Hey Danielle!! Yeah, it's strange to see all that being turned into worm food, but we keep the best looking ones for salads and our favorite, fermented radishes!! Oh and of course there's Kimchi too!! :)
We've been using the chop and drop radish technique here in southern AZ for years. Works great for soil building. Only real difference is that we start our beds with a hugle base layer. After the initial radish round we dump in our leaf litter compost, burying the radish greens, and plant nitrogen fixers. We've experimented with planting clover (also a nitrogen fixer) with the radishes too. The large amount of cover from the radishes protect the shade loving clover. After two years we end up with tons of worms and mushrooms (from the hugle). Then we plant freely. Though we chop, drop, and bury everything going forward still. Every year the soil improves with this technique. We spent many years fighting the AZ "soil" and found this to be best. Though we typically use sunken beds (to limit evaporation losses). Also, we found that running the long beds N-S, with trees planted between, help protect the beds from the harsh/hot afternoon West sun we have and the dappled shade the rest of the day gives us a wider planting range. You have to space out the beds a bit further though. - But yes, can confirm that this technique works great here.
Great notes here for everyone. Love the idea of interplanting clover. We tried to get clover in these beds also, but we obviously made the mistake of planting them at the same time with no shade to benefit from. Need to use this technique next time. Thanks for sharing!!!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm - They really struggle with the sun initially but once established they are good to go. Our method is to do an early spring radish planting and then transplant wild clover in. The already native varieties do well here. By the time the clover are ready to really do their thing the radishes will be tall enough to protect them.
Thanks for giving the wildlife a mention and credit the bees for the continuous hard work they do - glorious bees, where would we be without their assistance!
Oh so true Pam. We were just watching Killdeer birds wandering around the garden beds yesterday and Lori had never seen them before. I imagine we'll have a lot more wildlife that you don't normally see around here as we go. Love those bees!!
Thanks Duane, as you and Lori develop the site no doubt more and more wildlife, especially birds will be attracted. Loved the video with the large Condor-type birds enjoying the trough of water. Well done!
Glad you're enjoying the content and finding it useful. We have some unique growing conditions and challenges, so we're hoping we can encourage everyone out there to do the same.
Thanks for a great demonstration on a really inventive method of enriching desert soil! Not quite in your area but we're your neighbors over here in NM and my soil is quite similar to yours. My hubs and I had the amazing fortune to own our own property and this year I plan on crafting my first garden; I was a bit forlorn as my whole yard looks like your starter soil, but after digging through my seed stash and finding purple daikon radish seeds my brother gifted me, you've given me hope!! (and I just so happen to have an abundance of eggshells and coffee grounds. c; )
It sounds like you have the makings of some wonderful garden soil in the future. The daikon is pretty forgiving as a crop and can do well in a variety of soils. The key is timing on when you plant it as they don't do well in hot weather. That being said, the beds you're seeing here are by far our most productive and the soil life is incredible.
That worm idea is brilliant! I might be struggling with temps in my worm bin so I may drill large holes in the bottom and set it in my soil. May give them better temps along with spreading them around
Hi you two 😊 been too busy working to watch but I finally had a day to watch and caught another one of your super informative videos. Keep up the great work. You are so patient 👌
We were really surprised to see how big those wound up getting. Can't imagine how deep they would grow if they didn't have hardware cloth to contend with a foot down!
Cool video! I’m in Tucson here in Arizona and I feel like there’s actually a surprising amount of plant life that thrives here, not just desert cactus and plants but vegetables and fruit trees. Thanks for your video! Cool channel! I’m following!
Hey there in Tucson! Oh yes, it's just amazing the variety of foods we can produce with a little TLC here in AZ. Our seasons are a bit different and we have some unique challenges, but once we figure those out the desert just explodes with life!!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I honestly think we can grow just about anything outdoors in the Phoenix area. It's just a matter of adding inputs and reducing what we have too much of (sun, heat).
Okra is good for this: it LOVES heat, will grow in almost any soil and has a massive root system. The pods are very popular - high value veggie crop. Leaves ans stems are edible. Slice them off at the base after the first frost and let the huge root system rot in place.
Thanks for that suggestion. It's a great option that we're considering for the Spring beds on the other side of the garden area along with cowpeas. The beds you're seeing here are our Fall planting beds, hence the daikon being cut down and covered to rot in place and make things ready for Fall.
G'day guys. Sounds like it was windier than a baked bean eating competition that day. :-D Seriously though, great planning with those beds. Looking forward to seeing how productive they will be in the future.
Hey there Daz! We've really seen a lot of heavy winds over the last few weeks. The trees and plants are just taking a real beating, but it leaves them that much tougher if they can survive!
Hey there Daniel! We were actually a little surprised with how well the daikon did over the winter. We may try them here in the spring as well to see if we can do the same for the spring beds into next year.
Yeah, we've found the key is pliability in the soil. It's one of the reasons we like growing in the Sandy Loam soil we get from Pioneer. It's completely dead from a biological standpoint, but the structure is on point.
Awesome video. I wish this info was available when I was a kid. I had no idea how to turn the dead desert dirt in my backyard in Las Vegas into soil. I live in a more fertile place now but I will always regret not understanding why trees grew but vegetables didn't.
Soil fertility is key everywhere, but much like you're saying, it's more difficult to achieve in the desert. Of course, having some fertility already there definitely gives you a jumpstart!
I have grown plenty of daikon. Those are pretty big👍🏼.. I will probably order some of your seeds..I have almost completely replaced potatoes with them.. They are so good for you.. you must eat a few at least.. The seed pods are very very good at this stage..stir fry them in butter.. the leaves are very good in salads.. they smell horrible when they are composting.. like way bad😷😬.
Great to hear we're not the only ones who enjoy growing these. I had heard the seed pods were good the way you're describing. We did keep several of the smaller roots that we're going to ferment. You're right on with your estimation of them being good for you. All that mineral content they pull from the soil to grow like that makes them a mineral powerhouse. Not to mention Kimchi, oh the Kimchi! You said you're replacing potatoes with these. Is that straight up? Cooked, mashed, etc?
Miss you guys. Hope you’re well and enjoying your break from posting. Overall, how are you enjoying those beds? What kind of critters burrowed under your cinder blocks? I love that you used the Daikon to mine nutrients. Have you considered using blue bonnets and or dandelions to grow to do similar jobs?
Hey there! Yes, we had a much needed break from everything and are back at it. The only thing we have found with the beds is the openings in the bricks are hard to plug with material. The ABC was just removed by the ground squirrels, so we changed that to 3/4" granite which seems to be doing better. We haven't used dandelion or blue bonnet, but the combination of daikon and cow peas seems to be doing wonders for these beds as the soil starts to age a bit.
Hi guys! Fantastic video. Thank you for showing us how to enrich our soil in raised beds in AZ. Just out of curiosity, any chance you can provide mineral results of your soil test? (I know it is best to test our own soil:)
Great question Laura. We did a Community post with the results a while back, so I'll see if I can link that here for you; ua-cam.com/users/postUgxqq0Av7JWXIi_xYVp4AaABCQ
We were surprised how well they did also G M. I'm not sure if that pot can seed all of them, but we figure if we can at least get 1 bed up and running they will eventually find all of them. We're finding that in the pome fruit orchard where there are worms under the mulch even though there has never been a pot near the irrigation rings.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm You probably have a natural colony on your land and they gravitate towards those trees. Maybe you can transplant some to other areas.
@@gm2407 you must be right about that. We noticed worms on the deck behind the outbuilding after our last heavy rains, so they definitely go on the move with the rain.
Great questions Jim. Yes, they will send up new shoots from the intact roots which we'll knock back as we see them. We do use some of the smaller roots for salads and our favorite, fermented radishes. Eventually all of the material will compost down and become a permanent part of the beds.
I have never seen this soil building method, have you save a couple of the daikon radish for your own consumption. Or for the pigs? The worms will have a daikon party for sure😄
We save a few for us, but the rest stayed in the bed for the worms. The pigs will eat the radish greens, but they weren't interested in the roots if you can believe it. That's one of only a few items I haven't seen them just chomp down!
I was looking for daikon recipes and came across your soil building technique. I’m going to pass this on to some friends in SW NM , it might help with their new farming techniques. Let me know if you have any favorite daikon recipes :)
Hey there Mike. This crop has really been a boon for our soil fertility here on the farm. We've done this twice now and have seen tremendous success with the soil life so far!
Glad you found us! We did a detail on the install for these a while back. I'll link the episode for you here; ua-cam.com/video/X2AMzm8p9r8/v-deo.html Any other questions, just shoot them over!
The issue with Brassicas, Radishes, is they don't harbor Mycorrhizae fungi, try interplanting with a legume, inoculated, as it fixes N, and Mycro. The radishes germinate a bit to quickly, so plant the legumes 3-5 days earlier, we tend to do to much mono-culture, and miss the benefits.
We're still getting our feet wet with this, but the challenge we're trying to overcome is cover for our Winter beds. We need to grow in late Winter/Early spring and chop now, just when legumes are getting going.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm plant cow peas, vetch, sunflowers, about now, they thrive in heat, I'm not cutting my corn stalks this year, planted, vetch cow peas, let them climb the stalks, but make sure you get inoculant, Peaceful Valley sells a blend, as if fixes N, Diakon, Brassicas don't, as well the Mycros grow, with legumes. The vetch is cool weather loving, but the shading helps in several ways, doesn't cook the chips/soil, and vetch has. C/N ratio 15/1, better than Alfalfa, and better N fixer, air is about 80% N, so the only N I use is at planting, use 46-0-0 it gets the legumes up, cow peas, 1 week, 4" and then the nodules take over. Look up Gabe Brown, Regenerative Farming, I toured his farm, put my opinions on a shelf, learned so much, I needed to see it, his presentation were just too good to be true, but I saw it, and now believe, yes it even works here. I'm just 1/2 acre, if I want to farm, I go sit in equipment on our family farm in Sask. Canada, 12 SQ miles, not all aerable land, but always a piece usually a section in a fallow, cover crop, they used to dairy also, now rent it out in the fall to a sheep, boar goat guy to grass feed finish, and then they plant lentils, or oats usually get rolled oats grade, that's why they fallow/cover crop, they pay 3X of regular oats, so I watch, listen learn, end old retired guys learn too.
We didn't put anything under the soil in these beds. There is hardware cloth down there to line the bottom to keep the gophers out, but nothing else. Couldn't believe how well these did in that raw soil mix.
You must plant "Chrysopogon zizanioides" Grass for building soil thier roots go 5 to 7 feet.. Not sure about financial aspects in Arizona but it's very good for creating soil.. It help to hold water and create lots of micro climate under soil.. Common name of grass is "vetiver" At least plant it in unused part of land it's Hardy
Oh yes, we've had several folks suggest vetiver grass. We may incorporate that on the back of the property where we will not have regular irrigation to see if we can get it to take for our goats and sheep.
Hey Michaela!! We're fans of sweet potatoes as well and need to use them more often. So very versatile and the roots sure taste a lot better than these!!
Oh man, that is tough. We don't have fire ants here in AZ, so I really wouldn't know how to direct you on that. We've used Amdro in the past to knock down carpenter ants, but I wouldn't use that close to where you're going to grow plants. Boy, that's a tough one.
Hey Wild Cat. It's true, that Caliche is tough. We see it everywhere from around 2' and then on down. However, that high mineral content is fantastic for plants and trees. The daikon you're seeing here can easily reach down that far pushing through that hard layer and bringing those minerals to the surface and into the plant for us to consume. All that being said, it's is a real pain when you're trying to dig a hole for a tree or anything else for that matter!
Where do you get wood chips from in the desert? I live in the desert (Luna County, New Mexico) and the only native trees on my land are honey mesquites and Acacias.
Hey Karen. We use Chip Drop to find the arborists that deliver to us out here. They match arborists with gardeners to keep wood chips from going to the landfill.
Glad you enjoyed this one Yogesh. We bought these on Amazon and I think we have them listed under seeds in our Amazon shop. I'll link it for you here; amzn.to/38DO2pS
I didn't see the answer to this question in the comments, but I'm watching this in 2022 and was wondering when you planted out the daikon seeds. It's the end of Novmber now. Am I too late?
Great question T S. The plan is to have this bed ready to go in September for our fall/winter garden. I suppose we could harvest those in time, but we're trying to see if we will have enough soil fertility with the chop and drop (and manure) alone to grow that winter garden without any fertilizer or additional amendments. To your point, we are going to test a few things in the spring/summer beds to see what we can do over the summer. Not sure if we'll include melons, but squash is a possibility.
Oh, the tree we have in the pot is a Moringa tree. We haven't figured out exactly where we want to have those in the ground here, so it's still waiting to be transplanted!
We do eat them when they're smaller. In fact, we started cutting these back for the Summer yesterday and harvested several for fermenting that were much smaller than what you're seeing in this episode!
My Chinese Auntie would be crying watching you cut all that daikon. "So good soup!" She’d say 🤣
Hey Danielle!! Yeah, it's strange to see all that being turned into worm food, but we keep the best looking ones for salads and our favorite, fermented radishes!! Oh and of course there's Kimchi too!! :)
Haha same.
We've been using the chop and drop radish technique here in southern AZ for years. Works great for soil building. Only real difference is that we start our beds with a hugle base layer. After the initial radish round we dump in our leaf litter compost, burying the radish greens, and plant nitrogen fixers. We've experimented with planting clover (also a nitrogen fixer) with the radishes too. The large amount of cover from the radishes protect the shade loving clover. After two years we end up with tons of worms and mushrooms (from the hugle). Then we plant freely. Though we chop, drop, and bury everything going forward still. Every year the soil improves with this technique. We spent many years fighting the AZ "soil" and found this to be best. Though we typically use sunken beds (to limit evaporation losses). Also, we found that running the long beds N-S, with trees planted between, help protect the beds from the harsh/hot afternoon West sun we have and the dappled shade the rest of the day gives us a wider planting range. You have to space out the beds a bit further though. - But yes, can confirm that this technique works great here.
Great notes here for everyone. Love the idea of interplanting clover. We tried to get clover in these beds also, but we obviously made the mistake of planting them at the same time with no shade to benefit from. Need to use this technique next time. Thanks for sharing!!!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm - They really struggle with the sun initially but once established they are good to go. Our method is to do an early spring radish planting and then transplant wild clover in. The already native varieties do well here. By the time the clover are ready to really do their thing the radishes will be tall enough to protect them.
@@ghosttheoremproductions5469 thanks for clarifying. That definitely makes sense!
Thanks for giving the wildlife a mention and credit the bees for the continuous hard work they do - glorious bees, where would we be without their assistance!
Oh so true Pam. We were just watching Killdeer birds wandering around the garden beds yesterday and Lori had never seen them before. I imagine we'll have a lot more wildlife that you don't normally see around here as we go. Love those bees!!
Thanks Duane, as you and Lori develop the site no doubt more and more wildlife, especially birds will be attracted. Loved the video with the large Condor-type birds enjoying the trough of water. Well done!
Wow those daikon plants were very happy! Thank you for the az gardening tips. You are much appreciated!
Glad you're finding these useful Jennifer. We'll keep the content coming!
Started following this channel to see how dessert farming is done and nice to see how soil is enriched from arid land.
Glad you're enjoying the content and finding it useful. We have some unique growing conditions and challenges, so we're hoping we can encourage everyone out there to do the same.
Thanks for a great demonstration on a really inventive method of enriching desert soil! Not quite in your area but we're your neighbors over here in NM and my soil is quite similar to yours. My hubs and I had the amazing fortune to own our own property and this year I plan on crafting my first garden; I was a bit forlorn as my whole yard looks like your starter soil, but after digging through my seed stash and finding purple daikon radish seeds my brother gifted me, you've given me hope!! (and I just so happen to have an abundance of eggshells and coffee grounds. c; )
It sounds like you have the makings of some wonderful garden soil in the future. The daikon is pretty forgiving as a crop and can do well in a variety of soils. The key is timing on when you plant it as they don't do well in hot weather. That being said, the beds you're seeing here are by far our most productive and the soil life is incredible.
That worm idea is brilliant! I might be struggling with temps in my worm bin so I may drill large holes in the bottom and set it in my soil. May give them better temps along with spreading them around
Hi you two 😊 been too busy working to watch but I finally had a day to watch and caught another one of your super informative videos. Keep up the great work. You are so patient 👌
Hey Jen!! How are you stranger? Always good to hear from old friends...old in the sense of knowing you for a while of course ;)
Awesome job, those Daikon were huge!
We were really surprised to see how big those wound up getting. Can't imagine how deep they would grow if they didn't have hardware cloth to contend with a foot down!
Holy cow! Those are yuuuuuuge!
Hey Chet!! I know, they're insanely huge. Can only imagine how far down these would dig if it weren't for the hardware cloth in these beds.
Cool video! I’m in Tucson here in Arizona and I feel like there’s actually a surprising amount of plant life that thrives here, not just desert cactus and plants but vegetables and fruit trees. Thanks for your video! Cool channel! I’m following!
Hey there in Tucson! Oh yes, it's just amazing the variety of foods we can produce with a little TLC here in AZ. Our seasons are a bit different and we have some unique challenges, but once we figure those out the desert just explodes with life!!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I honestly think we can grow just about anything outdoors in the Phoenix area. It's just a matter of adding inputs and reducing what we have too much of (sun, heat).
@@JohnPritzlaff we're finding that is definitely the case.
Thank you for this video. Its exactly what I had in mind for my garden. And its nice to see a demonstration. Much appreciated!
Glad you enjoyed this and found it useful. We've done this a few times in these beds and the soil gets better each time!
So much respect! Great job!
Thank you so much!!
Love this!
Glad you enjoyed this one Gladimir. Not exactly the fun, flashy content, but it's essential for building healthy soil!
Okra is good for this: it LOVES heat, will grow in almost any soil and has a massive root system.
The pods are very popular - high value veggie crop. Leaves ans stems are edible.
Slice them off at the base after the first frost and let the huge root system rot in place.
Thanks for that suggestion. It's a great option that we're considering for the Spring beds on the other side of the garden area along with cowpeas. The beds you're seeing here are our Fall planting beds, hence the daikon being cut down and covered to rot in place and make things ready for Fall.
Yeah, where I live the ground is just sand and old sea silt. Okra is the only thing I've found that actually thrives in it.
I love all your creating soil videos
Glad you are enjoying those and finding them useful!
G'day guys.
Sounds like it was windier than a baked bean eating competition that day. :-D
Seriously though, great planning with those beds. Looking forward to seeing how productive they will be in the future.
Hey there Daz! We've really seen a lot of heavy winds over the last few weeks. The trees and plants are just taking a real beating, but it leaves them that much tougher if they can survive!
Great info, I’m going to try this and thank you for sharing.
Hey there Daniel! We were actually a little surprised with how well the daikon did over the winter. We may try them here in the spring as well to see if we can do the same for the spring beds into next year.
Wow! I just pulled a Daikon from my garden it was about 3" long and I thought that was big.
Yeah, we've found the key is pliability in the soil. It's one of the reasons we like growing in the Sandy Loam soil we get from Pioneer. It's completely dead from a biological standpoint, but the structure is on point.
Awesome video. I wish this info was available when I was a kid. I had no idea how to turn the dead desert dirt in my backyard in Las Vegas into soil. I live in a more fertile place now but I will always regret not understanding why trees grew but vegetables didn't.
Soil fertility is key everywhere, but much like you're saying, it's more difficult to achieve in the desert. Of course, having some fertility already there definitely gives you a jumpstart!
I have grown plenty of daikon. Those are pretty big👍🏼.. I will probably order some of your seeds..I have almost completely replaced potatoes with them.. They are so good for you.. you must eat a few at least.. The seed pods are very very good at this stage..stir fry them in butter.. the leaves are very good in salads.. they smell horrible when they are composting.. like way bad😷😬.
Great to hear we're not the only ones who enjoy growing these. I had heard the seed pods were good the way you're describing. We did keep several of the smaller roots that we're going to ferment. You're right on with your estimation of them being good for you. All that mineral content they pull from the soil to grow like that makes them a mineral powerhouse. Not to mention Kimchi, oh the Kimchi! You said you're replacing potatoes with these. Is that straight up? Cooked, mashed, etc?
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Yep😀 Cooked mashed and fried even hashed😎👌🏼
@@MNpicker Gotta give that a shot. With production like this it's a slam dunk. Thanks for the tips on this one!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm No problem man.. check out some of the amazing Daikon recipes here on UA-cam.. 🌱
Miss you guys. Hope you’re well and enjoying your break from posting. Overall, how are you enjoying those beds? What kind of critters burrowed under your cinder blocks? I love that you used the Daikon to mine nutrients. Have you considered using blue bonnets and or dandelions to grow to do similar jobs?
Hey there! Yes, we had a much needed break from everything and are back at it. The only thing we have found with the beds is the openings in the bricks are hard to plug with material. The ABC was just removed by the ground squirrels, so we changed that to 3/4" granite which seems to be doing better.
We haven't used dandelion or blue bonnet, but the combination of daikon and cow peas seems to be doing wonders for these beds as the soil starts to age a bit.
Hi guys! Fantastic video. Thank you for showing us how to enrich our soil in raised beds in AZ. Just out of curiosity, any chance you can provide mineral results of your soil test? (I know it is best to test our own soil:)
Great question Laura. We did a Community post with the results a while back, so I'll see if I can link that here for you;
ua-cam.com/users/postUgxqq0Av7JWXIi_xYVp4AaABCQ
Wow the growth is impressive on the dychon raddish. Nice bit of chop and drop. Hopefully that pot will have enough worms to colonise your beds.
We were surprised how well they did also G M. I'm not sure if that pot can seed all of them, but we figure if we can at least get 1 bed up and running they will eventually find all of them. We're finding that in the pome fruit orchard where there are worms under the mulch even though there has never been a pot near the irrigation rings.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm You probably have a natural colony on your land and they gravitate towards those trees. Maybe you can transplant some to other areas.
@@gm2407 you must be right about that. We noticed worms on the deck behind the outbuilding after our last heavy rains, so they definitely go on the move with the rain.
Couple of questions:
Will the beets throw up new shoots?
Anything edible with that root?
Will the in the soil root eventually compost away?
Great questions Jim. Yes, they will send up new shoots from the intact roots which we'll knock back as we see them. We do use some of the smaller roots for salads and our favorite, fermented radishes. Eventually all of the material will compost down and become a permanent part of the beds.
I have never seen this soil building method, have you save a couple of the daikon radish for your own consumption. Or for the pigs? The worms will have a daikon party for sure😄
We save a few for us, but the rest stayed in the bed for the worms. The pigs will eat the radish greens, but they weren't interested in the roots if you can believe it. That's one of only a few items I haven't seen them just chomp down!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm surprisingly 😁😁
I was looking for daikon recipes and came across your soil building technique. I’m going to pass this on to some friends in SW NM , it might help with their new farming techniques. Let me know if you have any favorite daikon recipes :)
Hey there Mike. This crop has really been a boon for our soil fertility here on the farm. We've done this twice now and have seen tremendous success with the soil life so far!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I think your video has great tips 👍
Just came across your channel. Any videos on how you built those cage like structures around your gardens?
Glad you found us! We did a detail on the install for these a while back. I'll link the episode for you here;
ua-cam.com/video/X2AMzm8p9r8/v-deo.html
Any other questions, just shoot them over!
The issue with Brassicas, Radishes, is they don't harbor Mycorrhizae fungi, try interplanting with a legume, inoculated, as it fixes N, and Mycro. The radishes germinate a bit to quickly, so plant the legumes 3-5 days earlier, we tend to do to much mono-culture, and miss the benefits.
We're still getting our feet wet with this, but the challenge we're trying to overcome is cover for our Winter beds. We need to grow in late Winter/Early spring and chop now, just when legumes are getting going.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm plant cow peas, vetch, sunflowers, about now, they thrive in heat, I'm not cutting my corn stalks this year, planted, vetch cow peas, let them climb the stalks, but make sure you get inoculant, Peaceful Valley sells a blend, as if fixes N, Diakon, Brassicas don't, as well the Mycros grow, with legumes. The vetch is cool weather loving, but the shading helps in several ways, doesn't cook the chips/soil, and vetch has. C/N ratio 15/1, better than Alfalfa, and better N fixer, air is about 80% N, so the only N I use is at planting, use 46-0-0 it gets the legumes up, cow peas, 1 week, 4" and then the nodules take over.
Look up Gabe Brown, Regenerative Farming, I toured his farm, put my opinions on a shelf, learned so much, I needed to see it, his presentation were just too good to be true, but I saw it, and now believe, yes it even works here. I'm just 1/2 acre, if I want to farm, I go sit in equipment on our family farm in Sask. Canada, 12 SQ miles, not all aerable land, but always a piece usually a section in a fallow, cover crop, they used to dairy also, now rent it out in the fall to a sheep, boar goat guy to grass feed finish, and then they plant lentils, or oats usually get rolled oats grade, that's why they fallow/cover crop, they pay 3X of regular oats, so I watch, listen learn, end old retired guys learn too.
This is brilliant. Did you put any wood chips below that soil mix that you planted the radish in?
We didn't put anything under the soil in these beds. There is hardware cloth down there to line the bottom to keep the gophers out, but nothing else. Couldn't believe how well these did in that raw soil mix.
You must plant "Chrysopogon zizanioides" Grass for building soil thier roots go 5 to 7 feet.. Not sure about financial aspects in Arizona but it's very good for creating soil.. It help to hold water and create lots of micro climate under soil.. Common name of grass is "vetiver" At least plant it in unused part of land it's Hardy
Oh yes, we've had several folks suggest vetiver grass. We may incorporate that on the back of the property where we will not have regular irrigation to see if we can get it to take for our goats and sheep.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I would be gald to see your farm full of greenery and fertile soil with lots of organic carbon ☺
I have been doing the samething but with sweet potatoes.
Hey Michaela!! We're fans of sweet potatoes as well and need to use them more often. So very versatile and the roots sure taste a lot better than these!!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm do they taste like regular radish? I grew them a couple of years ago but didn't eat any, just did the same as you did here.
@@michaelagibbs9695 they have a really mellow radish flavor. Our favorite way to use them is to either ferment them alone or in Kimchi.
Every where I have put piles of wood chips they have been over run with fire ants. Any advice? Arkansas.
Oh man, that is tough. We don't have fire ants here in AZ, so I really wouldn't know how to direct you on that. We've used Amdro in the past to knock down carpenter ants, but I wouldn't use that close to where you're going to grow plants. Boy, that's a tough one.
Hello, in this video you mention getting a soil test done. Which laboratory did you use?
We used Logan Labs. I'll link to them for you here;
www.loganlabs.com/
In AZ, we have issue with Caliche. It’s horrible soil
Hey Wild Cat. It's true, that Caliche is tough. We see it everywhere from around 2' and then on down. However, that high mineral content is fantastic for plants and trees. The daikon you're seeing here can easily reach down that far pushing through that hard layer and bringing those minerals to the surface and into the plant for us to consume. All that being said, it's is a real pain when you're trying to dig a hole for a tree or anything else for that matter!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thanks 👍
Where do you get wood chips from in the desert? I live in the desert (Luna County, New Mexico) and the only native trees on my land are honey mesquites and Acacias.
Hey Karen. We use Chip Drop to find the arborists that deliver to us out here. They match arborists with gardeners to keep wood chips from going to the landfill.
very nice! where did you get these daikon seeds?
Glad you enjoyed this one Yogesh. We bought these on Amazon and I think we have them listed under seeds in our Amazon shop. I'll link it for you here;
amzn.to/38DO2pS
I didn't see the answer to this question in the comments, but I'm watching this in 2022 and was wondering when you planted out the daikon seeds. It's the end of Novmber now. Am I too late?
We planted these in the Fall, so you should still be good plant out your Daikon cover crops.
Awesome, thank you!
So it looks like you let the radishes decay into the soil? I'll give that a try
Yes, we have solid worm activity in these beds from doing just that.
where do you get your seeds ???
We purchased these on Amazon from Outside Pride. We have them in our Amazon shop and I'll link the bag we purchase for you here;
amzn.to/3HCVtN1
why don't you grow some summer/desert plants like melons or squash to keep the soil covered and cool?
Great question T S. The plan is to have this bed ready to go in September for our fall/winter garden. I suppose we could harvest those in time, but we're trying to see if we will have enough soil fertility with the chop and drop (and manure) alone to grow that winter garden without any fertilizer or additional amendments. To your point, we are going to test a few things in the spring/summer beds to see what we can do over the summer. Not sure if we'll include melons, but squash is a possibility.
what kind of tree? Mainga or Moringa??
Oh, the tree we have in the pot is a Moringa tree. We haven't figured out exactly where we want to have those in the ground here, so it's still waiting to be transplanted!
So you don’t eat the daikon? 😔
We do eat them when they're smaller. In fact, we started cutting these back for the Summer yesterday and harvested several for fermenting that were much smaller than what you're seeing in this episode!
First
What's up Totty! Earl bird catches the worm as they say...