies per m² .
The other two things you should consider is companion plants and perennial plants creating a food forest.
Happy New Year to you and your boys
I find all of your videos highly informational with tremendous insights and well thought out solutions. Looking forward to more of your videos.
THANK YOU, Trying to share what I understand...