Yes, yes, yes. I am not an uptight gardener; I thought, "I don't mind the look of a couple weeds, it's not so bad, etc." Even with raised beds, making a larger scale garden the weeds just multiple more than I even imagined. And more weeds brings more bugs. I underestimated the weeds and the toll it would take. It is my #1 regret and the hardest lesson I have learned. Mulch/cardboard did not cut it when I started producing on a larger scale. I will never start another bed without a real weed plan in place.
You know what I love about this, you don’t let perfection get in the way of good enough. It’s all about progress. And using what’s available. Slowly, slowly we improve. It’s a marathon.
You are so right. I gave up gardening about five years ago because of the damn weeds! I am 75 years old, and I’ve tried many methods of gardening, but I’m now using a modified Ruth stout method with cardboard and whatever mulch I can get such as hay, wood chips, leaves, And compost. Don’t let the weeds make you give up! You can be successful!
If you are a new gardener listen to every word this man says. He described my experience to a T. One year I mowed it all down because of weeks. Those dang weeds grew so fast and lush. If I didn't stay on top of them every week it became overwhelming pretty quick. The next year I put mulch on top of weed fabric and it made a big mess over the next two years. I wish I had prepared my garden like a viking 5 years ago - I would be so much further along. I'm not a fan of cardboard because it's a trip hazard with no easy way to hold it down.
Those damn weeds are the source of so much food for local wildlife. If you were to sit quietly in a garden you would soon see tiny insects feeding, including those you need to fertilize your fruit flowers, they in turn are food for birds, and so on up the chain.
@@helenamcginty4920 beautifully said. I have found that the herbs that come up as weeds are magically and usually exactly what I need for healing. And as Nate says- they are what the soil needs. Nature is magnificent 🌴
@@helenamcginty4920 Yes weeds do feed the wildlife, but there is no shortage of weeds in nature. The person you responded to is trying to grow food in a garden. What do you suggest, that they sit quietly and starve to death while watching the insects and bugs eat the precious weeds. SMH. Get real.
Saying hello from Townsville North Queensland Australia. I have come across your channel on utube and have been binge watching all your videos 😊 so awesome and thankyou
Yea man super important to work with what you got. I’ve got a few raised beds made out of things that were gonna get thrown away that I got for free that I filled with logs and dirt and now grow food in that feeds my family.
Thank God its here! Amazing how fast I gathered enough weeds to make the Jadam Fert. I already used it to try starting one of my wifes plants. Even in the cooler temps it was bubbling after a few days. Biochars almost ready. You helped me prepare in time. Almost free. I have paid for Buckets, Fish, Brown Sugar, Unsulfured Molasses, Milk, Charcoal, Mason Jars, and My Business cards came today. Big Wes's Lawn Care is Ready to Fix Stuff Right. I can't wait to makeover a lawn. 🇨🇦👊🏻👨🏻🏭⚡💖🙏 🍁♻️🍁⚖😉👌🏻
Yes! I didn't like the idea of using the landscaping fabric here. But I am using some now, along with a bunch of wood chips in all pathways.Such a huge difference!
A BIG THANK YOU to you NATE! Yes even in my small garden, the weeds are trying to take over. Also chop and drop the weeds, and use the grass cuttings. We have what is called cattle grass. It's very difficult to get rid of, it is very invasive, and the ground is very hard, so I am using saw dust and wood shavings for in-between the beds. I am going to be spending my time this winter building up the soil with autumn 🍂🍁 leaves, and what ever I can find, and to use the many soil amendment video Ideas of yours of course. There is a dump in the complex, with tons of piled up grass cuttings, leaves, and tree branches. At the bottom it is broken down beautifully, and is a pitch black and lovely stuff. Hardwork, but if you want the fruits of your efforts, gardening is and can be challenging. But I am not about to give up. Learning by doing! In December it will be two years of starting a new garden from scratch. Last autumn, our grandson helped me gather bags of Maple 🍁 leaves, from a nearby park. My husband and grandson kindly built a wooden pallet compost box, from free pallets, given to us. So will be adding more autumn leaves 🍁 to fill it up again. There is an empty plot in the complex, and there is a tall Maple tree growing in our neighbors yard, bordering the wall high 🧱 in between the two properties. The wind blows leaves into the empty plot, so I have been raking up the fallen leaves, in bringing to our garden, using the lawn mower to chop leaves up. THANK YOU again Nate, Our "Garden like a Viking" man, for some more awesome and great ideas, as demonstrated in this video. ❤💚🍁🍂🌿👍🇿🇦
How to stop weeds : 1. Don't till 2. Don't use chemical fertilizer 3. Don't use pesticides 4. Get soil fungal to bacteria to 50/50. I don't get any weeds in my garden. The only thing close to a weed that will grow in my garden is grass.
My main garden is a 36×30 plot. Most of it is in raised beds. I mulched the walkways and in ground flower beds. I also re-edge the perimeter once a year to keep grass and other weeds from creeping into it. The edging works so well!
Thank you my friend. What a great video! I like it that you’re realistic about using what is available, but perhaps not optimal, to grow food. Because growing food is the main point! My gardening spirit broke 12 years ago. It took 9 years for it to heal. The weeds didn’t break me, but the amount of failure did. I’m planting more, learning more and accepting that I will have failures. That acceptance is making my successes that much sweeter.
Another great video my friend! I've been mulching with pine straw and pine needles to combat weeds. It's worked well for several years and no drawbacks from my experience. Pine needles take a long time to break down and I have an abundance. Any weeds that manage to grow through and havent gone to seed are used for fertilizer.
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 my very 1st garden plot, I tilled a 20'x50'. I thought since I could grow indoor "herb" that it would be a piece of cake. Only things that survived was some speckled bibb, and the weeds😂
I am lucky to have a great neighbor who I get my hay from for overwintering my cattle, sheep and hogs. The latter generate a lot of waste hay that becomes a time release mulch. As das as the hay goes I get many years ago I adapted the Ruth Stout method of using hay as a mulch. A continuous mulch and follow her advise for how much to use: MORE she said. It’s amazing how much it will rot down in a year so refer back to rule number 1- MORE! Slowly but surely the hard pack clay below transforms to a very rich topsoil with all the fungi and other soil microbes at work. It will not keep everything at bay weed wise but 80% or better is a good guess. That really comes in play when you spreads like melons a squash spread way out. I am at an unfair advantage over most of your viewers in that I get large rounds bales (old mulch quality ) at 1200 to 1400 lbs at a good price. Disadvantage mainly is that you have to work harder to part the soil surface to plant and it significantly delays soil warm up.
weird question: I was gone a month and the weeds blew up. Ironically it saved my garden by holding water around the plants, and providing shade. And a lot of the "weeds" we're medicinal. What up with that, brother? Later: I WILL LEARN TO TRUST YOU one of these days! You've answered all my questions by the end of the video. Thanks, bro
Looks great - definitely good advice for a big plot. My small allotment plot was covered in cardboard, hay, and a layer of bark and weeds still came up through it but at least 90% were kept at bay so it was managable.
yes definitely for smaller plots its much easier to manage them but for this plot its totally out of the question! lol... there's three gardens the size of this one!
My plot is 40' x 250' I use pine needles mixed with leaves and then throw grass clippings on throughout the summer, works pretty good still some stragglers but nothing crazy
Weeds haven't broken my spirit, but bring me joy, blessings and FOOD. For free, and without any effort. Just a bit of chop and drop to keep them in check, and give your sown crops a bit of room.
Can you do a video on electric gardening? Also, how do you keep your soil healthy in cloth bags after a few years of use? I just found you this weekend and am so excited about learning to create healthy soil your very good teacher. You keep it simple for me to understand :) From Canada Zone 3
Electric gardening is nonsense. But don’t believe me, go to any nursery, or any farm, and see if people making their living by growing plants are doing it.
If you haven’t already seen soil microbiologist Christine Jones from Australia you will appreciate her work & reseach. Many of her videos are on GreenCover
Cardboard, occasional bricks, heavy pots on top of the cardboard. And hot water to kill the weeds. I boil two large pots very early in the morning (it gets hot inside after that), and pour where I need it the most. Down side of hot water, it kills good bugs and worms. I just do it occasionally.
My grandmother was a master at keeping a weed free garden. She would go out after breakfast and spend 10-15 mins with a two pronged hoe and flip little weed seeds out of the ground, after lunch another 10 mins, after dinner another few mins. If you keep up with it, it's manageable. I choose a different method as I sometimes have to leave town for a week at a time.
GreetNs🙌🏽 Nate U R pure awesomeness. I did my 5 applications of potato slurry prior 2 plantN N my garden. Prior 2 applyN the slurry, I addD cow manure and tilled the earth. I startD plantN N the ground this Monday, and have been seeing a great amount of worms. I know that the manure and the potatoe slurry has made a significant difference N this Texas hard rock clay dirt. I break N2 a happy dance every time I see 👀 the wormies moveN around💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾, lol I know that I speak 4 prolly every1 that watches U when I say that U R so loveD, respectD, and appreciateD. Thank U 4 all U do 4 humanity. Peace/blessNs my friend💚✊🏾
I'm outside everyday I normally do a chop and drop or I'll collect for rabbit food . It's been good work out for me 😅. I'm about to put down my cover crops now to help keep out the weeds . I guess if you growing in such a big plot it be good to try it out . I'm thinking about redoing my strawberry plants like that wondering if they do better that way I hate pulling the weeds out in them .
Having enough room between the rows to run a front tine rototiller between the plants helps greatly especially if you do it once a week and turn under the weeds that comes up
I’ve been cultivating with a wheel hoe, planting cover crops for about three years. Ou garden is about 5000 sf. The seed bank has been reduced dramatically. This year I’m using landscape fabric to try and reduce the work load. Thanks for reinforcing my thoughts and sharing your thoughts.
I went from 20 square meters and pulling weeds with my hand to renting 500 square meters im also using quite the landscaping fabric but after seeing this methode i might also use it on my beds itself with holes for transplants. For now im using it in my pathways with wood on top for nice looking pathways :)
I love weeds, especially lamb's quarters, purslane and chickweed, perfect covers/shade providers and keeps moisture in soil and also they are all yummie :)
Just found your channel and subscribed. Began gardening in earnest when Covid took my business. Started out using typical crap at the big box stores, and have now gone the other way with no external input. Got a decent microscope, make my own hot compost, leaf mold, several worm bins, make my own fertilizers and just recently discovered the benefits of LAB. Last year I established perennial cover crops in 3 of my beds, to keep living roots in the soil over the winter. Not only did I have little weed pressure, but it saved those beds from jumping worms. Normally, I mulch heavily with shredded leaves and compost, as I do with my Ruth Stout potato/onion bed. Well my Ruth Stout bed was taken over by jumping worms last year, harvested a weak potato/sweet potato crop. Have to change the way I garden in that bed. I have a small channel you might find interesting. Have several videos on jumping worms, their identification, prevention and hopefully a control. Just click on the orange B and it will take you to my channel. Stay Well!!!
Great ideas! And great way to use what you have available to you! Thank you for help with weeds....my garden was all weeds when I moved in a few years ago and have been fighting them since.
I guess for large gardens these days that'd be the easiest way to go. When I grew up (back in the 70's) a neighbor up the street had maybe 2/3 acre in which they used a kerosene torch to burn away the weeds between rows. It sure seemed effective to me. I'm not planning on anything that large though.
lots of water then lots f cardboard. Bike shops have large-sized boxes of mainly clean cardboard but avoid shiny pictures, they never break down. I have clumps of heterostarches bamboo I cut down with a stihl chisel blade and run through a mulcher to cover the cardboard. I also have a raised septic evaporation pad I'm replanting with lemongrass that can be harvested as mulch cover. If I'm resting an area I can buy a few cheap spoilt hay bales that get spread a little and sit there till they're totally rotted and full of worms.
My mother in law had a beautiful large garden 2 years ago...a lot of work/time...the deer ended up eating much of her crops..broke her spirit...she hasnt done it since.
no they will find the cool moist earth down below... this method actually works very well to keep the soil evenly moist... even in the driest drought the soil a few inches under that conveyer belt rubber will be nice and moist....
I would suggest everybody to make sure to cover the soil. If you can prevent sunlight to the soil then you won't have a weed problem.. of course that takes work too. But mulching has so many benefits. I see so many people tilling their soil. I will never in my lifetime ever till my soil again. Everytime I see someone tilling thier soil i cringe lol
It was like you were watching me expand my garden a few days ago. I just used a friend’s bcs and I tilled up a big old garden plot I’ve been tarping for months. Anyhow I was thinking about weed management and planing a strategy when this video showed up in my feed. Thanks bro🙏
Hi from the UK :) with this kind of set up, I am wondering how the soil is replenished with nutrients, carbon and all the wonderful things you talk about in all your other videos? In my organic growing experience, if I don't enrich the soil after a heavy feeding crop, the following crop yield is noticeably smaller. Also, I can imagine the soil will start to compact overtime especially when all the organic matter is depleted. Something tells me that this method is for people who JUST want a solution to the weeds. My advice to anyone with a big plot of land is to start off small and only do what is manageable while keeping the rest of it mowed down like a lawn. This will enable to you compost (natures natural weed barrier) allowing you to have ample resources should you decide to expand your set up. There are a lot of resources online to help you overcome weed pressure in a natural way, the no till method being one. I guess the question is do you have the time/patience/will power to work with nature?
yes this is totally a setup for people that have no time or resources to do many of the methods that entail organic matter as mulches... this was not so much for beginners but for people thinking of expanding into a large or very large garden reminding them to have a plan... this setup will replenish with a combo of cover cropping and manure and compost teas
Great information this is a problem I have with my 30x40 garden. I'm looking for a way to work in conjunction with the weeds by planting native flowers that will benefit my garden if possible. Any information if you have any will be appreciated.
Every single video I add to my tool belt, even tho I’m currently backyard. Ur cardboard comment got me thinking tho…why aren’t cardboard recycling concerns creating a low cost (sold by rolls in various lengths) recycled landscape cardboard weed killer?
That’s really cool thinking with that conveyor belt pathway. That’s definitely going to do the trick. Also: what exactly do you mean by food security garden? Is this between hobby garden but not enough of a surplus to sell?
I love your video's and thanks for sharing your vast growing knowledge. But please consider triming that pinky nail, sorry it just reminds me of the 80's coke spoon fade. Keep up the good work..
There's a site, repurposed materials, that frequently has used conveyor belts.. some 50 bucks, some in the thousands and lots in between - occasionally with free shipping. my biggest weed problem is rhizome grass.. it goes everywhere.. the flowery weeds I don't mind nearly as much.
that sounds like a great site I'll have to check that out!!.... the rhizome grass can be a dream killer when it gets into the garden it can choke out everything!!...
when you have plenty of space its best to make the isles plenty wide and our conveyor belt was 4ft wide and the landscape fabric was 6ft so a foot was tucked under each side... the fabric is permeable so it lets rain through and with the ground covered like this it will always be moist even in a drought the soil a few inches under that conveyer belt will be moist
I tried using straw as a mulch thia year to stop the weeds. So it did, but now everytime it rains i got a million tiny slugs to destroy. I been using vinegar spray. Yes it burns the lettuces so i spray the trunk of the plants. The potatoes are fine. Any other ideas would let me know how you desl with it
Off topic for this video, but have watched just about all of your videos, love you. Looked at one on foliar spraying, left a question but probably too long ago for you to see it. So may I ask it here - Can I please ask about foliar spraying tomatoes?
thank you my friend!... yes you can foliar tomatoes if need be but tomatoes are one of the plants that really don't like anything on their leaves... but yes I foliar a few times a season with some fish fertilizer and a good AACT
Hi Nate, I would like to follow your technique as I transition to more "commercial" scale growing. I wonder, how do you then apply compost ? You take off the landscape and put it back everytime ? I know this is how they do it in Jadam way. Keep up the great work !
well in a more "commercial" type grow you'll want to do a one time initial tillage where you add lots of things like manure and wood ash or biochar or use the green manure method... then typically we would not have the coal mine conveyer belt you seen in this video we would just cover the entire growing area in landscape fabric including the walkways.... then you can simply roll back the landscape fabric and add the compost or manure each season then roll it back out... if its nutrient dense enough you can go a couple seasons without applying anything at all.... we should discuss this Saturday during the livestream
Oh boy, this video was timely! Question: If I plant a cover crop (clover) in the winter, does it reduce the weeds coming up in the spring? (Spring is just now starting up here by Yosemite, because we still have snowbanks from the 12' we got this winter.)
yes it will reduce the weeds until you cut the cover crop... the weed seeds remain viable in the soil for years sometimes decades until the conditions are right then they sprout!!... but still yes a cover crop definitely helps reduce weed pressure
unfortunately weed seeds can stay dormant in the soil for many years sometimes a decade or more until the conditions are right to sprout... this method is for a very busy family that has no time for weeding and not enough compost to do anything with so this setup is the maximum food output for the minimum work input
Nate, a question for you. If you compare covering the soil with landscaping fabric with holes compared to cardboard with holes, would you consider them the same? Or would you suggest that the landscaping fabric is better because it 'breathes'?
the main advantage to cardboard is that its biodegradable... if you have access to enough cardboard then I say use that instead... it will breath plenty enough and the plants will love how moist it keeps them... for a garden of this scale there's no way we're finding enough cardboard and it would be very difficult to hold it all down... the fabric is "better" only because its easier to work with and can be purchased in bulk easily...
Yes, yes, yes. I am not an uptight gardener; I thought, "I don't mind the look of a couple weeds, it's not so bad, etc." Even with raised beds, making a larger scale garden the weeds just multiple more than I even imagined. And more weeds brings more bugs. I underestimated the weeds and the toll it would take. It is my #1 regret and the hardest lesson I have learned. Mulch/cardboard did not cut it when I started producing on a larger scale. I will never start another bed without a real weed plan in place.
You know what I love about this, you don’t let perfection get in the way of good enough. It’s all about progress. And using what’s available. Slowly, slowly we improve. It’s a marathon.
Interesting perspective and great choice of words.
You are so right. I gave up gardening about five years ago because of the damn weeds! I am 75 years old, and I’ve tried many methods of gardening, but I’m now using a modified Ruth stout method with cardboard and whatever mulch I can get such as hay, wood chips, leaves, And compost. Don’t let the weeds make you give up! You can be successful!
I feel, most people, see a nice garden, and have no idea how much work/planning goes into it.
Wisdom is what works !!
If you are a new gardener listen to every word this man says. He described my experience to a T. One year I mowed it all down because of weeks. Those dang weeds grew so fast and lush. If I didn't stay on top of them every week it became overwhelming pretty quick. The next year I put mulch on top of weed fabric and it made a big mess over the next two years. I wish I had prepared my garden like a viking 5 years ago - I would be so much further along. I'm not a fan of cardboard because it's a trip hazard with no easy way to hold it down.
Those damn weeds are the source of so much food for local wildlife. If you were to sit quietly in a garden you would soon see tiny insects feeding, including those you need to fertilize your fruit flowers, they in turn are food for birds, and so on up the chain.
a word from n favor of cardboard: it's like ringing a dinner bell for earthworms - they love it!
@@helenamcginty4920 beautifully said. I have found that the herbs that come up as weeds are magically and usually exactly what I need for healing. And as Nate says- they are what the soil needs. Nature is magnificent 🌴
Just curious. So what did you do that works?
@@helenamcginty4920 Yes weeds do feed the wildlife, but there is no shortage of weeds in nature. The person you responded to is trying to grow food in a garden. What do you suggest, that they sit quietly and starve to death while watching the insects and bugs eat the precious weeds. SMH. Get real.
I expand my garden each year. Thanks for all the knowledge to help us gardeners to keep getting better.
Saying hello from Townsville North Queensland Australia. I have come across your channel on utube and have been binge watching all your videos 😊 so awesome and thankyou
welcome to the channel my friend!
Yea man super important to work with what you got. I’ve got a few raised beds made out of things that were gonna get thrown away that I got for free that I filled with logs and dirt and now grow food in that feeds my family.
You are correct, without a doubt. It can get away from you in the blink of an eye!
Thank God its here! Amazing how fast I gathered enough weeds to make the Jadam Fert. I already used it to try starting one of my wifes plants. Even in the cooler temps it was bubbling after a few days. Biochars almost ready. You helped me prepare in time. Almost free. I have paid for Buckets, Fish, Brown Sugar, Unsulfured Molasses, Milk, Charcoal, Mason Jars, and My Business cards came today. Big Wes's Lawn Care is Ready to Fix Stuff Right. I can't wait to makeover a lawn.
🇨🇦👊🏻👨🏻🏭⚡💖🙏
🍁♻️🍁⚖😉👌🏻
wow brother I'm getting excited just hearing you speak of this!!... I wish you full success this year!!...
Yes! I didn't like the idea of using the landscaping fabric here. But I am using some now, along with a bunch of wood chips in all pathways.Such a huge difference!
I lay down newspaper on my garden when it’s wet, it’s easy to tear and lay around your plants and keeps your garden moist and weed free
A BIG THANK YOU to you NATE!
Yes even in my small garden, the weeds are trying to take over.
Also chop and drop the weeds, and use the grass cuttings.
We have what is called cattle grass. It's very difficult to get rid of, it is very invasive, and the ground is very hard, so I am using saw dust and wood shavings for in-between the beds.
I am going to be spending my time this winter building up the soil with autumn 🍂🍁 leaves, and what ever I can find, and to use the many soil amendment video Ideas of yours of course.
There is a dump in the complex, with tons of piled up grass cuttings, leaves, and tree branches. At the bottom it is broken down beautifully, and is a pitch black and lovely stuff.
Hardwork, but if you want the fruits of your efforts, gardening is and can be challenging. But I am not about to give up. Learning by doing!
In December it will be two years of starting a new garden from scratch.
Last autumn, our grandson helped me gather bags of Maple 🍁 leaves, from a nearby park. My husband and grandson kindly built a wooden pallet compost box, from free pallets, given to us. So will be adding more autumn leaves 🍁 to fill it up again.
There is an empty plot in the complex, and there is a tall Maple tree growing in our neighbors yard, bordering the wall high 🧱 in between the two properties. The wind blows leaves into the empty plot, so
I have been raking up the fallen leaves, in bringing to our garden, using the lawn mower to chop leaves up.
THANK YOU again Nate, Our "Garden like a Viking" man, for some more awesome and great ideas, as demonstrated in this video.
❤💚🍁🍂🌿👍🇿🇦
How to stop weeds : 1. Don't till 2. Don't use chemical fertilizer 3. Don't use pesticides 4. Get soil fungal to bacteria to 50/50. I don't get any weeds in my garden. The only thing close to a weed that will grow in my garden is grass.
This has always been my problem!!!
I am so jelli of those BIG gardens, I wish I had gardens that big to grow food in
yes me too!... when I left this garden installation project I left a piece of my heart there!!
Congratulations on 70k subscribers 🎉
I wish I had this problem as my garden is like a postage stamp compared to that amazing piece of land.
lol I literally laughed out loud at the image of a postage stamp garden!!
Mine too Graeme 🧡
I love this. Work with what you have available even if it isn’t perfect bc manageable is so much more important than perfect!!
My main garden is a 36×30 plot. Most of it is in raised beds. I mulched the walkways and in ground flower beds. I also re-edge the perimeter once a year to keep grass and other weeds from creeping into it. The edging works so well!
sounds like a great setup!!
Thank you my friend. What a great video! I like it that you’re realistic about using what is available, but perhaps not optimal, to grow food. Because growing food is the main point! My gardening spirit broke 12 years ago. It took 9 years for it to heal. The weeds didn’t break me, but the amount of failure did. I’m planting more, learning more and accepting that I will have failures. That acceptance is making my successes that much sweeter.
I am so happy you see it my friend!!... the whole point is to use what's available to grow maximum amount of food!!
Another great video my friend! I've been mulching with pine straw and pine needles to combat weeds. It's worked well for several years and no drawbacks from my experience. Pine needles take a long time to break down and I have an abundance. Any weeds that manage to grow through and havent gone to seed are used for fertilizer.
thats a great system and pretty much what I use myself except I use deciduous leaves as mulch
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 my very 1st garden plot, I tilled a 20'x50'. I thought since I could grow indoor "herb" that it would be a piece of cake. Only things that survived was some speckled bibb, and the weeds😂
😞. BTW. What's sa speckled bibb? Bird?🤣
it happens to so many a well intentioned gardener!!
Thats the learning curve.. wecall have been there..
@@smas3256 a type of lettuce 😁
I am lucky to have a great neighbor who I get my hay from for overwintering my cattle, sheep and hogs. The latter generate a lot of waste hay that becomes a time release mulch. As das as the hay goes I get many years ago I adapted the Ruth Stout method of using hay as a mulch. A continuous mulch and follow her advise for how much to use: MORE she said. It’s amazing how much it will rot down in a year so refer back to rule number 1- MORE! Slowly but surely the hard pack clay below transforms to a very rich topsoil with all the fungi and other soil microbes at work. It will not keep everything at bay weed wise but 80% or better is a good guess. That really comes in play when you spreads like melons a squash spread way out. I am at an unfair advantage over most of your viewers in that I get large rounds bales (old mulch quality ) at 1200 to 1400 lbs at a good price. Disadvantage mainly is that you have to work harder to part the soil surface to plant and it significantly delays soil warm up.
How do you manage hay seeds?
My favorite quotes for this one: The end of eternity, weeds have the home "field" advantage. I love the conveyor belts !
I have to weed every day to feed the rabbits.
I am looking into getting a larger garden plot so appreciate the info!
I think I was just saved from making a huge mistake. Thank you
I’m diggin those conveyer belts 👍🏻
weird question: I was gone a month and the weeds blew up. Ironically it saved my garden by holding water around the plants, and providing shade. And a lot of the "weeds" we're medicinal. What up with that, brother?
Later: I WILL LEARN TO TRUST YOU one of these days! You've answered all my questions by the end of the video. Thanks, bro
Thanks for this. It explains why I’ve got weeds coming up in my weed blockers.
You’re the best Nate
Looks great - definitely good advice for a big plot. My small allotment plot was covered in cardboard, hay, and a layer of bark and weeds still came up through it but at least 90% were kept at bay so it was managable.
yes definitely for smaller plots its much easier to manage them but for this plot its totally out of the question! lol... there's three gardens the size of this one!
My plot is 40' x 250' I use pine needles mixed with leaves and then throw grass clippings on throughout the summer, works pretty good still some stragglers but nothing crazy
that is my biggest battle is weeds and time. Thank You!!!
I like the way it turned out.❤😊
Weeds haven't broken my spirit, but bring me joy, blessings and FOOD. For free, and without any effort. Just a bit of chop and drop to keep them in check, and give your sown crops a bit of room.
Can you do a video on electric gardening? Also, how do you keep your soil healthy in cloth bags after a few years of use? I just found you this weekend and am so excited about learning to create healthy soil your very good teacher. You keep it simple for me to understand :) From Canada Zone 3
Electric gardening is nonsense. But don’t believe me, go to any nursery, or any farm, and see if people making their living by growing plants are doing it.
If you haven’t already seen soil microbiologist Christine Jones from Australia you will appreciate her work & reseach. Many of her videos are on GreenCover
Cardboard, occasional bricks, heavy pots on top of the cardboard. And hot water to kill the weeds. I boil two large pots very early in the morning (it gets hot inside after that), and pour where I need it the most. Down side of hot water, it kills good bugs and worms. I just do it occasionally.
Yes no till with mulch or straw is working great!
Thanks for your wish of success
My grandmother was a master at keeping a weed free garden. She would go out after breakfast and spend 10-15 mins with a two pronged hoe and flip little weed seeds out of the ground, after lunch another 10 mins, after dinner another few mins. If you keep up with it, it's manageable. I choose a different method as I sometimes have to leave town for a week at a time.
if you have the time yes this is the way!
Good information.
Thank you!
Good show, cheers Nate
Awesome 😎
GreetNs🙌🏽
Nate U R pure awesomeness.
I did my 5 applications of potato slurry prior 2 plantN N my garden.
Prior 2 applyN the slurry, I addD cow manure and tilled the earth. I startD plantN N the ground this Monday, and have been seeing a great amount of worms.
I know that the manure and the potatoe slurry has made a significant difference N this Texas hard rock clay dirt.
I break N2 a happy dance every time I see 👀 the wormies moveN around💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾, lol
I know that I speak 4 prolly every1 that watches U when I say that U R so loveD, respectD, and appreciateD.
Thank U 4 all U do 4 humanity.
Peace/blessNs my friend💚✊🏾
How do you amend the soil after it’s been covered? Does the cover have to come off every year Amd reapplied?
I'm outside everyday I normally do a chop and drop or I'll collect for rabbit food . It's been good work out for me 😅. I'm about to put down my cover crops now to help keep out the weeds . I guess if you growing in such a big plot it be good to try it out . I'm thinking about redoing my strawberry plants like that wondering if they do better that way I hate pulling the weeds out in them .
Thank you, very much.
Rock on
Having enough room between the rows to run a front tine rototiller between the plants helps greatly especially if you do it once a week and turn under the weeds that comes up
Thank you...
That's why I like my raised beds that are on 36" tall legs. No stooping to pick weeds.
I’ve been cultivating with a wheel hoe, planting cover crops for about three years. Ou garden is about 5000 sf. The seed bank has been reduced dramatically. This year I’m using landscape fabric to try and reduce the work load. Thanks for reinforcing my thoughts and sharing your thoughts.
thank you for sharing your experience my friend!
I went from 20 square meters and pulling weeds with my hand to renting 500 square meters im also using quite the landscaping fabric but after seeing this methode i might also use it on my beds itself with holes for transplants. For now im using it in my pathways with wood on top for nice looking pathways :)
I love weeds, especially lamb's quarters, purslane and chickweed, perfect covers/shade providers and keeps moisture in soil and also they are all yummie :)
I also started eating wintercress (a bunch just popped up in my yard in the fall), miner's lettuce, purple dead nettle.
But the subject of the video is ridding of weeds while growing crops. Yes, we all know some weeds are beneficial to some circumstances.
Just found your channel and subscribed.
Began gardening in earnest when Covid took my business. Started out using typical crap at the big box stores, and have now gone the other way with no external input.
Got a decent microscope, make my own hot compost, leaf mold, several worm bins, make my own fertilizers and just recently discovered the benefits of LAB.
Last year I established perennial cover crops in 3 of my beds, to keep living roots in the soil over the winter. Not only did I have little weed pressure, but it saved those beds from jumping worms.
Normally, I mulch heavily with shredded leaves and compost, as I do with my Ruth Stout potato/onion bed. Well my Ruth Stout bed was taken over by jumping worms last year, harvested a weak potato/sweet potato crop. Have to change the way I garden in that bed.
I have a small channel you might find interesting. Have several videos on jumping worms, their identification, prevention and hopefully a control. Just click on the orange B and it will take you to my channel.
Stay Well!!!
My concern has been creating anaerobic conditions in the soil under the landscape fabric or whatever.
totally going to try and do this. i have alot of garden beds and a day job need to control those weeds for sure thx
Thank you! Simple and efficient. 😊
Been there, Done that my Brother, and you speak the truth.
Thank you. That conveyor belt can withstand some heavy winds. I need hundreds of garden staples for my plastics and still wind is tearing them up
YES!.. thats a huge issue with the fabric and another great advantage of the conveyor belt its so incredibly heavy!
Great ideas! And great way to use what you have available to you! Thank you for help with weeds....my garden was all weeds when I moved in a few years ago and have been fighting them since.
I guess for large gardens these days that'd be the easiest way to go. When I grew up (back in the 70's) a neighbor up the street had maybe 2/3 acre in which they used a kerosene torch to burn away the weeds between rows. It sure seemed effective to me.
I'm not planning on anything that large though.
lots of water then lots f cardboard. Bike shops have large-sized boxes of mainly clean cardboard but avoid shiny pictures, they never break down. I have clumps of heterostarches bamboo I cut down with a stihl chisel blade and run through a mulcher to cover the cardboard. I also have a raised septic evaporation pad I'm replanting with lemongrass that can be harvested as mulch cover. If I'm resting an area I can buy a few cheap spoilt hay bales that get spread a little and sit there till they're totally rotted and full of worms.
Awsome
My mother in law had a beautiful large garden 2 years ago...a lot of work/time...the deer ended up eating much of her crops..broke her spirit...she hasnt done it since.
That is intense .. wouldn’t that black surface make the soil underneath too hot for the plants in our Tennessee 100 degree days ?
no they will find the cool moist earth down below... this method actually works very well to keep the soil evenly moist... even in the driest drought the soil a few inches under that conveyer belt rubber will be nice and moist....
I would suggest everybody to make sure to cover the soil. If you can prevent sunlight to the soil then you won't have a weed problem.. of course that takes work too. But mulching has so many benefits. I see so many people tilling their soil. I will never in my lifetime ever till my soil again. Everytime I see someone tilling thier soil i cringe lol
Cardboard mulch is the only reason I still enjoy gardening. Weeding is my absolute least favourite thing to do and now i almost never have to do it
@Mady what is cardboard mulch?
And... cardboard is yummy feastings for you earthworms
Thank you for your information ! 👩🌾
Another good one. Thanks, Nate!
It was like you were watching me expand my garden a few days ago. I just used a friend’s bcs and I tilled up a big old garden plot I’ve been tarping for months. Anyhow I was thinking about weed management and planing a strategy when this video showed up in my feed. Thanks bro🙏
Hi from the UK :) with this kind of set up, I am wondering how the soil is replenished with nutrients, carbon and all the wonderful things you talk about in all your other videos? In my organic growing experience, if I don't enrich the soil after a heavy feeding crop, the following crop yield is noticeably smaller. Also, I can imagine the soil will start to compact overtime especially when all the organic matter is depleted. Something tells me that this method is for people who JUST want a solution to the weeds. My advice to anyone with a big plot of land is to start off small and only do what is manageable while keeping the rest of it mowed down like a lawn. This will enable to you compost (natures natural weed barrier) allowing you to have ample resources should you decide to expand your set up. There are a lot of resources online to help you overcome weed pressure in a natural way, the no till method being one. I guess the question is do you have the time/patience/will power to work with nature?
yes this is totally a setup for people that have no time or resources to do many of the methods that entail organic matter as mulches... this was not so much for beginners but for people thinking of expanding into a large or very large garden reminding them to have a plan... this setup will replenish with a combo of cover cropping and manure and compost teas
Great information this is a problem I have with my 30x40 garden. I'm looking for a way to work in conjunction with the weeds by planting native flowers that will benefit my garden if possible. Any information if you have any will be appreciated.
Every single video I add to my tool belt, even tho I’m currently backyard. Ur cardboard comment got me thinking tho…why aren’t cardboard recycling concerns creating a low cost (sold by rolls in various lengths) recycled landscape cardboard weed killer?
thats a great question!!... cardboard is fantastic so long as you can replace it and have a lot of it!
The Steve Irwin of Gardening!
That’s really cool thinking with that conveyor belt pathway. That’s definitely going to do the trick. Also: what exactly do you mean by food security garden? Is this between hobby garden but not enough of a surplus to sell?
I love your video's and thanks for sharing your vast growing knowledge. But please consider triming that pinky nail, sorry it just reminds me of the 80's coke spoon fade. Keep up the good work..
lol... but its just so useful to have a long nail!!
There's a site, repurposed materials, that frequently has used conveyor belts.. some 50 bucks, some in the thousands and lots in between - occasionally with free shipping.
my biggest weed problem is rhizome grass.. it goes everywhere.. the flowery weeds I don't mind nearly as much.
that sounds like a great site I'll have to check that out!!.... the rhizome grass can be a dream killer when it gets into the garden it can choke out everything!!...
@@gardenlikeaviking their prices aren't always the best but they have some cool stuff.
🙏🙏🙏♥️🙂👍Good tips
Good morning my friend. Will one or more of your concoctions stop plants from damping off of seeds sown directly into garden soil ?
This might deter feral cats 🐈 from making deposits in the garden ! Thanks
I would call that the 3 bears method.
Perfect timing. How did you determine the aisle width? What would a minimum width be and how will these plots get watered?
when you have plenty of space its best to make the isles plenty wide and our conveyor belt was 4ft wide and the landscape fabric was 6ft so a foot was tucked under each side... the fabric is permeable so it lets rain through and with the ground covered like this it will always be moist even in a drought the soil a few inches under that conveyer belt will be moist
I tried using straw as a mulch thia year to stop the weeds. So it did, but now everytime it rains i got a million tiny slugs to destroy. I been using vinegar spray. Yes it burns the lettuces so i spray the trunk of the plants. The potatoes are fine. Any other ideas would let me know how you desl with it
My first thought is put it in the ground. Comment to follow...........
good enough!
What if we found food crops which grew like weeds? Sure they won't taste great but it might be less work.
Off topic for this video, but have watched just about all of your videos, love you. Looked at one on foliar spraying, left a question but probably too long ago for you to see it. So may I ask it here - Can I please ask about foliar spraying tomatoes?
thank you my friend!... yes you can foliar tomatoes if need be but tomatoes are one of the plants that really don't like anything on their leaves... but yes I foliar a few times a season with some fish fertilizer and a good AACT
Hi Nate, I would like to follow your technique as I transition to more "commercial" scale growing. I wonder, how do you then apply compost ? You take off the landscape and put it back everytime ? I know this is how they do it in Jadam way. Keep up the great work !
well in a more "commercial" type grow you'll want to do a one time initial tillage where you add lots of things like manure and wood ash or biochar or use the green manure method... then typically we would not have the coal mine conveyer belt you seen in this video we would just cover the entire growing area in landscape fabric including the walkways.... then you can simply roll back the landscape fabric and add the compost or manure each season then roll it back out... if its nutrient dense enough you can go a couple seasons without applying anything at all.... we should discuss this Saturday during the livestream
Thanks, make sense !@@gardenlikeaviking
Oh boy, this video was timely! Question: If I plant a cover crop (clover) in the winter, does it reduce the weeds coming up in the spring? (Spring is just now starting up here by Yosemite, because we still have snowbanks from the 12' we got this winter.)
yes it will reduce the weeds until you cut the cover crop... the weed seeds remain viable in the soil for years sometimes decades until the conditions are right then they sprout!!... but still yes a cover crop definitely helps reduce weed pressure
@@gardenlikeaviking Thank you!
Did they have irrigation under the fabric?
no they do not need them here
How do you fertilize when most of the soil is covered?
in the same way... the fabric is permeable and allows water and air to pass through...
???QUESTION...What ounce weight of woven poly weed barrier was put down, 3.2 or 5.3oz? thanks
always always get the 5.3oz...
🙏
Can they eventually remove the plastic and just compost to keep the weeds suppressed?
unfortunately weed seeds can stay dormant in the soil for many years sometimes a decade or more until the conditions are right to sprout... this method is for a very busy family that has no time for weeding and not enough compost to do anything with so this setup is the maximum food output for the minimum work input
???QUESTION... Is LABS all that necessary if making JMS to use on soil and applying to compost pile building? thanks
LABS will always help to break things down much faster... but its not a necessity especially if you're using JMS thats the main ingredient you need
I can get sawdust almost free. Usually oak. If I put it on top, and don't till it in, is that OK?
yes that can be effective but you'll want to be sure you are applying additional sources of nitrogen such as the liquid fertilizers from this channel
What is a cover crop for ?
ua-cam.com/video/CIKaZVDbIXY/v-deo.html
Nate, a question for you. If you compare covering the soil with landscaping fabric with holes compared to cardboard with holes, would you consider them the same? Or would you suggest that the landscaping fabric is better because it 'breathes'?
the main advantage to cardboard is that its biodegradable... if you have access to enough cardboard then I say use that instead... it will breath plenty enough and the plants will love how moist it keeps them... for a garden of this scale there's no way we're finding enough cardboard and it would be very difficult to hold it all down... the fabric is "better" only because its easier to work with and can be purchased in bulk easily...
Earthworms love that yummy cardboard.