Have 2a that was basically over grown parking lot. I cleaned it up, built my home and let natural growth cover it for 4 years. Mowed it down twice a year. Now I have a food forest growing. I don't fertilize I don't add much if any compost I just let nature repair. Now have 6-12in good soil.
This Back to Eden method is the best. My land was so hard 4 years ago that I could not use a tractor and auger to dig a hole. I had to add water to even start digging. It would not go deeper than a foot and just stopped. There was no life or worms in there. I watched the Back to Eden videos. I determined the boundary of my garden and started adding wood chips of all sizes and mulch, about a foot deep. Now the soil under the small amount of remaining mulch is rich and there are so many worms that my soft heart has trouble killing the many worms when I dig. Last year even, I grew a beautiful garden. I had a small row of squash that grew at least 300#, maybe more. I had lemon cucumbers, tomatoes of all kinds and beans. It grew beautiful flowers that bloomed and bloomed. This is the way to grow.
@@marcusnguyen3185 At year "0", we plant in the clay soil, under the 12 in. (30cm) of mulch. A year after that, the 12 in. (30cm) of mulch has decomposed and has mixed with the soil.
I was born and bred into the tree industry and owned my own company for some years aside from my father's. The chips were dumped over a banken close to a swamp where they maintained constant moisture. I eventually turned it into a garden and like this the growth was unreal. I eventually shoveled it out in grain bags when the property was sold years later. I now use it in containers and my beds. The water holding capacities are incredible while not becoming soggy and anaerobic. When it dries it doesn't become hydrophobic either. Stump grindings I used to remove from any lawn with good soil went into a separate pile and was ready much quicker. That was the gold of all, stump grindings. And they are always free since there is zero value as chip fuel.
The compost I always make smells like good rich earth. Nothing but grass clippings, kitchen scraps (majority), and leaves. Lots of paper products without ink, tape and glue. And anyone can do it and create good soil and keep kitchen scraps out of landfills.
Grass clippings are so underrated. Growing up we lived on an acre of steep hilly land but heaps of fruit trees, in between was just mowed grass at best once a month. Enough for two black composting bins full of grass, each month would end with the composting bin being half full. 1/4 dried clippings1/4 great compost... I'd get 20 litres of compost, each month, then sprinkle the last pound on top of the new clippings... monthly just creating soil on a steep hill.
Gentlemens, vous êtes mes idoles. Par votre expertise, votre originalité, votre érudition, votre expérience et surtout votre grande générosité dans la transmissions de vos connaissances, vous nous permettez de faire évoluer nos projets à vitesse grand V. Vous me faites sauver des années d'essais et surtout d'erreurs. Un grand merci. Simon D. Beauce
So inspiring! I love that the city granted them the land, and gives them their "waste" woodchips! And feeding the community! It's the circle of life. Love it!
I am so encouraged! Here, in eastern Tennessee, I live on a mountain of mostly shale, with an underlying grey clay layer, and below that bedrock. I'm working on taking out the large, diseased pine trees (to be used for making structures and firewood) and using goats to clear the brambles, weeds etc. Using round bales, they get hay and I get organic matter on the ground. I'm getting a lot of push-back from my family, but I'm already seeing amazing results!.
However it needs lots of water. You can use moringa, but the cold can kill it. Look at its astronomical growth rate. It would be good to have a greenhouse, and just constantly make saplings
Exactly the same. Super hard orange clay . I could jump on a shovel and it would fall right to the ground like I just hit concrete. 4 inches or more of woodchips turned it good.
ive had the same results here in northern Maine. given the better drainage clay is awesome. i plant my trees on cardboard on the grass. place the tree , stake, tamp soil around roots then mulch. no digging. after 3-4 years the mounds disappear, and the tree is established. ive planted dozens of trees like this. they grow great this way.
I did that to an area that was absolutely dead on one side of my property. There were worm castings on bare soil. The wood chips very slowly degraded and slowly it changed to being able to support weeds first, then slowly plants. It took five years on clay soil. I also added a little manure. I am in zone 5 and the dead spot was fully shaded so the progress was slow.
I have the same brick-grade clay on my property and I'm improving it the same way. Lots and lots of woodchips... mostly free of charge from tree surgeons, so they are made of small branches and often green leaves, the most nutrient ones. It takes time, but the result is granted. I found that a gooooood accelerator is having a worm farm and spread worms soon after laying down the chips.
This is amazing. I have heavy clay and with the raining season lasting 5 months last year in NS well,😳I can safely say, the frogs in my orchard loved it. I think I've found a solution, your timing is impeccable thank you.
@@StefanSobkowiak Stefan, thank you for spreading all your smart and accessible knowledge and experience, and also for being instrumental in building my trio- based orchard! 🌱I have heavy clay soil. Get truck loads of wood chips👍🏻 Can report, that on higher parts of the food forest, the new growth is incredible! My❓ question to you is, what to do with the trees already planted (2 year) and unfortunately standing in water... Lift them up somehow (❓ the technicality of it, is what I'm missing) and dig trenches around (started on that part already.
@@aleksandracybulska2740 Alek, I am not sure what scale your project is. My city yard is small. I have gone along bush and tree drip lines with a pitch fork. Merely stomping it in, wiggling it a bit extra while pulling it out, not turning the soil. Then I used the same technique to make lines radiating away from the plant, creating a kind of crack in the soil. Water flows toward the path of least resistance. This created a slow seeping situation. How and where I Did this definitely depended on existing drainage designs. p.s. The crack will attract every lose seed in the area, haha weeds and wonders abound.
I just planted my 1st 6 fruit trees ystrdy. 3 plums, 1 pear, 1 apple, 1 peach, 1 gojiberry, 2 aronia berries, 2 redrasberries, 3 rhubarbs,& 12 crowns asparugus to be planted. Desiring to plant 1 more apple& 1 more pear. Horseshoe shaped swale, apprx. 120 ft X 220 ft wide area, need to build 3 or 4 more swales within these dimensions. Have 45 blueberry cuttings set. My deer fence is up for top swale, evenually fence in complete area. This is just my start !
had a truck load of mulch dropped on my mom's yard, took it all to the backyard and made a garden area march 1st, tried to do 6 inches of wood chips throughout it, but, it is uneven ground and some spots got less, the areas with 6 inches had very little grass grow through, while the lower spots had a decent amount, i didn't bother with ripping up our lawn or putting cradboard or contractors paper down, i just went for it and wanted to see what will happen.i'm very excited to try to plant in it next year, maybe even start growing in it before winter. we live in sandy soil florida. if this works as good as many people have showed then i might just get more and expand on it.
The previous owner of my home put loads of gravel on the clay to walk on without slipping. I have been sifting it out. Wood chips work better to make non slip paths, and I can still get a shovel in at any time of year. Even if you do trip and fall, wood chipped pathways are the best place to land, and trees and shrubs can use the new soil beneath them.
Thanks for your post. I have done the same, I have pistachio trees and on the land I use wood chips for 2 years and now if a weed comes up all you have to do is pull the weed up with not problem roots and all. Thanks. I also use the weeds to federalize and I do not use any pesticides or chemicals and with the weed solution the branches grows 18 inches in a month. I live in southern New Mexico and the soil can be hard. Thanks and stay safe.
I have a brushpile of some neglected, unwanted, unloved city shade tree (it was just flytipped on me) in my front yard that is spuriously leafing out (brace for this one: it has no root system). I pitied the thing so I've tried to sink a trunk into the ground in my back yard. It isn't a fruiting tree so the only thing useful it'll produce if it lives is chips and leaves, but I'm excited to see where it goes.
Just subscribed! It took awhile but when I finally realized you were an advocate against the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals I was on board. I see it more and more, people are starting to realize how TOXIC these chemicals are to our body our plants and especially to the life in our soils. I went completely chemical free about 3 years ago. It's not always easy but I believe in the long run it'll be worth it. What really sold me to just stick with it is last year I finally got a few apples that had never been sprayed with any chemicals from my orchard. By far the sweetest and best tasting apples i ever had.
I’m right there with ya. I’m hopeful that this is a movement in the right direction and our most important job right now is spreading the word and getting our fruits and vegetables into the mouths of as many people as possible. We need to encourage as many people as possible to come to our land and let them see how it works and how simple it can be to grow healthy, super high quality food.
I have been growing fruit trees, berries, and vegetables for 16 years with two natural sprays- copper for the peach trees and Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew once in a while. Ironically, I am seeing that I dont really need it. I do use nematodes and mycelium on my very small property so I do not have to put flea drops on my cats... The crazy thing is that it is so easy. We have been sold a lie that we need all variety of these chemicals.
Bonjour! ça fait un bout de temps que je te suis Stefan. Depuis que Justin R est allé chez toi et puis je t'ai vu relier avec Verge Permaculture aussi. Super! Une autre ferme à visiter au Québec la prochaine fois que je descendrai le fleuve. Je suis en amont au Nord de T.O. Continue le super travail de nous éduquer. Merci milles fois!
I can testify that tree bark works my ground is full of arsenic tailings, can’t stop things growing this was 5 years ago never feed the ground just every 2 years put more bark on the top let the weather do the rest.
Where I live we've got a forest behind our house that's got some crazy fungus and such in it. We have wood break down, like logs from a fallen tree, that are gone in five years. (And, yes, it makes it so stuff we build back there doesn't last too.) It's great stuff though!
Maybe you could use something on the wood you use to build stuff "back there." I am not experience at this, so I might have missed something but... How about using a (home-made?) creosote on the wood a good amount of time before you build with it? If you treat the wood some time before using it, everything will soak into the wood and not "contaminate" the forest area. Home-made creosote is not good for nature if carelessly poured out onto the ground, obviously, but if applied to wood some time ahead of time, there'll be no "leakage" into the ground. Here's the part that may put you off the idea. Home-made creosote can be made from 50/50 used engine oil and kerosene (US) or paraffin oil (UK). Again, you treat the wood ahead of time (months ahead if you can) then use it in its dried state to build what you want.
Thank you very much Stefan 4 this vid! It makes soOOooo much 'sense'. I always reason that the Good Lord loves the 'poor' and for that reason, anything we need to do to provide for ourselves should be very inexpensive to the point of FREE...as your friend here shares. SIMPLE SIMPLE S I M P L E is 'always' the way to go. Just hearing the truth behind 'compost' is a wonderful truth shared. And look how just a small area of land becomes 'overly sufficient' for a family. Too much without aid becomes a burden and waste. I was thinking of how wonderful this concept was and thought of how it was like a mini 'Paradise" to have and then...your friend even said the word himself, towards the end of the vid. Your exuberance at such a 'find' reveals the great inner desire you have for us all to get back on the land and live with common sense and reason. It will come Stefan...hearts are aligning to this desire...for it is 'His' for us. I thank you for doing 'your part' in educating us. Health and Blessings!
A great many poor soils are underestimated in their capabilities for perennial and even judicious (that is to say, be very careful! ploughing should not be needed) annual cropping. Thin or erodible soils were, in Rome, after being worn out on ploughing and grain, planted to grapes and/or olives, which were then highly productive both in terms of calories and economically (producing luxuries Rome needed to trade for her grain), as well as saving the severe erosion that came with cropping grain on a hill. It seems like Richard is combining that with deep wood-chip mulching to actually rebuild the soil - which I think is a great trick. I've heard some call it "back to Eden" - I suppose I should look into that?
I think the 2 key fixes here was to decompress the clay soil (raising it up) then covering it to keep sun and heat off and keep high humidity within. Also all the minerals to make a tree are in the wood chipping in addition to food for microbiology especially fungus. Great job.
Good vid:] I miss my clay garden it really needed no water or minerals. I added chips in it about 3 years in a row then stopped due to wanting bacteria based soil not fungal and it worked great. Now I have sand soil and tried leaves instead to mulch because it was free:] Leaves worked even better layered with grass clippings it just broke down way faster plus and minus if you do not want to mulch again that year.
I live in Sweden on clay soil, my neighbor planted around 10 fruit trees maybe 1-2 years ago, she dug holes, and filled them with good soil, you guess what happened, they drowned, because the water collected in those holes and couldn't go anywhere because the clay around it, and the tree roots where always wet. I'm making a food forest, had another neigbor help dig a swale, now we need to get/make a lot of woodchips, people told us woodchips are very hard to get here, and expensive, because they use that material to burn for energy/heat here, big sad. We do have our own woodchipper, and our neighbor has a tracktor with a big woodchipper, and we have some forest, so we should be able to make our own woodchips, but it will take a while to get a good amount.
When you plant next time, dig a hole around 3 feet fill it with good soil (sand/compost/VAM/Viride) slightly above the ground. Plant your fruit tree just covering the ground (shallow, maybe 1/2 feet or less). If you do this way, the plant's survival rate will be much higher (native species will have a better survival rate). From time to time, add some gypsum to loosen the soil around. This should work for clay or water-logged soils.
@@wealthInfinity1It was my neigbor that planted those trees, on her own land, wasn't me, I know how to do it properly. I have a swale with a birm were my trees will be planted, so they will be above water level. Thanks for the tips though. I will be using a lot of woodchip for organic matter, this will help with the consistency of the clay soil.
@Ni-dk7ni yes, that what I meant when I said 'above the ground' but also note mount alone will not help the trees in long term if there is water logging around the mount as trees root will venture into this area and eventually die out. It's critical you keep adding gypsum or wood chips to change the condition of the soil
Damn, I live in a place where my trees grow so much every year I need to cut them back so I use all the branches for my garden and landscaping is really big here so I can just call up people to drop off grass and especially wood chips from their jobs they otherwise pay to dump. Three years ago we got 4 dump trucks of it for free and 5his year we can finally call them up for another round.
Haha maybe but he was so excited to show us everything when we went to go and film. Honestly the video doesn’t do the property justice it’s amazing what they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time :)
I'm surprized to be very honest with you. Our soil is extremely productive when organic matter is added (on top), and when properly drained... especially for berries.
I'd kill for soil like that. We're in Co.Leitrim, Ireland where we moved two years ago. We have between one and two inches of topsoil. Underneath is the heaviest possible clay, known locally as 'blue daub'. Under that is shale. Rainfall is insane (it rained virtually nonstop for nine months last year) and natural drainage is virtually non-existent. We're building soil with the help of our goats and sheep, and, in the meantime, are growing vegetables in no dig raised beds. Over 400 trees have been planted with more planned, and a food forest is in the works. We're catching rainfall and diverting it into a duck pond. You can work with poor soil but it's not the easy option!
Thanks, fellas. The part that surprises me is the fact that you do not mix the wood-chips into the clay, but rather that you merely leave it on top, unless I am mistaken.
I have been gardening in San Antonio for about 10 years now, and we've converted much of our lot from heavy clay to clay loam, but it hasn't been cheap, nor easy. It could be the lack of rain, or the expense of having to puchase bags and bags of wood chips. Whoever buys the house after us will inherit great soil. I also have about 8-12 inches of soil, then solid chalk/limestone.
Has he ever topped the wood chips with some chicken or cow manure? Would that speed it up some? Also, doe his wood chips have any leaves or green matter in it? Would making rounded islands of chips help move the water around??
I love permaculture and turning useless property into a valuable food sanctuary for the community. Rashad should make a small fruit and vegetable stand at the front of the property. Have someone man the stand, and do a Pick and Pay where people can come in pick what they want and then pay at the stand. The money made with selling the fruit and vegetables at the stand could pay for someone to be paid to work the stand. As a kid I help my grandfather grow a big Garden in the back of his property and I would sell vegetables and fruit along the roadside. It was a very lucrative job for a young kid. Kris
I think of the wood chips as a liquid: small fibers are continuously breaking down and flowing off the chips, falling down to meet the earth and being digested. Meanwhile, the largest wood chips float on top of the smaller particles beneath them. On the surface, it may look like nothing is happening, but the flow is happening continuously in slow motion. Any time I have larger chips (chippers vary) I may sift out the large chunks to use in pathways, letting foot traffic break them down. In my area where rain is seasonal and not reliable, I do need to irrigate with special attention to getting water beneath the wood layer, especially if the chips have been baked dry on top.
I have thought about using woodchips but I live in the Southeastern part of the US where it's hot & humid. I'm concerned that I would end up with a lot of termites that will eat everything else including my pole barn.
Thank you Eden for your work. However, we have known for about 70 years that by introducing organic substance into highly sandy, or highly silty, or highly clayey soil, the macrostructure of the soil improved, improving workability, the ability to retain water, decreasing root asphyxiation phenomena (clayey soils). The technique is actually as ancient as the discovery of agriculture as the manure straw acted in structuring the soil. I recommend 2 things; 1 DO NOT BELIEVE THE 'TECHNICIANS' WHO ARE NOT INDEPENDENT, WHO EARN FROM THE SALE OF MINERAL FERTILIZERS OR PLANT PRODUCTS (fertilizers and pesticides are useful tools like a knife, you can have an excellent result without polluting anything or harming yourself or others ). 2 STUDY EITHER ALONE OR THROUGH A COURSE NOT FUNDED BY COMPANIES THAT SELL FERTILIZERS AND PLANT PRODUCTS AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND MANY TRUTHS.
@@OublietteTight Unlike epsense clay, Styrofoam does not have the same properties and degrades over centuries. Styrofoam contributes to the pollution of microplastics due to degradation, as well as being a waste as it is almost always recyclable.
@@OublietteTight Maybe I wrote it wrong, or I understood it wrong, I'm not a native English speaker. I was talking about this product that is used to put in flower or fruit pots, in contrast to polystyrene which is not a good product to put in the ground. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanded_clay_aggregate
In my opinion the essential ingredient is dependable rain. Without water from the sky, no matter the good practices beeing employed, things go slow. They evolve but not at astonishing rates. I'm talking from experience - 320 liter water per year. I noticed richard observing at one moment it didn't rain for 3 weeks. Well, for some (me included) that's no biggy. Buttom line is whatever you do, without water soil life just stops. Tap water keeps things alive but no thriving. There are similar examples as richard's in India for example - food forest on rocks literraly, but there is rain; lots of it.
Same experience in high desert...no wood or organic matter to make mulch...and no rain. Only thing that worked was humanure with purchased $$ straw in small beds. Slow going. Then as soon as a green thing got going, a creature of some sort would eat it. Never underestimate predation pressure in a difficult ecosystem. If you can grow it something will eat it
Double digging has been referenced in classics to gardening... plowing sod under or digging to bedrock are common practices, I think. In the past when everyone had a horse and wagon in the shed, they were burning the branches and building with the trucks.
Do you know what happened when I put a thick layer of wood chips on my soil? Nothing. No decomposition. It is just now, after two years, showing signs of mycelium. I'm glad for the improvement, but if your soil is already dead, don't expect such quick results as four years. We also have no way to water because of our weak well and are on a steeper slope than this video. We have been working to build trenches as shown here in hopes of capturing water.
@@StefanSobkowiak Awesome. We've been letting our acre rewild while. Slowly building organic matter because it's pottery grade red clay (quite literally, we've fired it). So far it's apples, peaches, cherries and mulberries with Currants and various Rubus for understory in KY US Zone 8A
Indeed, this th Québec, Canada. The land belongs to our town (Boucherville). We have a perpetual right to garden on a little more than 2 acres, as long as we share our crops with food banks.
While growing a garden is nice a ton of this new permaculture or garden forest movement really would do well to also raise beef and sheep and hogs not just a garden or fruit forest.
We live in North Central Washington State and are in a High Desert. Most of our moisture comes from snow melt. The rest is supplied from rain in Spring and Fall. Will this work for us? We have no irrigation and are without moisture about 6 months of the year.
It will just take longer to break down as the chips need moisture to decompose. Yes it will work and once your soil becomes higher in organic matter it will hold what moisture it gets much longer.
mycelium is the pioneer of barren land. it can break down rocks and extract all the good stuff and establish first soil. this is what the woodchips are feeding.
Pits in clay are the pits. They act like a pot and can hold water causing water logging and killing some trees, if you are in a temperate climate with regular rains. Plant in clay and mulch heavily.
hello, have you thaught about the fact that the less ammended and worked though clay creates bariers holding whather pretty thightly, putting some gravel pass throught the bottom would help whater flow thought the earth and pull oxygen in the soil, and you know what comes with oxygene ? life :)
I started off with 6-9" of soil over quarry waste. Moved the soil to one side, broke out enough waste to give me 12" of soil & used the waste to build interbed paths & put the soil in between to make 4' wide beds, then added 4" of compost on the beds & 4" of woodchip on the paths. It's not a big area - 100yds² but in year one, I had 700lbs of produce & so far this year, I've had 100lbs of broad bean pods, 70lb of early potatoes, plus peas, cabbage, beetroot, cucumbers, 25lbs of garlic... Fertiliser? Nope, just home made compost. Oh & last year, I helped someone out by clearing their overgrown garden & privet hedges & shredded anything under 1½". This gave me more than 4yds³ of mostly chipped privet but with plenty of green material, which a year on, is decomposing nicely.
Have you seen the methods of making ice in a hot desert. Method used in the middle East climates of Asia. Very dry air moving over protected water turns to ice.
The city payed for the land. The woodships are free. The labour is not paid (volunteers). No taxes (non profit association). This is another kind of "real world". The land is not bad either. All the fields are green around it...
@@richarddufour7470 im all for it. The guys seems nice, the garden is great... but if the city gave the money the land is worth, and the volunteers gave the money the work values....the food banks would buy more food then it recives from this garden! The garden, as it is now, dosent even feed one (1 ) person year round. Just dont like the fake thumbnail pics of the video. The land/soil around is green, not sand dry. The images of dry baked clay in the video are not of this land...
@@srantoniomatos UA-cam games unfortunately… there are actually 3 different thumbnails being tested only one of them has the sand around it the others all show the beautiful green grass :)
I'm the "Richard" in the video 😉 Our food forest is relatively young, but it now produces LOTS of vegetable (both annual and perennial) and berries for north of 50 gardeners and food banks each summer. Our fruit trees will start to significantly produce fruits in a few years. This vodeo focuses mainly on how we deal with heavy clay.
@@ZaneMediayeah...games. guess it works (it did, for me) when you contrast desert and greenery! Im getting tired of "inspiring" videos, showing almost miracle like "abundance" coming alive overnight. Just prefer real world examples, showing the long work done, the real challenges, etc...
Hello Stefan. Please help me, i have à big question. I follow all your videos, I saw your film on DVD, thank you for these treasures. Here I do not understand something well. I know the benefits of BRF that I tested at home. But in this report, it is not clear to me what he added UNDER the BRF. he says a little quickly that he dug or added something, and then we talk later about lasagna. Should I understand that on this stony ground, BEFORE laying down a foot of BRF, he first added a thick layer of organic materal for build a lasagna? and so he would have created soil on a scale of one hectare. He says that the pear tree, the fruit trees are planted in clay. but there is no clay, it is pebbles, we see it at the beginning. there is a stage that is not understandable to me. he says a little quickly that he dug or added something, and then we talk later about lasagna. Should I understand that on this stony ground, BEFORE laying down a foot of BRF, he first added a thick layer of lasagna? and so he would have created soil on a scale of one hectare. He says that the pear tree, the fruit trees are planted in clay. but there is no clay, it is pebbles, we see it at the beginning. there is a stage that is not understandable to me. the one before laying down
The shale bedrock has at most 12 inches of heavy clay over it. He added 12 inches of BRF then scrapes some of the path to add another layer of clay them more BRF. That’s the lasagna, layer of both clay and wood chips. In one area he tried adding a layer of manure but found it was too much and grew too much.
@@StefanSobkowiaklimestone was the next step my soil is so shot here no food will grow in the ground unless you like eating moss it grows that real good lol
Great example on how you can make different soils work. People forget that nature doesn't start pre soiled, soil is made over time.
Absolutely! 100%
Have 2a that was basically over grown parking lot. I cleaned it up, built my home and let natural growth cover it for 4 years. Mowed it down twice a year. Now I have a food forest growing. I don't fertilize I don't add much if any compost I just let nature repair. Now have 6-12in good soil.
Nice work!
Yes well done that sounds awesome!
This Back to Eden method is the best. My land was so hard 4 years ago that I could not use a tractor and auger to dig a hole. I had to add water to even start digging. It would not go deeper than a foot and just stopped. There was no life or worms in there. I watched the Back to Eden videos. I determined the boundary of my garden and started adding wood chips of all sizes and mulch, about a foot deep. Now the soil under the small amount of remaining mulch is rich and there are so many worms that my soft heart has trouble killing the many worms when I dig. Last year even, I grew a beautiful garden. I had a small row of squash that grew at least 300#, maybe more. I had lemon cucumbers, tomatoes of all kinds and beans. It grew beautiful flowers that bloomed and bloomed. This is the way to grow.
How do you plant in foot of mulch? Do you wait one year? Do you cover the trunk in the one foot mulch?
@@marcusnguyen3185 At year "0", we plant in the clay soil, under the 12 in. (30cm) of mulch. A year after that, the 12 in. (30cm) of mulch has decomposed and has mixed with the soil.
@@marcusnguyen3185 We do not cover the trunk with the mulch.
I know what you mean about the worms ❤😢
Maybe start with a No dig method?
I was born and bred into the tree industry and owned my own company for some years aside from my father's. The chips were dumped over a banken close to a swamp where they maintained constant moisture. I eventually turned it into a garden and like this the growth was unreal. I eventually shoveled it out in grain bags when the property was sold years later. I now use it in containers and my beds. The water holding capacities are incredible while not becoming soggy and anaerobic. When it dries it doesn't become hydrophobic either. Stump grindings I used to remove from any lawn with good soil went into a separate pile and was ready much quicker. That was the gold of all, stump grindings. And they are always free since there is zero value as chip fuel.
Thanks for the tid bit! Love knowing about others' experiences.
The compost I always make smells like good rich earth. Nothing but grass clippings, kitchen scraps (majority), and leaves. Lots of paper products without ink, tape and glue. And anyone can do it and create good soil and keep kitchen scraps out of landfills.
Grass clippings are so underrated. Growing up we lived on an acre of steep hilly land but heaps of fruit trees, in between was just mowed grass at best once a month. Enough for two black composting bins full of grass, each month would end with the composting bin being half full. 1/4 dried clippings1/4 great compost... I'd get 20 litres of compost, each month, then sprinkle the last pound on top of the new clippings... monthly just creating soil on a steep hill.
I do the same! I've started calling myself an urban farmer 🙂
Gentlemens, vous êtes mes idoles. Par votre expertise, votre originalité, votre érudition, votre expérience et surtout votre grande générosité dans la transmissions de vos connaissances, vous nous permettez de faire évoluer nos projets à vitesse grand V. Vous me faites sauver des années d'essais et surtout d'erreurs. Un grand merci.
Simon D.
Beauce
Bienvenue Simon, tu feras encore des ´erreurs’ mais ils seront plus petites.
So inspiring! I love that the city granted them the land, and gives them their "waste" woodchips! And feeding the community! It's the circle of life. Love it!
I am so encouraged! Here, in eastern Tennessee, I live on a mountain of mostly shale, with an underlying grey clay layer, and below that bedrock. I'm working on taking out the large, diseased pine trees (to be used for making structures and firewood) and using goats to clear the brambles, weeds etc. Using round bales, they get hay and I get organic matter on the ground. I'm getting a lot of push-back from my family, but I'm already seeing amazing results!.
You can do it!
The universe gave the vision for you to see that is why others may not fully understand your vision, keep at it!!
Grow curly willow. It grows fast in sandy soil, and creates mulch fast.
However it needs lots of water. You can use moringa, but the cold can kill it. Look at its astronomical growth rate. It would be good to have a greenhouse, and just constantly make saplings
Exactly the same. Super hard orange clay . I could jump on a shovel and it would fall right to the ground like I just hit concrete. 4 inches or more of woodchips turned it good.
True farmers like this man are the saviours of this earth!
ive had the same results here in northern Maine. given the better drainage clay is awesome. i plant my trees on cardboard on the grass. place the tree , stake, tamp soil around roots then mulch. no digging. after 3-4 years the mounds disappear, and the tree is established. ive planted dozens of trees like this. they grow great this way.
Wow! Inspiring. Thank you for sharing?! 😊
I did that to an area that was absolutely dead on one side of my property. There were worm castings on bare soil. The wood chips very slowly degraded and slowly it changed to being able to support weeds first, then slowly plants. It took five years on clay soil. I also added a little manure. I am in zone 5 and the dead spot was fully shaded so the progress was slow.
I have the same brick-grade clay on my property and I'm improving it the same way. Lots and lots of woodchips... mostly free of charge from tree surgeons, so they are made of small branches and often green leaves, the most nutrient ones. It takes time, but the result is granted. I found that a gooooood accelerator is having a worm farm and spread worms soon after laying down the chips.
Amazing i'm starting a food forest on like 10cm of topsoil and pure limestone karst rock. Great inspiration!
This is amazing. I have heavy clay and with the raining season lasting 5 months last year in NS well,😳I can safely say, the frogs in my orchard loved it. I think I've found a solution, your timing is impeccable thank you.
Wonderful!
It was meant to be
@@StefanSobkowiak Stefan, thank you for spreading all your smart and accessible knowledge and experience, and also for being instrumental in building my trio- based orchard! 🌱I have heavy clay soil. Get truck loads of wood chips👍🏻 Can report, that on higher parts of the food forest, the new growth is incredible! My❓ question to you is, what to do with the trees already planted (2 year) and unfortunately standing in water... Lift them up somehow (❓ the technicality of it, is what I'm missing) and dig trenches around (started on that part already.
Oh frogs! I love frogs. Good job. I am jealous. 😊
@@aleksandracybulska2740
Alek, I am not sure what scale your project is. My city yard is small. I have gone along bush and tree drip lines with a pitch fork. Merely stomping it in, wiggling it a bit extra while pulling it out, not turning the soil. Then I used the same technique to make lines radiating away from the plant, creating a kind of crack in the soil. Water flows toward the path of least resistance. This created a slow seeping situation. How and where I Did this definitely depended on existing drainage designs.
p.s. The crack will attract every lose seed in the area, haha weeds and wonders abound.
This is very valuable education on how it works to turn poor soil into thriving soil🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻. Thank you for sharing 😍😍😍
Glad it was helpful!
We’re glad you enjoyed it
I just planted my
1st 6 fruit trees
ystrdy. 3 plums, 1 pear, 1 apple, 1 peach, 1 gojiberry, 2 aronia berries, 2 redrasberries, 3 rhubarbs,& 12 crowns asparugus to be planted. Desiring to plant 1 more apple& 1 more pear. Horseshoe shaped swale, apprx. 120 ft X 220 ft wide area, need to build 3 or 4 more swales within these dimensions. Have 45 blueberry cuttings set. My deer fence is up for top swale, evenually fence in complete area. This is just my start !
Quite a project, swales and fruit trees = Future Abundance
Wow congrats on “just starting” you’ll have to keep us posted
had a truck load of mulch dropped on my mom's yard, took it all to the backyard and made a garden area march 1st, tried to do 6 inches of wood chips throughout it, but, it is uneven ground and some spots got less, the areas with 6 inches had very little grass grow through, while the lower spots had a decent amount, i didn't bother with ripping up our lawn or putting cradboard or contractors paper down, i just went for it and wanted to see what will happen.i'm very excited to try to plant in it next year, maybe even start growing in it before winter. we live in sandy soil florida. if this works as good as many people have showed then i might just get more and expand on it.
Fantastic, try putting some potatoes under the mulch this spring to get things growing while your soil comes to life.
Every time I am watching your videos I am getting exited. Great job!
Glad you like them!
Yes we’re glad you’re enjoying all the content MUCH more to come
Merci, c'est encourageant.
The previous owner of my home put loads of gravel on the clay to walk on without slipping. I have been sifting it out. Wood chips work better to make non slip paths, and I can still get a shovel in at any time of year. Even if you do trip and fall, wood chipped pathways are the best place to land, and trees and shrubs can use the new soil beneath them.
Thanks for your post. I have done the same, I have pistachio trees and on the land I use wood chips for 2 years and now if a weed comes up all you have to do is pull the weed up with not problem roots and all. Thanks. I also use the weeds to federalize and I do not use any pesticides or chemicals and with the weed solution the branches grows 18 inches in a month. I live in southern New Mexico and the soil can be hard. Thanks and stay safe.
I have a brushpile of some neglected, unwanted, unloved city shade tree (it was just flytipped on me) in my front yard that is spuriously leafing out (brace for this one: it has no root system). I pitied the thing so I've tried to sink a trunk into the ground in my back yard. It isn't a fruiting tree so the only thing useful it'll produce if it lives is chips and leaves, but I'm excited to see where it goes.
Just subscribed! It took awhile but when I finally realized you were an advocate against the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals I was on board. I see it more and more, people are starting to realize how TOXIC these chemicals are to our body our plants and especially to the life in our soils. I went completely chemical free about 3 years ago. It's not always easy but I believe in the long run it'll be worth it. What really sold me to just stick with it is last year I finally got a few apples that had never been sprayed with any chemicals from my orchard. By far the sweetest and best tasting apples i ever had.
Welcome aboard, yes definitely not advocating pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. Lots to binge watch.
I’m right there with ya. I’m hopeful that this is a movement in the right direction and our most important job right now is spreading the word and getting our fruits and vegetables into the mouths of as many people as possible. We need to encourage as many people as possible to come to our land and let them see how it works and how simple it can be to grow healthy, super high quality food.
Absolutely, yes a movement is growing of people coming to their senses that you don't have to spray everything with toxins.
I have been growing fruit trees, berries, and vegetables for 16 years with two natural sprays- copper for the peach trees and Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew once in a while. Ironically, I am seeing that I dont really need it. I do use nematodes and mycelium on my very small property so I do not have to put flea drops on my cats...
The crazy thing is that it is so easy. We have been sold a lie that we need all variety of these chemicals.
Bonjour! ça fait un bout de temps que je te suis Stefan. Depuis que Justin R est allé chez toi et puis je t'ai vu relier avec Verge Permaculture aussi. Super! Une autre ferme à visiter au Québec la prochaine fois que je descendrai le fleuve. Je suis en amont au Nord de T.O. Continue le super travail de nous éduquer. Merci milles fois!
Merci Anne. Pour visiter on a seulement deux tours par année, 11 mai et 14 septembre. S’inscrire à miracle.farm
I’m saving this to watch many more times. Fantastic insight that I can almost exactly use on my site here in central New York. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
I can testify that tree bark works my ground is full of arsenic tailings, can’t stop things growing this was 5 years ago never feed the ground just every 2 years put more bark on the top let the weather do the rest.
Where I live we've got a forest behind our house that's got some crazy fungus and such in it. We have wood break down, like logs from a fallen tree, that are gone in five years. (And, yes, it makes it so stuff we build back there doesn't last too.) It's great stuff though!
Maybe you could use something on the wood you use to build stuff "back there."
I am not experience at this, so I might have missed something but...
How about using a (home-made?) creosote on the wood a good amount of time before you build with it?
If you treat the wood some time before using it, everything will soak into the wood and not "contaminate" the forest area.
Home-made creosote is not good for nature if carelessly poured out onto the ground, obviously, but if applied to wood some time ahead of time, there'll be no "leakage" into the ground.
Here's the part that may put you off the idea.
Home-made creosote can be made from 50/50 used engine oil and kerosene (US) or paraffin oil (UK).
Again, you treat the wood ahead of time (months ahead if you can) then use it in its dried state to build what you want.
Sign up for chip drop and they'll hook you up with tree services looking for a place to dump their chips.
Stefan,
It would good if you made a Short on this video
Thank you very much Stefan 4 this vid! It makes soOOooo much 'sense'. I always reason that the Good Lord loves the 'poor' and for that reason, anything we need to do to provide for ourselves should be very inexpensive to the point of FREE...as your friend here shares. SIMPLE SIMPLE S I M P L E is 'always' the way to go. Just hearing the truth behind 'compost' is a wonderful truth shared. And look how just a small area of land becomes 'overly sufficient' for a family. Too much without aid becomes a burden and waste. I was thinking of how wonderful this concept was and thought of how it was like a mini 'Paradise" to have and then...your friend even said the word himself, towards the end of the vid. Your exuberance at such a 'find' reveals the great inner desire you have for us all to get back on the land and live with common sense and reason. It will come Stefan...hearts are aligning to this desire...for it is 'His' for us. I thank you for doing 'your part' in educating us. Health and Blessings!
We’re glad you enjoyed it
A great many poor soils are underestimated in their capabilities for perennial and even judicious (that is to say, be very careful! ploughing should not be needed) annual cropping. Thin or erodible soils were, in Rome, after being worn out on ploughing and grain, planted to grapes and/or olives, which were then highly productive both in terms of calories and economically (producing luxuries Rome needed to trade for her grain), as well as saving the severe erosion that came with cropping grain on a hill.
It seems like Richard is combining that with deep wood-chip mulching to actually rebuild the soil - which I think is a great trick. I've heard some call it "back to Eden" - I suppose I should look into that?
I think the 2 key fixes here was to decompress the clay soil (raising it up) then covering it to keep sun and heat off and keep high humidity within. Also all the minerals to make a tree are in the wood chipping in addition to food for microbiology especially fungus. Great job.
Fantastic! Thankyou for sharing all this!!!
Thank you so much! This inspire me more to work on my extreme rocky soil. ♥️🌺🌴🇵🇭
This is so trippy 😮 awesome work from scorched earth to a fruit and vegetable forest.
Good vid:] I miss my clay garden it really needed no water or minerals. I added chips in it about 3 years in a row then stopped due to wanting bacteria based soil not fungal and it worked great. Now I have sand soil and tried leaves instead to mulch because it was free:] Leaves worked even better layered with grass clippings it just broke down way faster plus and minus if you do not want to mulch again that year.
Wow c’est merveilleux. Jai 30ish acres, toute de l’argile, pas mal meme situation… ok je sais ce que je doit comencer le weekend prochain lol.
Que ec clay soils have huge exchange capacity. It just need organic matter and aeration
Excellent visit...
Thanks Tim.
This is an encouraging video! I’d love to see some more of this content if you’ve filmed some or have planned some tours.
More to come!
Très inspirant. Merci pour ce beau partage!
I live in Sweden on clay soil, my neighbor planted around 10 fruit trees maybe 1-2 years ago, she dug holes, and filled them with good soil, you guess what happened, they drowned, because the water collected in those holes and couldn't go anywhere because the clay around it, and the tree roots where always wet. I'm making a food forest, had another neigbor help dig a swale, now we need to get/make a lot of woodchips, people told us woodchips are very hard to get here, and expensive, because they use that material to burn for energy/heat here, big sad. We do have our own woodchipper, and our neighbor has a tracktor with a big woodchipper, and we have some forest, so we should be able to make our own woodchips, but it will take a while to get a good amount.
When you plant next time, dig a hole around 3 feet fill it with good soil (sand/compost/VAM/Viride) slightly above the ground. Plant your fruit tree just covering the ground (shallow, maybe 1/2 feet or less). If you do this way, the plant's survival rate will be much higher (native species will have a better survival rate). From time to time, add some gypsum to loosen the soil around. This should work for clay or water-logged soils.
@@wealthInfinity1It was my neigbor that planted those trees, on her own land, wasn't me, I know how to do it properly. I have a swale with a birm were my trees will be planted, so they will be above water level. Thanks for the tips though. I will be using a lot of woodchip for organic matter, this will help with the consistency of the clay soil.
@Ni-dk7ni yes, that what I meant when I said 'above the ground' but also note mount alone will not help the trees in long term if there is water logging around the mount as trees root will venture into this area and eventually die out. It's critical you keep adding gypsum or wood chips to change the condition of the soil
Damn, I live in a place where my trees grow so much every year I need to cut them back so I use all the branches for my garden and landscaping is really big here so I can just call up people to drop off grass and especially wood chips from their jobs they otherwise pay to dump. Three years ago we got 4 dump trucks of it for free and 5his year we can finally call them up for another round.
I have found that straw works as well, but wood chips work better
I have clay. I know it can be turned into great soil with time and organic matter. This guy is doing it right.
He seems embarrassed by the abundance. ❤
Haha maybe but he was so excited to show us everything when we went to go and film. Honestly the video doesn’t do the property justice it’s amazing what they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time :)
I'm surprized to be very honest with you.
Our soil is extremely productive when organic matter is added (on top), and when properly drained... especially for berries.
I'd kill for soil like that. We're in Co.Leitrim, Ireland where we moved two years ago. We have between one and two inches of topsoil. Underneath is the heaviest possible clay, known locally as 'blue daub'. Under that is shale. Rainfall is insane (it rained virtually nonstop for nine months last year) and natural drainage is virtually non-existent. We're building soil with the help of our goats and sheep, and, in the meantime, are growing vegetables in no dig raised beds. Over 400 trees have been planted with more planned, and a food forest is in the works. We're catching rainfall and diverting it into a duck pond. You can work with poor soil but it's not the easy option!
22:35 The neighbours really annihilated their hedges.
Chips let rain through too, but also retain water as the chips get saturated. Keeping as much rainwater as possible in the top soil is a must.
Great video! I only have access to Cedar chips. I know they will not break down as fast. Will this work as well? Thank you!
They will sorta work but not to feed the soil just as a mulch. Call your local tree trimming companies, or chipdrop dot com.
Thanks, fellas.
The part that surprises me is the fact that you do not mix the wood-chips into the clay, but rather that you merely leave it on top, unless I am mistaken.
Correct, you don’t want to mix it into the soil, you want the soil life to do it at its own pace.
I have been gardening in San Antonio for about 10 years now, and we've converted much of our lot from heavy clay to clay loam, but it hasn't been cheap, nor easy. It could be the lack of rain, or the expense of having to puchase bags and bags of wood chips. Whoever buys the house after us will inherit great soil. I also have about 8-12 inches of soil, then solid chalk/limestone.
Where can I find more info in elglish on this path method? I’m growing in clay in Oklahoma.
Back to Eden gardening.
@Ni-dk7niOnion boy!!😂
Awesome, very inspiring!
Thanks so much!
Has he ever topped the wood chips with some chicken or cow manure? Would that speed it up some? Also, doe his wood chips have any leaves or green matter in it? Would making rounded islands of chips help move the water around??
He did mention that adding manure was too much and unnecessary.
Indeed, adding manure makes fruit trees produce way to many branches in this soil.
I love permaculture and turning useless property into a valuable food sanctuary for the community.
Rashad should make a small fruit and vegetable stand at the front of the property.
Have someone man the stand, and do a Pick and Pay where people can come in pick what they want and then pay at the stand.
The money made with selling the fruit and vegetables at the stand could pay for someone to be paid to work the stand.
As a kid I help my grandfather grow a big Garden in the back of his property and I would sell vegetables and fruit along the roadside.
It was a very lucrative job for a young kid.
Kris
All our fruits and vegetable go to our membres and food banks, as this is a collective community garden :-)
I think of the wood chips as a liquid: small fibers are continuously breaking down and flowing off the chips, falling down to meet the earth and being digested. Meanwhile, the largest wood chips float on top of the smaller particles beneath them. On the surface, it may look like nothing is happening, but the flow is happening continuously in slow motion. Any time I have larger chips (chippers vary) I may sift out the large chunks to use in pathways, letting foot traffic break them down.
In my area where rain is seasonal and not reliable, I do need to irrigate with special attention to getting water beneath the wood layer, especially if the chips have been baked dry on top.
Good insight
Insightful!! Thank you for your info.
this is what i started Last Week. i hope my farming business will flourish. 70qm of Mulch :)
You can do it!
Thank you #SaveSoil #Consciousplanet
I have thought about using woodchips but I live in the Southeastern part of the US where it's hot & humid. I'm concerned that I would end up with a lot of termites that will eat everything else including my pole barn.
Hasn't anyone in your area tried it? Ask them how it turned out.
Birds will turn over your chips too, thus preventing termites.
Thank you Eden for your work.
However, we have known for about 70 years that by introducing organic substance into highly sandy, or highly silty, or highly clayey soil, the macrostructure of the soil improved, improving workability, the ability to retain water, decreasing root asphyxiation phenomena (clayey soils). The technique is actually as ancient as the discovery of agriculture as the manure straw acted in structuring the soil.
I recommend 2 things; 1 DO NOT BELIEVE THE 'TECHNICIANS' WHO ARE NOT INDEPENDENT, WHO EARN FROM THE SALE OF MINERAL FERTILIZERS OR PLANT PRODUCTS (fertilizers and pesticides are useful tools like a knife, you can have an excellent result without polluting anything or harming yourself or others ).
2 STUDY EITHER ALONE OR THROUGH A COURSE NOT FUNDED BY COMPANIES THAT SELL FERTILIZERS AND PLANT PRODUCTS AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND MANY TRUTHS.
Absolutely, too much of agricultural recommendations has been taken over by input sellers.
Thank you and thank you. 😊
Any opinions of Styrofoam being mixed into house plant soil? 😢 😮
@@OublietteTight Unlike epsense clay, Styrofoam does not have the same properties and degrades over centuries. Styrofoam contributes to the pollution of microplastics due to degradation, as well as being a waste as it is almost always recyclable.
@gefryfostuvi2184, bleaching clay?
I am big time anti-styrofoam, have been for decades. We have all consumed so much plastic. Depressing.
@@OublietteTight Maybe I wrote it wrong, or I understood it wrong, I'm not a native English speaker. I was talking about this product that is used to put in flower or fruit pots, in contrast to polystyrene which is not a good product to put in the ground. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanded_clay_aggregate
In my opinion the essential ingredient is dependable rain. Without water from the sky, no matter the good practices beeing employed, things go slow. They evolve but not at astonishing rates. I'm talking from experience - 320 liter water per year. I noticed richard observing at one moment it didn't rain for 3 weeks. Well, for some (me included) that's no biggy. Buttom line is whatever you do, without water soil life just stops. Tap water keeps things alive but no thriving. There are similar examples as richard's in India for example - food forest on rocks literraly, but there is rain; lots of it.
Rain carries minerals as well as moisture.
Same experience in high desert...no wood or organic matter to make mulch...and no rain. Only thing that worked was humanure with purchased $$ straw in small beds. Slow going. Then as soon as a green thing got going, a creature of some sort would eat it.
Never underestimate predation pressure in a difficult ecosystem. If you can grow it something will eat it
Double digging has been referenced in classics to gardening... plowing sod under or digging to bedrock are common practices, I think. In the past when everyone had a horse and wagon in the shed, they were burning the branches and building with the trucks.
Free wood chips would be epic!
Our local tree people sell them as a side hustle. No freebies.
Prices here usually vary based on recent storms.
Do you know what happened when I put a thick layer of wood chips on my soil? Nothing. No decomposition. It is just now, after two years, showing signs of mycelium. I'm glad for the improvement, but if your soil is already dead, don't expect such quick results as four years. We also have no way to water because of our weak well and are on a steeper slope than this video. We have been working to build trenches as shown here in hopes of capturing water.
True soil life is needed for effective decomposition. ..cides kill soil life, period.
Free food,it should be a part of school we are responsible for the next generation
💚
Does this apply to red clay as well? My plants seem to lobe the composted manure I give them.
Yes any clay loves organic matter, manure just cranks it up a notch.
@@StefanSobkowiak Awesome. We've been letting our acre rewild while. Slowly building organic matter because it's pottery grade red clay (quite literally, we've fired it). So far it's apples, peaches, cherries and mulberries with Currants and various Rubus for understory in KY US Zone 8A
sir, you sound Canadian. More power to you!
I am!
I am a proud Canadian :-)
This is basically how the dutch create fertile soil from salty clay soil in polders, but we do it with reeds matter.
What I wanna know is how do you get free land and what country is that? Can’t remember if you said Canada?
Indeed, this th Québec, Canada.
The land belongs to our town (Boucherville).
We have a perpetual right to garden on a little more than 2 acres, as long as we share our crops with food banks.
@@richarddufour7470 oh ok thanks for the info!
While growing a garden is nice a ton of this new permaculture or garden forest movement really would do well to also raise beef and sheep and hogs not just a garden or fruit forest.
If you look at Mark Sheppards stuff or visit his farm he runs pigs, cattle and chickens between rows of trees and his farm is gorgeous.
I use wood chips to break up clay soil.
Excellent content. Ty so much!!
You're very welcome!
What would biochar do to an area like that?
42k views and only 1.4k likes, come on people, like, comment and share so the information reaches more people.
Have you tried NEEM , Jamun trees ? Their taproot can break the hardpan.
No we are in a temperate climate
We live in North Central Washington State and are in a High Desert. Most of our moisture comes from snow melt. The rest is supplied from rain in Spring and Fall. Will this work for us? We have no irrigation and are without moisture about 6 months of the year.
It will just take longer to break down as the chips need moisture to decompose. Yes it will work and once your soil becomes higher in organic matter it will hold what moisture it gets much longer.
What about free sand and sprinkle just underneath next load of mulch to help the worms ....
mycelium is the pioneer of barren land. it can break down rocks and extract all the good stuff and establish first soil. this is what the woodchips are feeding.
Around 7:30 mins, is it better to create soil pits for them and is this just to save on resources or is it best to plant in clay... ? Thanks!
Pits in clay are the pits. They act like a pot and can hold water causing water logging and killing some trees, if you are in a temperate climate with regular rains. Plant in clay and mulch heavily.
same sandals !!! great buy !!! ecco brand .
Great minds think alike
He should be planting any lugume crop he might use a little of, in those woodchip swales. Just as cover crop... it will speed up the process
The lesson is summarised at 26:33. Then go back to the beginning for the demonstration.
hello, have you thaught about the fact that the less ammended and worked though clay creates bariers holding whather pretty thightly,
putting some gravel pass throught the bottom would help whater flow thought the earth and pull oxygen in the soil,
and you know what comes with oxygene ?
life :)
I started off with 6-9" of soil over quarry waste.
Moved the soil to one side, broke out enough waste to give me 12" of soil & used the waste to build interbed paths & put the soil in between to make 4' wide beds, then added 4" of compost on the beds & 4" of woodchip on the paths.
It's not a big area - 100yds² but in year one, I had 700lbs of produce & so far this year, I've had 100lbs of broad bean pods, 70lb of early potatoes, plus peas, cabbage, beetroot, cucumbers, 25lbs of garlic...
Fertiliser?
Nope, just home made compost.
Oh & last year, I helped someone out by clearing their overgrown garden & privet hedges & shredded anything under 1½".
This gave me more than 4yds³ of mostly chipped privet but with plenty of green material, which a year on, is decomposing nicely.
Really makes you appreciate what comes out of those beds when you put in that much love and effort.
What is the climate this land experiences? What part of the world?
Near Montreal, Canada, zone 5 or USDA zone 4.
I have become your fun because you give me hope in humanity
Water is not a problem in this situation so of course you can make it look good. Try that where there is no water
In 2021, we didn't have rain for north of 2 months. Our heavy clay held enough water to get our plants through !
Shale is good drainage.
Put clay soil on top of it and, not so much.
So he used above ground swales, you know. I used to poopoo wishywashy hippy thinking. but those old techniques really were useful
Have you seen the methods of making ice in a hot desert. Method used in the middle East climates of Asia. Very dry air moving over protected water turns to ice.
ShoutOut Paul Gautschi
The city payed for the land.
The woodships are free.
The labour is not paid (volunteers).
No taxes (non profit association).
This is another kind of "real world".
The land is not bad either. All the fields are green around it...
... and most of the food produced goes to food banks ;-)
@@richarddufour7470 im all for it. The guys seems nice, the garden is great... but if the city gave the money the land is worth, and the volunteers gave the money the work values....the food banks would buy more food then it recives from this garden! The garden, as it is now, dosent even feed one (1 ) person year round.
Just dont like the fake thumbnail pics of the video. The land/soil around is green, not sand dry. The images of dry baked clay in the video are not of this land...
@@srantoniomatos UA-cam games unfortunately… there are actually 3 different thumbnails being tested only one of them has the sand around it the others all show the beautiful green grass :)
I'm the "Richard" in the video 😉
Our food forest is relatively young, but it now produces LOTS of vegetable (both annual and perennial) and berries for north of 50 gardeners and food banks each summer.
Our fruit trees will start to significantly produce fruits in a few years.
This vodeo focuses mainly on how we deal with heavy clay.
@@ZaneMediayeah...games. guess it works (it did, for me) when you contrast desert and greenery!
Im getting tired of "inspiring" videos, showing almost miracle like "abundance" coming alive overnight.
Just prefer real world examples, showing the long work done, the real challenges, etc...
Where is this place?
Boucherville, Quebec.
Unlock sand with 50 cm of wood chip.
I wish I had the to much rain problem
Where is this?
Boucherville Quebec.
Hello Stefan. Please help me, i have à big question. I follow all your videos, I saw your film on DVD, thank you for these treasures. Here I do not understand something well. I know the benefits of BRF that I tested at home. But in this report, it is not clear to me what he added UNDER the BRF.
he says a little quickly that he dug or added something, and then we talk later about lasagna. Should I understand that on this stony ground, BEFORE laying down a foot of BRF, he first added a thick layer of organic materal for build a lasagna? and so he would have created soil on a scale of one hectare. He says that the pear tree, the fruit trees are planted in clay. but there is no clay, it is pebbles, we see it at the beginning. there is a stage that is not understandable to me.
he says a little quickly that he dug or added something, and then we talk later about lasagna. Should I understand that on this stony ground, BEFORE laying down a foot of BRF, he first added a thick layer of lasagna? and so he would have created soil on a scale of one hectare. He says that the pear tree, the fruit trees are planted in clay. but there is no clay, it is pebbles, we see it at the beginning. there is a stage that is not understandable to me. the one before laying down
The shale bedrock has at most 12 inches of heavy clay over it. He added 12 inches of BRF then scrapes some of the path to add another layer of clay them more BRF. That’s the lasagna, layer of both clay and wood chips. In one area he tried adding a layer of manure but found it was too much and grew too much.
My soil is perfect mix problem is the pH it goes do low down to 4
Try adding some ground limestone
@@StefanSobkowiaklimestone was the next step my soil is so shot here no food will grow in the ground unless you like eating moss it grows that real good lol
I don’t understand why content creators visit people and then they talk themselves the whole time and don’t let the visitors talk