I raise goats and it’s hard to isolate manure from their wood shaving bedding. There are incredible self- plant potatoes, squash, and tomatoes growing in the manure pile this year! It’s all shavings and goat poop- no soil.
Thanks again Mark. Perfect job of putting the understanding of the how living soil works in first position. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Happy gardening from zone 8B.
Organic matter mulch is probably the most important. You need the constant moisture kept in the soil (real soil) while slowly adding organic matter into the soil from the decomposition of the organic matter mulch.
Interesting video, and applicable to most people. There are some people like me that cant grow in the ground. In my case its because of a buried petroleum pipeline under my property. I do container gardening to not take chances with the food I am growing to eat. I start with my own mix of peat, perlite, compost, top soil, and amendments. Each year I dump or at least remove a third of the contents of the containers. Its then mixed with compost, leaf mold, and other amendments like pelletized chicken manure and worm castings. There is soil biology going on in the containers, because you are right, its all important.
Great video! And it is so discouraging when trying to just buy some basic soil (sand/silt/clay) only to find the bag has a lot of wood chips! I like wood chips or leaves on the top, but when I am trying to start a new raised bed I want to make sure I am starting with the basics!
Mark I've got good news for you. I tried 6 methods to raise tomatoes last season and your advice on planting them tomatoe seedlings into root ball from the sunflower of the previous year .Your method was less than half the effort and no tilting almost O equipment and truly got less than half the amount of water. The method was a very close second best and 4 times less the work as my most productive method. Love your method and will test it again next season and will treat it equally and take better notes. Don't peatmoss help by holding moisture? Thanks 👍
THANKS for sharing , Great to hear your results. It is working du to your increase in soil biology like on the piece of paper. Peat moss helps with drainage not holding water
I must have missed that information about using the sunflower root ball. Do you need to leave the sunflower where it grew or can you move it to where you want the tomato to be?
@Kim Torres I am busting some clay using the sunflower method. Grow the sunflowers where you want the tomatoes to grow the following season. Post harvest, cut the big sunflower stalk at the soil line. Do NOT yank the roots from the ground. (I then covered the area with leaf mould.) Next Spring, plant your tomato seedlings right next to the old sunflower stalk. Should be easy as the old roots from the sunflower have broken up & softened the soil. If the old stalk is not fully disintegrated, that's OK.
@Kim Torres Mark taught okay to cut at bass of sunflower if you choose be leaving enough to locate it the spring afternoon near the stem place that tomato seedlings add blood meal and bone meal if you choose plants your seedlings I'm 71 and tried 6 different methods to garden tomatoes this was 3 times the easiest and the hardest method did barely out produce but 6 times the work. I'm highly recommended this for senior citizens who can plant a seedling
I understand this is just an intro. But it does make me wonder about thoughts on heavy feeding plants that get deficiencies easily. A lot of people understandably just want to go for the synthetics and not think too much.
All of your content makes so much sense! Since finding you, I just focus on building my soil. I collect leaves from neighbors, and just pour it on in the fall. Do you see any downsides to this method? I'm on year 2 of this practice, and things are looking really good from my perspective. Crops have been excellent, and my pollinator garden is doing very well as far as I can tell. I'll know more this coming spring/year. Thank you for all of your hard work!
I've done some traditional tilling gardening in the past (mostly potatoes but some veggies to) at my village. The issue is that I live 70 km away from it and it was bit hassle to go into gardening seriously. Last year I got piece of land on edge of my city and decided to do some gardening. I went for no dig compost method and was very pleased with success. Now the issue I have with that style is that with place where I live, size of my garden and time that I have composting in some serious size is bit problematic. And if I just buy it than it gets expensive. I was thinking of alternatives and leaves or wood chips were two main ideas. Wood chips in place where I live are expensive if you want to buy and can't get them free or have chipper. So I was left with leaves. Than I went to search on internet and youtube, found lots of leaf mould videos but not many people that actually are using leaves the way you did. I really liked the idea and making 2 beds 13*5 for next season, just scared with the amount of leaves I will have to gather.😂 Wanted to thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experience it is extremely helpful and very appreciated. Just one question to see if I understand it correctly. You are using winter crop basically to aerate soil and not leaving it one once harvested to decompose on bed? Thanks again.
Mark - thank you for all you do. I am in North Alabama (7b). I enjoy watching your experiments. I have a lot of red clay. I have 1/3 of my garden covered in leaves, 1/3 in winter rye and 1/3 the way I normally grow. I am looking forward to seeing which works best.
Thank you for sharing this valuable insight. I always knew in my heart that real soil is necessary for proper plant growth, but guess i too got brainwashed. But i make sure to add atleast a handful of backyard soil and coarse sand to my potted plants, and they do way better than in just soiless potting mixes
I just discovered your channel and have done a deep dive in watching your videos. Makes so much sense. So how does one transition their raised beds filled with fake soil (1/3 compost 1/3 peat 1/3 vermiculite and amendments ) to what you practice. Our soil is heavy clay. Although I have had success with this raised bed mix it does dry out quickly and I know the plants are not getting the nutrients needed to thrive. Wish I knew about you sooner! Thanks for sharing your experience!
I've been winter sowing numerous varieties of ves for spring planting. Some varieties are better suited than others ot this. I am adding more vermicasting this year to taller jugs & bottles. Late frost has delayed planting in the past & my little guys need nutrition.
@I AM ORGANIC GARDENING I will try mixing half of the winter sown jugs with the 25% cococ/coir & 75% worm castings in the bottom 2 in of the winter sowing jugs & the other half with the 25%/75% mix in all 4 in of growing medium. My biggest problem so far is that the seedlings get too big for the jugs if spring is late. We'll see what happens. ( I am using taller jugs now too.)
How would you ammend a garden bed soil that is mostly decomposed organic matter? There is some sand and dirt, but a lot of it is lasagna layers greens and browns (1.5 years old) plus compost and lots of worm castings. Rock dust?
I enjoy all your videos but this one has me confused. This is basically top soil and if you are growing in ground, that should be fine in addition to mulching to protect the soil. But are you recommending regular garden soil for raised beds and planters?
YES, real soil, Sand, silt and clay. To give vegetables all the minerals it needs to give you the BEST food.. You never see a farmer add peat moss to his fields. To many people have mislead showing and using bad things to use in raised beds. But it your choice of what to use. Just giving some facts.
So interesting. I remember when you had all those leaves on your beds. I’m wondering if that was necessary for a period of time to increase soil organic matter or could one just start by planting and keeping a living root all year?Skipping the compost and leaf mold?
A living root is always Key # 1 ( grows fungi ) . The reason for the fall leaves is just mulch to kept the soil moist so the microbes stay alive and help out when their is a drought. Plus the other reason of all the leaves I did not get to plant a cover crop.
I live in Nevada and the soil is full of rocks and I don't know that I am physically able to dig up the rocks to get soil (I'm 75 years old) so where can I get real soil?
You are going to help lots of water.. Is it not very costly for you? plant nursery will sell topsoil ( must ask them if it is sand , silt and clay. It is heavy to move. You are going need help do it.. Try growing beans and sunflowers first in your soil, leave rocks in.
There is a herd of cows uphill from my field. No matter what I plant there it dies, even fruit trees and flowers. When I asked the neighbor if he would move his feeding station away from my fence line the answer was not pleasant. Any ideas what I can do to keep the "fertilizer" from burning up my plants?
Dig a ditch to drain the run off in another direction. I doubt you will get anyone to do anything unless the runoff is excessive. Grazeon poison in the high is probably the real problem.
I just cleared an acre of woods next to me to expand my garden and have more space in general. I need to let the soil dry before adding / grading topsoil. Do you have any recommendation on what I should grow? Rye grass or anything like that? Would that serve as a common grass as well? Same zone as you. Thanks a million for all of your information!!
@@jeremycoulbourn3892 winter rye ( different than rye grass ) if planted now will grow as a grass all this year about a foot tall . Last through winter and grow several feet next spring and grow a grain also on top and then die off on it own.
I might be wrong. I believe you have clay and silt not a lot . But you can not see it with your eyes due to that some times the only way to see it is under a microscope.
If your having trouble explaining that Potting Soil really isn't soil, I have the same problem with new growers group members when I explain compost is NOT soil. That myth is deeply ingrained...and the people who fancy themselves premaculturalists are the among the most dedicated adherents to compost = soil.
I THANK YOU so very much for making my day better. I have been on gardening groups per social media and try to explain why they have problems with potting mix that is not SOIL and that is why they are having so much plant health problems.
The best I have come up with is that sand, silt & clay are "solum" + air, water & a small amount of organic material = soil. The presence of a small amount of organic material (which is there by default in all soil samples, if only microscopically) does not equate to - compost is soil. You can grow in good quality soil with only a mulch covering. The compost dependent don't understand this. It's like an addiction.
It may be silly question , but can you mix old last years peat mix with soil sand & silt worm castings, coffee grounds, blood meal & a compost in pots ? I'm mainly talking about for Tomatoes & Peppers
@@iamorganicgardening Thats good to know ,, I've been mixing the 2 ,, in the past 2 years. & i don't plan to buy , another bag of Peat moss. But , when i rejuvenate my mixes from last fall , i will be using the old peat soil mix & adding worm casting, blood meal, leaf mold, coffee grounds, eggshells, sand & my yard dirt..& i add a fertilizer Epsoma garden tone ,, because i don't have wood ash on hand. & I do give them a kick of a 20 - 30 ar blooming. I wash looking into ,, Kelp Meal to add.. Also pumice, for Rosemary, ect in pot. Ive used Perlite ,, but not going to buy another bag of it either. I do both ,, some Vegetables in ground , some in Pots (about 30 ) Thanks for the reply
what about coca coir.? (sp). we have a compost bin where we put the spent trays from a microgreen farm. is that good for growing other crops, or would i need fertilizer?
Same as peat. If you grow past micro green stage nutrients would need to be added. When it goes in the compost bin, the worms will eventually turn it into something useful for other crops
I love love love your commitment to regenerative gardening and your commitment to building soil biology. You make everything so easy to understand.
Wow, thank you!
@@iamorganicgardening I have to come out and visit!
I raise goats and it’s hard to isolate manure from their wood shaving bedding. There are incredible self- plant potatoes, squash, and tomatoes growing in the manure pile this year! It’s all shavings and goat poop- no soil.
Thanks again Mark. Perfect job of putting the understanding of the how living soil works in first position. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Happy gardening from zone 8B.
Thanks 👍
Organic matter mulch is probably the most important.
You need the constant moisture kept in the soil (real soil) while slowly adding organic matter into the soil from the decomposition of the organic matter mulch.
I fully agree. Thanks
I love this simplified version of soil and soil needs
THANK YOU.
Interesting video, and applicable to most people. There are some people like me that cant grow in the ground. In my case its because of a buried petroleum pipeline under my property. I do container gardening to not take chances with the food I am growing to eat. I start with my own mix of peat, perlite, compost, top soil, and amendments. Each year I dump or at least remove a third of the contents of the containers. Its then mixed with compost, leaf mold, and other amendments like pelletized chicken manure and worm castings. There is soil biology going on in the containers, because you are right, its all important.
THANK YOU for sharing what you do for all of us.
Great video! And it is so discouraging when trying to just buy some basic soil (sand/silt/clay) only to find the bag has a lot of wood chips! I like wood chips or leaves on the top, but when I am trying to start a new raised bed I want to make sure I am starting with the basics!
So true! THANKS
Mark I've got good news for you.
I tried 6 methods to raise tomatoes last season and your advice on planting them tomatoe seedlings into root ball from the sunflower of the previous year .Your method was less than half the effort and no tilting almost O equipment and truly got less than half the amount of water. The method was a very close second best and 4 times less the work as my most productive method.
Love your method and will test it again next season and will treat it equally and take better notes.
Don't peatmoss help by holding moisture?
Thanks 👍
THANKS for sharing , Great to hear your results. It is working du to your increase in soil biology like on the piece of paper. Peat moss helps with drainage not holding water
I must have missed that information about using the sunflower root ball. Do you need to leave the sunflower where it grew or can you move it to where you want the tomato to be?
@Kim Torres I am busting some clay using the sunflower method. Grow the sunflowers where you want the tomatoes to grow the following season. Post harvest, cut the big sunflower stalk at the soil line. Do NOT yank the roots from the ground. (I then covered the area with leaf mould.)
Next Spring, plant your tomato seedlings right next to the old sunflower stalk. Should be easy as the old roots from the sunflower have broken up & softened the soil. If the old stalk is not fully disintegrated, that's OK.
@Kim Torres Mark taught okay to cut at bass of sunflower if you choose be leaving enough to locate it the spring afternoon near the stem place that tomato seedlings add blood meal and bone meal if you choose plants your seedlings I'm 71 and tried 6 different methods to garden tomatoes this was 3 times the easiest and the hardest method did barely out produce but 6 times the work. I'm highly recommended this for senior citizens who can plant a seedling
I understand this is just an intro. But it does make me wonder about thoughts on heavy feeding plants that get deficiencies easily. A lot of people understandably just want to go for the synthetics and not think too much.
If they are just growing in REAL SOIL , just increase the soil biology and all is well. THANKS
I believe there’s way more “thinking” going synthetic. Soil tests, numbers numbers numbers, etc etc. Just let nature do the work.
All of your content makes so much sense! Since finding you, I just focus on building my soil. I collect leaves from neighbors, and just pour it on in the fall. Do you see any downsides to this method? I'm on year 2 of this practice, and things are looking really good from my perspective. Crops have been excellent, and my pollinator garden is doing very well as far as I can tell. I'll know more this coming spring/year. Thank you for all of your hard work!
No down side, just do not pile to tall. It is a great MULCH.
I've done some traditional tilling gardening in the past (mostly potatoes but some veggies to) at my village. The issue is that I live 70 km away from it and it was bit hassle to go into gardening seriously. Last year I got piece of land on edge of my city and decided to do some gardening. I went for no dig compost method and was very pleased with success. Now the issue I have with that style is that with place where I live, size of my garden and time that I have composting in some serious size is bit problematic. And if I just buy it than it gets expensive.
I was thinking of alternatives and leaves or wood chips were two main ideas. Wood chips in place where I live are expensive if you want to buy and can't get them free or have chipper. So I was left with leaves. Than I went to search on internet and youtube, found lots of leaf mould videos but not many people that actually are using leaves the way you did.
I really liked the idea and making 2 beds 13*5 for next season, just scared with the amount of leaves I will have to gather.😂
Wanted to thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experience it is extremely helpful and very appreciated.
Just one question to see if I understand it correctly. You are using winter crop basically to aerate soil and not leaving it one once harvested to decompose on bed?
Thanks again.
Mark - thank you for all you do. I am in North Alabama (7b). I enjoy watching your experiments. I have a lot of red clay.
I have 1/3 of my garden covered in leaves, 1/3 in winter rye and 1/3 the way I normally grow. I am looking forward to seeing which works best.
THANK YOU. Let me know how thing are working for you. You are going to see how nature is awesome.
Fantastic lesson!! Thanks so much for teaching soil science - the real way it works! I'll be sharing this. All the best to you!
THANK YOU so very Much, Happy Gardening
Thank you for sharing this valuable insight. I always knew in my heart that real soil is necessary for proper plant growth, but guess i too got brainwashed. But i make sure to add atleast a handful of backyard soil and coarse sand to my potted plants, and they do way better than in just soiless potting mixes
Fantastic , Great to hear. THANK YOU.
Thanks for the gift Mark.
Good to hear from you. Thanks
I just discovered your channel and have done a deep dive in watching your videos. Makes so much sense. So how does one transition their raised beds filled with fake soil (1/3 compost 1/3 peat 1/3 vermiculite and amendments ) to what you practice. Our soil is heavy clay.
Although I have had success with this raised bed mix it does dry out quickly and I know the plants are not getting the nutrients needed to thrive. Wish I knew about you sooner! Thanks for sharing your experience!
I love your healthy soil videos. Sharing.
THANK YOU so very much.
Great info! Thank yo so much! I feel like I'm back in school as I watch your videos!
Glad you like them!
Wow, great video!
THANK YOU so very much. Have a great week ahead
Very helpful. Thank you!
Here to help and share. .
Thank you! I'm learning so much from you!
Glad to help
Excellent video Mark! What are your thoughts about coco-coir to replace the peat in potting mix for indoor plants? 👍
Coco coir helps to grow fungi. Which is a great start to get a ratio of 1 to 1 of bacteria to fungi growing that is very healthy
I've been winter sowing numerous varieties of ves for spring planting.
Some varieties are better suited than others ot this. I am adding more vermicasting this year to taller jugs & bottles. Late frost has delayed planting in the past & my little guys need nutrition.
You will get better microbes numbers with with worm casting. I just use 75 % coco coir and 25 % castings by volume not weight .
@I AM ORGANIC GARDENING I will try mixing half of the winter sown jugs with the 25% cococ/coir & 75% worm castings in the bottom 2 in of the winter sowing jugs & the other half with the 25%/75% mix in all 4 in of growing medium.
My biggest problem so far is that the seedlings get too big for the jugs if spring is late.
We'll see what happens. ( I am using taller jugs now too.)
Great video- thank you for this valuable resource- what zone is your farm in?
6B New Jersey
6 B NJ
Good show, cheers Mark
THANK YOU so very much.
At least he didn't call it dirt.
Great answer. THANK YOU
Can we sprinkle some borax(boron) on the soil?
Why do you need to it has it already.?
How would you ammend a garden bed soil that is mostly decomposed organic matter? There is some sand and dirt, but a lot of it is lasagna layers greens and browns (1.5 years old) plus compost and lots of worm castings. Rock dust?
Just increase the sand and dirt to half the bed and use cover crops when your garden season is over to the next start time
I enjoy all your videos but this one has me confused. This is basically top soil and if you are growing in ground, that should be fine in addition to mulching to protect the soil.
But are you recommending regular garden soil for raised beds and planters?
YES, real soil, Sand, silt and clay. To give vegetables all the minerals it needs to give you the BEST food.. You never see a farmer add peat moss to his fields. To many people have mislead showing and using bad things to use in raised beds. But it your choice of what to use. Just giving some facts.
So interesting. I remember when you had all those leaves on your beds. I’m wondering if that was necessary for a period of time to increase soil organic matter or could one just start by planting and keeping a living root all year?Skipping the compost and leaf mold?
A living root is always Key # 1 ( grows fungi ) . The reason for the fall leaves is just mulch to kept the soil moist so the microbes stay alive and help out when their is a drought. Plus the other reason of all the leaves I did not get to plant a cover crop.
I live in Nevada and the soil is full of rocks and I don't know that I am physically able to dig up the rocks to get soil (I'm 75 years old) so where can I get real soil?
You are going to help lots of water.. Is it not very costly for you? plant nursery will sell topsoil ( must ask them if it is sand , silt and clay. It is heavy to move. You are going need help do it.. Try growing beans and sunflowers first in your soil, leave rocks in.
There is a herd of cows uphill from my field. No matter what I plant there it dies, even fruit trees and flowers. When I asked the neighbor if he would move his feeding station away from my fence line the answer was not pleasant. Any ideas what I can do to keep the "fertilizer" from burning up my plants?
Call your town health department and ask them to come out and look into your problem. Or your county USDA of Farm agency.
@@iamorganicgardening Thank you. I am in rural MO, 10 miles from the closest town, which is under 2,000 people. So the USDA might be my best choice.
Dig a ditch to drain the run off in another direction. I doubt you will get anyone to do anything unless the runoff is excessive. Grazeon poison in the high is probably the real problem.
I just cleared an acre of woods next to me to expand my garden and have more space in general. I need to let the soil dry before adding / grading topsoil. Do you have any recommendation on what I should grow? Rye grass or anything like that? Would that serve as a common grass as well? Same zone as you. Thanks a million for all of your information!!
Are you planning to use the whole acre as a garden this year? and when would you seed it after the top soil is added?
@@iamorganicgardening I plan on using about a third of it. I’d like to seed right after the added topsoil
@@jeremycoulbourn3892 Rye grass will grow year after year and is strong and tall about 2 feet if not cut.
@@iamorganicgardening so I can just use the same winter rye we use as a cover crop?
@@jeremycoulbourn3892 winter rye ( different than rye grass ) if planted now will grow as a grass all this year about a foot tall . Last through winter and grow several feet next spring and grow a grain also on top and then die off on it own.
What about chicken manure?
You can ad chicken manure to fake soil because it needs it
We only have sand here
same here in central fl just sugar sand no silt or clay . just root knot nematode infestations .
I might be wrong. I believe you have clay and silt not a lot . But you can not see it with your eyes due to that some times the only way to see it is under a microscope.
What do think about Azomite?
It is great to add to peat moss potting mix. But you do not need to add it in real soil ( sand ,silt and clay ) it is all their.
Our real soil on Maui has root nematodes.
Soil nematodes are GOOD . Root nematodes are BAD.
If your having trouble explaining that Potting Soil really isn't soil, I have the same problem with new growers group members when I explain compost is NOT soil. That myth is deeply ingrained...and the people who fancy themselves premaculturalists are the among the most dedicated adherents to compost = soil.
I THANK YOU so very much for making my day better. I have been on gardening groups per social media and try to explain why they have problems with potting mix that is not SOIL and that is why they are having so much plant health problems.
The best I have come up with is that sand, silt & clay are "solum" + air, water & a small amount of organic material = soil.
The presence of a small amount of organic material (which is there by default in all soil samples, if only microscopically) does not equate to - compost is soil.
You can grow in good quality soil with only a mulch covering. The compost dependent don't understand this. It's like an addiction.
It may be silly question , but can you mix old last years peat mix with soil sand & silt worm castings, coffee grounds, blood meal & a compost in pots ?
I'm mainly talking about for Tomatoes & Peppers
YES, 100 %. You will get more nutrient's in your food.. FANTASTIC outlook. Thanks
@@iamorganicgardening
Thats good to know ,, I've been mixing the 2 ,, in the past 2 years.
& i don't plan to buy , another bag of Peat moss.
But , when i rejuvenate my mixes from last fall , i will be using the old peat soil mix & adding worm casting, blood meal, leaf mold, coffee grounds, eggshells, sand & my yard dirt..& i add a fertilizer Epsoma garden tone ,, because i don't have wood ash on hand.
& I do give them a kick of a 20 - 30 ar blooming.
I wash looking into ,, Kelp Meal
to add..
Also pumice, for Rosemary, ect in pot.
Ive used Perlite ,, but not going to buy another bag of it either.
I do both ,, some Vegetables in ground , some in Pots (about 30 )
Thanks for the reply
👍👍👍👍👍👊
THANK YOU so very much.
what about coca coir.? (sp). we have a compost bin where we put the spent trays from a microgreen farm. is that good for growing other crops, or would i need fertilizer?
Same as peat. If you grow past micro green stage nutrients would need to be added. When it goes in the compost bin, the worms will eventually turn it into something useful for other crops
@@kimtorres8713 thank you
Coca Coir is great for growing Fungi in the garden soil. Which you need a balance to 1 o 1 fungi to bacteria ratio. Your plants will become healthy