My 4 Year Journey Into Wood Chip Back To Eden Style Gardening.
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- I've gained thousands of subscribers since I first started gardening with wood chips. Some people call it back to Eden gardening, but it's basically using wood chips as mulch. I thought it was time to recap from the beginning for those who started subscribing well after the journey began. I started out with sandy loam soil which was about 80% sand, 10% silt, and 10% clay. Our soil had very little organic content in the beginning, but that is no longer the case since I added wood chips. This video will cover the period from just before I added wood chips, through the first 4 years.
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I garden in zone 6b, in the state Kansas. I would love to hear from you, so feel free to comment, make suggestions, ask a question, give tips, tell about your garden, or even offer constructive criticism.
Thanks for watching!
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I've been using wood chips for about six years. I love it so much that I approached a landowner outside of town to share some space with me. Now, after four years on this site, I've covered about 150 x 300 feet in chips. The first year was scary because the slug population exploded. The slugs ate a lot of the more tender seedlings. Fortunately, something balanced out in the subsequent years. The biggest thing I found was that a light sprinkling of chicken manure on the soil before spreading the chips makes a dramatic difference. Everything speeds up. Now, the soil is always rich, moist, and full of earthworms everywhere I dig in. The Strawberries that I get from wood chip covered soil are spectacular. There's been many other successes and some disappointments. There's no way I could water and weed this size of space gardening the old way, so the chips make it possible.
Thanks for sharing your experience with wood chips Murray. We don't have much trouble with slugs, but the rollie pollies can be a problem for seedlings when there is a lot of rain and cloudy days. Nature does have a way of balancing things out though. I've heard the chicken manure suggestion from a couple of other people. It makes sense. I really do need to get a few chickens.
I presume goat manure would do the same job in speeding up the process.
@@cy6ex We had goats on the property but they always got loose and began to eat EVERYTHING. I have video of one eating a tomato plant. I also found it standing on hind legs eating my young apple trees. The manure/bedding from chickens is ideal. I suspect goat or even rabbit manure would be good too.
Does the chicken manure expedite the wood chips breaking down? Would horse manure provide the same benefit? Pardon my ignorance, its my second year gardening (trying to anyway).
@@mightymouse2893 I couldn't say that it does or doesn't definitively. I haven't measured this.
My garden eats 4" of wood chips yearly. my soil has improved year after year and I do not till or weed much. I love it
I'm glad that it's worked out well for you too, David. I sure am glad that I tried them.
When you say it eats it. Does it just disappear?? Where does the wood chips go??
does it raise the ground level??
@@mathusvaiaoga9787 it breaks down
Yours has to be the most laid-back voice yet on UA-cam - I love it. It's a great video.
Thanks Andrew! It's kind of the one I'm stuck with.
Thank you for putting together a few years worth of footage, its fascinating to see how its changed.
You're welcome! I'm really happy with how my garden has changed for the better. I'm hoping that trend will continue.
Great video. In 2018 completely redid my garden and turned the entire backyard into a food forest. lol. I built new beds, a greenhouse and wood chipped the whole backyard. The results are amazing. A handful of weeds a month. Had very sandy soil that could not hold moisture. Now a lush healthy garden, I highly recommend.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It really can do wonders for very sandy soil.
O my goodness! Thank you so much for the tip about Bermuda grass and sweet potato vine! Also I just started with wood chips, so your video gives me hope.
You're welcome! I hope it works as well for you as it has for me over the years.
What did you do for the termites? I really want to use woodchipsand this is my biggest fear. Termites are extremely active around me.
I've never seen a termite in our wood chips. I would say if you are worried at all, don't use them.
I love your garden! It's beautiful every time you show it.
Thanks a bunch Rose! I'm hoping for a good year this year too :)
That’s Great , the wood chips do a lot , once the fungus gets thoroughly established the nutrient exchange between the photosynthesis of the plants and the bacteria and microbes that feed from the sugar exchange (roots exchanging the sugars produced by photosynthesis are exchanged for nutrients the microbes and bacteria gather) the plants are going to be Happy Happy Happy , the living soil will be Happy Happy Happy too ! Cheers , Great video , truth is first hand knowledge , seeing is knowing .. at least a big part of it .
Thanks a bunch! Sounds like you know a lot more of the science behind it than I do. I just go by what my eyes and brain tell me. If I see it's working, I stay with it. It just seems like a more natural way to do things.
I just committed to converting approximately 1/2 acre of my land to woodchip gardening. Yes, it was quite the pile of mulch to spread. Hoping to have success next spring. I also invested in chickens to manufacture some fertilizer like Paul Gauchi does.
Those chickens should help a bunch. We have talked about getting some several times, but we just haven't done it yet. This pandemic has us thinking about it more though. Good luck with your 1/2 acre. I wish I had about that much room.
Thank for your education I have a Alotment and I covered with wood chips and I’m going to plough would it be okay to grow in next February
345 likes and not a single dislike. I appreciate people with years of experience sharing their knowledge. Thank you Sir
You're welcome, and thank you very much for that! Much appreciated! I wasn't aware of the like count, but that's pretty neat.
The fresh wood chips is problematic to me but after 2 years and they are good. I love them.
Good to hear that they are working for you now.
@@MidwestGardener yes I love them. I’ve use fall leaves too.
@@luzvigerminal558 Nice! I love leaves also.
Im going into my 3rd full year of wood chips, i had been using Hay. But after watching and reading about hay contamination from herbicides, i stopped using. When i order my mulch, i ask for the bottom of the pile to be sent. A lot of the mulch is already broken down because it's coming from the lowest level of massive mounds of mulch. I'll be adding a 3rd layer in the winter in preparation for the spring. The only negative are the weeds, and i hope next year that those will be reduced drastically. My soil is becoming more and more fertile aftet each year.
Thanks for sharing how wood chips have worked for you. Yes, herbicides can be a problem with hay. I'm glad that the chips are improving your soil. I like what it's done to ours.
I had issues last year with the Bermuda grass. It was a struggle!! Thank you for the tip!!!
You're welcome! I hope it works as well for you and it has for us.
Idk if u will see it this far back I use woodchips probably not considered deep but do u pull a lot of your woodchips back annually or regularly to amend your soil? I'm beginning to second guess myself I'm wondering if I'm not amending a wide enough area under my plants.
I don't add any amendments except some compost when I plant some things. The chips will amend the soil in time. It takes about 3 years for them to break down in our garden.
Just added 80 yards of spruce, pine and Doug fir chips to a new food forest on a 1/4 ac plot. Also using grass clipping and organic rice straw which has no weed seed or any seeds. Its a huge mistake to use HAY, which is full of unwanted seeds. Conifers will raise the soil PH so pull the chips back and use straw around new tree plantings. You may want to use an organic pH soil lowering amendment for the first few years while the chip digest. If your in a hurry use 10-10-10 organic fertilizer and apply to surface of the chips and water a lot. The mycelium will explode thus achieving rapid soil regeneration.
That's going to be a lot of fun for you to watch. Thanks for the tips.
It’s getting hard to find woodchips in my area. I now use straw because I am having trouble sourcing woodchips.
I understand. It's getting harder to find them here also.
I had a truck load of wood chips in December, drop off now I read don't put it in the garden it will rob the nit. From the garden so I am confused about this, but people bury sticks and logs in the garden ? So here I am with all these wood chips ,!! Any help will be fine ( confused in Indiana ,)
I wouldn't mix it with the soil. If it is mixed with the soil, it can bind up some Nitrogen. If it is just on top of the soil, everything will be fine. In our garden, it takes about 3 years for the wood chips to break down into new soil. I add a thin layer of woodchips every year now.
My soil is very compacted and full of roots from trees that are here and the ones cut down over 7 years ago. I've managed to loosen some of it up, but I'm not physically able to do all that is needed and that's the biggest reason I grow so many things in pots and grow bags.
Keep it up, it's looking great and can only get better.
Thanks a bunch! Growing in pots and grow bags is a great option for a lot of gardening situations. I'm glad you went that route instead of just giving up. Growing things is so beneficial to the body, mind, and soul. I'm looking forward to seeing what this gardening year holds. I hope it's a good one for us both!
Jim, take a look a one of Gary's soil videos at the Gary's Best Gardening channel. It will really bring it all together for you.
Thanks for the tip.
I started wood chip gardening on accident. I was just using wood chips as a mulch to keep weed out between rows of berries bushes. Last year I planted some vegetables in the walkways. I am hooked
Nice! I would say that is a pretty happy accident.
Thank you for sharing your experience! Your video is informative and very helpful :)
You're welcome! Thank you for the kind words, Judi!
It's wonderful stuff, isn't it? You just lay them on top and the biology (microbes, tiny critters, worms) do all the work for you!
Yes it is. Mother nature knows how to grow stuff much better than I do.
i don't have access to woodchips...what's wrong with grass as mulch? i dont have any trees....but rn im mulching with paper and cardboard...what do u guys think? do u have any advice?? im new to gardening😁😁
Nothing is wrong with grass as mulch. I've used it lots of times before I started using wood chips. The only downside to using grass clippings is that you could be bringing weed seeds into your garden too.
I am in Arkansas zone 7b having a hard time locating free wood chips where did you locate yours? Thanks
Our local electric company used to have piles for people to load up and take home.
You mentioned the woodchips tying up nitrogen, what did you do to increase nitrogen after that? Your photos don't indicate nitrogen deficiency in later years.
That was a problem for the first couple of years. After that, everything did great. I tried adding nitrogen fertilizer the firsts couple of years, but it didn't really help.
PS forgot to mention thank you for making the video. Paul Couching mentions termites will not live in Woodchips. Only live wood or stress tree. That’s on its way out.
Yes, good point. I've never seen a single termite in our garden.
I have been using wood chips in my garden for a while, but in the last couple of years my plants have really failed to thrive and I can't figure out what is going on. This is not just in my garden area, but everywhere I have chips ( around my fruit trees as well) this is very frustrating and demoralizing as the yield is just not keeping up with the work! Has anyone else seen this issue?
Hopefully you didn't get some black walnut chips. I've heard those can be bad news.
If youd like 👍🏻 to take a look, this i selectively search for a good looking ground cover that would not need mowing that would take a little drought and not disturb the main crops for water borrowing much, so among those plants are one called
-scleranthus uniflorus (not biflorus version) and they sell seeds for it
-elfin thyme (which seems to be a tad shorter creeping thyme, but sold by the plant)
These two are from mediterranean like weather where there is almost no rain in the summers when its hot 🥵 so these plants should not bother the others of who uses them. These are like competitors once stablished for the weed seeds landing from the air into the garden. Most beautiful little plants, specially the first.
I didnt recommend irish moss or corsican mint (amazing smell) because they are not super drought tolerant, but surely you can look those out too. Very beautiful if you ever wished for something cool to check.
Thanks for the tip, Xavier! I would have to see somebody else have success with using them before I would want to give it a try.
Great video. If I were to apply compost after yr one, would I just cover it over the chips and water in? That way it wouldn't tie up the nitrogen? Just trying to figure it how to dig down to the soil w/o mixing in all the chips accidentally.
Thanks Ryan! I'm not sure exactly what would happen if you put compost on top. I've never tried that. When I plant things though, I usually rake back the wood chips and then plant as I would without wood chips. For transplanting plants such as tomatoes, I always put some compost in the planting hole. For seed planting, you could rake a trench and add compost before planting. Not sure if this helps, but just a couple of ways to get compost in after you add chips.
Do you find you have an increase in earwigs when using woodchips. I fight with them every year and am wondering if they will multiply in the chips.
We don't really have a problem with them here, so I can't say if the wood chips would make them worse or not. Wood chips do provide lots of places for insects to hide though.
I love Woodchips. Composting and creating liquid fertiliser is a way of life for me now. I’ve only just started putting them down. Therapeutic indeed working With and for Nature.
I'm glad you appreciate them to, Wendy. Well put in that last sentence!
I live kinda far north in 🇨🇦 an my growing season is very short, I mixed about 12" of already old wood chips an mixed compost, chicken poop, grass clippings an alfalfa cubes (rabbit food) into it, I think I've saved a couple seasons of decomposition:) wood chips are awesome
Yes, that should speed up the process. You should end up with some pretty good stuff to grow in. Thanks for sharing that. Let us know how it works out.
Eating sweet potato greens are even better than eating sweet potatoes! Sauté some garlic and chop up some sweet potato greens they cook less than a minute they’re sweeter than spinach and extremely healthy
Thanks for the tip, Heidi!
Thanks so much
You're welcome!
Another benefit of woodchips. We have an old garage that flooded with a few inches of water every spring (heavy snowfall melt in Alberta, Canada). Last spring I woodchipped a large area around the garage, about half the garden in total, maybe 1000 sqft. For the first time in over 30 years, there was no water at all in the garage this spring.
Thanks for sharing that, Cathy! That's awesome! I bet that really was nice to see for a change.
Jim, I found your channel about a year ago. I've watched quite a few of your older videos but didn't know about your use of wood chips in the garden. Your garden looks fantastic! I think wood chips between some new raised garden beds (not built yet) would be great for suppressing weeds. I bought materials late last fall to build raised beds this spring! I'll be making them using cement blocks, (6"x16"x8") 2 rows high with staggered joints. My plan is to use concrete glue to hold them together and add 2"x8"x16" pavers on top for a place to sit. I think I'll also put several layers of heavy plastic around the inside to keep the cement block from leaching any contaminants into the soil. Jim, any ideas or suggestions you (or your viewers) can give are welcome and greatly appreciated.
Sounds like you have your work cut out for you Margie. The wood chips will help with the weeds, but they do break down in a few years, so to keep the weed suppressing benefits, you would have to add more wood chips. You can could put plastic below the wood chips, but once the chips turn into soil, the weeds will still sprout. If you put a heavy layer of cardboard down before the chips, it will help kill any weeds or grass that are there now, and will help with things like nutsedge. Those weeds are just relentless :) As for the raised beds, I don't have any experience with them, so I will leave that to others to offer any suggestions.
We're trying Wood Chips this year along with one Huglkulture Raised Bed. We have that Bermuda Grass as well, and pulled up what we could, then are placing Cedar Wood Chips over all the Walkways. I won't use Cedar in the Raised Beds, but that's what we had an abundance of for Free. Thank you for a Really Great Video...easy to understand & your Gardens year to year really improved Superbly!!
I hope it works well for you Micky. That Bermuda Grass will grow like crazy if it gets out in the wood chips. It can be a constant battle if it get a very strong foothold. Except for that, we have loved the results in our garden. I added another thin layer on our garden last fall.
the mycellium networks were helping
Indeed. I love watching the process.
I'm starting raised beds this year with wood chips in between for weed control. We'll see!
I'm think they should work great for that.
Great video thanks 👍
You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!
A Bocking 4 or Bocking 14 Comfrey (which does not spread by seed) can block the intrusion of grass into the beds. It is also a medicinal (commonly called knit-bone), and is a dynamic accumulator which mines minerals from the soil. If you cut the comfrey to compost or spread about in the garden as a chop and drop, it will contribute to nitrogen and mineral content for you soil. This can be done each time the comfrey starts to flower for greatest potency(about 3 times a year).
Thanks for the Comfrey tips, Donald!
I’ll send you some of my solid clay soil , I’ve broken several shovels on this stuff. I could make some good bricks
Yes, it can become a little like concrete when dry. My dad used to have clay.
My area is basically clay.
It will work. I'm in north Georgia and I have a bed I'm planting trees and shrubs in an area that is on the edge of my property that is cleared wooded area. Of all the beds I've made this is by far the most easy soil to work with since it has been self managed by nature for many many years. You'd never know there was clay soil in the area. I was amazed when I saw the Back to Eden documentary, after working in this area I know it works. I will be applying this system to my vegetable garden when I start it next spring.
@@brookssebright8934 Thanks for sharing that experience! Nature does know best.
I put down 400 yards of chips in 2020. Best garden I’ve ever had. No watering this year.
I'm glad to hear that it's working for you, James!
Have had large piles of wood chips for several years, spread out as best I could. Lots of the micorrhyzal fungus, but could be broken down better .....mainly used in garden walkways and around trees for summer moisture retention. Did plant potatoes in trenches with wood chips on sides, potatoes touching soil, and spent goat straw on top of the potatoes. Already sprouted in northern middle Tennessee, but cold snap bit some of them....
Yep, they are great for moisture retention. Can't wait for things to get going here. It won't be long.
thanks for sharing quite a beautiful garden we are headed that way ourselves..best wishes!
You're welcome Isabella! I hope it works as well for you as it has for us.
Thank you for this, I'm converting my front and side yards to wood chips. The sweet potato tip is eye an opener
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful!
9 years won't do it any other way.
Glad to hear it. Thanks for sharing!
I received 3 loads of free wood chips in 2 years from ChipDrop and I scattered them all in an area of my front yard where it is uneven. And about 3/4 of my backyard is filled with chips. My observation: no mud issue where I placed chips and the worms had come back, I pull the woodchips back and see all kinds of worms. I love your video! ❤️
Thanks for sharing how wood chips worked for you! Nature is fascinating to watch. Yes, wood chips can help those muddy areas too. Thanks for watching!
Did the mud issue ever come back as you dug??
My back yard is a mud pile when it rains. I’m hoping chips will solve the issue
Did the mud issue ever come back as you dug??
My back yard is a mud pile when it rains. I’m hoping chips will solve the issue
@@mathusvaiaoga9787 : Hi Marthus, zero mud. I piled the wood chips high enough, about a foot. Over time, the height will go down from just being wet and also from slow decomposition. What I would have done differently should have been to put cardboard on the ground before I piled the chips. I have very stubborn weed/grass that is behaving like a bamboo, I don’t know the name of this annoying weed. It is growing through my woodchips still.
Hi! This is the 3rd or 4th time I’ve watched your video. I’m from Missouri and at age 50, this is my first year of gardening. Because of the quarantine I needed something to do. My dad has a tree care company which my husband now runs, so I have access to lots of wood chips! I wish I had started gardening years ago. Had I known how much easier wood chips made gardening I would have. I’ve covered my garden beds and walkways in cardboard then topped with wood chips, and after only 5 months, if I dig down, I can already see and feel a difference in the soil. So now my husband brings me his stump grindings! 😁 He bought me a little chipper so I can chip small limbs that fall in our yard.👍 Thank you for inspiring me!
Post note: The chips I’m using are chips that had been dumped on our land about a year ago so decomposing had already started.
That is nice that you had some chips that already had a head start.
I was on the fence about getting more wood chips. But now you convinced me 🙂. We have a local dump truck driver bring us some!
I hope they work as well for you as they have for us, Erica. I'm looking forward to seeing how year 5 does.
Does that plantain survive the frost?
You must be referring to the Musa basjoo banana. It does survive the winter here. I cut it down in the fall and cover it with straw. It survives well below zero F.
How many sweet potatoes did you plant, roughly when do you plant sweet potatoes, how far apart, how deep, just a cutting or whole, do you dig them up in the fall, etc? That is exactly what I've been looking for! I was going to use wood chips but then saw a video of how invasive bermuda grass can be in the wood chips. Any details you can give is greatly appreciated...and I am so appreciative of your video! Thank you!
I've been growing my sweet potatoes in straw bales of the last several years with good success. I plant 3 slips in each straw bale. I will be harvesting in the next few weeks....not sure exactly when yet. I'm not sure what you mean by invasive in wood chips. Sweet potatoes do like to sprawl out in all directions no mater what you plant them in.
@@MidwestGardener I am sorry, I just had to alter my question to make sense. At 6:40 in your video you discuss keeping bermuda grass out of the garden using sweet potatoes. I was watching another video warning that bermuda grass can be a nuisance/nightmare in a garden using wood chips, if a border of some sort is not used to keep it out of the garden. You mentioned finding out by accident that planting a border of sweet potatoes crowds out the bermuda grass. That was what I was asking for details about (although I definitely was not being clear about it ;)). Can you please tell me how many rows deep of sweet potatoes did you plant in your border, how far apart, did you just pop them into the soil, how wide of a border is needed to keep bermuda out, and do you dig them up, are you still using them as a way to control bermuda grass from creeping into your garden? Any advice on how to specifically plant these to help prevent bermuda grass from creeping in would be helpful for us :)
Sweet potato vines. I'm going to try it!
It works for me.
It is so amazing to see how fast they start to breakdown . Your garden is the definite proof that they are a positive for the garden. 😊
Thanks a bunch Zule! I like what the chips have done so far.
Stumbled across your channel this morning when looking for BTE gardening videos. I am now a new subscriber. Thanks for the great content. You have a very good narrating voice and I like that you get to the point without overwhelming us with unnecessary dribble.
Thanks a bunch for subscribing, Lynn! I really appreciate it. And thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. So many folks never do. I know exactly what you mean about unnecessary dribble. I've seen video about the #1 tip for this or that, and they are 15 minutes long. Does it really take 15 minutes to tell a person 1 tip 😀
Hello, Mr Midwest Gardener. Ive decided to go wood chips. I now have 4 loads. I told my wife to stop me on 100. When in Dallas, for over 10 years i used Horse manure, with sawdust bedding, for horses. I had a place to gather 16 x 7 x 4ft tall trailer loads of leaves also.My wife saw what happened over a ten year excursions. I built 200 raised beds. Now, in my mid 60,s im into wood chips and im BANKING on this to keep me Healthy Physically and Dietwise. Ive bought 14 chicks for Manure dispersing and im gonna cleanup Burnpiles around town for a little soil and Potash. Applying this on top will allow Bugs, worms to work under the surface. Im gonna put on 4 foot high, just to start. I know i may only end up with 3 inches afterward if im lucky. Ive seen a good many videos but yours takes the Blue Ribbon cake. Thank you, sir. From Southeast Texas, Subtropical area. 40 inches of rain a year. Not including Hurricane Harvey. 56 inches in 10 Days. Bon Appetite
Wow, that is diving in head first. I usually recommend people start out with just part of their garden, but the way I look at it is.....it's your garden, and I'm not going to tell you what you can do or not do with it. I don't know what type of soil you have, but if you have sandy type soil, wood chips is a great way to improve it fast......well, in two or three years, if that's fast :) I'm pretty pleased with how wood chips have worked in my garden so far. I hope they work equally as well for you, or even better. The chickens are a great idea! We were thinking of getting some this year, and then the pandemic messed things up for a while. There is always next year. Once you get things up and running, be sure to drop back in and let us know how it's going. Good luck!
Yes sir, i can work. Im not afraid. Tell me sir. Whats the worst possibly thing that can go wrong? Really.
True.
Do you add any fertilizer or nutrients?
I do occasionally fertilize some things, but not as much as I probably would have without the wood chips. I also add homemade compost when I plant some things.
I started useing wood mulch this year. It is double ground and aged so I have high hopes. I get it from my local recycling facility for $26 a load and they load it. They say it is a yard, but it is way more than that.
Nice! I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.
@@MidwestGardener I’m like you, used a tiller and fought the weeds, time for something better.
I have been using sawdust for many years. I have a place to get all the free sawdust I need. I load up in 55 gallon bags and load up my pick up truck.
It must be working well for you, since have been doing it for so long. Thanks for sharing that information with us. It's always great to have a free source for things you use.
@@MidwestGardener Words excellent, keeps in between the rows clean, keeps the grass and weeds down. wish I could show pictures. I put piles and piles down each each when gardening season is over. With it being sawdust, it rots really fast. After I plant, I cover everything with new sawdust. Works excellent for me.
been using woodchips for over 20 years and before that i used leaves
Thanks for sharing that, Norman! You've probably got some pretty good soil.
A great observation on the sweet potatoes. I will keep that in mind. Thanks Jim.
They save me a lot of work and give me another crop too.
Good morning Jim. I didn't know there were termites up there. We have them "Big Time" in Louisiana. Looks like the wood chips and no dig has done wonders for your garden. Best wishes Bob.
Good morning Bob. Yes, we have them up here, but probably not as bad as you guys do down there. I'm happy with the way everything worked out in the garden. It does better for me now, and it seems like I'm not working as hard at it.
@@MidwestGardener Less work is a good thing. As the years pass I'm not as fast as I used to be.
Less work, or no work, lol. Yep, me too :) Mother nature and father time have a way of slowing us down.
BobMel simple living are they the size of VW bugs like y’all’s mosquitoes?
WOW. 😱
Just found your channel and am happy to see someone else had the same issues as I have, waiting for the soil to be ready for planting. I still have a few years to go so am starting raised beds in the meantime but you gave me encouragement, thanks!!
Thanks for watching and leaving a comment, Raquelia. Good luck with your raised beds.
Thank you for making these videos! I moved to northern Indiana last year with my wife and daughter and am excited to get growing this year! I appreciate your videos as I am new to the area and would like to learn about it, versus the numerous videos in other, dissimilar climates.
You're welcome John! I'm glad that you found my channel. I'm really excited about the upcoming season. I'm hoping that we have better weather for growing things than we had last year. Good luck with your garden!!
Absolutely, a great video. I see to many people dismissing back to Eden Gardening and often I see what mistakes where made for it not to work. Mixing bark in soil, does indeed tie up Nitrogen , mulch should be placed on top and plants sown in soil and enough mulch should be added.
Thank you very much! I understand. I can't go by result in the garden of other folks. I have to go by what I see with my own eyes in my own garden. And so far, I like what I'm seeing.
This year I bought 90 yards of wood chips we will see how it goes.
Good luck David! I hope it works well for you.
This year will be my first full year of using wood chips in my raised beds and in ground garden beds. You and James Pigeroini (*sp) had me convinced last year while watching your videos that they were the right choice for me. Also as I live in a forest with lots of logging activities I have unlimited access to mountains of decomposed wood chips for free even delivered with no charge. So this year all but 2 of my garden beds are covered in chips and I expect great results. Thanks for all your videos I consider you a mentor and a role model. I wish I had your video graphical skills.
Thank you very much for those very kind words! That means a lot to me. Sounds like you have a pretty sweet place to live. You are living the dream, man! Enjoy what you have. I will try to drop by and check out your videos if I find some time.
Straw works better, is cheaper, and better for your soil.
Thanks! My wood chips were free. Straw works great unless it has persistant herbicide in it.
@@MidwestGardener Easy to get straw from farms without pesticides here. It's pretty cheap, $10.00 for a bale that can cover 200 sq. feet. Even cheaper when there is an overstock. Technically it's not free, but it is so cheap, what's the difference. Also, straw bales are light, I put three in the back of my Prius, and they can be stacked and covered. They are very easy to move and to distribute. Once you have watered crops through straw you will never go back. The water goes right to the soil, never runs off, and yet the straw keeps the soil cool and prevents evaporation. It won't mix with the soil below unless you actually force it to. I tried everything, I will never use anything else. It is also more effective at stopping weeds. Finally, if you have an extra bail, you can make the bale into a vegetable garden.
Ok, I’m three years late watching this, but you really caught my attention on the Bermuda grass. I have a garden in SW MO that is totally plagued by Bermuda grass. I consider it to be of the Devil. So planting sweet potatoes can contain it? Do the sweet potato vines pose an issue growing into your other garden plantings?
If you get the sweet potatoes well established, and keep it watered, it does great a barrier that Bermuda grass has a hard time getting through. The sweet potato vines do want to spread in all directions, but you can usually just point the vines in another direction, or prune them.
Thank you! I will be giving this a try. I appreciate finding a gardener sharing wisdom from a similar climate and challenges. Love those Brits, but dealing with our Midwest temp swings, moisture swings and soil extremes is a whole different ballgame. I’m gardening in St. Louis, and at our lake place in SW MO. All Missouri, but different issues each place. Keeps me on my toes. BTW - I have zero sandy soil😊. In St Louis it’s clay, clay, clay. At the lake it’s clay, rocks, rocks, rocks! I have limited wood chips to pathways and Bermuda control. Based on your experience I will experiment with chips on a few beds.
@@stlmama7643 Good luck! I'm familiar with SW Mo. My grandparents lived there. Lots of rocks in their soil too.
I thought I already made a comment, but can't find it.
I have lived on my property 35yrs and still trying to improve my property. My ground is dead, rock-hard clay that is compacted to the point of no water infiltration, unable to dig holes for plants or sow seeds. I'm now trying the mulch, but my husband is mad because when he mows he thinks the mulch dulls the blades. Is using the mulchgoing to improve the ground and make usable soil?
Where I live, it takes about 3 years for the wood chips to break down and turn into soil. I've never tried to mow where the wood chips are, so I don't have any experience with that.
@@MidwestGardener will the wood chips eventually help my ground change?
@@carolgreenhill5684 They should if you put on enough of them. I would do it in a smaller area that you don't have to mow though. The wood chips have done wonders for my sandy soil.
Jim, I have always enjoyed visiting you in your garden and I would say, woodchips can be the way to go. We are planning to begin a garden area with wood chips this year to help with the weed issue and ease of care. Thanks for sharing. Catherine
Ease of care is one big reason I started using them. It doesn't totally eliminate the need to weed, but it sure does help. I'll be interested to hear how it works out for you guys once you have the area up and running. It won't be long and we can get out there and play in the dirt.
We just received 3 truck loads of shredded trees from an arborist, all dumped on the front of our property. We have about 1/2 acre of pine trees, and the soil is clay. So far we have spread it 6" deep under the trees, hoping to, over the years, improve the soil. After 4 days, I notice after it rains, the humidity skyrockets around that area. It will get covered by needles, but hopeful the soil becomes enriched. If this works, I will do the rear couple acres of hardwoods.
I hope it works well for you! It takes about 3 years for the chips to break down here.
@@MidwestGardener I am retiring in 3 years, and not doing much, so time is on my side, I wish it would always look as good as it does now. 3 more loads ordered to finish it.
@@antoinettebennett3041 Good luck!
Thanks for the sweet potato vine tip.
You're welcome!
I've been looking for a Bermuda grass solution. I'm looking forward to giving the sweet potatoes a try! Thanks!
I feel your pain on the Bermuda grass, Matt. Another thing I do until the sweet potatoes get growing is to place grass clippings around the slips. If it wasn't for the sweet potato vines, the Bermuda grass would really really make gardening a lot harder here.
@@MidwestGardener Thanks for the additional tip! I'm feeling like I have a fighting chance now.
I’ve got deep chips in an area too. I’ve noticed better growth if I transplant with a few scoops of compost with fertilizer in each hole so the plant has something
It should really improve that clay soil of yours.
This was amazing to see the evolution of your wood chip journey compiled into one video! Last fall, I overturned some old lounge chairs to repurpose them as raised beds and asked our arborists to fill them with wood chips from a tree we had to have removed. I put a few bags of soil across the very top, coffee grounds from Starbucks and fall leaves. I planted the beds with low expectations in the spring, but even this first year, I have harvested loads of peppers. I’m very impressed with using wood chips in the garden. 🌿🌿🌿😀
Thanks! Glad to hear that you are having great results.
👍👍
Thank you for sharing your knowledge
You're welcome!!
Great video. Honest, too the point and applicable worldwide. In I'm South Africa. I've just subscribed.
Thanks a bunch, Dale! I really appreciate it. It's always great to hear from folks in South Africa! You're probably starting your growing season over there, instead of coming to an end like we are.
I have to say…your voice reminds me of the Mark Goodwin, book Narrator. Love it!!
Thanks Roland! I get a lot of comments about my voice. When I first started doing videos, I didn't talk because I didn't like the sound of my own voice :)
I am wondering if you added any kind of nutrients in the form of fertilize, compost or manure?
I use homemade compost in the planting holes when I transplant seedlings. I do fertilize some things when I plant, but almost never after that.
@@MidwestGardener Thanks !!!
@@alph8654 You're welcome.
also, did you put cardboard under your wood chips?
I didn't under my first batch of wood chips, but I think using cardboard under the wood chips is a great idea.
@@MidwestGardener thank you for your information.
🧡
Loved listening to your wood chip journey.😃 I had just finished watching hours of Back to Eden with Paul Gautchi. I now have 2 loads of chips which include lots of leaves. 2 days so far and the piles are heating up. Since it is November, I decided to let these compost til spring. I have 2 acres of dirt but when it rains, the weeds quickly take over. I will have more loads coming which will be spread out to 8”, in hopes that we won’t get the flush of weeds that normally com with the rains. Then when spring comes that will be the beginnings of our garden journey. So glad I stumbled upon your video. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spread out the future piles and this video encouraged me to spread them out with each additional load. Thank you for sharing your wood chip experience 😊
You're welcome! I hope the wood chips work out as well for you and they have for me. Now I just add a thin layer each year.
Good guidence.
Thanks you very much!
I love your garden and your videos! I covered most of my backyard in free wood chips from a tree service this year because it was all lawn and I wanted to make it all garden really fast without tilling. Our very late Spring and me planting hundreds if tomato seeds way too early in early February, meant they were 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall when I tried to plant some of them! Try moving 4 inches or more if wood chips aside enough to dig deep holes for tomatoes! Nightmare. I never could completely remove the wood chips while planting in some areas. Don't know if it is the cause or not, but my 100 tomato plants did not do all that well this year. Relatively small harvest and most had very little flavor even though I put calcium nitrate tomato tone and vegetable fertilizer, Epsom salt, extra premium worm castings, composted manure, and milk powder, Mycorrhizae and Azoz beneficial bacteria for root growth in most the planting holes. I didn't get around to fertilizing after initial planting, but some of the fertilizer was slow acting. Planting in wood chips was much harder. I've done Ruth Stout method using mostly grass clippings for 45 years and had great tomatoes in Central Kansas despite a continuous Burmuda grass problem. My tomatoes had little or no disease, grew huge and prolific with only 12 to 20 plants. The one time I used wood chips in part of my Kansas garden, they produced rich soil under Meath, but also produced tons of wood roaches which completely freaked me out! Can't stand roaches! Here, in NW Missouri, I had more disease, very little flavor and poor production. Can't help but notice lot of tomato plants died in the wood chips and many, many struggled to grow at all. Maybe a few years down the road, the whole garden will be super. One funny note, I looked out the patio door one predawn morning to see 5 deer standing on the other side of my latest 4 foot tall pile of wood chips, munching away! It had some sweet, aromatic wood in it! Also, the pile began heating up fast, so it would probably break down pretty fast if left in a hit pile.
Thank you very much. It took about three years for me to see the full benefits of the wood chips. I really think they've improved our sandy loam soil a lot. I really don't fertilize too much...mainly just homemade compost in the planting holes. I hope you have a better year next year.
did your woodchips attract carpenter ants?
Nice narration
Thanks Tatiana!
On my 15 acres, we’re the grazing for my livestock has by far grown the best is where I put wood chips down only 18 months ago! I’m going to spread wood chips everywhere and wait! Im completely sold! Great video!
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing how it's worked for you, Jeff!
Nice!
Thanks!
I have a huge problem with morning glory (bind weed), and trying to deal with it without sprays. Will woodchips kill it? I'm worried about not being able to till it up. Anyone had experience with woodchips over morning glory?
I doubt if wood chips will kill it. I know I've had morning glories come up in my wood chips before.
woodchip gardening? You mean mulching? In Canada we do this on every garden. I'm confused!!
Yes, gardening with wood chips as mulch would be a more accurate term. I would have had trouble fitting that on the thumbnail in an orderly fashion. The title of the video does a better job I think. Canadian gardens must do very well if they are all mulched with wood chips.
@@MidwestGardener yours is not the only (American) video that calls it wood-chip gardening! Perhaps we have more trees? Here in Canada I think that they trim trees and fell trees so often that we have had a long association with what we call "cedar mulching". Wood chips are for sale everywhere! The hydro (electric) crews are always "chipping up" trees which take down power lines etc. Thank you for your response and video.
You're welcome. I wish we had easier access in our area. I used to be able to easily find free wood chips, but it is getting harder to find them. Thanks for the feedback.
@@MidwestGardener My husband just picked up more cedar mulch for me yesterday. I jokingly call the lady who sells it "my dealer" because honestly, we buy so much from her so often and her dog recognizes us now. I'm off to see your zinnia video now. thank you for your channel!
I am using wood chips in Southwest Florida. My soil is sand, lots of sand. I put them around my fruit trees and saw an immediate benefit. I have had them in a garden area for less than a year and have grown okra in them successfully. But other plants have not done as well. I think they need longer to deteriorate. I am sold on the benefits of the wood chips. Is that a banana plant in the video at 7:48? I did not know that the climate in Kansas was suitable for bananas. Thanks for the video!
Yes, I think wood chips are a pretty good deal for anyone who has really sandy soil. It took 3 years for mine to fully break down. Yes, that was a banana you saw. I have Musa basjoo which is in it's third year surviving outside. I also have a Musa velutina which survived the winter this year. All I did was cut them down at about a foot from the ground, then I mulched heavily with straw. Those two species are a couple of a few species that can be grown here with a little extra care. I'm growing Dwarf Orinoco with the others this year. We will see if that one makes it through the winter or not. The Musa velutina actually got bananas on it last fall, but they didn't have time to ripen.
I’m using wood chips for the first time and I have immediately noticed the benefit. Don’t think I will ever go back to the old way. Enjoy your videos.
Thanks a bunch! Glad you are enjoying using wood chips, and the videos. I really like what they've done for our garden. Hope you have a great gardening season.
Whenever I have to remove a tree Because of storms or old age! I ask that that that the chute of the chipper be directed into apart my property that is wooded ! In the beginning I thought it would keep the weeds down and it certainly did! Arborists told me 8 years ago he had to pay $50 a load to empty his truck! And he deducted that off the bill. And it also looked great and broke down as you describe in your wonderful video. I use it around all my beds best part it’s free and it terrific exercise. Try to have a load in late winter early fall! Don’t ever need compost pile ! After a few years you can sift it and get free top and potting soil. And it’s free! Try calling around I’ll bet they will deliver free! Looking forward to you next video.
Thanks Robert! You just can't beat it if you can get it for free. I used to have a really good free source, but lost that one. Still looking for a dependable replacement. It's great to hear from another person who understands their true value.
Not only was this incredibly informative, but very relaxing to listen to.
Thanks Ashley! I really appreciate that!
Stunning garden !
Thank you very much!
Wood chips don't do well in places that have grasses that spread from rhizomes that travel under ground. You can put down 6 inches of chips and in a year it will be completely infiltrated by that grass. I have experienced this it enriches the soil all right and just makes the grasses grow thicker and faster.
I know exactly what you mean. Bermuda grass grows like crazy in wood chips. I've had good luck with planting sweet potatoes around the edges of our garden. It actually can get thick enough to out compete the Bermuda grass, and keep it from getting to the wood chips.
Not a fan of woodchips because leaves are a better source of minerals and decompose faster .
I use them as mulch, but I do use leaves in our compost. Then I usually put compost in my planting holes.
@@MidwestGardener I mow my leaves and it breaks them up causing more surface to be exposed causing them to decompose faster but I also include small twigs which are also richer in minerals than the big branches and tree trunks .I then use it as a mulch because I try to mimic nature as much as possible , no dig .
@@liberalinoklahoma1888 Well done!
What i wanted to see thank you
You're welcome! Glad I could help, Jimmy!
@MidwestGardener my allotment had compacted soil and terrible flooding . Two years ago I dug out 8inch deep pathways between beds and filled with woodchips ,topped up this winter solved the flooding but digging them out to see the effect on the soil underneath doesn't Give an accurate indication of what I could expect for muching on the surface around plants . You've done it , I've seen it and now I am going to copy you . Cheers