We Covered 1/2 the Garden in Wood Chips | 2 Years Later Soil Tests Reveals the Impact
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- Опубліковано 22 чер 2021
- Two years ago we did a test in our garden where we mulched half the garden with wood chips and started using a no-till method. We did an update last year on how it was going, but this year we wanted to take it one step further with some soil tests.
I can't wait for you to see the results, I think you might be as surprised as I was!
Be sure to check out the full blog post for more information here: melissaknorris.com/wood-chips...
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Links Mentioned & Related Links:
- Simply Soil Testing: www.simplysoiltesting.com/
- How to Test Soil pH & Amend Acidic or Alkaline Soil: melissaknorris.com/podcast/ho...
- 6 Natural Fertilizers to Improve Garden Soil: melissaknorris.com/podcast/na...
- Sheet Mulching: the Easy Way to Build Soil & Compost in Layers: melissaknorris.com/podcast/sh...
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#gardening #mulching #notill #soiltest - Навчання та стиль
I did cardboard then 25 bags of leaves then composted horse manure. Neighbors raked up another 25 bags of leaves which covered dead logs and limbs to act as sponges , then composted garden soil and finished it off with 7 bales of Timothy hay . Then on November 5th , planted garlic. It was awesome ! Now no weeding , no fertilizer, no watering , and no digging !
Thank you Ruth Stout !
Yes. Ruth Stout always mulched years ago. A great example of no till gardening!!!
Best line........I don't care what camp you are in as long as you are growing your own food.:)
So many people take the general idea of back to eden but don't pay attention to what Paul does. Then they expect the same results.
A. Paul stresses a covering, yes. But if you use rocks would you expect the same as chips?
B. Paul repeatedly states that his preferred chips are those with leaves and twigs etc. He doesn't like just bark or sawdust cause it doesn't work as well.
C. He doesn't really use chips on his annual garden, he uses chicken compost with a super thin layer of really fine chips.
D. Paul has been doing this for over 20 yrs. That's like having 20+ years of compost.
E. The single biggest thing the chips do is hold the moisture. Water is life.
Just buy compost. It is cheap, it works great as a mulch, it is easy to work with, and it is the end state of garden of Eden without waiting 20 years.
Chemical analysis of wood chips find they are the most deficient part of the tree whereas ramial wood, defined as branches less than 1 inch in diameter, contains 100 times the concentration of the critical elements contained in trunk wood. I avoid bark altogether since it is the most depleted part of the tree and harvest saplings grown on another part of my property and reduce that to chips in my own chipper. A pile of these covered with grass clippings and allowed to winter over become acceptable mulch by the next spring especially when applied around trees, berry bushes, and vegetables to a depth of 5 to 6 inches. The top two inches will bake in the sun and serve as a protective layer to the chips beneath that, which are moist enough for fungal decomposition and becomes a rich food source for worms, a grower's best friend. Just pile on additional chips as needed.
and.... we see she used sawdust, not woodchips, so miserable failure on practicing the details of back to eden method
@@raleighrmb buying compost is tricky--- you may well be bringing in noxious weeds into your garden (such as quackgrass, nutsedge, wood sorrel, thistle) and regret that "it's easy....buy compost!" decision for YEARS to come. If you want to purchase someone else's "compost" or even just "soil" please get a sample and grow it out--- put it in a grow bag or large pot, water it **and see what (weeds) sprout**. You will save yourself a ton of trouble if you TEST IT prior to spending 100's of $$$ on that "easy....buy it" compost/soil. Buyer BEWARE.
@@cherylanon5791 Fair enough advice, and one should get to know their compost maker. But also clear for me (and for Paul G who has been buying in finished compost for years) absolutely not a reason to NOT buy in compost. I simple do not generate nearly enough. Maybe some day.
Melissa use a bagger when you mow that beautiful grass. Put ALL of the clippings in your garden. OMG the results are phenominal. You can literally hug your plants with the clippings and watch them thrive! Also they break down and put tons of nitrogen back in the soil. When I weed I throw the weeds in my rhubarb area. My rhubarb is first year rhubarb and already larger and more vibrant than my neighbors who has had theirs for years. I love my lawn bagger. I am 63 have a large acre and a half mowing area and love the results.
Just make sure you don't put it on to thick it can cause problems, diseases mostly.
It breaks down the wood chip way faster too!
I grow a lot of comfry, they draw massive amount of nutrients from deep in the ground, and they breakdown with in days while compost, and often I just toss them on top of the soil around my plants! They break down that fast!
I use comfry and water as my Fertilizer! I put it in 5 gallon bucket all year long, it stinks big time, but the plants love it! I had a 55 gallon garbage can, full of comfry, but some contractors dump out my fertilizer, rather then bring their own can to transport their garbage.
I had compost that was super dark, and my brother thought is was something else, he had never seen soil that dark before!
I'd imagine you'd want to cut the grass before it goes to seed if you intend on putting clippings in your garden right?
@@Tactical_Manatee yes
@@Tactical_Manatee yes. I am not sparing with it either. One of the posts said it can cause disease. I haven't had that problem at all. In fact I have had to do ZERO pest control all season so far.
When ever I'm mentoring someone on gardening I ALWAYS tell them "the only rule in gardening that matters is..... there are NO rules. Do what works for YOU." Till/no till, mulch/no mulch, what ever the opinion it's about what works for you. The best thing about gardening is that you never stop learning. Even after decades of extensive gardening I learn new things from fellow gardeners every year and adapt my system almost every year.
I agree. My property dictates a lot. I just try to manage it. 🤣😎
Catherine Grace I totally understand you there!😂👍🏻
Well, technically there ARE absolute rules but only in the sense that physical processes work in the manner that they do. In reality the answer to the question “what are the rules about “X” has to be “It depends.” What situation exists, what the goal is, the materials available, the conditions present will all dictate which rule will apply. All of the above will be different in my garden than in yours but water is as wet here as it is there and gravity is an issue and life does exist and, and, and.
Haha I'm a newbie and I already see this is a forever learning hobby/job cause it's a job Lol with a lot of learning...Remember when Bloomberg said there was nothing to growing food to just throw a seed in the ground? Not everyone needs a mic anyway.....People don't realize the balance that must take place to have good food nor the battles you will fight with a army of insects fungi and weather! I live in a warm humid place and fungus is part of it all along with every other creepy crawler to battle but I'm determined to grow my own food!
Sky Angel you have entered into the never ending journey of "the garden " 🤣 we live in a very humid cold climate. In fact, two days ago we had frost. I have been battling the bugs for years because we live deep in the boreal forest and bugs abound! I put in bug netting to keep them out but I trapped in the soil dwellers 😤 I have the most horrific flea beetle infestation right now!😱 patience is necessary for sure. You are spot on with your sage advice that it takes time to learn how to garden extensively. I too think, Start now with a small bed or some pots, work your way up to a garden that meets your annual produce requirements. When the shelves are bare, it's too late because gardening is not just push a seed in the ground, pick the food, repeat.
You all might want to see Charles Dowding's videos about Soil Testing with NO DIG gardens. Soil tests primarily report "free" Nitrogen...but with no dig the fungal network and worm castings in the soil converts nitrogen into forms that the plants absorb easily...but won't (mostly) show up in soil tests.
I didn’t know that about the nitrogen test. Interesting!
Charles Dowding changed my gardening life . He has helped me tremendously. I use mushroom compost and have had great results. Used wood chips one year before i stumbled upon Charles and did not like planting in them.
@@alph8654 👍
It makes it more bio available. Therefore you don't need such high nitrogen .
That's not really true.. Mycorrohizal fungi doesn't add nitrogen to the soil or convert nitrogen to other forms.. It basically just expands the root network of the plant helping it take nutrients in from further away.. Woodchips don't belong in a garden.. They will rob your nitrogen and tie it up for years.. If you want to mulch your garden use straw or grass clippings..
Wow a lot of firey and judgemental comments in here! Just want to say thanks for making this video and sharing your experience. Some people might have bones to pick with you but we can't find what's best for us without videos like this and people sharing their trials so thanks
I'm having this same reaction seeing this video for the first time right now.
It would be one thing to say- Have you tried leaves and twigs?
These negative people are acting like they have doctorates in mulching backyard gardens.
I am a master gardener for 30 years. Do what you want. Do what you love.
So true, and if you aren't experimenting, you ain't gardening.
When we first laid down woodchips 5 years ago, we used brown packaging paper instead of cardboard. They come in rolls. Easy to work with.
I have used newspapers
If you drink coffee, every day or week - spread coffee grounds over the wood chips. Worms, fishing worms will come, digest the wood and love and stay for the coffee. Really works. Stack of chips digests itself in 2 years. Rich soil left. Casings from worms is very good for plants.
Back to Eden specifically said to use wood chips that have leaves chipped up with the branches included. Just saw dust does not have leaves.
Absolutely true. It's No wonder her nitrogen levels were low.
True they should have made the chips from fresh lumbering and not the sawdust from the sawmills after the wood has had time to dry just before its made into furniture or pet rabbit pet sheds.
Exactly. Imagine thinking sawdust is the same as arborist chips lol
and I actually think that method really intends for composted wood chips as opposed to brand new fresh wood chips.
Compost & then NEEDLES, LEAVES & TWIGS. Not sawdust.❣
I use leaves in the fall. They compost into the spoil by the next spring. Works very well.
I can tell you that here in NJ, I used to add manure every year but now I cover the bed with wood chips 2-4” (brown material) and in the fall I chop up the fallen leaves (green material). I till them all together 2-3 times from fall to spring with the last being approximately 2 weeks prior to my first planting. After planting, I add another 2-4” of chips. The soil health is excellent and I rarely have to add any amendments. Where I live, we have a heavy clay soil and all the added material breaks up the clay and increases drainage but also helps to retain water as it doesn’t just run off.
Same here!
Fallen leaves are brown.
@@putiwang7679 yes, you’re very astute, however they still count as green material. 😁
I usually use wood chips to choke out and strangle grass and weeds. Any time I plant something, I add compost/potting soil etc, and then wood chips over the top, just to keep the grass (frickin bermuda) from taking over and choking out the plants right away.
I HATE the bermuda. I can’t stop it. It’s awful.
Try the quack grass, for fun! I find that what makes my veggies, flowers etc. grow well, grows weeds even better!
When we had a house of our own we started using leaves and grass clippings on our flower beds and vegetable gardens. It worked wonderfully giving just the right amount of plant food and cover to keep the garden cool in the summer sun and not have to use artificial means for enriching the soil. Newspaper served ad a cover to keep the weeds under the medium from growing. After about 20 years we had the richest soil around our neighborhood.
I’m a Microgreens farmer. Recently in my back garden for personal use, I used all my root compost from the microgreens (lots of pea, beans, brassica, you name it.) First year I had tomato plants that reached 4 meters, 14 feet I guess. Tomatoes came late in the season. lmao.
This year I put down the wood chips & didn’t add to that soil…. It was funny watching them climb trees.
Hi 👋, I wanted to point out that it looked like you used “wood shavings” and not “wood chips”.
There really is a Hugh difference between the two. Wood chips have a lot of live material still in it and wood shavings are usually already released all its nutrients.
Thanks for the vlog.. I learned so much..
I use the wood shavings. Not chips. I use the shavings on the rows in between the rows of plants. I use paper bags under the shavings. I do not till them into the soil. I only till the rows I plant in with a bark mulch for keeping the soil damp. My soil test is excellent.
find a sawmill, they are very cheap or even free
Thanks for the education, just subscribed.
@@desistine398 Most saw mills only have saw dust.
@@pamelaremme38 not by me, but ones by me n have 5 within 5 to 8 miles, they all have chips, they sell these to farmers for bedding for cows n horses etc n also mulch. Go talk to them, they may just put chips to saw dust after bc no one wants chips. I'll have to ask my fr I drive his workers to daily regarding this. I love the chips for my garden n also mulch. I'll ask tomorrow morning when I pick him up regarding what mills usually do.
Interesting video and the next one in this series will be too. A few factors to consider is those are planer shavings not wood chips. Wood chips offers a lot more to the soil. An example of that is when I have a wheel barrel load of fresh wood chips, and it rains, the wheel barrel is filled with rain and the liquid is jet black as in compost tea. That goes straight into the soil. With Planer shavings the water would stay clearer. Another factor is tilling kills the microbes and earthworms. A good book to read is Teaming with Microbes. In that book you will see microscope photos of microbes eating the bad. When you kill the microbes, earthworms and kill the soil with tilling, it is true that nitrogen will last longer because there is nothing using/processing it. Another good video for this series would be the taste of produce and moisture content. Strawberries grown under wood chips taste amazing and are full of liquid. My neighbor admits that yet he tills his garden and uses heavy doses of commercial fertilizer and pesticides. Another factor missing here but hopefully added for future comparison videos is with Back to Eden Gardening is the depth of wood chips must be at a minimum of 4 inches. Paul Guatchi adds chicken manure to his Back to Eden Garden so feeding the garden is a good idea. I add sheep barn cleaning on top of the wood chips. The barn cleanings has straw and lots of what the sheep provide. It is good to feed the soil. In about three years the wood chips will turn into food as well including nitrogen. Looking forward to the future videos.
Thanks for clarifying that I was wondering if Back to Eden was just putting his chicken manure on top of the wood chips from time to time to keep the soil good...I wonder how often he put on the wood chips cause he said he got up to 17' over the years ...I'm thinking maybe once a year cause it takes a good while to break down..Maybe with other things it breaks down quicker with the help of manure etc
@@skyangel6336 I add rabbit manure to mine. With at least four inches of real wood chips (I chip my own), I have NEVER even watered my garden…. Nor do I have to pull weeds.;)
@@ShannonDykstra Thanks Shannon I've thought about trying that as well just to see how it works vs the chicken!
Arborists' wood chips (and my own, too :) are chipped branches - which include the bark, cambium layer and a smaller ratio of heartwood... it is called 'ramial' wood chips. You're very right, it's not the same thing as shavings/sawdust from lumber, which is straight heartwood, with none of the rest of the good stuff :) I often use urine to 'enrich' my 'organic matter', when other 'green', i.e., nitrogen sourcess are scarce. Works great, easy and cheap :)
I also found the book Teaming With Microbes to be a great read!
Where I live, tilling also causes soil erosion and all the beautiful topsoil blows away in the dry, hot conditions. So much is specific to your location.
Personally giving the choice of less weeding time and just adding a small amount of Amendment's I'm going with wood chips anyway☺️
Meh. I use state for my containers - and it makes a great mulch. But it also clods up my soil quite a bit. I think it’s more because it’s EZ straw which has a gum on it so it doesn’t fly away with the wind, but I swear that stuff doesn’t ever break down. 😒
State = straw. Thanks Siri. 🙄
@@adriansmith6811 I love straw too, but here in San Diego, it costs $9 a bale. It lasts about six months. Wood chips are delivered free by the arborist and last two years or more. And they build great soil and look great on the paths, suppress weeds very nicely, and create a neat appearance. It's a no-brainer that we use wood chips here where I live. Your area might be different. We all use what works for us.
I started my first garden when the pandemic started and laid down thick wood chips everywhere, I could not be happier with the result. BACK TO EDEN BAYBAY! 😄 (I did use woodchips from a chipping company though, lots of leaves, twigs and all I think that’s why It’s been successful)
Amen!
Yes! That’s how it’s supposed to be done;)
Shannon Dykstra at Dykstra Homestead …and the beauty of this is, the older you get, the less you have to do in your garden & the richer the soil becomes. Win, win!
Yes she is just using saw dust which is not the same as fresh needles, branches, and leaves.
The compost and manure are absolutely essential. The woodchips need to be arborist mulch with leaves included.
We make our own biochar for our garden that needs to be worked into the soil. Works great, doesn't rot away, and soil gets better each year with no additional applications.
We've had really good results with in-ground vermicomposting with our wood mulch and no-till. Desert though, so bare dirt is hot dirt (wood mulch reduces soil temp by as much as 15°, which is the difference between a barren space and an actual garden.)
Red wigglers and nightcrawlers help to move the compost deep into the soil without disturbing the mycorrhizae.
Neat! How do you do the in-ground vermicomposting? I have a worm farm Indoors but find it too finicky to separate castings to use them in the garden...
Melissa you are an inspiration to us all. Your family’s homestead is just incredible and the healthy lifestyle is what we all need. God bless.
I would suggest aging the sawdust/woodchips for a year in a pile if you cant add compost. It means the sawdust/woodchips will have a much lower demand for nitrogen when you spread it.
Awe Melissa,
You're a kick!!!!! I appreciate the 2-year follow-up as well as the comparison to the results of under your high tunnel. As I watched I kept thinking of James in New Jersey who went from cardboard to construction paper. I also kept thinking of nitrogen fixers ranging including beans, clover and comfrey. I also encourage to do another experiment... does the type of bark matter i.e. alder v. maple v. pine?
Our shy 2-acres on the Skagit up here on the other side of Marblemount has rested so we are just now starting to clear her as we transform her into a Food Forest, As we do I have been strongly encouraging my son and many of my grandchildren to not just watch but LISTEN to you. You're entertaining, informative AND because you live up here so what effects you effects us too.
I wanted you to know that we not only LOVE the episode when you interviewed your Dad but that your personal story is cool too. Lord knows I've tried to share the stories with everyone I can think of living "Down Below" in the cities to my daughter-on-law who seems excited to move up here shortly after she (& my son of course) have their next baby late this summer.
Nope, it's NOT EASY, but buy some land, work two jobs if you have to... earn what you have and somewhere in the middle of life you'll be able to build a new home on your land. Eventually, you'll even be able to buy some places around you as you expand (lol). YOU & YOUR'S are the living examples for my own generations of what can be achieved IF they are willing to work for it.
Now I have one question so I don't have to scroll through all of your videos. What is the name of the place you score your coffee from on Camano Island?
I look forward to your response &, in the meantime, THANKS for ALL YOU DO & ENJOY!!!!!
😎👍
Soil health is complicated. Every time there's a new discovery in soil science, people think it's the most important discovery ever...but it isn't. Micorrhizal networks are just one part of a huge equation. I'm glad you're doing your own tests and aren't afraid of giving us the honest results. Take the protests from the zealots with a grain of salt.
I think this speaks to health in every area of life 😊
Garcia Family yes. I agree
Beaguins, people get hung up on the latest greatest trend! I like good honest review without someone trying to sell an idea. Real world application! 😊 most of us are happy if we have the time to get things planted 😂 let alone follow someone else's program to the T
No kidding.
This is one reason I’m afraid to grow stuff- not knowing my soil science.
I love this video! Your open minded research approach is awesome! This was a great, honest and transparent project; I love it! I also love the many layers of knowledge that you share, macro/micro nutrients etc. Your explanation of organic matter and it's importance was fantastic! Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with this.
It also took some years for Paul’s Back to Eden to mature. I remember him saying he had crop problems along the way. Remember too, he used wood chips, probably a variety of things in there. The soil will get darker and better over time.
It also depends what you are starting with. Paul had rocky, clay, soil and at first tilled and spread manure. Then he started his reimial wood chips (wood, bark, leaves, sticks, and needles). I had similar soil but less rain. My soil has taken 3 years to become amazing using no dig, wood chips, compost and some hay mulch. I'm thankful I found Paul Grouchy and no dig gurus at the beginning of my garden development.
I did the wood chips for 4 years.
Never had my soil tested, but was building up my chicken poo compost pile which included woodchips as we have very wet weather in my area of Alabama, and the wood chips were put in the chicken run so the girls had some modicum of dry while out there.
We have a lot of trees and I finally left the wood chip method and began using Autumn fallen leaves which we a huge amounts of and grass clippings as well.
All of this goes on top of the garden or added to the chicken poo.
Except for my blueberry bushes, nothing is happy here.
My Peaches and Plum trees are beginning to do well but the pomegranate bushes are going away. Lots of blooms but no fruit.
While wood chips work well for Paul in his annual 15" of rain per year, we get from 55 to 70 inches every year, and the wood chips keep my soil much too moist and too cool for what I like to grow....Now, every year is an experiment.
Love the idea of growing your own food and as naturally as possible! There are no awards for “perfect organic backyard gardening” just healthier home owners! Enjoy and keep up the good work. And to the people who have a lot of info to share, don’t stop sharing, we can all learn from each other!!
My neighbor had a source for woodchips and has had piles of chips stacked for years. I go to the oldest piles and take the black gold and mix it in the holes when planting. It's beautiful stuff. A friend brings me loads of leaves from his lawncare business. I put the leaves about 1' thick last fall and it changed the soil about 1½" deep just over one winter.
Just got 3 more tons of leaves this week. Hoping to get cow manure from a farmer soon to amend before winter sets in.
Your not using proper wood chips. Should have the fresh green leaves mulched with limbs when making proper wood chips. Leaves give soil health and create microbes in the soil. Saw dust or pine shavings are not the same as wood chips and won't give same soil results that Paul Gouche explains in his Back to Eden Garden Method.
@@adriansmith6811 straw works just great as long as it's not been sprayed with herbicides such as Glysophate or Grasson. Those can damage garden plants. It causes twisting in the leaves, stunted growth and then kills plants especially tomato or potato plants. So have ask the farmer who harvested it if they use it. Lots of them do who grow hay & straw these days. If you haven't had that happen to you then you've been lucky because if you get that in your soil it takes years to get rid of. That's why mulching with wood chips is popular and safe.
I use all the leaves that fall from my two big ornamental pear trees. In forests that is how it works. A tree goes deep down and pulls up nutrients, like a larger chop and drop. We just mulch those leaves and apply. It works really well, a lot like in forests. Also, best part, it is pretty cheap. Just the gas to run the lawnmower mulcher. It blows my mind when people remove their leaves. Just sucking the life out of their land. So sad.
Certain things work better for other people.
@@DonnaRatliff1 we have found a non-glyphosate source of straw and it is Awesome! Still use wood chips (with leaves) in main path ways and around berry bushes & fruit trees.
@@adriansmith6811 unless you have a high slug population... Don't give your local pests their favorite conditions if you want to keep your garden...
Watched the first and second video. So I started gardening around 6 years ago. I till my garden area around 6 or 7 times a year. The only time I dont is when veggies are there. I hate weeds. And had a mountain of them. They would just take over. So when I'm wit a particular vegetable I till it under and keep tilling until the garden is empty. I keep bringing those bad seeds to the top let them sprout and then till them under. It works great. I'm in south texas not the PNW.
On wood chips. For the 2nd year and 3rd year I was telling my uncle (hes 74 and I've never known him not too have a garden) I was sick and tired of pulling weeds and he said throw wood chips in the walkways. So I hooked up my trailer went to a big box store and got 2 pallets of natural wood chips. Put it all in my garden and walked it in. When my garden was done producing I tilled it all in. Ladies and Gentlemen I had the garde of Eden the next year after I added composted chicken manure. I filled it in also. I use no chemicals in my garden at all. Not even for bugs. But you have to add composted chicken manure.
Btw. 2 years ago I filled in a whole big trailer load of rice hulls in my garden and tilled it in. Last year I had the absolute best garden I've ever had. I again tilled in chicken manure compost. This year I'm contemplating cotton seed hulls. Ain't made up my mind yet. Happy gardening.
We only use wood chips on the paths. It not only controls weeds but also makes it easier to work in the garden without walking in mud. We don’t use conifers in the chips for the garden - we use those chips outside the fence for weed control. I grind those right in place, but hardwood chips go in a pile.
At the end of the season, we rake off the chips and plants and put them in a compost pile with the leaves and grass clippings and other compostable material. Then we spread the two-year old compost pile on the garden and till it in to rest for the winter.
In Spring, we shovel the paths onto the beds and put hardwood chips on the paths as we plant.
It seems to work for us.
Did you plant the exact same crops on both sides? As you know some feed more on nitrogen than others. Tilling back in the green material is exactly like fertilizing which was not done on the other side. To be fair, they were not treated exactly the same.
Yes, confounding variables were introduced.
@@elizabethblane201 compounding
@@camrillem "In research that investigates a potential cause-and-effect relationship, a confounding variable is an unmeasured third variable that influences both the supposed cause and the supposed effect." www.scribbr.com/methodology/confounding-variables/
@@elizabethblane201 well i guess you learn something new everyday
@@camrillem Me, too. We never stop learning.
Even for commercial scale agriculture it's now recommended that farmers move to no-till methods as it stops the soil 'fauna' from being exposed to sunlight which over time, kills it off. Experts around the world estimate that we only have approximately 55 harvests left before we end up with dead soil. It's not just nutrients that help crop yields, it's the crucial relationships between plant roots and soil fauna that allow uptake of relevant nutrients, something which is only now beginning to be understood. Soil fauna have evolved to live in the dark & under cover.
So far from being a rabid one way or another, my point is that we're farming the soil, not the plants.
Well said!
@@sharongarrett4356 Thanks. 😀
Awesome video! Love that you tested the soil to get a measure of where you started. Great that you posted a link for the test. My husband and I just bought land and are building a homestead from scratch.. posting our journey online as well. Will definitely be looking to your channel for info as both my husband and I have no homesteading experience.
I used cypress wood chips as a mulch for the last 2 years. Found it contained several kinds of fungus. Throwing it all out for next year. I am in GA 7B. I used lots of dead oak leaves in half of my raised beds. Some of it is bio char and seemed to do pretty well. I did get plenty of acorns sprouting up but seems like it works well. Mostly tomatoes for me.
Good for you for testing your soil to compare and contrast and share! I suspect part of the difference in N is the lack of compost in the no till. Compost is precious! We only mulch the growing beds in our no till area, and we have great N levels - when we add a layer of compost annually. Thanks for sharing your results!
The principle of having both foliage and small wood bits with bark is that it decomposes in stages, real deep wood need 3 years, but decomposes last. When I wanted to start fast I did go into an oak forest and took buckets of litter there, that it very good.
That helped a lot, thanks. You confirmed some suspicions we have. I used a lot of compost from cows and the combination with woodchips seems amazing compared to the first three years of no till back to eden style. Thanks again!
We had a big garden that was halved. My Pop n Granny taught me rotation. Half the garder was planted and surronded with chicken wire. We ha a chicken coop, rabbit hutches, and a guinea pig hutch. They were at the end of the garden and roamed our fallow side. Moved to the planded side after harvest. Sweet corn depletes the soil but we always had a lush garden, especially our tomatoes. Granny watered them with water dipped out of a rain barrel which had a couple scoops of chicken sh*t (Grannies words 😮😂), in the bottom. Hillbillies never buy fertilizer. Also we threw kitchen scraps in the fallow side for the animals. Any they didn't eat the worms got at night. I got two merit badges for gardening, regular and advanced. Only adds were dictated by litmus paper. Acidic for tomatoes but clise to nuetral for the rest.
Make me wonder if over time the wood chips would be more beneficial as the organic matter decomposes. I live in the forest and the soil under the decomposed leaves looks amazing.
Wow... Thank you so much for sharing so much detail in this video and your previous one. You show and tell. Every other channel just seems to tell and not show anything. Subscribed!
Any trimmings, prunnings,sticks or whatever I save for mulch. Throw them into a chipper and it makes perfect mulch. When you run short, get a few bails of straw and run it through the chipper as well. You can also call the county or city and ask where they are doing trimming of city trees and you can go fill up your pick up. Tree service or landscaping businesses will be happy to have you pick the stuff up so they dont have to load and haul it to the dump. Ive been using a harbor frieght chipper and it sort of works, but I'm up grading to a better one. Peace and grace be to you all!
Very interesting results on the different methods. Thank you for sharing Melissa!
We use wood shavings as our bedding for our chickens so my wood chips are mulch layer is a mixture of wood chips and chicken manure which makes up for the loss of nitrogen from the wood chips And shavings breakdown quicker than wood chips I’d go with wood shavings
Wow! Great research, you put a lot of time and effort on it and Thanks for sharing the results with us.
Many people have all questions and want to know but they can’t do the research themselves
Good to know. I have a bigger garden and I’ll definitely need this info when I start my garden next year
I used dry leaves and yard cuttings with bio char and am seeing pretty awesome results. I usually wait to add compost or organic ferts until I see post seedling leaves or initial fruiting. I have actually used the wood chips for my grass in the front, now there it actually worked wonders.
Very interesting video thank you. Gardener Scott mentioned putting grass clipping over the top of areas that are wood chipped as they rot down really quickly and the rain will take the nitrogen into the soil.
Rain itself adds nitrogen, the air is full of nitrogen.
I have see the best effect of wood chips occurs after year 4. Also I get the use what you have access to.... but true arborist chips would likely bring a different result over that wood shavings and sawdust. Also top dressing with composted manure really helps the chips break down
Barn scrapings + composted hay + wood shavings = happy garden for me.... till/ no till, I do both.
Hi! We are mountain homesteaders and we are trying the back to Eden gardening method and have had wood chips for two years. I had to add compost last year and this year we had onions that I planted last year pop up from last year which was fun to see!
Anyways, I really appreciate your knowledge and I now want to test my soil to see what levels we are at. Thank you for sharing all this! I'm excited to watch more of your videos to get more knowledge from you. 😃See ya!
maybe you can try actual wood chips, (70% leaves, stems and twigs- like Paul from back to eden recommends, instead of saw dust.
I agree.
Yes. You are correct.
I found that the sawdust I used once, matted down when rained upon and did not let the water pass through. I lifted the top and it was dry underneath.I did not use them after that. i went back to wood chips that I knew had not been sprayed with pesticides. Got a load of "free" wood chips from the local landfill several years back, a recommendation from a neighbor. Free is always good right? NO. I had mixed them in with my precious organic chicken poop and totally ruined my compost pile. NOTHING grew in it after that. Please be careful where you get your wood chips. Save yourself from a heartbreak. My organic farming practices were ruined now. Life is a learning experience. Never give up.
@@Ariel-xz8lg A repeated application of humic acid will help to neutralize the harmful elements in your compost and it should be useable after a season or so. Whatever it was will not necessarily be removed but it’s ability to affect plants will be. All is not lost, just delayed. 💚
@@Lauradicus Too bad, wish I could have known this 7 years ago. I gave up. But thanks for the info. Maybe next farm.
The Ruth Stout system does require 3-4 years to fully develope. Test your soils again in 2 more years & see the difference then.
Cover the wood chips with grass clippings and the soil will be amazing once it has rotted in after 12 months. We do a 1/4 of our patch with that every year in rotation and it works brilliantly.
Urine tea in a sprayer and applied liberally on the wood chips helps put nitrogen back into the soil. Licorice plant helps to put nitrogen back into the soil
Woodchips with the leaves still on way way different than sawdust. But yes, you need compost.
I have a woodchips garden with no issues for 4 years. Why use saw dust?? Just use chips
Saw dust is just carbon, no nitrogen.
The leaves and bark is where all the good thinks are =p
Exactly, I am actually surprised that she is unaware that saw dust does not equal fresh chipped needles, branches, and leaves. She can easily get chips for free in the PNW from chipdrop.
Love all these details!! Thank you for including all of it! We use arborist chips with all the green bits (truckloads) and it's great.
If you aren't experimenting, you ain't gardening is what I say. Ruth Stout is my gardening hero. A simple "KISS" (Keep It Simple Stupid) protocol is not just a cliche. Ruth Stout is like the Buck Perry of fishing. Important knowledge indeed.
If you're located in wet and humid areas (east coast) consider to cover your wood chips (cardboard, or filter cloth, etc.), as rotting wood chips are a GREAT place to grow ARTILLERY FUNGUS and many of the other fungi that attack tomatoes, potatoes, and squash, etc.
Thanks for the tip!
As others have said, that's not wood chips you're using. It's wood shavings. If you've watch the original Back to Eden, he uses tree service chips which has some green leaves in it(nitrogen) along with larger chips(carbon) that won't break down in a single season and rob nitrogen like the finer stuff in your shavings .
Since Paul of Back to Eden has large piles dropped that are part green leaves, part big chips and some smaller chips/twigs, what he ends up putting on his garden is part compost, part large chips. The mixture of green leaves and smaller pieces of carbon go through a bit of composting in those big piles.
Great subject and presentation! I'm a retired arborist use a lot of wood chips for shrub mulch and also use 4 year old composted wood chips in the vegetable garden. There was research published comparing nutrient content of wood chips comparing wood chips with few branches and wood chips that consisted of limbs, twigs and rake ups. Some of the chippers used today can chip up to 20" diameter and larger and these are the guys are are often giving away chips as they get so many. These large chippers save labor but chip a lot of solid wood. The limb and twig produced wood chips contain a lot more nutrients than just plain wood. Keep in mind the various base materials in chipped wood as they vary a lot. My four year old composted wood chips look like coffee grounds and are fine for working or tilling into the soil.
When getting wood chips, I get chips from a "Pruning service". Therefore the chips are only as old as the time it takes to go into the garden. I also ensure that chips come from non-pine (or related) trees. Given pine needles are acidic, I wouldn't put pine chips into the garden. PLUS... I only use "first year chips" where I am walking, etc. Thus better water retention (i have sandy soil). In the fall/spring as I till, most of this gets tilled into the soil adding nutrients, but I am also adding tons of leaves and compost. After I plant my garden in the spring, I just repeat... No chips within a foot of any of the plants !!
Looking forward to this video Melissa 😊
PH and soil tests are great ways to see how the soil is conditioning. In Australia lime is added to adjust the PH when required.
Don't worry so much and get planting :s things will grow.
I rototill 1 to 2 rows a year as necessary (in my eyes), otherwise, no till. I agree, do what works for you, enjoy the results.
Thank you very much for the update, I appreciate any and all information about soil and gardening.
Great informative video , looking at growing my own organic vegetables to use in my videos as a lot more healthier compared to store bought . Thanks for sharing 👍👍
Worms love cardboard. They break down the cardboard. I use it all the time.
I am a cardboard hoarder. 🤷🏼♀️
@@catherinegrace2366 me too!
@@FloridaGirl- we are rich! RICH! I’m just now turning some soil and compost out and cardboard helped every step of the way for me to make a FAT soil that is going to grow a fabulous garden. I’m soooooo stoked.
Agreed!
If you have a powerful enough shredder, shred them!
Worms eat them faster!
Also great for a "brown" in compost.
@@Tufenuff83 I moved less than a year ago, from one continent to another during the middle of a global pandemic and all of our moving boxes got composted as we unpacked them. It is amazing how much they shrink down as they compost! But we should have great compost at the end of next season.
Good morning to you my Beautiful Friend and Mater Gardener!!
We only have wood chips from the chicken coop... so I wonder if throwing it all into our compost with the chicken poop would balance it out. 🤔 All the food scraps and whatever leaves and grass we can rake up also go in, along with a couple free loads of compost from a local mushroom farm. We have no clue what we're doing, but can't wait to try and see what happens with our first garden next spring!
The key to using wood chips properly as regards to improving one's soil structure is using as high of a percentage of ramial wood chips as it is possible to obtain.
Ramial wood chips are those that are chipped from branches, which are technically less than 3" in diameter, which are freshly cut, and which have all *ALL* of their green leaves attached to their respective branches/twigs. The green leaves provide a source of nitrogen, as well as various sugars that speed up the process of decomposition by a significant margin. In an ideal world, such as on Will Bonsall's farm in Maine, the ramial wood chips will be created from branches no more than 1.5" in diameter.
I personally used the wood chips from the tree trimming contractors in Baltimore City, mostly as a very thick mulch around my 24" tall raised beds. A layer measuring 10"-12" thick will quickly heat up, just as quickly start cooling down, and in 3-4 months be only 3-4 " thick. By the time winter is over in spring, those chips will be no more than 2" thick, will contain enormous quantities of very thick strands of white mycorrhizal fungi, and have broken down into a very respectable humus.
I think the fine saw dust is your problem, the fine saw dust would easily work its way into the first couple of inches of soil robbing the nitrogen from the soil. Where as the large wood chips you would get from an arborist sit on top of soil and wouldn't draw nearly as much nitrogen from the soil as those really fine saw dust particles you use. I guarantee you that's your problem
I always enjoy a good experiment! I need to make myself do a soil test. My peppers are struggling this year.
So were mine. I gave em a shot of nitrogen. And in a week I saw the difference!
This isn’t really a great experiment though because she is using saw dust rather than proper wood chips, or “tree mulch” or “forestry mulch” which are fresh chipped needles, branches, and leaves.
I love to get free wood chips from chip drop and spread it under my flower beds. This keeps the weeds down, moisture in and keeps the soil from crusting from rain, etc. I don't put it in my veggie raised beds though I use ground up leaves or a cover crop over winter.
ChipDrop is great!!
I use wood chips and augment the soil through the year. Depends on the type of wood used.
FYI
If you grow plants in a pot and fertilize one regularly, you will notice the one without fertilizer will become root bound. While the one fed is not heavily rooted.
Also a well fed plant will acquire carbon from the air while stressed plants will grab carbon from the rooting medium. The organic matter consists mostly carbon.
I think if you tried actual Back to Eden gardening you’d love it. What you’re doing isn’t a true back to Eden. I use real wood chips, full of leaves. Layer it at least four inches deep. Add compost or manure. I use rabbit. Every year I add fresh chip on top. I have NEVER watered my garden! And I rarely ever have to pull weeds…. My tomatoes are currently taller than me and LOADED! everything tastes so sweet and juicy. I have no need to even do a soil test because I wouldn’t change a thing;) God is good… the best medicine for any garden is prayer. ;) happy gardening.
Do you make you own wood chips from trees and bushes? If yes, what would you recommend for chipping branches about 1-1.5 inch thick?
@@natalyahennings1085 yes. I have a large chipper that hooks to the PTO on my tractor. It takes small limbs and brush up to about 4-5inches around. It’s the BX42.
The Back to Eden gardening is different than what you did in your experiment. Having almost any coverage is good but, the Back to Eden garden from Paul Gautschi uses wood chips from arborists. It has the leaves, trigs, and all that is chipped when taking down trees. It looks like you used sawdust or something similar. That has no nutritional value versus the chips you get from an arborist. Also, it looks like your chips were not that deep, at least the 2-year-old chips. The wood chips should be at least 4 inches deep at all times. You should not see soil through the chips and they should not blend into the soil. If they do, you will have a nitrogen deficiency.
Yes I watched many videos on the subject of using wood chips and many of thr videos say to use arborist wood chips as if the wood chips are too "perfect", there is nothing for the worms to break down.
I love the experiment! It makes sense that the green matter added to the "chips" bring nitrogen back to the soil. My wife and I are in the process of deciding what we want to do with with an additional about 900 sq ft garden area. Our first area is raised beds. We mulched it, mostly to keep the weeds down, but the soil under it is amazing. We're tilling the new area to see how it's going to go. We're also going to mulch the area we ARE NOT growing in. We're experimenting for fun. If it doesn't work out, we'll try something else! Thanks for your videos! I like to see for myself how things work also!
Ma'am asking a question. What about cover crops overwintering to help fix the nitrogen ie. them peas and other nitrogen fixers? Maybe some brassicas too?
Cover crops are usually a good idea in that the longer plants are actively photosynthesizing the longer roots are actively feeding microorganisms via exudates (sugars) and the healthier the soil microbiology will be.
The type of cover crop is important. If you garden in zone 9 your cover crops probably won’t give up the ghost as they would in, say, zone 6 and will survive until you are ready to plant. If they aren’t removed they will compete with the plants you put in. Digging in/tilling is the most common method practiced, that will damage the very microorganisms you put them in to protect in the first place. So if you put in a cover crop that will be winterkilled that is a fine plan. However, if you are in a mild zone might be a better situation to grow cool weather crops for early spring harvest or top your beds with an inch of compost to support the soil’s microbiology in the off season. You can also plant a permanent perennial low growing ground cover… just beware this may create habitat for certain pests like slugs and snails. “It all depends” applies once again. Sigh.
@@Lauradicus I know some people here is Texas that do the cover crops. I don't know their time table, but they put down garden tarps to kill off the cover crops after they basically do a chop and drop.
They time it so they can pull up the tarp and plant away.
Reuse tarp for next time.
^^ yep, I’ve seen folks that solar-trap the cover crop in, like, February. What I’m curious about tho is does that heat acceleration also kill the good microbes that would appreciate that extra inch or two of brand new solstices mulch? I don’t know, which is why I haven’t tried it yet.
@@melissasullivan1658 microbes have extremely short life spans (hours) & should rebound rapidly when good conditions return. The work & time savings in preparation of a garden bed by simply pulling a tarp across is fantastic!
For compost you could use a tote with manure compost and fill with water. Then spray over. It’d be cheaper
That's a great idea and that's the tip I needed.
Thank you very much. Excellent thorough explanation. In our situation we struggle to make meaningful compost, end up $upplementing with organic “garden soil” bags but are derived from wood chips/shred/bark. I notice the same weak growth. So now looking for sources for nitrogen
Very well explained. Appreciate the work you put into this video.
I have a question did you grow the same crops in both beds??
@Melissa K Norris Thank you for sharing your soil testing and the company you used. It will be interesting to see what happens in year 3 as the microbial "critters" increase in the non-tilled area - my understanding is that also increases the nitrogen content. As others have commented ad nauseum, it looks like you used sawdust - were there leaves/needles in any of the wood products you put down? Are you going to add another layer and would you use the same product? Do you have access to a free source of ramial wood chips with leaves? The leaves certainly add nitrogen to the chips. I love your garden!!!
I feel like Melissa should address what her saw dust consists of and/or the source. I wonder if she could change the experiment to proper wood chips for future years.
We add chicken bedding (straw and poop) to our compost heaps, water once a week with diluted urine, and add urined cat litter (vegetable based) and weed on toilet paper (no poop). This month we found a source of fresh horse manure to add to the compost heaps, so I'm looking forward to next years compost as it should be superb!
I hear you when you say you don't have enough compost for your veg garden! We had 4 compost heaps last year (now we have 6 but 2 are brand new). The 4 heaps only gave enough compost for 4 inches deep each on two raised beds! It's hard to have enough space for the heaps or to get enough materials to make compost for a decent sized plot.
This year on top of the 4 inches of compost I have put 4 inches of wood chips. It's my first time using wood chips (they are largish wood chips though not wood shavings). I used green shreddings last year which also worked well in keeping the weeds down. I got a good crop of pole beans and tomatoes. Some squash, melons and courgettes. Good crop of perpetual spinach. My bell peppers died though.
Good luck with 2022, hope everything goes well ☺
Ask 10 gardeners their opinion of how to garden and you will get 30 answers LOL ! There is nothing wrong with trying new things and experimenting in your own back yard , enjoyed the video thanks for posting .
Sawdust and woodchips are a lot different than arborist woodchips. Didn't hear that talked about here. Including the leaves and needles in the mulch provides a lot of nitrogen for the composting at the soil-mulch layer.
Agreed - sawdust and fine shavings will have a closer contact to the soil - useful if your intent is to encourage bacteria and fungi to break it down, releasing nutrients in the short/medium term. But as mentioned, the bacteria will draw down nitrogen - which I think the soil test demonstrated. Fine material will also tend to absorb and block water penetration. Larger chips (arborist) will act more as a long-term mulch (2 years where I live), and the larger chunks will have minimal contact with the ground (and be harder for bacteria to break down). It will tend to shield soil from evaporation, yet allow water to penetrate easily. This in turn allows the establishment of fungal networks throughout hot weather months - and that will especially benefit trees/perennials. Mycorrhizal fungi have been shown to transport water from hundreds of feet away to the root-tips of trees, as they attempt to draw starches from the trees - IF they have a protected (mulched) pathway. I've confused the two purposes of chipping myself, and seen similar results. I now use compost for vegetables, sawdust/shavings for footpaths, and coarse woodchips between trees in our orchard - and each is well suited to it's purpose. I do love that Melissa has put a bit of science into the experiment - thanks from all of us!
What about having the wood chips really thick and maintaining that cover? I know James Prigioni really love his wood chips in his food forest but maybe it’s different for annual gardens?
I watch James too. I love his garden. He encouraged me to go food forrest style.
James grows a lot of annuals but has transitioned to growing a lot of them them in raised beds over the last few years. He still has his cucumbers and a lot of beans in ground along all those fences but as they are vines they probably tolerate wood chips better than, say, lettuces would. Years ago his advice for annuals in wood chips was to make sure you pull them back and actually plant them in the ground. I’m trialing this with herbs and I find that the birds throw the wood chips around so much plants in the seedling stages don’t fare well. So I’m growing my annuals in compost and my perennials mostly)/bushes/fruit trees in wood chips.
My squash/zuccs/cucs gave to be planted in the ground. They get sooo darn big!
Most of my edible garden is in raised beds because I live in a red clay rich area, though all the soil inside my beds are native I heavily amended it until I was happy with it(gypsum and a ton of organic matter).
After 1st year, it was "good" soil.
Second year, it was gardening black gold. Dark, rich, and easily dug into with my hands a foot or more deep.
I have wood chips (not saw dust) between the beds and you can dig under those and see good soil as well. Most of my direct in ground plants are flowers for my bees.
@Laura Dicus - your advice in the commentary is always amazing. Just wanted you to know. :)
The difference is that James Prigioni is actually using “wood chips” in terms of back to eden gardening, which is fresh chipped needles, branches, and leaves. These aren’t woodchips; she is using saw dust. Saw dust is not the same as needles, branches, and leaves, which breakdown and create a compost tea every time in rains in the soil and allows the soil and roots and mycelium to harvest fresh nutrients as the needles, branches, and leaves slowly breakdown.
It will be very interesting what years 3 and 4 bring for you!
We've had great experience using no-till beds of compost (no wooden sides, just laid on top) and we use the wood chips in the aisles. Our garden is so much more manageable now. Of course this is coming from the experience of having a previously CLAY-like-I-could-be-a-potter-CLAY garden. The weeds that do pop up are fewer and MUCH easier to pull any time I want to instead of waiting for the ground to be soft enough. We hope to produce enough compost eventually for yearly management but we did go ahead and invest in buying enough for 6" in bulk from a local nursery the first year to get started.
Also - can you do a what I eat in a month/week type video please??? I'm starting to eliminate foods for reflux and need new ideas for what to eat now! I LOVE spicy food and all the acidic fruits and tomatoes and of course coffee. I use a lot of these things in our meals and I have to come up with a new meal rotation.
I'm excited to see this year's results!
I added 8” of wood chips to my garden and amended with chicken manure in the fall for 2 years. Last fall I only had 3” of chips left so I amended with chicken manure heavily and tilled everything into the ground. My plants have exploded this year. I’m done with my wood chip days I believe but will continue to amend.
U have the perfect mulch readily available in huge amounts...all that green grass around your garden. I assume u do not treat your grass with pesticides or herbicides (obviously can’t use those on yur grass if going to use as mulch), just spread it thinly (couple of inches) every time u mow...layer is thin so won’t create heat as it decomposes and as the green decomposes it will add nitrogen to your soil.
I found I didn’t like wood chips IN my garden, but I loved it in my isles. Loved it
Thanks for the update. Been following your series. Very interesting.
Hey Melissa. Thanks for sharing. I enjoy filmed experiments.
I noticed you mentioned the cardboard. I recently watced a lecture by Linda Chalker-Scott (Washington State University) and she was talking about CO2 diffusion and different mulches. Stating from bareground, she found that woodchips slow down the diffusion by a factor of ten. And cardboard is worse than woodchips by a factor of ten. Using both, then, is not ideal. This basically slows down the growth, all else equal.
Also noted, her research team determined, to her own surprise, that woods chips are the superior mulch as long as, like you said, you do not work it into the soil. Basically, where soil meets the chips there is an impact. But one centimeter lower and there is no impact on the nitrogen levels.
Curious. Did you test the nitrogen levels in that space and the grow tunnel before the experiment?