You know you've gone full-blown gardening geek when wood chips' gradual soil enrichment is exciting. Kinda like the old "watching grass grow," but yeah, I'm a geek, so I'm allowed to bust balls like that. Got ridiculously rocky soil where I am, and have been slowly improving it with compost, bark from my firewood, and other goodies. It's addictively gratifying watching the soil become more fertile each new season.
I am a wannabee geek and will surely start using this information. My garden (in Italy) is rock hard clay and it seems only weeds are able to grow here. But I have gathered 2 years worth of wood from our forest that i will now chip and use to improve our soil. Thanks for this video!
+Mark Peters may I make a suggestion? load a lot of compost and then add the chips. Water throuroughly and let it rot all winter. Next spring put the chips aside to see the results. Can you keep me posted? I live in Bulgaria - mountains and my soil is all rocks. Now is soft and worms are finally moving in. keep in touch to let me know what happens? Blessings
Hi guys, I live in panama now Central America.....the soil here in my garden all clay ...so starting to add wood chips I'll keep you posted . Thank you
I've only been doing this to my garden and yard for about the past 2 years but I'm already seeing a huge difference. If I dig down even a few inches it's rich dark organic material instead of barren clay like it was before. I can't imagine how amazing it will be in 6 more years. On top of it all, the wood chips I get around here are 100% free! Win win!
This is my sixth year gardening, the first 2 years I plowed and tilled the earth, since then I have been using wood chips (an inch or 2 inches deep) and layering with leaves (mulched) , grass clippings, hay, rabbit and chicken manure (starting last year) , let me tell you this, the first year I drove U-posts with a 3 pound hammer and folded up the ends on most posts to get them in the ground 1 foot deep . Now I can simply step on the majority of them with my foot and sink them in the ground a foot deep ! I'm a believer , lol ;)
Me too. I used to till, buy bags of fertilizer, pull weeds, water, etc. I use fall leaves and grass clippings. The only work I do now is at planting time and harvests times. That's it.
I've been improving my really crappy soil over the years and the difference is outstanding! Compost, wood chips, chop & drop, hay, horse manure and straw (bedding), etc. A lot of mulch, make a huge difference. But somehow more amazing than that. Is a spot in the back of the house. As most of my garden/yard it was rock filled during construction. Rolling stones about the size of a fist and bigger! A pain to walk on, due to the extremely bumpy and uneven surface. An area really not used at all. Over the years I've put absolutely no input of "imported" stuff. The ONLY thing done as been chop & drop, whatever "weeds" (soil builders) that show up in there! Literally I go there, with a trimmer, cut and leave them... The weeds succession is also remarkable and quite evident! The transformation is amazing! Curious detail. Now we can walk in there with some comfort. The surface is more even and soft. Almost no stones are visible by now. Outstanding transformation with ZERO cost! Let this serve as a tip, to anyone scratching his head. On how to improve soil due to cost or high inputs! ;-) Cheers
I have had a vegetable garden at this house for four years, of course with back breaking results. One day after watering I decide to dig down to see how far the water was draining since we are in a terrible drought here in central California I was feeling very guilty for using water to begin with. I thought I had watered enough and even thought I might have over watered. I was shocked to find the water only penetrated ONE inch. I was wasting all that water and time. I was in tears. I had amended so much into that space. Well, no more. I just received my first truck load of free wood chips. I'm so excited. Thanks for the encouragement.
I have carolina clay from a 1995 backfilled house. After 25 years maybe the top 2 inches are decent soil from mulching the grass clippings. I just added 5 truck loads of wood chips, hopefully the soil will improve faster now.
All your videos are informational and educational, but this one is important for everyone all over the world, with soils that get poorer in nutrients.Healing is possible with proper care. Thank you for your efforts in showing us what is possible.
THANK YOU for your videos! I purchased a home with clay soil and was at a loss for what to do with it. I built raised beds but the soil I got to fill them with was poor quality. So I watched all of your compost videos last fall and have lots of compost to put in them this spring. Our city hauls all of the yard waste 40 miles away to a compost facility so there are no free wood chips in town. All of our local arborists charge for wood chips (but don’t return calls so you can’t actually get any!). Thankfully I discovered that the next town over chips all of their residents’ limbs and has mountains of chips for the taking! I just got the most beautiful chips that were full of worms. 😊 The 5gallons bucket with the bottom cut out worked perfectly! I was really discouraged last year but since watching your videos, I’m am excited for this, and future, gardening seasons!
Thank you for encouraging gardeners to use wood chips, which in most places are free from tree service companies. I recently saw tree service men working on a county road near my home and their truck was nearly full of wood mulch. I asked them if they wished to dump the load close by, about 1/4th mile to my property. That is all it took to get a truck load of free mulch piled right where I wanted it. Before this, I have gone to tree service companies properties where they dump loads and obtained free mulch to fill my 6 x 10 trailer, where they loaded trailer for small fee. It is an amazing amendment for hard clay soils!
I had been buying wood chips in bags until l called a local tree service company who said their mulch is free for the taking, with a small cost for loading pickups and utility trailers. Compost is available in partially composted or fresh shredded from mixture of tree species and separate piles of ceder mulch. I brought home of ton of partially composted in a 6 x 10 trailer at a very small cost. Call your local tree service companies about their wood mulch. I am truly a long-time believer in benefits of wood mulch for walkways and gardens. Thanks for your video.
I live in Gainesville FL and we have pretty much sand for soil. My Parents moved into a house in 2015 or so and I moved to town in 2017 and since 2019 I've been taking care of their roses in the side bed. They are backed by some woods and the leaves fall in the back side of the bed. I've been raking the leaves out into the bed while also adding garden soil, vermicompost, sulfur, pine mulch and pine needles. The bed is doing incredible! I doubt that bed had been shown love for a decade or so. It was my life's mission to amend that rose bed lol. It was literally almost all sand and now (about 4 years later) it has wonderful soil and great water retension while still draining properly. Wood chips/ organic material does wonders for sandy soils!
I also started out the traditional way, then started lagsania method in rows still. Then I stumbled upon Ruth Stout and covered backyard with hay every year. Then I heard about BTE garden so I watched the movie and six years later looks like yours. Great vid Patrick.
I use wood chips in my walkways and after year or 18 months I will shovel the soil from the walkways into my garden beds and then reapply chips to the walkways. Simple way to make compost .
You certainly know there is an issue with soil when even the weeds struggle, haha. I gave up tilling the whole garden a few years, cause it is too much work. Thanks for your helpful tips / videos. They're inspirational.
i never checked the soil where my boxwood bushes. I would just add more every year and until recentyl i checked and WOW the soil was soo fertile and full of earthworms! So i came on youtube to see if anyone else has had the same results and that is how i found this video!!
I put leftover wood chips on my driveway only about 3 inches high after driving over it for approximately a year They too had lots of earthworms and some beetle larvae Clearly the process speeds up with external pressure (weight of my truck)
II moved from NJ (sandy soil) to Tenn. (all clay soil) 2 years ago. I have come a long way. I found good dark soil last year for fee and I filled 6 beds last year and 6 more this year. I filled over 30 containers and filled them with anything I could. I then found a huge mountain of dumped wood chips. I have been pulling from. I still went there yesterday and today. Hard work but it is paying off. I decided to continue to cover my rock hard ground with large thin plastic tarps. I am getting too old to keep weeding, I live alone and do all this myself.. This is doing the trick. I cut holes to allow for drainage. I am now the only one with a garden and I get looks when my garden is on full growth. My garden is getting like yours. Has a way to go. But they laughed at me saying I could not get anything to grow here. With your help I found the power of Gardening. I have so many veggies like Jerusalem artichokes and fruit like Jujube apples. Life is good in the garden. Especially when the garden does a lot of the work.
I've watched almost all your videos, I think this is the best by far. If more people see this you're gonna put the companies that make tillers out of business. You do amazing things with soil. Thank you.
Geophagia, also known as geophagy, is the practice of eating earth or soil-like substrates such as clay or chalk. It occurs in non-human animals where it may be a normal or abnormal behaviour, and also in humans, most often in rural or preindustrial societies among children and pregnant women.
If your soil has the life it’s supposed to have in it-a good diversity of aerobic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and microarthropods-then it is actually healthy to eat some of it here and there (for example, not washing your fruits and vegetables off that were grown in it with tap water that contains chlorine and chloramine before eating).
Thank you for sharing this information. Its very encouraging as I started a food forest in my backyard 3 years ago by adding the woodchips as a mulch. Not only has my clay soil improved but grapes produced for the first time in 7 years; gooseberries doubled in size and my 6 year old blueberries produce fruit for the first time. Tomato plants get much bigger and produce much more. Very happy to see by your video that my soil will just keep getting better and better. Happy gardening!
Patrick, this is very encouraging as my garden has 4 inches of wood chips for now and will add another 2 inches once the plants get started. All winter long I have been anxious to do the Back To Eden method for my garden. I know fall is the ideal time to start, but snow had already fallen. I have 136 garlic plants in a 4X30 raised bed and already I have seen a difference in them. Thanks again. Blessings.
Patrick -- your videos bring me great joy, inspiration, and knowledge. I cannot tell you enough how much of a blessing you are to me and my family. Your work is incredible, and I thank you for the countless hours you pour into providing world-class gardening content to everyday folks like me. -- Mike in MN
Farmers should do this more. It sounds like a simple way to help overcome topsoil losses. It also helps keep wood chips out of landfills when trees are pruned.
You had me at "start digging." This mark of progress is one of my favorite activities. Although, my success ends at about 4 inches. I'm following your lead. And I'm following the lead of every forest I've ever seen. Thanks for the close look under your feet.
I first moved here, I ordered in 27 yds of custom blended soil, equal parts sand/clay/manure. Luscious. But the manure got digested quickly leaving the rock-hard sand/clay. Tap-rooted weeds and woodchips over hay have resolved all that quickly. Now every time I dig a hole there's richness, moisture, and that crumbliness you got. Excellent.
I had a wood chip pile that rotted and it made a beautiful garden, I add wood chips every year to it around my plants so no weeding or hoeing. My vegetables are great.
I have made mower compost for almost 30 years and have made my own wood chips for the last 20. Started with a home sized chipper and moved up to a commercial one. The soil here is coral rock, you cannot even dig in it. I have built up 6 inches of topsoil over the years and every New Years I gather up every discarded Christmas tree I can find to make chips. Plants and trees that used to be yellow from iron deficiencies are green and healthy.
Wood chip do work well. My property had white useless soil, volcanic ash they said. But years of leaf mulch, wood chips, grass clippings. manures, anything and everything that would rot, now have great soil
Hi Patrick. I used some woodchips to cover a bare, dry piece of our yard a few years ago, and soon realized after just year or two that our soil beneath the woodchips in that area was completely different from the rest of our yard. We have very hard clay (like concrete) just 4-6 inches below our grassy yard which causes poor drainage and creates mud and puddles in the winter. I have found that in the part of the yard with woodchips the hard clay is almost non existent which is a huge surprise. I am now in the process of covering our entire back yard in woodchips which I think will help me have a little more growing space as I wont be confined to my raised beds, while also releasing me from the horrible chore of mowing my lawn. Congrats on the beautiful soil.
+Bryan Wickizer Thanks, Bryan! I'm glad you've seen a similar transformation of you hard clay soil! Congrats on covering the whole back yard. You won't miss mowing. I sure don't!
18 mos ago I was lucky to get a load of fresh woodchips from some local tree trimmers. They sat composting for almost a year before I was able to spread them around my raspberries in the hopes of keeping down the weeds. Last summer, not only did we have hardly any weeds, but I was surprised at the worm action we got! The chips are breaking down so fast I had to call an arborist to get more, and you can see all the worm castings in the soil around my plants. The raspberries are thriving. I decided to add it to my garden as well. We have heavy clay soil with dirt much like your before picture, and gardening can be very labor intensive with not much reward. Hoping for a great harvest in the coming years!
Great garden and soil! Nicely compact yet very productive garden area! Good to know, still working on slowly improving my garden and soil for the last couple of years since I started gardening.
I took a yard that was week killed by the landlord using gas for several years and the ground was compacted cracking clay... I tilled the clay the first year and then covered in chip.... the first year the crop was pretty good... it only got better
That is amazing! I was expecting it to be good but not that deep. Over 3 inches on average per year. I am trying to add wood chips that are breaking down around my grapefruit tree at least 1 time per year. I don't know if this is helping build the soil but i hope it is :) Thank you for sharing :)
Youre a sweetheart! Thank you for this. I have the WORST soil in Nor-cal. Napa specifically. It is nothing but ALL clay. I just moved to my house and its a newer house, so the soil is so bad and unworked. I was going to get some gypsum and wood mulch and do some good old fashion digging and tilling with a shovel. Ill keep adding more wood mulch over the years! Thank you for the help and inspo!
On my gosh I love this video so much. I've actually watched it at least 5 times. Probably will watch 5 more times after this. I just started using wood chips and I can't wait for the soil to come to life.
It's deep topsoil like you have that I love in my garden but HATED when I had to dig holes to take pictures of soil profiles when I was a land rec, Patrick. Nice job fixing your soil, I think you've saved me a lot of digging in the future because of this video.
We are seeing a huge Improvement and we are only in year two of the Back to Eden gardening with wood chips . We live in Florida and anybody in Florida knows how bad the dreaded Florida sugar sand is down here but I am growing a very nice Garden in what used to be Florida Sugar Sand
Started this method after watching this and the Back to Eden video and transformed my sandy garden to an actual real garden with worms and some ok veggies the first year(I planted into topsoil and compost, that I added under the mulch)The following year was much better.This year is pretty impressive so far.Thanks Patrick,you have really inspired me!
Patrick! Wood chips are great! 6 years ago, we had a total of 26 loads of wood chips dumped while the area was clearing the power lines... what a Grace! It made some amazing soil... deep, dark and perfect consistency! The trees, flowers, shrubs, and veggies all took off (and were all perennial)! i recently saw some pictures of the garden 3 years ago, and was totally surprised comparing what it looks like now! Another great video! Thanks for all the good work! Robert
Yes... 122 acres, a lot of it is wood lands, but it is not the amount of land, but what you are doing with what you have... you doing a great job! Do you except visits?
@@O1OO1O1 The rocks provide a surface layer which prevent or slows down water evaporation, helping retain water and moisture in the ground below, and that moisture provides the housing the microbial life needs in order to turn the regular unproductive dirt, into dark rich producing compost like material.
Thank you for your videos. I have enjoyed and learned very much. You are a calm and informative teacher which is appreciated. Watched all your videos while I was on vacation with free wifi. Love your music too. Been gardening for 25 years and still learning here in TN. Once again Thank You! Tina
Patrick, have you thought about growing wine cap mushrooms in those wood chips? It's another way to squeeze in additional food production in that space and it's also helps to break down the woodchips into friable soil. They will grow in sunny conditions, are very hardy, and have a taste and texture similar to portabellos. If you haven't explored this already, it might be worth looking into.
It is almost my obsession to cover the entire garden walkway with wood chips. To date however, free or even inexpensive wood chips are very hard to find. We are making do with fabric to keep the weeds down. I agree 110% that wood chips can make a big difference to transforming less ideal soil into great organic rich soil. Thumbs Up on this video Patrick, Well Done!
+Cultivating Organic by Jo & Mig - You might want to grow or prune some "trash" trees to coppice or pollard to mulch every year - once they're established.
+Cultivating Organic by Jo & Mig - You might want to grow or prune some "trash" trees to coppice or pollard to mulch every year - once they're established. A shrubby willow might do well since they grow fast.
Check with your city’s tree removal service. Ours puts the trees they remove through a huge chipper and the chips are available free, from the city yard. You just have to fill your containers.
Woodchips are amazing. I was fortunate to come across a place where piles of them had been sitting for about 5 years. I got about 20 truck loads and put it on my garden over a 4 year period. I can at any given time dig by hand the length of my arm with no problem. Id recommend composted wood chips to anyone!
I dug up my wood chip paths today after watching this video yesterday, They only had a few inches of chips put down two years ago at most and there must be 8-12 inches of amazing black organic compost/soil. Originally it was very poor soil with big lumps of clay (maybe from the footings of the house being dug when it was built). Thanks!
Impressive to see how well the woodchips have worked for you. I just hope that they work as well for us. It might take a couple of years or more for us to see the best results, but I'm happy with how things are going so far.
We added compost and organic mulch to the annual beds. The mulch includes leaves, grass clippings from untreated lawns, chop and drop garden waste, and sometimes wood chips around larger plants.
Just moved from Denver to TN. I'm mulching my new garden right now and my bees have taken immediate interest. My guess is the same as yours. It's good for everything.
this is amazing! I'm so excited I finally got some wood chips! There are a bunch of rocks in the soil, should I try to remove most of them before adding the wood chips? Thank you Patrick!
We just started using wood chips on all of our property back in May and have noticed the rain runoff is non-existent! We pulled some back to place a raised garden bed just today and the fresh smell of decomposing wood chips and good soil was pleasant. The soil is black and no longer tan like it used to be after a hot summer. We are sold and will only use wood chips and not rocks on our Colorado property.
After seeing this video, I'm going to use wood chips in my garden paths. Our soil is that thick compacted clay with only one or two inches of top soil. Our house is only 3 years old and the contractor didn't fuss with topsoil before he added grass seed. I'm slowly adding foundation plants, flower beds and vegetables. I've tried fruit trees but they all got curled, brown leaves and died, maybe a fungus in the soil, not really sure. You give me hope that I can liven up the garden beds and actually have healthy plants. Your cat seems to enjoy your garden, he's always trying to steal the show.
Thank you very much. You are very knowledgeable. I found your information is helpful. By the way, what kind of non treated wood is durable for garden bed?
Thanks! Cedar is a durable wood, but is more expensive. We just use untreated pine, which is the cheapest option. It lasts 8 years or so here, but may not last as long in other climates.
I live in West Africa. I've recently moved to a new house. The soil is nice in the rains but in the dry season it's rock hard. There are wood yards around so I would like to see if I can get wood chips from them. Mostly the wood is hard wood like mahogany. Very sad that they cut so much down but my question is would this be OK for my garden?
Janet Farnworth - While getting the wood chips, don´t forget the sawdust, leaves, wood ashes, charcoal, etc. They are all valuable additions and shouldn´t be neglected or wasted. Even the weeds can be of great value for your garden. ;-) Cheers
@@crpth1 Thanks. I've recently discovered that the previous tenant decided it would be a great idea to put a layer of concrete then three inches of soil on top. Nothing is ever easy is it. 😣
@@gardeninginthedesert- Holy cow! That´s a nasty surprise. :-( Personally I don´t like it much, but "raised beds" might be the best option for the least intervention on site. For sure it´s also cheaper than ripping everything off, and start from scratch. ;-) Good luck, deciding what to do now. Cheers
@@gardeninginthedesert It does not matter if you have concrete under 3" of soil, add the wood chips and sawdust to the surface ONLY, and you will see the results. At least you will be able to grow veggies, no trees, but lots of delicious veggies, for your family and scraps for the chickens or other pets.
Hey Patrick , last year the runners off some strawberry plants had rooted in the woodchip paths , by the time early autumn came these young plants were absolutely huge 😃😃😃😃👍🏻 strong and very healthy ,
"The compost and vermicompost made a difference...." That's exactly what a wood chip pile becomes. Once it is moist enough and decay begins, worms move in and eat, composting the material over time.
I'm sure I missed this somewhere in the comments but I tried... Where are you getting the wood chips from? Anything special about them? I have land which use to be farmland for 100 yrs, I had a veggie garden for 3-4 yrs. But now letting the soil rest and rejuvenate, however so far I just have weeds... I was thinking of having wood chips spread. It's an area about 30ft x 40ft. Thanks for any advice!!
Hi Cindy! We get our wood chips from the city's forestry department. They consist of branch and leaf trimmings from a wide variety of trees. Chips like this are often referred to as arborist wood chips. If your town doesn't offer them, you can often find local arborists who will deliver them to your property for free. If you live in the US, this service helps link people with arborists for free or inexpensive wood chip delivery: www.chipdrop.in/
Thank you so much!! This is very helpful and I just signed up. I will look for a phone number to call our forestry dept as I'm sure there's got to be one for western NC. Thanks again, I'm sure there are lots of other people who don't know...
@@OneYardRevolution People may have to surrender part of their identity to find the "wood chips" in this video; I am sorry to question "Chip Drop LLC" and any other undisclosed sponsor of this video. If I create a video, I do so honestly. Try honesty one day.
Great work Patrick! The soil at the cottage is very sandy and hard, when I started digging I couldn't see any life in it, but now after mulching for a few years I see a lot of worms and the soil is loosening up too! It's encouraging because the landscape around the house has been ruined by construction we had done.
So, is this information your own special little secret? Why is it important and what are the kinds of wood chips? Don't make such statements without supporting it with follow up information or a reference. Otherwise, it's pointless.
@@virginiamoss7045 lol. Thanks for the laugh. I liked your comment. Now, to answer your question. Fresh wood chips often have substances that are very bad for your application. If gardening, fresh woodchips can often change the ph drastically. Woodchips from walnut trees and hickory that are fresh can contain juglone. A poison that will likely kill any plant not resistant to it. Woodchips from walnut is known to be not suitable for animal bedding for this reason. Some woodchips from the city will contain garbage. Many cities have initiatives to recycle Christmas trees. These trees are often still decorated or have plastics attached. Many commercial wood chips contain chemicals and harmful dyes. What one should look for is triple ground, composted, all natural woodchips. This information isn't secret. It's quite obvious.
@@roflstomps324 No, you didn't like my comment, but thanks very much for your reasons why the kind of wood chips is important; your points are most valid.
BRAVO! Finally someone showing and telling properly. You explained, then showed the evidence to what you explained. THANKS! Im making a pathway with woodchips, which will lead to a garden area for my bonsai trees to grow in ground. As you know, nothing gets better growth and vigor than being planted in the ground. I got large crates and wanted to replicate the "ground soil" in them for some of my special trees, that may need added protection in winter. I drilled many drain holes, but curious if it will be enough for proper drainage. I wont learn if I don't try...Right! Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks again for a great vid!
You said that the good soil is down 26". I'm just curious how much your overall ground level has been raised over the past 8 years. I'm sure it's not a full 26in what would you say maybe it is raised 3 to 6 in? Maybe more?
Modern country gardening tools is really inovative and useful, I didn't realize that tool also have measurement on it until he took the camera closer ...
Well done! You can kick that up even another notch by inoculating the woodchips in your paths with the spawn of the mushrooms of your liking. You will get some mycelium running that will help your plants more efficiently communicate which nutrients they need, and to obtain same. The mycelium running could be considered a network board for your plants through which to speed communication. Additionally, you will have your favorite mushrooms readily available fresh or for drying and using in the winter. : )
+OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening Hey Patrick, Thanks for sharing this with us. Your soil has underwent an amazing transformation and it must me difficult not to want to plant in every pathway now ! Have you ever covered or plan to cover growing mushrooms ? I had wood chips dropped about 2 years ago and I tried innoculating with King and Oyster mushrooms but I still have yet to see any edible shrooms. When I dig in to get at some of the good compost I see mycelium strands everywhere but mushrooms on top never materialize. So here is a video suggestion if you ever are looking for something different talk about ! Thanks again !
Doug Lochart Thanks, Doug! Yes, we grow King Stropharia mushrooms under our blackberries and along one fence but not in the walking paths. I wonder why you haven't seen mushrooms yet? Too much traffic? Not enough water?
+OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening The only possible thing I can think of is moisture however we are near the Bay and usually pretty humid with more than our share of rain. The wood chips are in a large pile under an oak tree so zero foot traffic. Half of the chips were pine and I read that King do not like pine so much. Oh well this Thanksgiving I cut a small oak tree and used its limbs for mushrooms so hopefully they will provide this Fall. Are your blackberries basically growing in years of wood chips as well ?
Thanks! I really needed this reminder! I'm in year 3 of sheet mulching/no till/ bte or whatever you want to call it and I've seen great improvements, but sometimes it easy to forget what you've started with! Cheers!
This is my second year adding wood chips to the paths between garden beds. I have already seen a difference in the soil. This year I added twice as much as last year. I think the 1-3 inches of wood chips depth seems more productive than the thin layer I had last year. You are very inspiring, I will keep it going.
Congratulations! You have really improved your soil! I see in your comments that people are asking about where to get wood chips. In the interest of helping folks out, I'll point out a video I made about that: ua-cam.com/video/jtsjkm_OeCs/v-deo.html I am so fortunate to have Class 1 soil - a few other soils are as good, but none are better. So my job is to keep from ruining the soil and I use a lot of wood chips, too, in that process. I don't think we can have too many wood chips!
wow....this is pretty amazing. I have a side yard that we park in and its clay with sand on the top level. We will definitely be trying this to renew the soil and hopefully be able to have a lush yard in the future years to come. Thanks for sharing.
We tried the Back to Eden wood chip method this year in west-central Montana and were blown away by the bountiful harvest! Our soil here is compacted clay and we have standing water when it rains. When planting back in May, I used my own compost and soil mixture when planting ...but to my surprise there was a squash seed that fell in the 4-6" of composted wood chips. That one shot up faster and was more lush than the other squash plants which convinced me that I should have just planted the seeds in the composted wood chips. Our mammoth sunflowers grew to over 12 feet, my 30 tomato plants flourished so much that I ran out of space in our house for probably 200 pounds of green tomatoes (it was a bad season for tomatoes...cool start to June and then cold nights in August). People would come over and would say, "I can't believe you don't have any weed issues... your garden is just amazing!" Now I did supplement the tomatoes with some organic bone meal and other organic fertilizer once in a while, but for the most part they just went crazy! I would say that our soil composition is looking more like what you showed in the video. Under the coarse wood chips, there is a thick layer of rich and dark looking soil. What do you think of the guy on UA-cam who just puts his food scraps and leaves on his garden in the fall...he seems to be doing really well.
Congratulations on your success using wood chips in your garden! Your results will only improve over time. I'm not sure what UA-cam channel you are referring to, but I see that approach as being very similar to mulching with wood chips and other organic matter.
Wood chips are one of the best things I did for my garden. 5 years and counting. The biggest problem I have now is getting chips because my neighbors see the results I am getting. They are asking the tree service for chips before I can get to them. Alway look forward to your videos! John
Thanks, John! You're right. The demand for wood chips is definitely going up. I went to our city's wood chip pile over the weekend and it was gone! Just scraps at this point.
We used wood chips to mulch our non-vegetable gardens. We would pull the "mulch" from the beds in the spring, screen it and mixed the screened material with compost for use in the garden. We would put the first grass clipping into the non-vegetable gardens and then cover them with the old wood chips and then cover them with new wood chips. Always had great flower gardens.
Long time watcher, first time commenter. I have a 5000 sq ft garden in zone 5 (CO). I love your channel and you have convinced me to use woodchip paths. I originally planned on grass paths, and will still have a few, but the soil building power and low maintenance of woodchips is just too good to pass up. Plus I can have them delivered for free in my area! (check your local craigslist for free chips). Thank you for sharing all you do! :D
+melissa kessler Thanks for watching and for leaving your first comment, Melissa! I'm glad you get wood chips free too. You'll be glad you mulched your paths!
I don't think I could have resisted the temptation to plant into that hole. Your soil looks "Simply marvelous"!:) My first set of potatoes planted March 8thg or 1oth this year are two feet tall. They were planted in a 4' x 4' x 10" raised bed with some topsoil, compost from the heap and covered in wood chips. The Magic Molly's are@6"now planted around 3weeks later. Next year I will be following your example of heavy mulching the pathways for better weed suppression and easier traversing in the beds. Thank you for a splendid video. Still no singing... lol, I guess you are leaving the vocals to Siloe. Thanks as always. h.-
+hope crews Thanks, Hope! I'm glad your potatoes are coming along nicely. We love our mulched pathways. They're so easy to maintain - just one applications of wood chips each year!
You know you've gone full-blown gardening geek when wood chips' gradual soil enrichment is exciting. Kinda like the old "watching grass grow," but yeah, I'm a geek, so I'm allowed to bust balls like that. Got ridiculously rocky soil where I am, and have been slowly improving it with compost, bark from my firewood, and other goodies. It's addictively gratifying watching the soil become more fertile each new season.
I know exactly how you feel, my fellow gardening geek.
I gone full geek and i am proud.lol
I am a wannabee geek and will surely start using this information. My garden (in Italy) is rock hard clay and it seems only weeds are able to grow here. But I have gathered 2 years worth of wood from our forest that i will now chip and use to improve our soil. Thanks for this video!
+Mark Peters may I make a suggestion? load a lot of compost and then add the chips. Water throuroughly and let it rot all winter. Next spring put the chips aside to see the results. Can you keep me posted? I live in Bulgaria - mountains and my soil is all rocks. Now is soft and worms are finally moving in. keep in touch to let me know what happens? Blessings
Hi guys, I live in panama now Central America.....the soil here in my garden all clay ...so starting to add wood chips I'll keep you posted . Thank you
I've only been doing this to my garden and yard for about the past 2 years but I'm already seeing a huge difference. If I dig down even a few inches it's rich dark organic material instead of barren clay like it was before. I can't imagine how amazing it will be in 6 more years. On top of it all, the wood chips I get around here are 100% free! Win win!
This is my sixth year gardening, the first 2 years I plowed and tilled the earth, since then I have been using wood chips (an inch or 2 inches deep) and layering with leaves (mulched) , grass clippings, hay, rabbit and chicken manure (starting last year) , let me tell you this, the first year I drove U-posts with a 3 pound hammer and folded up the ends on most posts to get them in the ground 1 foot deep .
Now I can simply step on the majority of them with my foot and sink them in the ground a foot deep !
I'm a believer , lol ;)
+eugene thompson What a great transformation, Eugene! Well done!
OYR Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening as via
And song
Me too. I used to till, buy bags of fertilizer, pull weeds, water, etc. I use fall leaves and grass clippings. The only work I do now is at planting time and harvests times. That's it.
I've been improving my really crappy soil over the years and the difference is outstanding! Compost, wood chips, chop & drop, hay, horse manure and straw (bedding), etc. A lot of mulch, make a huge difference.
But somehow more amazing than that. Is a spot in the back of the house. As most of my garden/yard it was rock filled during construction. Rolling stones about the size of a fist and bigger! A pain to walk on, due to the extremely bumpy and uneven surface. An area really not used at all.
Over the years I've put absolutely no input of "imported" stuff. The ONLY thing done as been chop & drop, whatever "weeds" (soil builders) that show up in there! Literally I go there, with a trimmer, cut and leave them... The weeds succession is also remarkable and quite evident!
The transformation is amazing! Curious detail. Now we can walk in there with some comfort. The surface is more even and soft. Almost no stones are visible by now. Outstanding transformation with ZERO cost!
Let this serve as a tip, to anyone scratching his head. On how to improve soil due to cost or high inputs! ;-) Cheers
I have had a vegetable garden at this house for four years, of course with back breaking results. One day after watering I decide to dig down to see how far the water was draining since we are in a terrible drought here in central California I was feeling very guilty for using water to begin with. I thought I had watered enough and even thought I might have over watered. I was shocked to find the water only penetrated ONE inch. I was wasting all that water and time. I was in tears. I had amended so much into that space. Well, no more. I just received my first truck load of free wood chips. I'm so excited. Thanks for the encouragement.
My pleasure, Deborah! The wood chips will make a huge difference in retaining moisture in the soil and reducing watering requirements. Best wishes!
@@OneYardRevolutionAre there any vegetables that should not have wood chips around them?
Last week I ordered my first wood chip order
27 inches of black soil...this is simply amazing. Great before/after video
Thanks!
I have carolina clay from a 1995 backfilled house. After 25 years maybe the top 2 inches are decent soil from mulching the grass clippings. I just added 5 truck loads of wood chips, hopefully the soil will improve faster now.
All your videos are informational and educational, but this one is important for everyone all over the world, with soils that get poorer in nutrients.Healing is possible with proper care. Thank you for your efforts in showing us what is possible.
It's my pleasure! Thanks so much for your support.
I reckon worms and other burrowing critters are the hero's here. Of course, they needed you to add all that organic material. Soooo, good job, y'all!
THANK YOU for your videos! I purchased a home with clay soil and was at a loss for what to do with it. I built raised beds but the soil I got to fill them with was poor quality. So I watched all of your compost videos last fall and have lots of compost to put in them this spring. Our city hauls all of the yard waste 40 miles away to a compost facility so there are no free wood chips in town. All of our local arborists charge for wood chips (but don’t return calls so you can’t actually get any!). Thankfully I discovered that the next town over chips all of their residents’ limbs and has mountains of chips for the taking! I just got the most beautiful chips that were full of worms. 😊 The 5gallons bucket with the bottom cut out worked perfectly! I was really discouraged last year but since watching your videos, I’m am excited for this, and future, gardening seasons!
I'm glad my videos helped. Best wishes with your garden!
Thank you for encouraging gardeners to use wood chips, which in most places are free from tree service companies. I recently saw tree service men working on a county road near my home and their truck was nearly full of wood mulch. I asked them if they wished to dump the load close by, about 1/4th mile to my property. That is all it took to get a truck load of free mulch piled right where I wanted it. Before this, I have gone to tree service companies properties where they dump loads and obtained free mulch to fill my 6 x 10 trailer, where they loaded trailer for small fee. It is an amazing amendment for hard clay soils!
My pleasure! You're absolutely right. Most arborists would rather give you their wood chips than have to pay to dump them.
I had been buying wood chips in bags until l called a local tree service company who said their mulch is free for the taking, with a small cost for loading pickups and utility trailers. Compost is available in partially composted or fresh shredded from mixture of tree species and separate piles of ceder mulch. I brought home of ton of partially composted in a 6 x 10 trailer at a very small cost. Call your local tree service companies about their wood mulch. I am truly a long-time believer in benefits of wood mulch for walkways and gardens. Thanks for your video.
Thanks for sharing this tip for getting free wood chips!
I live in Gainesville FL and we have pretty much sand for soil. My Parents moved into a house in 2015 or so and I moved to town in 2017 and since 2019 I've been taking care of their roses in the side bed. They are backed by some woods and the leaves fall in the back side of the bed. I've been raking the leaves out into the bed while also adding garden soil, vermicompost, sulfur, pine mulch and pine needles. The bed is doing incredible! I doubt that bed had been shown love for a decade or so. It was my life's mission to amend that rose bed lol. It was literally almost all sand and now (about 4 years later) it has wonderful soil and great water retension while still draining properly. Wood chips/ organic material does wonders for sandy soils!
I also started out the traditional way, then started lagsania method in rows still. Then I stumbled upon Ruth Stout and covered backyard with hay every year. Then I heard about BTE garden so I watched the movie and six years later looks like yours. Great vid Patrick.
+bill davis Thanks, Bill! I'm glad to hear you've had great results too!
I use wood chips in my walkways and after year or 18 months I will shovel the soil from the walkways into my garden beds and then reapply chips to the walkways. Simple way to make compost .
This is amazing. I’m now starting with a poor soil, in a very hot and dry climate. This is a big help. Thanks
You certainly know there is an issue with soil when even the weeds struggle, haha. I gave up tilling the whole garden a few years, cause it is too much work. Thanks for your helpful tips / videos. They're inspirational.
i never checked the soil where my boxwood bushes. I would just add more every year and until recentyl i checked and WOW the soil was soo fertile and full of earthworms! So i came on youtube to see if anyone else has had the same results and that is how i found this video!!
I'm glad you had great results with wood chips too!
I put leftover wood chips on my driveway only about 3 inches high after driving over it for approximately a year They too had lots of earthworms and some beetle larvae
Clearly the process speeds up with external pressure (weight of my truck)
Truck Taxi, the compaction from the weight of your truck inhibits it and drives it anaerobic.
II moved from NJ (sandy soil) to Tenn. (all clay soil) 2 years ago. I have come a long way. I found good dark soil last year for fee and I filled 6 beds last year and 6 more this year. I filled over 30 containers and filled them with anything I could. I then found a huge mountain of dumped wood chips. I have been pulling from. I still went there yesterday and today. Hard work but it is paying off. I decided to continue to cover my rock hard ground with large thin plastic tarps. I am getting too old to keep weeding, I live alone and do all this myself.. This is doing the trick. I cut holes to allow for drainage. I am now the only one with a garden and I get looks when my garden is on full growth. My garden is getting like yours. Has a way to go. But they laughed at me saying I could not get anything to grow here. With your help I found the power of Gardening. I have so many veggies like Jerusalem artichokes and fruit like Jujube apples. Life is good in the garden. Especially when the garden does a lot of the work.
I'm so happy to hear about your garden's progress! Thanks for letting me know.
I've watched almost all your videos, I think this is the best by far. If more people see this you're gonna put the companies that make tillers out of business. You do amazing things with soil. Thank you.
You're welcome, James! Thanks so much for watching, James! I'm glad you enjoyed this.
The tiller making companies only need to reconfigure their equipment and turn them into wood chippers, then they will sell lots more ;)
We all struggle constantly..but when we watch videos it motivates us 😄❤🥰. Love your tomatoes
That soil looks so perfect and nutricious I could eat it.
dont eat the worms. you need those. lol
Geophagia, also known as geophagy, is the practice of eating earth or soil-like substrates such as clay or chalk. It occurs in non-human animals where it may be a normal or abnormal behaviour, and also in humans, most often in rural or preindustrial societies among children and pregnant women.
My medium sized dog has eaten dirt from flower pots, charcoal from burnt wood, dog toenail clippings, etc. Idk what's up with some animals hahaha
If your soil has the life it’s supposed to have in it-a good diversity of aerobic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and microarthropods-then it is actually healthy to eat some of it here and there (for example, not washing your fruits and vegetables off that were grown in it with tap water that contains chlorine and chloramine before eating).
Thank you for sharing this information. Its very encouraging as I started a food forest in my backyard 3 years ago by adding the woodchips as a mulch. Not only has my clay soil improved but grapes produced for the first time in 7 years; gooseberries doubled in size and my 6 year old blueberries produce fruit for the first time. Tomato plants get much bigger and produce much more. Very happy to see by your video that my soil will just keep getting better and better. Happy gardening!
Be fruitful and mulch-apply
love it...really...loved it.
+Sislertx Thanks!
+Marc Lol
Oh I like that!
lol !I like that too
Patrick, this is very encouraging as my garden has 4 inches of wood chips for now and will add another 2 inches once the plants get started. All winter long I have been anxious to do the Back To Eden method for my garden. I know fall is the ideal time to start, but snow had already fallen.
I have 136 garlic plants in a 4X30 raised bed and already I have seen a difference in them.
Thanks again.
Blessings.
+Jim Kinson I'm glad you're getting good results too, Jim! You'll be amazed by the results in a few years.
Patrick -- your videos bring me great joy, inspiration, and knowledge. I cannot tell you enough how much of a blessing you are to me and my family. Your work is incredible, and I thank you for the countless hours you pour into providing world-class gardening content to everyday folks like me. -- Mike in MN
Thanks so much, Mike! I appreciate your kind words and encouragement.
Farmers should do this more. It sounds like a simple way to help overcome topsoil losses. It also helps keep wood chips out of landfills when trees are pruned.
What an amazing transition! Looks extremely healthy :)
+HuwsNursery - Grow Organic Produce Inexpensively Thanks, Huw!
I'm in my second year of mulching with wood chips and it has definetly helped.
+Jack Mackerel I'm glad to hear it, Jack!
I so covet those tomatoes! If I could grow those little beauties, I'd make a necklace of them and wear them!
I love your scientific yet user-friendly explanations about gardening. You are an inspiration to gardeners everywhere!
You had me at "start digging." This mark of progress is one of my favorite activities. Although, my success ends at about 4 inches. I'm following your lead. And I'm following the lead of every forest I've ever seen. Thanks for the close look under your feet.
+Lolita's Garden You're welcome, Ian! 4 inches is a great start. Best wishes with the continued transformation!
Lucky u i cant get one..unless its rotally wet and then u ruin it even more.
I first moved here, I ordered in 27 yds of custom blended soil, equal parts sand/clay/manure. Luscious. But the manure got digested quickly leaving the rock-hard sand/clay. Tap-rooted weeds and woodchips over hay have resolved all that quickly. Now every time I dig a hole there's richness, moisture, and that crumbliness you got. Excellent.
I'm glad you had great results with wood chips too!
I had a wood chip pile that rotted and it made a beautiful garden, I add wood chips every year to it around my plants so no weeding or hoeing. My vegetables are great.
Hi Brenda! I'm glad you've had great success using wood chips too.
I have made mower compost for almost 30 years and have made my own wood chips for the last 20. Started with a home sized chipper and moved up to a commercial one. The soil here is coral rock, you cannot even dig in it. I have built up 6 inches of topsoil over the years and every New Years I gather up every discarded Christmas tree I can find to make chips. Plants and trees that used to be yellow from iron deficiencies are green and healthy.
Wood chip do work well. My property had white useless soil, volcanic ash they said. But years of leaf mulch, wood chips, grass clippings. manures, anything and everything that would rot, now have great soil
Hi Patrick. I used some woodchips to cover a bare, dry piece of our yard a few years ago, and soon realized after just year or two that our soil beneath the woodchips in that area was completely different from the rest of our yard. We have very hard clay (like concrete) just 4-6 inches below our grassy yard which causes poor drainage and creates mud and puddles in the winter. I have found that in the part of the yard with woodchips the hard clay is almost non existent which is a huge surprise. I am now in the process of covering our entire back yard in woodchips which I think will help me have a little more growing space as I wont be confined to my raised beds, while also releasing me from the horrible chore of mowing my lawn. Congrats on the beautiful soil.
Excellent to hear. Its very surprising and initially somewhat unbelievable that bad dirt can be turned into good soil...and so easily.
+Bryan Wickizer Thanks, Bryan! I'm glad you've seen a similar transformation of you hard clay soil! Congrats on covering the whole back yard. You won't miss mowing. I sure don't!
It would be interesting to compare this with another spot much further away from the planter boxes.
18 mos ago I was lucky to get a load of fresh woodchips from some local tree trimmers. They sat composting for almost a year before I was able to spread them around my raspberries in the hopes of keeping down the weeds. Last summer, not only did we have hardly any weeds, but I was surprised at the worm action we got! The chips are breaking down so fast I had to call an arborist to get more, and you can see all the worm castings in the soil around my plants. The raspberries are thriving. I decided to add it to my garden as well. We have heavy clay soil with dirt much like your before picture, and gardening can be very labor intensive with not much reward. Hoping for a great harvest in the coming years!
I'm glad you're already seeing the benefits! Nothing improves clay soil like wood chips. Best wishes with your garden!
Great garden and soil! Nicely compact yet very productive garden area! Good to know, still working on slowly improving my garden and soil for the last couple of years since I started gardening.
+North Jersey Gardening Cottage Thank you! It takes time, but you'll definitely get there.
So great how the kitty is along for the ride!
Oscar never misses a chance to hang out with me in the garden. 😸
I took a yard that was week killed by the landlord using gas for several years and the ground was compacted cracking clay... I tilled the clay the first year and then covered in chip.... the first year the crop was pretty good... it only got better
Wow, this guy has mastered the gardening show voice
Thanks for making the best gardening videos out there!
That's very nice of you to say. Thanks!
Very good information. Everyone needs to remember it took 8 years. Great gardens are not made in a few weeks. Thanks Patrick. Best wishes Bob.
+Bob Lt (BobMel's Gardening) Thanks, Bob! Yes, it definitely takes some time.
That is amazing! I was expecting it to be good but not that deep. Over 3 inches on average per year. I am trying to add wood chips that are breaking down around my grapefruit tree at least 1 time per year. I don't know if this is helping build the soil but i hope it is :) Thank you for sharing :)
Youre a sweetheart! Thank you for this. I have the WORST soil in Nor-cal. Napa specifically. It is nothing but ALL clay. I just moved to my house and its a newer house, so the soil is so bad and unworked. I was going to get some gypsum and wood mulch and do some good old fashion digging and tilling with a shovel. Ill keep adding more wood mulch over the years! Thank you for the help and inspo!
On my gosh I love this video so much. I've actually watched it at least 5 times. Probably will watch 5 more times after this. I just started using wood chips and I can't wait for the soil to come to life.
Thanks for sharing this very helpful tip. Love your cat too. God bless.
Surprising how deep the soil has been affected. Good to know, thanks.
+ratoneJR You're welcome!
It's deep topsoil like you have that I love in my garden but HATED when I had to dig holes to take pictures of soil profiles when I was a land rec, Patrick. Nice job fixing your soil, I think you've saved me a lot of digging in the future because of this video.
Thanks, Conrad! Keeping the soil cover with organic matter makes a huge difference.
We are seeing a huge Improvement and we are only in year two of the Back to Eden gardening with wood chips . We live in Florida and anybody in Florida knows how bad the dreaded Florida sugar sand is down here but I am growing a very nice Garden in what used to be Florida Sugar Sand
That's great, Dee! Wood chips are a perfect remedy to your sandy soil.
I’m in Florida too, free composted horse manure from equestrian center and wood chips have been wonderful here
The plants in the raised beds are sending roots into the pathway which adds to the organic accumulation
There you go he said 8 years. Wow. That's dedication.
This was after 8 years, but you'll see positive results much sooner than that (2 to 3 years).
OYR Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening id say maybe a year in the South with heavy rains.. Helps decompose the mulch faster
Started this method after watching this and the Back to Eden video and transformed my sandy garden to an actual real garden with worms and some ok veggies the first year(I planted into topsoil and compost, that I added under the mulch)The following year was much better.This year is pretty impressive so far.Thanks Patrick,you have really inspired me!
Excellent transformation! Well made video too.
Brent
+C3 Voyage Thanks, Brent!
This is nothing short of a miracle!
*Love these tests. Its facts that we need to run on*.
+MrMac5150 Thanks!
Patrick! Wood chips are great! 6 years ago, we had a total of 26 loads of wood chips dumped while the area was clearing the power lines... what a Grace! It made some amazing soil... deep, dark and perfect consistency! The trees, flowers, shrubs, and veggies all took off (and were all perennial)! i recently saw some pictures of the garden 3 years ago, and was totally surprised comparing what it looks like now! Another great video! Thanks for all the good work!
Robert
Thanks, Robert! Wow, 26 loads! You must have a good amount of land. I couldn't agree more. Wood chips are a huge part of our success.
Yes... 122 acres, a lot of it is wood lands, but it is not the amount of land, but what you are doing with what you have... you doing a great job! Do you except visits?
Love the Back to Eden method, its wonderful, this can also be done with rocks and leafs but wood chips are the best..
+Bethel Imaging We use leaves quite a bit too, but mostly on the garden beds.
What role do the rocks play?
Bruce Achterberg hold leaves down for storms and wind
@@O1OO1O1 The rocks provide a surface layer which prevent or slows down water evaporation, helping retain water and moisture in the ground below, and that moisture provides the housing the microbial life needs in order to turn the regular unproductive dirt, into dark rich producing compost like material.
@@cubaniton74 Thanks. Is there an example of this in practice? I'd like to see it.
Thank you for your videos. I have enjoyed and learned very much. You are a calm and informative teacher which is appreciated. Watched all your videos while I was on vacation with free wifi. Love your music too. Been gardening for 25 years and still learning here in TN. Once again Thank You! Tina
+Tina Gray You're very welcome, Tina! Thank you so much for watching and thanks for your positive feedback. I really appreciate it.
Patrick, have you thought about growing wine cap mushrooms in those wood chips? It's another way to squeeze in additional food production in that space and it's also helps to break down the woodchips into friable soil.
They will grow in sunny conditions, are very hardy, and have a taste and texture similar to portabellos.
If you haven't explored this already, it might be worth looking into.
+Davin Stewart Great suggestion, Davin! Yes, we grow wine cap mushrooms.
+OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening
Ah, I should've known you'd already be on this. One step ahead, as usual. :-)
@@OneYardRevolution how do you intentionally grow wine cap mushrooms?
Wow I've been skeptical of clams by others but what you showed is the best evidence I've seen. Thanks.
+chevy6299 My pleasure!
It is almost my obsession to cover the entire garden walkway with wood chips. To date however, free or even inexpensive wood chips are very hard to find. We are making do with fabric to keep the weeds down. I agree 110% that wood chips can make a big difference to transforming less ideal soil into great organic rich soil. Thumbs Up on this video Patrick, Well Done!
+Cultivating Organic by Jo & Mig - You might want to grow or prune some "trash" trees to coppice or pollard to mulch every year - once they're established.
+Cultivating Organic by Jo & Mig - You might want to grow or prune some "trash" trees to coppice or pollard to mulch every year - once they're established. A shrubby willow might do well since they grow fast.
+Cultivating Organic by Jo & Mig Thanks! Have you tried asking a local tree removal service for them?
+M Halvaresh Great idea!
Check with your city’s tree removal service. Ours puts the trees they remove through a huge chipper and the chips are available free, from the city yard. You just have to fill your containers.
Woodchips are amazing. I was fortunate to come across a place where piles of them had been sitting for about 5 years. I got about 20 truck loads and put it on my garden over a 4 year period. I can at any given time dig by hand the length of my arm with no problem. Id recommend composted wood chips to anyone!
I've heard it said that soil is the digestive system for plants : ) Great video!
Thanks!
I dug up my wood chip paths today after watching this video yesterday, They only had a few inches of chips put down two years ago at most and there must be 8-12 inches of amazing black organic compost/soil. Originally it was very poor soil with big lumps of clay (maybe from the footings of the house being dug when it was built). Thanks!
Woodchips is also a great substrate for fungi growth and mycellium to develop
Wow! This is my soil right now!! from Southwest Ontario Thanks!!!
You're welcome! Wood chip mulch will make a big difference in just a few years.
Impressive to see how well the woodchips have worked for you. I just hope that they work as well for us. It might take a couple of years or more for us to see the best results, but I'm happy with how things are going so far.
+Midwest Gardener Thanks! You'll get great results too for sure!
I have been seeing amazing results just from the fact that a part of the surface of the soil is protected, even by a simple cardboard.
do not build raised beds they will rot along with the wood chips
How are things coming along with your garden?
@@sidneyeaston6927 You can build them out of concrete blocks instead, they will last a lifetime.
I just started, several months ago, the wood chip method here in N FL. Thanks for showing me that it really does work.
So now I'm wondering how the soil in the raised beds was treated and improved. Was it also treated with wood chips?
We added compost and organic mulch to the annual beds. The mulch includes leaves, grass clippings from untreated lawns, chop and drop garden waste, and sometimes wood chips around larger plants.
Just moved from Denver to TN. I'm mulching my new garden right now and my bees have taken immediate interest. My guess is the same as yours. It's good for everything.
Yes, wood chip mulch should be great for the red clay soil that you often find in Tennessee.
this is amazing! I'm so excited I finally got some wood chips! There are a bunch of rocks in the soil, should I try to remove most of them before adding the wood chips? Thank you Patrick!
Thanks Shelita! I'd remove large rocks near the surface, but other than that I'd just start piling on the wood chips.
We just started using wood chips on all of our property back in May and have noticed the rain runoff is non-existent! We pulled some back to place a raised garden bed just today and the fresh smell of decomposing wood chips and good soil was pleasant. The soil is black and no longer tan like it used to be after a hot summer. We are sold and will only use wood chips and not rocks on our Colorado property.
After seeing this video, I'm going to use wood chips in my garden paths. Our soil is that thick compacted clay with only one or two inches of top soil. Our house is only 3 years old and the contractor didn't fuss with topsoil before he added grass seed. I'm slowly adding foundation plants, flower beds and vegetables. I've tried fruit trees but they all got curled, brown leaves and died, maybe a fungus in the soil, not really sure. You give me hope that I can liven up the garden beds and actually have healthy plants. Your cat seems to enjoy your garden, he's always trying to steal the show.
Wood chips are a great remedy for clay soil. Yes, Oscar knows how to steal a scene. That's for sure. 😺
You do a great job in your videos & inspire me to attempt change in my yard. Thank you.
+Haitian Refugee Thanks so much! Best wishes with your garden!
Thank you very much. You are very knowledgeable. I found your information is helpful. By the way, what kind of non treated wood is durable for garden bed?
Thanks! Cedar is a durable wood, but is more expensive. We just use untreated pine, which is the cheapest option. It lasts 8 years or so here, but may not last as long in other climates.
That was an amazing change for the better!
I live in West Africa. I've recently moved to a new house. The soil is nice in the rains but in the dry season it's rock hard. There are wood yards around so I would like to see if I can get wood chips from them. Mostly the wood is hard wood like mahogany. Very sad that they cut so much down but my question is would this be OK for my garden?
Hi Janet! Yes, you can use mahogany wood chips in the garden.
Janet Farnworth - While getting the wood chips, don´t forget the sawdust, leaves, wood ashes, charcoal, etc. They are all valuable additions and shouldn´t be neglected or wasted. Even the weeds can be of great value for your garden. ;-)
Cheers
@@crpth1 Thanks. I've recently discovered that the previous tenant decided it would be a great idea to put a layer of concrete then three inches of soil on top. Nothing is ever easy is it. 😣
@@gardeninginthedesert- Holy cow! That´s a nasty surprise. :-(
Personally I don´t like it much, but "raised beds" might be the best option for the least intervention on site. For sure it´s also cheaper than ripping everything off, and start from scratch. ;-)
Good luck, deciding what to do now.
Cheers
@@gardeninginthedesert It does not matter if you have concrete under 3" of soil, add the wood chips and sawdust to the surface ONLY, and you will see the results. At least you will be able to grow veggies, no trees, but lots of delicious veggies, for your family and scraps for the chickens or other pets.
Hey Patrick , last year the runners off some strawberry plants had rooted in the woodchip paths , by the time early autumn came these young plants were absolutely huge 😃😃😃😃👍🏻 strong and very healthy ,
That's great, James! Yeah, there's nothing like the soil under wood chip mulch.
"The compost and vermicompost made a difference...." That's exactly what a wood chip pile becomes. Once it is moist enough and decay begins, worms move in and eat, composting the material over time.
I must confess, I have soil envy!
Thanks!
I'm sure I missed this somewhere in the comments but I tried... Where are you getting the wood chips from? Anything special about them? I have land which use to be farmland for 100 yrs, I had a veggie garden for 3-4 yrs. But now letting the soil rest and rejuvenate, however so far I just have weeds... I was thinking of having wood chips spread. It's an area about 30ft x 40ft. Thanks for any advice!!
Hi Cindy! We get our wood chips from the city's forestry department. They consist of branch and leaf trimmings from a wide variety of trees. Chips like this are often referred to as arborist wood chips. If your town doesn't offer them, you can often find local arborists who will deliver them to your property for free. If you live in the US, this service helps link people with arborists for free or inexpensive wood chip delivery: www.chipdrop.in/
Thank you so much!! This is very helpful and I just signed up. I will look for a phone number to call our forestry dept as I'm sure there's got to be one for western NC. Thanks again, I'm sure there are lots of other people who don't know...
Cindy P
avoid cedar chips if you are planning to grow plants from seed. Cedar has natural inhibitors to seed growth/germination.
@@OneYardRevolution People may have to surrender part of their identity to find the "wood chips" in this video; I am sorry to question "Chip Drop LLC" and any other undisclosed sponsor of this video. If I create a video, I do so honestly. Try honesty one day.
Chip Drop did not sponsor this video. In fact, none of my videos have financial sponsors.
Great work Patrick! The soil at the cottage is very sandy and hard, when I started digging I couldn't see any life in it, but now after mulching for a few years I see a lot of worms and the soil is loosening up too! It's encouraging because the landscape around the house has been ruined by construction we had done.
+Elyse Joseph Thanks, Elyse! I'm glad you're seeing a transformation of your soil at the cottage!
I think it should be mentioned that the kind of wood chips used is important to this process.
So, is this information your own special little secret? Why is it important and what are the kinds of wood chips? Don't make such statements without supporting it with follow up information or a reference. Otherwise, it's pointless.
@@virginiamoss7045 lol. Thanks for the laugh. I liked your comment.
Now, to answer your question. Fresh wood chips often have substances that are very bad for your application. If gardening, fresh woodchips can often change the ph drastically. Woodchips from walnut trees and hickory that are fresh can contain juglone. A poison that will likely kill any plant not resistant to it. Woodchips from walnut is known to be not suitable for animal bedding for this reason. Some woodchips from the city will contain garbage. Many cities have initiatives to recycle Christmas trees. These trees are often still decorated or have plastics attached. Many commercial wood chips contain chemicals and harmful dyes.
What one should look for is triple ground, composted, all natural woodchips.
This information isn't secret. It's quite obvious.
@@roflstomps324 No, you didn't like my comment, but thanks very much for your reasons why the kind of wood chips is important; your points are most valid.
@@virginiamoss7045 lol. Yeah, I did. Here. I'll unlike it if you need.
Any time. Happy to help.
BRAVO! Finally someone showing and telling properly. You explained, then showed the evidence to what you explained. THANKS!
Im making a pathway with woodchips, which will lead to a garden area for my bonsai trees to grow in ground. As you know, nothing gets better growth and vigor than being planted in the ground. I got large crates and wanted to replicate the "ground soil" in them for some of my special trees, that may need added protection in winter. I drilled many drain holes, but curious if it will be enough for proper drainage. I wont learn if I don't try...Right! Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks again for a great vid!
You said that the good soil is down 26". I'm just curious how much your overall ground level has been raised over the past 8 years. I'm sure it's not a full 26in what would you say maybe it is raised 3 to 6 in? Maybe more?
The increased depth varies from a couple inches to around 8" toward the back of the garden.
Modern country gardening tools is really inovative and useful, I didn't realize that tool also have measurement on it until he took the camera closer ...
Yeah, it's really hand to have the measurement on the tool handle. It helps a lot.
Well done! You can kick that up even another notch by inoculating the woodchips in your paths with the spawn of the mushrooms of your liking. You will get some mycelium running that will help your plants more efficiently communicate which nutrients they need, and to obtain same. The mycelium running could be considered a network board for your plants through which to speed communication. Additionally, you will have your favorite mushrooms readily available fresh or for drying and using in the winter. : )
+BonnieBlue2A Thank you! We grow King Stropharia in our wood chips.
Excellent.
+OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening
Hey Patrick, Thanks for sharing this with us. Your soil has underwent an amazing transformation and it must me difficult not to want to plant in every pathway now ! Have you ever covered or plan to cover growing mushrooms ? I had wood chips dropped about 2 years ago and I tried innoculating with King and Oyster mushrooms but I still have yet to see any edible shrooms. When I dig in to get at some of the good compost I see mycelium strands everywhere but mushrooms on top never materialize. So here is a video suggestion if you ever are looking for something different talk about ! Thanks again !
Doug Lochart Thanks, Doug! Yes, we grow King Stropharia mushrooms under our blackberries and along one fence but not in the walking paths. I wonder why you haven't seen mushrooms yet? Too much traffic? Not enough water?
+OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening
The only possible thing I can think of is moisture however we are near the Bay and usually pretty humid with more than our share of rain. The wood chips are in a large pile under an oak tree so zero foot traffic. Half of the chips were pine and I read that King do not like pine so much. Oh well this Thanksgiving I cut a small oak tree and used its limbs for mushrooms so hopefully they will provide this Fall.
Are your blackberries basically growing in years of wood chips as well ?
Thanks! I really needed this reminder! I'm in year 3 of sheet mulching/no till/ bte or whatever you want to call it and I've seen great improvements, but sometimes it easy to forget what you've started with! Cheers!
+Yoginitonya You're welcome! Best wishes with the continued transformation!
I am guessing that the worms did your tilling for you over the eight years.
Definitely!
And a myriad of bacteria protozoa, nematodes. microarthropods... the 'soil food web'!
Qlso grow some deeo root crops and let them stay in the ground....old timers trick.
Microbial life.
@Joshua Joestar "roaches" oh hell no, is that what I should expect?
This is my second year adding wood chips to the paths between garden beds. I have already seen a difference in the soil. This year I added twice as much as last year. I think the 1-3 inches of wood chips depth seems more productive than the thin layer I had last year.
You are very inspiring, I will keep it going.
+Brian Thanks! I'm glad you're seeing differences after just a couple years. That's great!
Congratulations! You have really improved your soil! I see in your comments that people are asking about where to get wood chips. In the interest of helping folks out, I'll point out a video I made about that: ua-cam.com/video/jtsjkm_OeCs/v-deo.html I am so fortunate to have Class 1 soil - a few other soils are as good, but none are better. So my job is to keep from ruining the soil and I use a lot of wood chips, too, in that process. I don't think we can have too many wood chips!
+HChrisH200 - Haphazard Homestead Thanks for sharing the clip! I remember it very well! ;-)
wow....this is pretty amazing. I have a side yard that we park in and its clay with sand on the top level. We will definitely be trying this to renew the soil and hopefully be able to have a lush yard in the future years to come. Thanks for sharing.
We tried the Back to Eden wood chip method this year in west-central Montana and were blown away by the bountiful harvest! Our soil here is compacted clay and we have standing water when it rains. When planting back in May, I used my own compost and soil mixture when planting ...but to my surprise there was a squash seed that fell in the 4-6" of composted wood chips. That one shot up faster and was more lush than the other squash plants which convinced me that I should have just planted the seeds in the composted wood chips. Our mammoth sunflowers grew to over 12 feet, my 30 tomato plants flourished so much that I ran out of space in our house for probably 200 pounds of green tomatoes (it was a bad season for tomatoes...cool start to June and then cold nights in August). People would come over and would say, "I can't believe you don't have any weed issues... your garden is just amazing!" Now I did supplement the tomatoes with some organic bone meal and other organic fertilizer once in a while, but for the most part they just went crazy!
I would say that our soil composition is looking more like what you showed in the video. Under the coarse wood chips, there is a thick layer of rich and dark looking soil.
What do you think of the guy on UA-cam who just puts his food scraps and leaves on his garden in the fall...he seems to be doing really well.
Congratulations on your success using wood chips in your garden! Your results will only improve over time. I'm not sure what UA-cam channel you are referring to, but I see that approach as being very similar to mulching with wood chips and other organic matter.
Wood chips are one of the best things I did for my garden. 5 years and counting. The biggest problem I have now is getting chips because my neighbors see the results I am getting. They are asking the tree service for chips before I can get to them.
Alway look forward to your videos! John
Thanks, John! You're right. The demand for wood chips is definitely going up. I went to our city's wood chip pile over the weekend and it was gone! Just scraps at this point.
Thanks for the advice/ encouragement! The soil in our new place is so hard!!!
We used wood chips to mulch our non-vegetable gardens. We would pull the "mulch" from the beds in the spring, screen it and mixed the screened material with compost for use in the garden. We would put the first grass clipping into the non-vegetable gardens and then cover them with the old wood chips and then cover them with new wood chips. Always had great flower gardens.
Long time watcher, first time commenter. I have a 5000 sq ft garden in zone 5 (CO). I love your channel and you have convinced me to use woodchip paths. I originally planned on grass paths, and will still have a few, but the soil building power and low maintenance of woodchips is just too good to pass up. Plus I can have them delivered for free in my area! (check your local craigslist for free chips). Thank you for sharing all you do! :D
+melissa kessler Thanks for watching and for leaving your first comment, Melissa! I'm glad you get wood chips free too. You'll be glad you mulched your paths!
I don't think I could have resisted the temptation to plant into that hole. Your soil looks "Simply marvelous"!:) My first set of potatoes planted March 8thg or 1oth this year are two feet tall. They were planted in a 4' x 4' x 10" raised bed with some topsoil, compost from the heap and covered in wood chips. The Magic Molly's are@6"now planted around 3weeks later. Next year I will be following your example of heavy mulching the pathways for better weed suppression and easier traversing in the beds. Thank you for a splendid video. Still no singing... lol, I guess you are leaving the vocals to Siloe. Thanks as always. h.-
+hope crews Thanks, Hope! I'm glad your potatoes are coming along nicely. We love our mulched pathways. They're so easy to maintain - just one applications of wood chips each year!