I love no till gardening. You wouldn't believe the looks I get when I tell people that I don't till my garden. So many people believe that you must till very year. I had little success before I started doing this, the weeds would always overrun my garden... Not anymore. So much easier.
"No dig" is definitely the way to go; less effort, fewer weeds & significantly increased yields. I've a small area (10'x40') in which I grow vegetables & over the 4 years since I stopped digging over every year, I've gone from harvesting around 250lbs a year to more than 700lbs. Weeding has become minimal, at leat partly due to the 1" or so of compost placed on the beds every November & a similar amount of year old, shredded prunings, twigs & branches. I am adding more compost than I was but at the same time have reduced the use of 10:10:10 fertiliser to near zero.
Greg Auton was spot on having you on his podcast. I have watched many many of your videos, now my question is do you grow carrots if so, do you sow then cover with straw,hay, or nothing. Thank you.
I grow carrots. I usually cover them with nothing, but water a bit almost every day. I also like covering seeds with sand instead of soil - germination is much better.
It sounds reasonable. Our problem is to get the saw without pestisides. We are in Toronto, Steel & Dufferin. Unfortunately we got some serious health problems, me and my husband. At the moment we can not drive far. Any suggestions on the saw mulch with delivery
Oh, and I forgot to mention harvesting sunchokes. I have to shovel up the whole bed to even find the chokes. Afterwards I mix in compost and cover with mulch - I just can't think of a better way to save the soil. What are your suggestions for that?
How do you keep from destroying soil aggregates when harvesting deep root veggies like parsnips? Some of mine were 52cm, and I had to dig around mine to get them out without breaking them. I filled the holes with compost, at least. But do you have a better suggestion to keep the aggregation intact?
Thanks so much, Robert. Great info. In Video 4, you show someone digging a bed with a shovel. I understand this harms the soil structure, but how do you work in a lot of needed organic matter into clayey soil UNLESS you dig as shown?
I tried container and tiny raised bed gardening this year and it was a total loss. I'm in Oklahoma, it was a very windy and very hot summer. My dogs picked and ate/played with the 12 cherry tomatoes and 4 baby eggplants I managed to produce. I'm still trying with the containers with winter vegetables but I know that soil is all compacted. My questions are: How do I take the MASSIVE amount of "Raised Bed Soil" by miracle gro, which is very dense and has a lot of large pieces and is compacting all over the place into a medium that actually works for containers? And, I am 100% sure it's compacted red clay beneath my bermuda grass (because I dug into the ground for my 2'X4' raised bed and worked material into it. I'm worried that just killing the grass and putting the other stuff on top of it will just stop roots when it hits the clay. How do I fix the soil that I have without shelling out a ton of money and is compacted red clay going to stop my vegetables from growing (which happened in the containers)? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Very interesting as always. Thanks a lot
Thank you Robert. I am on my 4th year no-till and I noticed the plants are really starting to grow and produce
I love no till gardening. You wouldn't believe the looks I get when I tell people that I don't till my garden. So many people believe that you must till very year. I had little success before I started doing this, the weeds would always overrun my garden... Not anymore. So much easier.
"No dig" is definitely the way to go; less effort, fewer weeds & significantly increased yields.
I've a small area (10'x40') in which I grow vegetables & over the 4 years since I stopped digging over every year, I've gone from harvesting around 250lbs a year to more than 700lbs. Weeding has become minimal, at leat partly due to the 1" or so of compost placed on the beds every November & a similar amount of year old, shredded prunings, twigs & branches.
I am adding more compost than I was but at the same time have reduced the use of 10:10:10 fertiliser to near zero.
Great information, thank you 💚🙃
Great information. The ratio for minutes watched and information is fantastic!
Greg Auton was spot on having you on his podcast. I have watched many many of your videos, now my question is do you grow carrots if so, do you sow then cover with straw,hay, or nothing. Thank you.
I grow carrots. I usually cover them with nothing, but water a bit almost every day. I also like covering seeds with sand instead of soil - germination is much better.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Thank you... Awesome Man...
You just added lots of compost to my mind and it will help grow better the green ..... thanks for sharing ...
It sounds reasonable. Our problem is to get the saw without pestisides. We are in Toronto, Steel & Dufferin. Unfortunately we got some serious health problems, me and my husband. At the moment we can not drive far. Any suggestions on the saw mulch with delivery
Oh, and I forgot to mention harvesting sunchokes. I have to shovel up the whole bed to even find the chokes. Afterwards I mix in compost and cover with mulch - I just can't think of a better way to save the soil. What are your suggestions for that?
Thank you!
I would love to visit your garden one day and go on a tour! Do you offer this type of service?
I will be having an open house on the first Saturday of every month this summer. starting in May.
How do you keep from destroying soil aggregates when harvesting deep root veggies like parsnips? Some of mine were 52cm, and I had to dig around mine to get them out without breaking them. I filled the holes with compost, at least. But do you have a better suggestion to keep the aggregation intact?
You just do the best you can. In a veg garden there is always some harm to soil.
Thanks so much, Robert. Great info. In Video 4, you show someone digging a bed with a shovel. I understand this harms the soil structure, but how do you work in a lot of needed organic matter into clayey soil UNLESS you dig as shown?
Dig it in the first year when you make a new bed. After that just lay it on top as mulch. Nature will do the rest.
I tried container and tiny raised bed gardening this year and it was a total loss. I'm in Oklahoma, it was a very windy and very hot summer. My dogs picked and ate/played with the 12 cherry tomatoes and 4 baby eggplants I managed to produce. I'm still trying with the containers with winter vegetables but I know that soil is all compacted. My questions are: How do I take the MASSIVE amount of "Raised Bed Soil" by miracle gro, which is very dense and has a lot of large pieces and is compacting all over the place into a medium that actually works for containers? And, I am 100% sure it's compacted red clay beneath my bermuda grass (because I dug into the ground for my 2'X4' raised bed and worked material into it. I'm worried that just killing the grass and putting the other stuff on top of it will just stop roots when it hits the clay. How do I fix the soil that I have without shelling out a ton of money and is compacted red clay going to stop my vegetables from growing (which happened in the containers)? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Use a combination of garden soil and soilless mix in the containers. I'd use something like Pro-Mix.
ua-cam.com/video/v46TEhIJHlU/v-deo.html
6:55 and that’s how you leech bs into your food and why you should do things your way
👍👍👍👍👍
tilling actually brings up weed seeds...blessings