Back to Eden Organic Gardening 101 Method with Wood Chips VS F.L. Deep Mulch Gardening Series # 9
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
- FIXING 1st Year Problems. This is Part 9 of 12 Part Series that will help you understand the PRO'S & CON'S of Back to Eden organic deep mulch gardening method with wood chips to composting just Fall leaves. Great start for beginners Tour our secrets for organic soil & growing gardening vegetables 101 documentary with pest control. Looking into soil food web & soil health in a no till organic garden. diy garden. Organic gardening and farming.
You have no idea how happy I am to have stumbled on your channel some months ago. It's the bedrock of how I'm establishing my flower farm acre! Not ONE of my flower farming books mention anything like this - it's all compost, compost, compost. You're wonderful, thank you so, so much for your fantastic explanations.
I remember several years ago, I was watching your videos, and I felt really overwhelmed and confused. I was living in Ohio at the time, raised there.
Fast forward to now, crazy turn of an events and I ended up moving to Hawaii. I've been working on organic farms on Big Island for a year. Impulse decision actually.
Your videos came to mind today and I looked them up. It all makes sense now!
Thank you!
Very Nice to Hear.. THANK YOU...
Excellent. I can't tell you how many times I've watched other gardening videos which make the claim that good mulch eventually turns to "soil". Arghhh.... Good description of this distinction between soil and compost. I'm also using more and more wood chips and leaves to conserve moisture in out large gardens. Even here in the Pacific Northwest, the summers are getting hotter and dryer. I haven't had to water several blueberry fields that have had several layers of wood chips. Thanks for your accurate videos.
Ummm...try making compost tea and pour it over a struggling area. Growth will explode because of the nutrients leeched out of the compost. Compost does turn into air (CO2 during decomposition) but also much of the mass of the compost becomes the mass of the fungi and other organisms THAT MAKES SOIL from clay as they eat the nutrients that used to be compost.
As always: It's a pleasure watching. I wish these kind of videos would have views in the millions... World might be better off!
In time, this is not the normal garden practice. It took Paul a long time too.. THANK YOU VERY MUCH....for your kind words.
AGREED it would b great if the rest of the you tube presenters caught on to the good work here and never sink farm! no evidence! ha!
THANK YOU..
thanks for explaining the difference between soil building and compost.
THANK YOU for watching and writing, I always though compost was key..far from it. It is the plants roots.
Thank you i feel like i am listening to a professer at a collage only better the info is shared freely and you make it so understandable and give awesume word pictures i am a true dyslexic and love your content please don't stop my veggie gatden is going to benefit greatly jannie oceans of love from florida
THANK YOU, for your kind words and watching...
watching your series of videos, it really "clicked" about the difference between compost and soil. great vids.
THANK YOU..It took me a long time...I am glad you got it quicker..
Beautiful Osprey! Probably feeding her babies!
Exactly my response. It is an osprey not a hawk.
Always something to learn. We had light frost last night but next entire week seems fine.
Practically I am done with outside garden for this year, this winter I am compiling all the info into a diary and apply to next year.
Hello, WOW,,FROST.. That is the best thing about winter. Is a time to relax and plan...THANKS
My goodness I am learning so much from your videos, they have to be the best on the Back to Eden and using leaves as a mulch and learning about soil structure. I am totally new to building up the soil with living roots and I am just about getting this way of gardening into my brain. Even the thought of leaving the runner beans and the corn roots in the soil is weird but I am going to do it, and it is less work as well. Brilliant! May I ask when you grow the winter rye grass, how do you get rid of it in the spring, is it more work and do little rye grasses come up all the time as presumably it goes to seed? I cant wait for your next installment! Thank you thank you.
THANK YOU, Very Much.. I plant the winter rye now. I will go over all your question in part 10..Thanks
Marvelous thank you, I hope you made a lot of money for the charity selling your sunflowers.
YES, It was a great day. There was a very kind woman the gave 100 dollars for one sunflower to the young adult that lives at the home. It made her cry ( happy tears ) THANK YOU FOR ASKING...
Oh what a lovey story : )
Keep avoiding using chicken scratch, manure or feces. Of anykind Both for your certification, but also for the accessibility of your methods. My favorite aspect of all your videos is how simple the whole process is, and using materials that are readily available nearly everywhere. Access to livestock by products is very limited, and likely to decrease over time. Keep on keeping on!
Fully understand....THANK YOU.
svojoe,
I have to agree, and it is sad. About 97% of all animal manures are from CAFOs today. There was a time when you could get good manure, but now a days that stuff is really potentially a big health problem. What's worse is that 3% that still could be a big benefit, usually is being used by the farmer himself. You generally won't find the good stuff available for sale at any price and only have access to it if you raise your own animals.
You have got to love the mulch from leaf and wood chips for keeping the moisture in the ground.
Yes, it is amazing. And for how many years did gardeners what to see dirt only....THANKS,
I will add to my comments about my clayzone changing. I live in Texas and during the summer the soil in my raised beds crack with very deep cracks. No amount of watering will get rid or the cracks completely. When this does happen, my compost falls into the deep cracks. Maybe this is what has conditioned the clayzone.
Thank You for adding this in.. Enjoy
Appreciate and enjoy your videos. Disagree with your statement about the 16 minute mark though. I believe I have seen great improvements in soil underneath mulch? I started mulching fruit trees 15 year ago with grass clipping and since I stack hay during the summer months, I started asking customers for any hay/ straw they wished to get rid of. It prevented them the liability of disposal, and gave me a great benefit of mulch as well as compost. Have tree services bring me wood chips as well. Been ran over with more than I can consume! So I tried to use a lot around my trees. Guess they call this area the great American desert? SE Colorado.
Like I said I started simply, and increased fast. Huge amounts of bad hay and woodchips were given to me. Now I have hundreds of tons/cubic yards of composting organic waste. Four years ago we had a very mild fall, with an arctic blast when leaves were yet green. Killed many trees that I replaced the following fall. This area is called a sandy loam by the NRCS, It is far from it! I'm far enough away from any flood plain or glacial activity, it is mostly a hard tight compacted clay. Shovels of soil had to beat down into smaller pieces for the original plantings.
When I replaced the trees, it was a completely different soil type! And all from heavy mulches. Aggregational, is that a word? Much easier to dig into, much easier to break and replant, and darker. Probably twelve years plus after adding the first mulch. I tended to believe it was due to the increase of soil activity under the mulch? We were in a severe drought at that time, but noticed all kinds of surface activity when I watered which I equated to a good environment.
Am I wrong?
I would think that the trees provide the living roots that promotes the mycorrhizal fungi that built the soil.
This is my third year of having a garden. Actually, only my second, because last year I was unable to be here to garden. I obtained wood chips last fall and put them over my garden, so I suppose they were considered new wood chips. And, nothing grew this year. I am so appreciative of your videos. You obviously put a lot of research and time into them. I hope next year is a better year for my garden. Thank you for the education!
Sorry to hear that..If i can HELP in any way just let me know...THANKS
Thank you, your videos are very helpful.
Could you try a section with biochar to see how that compares to the others. make sure you activate it so that it isnt pulling nutrients from the plants in that first year.
THANK YOU for writing...There are other gardening channels that are doing that comparison. You can see there helpful results...
Thank you for giving it some thought. My thinking is $$ it would be too expensive to introduce wood chips and other organic matter directly into the soil and plow that in.
I have done this on a small scale when I plant fruit trees which I did yesterday.
For small 5' tall Apple & Plum trees I dig a 4' diameter hole about 2' deep mix in about 1/3 full of wood chips with the soil that was there which is mainly clay and water well this is my 3rd leaf or year in the ground on some and the trees so far have grown extremely well and are pest free. It's all organic but it is time consuming and then the cost for chips.
On the flip side it is a lifelong investment in the trees...I forgot to mention the soil is now loaded with huge earthworms that my soil never had. I did add about a 5 gallon pail of compost that also had wood chips in it and leaves but was not fully broken down. Some will say the chips tie up available nitrogen... to that I say its a small price to pay and I will always get the nitrogen back in time as it breaks down. Hope this helps someone.
GOT IT, I understand. Thanks for the update...
Love your videos, /thanks for sharing. I live in Central Kentucky I have a large single family garden. Its 100' x 100'. We grow our typical items in rows such as corn,beans,tomatoes,peppers,squash,potatoes,and so on. We do till once a year during the planting time and have a great harvest yearly. But i want to get away from tilling and I want to put leaves on my garden to assist with weeds. We are not certified organic but we dont use weed killer or pesticides. Its now January and because of health reasons I did not get my cover crop on and I have an abundance of leaves still on the ground in my woods. Can I still put leaves down now and be ready for spring,
All is OK.. YES, the # 1 rule is to keep the ground covered. Please watch the rest of the series you are at part 9 now. the rest of the information will be helpful you. If any other question come to mind PLEASE ask.. THANK YOU.
Have you ever used winter forage peas? They work well in zone 5 and 6. Plant them in the fall and they will winter over and grow in the spring.
I have not yet. Heard great things about them. THANK YOU for your help and insight. Bravo
i having problems with this method of gardening! im finding the woodchips need to compost for about 3 years before it really can be used in the garden thanks for sharing !!! : )
Really interesting and making me question my current thoughts about compost being king. I have raised beds in an urban home, how do you grow a cover crop in the wood chip? I’m confused as to how the cover crop grows on the wood chips, or are you pulling back the chips, growing the cover crop...then recovering with chips?
I am wondering about that too.
In Quincy, Illinois, our yard was yellow clay (probably from digging out the basement) in which you could see the cracks between the blades of grass. The grass roots and mowed clippings did not seem to be improving the soil. Our town composted yard waste, screened it, and let people take the finished black product home. (pretty awesome!!) I put it on top of the clay for my flowers. In a couple of years I found 2 things: 1.) No cracks and digging down through the clay subsoil was relatively incredibly easier to dig through than it had been originally, which I thought was caused by the leaching down of fulvic and humic acids being released by the top layer of compost going down into the clay and doing some kind of softening (understanding the chemistry is beyond my knowledge set, but I read it somewhere); 2.) the other thing was really fun to look at and I wish I had taken pictures. Earthworms came to our yard and crawled up and down taking black top compost downward with them, so now bringing up a shoveled slice of clay revealed polka-dot-pudding with round black circles throughout the yellow slice!! So in my experience, the top layer of compost, such as what eventually would form under the wood chips, CAN contribute to the softening, draining, and aerating of the subsoil. I should say I am pretty ecumenical in many aspects of my life and in this case also embrace encouraging mycorrhizal fungi with year-round roots of plants that host the same kind of fungi (usually endo), using activated biochar, heaping our compost pile up in our chicken yard, etc. We use tillage radishes in the mix when cover cropping to get ready to turn some of our compacted barnyard ground into garden area. Even though they don't host mycorrhizal fungi, they punch very nice holes through the compacted dirt leaving behind some earthworm friendly organic matter.
Great to HEAR. Earth worms love tillage radishes to eat on. Tillage radishes do not help or grow mycorrhizal fungi at all.. THANK YOU for sharing.
that is an osprey I believe.
I am so lucky to have one around. THANKS
Excellent video ! Thank you for taking the time to make it. I understand the basic philosophy of cover crops which over time will add organic matter and carbon into the soil by way of their roots, but after seeing your hard pan it's so bad and gray.. that one has to ask would it not be better and take the hit to add wood chips and whatever else you have and plow/rototill it into the soil and be done with it once and for all ? I don't want to disturb the soil either but by breaking up the hard pan and adding organic matter now would this be of greater overall benefit ? Is it a case of economics ? Or am i missing something ? Thanks again for your great videos !
I am going to do a field trail on that .. So I can not say if it is good or bad yet.. THANK YOU for watching.
@@iamorganicgardening Were you able to fit this test in?
I beg to differ. I have been applying compost twice a year in a raised bed for seven years. Before, a pitch fork could not penetrate the clayzone in a dry time. Now my pitch fork easily penetrates the clayzone during the driest of times. And when I dug down to where the clayzone is, the top two inches have changed.
THANK YOU for sharing. This is my problems I am VERY HAPPY you do not have to fix anything and can enjoy gardening a little quicker that I can. I wish I could do the same as you and Paul. If you any other information PLEASE SHARE.. THANKS.
I'm enjoying the videos and thank you for all the time and knowledge you're sharing. I had already started with wood chips 6" deep over a dark but very clay like soil and then added about 10-12' of leaves over that the following year and started growing in them as soon a few weeds sprung up. I did till them in but also created raised beds with wood chips in a triangle profile about 12' deep. I have a previous bed created this way that was filled with the white stringy stuff and gigantic roots. This year I have even more leaves that I add between the plants all summer long but..... So finally to my question, What I don't do and don't know where to go is what will survive a winter (other than wheat) in NE Kansas? OR should I go head and use the wheat and then potentially do
what I can to bend it over and kill it (it's really hardy) and then maybe bury it in leaves again when the inferno of summer arrives?
Thank you
My advice is to call a seed company that knows what grows over winter for you in your USDA zone and keeps a living root. Ask about winter rye or hairy vetch ( it survives in North Dakota ). Might be to late to plant now? Ask also about Any type of clover too? All cover crops must be planted in the soil underneath. Not in the wood chips or leaves. A cordless hedge trimmer works great to cut the cover crop down first then rake aside then chop with any tool between the roots and the crown right at soil level leaving no green above the roots 30 days before planting. Thanks
pulling pepper plant -did you see the foot long root on bottom of root ball.
+I AM ORGANIC GARDENING, you have inspired me to go to my nearest park to observe nature! I couldn't believe the amount of tree branches and leaves there are on the ground- I thought this would only be possible if done manually but no, nature has heavy mulch too! I think I've made an observation and I could be wrong on this. If a forest is young, very little wood material will fall- thus a new, young soil probably has mostly leaf mold as its fertilizer. Could this be true? Have a good day sir.
Great video's
I am a bit confused...
I have a brand new BTE garden built on very rocky soil. I started it in Mar. of this year and laid cardboard, mushroom compost, then very thick layer of pine tree woodchips. I will be letting it sit until next spring. what I am confused about is when do I plant cover crop and do I just plant into these crops next spring? Do I let them stay or do I cut down at anytime? I will be needing to build soil as the soil out here in Washington, close to mt. Rainier is to rocky to plant in. Thank you for any help
Hii Sir
i am so move that you would really spend time to share and experiment all these to us.. you are doing wonderful work.. thank you. we appreciate it.
i saw the leave mold doing wonderful work.. and wood chip get too moist that causing plant to stunt.
the world never work in one thing alone. what happened if you put the thick layer of leaves (leaf mold) on the soil and put a thick layer of wood chip on top of the leaf mold ... ? will that solve the problem (instead of doing raise bed). since leaf mold doesn't cause drowning of root... and chips reserve all the moisture better than leaves..
you guys are really blessed to live in a country with big land and good sun. i am no in Germany... expensive land, terrible language that i can't extract info or understand their law about farming and land (so much crazy laws).. and no where to get wood chip... not that i know of..
i know you get wood chip from tree removing company, where did you get the leaves from then ?
truly
andrew
germany
Hey man...still enjoying the videos. those sunflowers look mighty healthy. My cover cropping is coming up soon. Trying out premium soil builder mix that OneYardRevolution uses. Look forward to the rest of the series.
Hey There. Good to hear from you. I just ask Patrick what is in that... Thanks, I hope that soil is turning out great.
Basically the back to eden method is a bust if you are using it the first year. If you are putting in a cover crop then the BTE method is really not being used. Covering the soil with wood chips doesn't seem to be giving the soil a boost. So I believe using the method in part for weed prevention but opening up the planting area to sun and rain and "weeds" free of the chips like one would normally do and using the chips more for the areas next to the farrows. It really isn't like Adam and Eve lounging in the garden waiting for a apple to fall from a tree, we are still growing and tilling by the "sweat of our collective brows".
I agree with you... And I have given more information in the later parts how it works.. You are only at part 9, it goes up to part 12. Please watch the rest and let me know what you think then. There is ( no-tilling ) in my garden or farm. THANK YOU for sharing.
Ruth Stout!!!
Maybe a good choice
Another great vid :)
Can I suggest Sorghum/Sweet Sorghum for deep root systems? Not searched up on it's fungus biome but may be interesting as a soil builder although being related to grass may be a Nitrogen hog. It would be an interesting plant for you to cover along with it's advantages/disadvantages.
My second suggestion would be to overwinter your pepper plants, prune them back and leave them in storage (potted) for next year ?
Great stuff and a green thumbs up from the UK
THANK YOU.. DID the sorghum grass video last year, IT works great. Click here :ua-cam.com/video/02WIufFsHcI/v-deo.html
Great will watch it :)
What was the effect on the hard pan with the sorghum?
Ever thought of overwintering your peppers?
I have 75 Pepper plants on the other side of the field and they are 4 feet tall. I started them from seeds this spring. Just easier to restart them, then to save for me. But have heard good things about saving them...THANKS
Yes it is a fish. That is an Osprey. Love birds of prey.
They are amazing to have around..THANKS for the info.
Woodchips need to stay in a pile and hot compost before spreading them out. The longer the better, a month atleast. Six to 8 months is better.
Thanks! I need your help!! This past October we laid down a thick layer of wood chips 9-12 inches deep from a local tree service! I can tell they haven't decomposed much (we didn't add manure because we have such a large section of our yard dedicated to gardening)... My main question is: HOW SHOULD I PLANT THIS SPRING 2017 (if at all)? I want to build the soil, not JUST plant in the chips, but the chips are deep! So should I Dig a hole down to where the soil is, plant the seeds, and then cover with wood chips when they grow big enough? OR should I plant some winter rye THIS SPRING and THEN plant my garden seeds next year? I'm really eager to start planting though...THANKS so much for responding :-)
Also in the same link I sent you for the other question, I will show you how I did it. I also made my chips 1 foot deep too. Hope this answer you question, If not PLEASE write back. THANK YOU.
Some of my raised beds are filled with peat moss/vermiculite/compost mixture. Would it be worthwhile to add some soil to the surface that can be carried down into the bed? I already use leaves and leaf mold on my in ground beds.
Yes, 100%
In a previous video you linked to a list of plants that don't benefit from mycorrhizal fungi like brassicas and blueberries. Is the presence of the fungi an actual detriment to the plants?
I tested that by planting a blueberry plant next to my apple tree 3 year ago. I still get blueberries. Still testing
Hi, Mark. you are talking about the winter rye growing through the winter and building soil, how will that work at -20 degrees? Love what I am learning, thank you.
Even at those temps or low the roots are still alive and working as in all perennials. Just maintaining until it gets warmer again. THANK YOU.
Thank you much, as always it is appreciated!
What do you do with the winter rye in the spring since back to eden / fall leaves is a no till system? I wasn’t able to find that info in your videos. Love the info. Thanks!
To work with winter rye this spring was this playlist : ua-cam.com/video/7cQMmwuAfaE/v-deo.html . Thanks
Do we do raised beds like this /\/\/\/\/\/\ and then cover the whole thing with a wood-chips and leaves combo, to fix the root drowning problem?
Yes, BUT plant winter rye seed on the peaks also..THANK YOU..
Thanks; I'll check what is good down here in swampland Lakeland FL. for cover crops.
So I love your videos! I am experiencing some on those same BTE challenges. I planted a winter cover crop (hairy vetch, winter peas, winter rye) for the first time in one area with bindweed. I was wondering what cc you would consider if there were a lot of thistles? TIA!
I have ALSO been fighting them for years now too.. I am reducing them by 2/3 just cutting them short to the ground...THANKS
I will give that a try! I noticed the areas where the rabbit munched the young thistles they seem reduced. It was nice to let varmits help me with invasives but sheesh! Thistles?! I thought they were just for Eeyore!
You emphasize that it is living roots and mycorrhizal fungi that create soil structure. But is it only specific plants that generate mycorrhizae? The reason I ask Is that have come across vacant fields or lots that haven't been cut for perhaps 10 - 15 years or longer, often growing 3 or more ft high, and their soil is still pretty much hard and claylike. They are loaded with grasses and all sorts of plant life I couldnt name. These are a permanent soil cover and I imagine there are lots of living roots throughout the cold northeast winter. Why isn't this soil really good?
GREAT QUESTION, and glad you asked, I will make a video of the answer that will help to see it..THANK YOU.
I didn't think mychorrizal fungi could grow without perennials. Also do the macro organism (worms, bettles) not bring organic matter into the soil? or compost fall through spaces in the soil aggregates.
THANKS for asking.. Building soil is all about PLANTS feeding the soil food web...it is very little about organic matter. The organic matter is helpful in the top one inch..VERY LITTLE organic matter except maybe 1% goes into the soil. 99% of if turns back to CO2 and goes back in the air for the next green plant to use. It is the plants that feed liquid carbon into the soil that feeds the soil food web.. HOPE this helps to answer your question, if not please write back. THANK YOU.
What about tillage radishes? That is what I am going to try in my cover crop mix on land that has never been tilled or farmed, the ground is very hard.
They work GREAT. and grow very large..THANKS
Thank you so much for posting these videos. I've learned a lot already and can't wait to see more. I just started with a back to eden garden this year by laying down my wood chips, and will be going to find some cover crop seed for the winter. Any suggestions for someone in southern Ontario Canadian as to what to plant for a cover crop?
Part 10 will be out soon. There is a huge list..THANK YOU.
I'm slowly grasping the soil vs mulch concept, thanks to you! I've been sowing a winter cover crop around my allotment, though it's a bit slow to germinate in this late UK heat. Would you recommend sowing the same cover crop around my winter vegetables, eg swede, turnip, kale, or is that unnecessary?
Yes, all soil can be covered over winter no matter what is growing..THANK YOU.
Most of us do not have 2 acrers for growing trees and large plants.
You can Build Soil by easily by simply planting strawberries on the outside edge of your garden. This will keep a living root in the ground all year long to help grow mycorrhizal fungi... THANK YOU for asking
So my understanding before was woodchip/leaf mulch: 1) keeps soil moist at all times (good for soil life) 2) keeps temps moderate most of the time of the year - prevents summer sun scorching and reduces winter freeze period (good for soil life) 3) earthworms would feed on the bottom decomposing layer of the mulch, bringing the organic materials deeper into the soil - improving soil structure, reducing compaction, building soil, etc.
However, you are saying without living roots the hardpan below mulch will remain the hardpan. And with the lack of sufficiently decomposed mulch material you have to resort to raised bed and imported soil because no roots want to live in the soil under the woodchips as it is now?
The top part of the first paragraph is well written .. and sums it up very nicely ... THANK YOU. And Yes living plants roots must be it the soil at all time to host ( be home to mycorrhizal fungi ) it must be replace very 30 to 45 days. This fungi builds 95% of the soil and worms and decayed compost 5 % . It builds very small micro tunnels for the soil food web to move around in ( there is over 1 billion living micros per tablespoon. You need lots of tunnels ). What I am saying is you can use your Back to Eden garden and have no problems by using the YOUR own soil. No imported soil ( waste of money ) just dig and make mounds before you cover your pathways with wood chip. The raise bed will allow air and water flow because of your crop plant roots and drain out due to you have a raise bed above the hard soil underneath. Now you just have to wait until the wood chips decay to release nutrients into you raise beds. Plus you plants are adding carbon to feed the soil life. Hope this answers your question..If Not PLEASE write back. THANKS
Very interesting idea - to create raised beds by digging out the pathways prior to covering everything with mulch. Would this be primarily for drainage or for releasing the initial compaction? Would you suggest to do the same on somewhat sandy/rocky slopes and terraces (drainage is not issue, but the compaction is)?
My back to eden is going great but I’ve got a ton of wild violets taking over. Should I work to take care of them and if so, how could I even manage to get rid of them without hurting garden woodchop area.
They are not bad. They are growing soil for you. If it is to much just cut the at the wood chip surface and lay card board on top weight down with rocks, etc o the wind does not blow it away.
@@iamorganicgardening thanks mark!!!
So you are saying that back to eden only works properly in a polyculture? As in the basic permaculture design? Sorry if this seems like a silly question. I had a similar problem with mine regarding moisture until I raised it. I have citrus underplanted with Strawberries year round. Seems good now, but maybe I should introduce more perenials into it
Great QUESTION..If you take the best of all good nature/ garden techniques and share them in a garden or farm.. it works very Well. Wood chips for path ways and water storage. Raised beds for great drainage.. Perambulate on top of the raised bed to build soil and feed the soil food web and crop plant roots. And leaves and wood chips on top of beds when soil is low on cover or fungi.
Hope this clear..if not, please write back...THANK YOU. Also very important lots of flowers cover to feed the bees, etc.
Your wood chips look to large. Are they from a trunk? Paul says to use branches with their leaves shredded well. It breaks down faster and when it rains it produces compost tea to feed the soil below.
Yes, they are from the whole tree..small branch too and leaves. And sat their all winter.. I agree with you what Paul states to use. Just all the small pieces fell to the bottom of the wood chips. THANK YOU.
when you plant cover crops, does that create "weeds" next year when your trying to grow something else?
NO, Let me explain... If there is a cover crop growing the weeds seeds do not germinate as much, due to the soil is cover by the cover crop and the sun can not warm up the weed seeds to grow. And if they do start to grow, they have lack of sun so they will die young. Also there is nothing in nature that is 100% weed free...just less.. We have just be told to many times that it should be weed free. And what we call weeds is most time very helpful.. Like clover, that fixes nitrogen to our plants.. THANKS
Oh i understand now, that makes sense. Thanks for the reply
What if we do a leaves and wood-chips mix? Would that be closer to what happens in a forest?
That would be fine..It is just a cover. Plant roots build soil...THANKS
Hello. I saw that pine trees were planted to help the B2E garden. Does that still hold promise? If so, it is the same sort of approach as the sunflowers, legumes and rye? If not, how so?
Sorry No. The pine was etco Mycorrhizal ( mostly trees use this ). We are searching to better plant friendly fungi to get ENDO mycorrhizal fungi from grasses, legumes and winter rye . THANKS SO MUCH FOR ASKING..
thanks Mark
I found this breakdown of Endo / Ecto : www.rootnaturally.com/PlantListMycorrhizal.pdf
It's interesting that Apple and Plum are listed as ENDO and that Paul (B2E) maybe benefiting from the fruit tree species planted alongside his garden plants.
THAT IS SOME GREAT INFORMATION YOU FOUND...THANK YOU SO MUCH.
YES, HIS Apple, Plum, Cherry & Pear tree + strawberries..does very well for his garden,, GREAT FINE..THANK YOU.
How are you building your soil?
I am making a raised bed in the wood chips to help with AIR and Drainage in the raised bed. This will be soil with a living root in it all year long with a cover crop when I am not growing vegetables in it. PLANTS build soil. THANKS
By building a raised bed in the wood chips, so I can quickly grow roots in it with cover crops to add Air & Drainage and the soil food web plus aggregates
How does the Back to Eden method work on acidic very sandy soil?
GREAT. will work faster do to the great drainage of the sand.. DO NOT add lime.. The PH will change to a 7 range due to the soil food web working now that soil is covered. and Try to get a living root in the ground all year long..THANKS for asking.
How is then that Paul has transformed his clay into over 24 inches of soil
Your answer is in Paul's own words: It is not soil/dirt it is COMPOST. PAUL grows in COMPOST not soil. Click on this link and start at the 0:25 second mark, PLEASE tell me what you think..? LINK: ua-cam.com/video/dip05aHugME/v-deo.html .
U r spending a lot of time and energy trying build your soil n hopes of eventually it will be up to standard. Y not just start with a location that had great soil to begin with and spend your time growing great veggies?
NOT TRUE.. Just showing everyone that no matter what your soil type is you can improve it VERY EASY... THANKS for watching..