As a farmer....I agreed with 98% of this information. The only thing missing from the gardening/ farming community.....we love our compost....and we are learning to add or learn about cover crops.Thats all great keep doing it. The only thing missing is remineralization. Just because you add the bacteria and the biomass that it eats( compost)....if there are very little minerals ( at least the 8-20 we know are needed for plant growth) your plants will be lacking in health....and so will you. If the bacteria is there but the mineral isn't there for it to chelate and turn into a bioavaiable form...then it's just not there. So when you are building your compost piles try and use things that don't just add the NPK back but the other crucial minerals that are taken up by the plant....and usually not returned back at the rate they are taken out. Things like leaves, spent alfalfa hay, egg shell dust, peels and rinds, wood ash, manure, rock dust, Quarry dust, Seaweed. Comfrey, Clippings from Prarie land with a mix of weeds and grasses that accumulate minerals all will make great compost but also have the minerals needed to give you nutrient dense crop...making nutrient dense humans. Then you didn't have to buy fertilizer.....you have the microbes in the compost....but you amended with certain items in your pile that add back the minerals. That leaves and grass clippings and a few buckets of food scraps just don't provide. The minerals should be in the sand, silt, clay but maybe some are not in your soil in your area....and if you've been farming the same plot of land for 10-20+ years.....you better be concerned about remineralization. You can actually have healthy looking plants, eat fresh from your garden and still have nutrient deficiencies. Mineral rich Compost Cover crops Mulches Worm castings Is all you really need to build a mineral rich food forrest.
I also follow Steve Solomon. The main minerals that determine soil tilth are calcium and magnesium. Steve tells the story of how he was unhealthy despite the soil being rich in hummus. His health improved when he moved to a place with volcanic soil. That's how he discovered the importance of minerals.
@Gardenfundamentals1 would molasses increase necromancer? So the sudden burst of micros gives a short term boost, followed by a longer term necromass boost afterward?
I agree. Im new to this channel and to gary. And watching this channel im finding things easier- not mote complicated. I came away from this clear-minded and not confused. Bea. Im going to do this. And see what gappy, And if i can leave the weeds, all the better.
I grew winter rye in a 4’x4’ raised bed I use for potatoes. Last spring I just cut it down to the ground. I did not till it in, I just laid the seed potatoes in it and covered with a bit of soil and leaf mulch. I had the best potato harvest ever from that bed.
I've heard the butter/margarine argument for and against tilling soil. The For being that you want to get the good plant matter into the lower layers of dirt. The Against argument being that it destroys mycelial nutrient highways.
@@TheQwuilleran mycelium is an incredibly robust organism. When you break it up it just grows back stronger from all the broken pieces. It's not destroyed by physical disturbance (tilling), just temporarily slowed while it rebuilds. How well it bounces back depends on the nutrition available in the growing medium.
where i live the soil is dead - clay and rock. lots of rock. i tried for years to dig out the rocks and improve the soil. Finally I got sick of the work and started just building the soil up with animal by products and compost. instead of digging down, I just build up. I dont use raised beds in the traditional sense, but concrete blocks to make it movable and durable. I plant, harvest, then cut off at the base and leave the root system untouched and untilled. great advice here.
I compost near a citrus tree and it bears plentiful of fruits and the ground in my garden is fertile. I mulch my garden with harvested leaves, twigs and all sorts of green waste too. There are endless ways to feed microbes.
Starts to get to the point around 8:48 and succeeds in getting to the point at 11:40. (For my time-constrained Brothers and Sisters😮). All-in-all, great video. Liked and Subbed!
Thanks for thinking about others Jesus said by doing two things you for fill ALL of Gods law Loving the lord god with all your heart soul mind and treating/loving others as your self anything more goes off the deep end into religion of man Theses nut jobs is who Jesus called serpents and spoke out against Loving God comes over time as you truly get to know him First thing to doing this is getting past all them lies we all have been told all our lives about God and the bible Thanks again my brother!
This is why comfrey is so beneficial in the garden imo. Makes tons of free leaf mulch, doesn't bother other plants, and provides a ton of shade if you don't cut the leaves. Bees love them too!
@@paulhaynie7258It’s so high in protein and nutrients it used to a fodder plant for cattle; deer & elk love to make use of those fields too. Good thing the root pieces make it easy to plant more, a 2” pice here, and there- give it some of those deer droppings when planting and soon you’ll have more than they can feast on!.
A new way to look at weeds. They're actually helping. Until I find something native to put in their place, I'm going to leave them alone, and thank them for building my soil. I feel better for having watched this video. Besides I'm lazy. :-)
I read a book about doing exactly this. I've been embracing weeds ever since and it really has improved my soil. I've even purchased clover and dandelion seeds and planted them in my yard. I prefer them to some of the other weeds that were growing. I'm hoping to replace the spikey weeds so I can enjoy walking barefoot in my yard. That's my rule about weeds, if it hurts my feet, I pull it out.
That's what I did for my first garden. Not much grows in the desert, but I have noticed that there are spots in my backyard where the weeds grow vigorously. I chopped and dropped the weeds and planted a few crops in their place and have beautiful plants that have not needed any additional fertilizer or soil remediation.
I work for a company that sells sea minerals which are the natural trace minerals that has been leeched from the soil. They take 100 gallons of sea water from the Great Barrier Reef and bring it down to 1 gallon of pure minerals (minus the salt). The results are amazing, and the Amish absolutely love it. It totally recreates bad soil back to its intended state. Even the animals that eat the grass from this soil do better.
What an absolute treasure! Thank you so much for teaching so well. I love how you debunk so many common gardening myths. Where I really started trusting your knowledge was when you talked about the myth of powdery mildew being caused by damp leaves. After watching your video on that, I did my own research and confirmed that you are right. Since then, I go to you for the scoop. God bless you Robert.
Jeez that's such a confusing topic. I read that dryness actually causes it but 99% of gardening websites still operate under the assumption of it being too moist. I'll have to watch that video and hopefully find some actual science before trying to educate people 😅
Man it just seems so obvious given that rainforests have such a plethora of fauna that grows and dies and how healthy it all is. This is awesome since I just love growing and admiring plants.
The findings here seem to be fully compatible with the concept of food forests where plants are observed to grow faster despite planted much more densely
Where am I with my single flowerbed? :) I didn't expect it's so complicated! It's like a healthy body, you don't wanna know where your heart, lever, or kidneys are. But when there are problems, you learn! Great presentation and great comments here! Thank you!
Best gardening tutorial I have watched. Thank you so much Robert. You’ve saved me so much work, time and money. Can’t wait for rain to stop and put your advice into practice 🇦🇺
I am doing a good job of having plants always growing everywhere in my garden. I do this because I am so lazy. Quack grass and tangle weed is always growing everywhere in my garden and they sure have a lot of roots.
I discovered Garden Fundamentals this year, and instantly knew that this series was the best tutor available to me. Many thanks. Please post lots advice on cover crops? I'm you will, I am merely anxious to learn.
I love how you over-complicate the problem then simplify the solution. Complex problem, just makes sure plants are growing all the time in all the soil.
I am so glad I went the regenerative route when creating my food forest. My mistake was not planting more support plant species and with these new soil science, I am trying to accelerate planting those support plants. Thanks for the video.
Thank you so much 🙏 this information is gold. I have a balcony garden and issues with soil are much more obvious when you have containers. I tested everything you said and I agree 100%. All the compost tea and stuff like that only works for a moment but then it's all about the food that microbes get. I always add fermented foods and alfalfa pellets to my soil, and also use those pellets as a mulch. and my plants feel amazing, soil is fluffy and rich. Thank you for information about healthy soil
I moved to a piece of land that's now used as a semipermanent campground, where the landowner scoffed at me for not building raised beds and instead just doing a few no-till beds where I just mixed a bunch of compost and biochar with the soil (actually closer to dirt at that point) I dug out of my pathways, and have not taken a shovel to since and only layered amendments on top. What was once rocky red clay with zero vegetation is, after three years, a thriving, loamy garden with, yes, several weeds, but also many native wildflowers and grasses, all of which return to the soil as mulch at some point, their roots intact and pushing into the layer below where I started. The only roots that get removed are the ones I eat 😊
I use much of this knowledge from these videos for my grass lawns ....a lot of people think a nice cut green yard is bad; maybe because of chemicals like weed killers and fertilizers plus over use of water, but actually very little of those things need to happen in my high performance grass lawn spaces - what matters the most is growing the right type of grass in the right areas - once that is happening, healthy, and mowed often enough that you only cut off less than a third of the grass blade; not much more than mulching in the clippings is needed(instead of heavy fert) to keep the soil productive, then this last season we had enough rain that I never was forced to water at all, and a good full yard of grass will out compete most weeds if you keep it mowed(before it looks bad! and "needs it" as that is too late) ....yes, the key is healthy soil, and nothing is easier to grow and maintain keeping the soil alive than grass!
Thank you for the fantastic explanation on exudates. And the rhizosphere....the hidden world we have had no idea about.....such an AHA moment....and it makes so much sense...natures intelligence...cycling and recycling....just beautiful....
Dr. Ingham 1st introduced me to the importance of living roots in the soil 12 months out of the year. Several years ago started thyme and oregano in my garden beds now have added things like yarrow, sage and bee balm. Trying to figure out a living mulch for onion, carrots, garlic and potatoes in my zone 5a garden, right now just cover cropping.
I planted potatoes where i put rye down as cover crop. I took shovel and tilled where i planted the potatoes. I kept the rye mowed/cut around the potatoes. And started them under a row cover in April. I harvested potatoes directly under the roots of the rye. The soil was poor too. As was a new garden.
@@mddoit interesting! Planted a mix cover crop of hairy vetch, daikon radish and buckwheat where I harvested my potatoes. Have an additional problem here with Asian jumping worms, the JW's remove all the soil aggregates creating a soil that can not hold onto moisture. Think I will give the rye a shot in the spring. Stay Well!!!
@@jennobrien3590 I had planted red clover the pervious fall, but I terminated it before planting the tomatoes. I have some beans and cucumbers going in my onion bed, think I will throw some clover seeds in there today. Thanks for the advice. Stay Well!!!
This has been the most interesting video I have seen in a long time. I most of it is true. It makes sense by how you explain it. However I don’t understand putting or knowing weeds around your plants. Don’t they steal all the water that plants need. Most average gardeners don’t have irrigation in their gardens. Help me balance this factor of weeds stealing water because I have never noticed that plants surrounded by weeds are healthier and bigger.
Great advice! So many people bring home a new plant and immediately repot it. Much better to wait!! One thing to think about when repotting is for when the roots are circled at the bottom. Before putting in the new pot, doing a little gentle work to pull the roots out of circling can be helpful.
Well this was great and i have recently acquired land that was allowed to grow ‘weeds’ all summer… my neighbor suggested I get goats to take care of it.. and that’s a good idea… but I knew to leave the roots in. And I’ve started to chop some and am utilizing the plant material.
If you can, avoid the goats for awhile. My understanding is that roots are largely associated with the above ground bits. When the above ground bits go, the plants tend to slough off the associated roots. The deeper the roots are allowed to grow, the better the more water infiltration, the more soil microbes, the faster the soil growth. We did massive earthworks and scraped away a lot of our top soil when we bought our property. 4 years (of largely leaving the land to heal itself) later and we've got at least 6 inches of top soil from the combination of our practices (leave it all alone except where we're specifically gardening) and our ideal climate.
You have changed my mind after this video. I have been focusing on making compost for my small garden, now I should concentrate on planting. The only problem is now enough lights since my vines , like beans and squash completely covered the tops of my beds. I will try low lights required plants Thank you very much
My compost bays are packed solid with bacteria & fungi. Every year, I give my soil a 2.5-3cm surface dressing of that compost. My soil supports exactly the amount of bacteria & fungi which can be supported by the food available (decomposed organic matter). In seven years of working this plot, the first three needed additional fertiliser & the next three saw me reduce this but the harvest increased. This year, I added no fertiliser, yet still have an abundance of vegetables, so I guess I've reached the point where sufficient nutrients are now becoming accessible from all this compost. I also do all I can to _always_ have something growing in my beds by successional planting - even my asparagus bed hosts lettuce & spinach over winter (I'm zone 8/9 so mild winters).
@@sistergoldenhair2231 Just don't dig deep for planting the seedlings. I had asparagus spears coming through in between Grenoble Red lettuce & Medania spinach last spring, with no apparent detriment to either.
What form of fertilizer did you apply? Do you think there aren now sufficint nutrients in the compost you have applied or is it that perhaps there are now sufficient fungi and bacteria to mine the nutrients from the insoluble particles in the soil.
@@markharris5544 I was using Growmore, a 10:10:10 artificial fertiliser but switched to blood, fish & bonemeal in 2020. I think there's now sufficient organic material for the soil organisms to break down allowing plant roots to access what they need, plus the soil structure is _much_ better. I'm sure 'no dig/no till' has played a part on the latter.
Creek Willow, has a growth hormone in it that expands root systems exponentially. I soak cuttings for a couple of days and spray it all over my plants and their roots. Makes the root system massive! Adding phosphorus from ash helps even more.
This is such a great video!! Thank you very much. I have been somewhat chaotic in my gardening style , but I have always intuitively inter-planted and left the roots in when I harvest. Now I just need to find a good source of minerals that I can add! 🙏
As someone who did brewing, follow me on this a moment. Brewing is about making the best environment for yeast. If the yeast starts with everything it needs and the colony is coaxed to be strong, one set if flavors us created. If it is left to fend for itself, another set is created. So the talk of microbe tending us fascinating. I was wondering if something like nutritional yeast has been used? Its just dead yeast that is ysed to feed a new or existing colony. Sounds like it could be used to bump some microbe food dource
Im using tons of woodchips, mesquute, palo verde, moringa, castor bean, cucumbers, pumpkins, watetmelon, sunflowers, rye/wheat. And of course i chop and drop EVERYTHING plus compost.
I'm a believer! What might you recommend as a living ground cover for a home orchard area of 20+ trees. Chips and bark mulch works great for access, maintenence and weed control but alas, you've demonstrated the benefit of a living mulch. Suggestions?
Diversity is the key concept. Different plants have different root systems and will attract not only diverse microbes but diverse insects as well. The problem with monocropping is that if you have an orchard of just apple trees, for example, you're going to support primarily a disproportionate number of pests that feed on apple trees. And where are their natural predators? They can't survive in the environment created. With more diverse plantlife, the area supports more diverse insect life as well (and microbes 🙃). That being said, the books I've read still say to leave the fungal duff of the tree (below the canopy) relatively weed free. And to compost leaves, trimmings, etc. in place.
Yep I'm definitely a little bit of crazy,you have to be in this world these days..It's good to be able to laugh at our selves aswell.. Great video,i don't believe in using all this specialised soil.. I am learning how to make my own compost,we done some,took about 2 years & it is brilliant.. Also i took all the soil out my pots & added veg ,tea bags & oak tree leaves & that is brilliant,my courgette plant has gone mad i wish i could show you a picture..i put it in a big raised bed,its flowing over the side onto the ground & growing aling the ground now,its going mental.. They say your soil is the most important thing.. Thankyou for the great video,appreciate it ✌🏼☮✌🏼☮
My garden would look like chaos to most people, but I actually spent a lot of time and effort planning it to be how it is. I am actually crazy, but that's an unrelated matter.
Regarding living mulch, loss of water from the soil is due to transpiration by leaves of the weeds. Keep the weeds mowed and leave the roots alone. I've seen planted seeds germinate next to a weed seedling, but not in bare soil.
This makes sense. When I dig up soil that has been grown with plants or weeds, that soil is better, richer, more crumbly than that patch that has laid bare.
I just turned (plowed) a smaller hay field that I haven't used in 20 years, used to grow tobacco in it, and I'm getting ready to sow winter rye for a cover crop for next years garden to get more nutrients in the soil. One small plot in another field I just did the same to sow turnip greens for the same, plus deer eat them too. I live in rural Tennessee and I'm excited to see how it comes up next year
I'd like to point out that there are some situations where both mulch and living mulch can be used simultaneously. There are trailing types of groundcover and other shade loving/tolerant low-growing plants that will sprawl on top of mulch as an understory plant to taller crops. I allowed the ground ivy to grow in between rows of corn years ago and I liked the way it worked so well I do it for as many kinds of plants as often as it will spread itself. And it will root down or shoot up through mulch if it isn't too deep. You only need 2 or 3 inches of mulch anyway so it can easily be done. I just used the ground ivy because it comes up everywhere and it's probably in most people's lawns as a ''weed'' so you don't have to bother planting it. I encourage everyone to observe what's growing already in the area where they live and study how the plants fit into their gardens, the weeds and things, some maybe native, some not. In the short term it doesn't matter that much as you can always replace it with something more native to your area when you find it.
I simply topdressed my growing areas with 1" of biochar and our bushes doubled in size in one year. Biochar is a hotel for these organisms. (And that was after a dozen years of the bushes just barely surviving and not growing.)
This was very insightful! What a great explanation! Please you could clarify a few questions: Do you recommend applying Molasses for lawn care? And which product? Do you apply it as a foliar or soil method? And under what soil temperature? Do you also apply it to cool-season grass in late fall?
I am saving this because I have a feeling I need to watch this video time and time again to mulch (pun intended) all the information out. Thank you so much for sharing this sir!
I plant in crush ground leaves an old molded gras and saved rain water with great results. My sweet potatoes grow well in this medium. I plant in the disposable brown bags. This message is very good to hear..
I’m curious as to how this is best employed for those in colder climates- given that several months are in sub freezing temperatures when nothing can grow. Thoughts? Thanks for the informative video.
I second this question. As a WI gardener, what kind of cover crop can I grow in the winter months that is not so invasive that it will make planting in the spring difficult? 🤔
Microbes are important, but don’t forget fungi. Fungi are really good at breaking down lignin. That’s why i’m also a big fan of wood chip mulch on the soil. Don’t dig them in; then you do run into the problem you mentioned with microbes working hard to break it down and using nitrogen to do do. It’s kind of a cliche that “wood chips evaporate”. That’s because those fungi are breaking them down, and a good layer of chips helps maintain the moisture that supports that action. And you can have wood chip mulch and low growing plants that grow over it.
For 5 years I've been planting sunflowers close to plants. Besides being a pollinator and food source for birds I cut them off at the base and leave the root mass. The trees or bushes branch line usually hit that the following year.
Compost everything. Nothing recently living leaves my yard. I also make 'biochar' from burn piles to add to compost piles. Some excellent info here, well done Sir, as usual. Exudates added to my vocabulary.
So what are like the top 5 perennial plants to grow as a cover crop in your garden. bonus points for plants that need low amount of water as i use a targeted irrigation system to water my vegtables meaning i dont water the whole raised bed, just sections of it.
I had great success using Biochar, mixing it with white flour, and adding mychorrizal fungi, covering it up for a few months.... The soil held moisture really well... I didn't have any predation....that was strange...But there were a lot of hornets and wasps this last year....
Thank you Robert. That video was so refreshing. I really liked your book but then I got put off by a couple of your recent videos. One was about inorganic salts not affecting microbe populations and one seemed to want to find fault with Dr Elaine’s methods. I’m not saying she preaches the “true” gospel by any means but she has started many, including myself to go down a path of gardening more compatible with Nature than our dominant conventional Ag with all its destructive practices and chemicals. Between her and Michael Philips book Mycorrhizal Planet I have evolved from Conventional Ag 12 years ago to a system very much in line with all that you described in this video including being somewhat at peach with so called “weeds” and their role in my 1 acre food forest or jungle as I like to call it. At this point I’m happy with how it is working but I’m totally open to new information as we start to learn more about the extremely complex interactions going on in our gardens that we are just starting to skim the surface of. Again, thank you for this very positive and instructive video. I actually had to force myself to watch it after my first cringe response based on the two videos I already mentioned. I’m glad I did and I’m looking forward to learning more from you in future videos. I am after all a skeptic but at least I’m an open minded skeptic. Keep up the good work. I just subscribed🤪
Plant material added regularly seems to help my garden immensely. I've also found small amounts of fresh cow manure helps put composting bacteria into the soil.
Thx u for sharing your knowledge I grow durian trees at home. I use durian fruits skins that i take from durian store + durian leaves + weeds to make jadam liquid fertilizer. The tds of that liquid fertilizer about 300-700 ppm. Since in the liquid fertilizer i grow bacteria by feeding them decomposing left over. When i spray my liquid fertilizer i spray break down of plats matetial, life bacteria and dead bacteria. This how my garden get bettet. Thx you for making me understand.
We appreciate your comprehensive coverage of gardening fundamentals. I have root knot nematodes in my raised garden beds and I bought your book so that I might find a remedy to this scourge. To my disappointment there is little info on how to rescue my 5 beds. Please offer a solution as your book simply says they exist and will decimate my garden and no remedy. PLEASE HELP! Thank you...
A great helpful video here. Thanks, Robert. I actually use weeds as a 'living mulch'. Don't get me wrong, grasses and other very invasive weeds get ripped out. Where I am, the most common weeds in our garden beds are purslane in the warmer months and chickweed in the cooler months. I just keep the top growth in check and let them go.
I grew white squash and small watermelon plants together for the first time and let the grass mix in with both crops and I have had my best crop of each up to this point ever in the hot southwestern desert where I garden. I was doing this and never heard of it before and it just seems to make great sense as my soil dries out so fast from the sun. Super cool and I will change my ways and experiment more thanks
Is there any info on what cover crops are most advantageous for specific crops that are planted after them? Is it useful to plant the right cover crop ahead of time when you know what’s going in next?
Matching the best cover crop with a crop is complicated. But any one is better than none for soil building. It makes a lot of sense to plant a cover crop before the main crop. Think of a cool climate where you have to wait to plant a warm growing crop. Might as well grow a cool cover crop while you wait.
This year as soon as I harvest my tomatoes, I'm putting in peas (a bag of dry peas from the grocery store). I interplanted a lot of parsley and will leave that in place as it's still growing.
BRAVO ! i partially knew the knowledge of exudates from famous Dr Elaine Ingram but you Robert explain it thoroughly for everyone to realize don t kill the weeds;; perhaps keep them low height ; OMG ! this changes the entire agricultural preconceptions ; BRAVO again ! WOOHOO !!!
Hi, nice info. I wouldn't put compost tea in the same bracket as molasses, if you are making good compost tea then you are adding a diverse array of beneficial microbes and not just microbe food. You also haven't talked about difference of fungi and bacteria foods. Also, you've talked about beneficial microbes but nothing about unbeneficial microbes, what promotes their condition etc.
Very interesting . I don't have a garden but you never know .I did have a big container garden , it did good but I had to get let it go . Realized I didn't know anything . Like soil and watering and fertilizer . So I am listening to you now . Thankyou .
It's rare a video can grab my attention long enough to NOT use the 10 sec skip button. I watched all of this clip and then tapped the thumbs up button to feed the algorithm monsters.
Great video. I'm in Thailand, and I'm starting to make a durian farm, how should I plant the perennial plants and what kind of perennial plants should I plant. I see many perennial plants have flowers, I think that would look very beautiful. Thank you for a great video.❤
Thanks , started trying this in a spot nothing grew there this year . No tilling threw out ceral rye then went in and covered it with compost from this summer . Started wednesday last week and had rain everyday since (5 days) ending today . Have no why to water it but rian so we'll see . Good about cover crop with ceral rye is that I can keep putting more out.
I often find worms around new roots, it would make sense that worms use the same bacteria in their digestive system. I've also talked with gardeners that use the contents of their composting toilet directly into the garden without a "stand down" composting period of a few years.
As far as science is able to show at the moment, the only human-concerning pathogen that can transfer internally along the vascular system of plants is e-coli, and only in spinach. So even the science says as long as the parts that you're eating aren't in contact with what you've excreted recently it's all going to be fine (and you'll grow great crops). I'm in the process now of designing a waste distribution system along our terraces where it will be applied to wood chips through an underground pipe network on one terrace for a year, and then we'll give that terrace a stand down period for a-whole-nother year, just to be super safe. I think it's actually about 6 weeks outside the human body that the last of the pathogens can survive - definitely not more than 6 months.
I grew a cannabis plant in a very wet land which could be considered a marsh I guess. I've never seen a more healthy plant. Besides the rot spots and the millions of bugs stuck to it anyway. I will be going back there to get some of that soil to make compost out of. The plant was completely ready, with dense flower clusters, Huge terpene profile, very strong, and still completely green like it was in veg. I have never seen this before. I didn't smoke it because of the bugs but after I harvested it my car smelled like a grow room for a week.
As a farmer....I agreed with 98% of this information. The only thing missing from the gardening/ farming community.....we love our compost....and we are learning to add or learn about cover crops.Thats all great keep doing it. The only thing missing is remineralization. Just because you add the bacteria and the biomass that it eats( compost)....if there are very little minerals ( at least the 8-20 we know are needed for plant growth) your plants will be lacking in health....and so will you. If the bacteria is there but the mineral isn't there for it to chelate and turn into a bioavaiable form...then it's just not there.
So when you are building your compost piles try and use things that don't just add the NPK back but the other crucial minerals that are taken up by the plant....and usually not returned back at the rate they are taken out.
Things like leaves, spent alfalfa hay, egg shell dust, peels and rinds, wood ash, manure, rock dust, Quarry dust, Seaweed. Comfrey, Clippings from Prarie land with a mix of weeds and grasses that accumulate minerals all will make great compost but also have the minerals needed to give you nutrient dense crop...making nutrient dense humans. Then you didn't have to buy fertilizer.....you have the microbes in the compost....but you amended with certain items in your pile that add back the minerals. That leaves and grass clippings and a few buckets of food scraps just don't provide.
The minerals should be in the sand, silt, clay but maybe some are not in your soil in your area....and if you've been farming the same plot of land for 10-20+ years.....you better be concerned about remineralization. You can actually have healthy looking plants, eat fresh from your garden and still have nutrient deficiencies.
Mineral rich Compost
Cover crops
Mulches
Worm castings
Is all you really need to build a mineral rich food forrest.
Have you read Nigel Palmer's book on Regernerative Gardening?
And the absolute BEST source for remineralization informations is Steve Solomon's book... The Intelligent Gardener.
Excellent info! Next, we need a video from YOU😂❤!!
I also follow Steve Solomon. The main minerals that determine soil tilth are calcium and magnesium. Steve tells the story of how he was unhealthy despite the soil being rich in hummus. His health improved when he moved to a place with volcanic soil. That's how he discovered the importance of minerals.
Trace minerals matter!
I love how this just keeps getting easier. You want "living" soil, put a plant in there. You want it to be more "living", put more plants in there.
It also lets us buy more plants :)
Actual life hacks
@Gardenfundamentals1 would molasses increase necromancer? So the sudden burst of micros gives a short term boost, followed by a longer term necromass boost afterward?
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I agree. Im new to this channel and to gary. And watching this channel im finding things easier- not mote complicated. I came away from this clear-minded and not confused. Bea. Im going to do this. And see what gappy, And if i can leave the weeds, all the better.
I grew winter rye in a 4’x4’ raised bed I use for potatoes. Last spring I just cut it down to the ground. I did not till it in, I just laid the seed potatoes in it and covered with a bit of soil and leaf mulch. I had the best potato harvest ever from that bed.
I've heard the butter/margarine argument for and against tilling soil. The For being that you want to get the good plant matter into the lower layers of dirt. The Against argument being that it destroys mycelial nutrient highways.
@@TheQwuilleran mycelium is an incredibly robust organism. When you break it up it just grows back stronger from all the broken pieces. It's not destroyed by physical disturbance (tilling), just temporarily slowed while it rebuilds. How well it bounces back depends on the nutrition available in the growing medium.
@@roflpillbingo!
You method of teaching and the tone of your voice is so comforting. No background noise. Thank you for the time you invest in educating your rollers.
I so agree. Tired of people yelling at me, thinking that their faux enthusiasm is a replacement for content.
where i live the soil is dead - clay and rock. lots of rock. i tried for years to dig out the rocks and improve the soil. Finally I got sick of the work and started just building the soil up with animal by products and compost. instead of digging down, I just build up. I dont use raised beds in the traditional sense, but concrete blocks to make it movable and durable. I plant, harvest, then cut off at the base and leave the root system untouched and untilled.
great advice here.
I actually compose directly into my garden with great success.
@@Chris-kf3xd What exactly? Music? Sonnets?
I compost near a citrus tree and it bears plentiful of fruits and the ground in my garden is fertile. I mulch my garden with harvested leaves, twigs and all sorts of green waste too. There are endless ways to feed microbes.
Starts to get to the point around 8:48 and succeeds in getting to the point at 11:40. (For my time-constrained Brothers and Sisters😮). All-in-all, great video. Liked and Subbed!
Thanks for thinking about others Jesus said by doing two things you for fill ALL of Gods law Loving the lord god with all your heart soul mind and treating/loving others as your self anything more goes off the deep end into religion of man Theses nut jobs is who Jesus called serpents and spoke out against Loving God comes over time as you truly get to know him First thing to doing this is getting past all them lies we all have been told all our lives about God and the bible Thanks again my brother!
@@ambersmith6517 Aw Shucks. It weren’t nuthin. Still, always good to know I’m in compliance with God’s Law!
Watch at 1.5 speed as well. Thanks!
If you want to miss everything sure
Here from India, been watching your videos and I am amazed with the treasure of information you have and share it with us all for free.
Thank You.
This is why comfrey is so beneficial in the garden imo. Makes tons of free leaf mulch, doesn't bother other plants, and provides a ton of shade if you don't cut the leaves. Bees love them too!
So do DEER! 😡😡😡
I have many in my berry bed
@@paulhaynie7258It’s so high in protein and nutrients it used to a fodder plant for cattle; deer & elk love to make use of those fields too. Good thing the root pieces make it easy to plant more, a 2” pice here, and there- give it some of those deer droppings when planting and soon you’ll have more than they can feast on!.
Had to check to see if I posted this, I use comphrey bocking 14 for all the reasons plus food for chicken snacks
@TrickleCreekFarm There is no way I could out grow the rampaging deer. The ONLY thing that works is 8 ft tall barbed wire fencing around everything.
One of the very few videos I’ve seen on RUclips that understands how microbes work. Once you understand this gardening becomes much easier.
OMG . . .
My Gardening just entered a new dimension,
all with Joy, Grace, and Ease.
I am so grateful.
A new way to look at weeds. They're actually helping. Until I find something native to put in their place, I'm going to leave them alone, and thank them for building my soil. I feel better for having watched this video. Besides I'm lazy. :-)
That sounds like a good strategy to me. :)
I read a book about doing exactly this. I've been embracing weeds ever since and it really has improved my soil. I've even purchased clover and dandelion seeds and planted them in my yard. I prefer them to some of the other weeds that were growing. I'm hoping to replace the spikey weeds so I can enjoy walking barefoot in my yard. That's my rule about weeds, if it hurts my feet, I pull it out.
Cover the areas with edible covercropping.
Dandelions pull calcium up from deeper.
That's what I did for my first garden. Not much grows in the desert, but I have noticed that there are spots in my backyard where the weeds grow vigorously. I chopped and dropped the weeds and planted a few crops in their place and have beautiful plants that have not needed any additional fertilizer or soil remediation.
I work for a company that sells sea minerals which are the natural trace minerals that has been leeched from the soil. They take 100 gallons of sea water from the Great Barrier Reef and bring it down to 1 gallon of pure minerals (minus the salt). The results are amazing, and the Amish absolutely love it. It totally recreates bad soil back to its intended state. Even the animals that eat the grass from this soil do better.
Name of your product/company, please
Please give your product name
CAN you tell us the name of that product , and the company , please ?
I don't trust posts like this.
But there is enough information you can probably do an internet search and find it if you are really interested.
What an absolute treasure! Thank you so much for teaching so well. I love how you debunk so many common gardening myths. Where I really started trusting your knowledge was when you talked about the myth of powdery mildew being caused by damp leaves. After watching your video on that, I did my own research and confirmed that you are right. Since then, I go to you for the scoop. God bless you Robert.
You are so welcome!
@@Gardenfundamentals1 a link to the powdery mildew video would be most welcome
Jeez that's such a confusing topic. I read that dryness actually causes it but 99% of gardening websites still operate under the assumption of it being too moist. I'll have to watch that video and hopefully find some actual science before trying to educate people 😅
21:19 @@Gardenfundamentals1 I just subscribed. You turned off the option to leave my own comment.
Man it just seems so obvious given that rainforests have such a plethora of fauna that grows and dies and how healthy it all is.
This is awesome since I just love growing and admiring plants.
Finally a gardener that talks some sense!!
The findings here seem to be fully compatible with the concept of food forests where plants are observed to grow faster despite planted much more densely
Where am I with my single flowerbed? :)
I didn't expect it's so complicated! It's like a healthy body, you don't wanna know where your heart, lever, or kidneys are. But when there are problems, you learn!
Great presentation and great comments here! Thank you!
Best gardening tutorial I have watched. Thank you so much Robert. You’ve saved me so much work, time and money. Can’t wait for rain to stop and put your advice into practice 🇦🇺
Hear, hear 👏👏👏👏
Got galoshes? ❤🎉
I am doing a good job of having plants always growing everywhere in my garden. I do this because I am so lazy. Quack grass and tangle weed is always growing everywhere in my garden and they sure have a lot of roots.
This guy is a great teacher! I think adding perennials to my property is going to be step one!
This is a great concept - plant plant plant --something I never thought about .. thanks ..
Anne of all trades has a good homesteading channel and bases everything with her soil after how the forest works her garden is amazing
Nobody cares about her. This is ROBERTS channel. Now put some SPECT on his name!
I have noticed the phenomenon of having lots of cover crops to help improve your main crop!
I discovered Garden Fundamentals this year, and instantly knew that this series was the best tutor available to me. Many thanks. Please post lots advice on cover crops? I'm you will, I am merely anxious to learn.
Great information, thank you very much. I'm a small farmer and try to learn to grow food occasionally for my family. I wish you the best
I love how you over-complicate the problem then simplify the solution.
Complex problem, just makes sure plants are growing all the time in all the soil.
I am so glad I went the regenerative route when creating my food forest. My mistake was not planting more support plant species and with these new soil science, I am trying to accelerate planting those support plants. Thanks for the video.
Thank you so much 🙏 this information is gold. I have a balcony garden and issues with soil are much more obvious when you have containers. I tested everything you said and I agree 100%. All the compost tea and stuff like that only works for a moment but then it's all about the food that microbes get. I always add fermented foods and alfalfa pellets to my soil, and also use those pellets as a mulch. and my plants feel amazing, soil is fluffy and rich. Thank you for information about healthy soil
Kinda like the No-Till approach to gardening. Leaving the roots behind to decompose in the soil naturally.
And not disturbing the fungal systems.
Exactly. This totally reinforces the no till method.
I moved to a piece of land that's now used as a semipermanent campground, where the landowner scoffed at me for not building raised beds and instead just doing a few no-till beds where I just mixed a bunch of compost and biochar with the soil (actually closer to dirt at that point) I dug out of my pathways, and have not taken a shovel to since and only layered amendments on top. What was once rocky red clay with zero vegetation is, after three years, a thriving, loamy garden with, yes, several weeds, but also many native wildflowers and grasses, all of which return to the soil as mulch at some point, their roots intact and pushing into the layer below where I started. The only roots that get removed are the ones I eat 😊
I use much of this knowledge from these videos for my grass lawns ....a lot of people think a nice cut green yard is bad; maybe because of chemicals like weed killers and fertilizers plus over use of water, but actually very little of those things need to happen in my high performance grass lawn spaces - what matters the most is growing the right type of grass in the right areas - once that is happening, healthy, and mowed often enough that you only cut off less than a third of the grass blade; not much more than mulching in the clippings is needed(instead of heavy fert) to keep the soil productive, then this last season we had enough rain that I never was forced to water at all, and a good full yard of grass will out compete most weeds if you keep it mowed(before it looks bad! and "needs it" as that is too late) ....yes, the key is healthy soil, and nothing is easier to grow and maintain keeping the soil alive than grass!
Thank you for the fantastic explanation on exudates. And the rhizosphere....the hidden world we have had no idea about.....such an AHA moment....and it makes so much sense...natures intelligence...cycling and recycling....just beautiful....
Such great information in this video. Thanks so much for your time and knowledge in sharing this video. 🙏🏼
Oh my goodness! Thanks so much for this one Robert! This may be one of the best gardening vids I have ever seen!
Dr. Ingham 1st introduced me to the importance of living roots in the soil 12 months out of the year. Several years ago started thyme and oregano in my garden beds now have added things like yarrow, sage and bee balm.
Trying to figure out a living mulch for onion, carrots, garlic and potatoes in my zone 5a garden, right now just cover cropping.
Red cover
I planted potatoes where i put rye down as cover crop. I took shovel and tilled where i planted the potatoes. I kept the rye mowed/cut around the potatoes. And started them under a row cover in April. I harvested potatoes directly under the roots of the rye. The soil was poor too. As was a new garden.
@@mddoit interesting!
Planted a mix cover crop of hairy vetch, daikon radish and buckwheat where I harvested my potatoes. Have an additional problem here with Asian jumping worms, the JW's remove all the soil aggregates creating a soil that can not hold onto moisture. Think I will give the rye a shot in the spring.
Stay Well!!!
@@jennobrien3590 I had planted red clover the pervious fall, but I terminated it before planting the tomatoes. I have some beans and cucumbers going in my onion bed, think I will throw some clover seeds in there today. Thanks for the advice. Stay Well!!!
@@jennobrien3590 Red Clover ?
This has been the most interesting video I have seen in a long time. I most of it is true. It makes sense by how you explain it. However I don’t understand putting or knowing weeds around your plants. Don’t they steal all the water that plants need. Most average gardeners don’t have irrigation in their gardens. Help me balance this factor of weeds stealing water because I have never noticed that plants surrounded by weeds are healthier and bigger.
Great advice! So many people bring home a new plant and immediately repot it. Much better to wait!! One thing to think about when repotting is for when the roots are circled at the bottom. Before putting in the new pot, doing a little gentle work to pull the roots out of circling can be helpful.
If I have a pot bound plant I usually slice off the bottom half of the root ball before planting or re-potting. Works best for me
It doesn't harm the plant?
@@jonnyappleseed190 Not so far, they'll grow more new roots bedding themselves into their new garden spot
Great info, I've been using some of these ideas in my Garden! I've done several videos of what I've been adding to my soil
Well this was great and i have recently acquired land that was allowed to grow ‘weeds’ all summer… my neighbor suggested I get goats to take care of it.. and that’s a good idea… but I knew to leave the roots in. And I’ve started to chop some and am utilizing the plant material.
If you can, avoid the goats for awhile. My understanding is that roots are largely associated with the above ground bits. When the above ground bits go, the plants tend to slough off the associated roots. The deeper the roots are allowed to grow, the better the more water infiltration, the more soil microbes, the faster the soil growth. We did massive earthworks and scraped away a lot of our top soil when we bought our property. 4 years (of largely leaving the land to heal itself) later and we've got at least 6 inches of top soil from the combination of our practices (leave it all alone except where we're specifically gardening) and our ideal climate.
All I do is use well rotted compose.My garden is great every year.
Brilliantly explained
Thanks for the tips mate! Will definitely work on improving the soil in my yard!
You have changed my mind after this video. I have been focusing on making compost for my small garden, now I should concentrate on planting. The only problem is now enough lights since my vines , like beans and squash completely covered the tops of my beds. I will try low lights required plants
Thank you very much
I just learned that human consumerism continues even into packaging and selling microbes. Stunning..thanks for the video,
My compost bays are packed solid with bacteria & fungi.
Every year, I give my soil a 2.5-3cm surface dressing of that compost.
My soil supports exactly the amount of bacteria & fungi which can be supported by the food available (decomposed organic matter).
In seven years of working this plot, the first three needed additional fertiliser & the next three saw me reduce this but the harvest increased.
This year, I added no fertiliser, yet still have an abundance of vegetables, so I guess I've reached the point where sufficient nutrients are now becoming accessible from all this compost.
I also do all I can to _always_ have something growing in my beds by successional planting - even my asparagus bed hosts lettuce & spinach over winter (I'm zone 8/9 so mild winters).
Good to know about asparagus. Zone 9 here👍
@@sistergoldenhair2231 Just don't dig deep for planting the seedlings.
I had asparagus spears coming through in between Grenoble Red lettuce & Medania spinach last spring, with no apparent detriment to either.
What form of fertilizer did you apply? Do you think there aren now sufficint nutrients in the compost you have applied or is it that perhaps there are now sufficient fungi and bacteria to mine the nutrients from the insoluble particles in the soil.
@@markharris5544 I was using Growmore, a 10:10:10 artificial fertiliser but switched to blood, fish & bonemeal in 2020.
I think there's now sufficient organic material for the soil organisms to break down allowing plant roots to access what they need, plus the soil structure is _much_ better. I'm sure 'no dig/no till' has played a part on the latter.
@@markharris5544 worm compost
Creek Willow, has a growth hormone in it that expands root systems exponentially. I soak cuttings for a couple of days and spray it all over my plants and their roots. Makes the root system massive! Adding phosphorus from ash helps even more.
Yes for sure! Growing things - any thing can help that soil.
This is such a great video!! Thank you very much.
I have been somewhat chaotic in my gardening style , but I have always intuitively inter-planted and left the roots in when I harvest.
Now I just need to find a good source of minerals that I can add! 🙏
As someone who did brewing, follow me on this a moment. Brewing is about making the best environment for yeast. If the yeast starts with everything it needs and the colony is coaxed to be strong, one set if flavors us created. If it is left to fend for itself, another set is created. So the talk of microbe tending us fascinating.
I was wondering if something like nutritional yeast has been used? Its just dead yeast that is ysed to feed a new or existing colony. Sounds like it could be used to bump some microbe food dource
Im using tons of woodchips, mesquute, palo verde, moringa, castor bean, cucumbers, pumpkins, watetmelon, sunflowers, rye/wheat. And of course i chop and drop EVERYTHING plus compost.
I'm a believer! What might you recommend as a living ground cover for a home orchard area of 20+ trees. Chips and bark mulch works great for access, maintenence and weed control but alas, you've demonstrated the benefit of a living mulch. Suggestions?
Diversity is the key concept. Different plants have different root systems and will attract not only diverse microbes but diverse insects as well. The problem with monocropping is that if you have an orchard of just apple trees, for example, you're going to support primarily a disproportionate number of pests that feed on apple trees. And where are their natural predators? They can't survive in the environment created. With more diverse plantlife, the area supports more diverse insect life as well (and microbes 🙃).
That being said, the books I've read still say to leave the fungal duff of the tree (below the canopy) relatively weed free. And to compost leaves, trimmings, etc. in place.
All the crazy people with overgrown yards, and chaos gardens will rejoice after watching this video.
That's me!🤣
Yep I'm definitely a little bit of crazy,you have to be in this world these days..It's good to be able to laugh at our selves aswell..
Great video,i don't believe in using all this specialised soil..
I am learning how to make my own compost,we done some,took about 2 years & it is brilliant..
Also i took all the soil out my pots & added veg ,tea bags & oak tree leaves & that is brilliant,my courgette plant has gone mad i wish i could show you a picture..i put it in a big raised bed,its flowing over the side onto the ground & growing aling the ground now,its going mental..
They say your soil is the most important thing..
Thankyou for the great video,appreciate it ✌🏼☮✌🏼☮
Now, can somebody please get my HOA to watch it?😅
My garden would look like chaos to most people, but I actually spent a lot of time and effort planning it to be how it is. I am actually crazy, but that's an unrelated matter.
Are they crazy or those people who want a "clean" garden?
Regarding living mulch, loss of water from the soil is due to transpiration by leaves of the weeds. Keep the weeds mowed and leave the roots alone. I've seen planted seeds germinate next to a weed seedling, but not in bare soil.
This makes sense. When I dig up soil that has been grown with plants or weeds, that soil is better, richer, more crumbly than that patch that has laid bare.
Exactly.
Wha? You have naked yard ? You got to throw some seeds out there🛒
I just turned (plowed) a smaller hay field that I haven't used in 20 years, used to grow tobacco in it, and I'm getting ready to sow winter rye for a cover crop for next years garden to get more nutrients in the soil. One small plot in another field I just did the same to sow turnip greens for the same, plus deer eat them too. I live in rural Tennessee and I'm excited to see how it comes up next year
“Just like nature.” My best gardening mentor would say this all the time. I finally get it.
Fantastic video. Straightforward. Clear. Science based. Thank you so much.
Liked and subscribed!
Thankyou this was very informative, I've made notes and will change my practises.
A very well thought out and put together video, thankyou.
I'd like to point out that there are some situations where both mulch and living mulch can be used simultaneously. There are trailing types of groundcover and other shade loving/tolerant low-growing plants that will sprawl on top of mulch as an understory plant to taller crops. I allowed the ground ivy to grow in between rows of corn years ago and I liked the way it worked so well I do it for as many kinds of plants as often as it will spread itself. And it will root down or shoot up through mulch if it isn't too deep. You only need 2 or 3 inches of mulch anyway so it can easily be done. I just used the ground ivy because it comes up everywhere and it's probably in most people's lawns as a ''weed'' so you don't have to bother planting it. I encourage everyone to observe what's growing already in the area where they live and study how the plants fit into their gardens, the weeds and things, some maybe native, some not. In the short term it doesn't matter that much as you can always replace it with something more native to your area when you find it.
I simply topdressed my growing areas with 1" of biochar and our bushes doubled in size in one year. Biochar is a hotel for these organisms. (And that was after a dozen years of the bushes just barely surviving and not growing.)
This was very insightful! What a great explanation! Please you could clarify a few questions: Do you recommend applying Molasses for lawn care? And which product? Do you apply it as a foliar or soil method? And under what soil temperature? Do you also apply it to cool-season grass in late fall?
I am saving this because I have a feeling I need to watch this video time and time again to mulch (pun intended) all the information out. Thank you so much for sharing this sir!
I plant in crush ground leaves an old molded gras and saved rain water with great results.
My sweet potatoes grow well in this medium.
I plant in the disposable brown bags.
This message is very good to hear..
Very interesting information, thank you. What can we do for the soil in the winter when we have freezing temperatures all winter?
I’m curious as to how this is best employed for those in colder climates- given that several months are in sub freezing temperatures when nothing can grow. Thoughts? Thanks for the informative video.
I second this question. As a WI gardener, what kind of cover crop can I grow in the winter months that is not so invasive that it will make planting in the spring difficult? 🤔
Microbes are important, but don’t forget fungi. Fungi are really good at breaking down lignin. That’s why i’m also a big fan of wood chip mulch on the soil. Don’t dig them in; then you do run into the problem you mentioned with microbes working hard to break it down and using nitrogen to do do. It’s kind of a cliche that “wood chips evaporate”. That’s because those fungi are breaking them down, and a good layer of chips helps maintain the moisture that supports that action.
And you can have wood chip mulch and low growing plants that grow over it.
For 5 years I've been planting sunflowers close to plants. Besides being a pollinator and food source for birds I cut them off at the base and leave the root mass. The trees or bushes branch line usually hit that the following year.
Compost everything. Nothing recently living leaves my yard. I also make 'biochar' from burn piles to add to compost piles.
Some excellent info here, well done Sir, as usual. Exudates added to my vocabulary.
What are the best cover crops to interplant between vegetables?
Congrats! I learnt something new today.
I miss this feeling, thak you!
So what are like the top 5 perennial plants to grow as a cover crop in your garden. bonus points for plants that need low amount of water as i use a targeted irrigation system to water my vegtables meaning i dont water the whole raised bed, just sections of it.
I had great success using Biochar, mixing it with white flour, and adding mychorrizal fungi, covering it up for a few months.... The soil held moisture really well... I didn't have any predation....that was strange...But there were a lot of hornets and wasps this last year....
Excellent article. Many thanks.
I have noticed already that the soil is better where plants are groing in comparation to mulched spaces
Thank you Robert. That video was so refreshing. I really liked your book but then I got put off by a couple of your recent videos. One was about inorganic salts not affecting microbe populations and one seemed to want to find fault with Dr Elaine’s methods. I’m not saying she preaches the “true” gospel by any means but she has started many, including myself to go down a path of gardening more compatible with Nature than our dominant conventional Ag with all its destructive practices and chemicals. Between her and Michael Philips book Mycorrhizal Planet I have evolved from Conventional Ag 12 years ago to a system very much in line with all that you described in this video including being somewhat at peach with so called “weeds” and their role in my 1 acre food forest or jungle as I like to call it. At this point I’m happy with how it is working but I’m totally open to new information as we start to learn more about the extremely complex interactions going on in our gardens that we are just starting to skim the surface of. Again, thank you for this very positive and instructive video. I actually had to force myself to watch it after my first cringe response based on the two videos I already mentioned. I’m glad I did and I’m looking forward to learning more from you in future videos. I am after all a skeptic but at least I’m an open minded skeptic. Keep up the good work. I just subscribed🤪
Plant material added regularly seems to help my garden immensely. I've also found small amounts of fresh cow manure helps put composting bacteria into the soil.
Thank you very much for those very interesting knowledge.
I always felt that nature doesn't like bare soil. But now I know why.
Thx u for sharing your knowledge
I grow durian trees at home.
I use durian fruits skins that i take from durian store + durian leaves + weeds to make jadam liquid fertilizer. The tds of that liquid fertilizer about 300-700 ppm. Since in the liquid fertilizer i grow bacteria by feeding them decomposing left over.
When i spray my liquid fertilizer i spray break down of plats matetial, life bacteria and dead bacteria. This how my garden get bettet.
Thx you for making me understand.
Thanks for the really clear presentation and for your focus on the most important and rewarding methods of growing your soil.
We appreciate your comprehensive coverage of gardening fundamentals. I have root knot nematodes in my raised garden beds and I bought your book so that I might find a remedy to this scourge. To my disappointment there is little info on how to rescue my 5 beds. Please offer a solution as your book simply says they exist and will decimate my garden and no remedy. PLEASE HELP! Thank you...
Look up planting French marigolds. For example Guardian Marigolds.
Do you have a good 'recipe' for sustainable pot soil? For gardening on some balcony within pots.
Thanks for your content
A great helpful video here. Thanks, Robert. I actually use weeds as a 'living mulch'.
Don't get me wrong, grasses and other very invasive weeds get ripped out.
Where I am, the most common weeds in our garden beds are purslane in the warmer months and chickweed in the cooler months.
I just keep the top growth in check and let them go.
How does addition of "regular" NPK affect the life cycle of the soil micro biology ?? Does "organic" fertilizer have the same effect ??
I grew white squash and small watermelon plants together for the first time and let the grass mix in with both crops and I have had my best crop of each up to this point ever in the hot southwestern desert where I garden. I was doing this and never heard of it before and it just seems to make great sense as my soil dries out so fast from the sun. Super cool and I will change my ways and experiment more thanks
Is there any info on what cover crops are most advantageous for specific crops that are planted after them? Is it useful to plant the right cover crop ahead of time when you know what’s going in next?
Matching the best cover crop with a crop is complicated. But any one is better than none for soil building.
It makes a lot of sense to plant a cover crop before the main crop. Think of a cool climate where you have to wait to plant a warm growing crop. Might as well grow a cool cover crop while you wait.
This year as soon as I harvest my tomatoes, I'm putting in peas (a bag of dry peas from the grocery store). I interplanted a lot of parsley and will leave that in place as it's still growing.
BRAVO ! i partially knew the knowledge of exudates from famous Dr Elaine Ingram but you Robert explain it thoroughly for everyone to realize don t kill the weeds;; perhaps keep them low height ; OMG ! this changes the entire agricultural preconceptions ; BRAVO again ! WOOHOO !!!
Hi, nice info.
I wouldn't put compost tea in the same bracket as molasses, if you are making good compost tea then you are adding a diverse array of beneficial microbes and not just microbe food. You also haven't talked about difference of fungi and bacteria foods.
Also, you've talked about beneficial microbes but nothing about unbeneficial microbes, what promotes their condition etc.
Very interesting . I don't have a garden but you never know .I did have a big container garden , it did good but I had to get let it go . Realized I didn't know anything . Like soil and watering and fertilizer . So I am listening to you now .
Thankyou .
Great video. Thank you so much !!
Liked and subscribed!
It's rare a video can grab my attention long enough to NOT use the 10 sec skip button. I watched all of this clip and then tapped the thumbs up button to feed the algorithm monsters.
Thank you. I really appreciate your extensive knowledge, and making videos for an average person like me to understand.
Thank you much for these no nonsense information to help us best care for the soil to maximize production
Great video. I'm in Thailand, and I'm starting to make a durian farm, how should I plant the perennial plants and what kind of perennial plants should I plant. I see many perennial plants have flowers, I think that would look very beautiful. Thank you for a great video.❤
Thank for the summary of scientific research during this presentation.
greetings! question: there is a home made method for propagation of mycorrhizae?
Thanks , started trying this in a spot nothing grew there this year . No tilling threw out ceral rye then went in and covered it with compost from this summer . Started wednesday last week and had rain everyday since (5 days) ending today . Have no why to water it but rian so we'll see . Good about cover crop with ceral rye is that I can keep putting more out.
Thanks for the in depth lesson on More consistent Yield brother , Love , Peace , and Prosperity❤
Thanks for geeat video. Always more to learn. My small foodforest is full of biodiversity and very healthy. Even happy ❤❤❤
I often find worms around new roots, it would make sense that worms use the same bacteria in their digestive system.
I've also talked with gardeners that use the contents of their composting toilet directly into the garden without a "stand down" composting period of a few years.
Yes, I have a sawdust toilet and I add it straight to my ornamental gardens and trees and they do well!
As far as science is able to show at the moment, the only human-concerning pathogen that can transfer internally along the vascular system of plants is e-coli, and only in spinach. So even the science says as long as the parts that you're eating aren't in contact with what you've excreted recently it's all going to be fine (and you'll grow great crops).
I'm in the process now of designing a waste distribution system along our terraces where it will be applied to wood chips through an underground pipe network on one terrace for a year, and then we'll give that terrace a stand down period for a-whole-nother year, just to be super safe. I think it's actually about 6 weeks outside the human body that the last of the pathogens can survive - definitely not more than 6 months.
I grew a cannabis plant in a very wet land which could be considered a marsh I guess. I've never seen a more healthy plant. Besides the rot spots and the millions of bugs stuck to it anyway. I will be going back there to get some of that soil to make compost out of.
The plant was completely ready, with dense flower clusters, Huge terpene profile, very strong, and still completely green like it was in veg. I have never seen this before. I didn't smoke it because of the bugs but after I harvested it my car smelled like a grow room for a week.