I was born in 74 and I was the 74th like WHOO HOOOO! Do you know what else is in those bags of mulch, compost, etc that sits in the weather? Legionella bacteria, the microscopic demons that almost killed me! That is not how I got it because I only deal with fresh stuff with tons of good microorganisms and is not stagnant. I have noticed something else with this method. In the fall of 2018, I put down the first 12 inches of wood chips by the fall of 2022 it was about 8 inches deep. I got more chips and put down 6" of chips on top of that. It has already dropped to about 10". What have I learned from this? I learned that the more microorganisms you have, the more worms you have, and the more rollie pollies you have the more you need either a good back, youngsters, or either a lawn tractor or regular tractor with a bucket because you will need more chips to keep up! OH and Creeping Charlie may be helping in some way as well as it loves my woodchips and I can't get rid of it!
Thank you for adding your experience to the discussion. I feel the value of your comment is worthy of pinning to the top of this page. Ill see what I can put together on the Creeping Charlie too! Stay tuned..
@@CreedmoorFuryyea I agree with you it made no since to me either! It makes no difference composting chipps you made that day or apple peels once it starts decomposing that legionella bacteria going to be there its every where so unless your specificly incolating with a different bacteria to out compete it
Thanks for the great video. I used to buy the horrible soils from big box stores and never had luck. So I decided to make my own soils by composting what I had already laying around the property. I filled the empty raised beds with a mixture of oak leaves and rabbit manure and decomposed cow manure. I saved all my egg shells and banana peels and ground them up into powder and added them to the mix. We stopped a tree trimmer truck doing work in our neighborhood and asked for his chips. He unloaded a huge pile of wood chips for us to use in the garden. After letting nature compost this mix over fall and winter , the next years garden was amazing. It truly looked like a garden of Eden . This year I plan to make a Terra Preta garden and see how it goes.
@@rottenrobbie66screw tube really doesn't want to bring jb up. This guy showed up however. ruclips.net/video/Omh2pLAXD5A/видео.htmlsi=wgZnzYc0bs4IdLw2
THANK YOU for this valuable information. My husband and I just moved into a house with Zoysia grass. I have been saving all our move in boxes to cover the grass for a garden. After watching your video, I will let my husband take them to the recycling station. He will be so happy. Thank you again and God Bless.
In the piedmont of NC, get yourself a leave mulcher. Mulch the leaves. Put in a pile. After a few years, move it into the clay. break the clay, with organic material. A neighbor was able to grow tomotos's by just taking handful of oak leaves and work them into the soil, and didnt even compost them, right into the garden.
Great video my friend. You have set a great example for all who wish to make the move beyond organic and learn to create a garden that will not only provide them with nutritious food but also heal and regenerate the damaged soil. Keep on keeping on.
Thank you for those kind words! You mean the world to me too, brother. So much kind guidance never goes out of style😁. You've been a wonderful beacon for us all as well over the years. Couldn't have done it without you..😉
Thank you so much. I’ve struggled with my garden areas but this info has really motivated me to keep the chips coming to solve my soil issues! Excellent-thank you so much❤
I tried to subscribe , but , RUclips says I have too many subscriptions !!!! Keep making gardening videos and I'll keep watching !!!! Thank you very much !!!! I'm interested in wood chips and their benefits !!!!
I started with about 20 loads of woodchips and was shocked at how fast they broke down. I guess the soil was just really hungry. Trying to get more now but it's been more of a challenge as the word has got out. I'm hoping that this early Spring we can convince a few arborists to use our yard to dump their cargo. But my soil/compost is starting to look like yours - only not as deep. We'll get there.
I know where I live it has not caught on as tree companies are begging people to take them. But then again they are cutting down tons of beetle and borer-killed trees and there is an overabundance of chips. I looking for the same to happen with the lantern flies, although they seem to prefer the tree of heaven. which is another invasive pest in itself!
yup. i have pure coarse sand so it is more of a sieve than soil. in summer, you can water your tree and it is bone dry in minutes. for the past 20+yrs i have completely changed my soil with aged arborist wood chips. even in the bone-dry summers like the one we had 3yrs ago, i did not have to water my orchard at all. i have at least 2 feet of compost over my soil and my raised beds are all old chips. i have piles of chips aging and use 3+yr old chips over my raised beds every spring and fall. the chickens love to get bugs from the mountains of chips and poop in there speeding composting. along with water, nutrients are also held by the chips making them available to plants. the best part, chips are free. call your tree service guys and have them bring a few loads. they are happy because they do not have to pay to dump it, and your chickens and garden will be happy once you have aged them. also, the fresh chips are the best weed killer there is. just lay at least a foot of fresh chips and in a year you will have a clean area without weeds. i make high raised beds (at least 2' tall) and the bottom 1' i fill with coarser 1 year old chips and top it with 3yo chips. you will have to add every year because it degrades and sinks. live well 🙂
My soil is like that due to wood chips. Nice dark soil from the mulch and left over roots breaking down. Earth worms as well aeration of soil and castings
New sub. I only just found out about the back to eden gardening 1 month ago and am now taking all my garden beds out and getting read for a back to eden garden. I wish I knew about this method a decade ago.
Feel free to reach out to me for any advice especially advice pertaining to the first layer. Please do be advised that we no longer recommend the use of cardboard for underneath your vegetable crops.
@CreedmoorFury Thanks for the response, and thanks for the advice. I've just placed a tarp over a section of grass to weaken it before mulch goes down. I know an arborist who has some chips that have been sitting in a big pile for 10 years. I'll be spreading about 4", 10cm of that around, and then getting a load of fresh wood chips dropped as well, then spreading the same amount of that onto the entire area. Give it 6 months, and then plant into that. I'm also building a pergola with shade cloth over the whole thing to protect the plants from the harsh sun we get here. I just spent 2 weeks pulling down 3 pergolas that were 100m2 each in 42°C heat for a few days of it, not fun. It's all for my backyard in suburbia it will be a full 180m2 of the woodchipped and pergolad area. I will look it up in yours and or other channels, and if I have a question I can't find the answer to, I'll definitely hit you up for some advice. Thank you for the offer. Please let me know what you think of what I will be doing.
@planereality3675 those 10 year old chips can be planted in immedietly. No stall. One of the best gardens that we ever built was with 10 year olds. That grower was an instant success. Id lay it thicker anywhere that you want carrots. They need it deep and will grow right in the chippost thats been aged that well. No need to wait!
@CreedmoorFury Ok, cool. Good idea to lay an area thicker. The ground soil is also already pretty good dark brown soil, plus I have large garden beds I am removing and spreading that soil over the entire area as well. Where the garden beds are/were, it's quite compacted, but other areas can be dug approximately 40cm down, with a little effort but not too bad. Give it a year or so, and with 4 to 6 inches of the 10 year chips and another 4 inches of the fresh woodchips, I should have at least 60 cm of really rich dark soil.
Awesomeness! Have been using woodchips to build soil for nearly 10 years on most of the property. It is tremendous to see which is broken down after a year and a half when conventional sign says it should take four years or so. These areas are not even being used to grow food. But rather, the usage is in terms of usage for the kids. Some years down the line these will be indeed used for growing food as the family expands.
Of course it works! It makes gorgeous soil. But it has to be layered, not mixed. If it's mixed, it takes longer. I've only did a small section of the garden which used to be maintained as a lawn and I can already see the difference. And I used a thin layer because that was all the woodchips I had. I wish I had woodchips to cover all of the garden. It will be built in time. It's wonderful. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for sharing your BTE results. Nice garden and soil. You may be interested to know that Paul has started his own YT channel this year called, "Back to Eden Live". They go live on Mondays (today) at 5 pm PST.
Lovin on the Live Sessions already. Check out the session that I had a small cameo appearance in from 2 weeks ago. Was really fun sharing some of what we've learned on the journeyband taking part in the early editions..😉 see ya tonight!
I saw that cameo but didn't realize it was you. Loved the insights you all shared. See you later if I'm able to make it. I'm AST zone, so I guess that will be 9 pm my time.@@CreedmoorFury
I have modified the back to Eden method a little bit. With great results. I get loads of wood chips that are aged about 6 months from my town ship. 0:45 They won’t drop them off fresh in the fall and spring they clean out the drop lot from all the chips that they made all year . About 12 dump trucks loads 2 times a year. I take in the spring I put them on my fruit trees Paul’s method and in the pathway in my garden about 3/4 of an acre . In the fall I pick a block 24 feet by 100 feet and put them on about 12 inches thick. I wait until I see a week of rain coming. I then go out and broad cast the area with winter rye and hairy vetch. The heavy rains get those seeds to germinate into the wood chips. The 0:450:45 plants struggle a bit at first. Then go dormant over winter. In the spring they put on some good growth. I watch the vetch and rye once the vetch flowers I mow it down and put a silage tarp over it for a week or so to kill the vetch and rye. I then pull the tarp and plant it to buckwheat. Let that grow until it flowers. Buckwheat is amazing at scavenging phosphorus. I mow it down again sometimes I let the buckwheat regrow I then tarp it again to kill the buckwheat. By this time the wood chips about completed broken down it to a beautiful rich black soil that I planted my fall crops into all the plants matter that has been mowed and dropped on top of the chips helps them decompose. We get a lot rain 40 inches or more per year so that might help. The tarp is big and heavy but it still less work than spreading compost. I rotate my blocks so every couple of years they get a rebuilding year.
Wow I love this idea. Originally I just put 14" woodchips and waited and waited and waited, and noticed that other areas that had weeds in it and more broken down woodchips than the areas with no weeds. So I decided to get a bunch of rye/clover and broadcast it and those little buggers can grow in ANYTHING. I'll have to report back on the efficiency of this. The stuff has germinated but it's definitely not growing as well as if it were in actual soil. But I think a couple years of this will help. I need to get me a silage tarp to kill the cover crops like you're doing. Thank you!
@@cameroneverhart6443 I used crimson clover once it was definitely not as effective as hairy vetch. Hairy vetch can produce 150 lbs of nitrogen per acre. Every study I have seen suggests it’s the highest nitrogen producer over winter.
😮i have seven raised beds and a chicken coop that fits into the raised beds. The beds are about 4x12.5ft. I bring in rotted wood chips and fill the bed next to the coop. Then i spread about an inch of charcoal on top of the chips. Then i move the coop over onto the new bed. I let the chickens scratch through and poop all in it for a few months. Then i repeat with the next bed. Sometimes i shovel the top two or three inches of chicken coop floor into 15 gallon buckets and i mix it 50/50 with sifted rotted wood chips for my container garden. Sometimes i plant right in the garden bed whatever is in season. Everything i plant explodes with growth. Sometimes i plant chicken fodder ahead of the chickens and people food behind them. Where i live its all sand and it takes a lot of organics to make good soil. Well rotted wood chips works for me. If you dont have a place to get rotted wood chips then you just have to be patient. It takes time but the results are worth the effort. Thanks for the video. Thanks
Moistenland 4-way tester. Great tool for checking the beds for sowing or planting out. We have some content on how we use them too! Hit me up if ya need some help...😉
@@CreedmoorFury Thank you so much! I will search your channel for your videos on the tester and also let you know if I have questions. I really appreciate finding your channel. I look forward to watching more.
May I ask where you live? I have all red clay under my grass. We just moved here and I am afraid gonna take too many years to get good soil.I can't wait I am 62.live in new jersey near Delaware River by Rancocas creek. Pls. Could you give me some direction?
Im happy to! Are you in the Jersey sand, or its a river clay? Either way, plants take no issue when the soil at their roots is comprised of organic compost. We protect that root level compost with wood chips. Yall have loads of pine. We do well with pine. Oak and maple as well. Those are also common there. Seek out a tree co and begin to ask if they drop some woodchip waste near to your garden. As it ages in a pile, it loses its germination resistance. This is a key to use the entire time you grow in Eden. It will either improve or resist. A duality of sorts. In its resistive state, weeds and seeds wont germinate. That state is great for a top cover. Once is very old, its a living media and all orders of seeds will germinate. If the compost is also organic, it can become the base rooting soil and have its resistance to germination come in the form of a top covering of fresher chips. The entire bed need be no thicker than 6to 8inch of organic compost, cover ed by 4 to 8 inch of raw chips. In the firts sowing, pare back the coarse cover and sow to the compost layer. Forget the hard or sandy bottom of the earth. The worms will incorporate it all based on thier prime directive. The grower need not toil with that part. Theres a bunch of vids on this channel that detail this, but Im more than happy to shine the light directly!😁
@CreedmoorFury thank you for your reply❤️I guess I'm alittle scared to go thru althis and if nothing happens or it takes more than 2 seasons,but what do I have to loose,I will send you a picture after the season.and yes,lots of pines around here,we are less than 1/4mile from the creek that's so wide I don't know why they don't call it a river.We are also about 4 miles from Delaware river,it's not sandy soil ,more clay. THANK YOU❤️
@lisabeam8315 I'm here for you. No worries, you can't use up a garden companion... Don't feel shy about reaching out to me the moment you need a little guidance. I already help another 40 or so thousand growers every day... 1 more grower only strengthens our resolve. Soon enough, it'll be you shining and sharing the light. Once we get the growing system working efficiently inside the garden, the next crop to assist is the crop of growers. That's my own personal belief. Welcome to Creedmoors Garden!
Hi Lisa, I'm 76 now and bought something called a "broadfork". When used let your body weight get the tines into the soil and let your body weight lever back the handles. Broadforks come are available from many manufactures at different widths & depths, weight (heft) and prices. Only use the broad fork to "crack" open the soil. It's not intended to turn or mix the soil. After broadforking put on top whatever you choose. Repeat next season...
Would love to see the video on how you beat Bermuda grass. I swear it's the bane of my existence in Piedmont region of NC. So you added 16 inches of woodchips directly onto your grassy lawn? I did the same (with cardboard though at the bottom) and let that sit for 2 years. It hasn't really decomposed though...Every 6months I dig to get a better understanding of what's going on underneath (like you did in this video), and big chunks of woodchips are still there. So, if I want to plant I have to pull away LARGE amounts of woodchips to then add compost and then put back woodchips in. I love Paul Gauschi and want to do BTE but I've honestly never understood the concept of adding a thick layer of woodchips because it's been almost 2 years and I haven't seen a large entity of it breaking down and I can't add compost ON TOP of it because then the whole nitrogen stealing, etc. Additionally, living where I do, about twice a year we'll see 3-4 inches of rain drop in half a day...Like you said in the video, the woodchips will get saturated and then the rain creates rivers going right through all the garden beds. Even months after these rains when I dig in the woodchips to see how the soil is doing, it's an inch deep river UNDER the woodchips. So I think many of the plants i have are drowning in too much water which is the opposite environment that Paul lives in. Any help or thoughts would be amazing. To be clear, I laid down one layer of cardboard, then about 14inches of woodchips from multiple chipdrops so it's a bunch of different species of chips.
You can't be too far from my farm. We are in the Piedmont as well. ...You are picking up on some of what I'm putting down, now let me help you with the rest. My main garden was the final area on my land to be mechanically tilled. It was then constructed sans any compost over loose red clay. Only new chips were applied since that's all I had. It evolved, albeit slowly. You see, I too laid cardboard. I thought that would be best given the depth of my Bermuda issue. It was grand. What I was left with was a dead plot of land with a terrible soil gas exchange problem. The cardboard saw fit to facilitate that for me. Tilling destroyed the last vestiges of life... Truth is, cardboard is no longer the friend of our gardens. It's not the same as it used to be. I learned this the hard way. And the cardboard of old was never still in the system after several months. It broke down fast. It almost never had pfas, unlike today. Plants grew better than when they were in the clay competing with the grasses and weeds, but still, it wasn't great. I had no idea that the cardboard was blocking all sorts of important soil and plant functions. I had no idea of the depth of the pfas issue, or how it impacts emerging species of soil biology. We live in an inherently active region. Supposed to be loads of life in the soils. Truth is, after learning to do soil exams, I've learned that life isn't always guaranteed. I had very little plant supportive life. Due to eons of tilling, herbicide use and heavy erosion, the primary life force was bacteria. Since it's not a great lifeline for healthy plants all by itself, we concluded that it was time to alter course. It does, however, support Bermuda Grass really well! The next beds were built both with, and without the cardboard. The largest of which is featured on my channel under the vineyard headings and titles. The smaller one is also a success story. It's all on this channel. Browse my library, its full of this stuff! ...Under the vineyard, which is in a low lying, near "riparian zone," that sees loads of moisture inundation and has deep roots of rhizomes from the decades of Bermuda grass, it received no cardboard. We learned that the carboard and underlying moisture retention was no longer an issue, even in a riparian zone. The low-lying clays would bank to saturation point, then the 16 inch of chips would do the same. After the rains stop, the conditions are far less likely to promote as anaerobic. That means you end up with loads of happy fungi. As the fungi become inspired to do their job, the rhizomes became less and less supported. Termination via biological and environmental mitigation stressed the Bermuda and the fungi then fed on the decay. Actinobacteria also played a role. It is a hypha producing bacteria that is an early colonist to woodchips in our region. Often confused, or mistake4n for fungi, it gives soil a sweet smell. It also eats lignin, a great characteristic for a woodchip grower. Even though the preparation for that garden only included cutting the grass low to the ground, and piling on the chips to 16 inches, the Bermuda grass was dying fast. Indigenous root fungi was applied to the roots of the plants and new soil associations began to form. We had a small number of grasses to manually remove at the lowest portion of that bed at the start of its third summer, it is now clear of all of its grasses. There is some video content on that subject in this library. Microbe Hunting. I do show how to do this on this channel as well. And how to apply it all. I have no intention of slowing down access to this type of info. There will be more productions on this subject as we move forward to cover hot composting with Bermuda grasses, and how to win the battle of its ever-evolving expansion tendencies. Somewhere in there, I'll also cover growing more food with less effort, as well as out competing pathogens using nothing but the emerging life in the soils and the compost.. Honestly, I built this channel specifically for folks just like you! Don't forget to hit the bell for "all notifications."
Not going to lie, this comment is off topic... but important nontheless. The question is not being asked nearly enough and the answers are thin, so I hope many others will start asking and answering where possible (from science, not opinion). Can Biochar filter NANO plastics from water. Also free tip from me to anyone. Old grass is high in lignin, is mainly nitrogen based and nitrogen fixing. It makes fantastic biochar. Other grass put in a biodigester, makes gas and liquid ferts. the liquid ferts can be used to activate the biochar. Activated biochar, liquid fert, syngas and biogas, all from grass, if done right. Good luck saving the planet y'all. :)
It most certainly will! For deep beds we apply a base of raw woodchips. 12 inch from the top, we switch to compost. 4 inch from the top, we switch back to wood chips. As the plants grow and the beds decompose, we add more compost and chips. Eventually, the soil mass holds up and reduces far less. By then, ANYTHING will grow! Sow into the compost layer
Started out at 24 inches and has begun to hold at 16 inch. We're planning another layer of covering to be added this spring as a weed and moisture loss strategy. By fall, it will return to 16 inches. Seems to be a balance point for the lowest elevation of the garden.
@ruanddu the coarsest chips appear in the top 2 inch then 2 inch of last springs chips, and 2 inches of the far more broken down chips from the previous fall application. A 4 inch application shows as 2 inch by the 6 month mark in NC, or, within our grow zone.
Did you add any compost or topsoil that first year to have something under the woodchips. How were your first few years? I basically did the same thing (probably not as bad clay) but didnt add much topsoil/compost. The first year didnt grow of course. Second better, third better yet (finally good enough). I think I can tell I have a decent amount of compost now for this 4th year. Looking back, I probably should've added some dirt or tilled the clay some. Something to get the compost to mesh. Im basically doing like you said, adding a new layer each fall. I usually get a load in the summer and let it age for a whole year (add some chicken poo) before adding it to the garden, so its quite close to being compost.
I had very little to work with in year 1. Basically, woodchips and more woodchips. Part way through I recognized the need for soil where the seeds go. My clay was sickly, it would not grow anything willingly. The chips broke down fast. Inside the first 6 months I needed more. I arranged for more chips and got some compost made up. We began using compost pretty soon after realizing the err of my ways. Thats what started us on the journey to make really great soil to put in the pockets to grow plants directly in raw wood chips that were not very decomposed yet. My beds ended up very deep. I was officially done, and over the red clay! As time passed, I kept covering in the fall and spring. By year 3 we had an entire bed of Asian jumping worms. I think they came with a batch of compost and stayed. They accelerated decomposition even faster. Eventually, we learned to live together and now there's an equitable balance. As far as the crops go? Off the charts in near every category. Even appearance. Hang around for a while to see the cropping strategies. Nothing fancy, just old school growing with nature! We don't till any of the new plots. Preferring to simply build over it and all its weed bank. That way we have at least some indigenous microbes to advance fertility with. We do use chicken pooh in our compost systems. Ill detail more of that in the coming months. There's a really good soil making video in my collection as well, feel free to browse around.😁
@@CreedmoorFury Yeah it sounded like we had similar experiences. I did note on another channel someone mentioning that you should add dirt or manure first on top of the clay. Im probably should've researched it more first. But I figured this would be likely be a lengthy process and worth it in the end. I also have pest issues that seem to be worse than tilled gardens. Not sure if its the wood chips, but im going to have to take active measures as they are voracious squash bugs.
Let me see if I understand the planting concept correctly: lay wood chips on top of whatever you have already in your beds, open a spot and direct sow your seeds in the open spot, after seeds germinate push the wood chips back around the seedling while it develops. Doing I have it right? I've been trying to figure out how my seeds can germinate through wood chips.
Lay wood chips shallow and you can sow direct to the earth. If the earth is restrictive, lay the chips deep, then dig a hole large enough for the plants roots, then, enter a compost, or sifted soil into the pocket and sow to that. If landing plants in deep chips, we reccomend also placing some good, organic soil into the chips as well. Never mix dirt and chips together. Always keep them separate for best results. After a seed is sown to a soil pocket, and it rises, it can be tucked in. Once it has 2 or 3 stages of leaves, it may need some organic fertilizer for the first few years. Then less and less as time passes.
All of them but year one! I didn't have any to start with, just had wood chips. Compost is made during the growing season and in the winter. In the fall, compost is applied as a top cover while weed seed germination pressure is lessened. In the spring, after sowing and planting out, and just before the heat sets in, I add a layer of fresher wood chips to keep the in season weed pressure from impacting my joy of the garden's. This is how I keep over 8000 foot of garden weed free. It works like a charm. Beyond the gates of my Eden is a world of bioaccumulating weeds and invasive grasses.
Over the years we've mastered it. Theres loads of valuable info on this channel about those techniques we apply. The cheat notes: Shade the Bermuda with deep mulch. Weaken it with white vinegar. Suffocate it with heavy, moveable epdm sheets. Additionally, the deep mulching softens the harpan and makes extraction easier. Over time, we remove the remaining bits by combining these strategies. After its all gone, we shift to a proper stewardship that keeps it out. Hardened borders, living edge cuts at the dirt with a machine edger and allelopathic plantings and border plants. Its a combined effect that maximizes the management and minimizes leaving the Bermuda grass with a preferred habitat. Within the constitution of the garden beds, I focus on making numerous fungal amends using indigenous fungi. Over time, and with consistent living amends, the environment changes to be far more exclusive of Bermuda grasses. Its hard to believe, but its true. Raising the fungi counts to near even with soil bacteria counts is incredibly beneficial to the subject of gardening. It basically resets the ecological support systems to favor supporting hi order annual and perrenial plantings. I certainly didnt invent this method. It was taught to me by the likes of Dr. Elaine Ingham from the Soil Food Web School. I used a little of that science to raise the fungal counts and voila! No more weeds, or Bermuda grasses..😉 It took significant effort, by the way. Good things come when we effort up with the right strategies. Find me easily, always willing to help!
It took 13 years to produce your soil . What about those who turn 70 this year. 13 years they will be 83. What did your soil look like 6 1/2 years ago. Surely for us older gardener there is a way to shorten the time?
There is. Dont till the earth like you and I did, and then just move to cover. The vineyard below this zone is almost 4 years young and its already just like this! Did you get far enough into the video to see your message? Im guessing no..😮
@@CreedmoorFury HUMMM Yes I did! Just trying to speed up the process. You are a young guy. You probably got a good 30 years left to see the soil go deeper. Us older guys do not.
I bought my house 5 years ago. In my yard, I hit clay 4” down. I literally had to buy a pickaxe just to break ground. I had zero worms. I started dumping chips on the backyard grass 3 years ago. I originally went with a layer that was 1’ thick. I use the backyard for growing food and flowers and the vast majority is grown from seed. Those woodchips are stupidly effective. No issues growing anything I want to grow (except that my dog occasionally digs things up but that’s a different issue 😂).
mix in more green the added heat will help it break down quicker. Funny how everything needs more greens. Also, head to a local bait shop and get a bunch of red wigglers, they are great composters!
For the dip, we add one additional "M". I'm not at all sure if that is correct. I have to defer to an Englishmen for the grammatical stuff,. they do it better!
In the US, that type is spelled with 2 M's- read as "Hummus." My reference is to humus from the humates or left over carbon vesitiges that used to be composted organics. For more info, search: humic acids, humates and humic solids. Theres no reference to those types of foods in my content..only soil humus.. thanks for the comment- very informative!
@@CreedmoorFury Just trying to fit in with American culture of misspelling. That's a very threatening handle you have. Not that there is anything wrong with a good Creedmoor they shoot just fine depending on load.
@davidprocter3578 just depends on which side you may be on. The side of taking in long-distance traffic, or the side of... not. But its the handle they gave me, so its been that way long as I can recall..😁
Use animal dung. That's the best soil builder. Go listen to Alan Savoy from the Savoy Institute in S Africa. He completely rehabilitated hundreds of thousands of hectares that the government had deemed irredeemable. He used sheep but other livestock can be used. His land retained water, had seasonal streams become permanent, recharged wells and was green all year when lands around his were desolate. Old school people have been knowing this. I've been knowing this my whole life because my grandfather was a farmer. It s what he did, and his father before him.
I have a question I was watching your video great video I really enjoy it but are you related to Robert Downey Jr? I'm noticing in some ways when you talk you speak kind of like him and also your facial structure is similar to his facial structure.
There arent any. Mother Nature balances them out. She uses ants as a warring faction. In shallow soil depths, ants will still be above ground. Where the soils are far deeper, theres more to forage for within the soils. Since ants and termites are arch enemies, the garden ants will seek the termites out and destroy their colonies in no time. In year 12, I saw a small colony of termites in the garden. It was a total fluke. After returning 1 day later to shoot a video segment, I found only ants. The termites were all killed and displaced. Those that could escape, did, and we never saw them again. If I did have them within the garden, theyd be a welcome sight. Simply put, the ants are a very powerful protective force. Before hating on ants entirely, be sure to be considerate of the fact that many species of ants are responsible for ridding the soils of virology as well as termites. Stay in the garden for dayz at a time, and much of mother natures plan begins to reveal itself.
@@CreedmoorFury i live in the desert and bought bags of mulch for my fruit trees, it was late afternoon when I added the mulch to the trees just to later realize that the mulch was FULL of termites, I used cold pressed neem oil with dis soap but I still have thousands of them on each tree and idk what to do!
@yaima0901 its simple, go find some ants, lay in to the soil some wetted molasses and deposit some locally sourced ants. The termites will abate very fast. Funny, when us gray hairs were young, we used to keep ant colonies for educational reasons. That practice fell out of favor long ago. My kids were never asked by the schools to learn by this method. Now, they know not what they missed. Sounds too easy to be true, but it is. You'd be well served by looking into this method of relocating the natural predatory species. I mean, those bags have lots of unsavory stuff in them. They even can contain a plethora of plant pathogens when they are left under awnings exposed to rain. Anaerobic conditions raise the chances of plant pathology substantially. Its all avoidable once we reach where you are now. A place of understanding. That is the gift you shall recieve today. Displace them and go back to your Eden!
I was born in 74 and I was the 74th like WHOO HOOOO! Do you know what else is in those bags of mulch, compost, etc that sits in the weather? Legionella bacteria, the microscopic demons that almost killed me! That is not how I got it because I only deal with fresh stuff with tons of good microorganisms and is not stagnant. I have noticed something else with this method. In the fall of 2018, I put down the first 12 inches of wood chips by the fall of 2022 it was about 8 inches deep. I got more chips and put down 6" of chips on top of that. It has already dropped to about 10". What have I learned from this? I learned that the more microorganisms you have, the more worms you have, and the more rollie pollies you have the more you need either a good back, youngsters, or either a lawn tractor or regular tractor with a bucket because you will need more chips to keep up! OH and Creeping Charlie may be helping in some way as well as it loves my woodchips and I can't get rid of it!
Thank you for adding your experience to the discussion. I feel the value of your comment is worthy of pinning to the top of this page. Ill see what I can put together on the Creeping Charlie too! Stay tuned..
interestingly enough your comment is full of holes and makes no sense.im not a troll i just cant make sense of anything you said....
@@CreedmoorFuryyea I agree with you it made no since to me either! It makes no difference composting chipps you made that day or apple peels once it starts decomposing that legionella bacteria going to be there its every where so unless your specificly incolating with a different bacteria to out compete it
Thanks for the great video.
I used to buy the horrible soils from big box stores and never had luck.
So I decided to make my own soils by composting what I had already laying around the property.
I filled the empty raised beds with a mixture of oak leaves and rabbit manure and decomposed cow manure. I saved all my egg shells and banana peels and ground them up into powder and added them to the mix.
We stopped a tree trimmer truck doing work in our neighborhood and asked for his chips. He unloaded a huge pile of wood chips for us to use in the garden.
After letting nature compost this mix over fall and winter , the next years garden was amazing. It truly looked like a garden of Eden .
This year I plan to make a Terra Preta garden and see how it goes.
Be sure to follow Joe Bass for some really great "Terra" info. I consider him to be a resident expert on that subject. Pretty good guy, too!
@@CreedmoorFury can you give me a link to joe bass channel . I can’t seem to locate it through RUclips search. Thanks
@@rottenrobbie66screw tube really doesn't want to bring jb up. This guy showed up however. ruclips.net/video/Omh2pLAXD5A/видео.htmlsi=wgZnzYc0bs4IdLw2
@@rottenrobbie66ruclips.net/video/Qnbqp2fYg-w/видео.htmlsi=yZNV-UkSR1e0AE5s
What is the composition of tierra prieta? sounds like very rich soil. Thank you
THANK YOU for this valuable information. My husband and I just moved into a house with Zoysia grass. I have been saving all our move in boxes to cover the grass for a garden. After watching your video, I will let my husband take them to the recycling station. He will be so happy.
Thank you again and God Bless.
In the piedmont of NC, get yourself a leave mulcher. Mulch the leaves. Put in a pile. After a few years, move it into the clay. break the clay, with organic material. A neighbor was able to grow tomotos's by just taking handful of oak leaves and work them into the soil, and didnt even compost them, right into the garden.
Great video my friend. You have set a great example for all who wish to make the move beyond organic and learn to create a garden that will not only provide them with nutritious food but also heal and regenerate the damaged soil. Keep on keeping on.
Thank you for those kind words! You mean the world to me too, brother. So much kind guidance never goes out of style😁. You've been a wonderful beacon for us all as well over the years. Couldn't have done it without you..😉
This is useful
Thank you so much. I’ve struggled with my garden areas but this info has really motivated me to keep the chips coming to solve my soil issues! Excellent-thank you so much❤
I tried to subscribe , but , RUclips says I have too many subscriptions !!!! Keep making gardening videos and I'll keep watching !!!! Thank you very much !!!! I'm interested in wood chips and their benefits !!!!
Thanks for the education session🤓SUBSCRIBED🎉
That’s my method too and I love it. Thanks for the video
That was great! Appreciate what you are saying and the information you are providing!
Subscribed....
Ah the famous walking onions!!! Keep calm chip on!
Yup, Hardwood wood chips , pure carbon. Great soil builder..
I started with about 20 loads of woodchips and was shocked at how fast they broke down. I guess the soil was just really hungry. Trying to get more now but it's been more of a challenge as the word has got out. I'm hoping that this early Spring we can convince a few arborists to use our yard to dump their cargo. But my soil/compost is starting to look like yours - only not as deep. We'll get there.
I know where I live it has not caught on as tree companies are begging people to take them. But then again they are cutting down tons of beetle and borer-killed trees and there is an overabundance of chips. I looking for the same to happen with the lantern flies, although they seem to prefer the tree of heaven. which is another invasive pest in itself!
yup. i have pure coarse sand so it is more of a sieve than soil. in summer, you can water your tree and it is bone dry in minutes. for the past 20+yrs i have completely changed my soil with aged arborist wood chips. even in the bone-dry summers like the one we had 3yrs ago, i did not have to water my orchard at all. i have at least 2 feet of compost over my soil and my raised beds are all old chips. i have piles of chips aging and use 3+yr old chips over my raised beds every spring and fall. the chickens love to get bugs from the mountains of chips and poop in there speeding composting. along with water, nutrients are also held by the chips making them available to plants. the best part, chips are free. call your tree service guys and have them bring a few loads. they are happy because they do not have to pay to dump it, and your chickens and garden will be happy once you have aged them. also, the fresh chips are the best weed killer there is. just lay at least a foot of fresh chips and in a year you will have a clean area without weeds. i make high raised beds (at least 2' tall) and the bottom 1' i fill with coarser 1 year old chips and top it with 3yo chips. you will have to add every year because it degrades and sinks. live well 🙂
Just found you today. Great info ❤
My soil is like that due to wood chips. Nice dark soil from the mulch and left over roots breaking down. Earth worms as well aeration of soil and castings
New sub.
I only just found out about the back to eden gardening 1 month ago and am now taking all my garden beds out and getting read for a back to eden garden.
I wish I knew about this method a decade ago.
Feel free to reach out to me for any advice especially advice pertaining to the first layer. Please do be advised that we no longer recommend the use of cardboard for underneath your vegetable crops.
@CreedmoorFury
Thanks for the response, and thanks for the advice.
I've just placed a tarp over a section of grass to weaken it before mulch goes down.
I know an arborist who has some chips that have been sitting in a big pile for 10 years.
I'll be spreading about 4", 10cm of that around, and then getting a load of fresh wood chips dropped as well, then spreading the same amount of that onto the entire area.
Give it 6 months, and then plant into that.
I'm also building a pergola with shade cloth over the whole thing to protect the plants from the harsh sun we get here.
I just spent 2 weeks pulling down 3 pergolas that were 100m2 each in 42°C heat for a few days of it, not fun.
It's all for my backyard in suburbia it will be a full 180m2 of the woodchipped and pergolad area.
I will look it up in yours and or other channels, and if I have a question I can't find the answer to, I'll definitely hit you up for some advice.
Thank you for the offer.
Please let me know what you think of what I will be doing.
@planereality3675 those 10 year old chips can be planted in immedietly. No stall. One of the best gardens that we ever built was with 10 year olds. That grower was an instant success. Id lay it thicker anywhere that you want carrots. They need it deep and will grow right in the chippost thats been aged that well. No need to wait!
@CreedmoorFury
Ok, cool.
Good idea to lay an area thicker.
The ground soil is also already pretty good dark brown soil, plus I have large garden beds I am removing and spreading that soil over the entire area as well.
Where the garden beds are/were, it's quite compacted, but other areas can be dug approximately 40cm down, with a little effort but not too bad.
Give it a year or so, and with 4 to 6 inches of the 10 year chips and another 4 inches of the fresh woodchips, I should have at least 60 cm of really rich dark soil.
I abandoned hey and started wood chips a few years back and its been a difference maker
The chips, when available are a blessing!
Awesomeness! Have been using woodchips to build soil for nearly 10 years on most of the property. It is tremendous to see which is broken down after a year and a half when conventional sign says it should take four years or so. These areas are not even being used to grow food. But rather, the usage is in terms of usage for the kids. Some years down the line these will be indeed used for growing food as the family expands.
How do you avoid termites?
@@yaima0901 I've never had an issue with arborist woodchips and termites
Great info and thanks from Winderdome BC!
Glad it was helpful!
Of course it works! It makes gorgeous soil. But it has to be layered, not mixed. If it's mixed, it takes longer. I've only did a small section of the garden which used to be maintained as a lawn and I can already see the difference. And I used a thin layer because that was all the woodchips I had. I wish I had woodchips to cover all of the garden. It will be built in time. It's wonderful. Thank you for sharing!
Very nice
Thanks for sharing your BTE results. Nice garden and soil. You may be interested to know that Paul has started his own YT channel this year called, "Back to Eden Live". They go live on Mondays (today) at 5 pm PST.
Lovin on the Live Sessions already. Check out the session that I had a small cameo appearance in from 2 weeks ago.
Was really fun sharing some of what we've learned on the journeyband taking part in the early editions..😉 see ya tonight!
I saw that cameo but didn't realize it was you. Loved the insights you all shared. See you later if I'm able to make it. I'm AST zone, so I guess that will be 9 pm my time.@@CreedmoorFury
I have modified the back to Eden method a little bit. With great results. I get loads of wood chips that are aged about 6 months from my town ship. 0:45 They won’t drop them off fresh in the fall and spring they clean out the drop lot from all the chips that they made all year . About 12 dump trucks loads 2 times a year. I take in the spring I put them on my fruit trees Paul’s method and in the pathway in my garden about 3/4 of an acre . In the fall I pick a block 24 feet by 100 feet and put them on about 12 inches thick. I wait until I see a week of rain coming. I then go out and broad cast the area with winter rye and hairy vetch. The heavy rains get those seeds to germinate into the wood chips. The 0:45 0:45 plants struggle a bit at first. Then go dormant over winter. In the spring they put on some good growth. I watch the vetch and rye once the vetch flowers I mow it down and put a silage tarp over it for a week or so to kill the vetch and rye. I then pull the tarp and plant it to buckwheat. Let that grow until it flowers. Buckwheat is amazing at scavenging phosphorus. I mow it down again sometimes I let the buckwheat regrow I then tarp it again to kill the buckwheat. By this time the wood chips about completed broken down it to a beautiful rich black soil that I planted my fall crops into all the plants matter that has been mowed and dropped on top of the chips helps them decompose.
We get a lot rain 40 inches or more per year so that might help. The tarp is big and heavy but it still less work than spreading compost.
I rotate my blocks so every couple of years they get a rebuilding year.
Wow I love this idea. Originally I just put 14" woodchips and waited and waited and waited, and noticed that other areas that had weeds in it and more broken down woodchips than the areas with no weeds. So I decided to get a bunch of rye/clover and broadcast it and those little buggers can grow in ANYTHING. I'll have to report back on the efficiency of this. The stuff has germinated but it's definitely not growing as well as if it were in actual soil. But I think a couple years of this will help. I need to get me a silage tarp to kill the cover crops like you're doing. Thank you!
@@cameroneverhart6443
I used crimson clover once it was definitely not as effective as hairy vetch. Hairy vetch can produce 150 lbs of nitrogen per acre.
Every study I have seen suggests it’s the highest nitrogen producer over winter.
@@stuckinthemudgarden7726 I saw the same but no idea where I can get some. Local hardware store doesn't sell it. Do you have it shipped?
@@cameroneverhart6443 yes it’s expensive I ordered it from Amazon
Best video ever l finally get it
Thanks!
😮i have seven raised beds and a chicken coop that fits into the raised beds. The beds are about 4x12.5ft.
I bring in rotted wood chips and fill the bed next to the coop. Then i spread about an inch of charcoal on top of the chips.
Then i move the coop over onto the new bed.
I let the chickens scratch through and poop all in it for a few months. Then
i repeat with the next bed.
Sometimes i shovel the top two or three inches of chicken coop floor into 15 gallon buckets and i mix it 50/50 with sifted rotted wood chips for my container garden.
Sometimes i plant right in the garden bed whatever is in season. Everything i plant explodes with growth.
Sometimes i plant chicken fodder ahead of the chickens and people food behind them.
Where i live its all sand and it takes a lot of organics to make good soil. Well rotted wood chips works for me.
If you dont have a place to get rotted wood chips then you just have to be patient.
It takes time but the results are worth the effort.
Thanks for the video.
Thanks
Another great video !!
Expecting some wood chips from " chip drop " soon.They dropped off some 2 years ago and its broken down now.
I have 12 to 20 inches of mulch everywhere.
What is the name of your moisture, light, and soil meter that you showed at the beginning.
Moistenland 4-way tester. Great tool for checking the beds for sowing or planting out. We have some content on how we use them too! Hit me up if ya need some help...😉
@@CreedmoorFury Thank you so much! I will search your channel for your videos on the tester and also let you know if I have questions. I really appreciate finding your channel. I look forward to watching more.
Genius!
May I ask where you live? I have all red clay under my grass. We just moved here and I am afraid gonna take too many years to get good soil.I can't wait I am 62.live in new jersey near Delaware River by Rancocas creek. Pls. Could you give me some direction?
Im happy to! Are you in the Jersey sand, or its a river clay? Either way, plants take no issue when the soil at their roots is comprised of organic compost. We protect that root level compost with wood chips. Yall have loads of pine. We do well with pine. Oak and maple as well. Those are also common there. Seek out a tree co and begin to ask if they drop some woodchip waste near to your garden. As it ages in a pile, it loses its germination resistance. This is a key to use the entire time you grow in Eden. It will either improve or resist. A duality of sorts. In its resistive state, weeds and seeds wont germinate. That state is great for a top cover. Once is very old, its a living media and all orders of seeds will germinate. If the compost is also organic, it can become the base rooting soil and have its resistance to germination come in the form of a top covering of fresher chips.
The entire bed need be no thicker than 6to 8inch of organic compost, cover ed by 4 to 8 inch of raw chips.
In the firts sowing, pare back the coarse cover and sow to the compost layer. Forget the hard or sandy bottom of the earth. The worms will incorporate it all based on thier prime directive. The grower need not toil with that part. Theres a bunch of vids on this channel that detail this, but Im more than happy to shine the light directly!😁
@CreedmoorFury thank you for your reply❤️I guess I'm alittle scared to go thru althis and if nothing happens or it takes more than 2 seasons,but what do I have to loose,I will send you a picture after the season.and yes,lots of pines around here,we are less than 1/4mile from the creek that's so wide I don't know why they don't call it a river.We are also about 4 miles from Delaware river,it's not sandy soil ,more clay. THANK YOU❤️
@lisabeam8315 I'm here for you. No worries, you can't use up a garden companion... Don't feel shy about reaching out to me the moment you need a little guidance. I already help another 40 or so thousand growers every day... 1 more grower only strengthens our resolve.
Soon enough, it'll be you shining and sharing the light. Once we get the growing system working efficiently inside the garden, the next crop to assist is the crop of growers. That's my own personal belief. Welcome to Creedmoors Garden!
Hi Lisa, I'm 76 now and bought something called a "broadfork". When used let your body weight get the tines into the soil and let your body weight lever back the handles. Broadforks come are available from many manufactures at different widths & depths, weight (heft) and prices. Only use the broad fork to "crack" open the soil. It's not intended to turn or mix the soil. After broadforking put on top whatever you choose. Repeat next season...
Would love to see the video on how you beat Bermuda grass. I swear it's the bane of my existence in Piedmont region of NC. So you added 16 inches of woodchips directly onto your grassy lawn? I did the same (with cardboard though at the bottom) and let that sit for 2 years. It hasn't really decomposed though...Every 6months I dig to get a better understanding of what's going on underneath (like you did in this video), and big chunks of woodchips are still there. So, if I want to plant I have to pull away LARGE amounts of woodchips to then add compost and then put back woodchips in. I love Paul Gauschi and want to do BTE but I've honestly never understood the concept of adding a thick layer of woodchips because it's been almost 2 years and I haven't seen a large entity of it breaking down and I can't add compost ON TOP of it because then the whole nitrogen stealing, etc.
Additionally, living where I do, about twice a year we'll see 3-4 inches of rain drop in half a day...Like you said in the video, the woodchips will get saturated and then the rain creates rivers going right through all the garden beds. Even months after these rains when I dig in the woodchips to see how the soil is doing, it's an inch deep river UNDER the woodchips. So I think many of the plants i have are drowning in too much water which is the opposite environment that Paul lives in. Any help or thoughts would be amazing. To be clear, I laid down one layer of cardboard, then about 14inches of woodchips from multiple chipdrops so it's a bunch of different species of chips.
You can't be too far from my farm. We are in the Piedmont as well. ...You are picking up on some of what I'm putting down, now let me help you with the rest.
My main garden was the final area on my land to be mechanically tilled. It was then constructed sans any compost over loose red clay. Only new chips were applied since that's all I had. It evolved, albeit slowly. You see, I too laid cardboard. I thought that would be best given the depth of my Bermuda issue. It was grand. What I was left with was a dead plot of land with a terrible soil gas exchange problem. The cardboard saw fit to facilitate that for me. Tilling destroyed the last vestiges of life...
Truth is, cardboard is no longer the friend of our gardens. It's not the same as it used to be. I learned this the hard way. And the cardboard of old was never still in the system after several months. It broke down fast. It almost never had pfas, unlike today.
Plants grew better than when they were in the clay competing with the grasses and weeds, but still, it wasn't great. I had no idea that the cardboard was blocking all sorts of important soil and plant functions. I had no idea of the depth of the pfas issue, or how it impacts emerging species of soil biology. We live in an inherently active region. Supposed to be loads of life in the soils.
Truth is, after learning to do soil exams, I've learned that life isn't always guaranteed. I had very little plant supportive life. Due to eons of tilling, herbicide use and heavy erosion, the primary life force was bacteria. Since it's not a great lifeline for healthy plants all by itself, we concluded that it was time to alter course. It does, however, support Bermuda Grass really well!
The next beds were built both with, and without the cardboard. The largest of which is featured on my channel under the vineyard headings and titles. The smaller one is also a success story. It's all on this channel. Browse my library, its full of this stuff!
...Under the vineyard, which is in a low lying, near "riparian zone," that sees loads of moisture inundation and has deep roots of rhizomes from the decades of Bermuda grass, it received no cardboard.
We learned that the carboard and underlying moisture retention was no longer an issue, even in a riparian zone. The low-lying clays would bank to saturation point, then the 16 inch of chips would do the same. After the rains stop, the conditions are far less likely to promote as anaerobic. That means you end up with loads of happy fungi.
As the fungi become inspired to do their job, the rhizomes became less and less supported. Termination via biological and environmental mitigation stressed the Bermuda and the fungi then fed on the decay. Actinobacteria also played a role. It is a hypha producing bacteria that is an early colonist to woodchips in our region. Often confused, or mistake4n for fungi, it gives soil a sweet smell. It also eats lignin, a great characteristic for a woodchip grower.
Even though the preparation for that garden only included cutting the grass low to the ground, and piling on the chips to 16 inches, the Bermuda grass was dying fast.
Indigenous root fungi was applied to the roots of the plants and new soil associations began to form. We had a small number of grasses to manually remove at the lowest portion of that bed at the start of its third summer, it is now clear of all of its grasses.
There is some video content on that subject in this library. Microbe Hunting. I do show how to do this on this channel as well. And how to apply it all.
I have no intention of slowing down access to this type of info. There will be more productions on this subject as we move forward to cover hot composting with Bermuda grasses, and how to win the battle of its ever-evolving expansion tendencies.
Somewhere in there, I'll also cover growing more food with less effort, as well as out competing pathogens using nothing but the emerging life in the soils and the compost..
Honestly, I built this channel specifically for folks just like you! Don't forget to hit the bell for "all notifications."
@CreedmoorFury thank you so much for the detailed response. I'll be sure to go back and watch some other videos you have on this topic.
Nice!
Thank you Steve!
I have a saw mill nearby. I wonder if saw dust would work the same way
I would not use sawdust. I have, and it was a great weed and germination blocker. Not so good for building soil fast, however.
Not going to lie, this comment is off topic... but important nontheless.
The question is not being asked nearly enough and the answers are thin, so I hope many others will start asking and answering where possible (from science, not opinion).
Can Biochar filter NANO plastics from water.
Also free tip from me to anyone.
Old grass is high in lignin, is mainly nitrogen based and nitrogen fixing.
It makes fantastic biochar.
Other grass put in a biodigester, makes gas and liquid ferts. the liquid ferts can be used to activate the biochar.
Activated biochar, liquid fert, syngas and biogas, all from grass, if done right.
Good luck saving the planet y'all. :)
I do similar experiments with planting into leaves. They break down faster than wood chips. On my channel and in my shorts videos.
At some point Ill detail our leaf mold making process. Lovem, can't get enough leaves.
Will this work in waist container bed as well. Can you grow in the first year with just wood chips and nothing else.
It most certainly will! For deep beds we apply a base of raw woodchips. 12 inch from the top, we switch to compost. 4 inch from the top, we switch back to wood chips. As the plants grow and the beds decompose, we add more compost and chips. Eventually, the soil mass holds up and reduces far less. By then, ANYTHING will grow! Sow into the compost layer
We Love you, Creedmoor! SUBSCRIBE (highlight the bell), to him, pls! 🌿💚
Great video, thanks! How many inches of wood chips have you applied to that area? If I heard correctly, 16 inches?
Started out at 24 inches and has begun to hold at 16 inch. We're planning another layer of covering to be added this spring as a weed and moisture loss strategy. By fall, it will return to 16 inches. Seems to be a balance point for the lowest elevation of the garden.
Thanks! In video the wood chips look about 6-10 inches thick now, does that sound about right? @@CreedmoorFury
@ruanddu the coarsest chips appear in the top 2 inch then 2 inch of last springs chips, and 2 inches of the far more broken down chips from the previous fall application. A 4 inch application shows as 2 inch by the 6 month mark in NC, or, within our grow zone.
thanks@@CreedmoorFury
Did you add any compost or topsoil that first year to have something under the woodchips. How were your first few years? I basically did the same thing (probably not as bad clay) but didnt add much topsoil/compost. The first year didnt grow of course. Second better, third better yet (finally good enough). I think I can tell I have a decent amount of compost now for this 4th year. Looking back, I probably should've added some dirt or tilled the clay some. Something to get the compost to mesh. Im basically doing like you said, adding a new layer each fall. I usually get a load in the summer and let it age for a whole year (add some chicken poo) before adding it to the garden, so its quite close to being compost.
I had very little to work with in year 1. Basically, woodchips and more woodchips. Part way through I recognized the need for soil where the seeds go. My clay was sickly, it would not grow anything willingly. The chips broke down fast. Inside the first 6 months I needed more. I arranged for more chips and got some compost made up. We began using compost pretty soon after realizing the err of my ways. Thats what started us on the journey to make really great soil to put in the pockets to grow plants directly in raw wood chips that were not very decomposed yet. My beds ended up very deep. I was officially done, and over the red clay! As time passed, I kept covering in the fall and spring. By year 3 we had an entire bed of Asian jumping worms. I think they came with a batch of compost and stayed. They accelerated decomposition even faster. Eventually, we learned to live together and now there's an equitable balance. As far as the crops go? Off the charts in near every category. Even appearance. Hang around for a while to see the cropping strategies. Nothing fancy, just old school growing with nature! We don't till any of the new plots. Preferring to simply build over it and all its weed bank. That way we have at least some indigenous microbes to advance fertility with. We do use chicken pooh in our compost systems. Ill detail more of that in the coming months. There's a really good soil making video in my collection as well, feel free to browse around.😁
@@CreedmoorFury Yeah it sounded like we had similar experiences. I did note on another channel someone mentioning that you should add dirt or manure first on top of the clay. Im probably should've researched it more first. But I figured this would be likely be a lengthy process and worth it in the end. I also have pest issues that seem to be worse than tilled gardens. Not sure if its the wood chips, but im going to have to take active measures as they are voracious squash bugs.
Let me see if I understand the planting concept correctly: lay wood chips on top of whatever you have already in your beds, open a spot and direct sow your seeds in the open spot, after seeds germinate push the wood chips back around the seedling while it develops. Doing I have it right? I've been trying to figure out how my seeds can germinate through wood chips.
Lay wood chips shallow and you can sow direct to the earth. If the earth is restrictive, lay the chips deep, then dig a hole large enough for the plants roots, then, enter a compost, or sifted soil into the pocket and sow to that. If landing plants in deep chips, we reccomend also placing some good, organic soil into the chips as well.
Never mix dirt and chips together. Always keep them separate for best results.
After a seed is sown to a soil pocket, and it rises, it can be tucked in. Once it has 2 or 3 stages of leaves, it may need some organic fertilizer for the first few years. Then less and less as time passes.
I’d like to stop by. I’m in Climax.
80 miles and an hour and a half ride time to Creedmoor Land!
I wanna know more about how you beat that bermuda grass!
Oops. I see it now.
Pile enough covering on top and even that will get smothered and die.
You can also use thick layer of pine straw
How many years of yearly compost was this
All of them but year one! I didn't have any to start with, just had wood chips. Compost is made during the growing season and in the winter. In the fall, compost is applied as a top cover while weed seed germination pressure is lessened. In the spring, after sowing and planting out, and just before the heat sets in, I add a layer of fresher wood chips to keep the in season weed pressure from impacting my joy of the garden's. This is how I keep over 8000 foot of garden weed free. It works like a charm. Beyond the gates of my Eden is a world of bioaccumulating weeds and invasive grasses.
Good content thanks! Sounds like we live in same area with same conditions and challenges. Question: how did you overcome the bermudagrass nemesis?
Over the years we've mastered it. Theres loads of valuable info on this channel about those techniques we apply. The cheat notes:
Shade the Bermuda with deep mulch. Weaken it with white vinegar. Suffocate it with heavy, moveable epdm sheets. Additionally, the deep mulching softens the harpan and makes extraction easier. Over time, we remove the remaining bits by combining these strategies. After its all gone, we shift to a proper stewardship that keeps it out. Hardened borders, living edge cuts at the dirt with a machine edger and allelopathic plantings and border plants. Its a combined effect that maximizes the management and minimizes leaving the Bermuda grass with a preferred habitat. Within the constitution of the garden beds, I focus on making numerous fungal amends using indigenous fungi. Over time, and with consistent living amends, the environment changes to be far more exclusive of Bermuda grasses. Its hard to believe, but its true. Raising the fungi counts to near even with soil bacteria counts is incredibly beneficial to the subject of gardening. It basically resets the ecological support systems to favor supporting hi order annual and perrenial plantings. I certainly didnt invent this method. It was taught to me by the likes of Dr. Elaine Ingham from the Soil Food Web School. I used a little of that science to raise the fungal counts and voila! No more weeds, or Bermuda grasses..😉
It took significant effort, by the way. Good things come when we effort up with the right strategies. Find me easily, always willing to help!
It took 13 years to produce your soil . What about those who turn 70 this year. 13 years they will be 83. What did your soil look like 6 1/2 years ago. Surely for us older gardener there is a way to shorten the time?
There is. Dont till the earth like you and I did, and then just move to cover. The vineyard below this zone is almost 4 years young and its already just like this!
Did you get far enough into the video to see your message? Im guessing no..😮
@@CreedmoorFury HUMMM Yes I did! Just trying to speed up the process. You are a young guy. You probably got a good 30 years left to see the soil go deeper. Us older guys do not.
Cover with wood chip and plant your plants in a soil pocket. Then wait as your wood chips break down:).
I bought my house 5 years ago. In my yard, I hit clay 4” down. I literally had to buy a pickaxe just to break ground. I had zero worms. I started dumping chips on the backyard grass 3 years ago. I originally went with a layer that was 1’ thick. I use the backyard for growing food and flowers and the vast majority is grown from seed. Those woodchips are stupidly effective. No issues growing anything I want to grow (except that my dog occasionally digs things up but that’s a different issue 😂).
mix in more green the added heat will help it break down quicker. Funny how everything needs more greens. Also, head to a local bait shop and get a bunch of red wigglers, they are great composters!
Humus sounds as in human / " hu-moss" you pronounced humic acid correctly.
Ha, every time he said it I was picturing the Greek dip… they must pronounce both words the same in the US.
For the dip, we add one additional "M". I'm not at all sure if that is correct. I have to defer to an Englishmen for the grammatical stuff,. they do it better!
Humus is a Greek paste that you eat I believe you mean Humous please notice there is an O in the word.
In the US, that type is spelled with 2 M's- read as "Hummus." My reference is to humus from the humates or left over carbon vesitiges that used to be composted organics. For more info, search: humic acids, humates and humic solids. Theres no reference to those types of foods in my content..only soil humus.. thanks for the comment- very informative!
@@CreedmoorFury Just trying to fit in with American culture of misspelling. That's a very threatening handle you have. Not that there is anything wrong with a good Creedmoor they shoot just fine depending on load.
@davidprocter3578 just depends on which side you may be on. The side of taking in long-distance traffic, or the side of... not.
But its the handle they gave me, so its been that way long as I can recall..😁
Got two more loads of chips this week.
Dr Linday Scott agrees. You do not need to add fertilizer to wood chips.
Good to know!
Use animal dung. That's the best soil builder.
Go listen to Alan Savoy from the Savoy Institute in S Africa. He completely rehabilitated hundreds of thousands of hectares that the government had deemed irredeemable. He used sheep but other livestock can be used. His land retained water, had seasonal streams become permanent, recharged wells and was green all year when lands around his were desolate.
Old school people have been knowing this. I've been knowing this my whole life because my grandfather was a farmer. It s what he did, and his father before him.
I have a question I was watching your video great video I really enjoy it but are you related to Robert Downey Jr?
I'm noticing in some ways when you talk you speak kind of like him and also your facial structure is similar to his facial structure.
My cousin Kevin did say Rob and I are related. Its kinda funny, I do get told that from time to time. I'm sure his acting is wayy better though!
How did you avoid termites?
There arent any. Mother Nature balances them out. She uses ants as a warring faction. In shallow soil depths, ants will still be above ground. Where the soils are far deeper, theres more to forage for within the soils. Since ants and termites are arch enemies, the garden ants will seek the termites out and destroy their colonies in no time. In year 12, I saw a small colony of termites in the garden. It was a total fluke. After returning 1 day later to shoot a video segment, I found only ants. The termites were all killed and displaced. Those that could escape, did, and we never saw them again. If I did have them within the garden, theyd be a welcome sight. Simply put, the ants are a very powerful protective force. Before hating on ants entirely, be sure to be considerate of the fact that many species of ants are responsible for ridding the soils of virology as well as termites.
Stay in the garden for dayz at a time, and much of mother natures plan begins to reveal itself.
@@CreedmoorFury i live in the desert and bought bags of mulch for my fruit trees, it was late afternoon when I added the mulch to the trees just to later realize that the mulch was FULL of termites, I used cold pressed neem oil with dis soap but I still have thousands of them on each tree and idk what to do!
@yaima0901 its simple, go find some ants, lay in to the soil some wetted molasses and deposit some locally sourced ants. The termites will abate very fast.
Funny, when us gray hairs were young, we used to keep ant colonies for educational reasons. That practice fell out of favor long ago. My kids were never asked by the schools to learn by this method. Now, they know not what they missed. Sounds too easy to be true, but it is.
You'd be well served by looking into this method of relocating the natural predatory species. I mean, those bags have lots of unsavory stuff in them. They even can contain a plethora of plant pathogens when they are left under awnings exposed to rain. Anaerobic conditions raise the chances of plant pathology substantially.
Its all avoidable once we reach where you are now. A place of understanding. That is the gift you shall recieve today. Displace them and go back to your Eden!