If this is your first time amending your garden soil, what is your favorite method to do it? If you are a seasoned veteran to gardening what is your routine to keep your soil healthy?
i just put together a bunch of permaculture raised beds with rotting logs, bark, leaf fall, branches, and leaf compost from behind a 30 year old wood pile. Still can't wait to get compost in there. My first garden project back home in the states after covid disolcation and everything in walking distance. Loved your outro, keeping it simple, keeping it real! 1 2 3 4
Thanks for the kind words! Sounds like you are going to have one very healthy soil filled garden! Raised beds is something I’ve really always wanted to do again. Something talker than what I used in the past say 24-30” tall. How tall are your née beds going to be?
@@TexasGardenDoc nees beds are pretty short to start because im making a lot of them so it's a lot of fill. but also they are kind of on a slope so one side is deep. Because I'm already popping some things from inside im mulching parts that are about 16-20" on the high side counting all layers- bark, leaves and sticks, ashey/leafy compost soil, and then a bit more forest soil/clay mix very top, then straw mulch. I cant wait to start chop and drop stuff in too when the foilage really gets going here.
Fantastic! My first beds were only about 12”. I really like the idea of the taller ones, the only down side is everything would be really high up when it’s time to harvest. Sounds like your gonna kind of have the best of both worlds!
Get a cheap garden shredder / chipper. collect hedge clippings from the local area chip them and use as path ways after a year scrape the top off and dig in the rotted remains put the un rotted stuff back on top.Collect grass cuttings for the same purpose. When you find that your pathways have become better soil than your beds move them to improve other strips. Once you have completed the whole garden you will continue to mulch pathways and move them because you know it works.
I've been building up my extreme clay soil. It used to rot the roots and compact down to cement and was a total night mare. There are a few other things I did that really helped the soil structure. All fall and winter I buried all the kitchen scraps using a trench method. Another thing I did was introduced more worms to the soil. It's best to use native worms because they're already used to your soil structure. I housed the worms in ideal conditions in 3 gallon stackable buckets in the laundry room for the winter which allowed them to reproduce at a fast rate. When the spring temps were ideal I released the worms including the soil they were in at night time to give them valuable time to find safe spaces to hide out before morning. Those worms have done a lot of work for me and my soil structure and fertility are becoming something to be proud of. Oh and a side note if you love horseradish you don't have to change the soil structure to plant them. They'll break up the worst of clay soils and grow to 3 feet deep. I had a 20 ft row for 5 years and it changed the soil structure drastically even with all the rocks compacted into the clay soil. Just amazing to see.
Awesome! It sounds like you should be very proud! You took the time and made it work and it will definitely reward you! I did not introduce worms into my soil although I wanted too however I can proudly report that in early spring I found a lot of them in there! I too am very happy and proud! Thank you for sharing your methods as well! There are a few others on here that wanted to try adding scraps directly into the garden and I think your success shows how useful and resourceful that can be when done the way you have! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. I’m trying really hard to make the best quality and best content videos I can! Thank you so much and thanks for taking the time to say this!
I'm right there with you, boss. We're expanding this year in OH on a heavy clay compacted lawn area. It looked like what you have there: just this side of concrete. But Instead of turning it over, I just laid some cardboard over it last fall, topped it with finished compost, a huge pile of shredded leaves, lawn clippings, kitchen waste, and some crop residue. I tarped it all winter, and when I uncovered it in late March, the soil was beautiful. Worms galore. It's growing leeks, cabbage, and cauliflower right now. A lot of work, but worth it.
100%!!! Yep that no dig bed startup works a treat if you’ve got a little time! Congrats! I’d love to you send some updates in spring too! Thanks for adding your method it helps us all!
I'm a new gardener so please forgive my ignorance. How does the soil beneath the cardboard appear? Does it look and feel healthier? Thank you for your time.
Dory hopefully also will reply but in the meantime I can tell you what I know about it. I used this method many years ago to remove grass and weeds for a new bed. The cardboard will deteriorate over time, and it does get the soil to soften up somewhat, however in my experience it is just the first step. When I did this, I put down cardboard and then covered it with about 4-6” of wood chips the season before (it was spring time for me) I kept it moist throughout the season. Then the next season I started planting in it. It wasn’t the best for me that year. I think if I had put a layer of good compost on it, then wood chips or straw it would have been much better. The second year it was really good though. There are many ways to do it and if you want to learn more lookup Charles Dowding here on you tube. He has a great video on starting no dig beds and he starts with cardboard. Charles is kind of the ‘father’ of no dig he is quite good to watch as well! Hopefully Leo replies too!
@@dl3553 The soil is always there: the grass is living on it. However, the cardboard smothers the lawn, and soil bacteria and fungi compost it. The worms feed on the cardboard and composting grass, congregating there since it's moist and they like moisture the cardboard retains, Eventually cardboard breaks down and the worms feed on the composting material above, dragging to below the surface. The result is crumbly soil for the top foot or so. This approach works, but it will take several years (maybe even a decade) to break through any deeper hard-pan. So if you end up with serious drainage problems, my no-till/ low-labor approach will need to be supplemented with some digging.
Thank you for jumping in Leo! Great information! Now...if I could figure out how to supply information as concise and succinctly as you I’ll be a happy man, I’m sooo wordy! 😂
I’m sorry to hear that… I actually don’t control the commercials. RUclips does. All I can do is turn ads off. Sorry to see you go, and if I can never help with anything, just let me know!
@@TexasGardenDoc there were two commercials with the first 5 minutes. And you hadn’t said much at that point. My wife and I have a large vegetable garden and many fruit trees and grape vines and berries. Your videos have great information and are entertaining. However. The entertainment portion isn’t worth the commercials. Most that don’t have the skip feature. It’s just my opinion. You should do will. You do have good videos. Take care.
@@godog4744 I absolutely appreciate the feed back! I can have the non-skippable ads turned off as well. I had this happen to someone else a long while ago on the video and I turned the non skippables off. He saw almost 10 ads, which is crazy too! I'm looking through the settings to see if something got reset. I wish you all the best, and again, I appreciate you letting me know. If no one says anything I have no idea so I truly appreciate you! Best wishes!
Welcome back! I’m very glad to hear that. I was able to turn off the non-skippable ads, they must’ve been turned back on automatically with one of the lighter updates from RUclips. Hopefully you’ll have a much better viewing experience now!
Glad to see someone from Houston area online to share successes and boo-boos. My Ukrainian gramma grew up on a farm, and in Chicago she used to build small compost piles on corner of her garden. Throwing egg shells, coffee grounds, veggie, plant scraps and other organic material, mixing and crushing it with her bare feet. The compost pile was never big and she kept incorporating into her garden. She was a tremendous gardener. I have a small worm farm and make my own compost tea. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Your gramma sounds like an amazing and resourceful woman! I’ve wanted to start a worm farm for a long while now, but have never gotten around to it. They are so amazing and helpful in he garden! Thank you for your wonderful comment!
Very informative with bad soil. I live in Phx our soil is so had as well I think worst than yours. Super hard and yes when I watered it it dried and gets hard right away. I love gardening my passion. Long story short I started of planted my Blue Corbra hot Chile my very first crop it did so well I never fertilized, pruned, compost nothing I just watered 2x daily with very bad soil. It thrived I picked it daily I more I picked the more it flowered daily no kidding. Until it got so bushey and tall I started to cut of the branches that when it started to died on me until there was nothing left. I pulled out the roots and thought that was the mend if my peppers. Surprised I threw in a Basil and my Blue Corbra started to grow lol from seeds dropped when I pulled it out. I had 20-30 Blue Corbra, I only kept 7-8 of them it was too packed in my mine garden I pulled them out. Fast forward it's July 2nd they are thriving yes in 112 degrees Phx heat. I learned so much with gardening, since I have a baby garden I learned to provide my plants with better soil no more bad soil. I pretty did what you did, however it's hard for me to find starws here I use woodchips and leaves from our ugly tree lol it falls daily. I threw it in a bucket with throw away scraps like fruits peel coffee ground etc. I also learned how to use proper fertilizers. Thanks to videos like yours helps me a lot to be a better gardener 🙂. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words, I truly appreciate that! I’ve never actually heard of the blue cobra hot chilies, it sounds very interesting! Is it a super hot, or what kind of chili is it? I know that my peppers really prefer a lot of heat, and in the summertime here we have days that feel like 110 even as high as 115, with very high humidity. I do have to watch out for sun scald on the plants, particularly the leaves in the fruits. I think this is super cool! The best part about this is that you are now normalizing your plant specifically for your micro climate and area. Each year you grow seeds from the same plant it is more custom to your area, and particularly whatever fruit you saved the seed from from can help you further narrow your plans down to exactly what you want. It sounds like you’re really winning here and that’s fantastic! The whole reason I started my channel was to help people learn things that seems kind of difficult on the surface, but really are quite simple. I like to experiment a lot, just like what you’ve done with your peppers. It’s the best way I know how to learn, and it sounds like you’ve learned a lot from your own hard work as well. RUclips is a great source for learning things and seeing other ways to do something that we might not have thought of in the past. That’s very cool thank you so much for sharing and I wish you all the best with all your peppers as well!
I saw this video and you did a good job shooting the video you remind me of myself when I first started out gardening so much to learn keep up the good work
My old hometown Orange County NC is one of Emeril Legassi’s largest supplier of Ginseng. Orange County is ALL red clay.. I was very shocked at just how much stuff grows so great in clay-like soils.. if you have that kind of soil, I would consider trying it. We’re zone 6 & are very successful w/nearly everything here- even citrus trees :). Also, I began learning about truffles- basically things that are good for you & have value if the need arises to have to barter or possibly sell- truffles are also well known all around NC. They grow off the fungus of trees, mainly in the winter (my understanding). Some even train dogs to locate it for harvest, esp if they sell it. Truffle is so expensive, as well as the ginseng. I wish I was in a warmer climate, & may love to one, as I would grow a lot more. NC has 4 seasons & gardening window is big- we even have many winter specific plants that grow nicely here. I encourage everyone: never be scared to try to grow something. I’m in an apartment & I use water indoors to grow many things year round, or just to begin some things in water to have ready for the growing season.. I have a patio & I’ll be making a vertical growth & make ways for runners to hang from the patio ceiling when growing so they’re not on the ground. Can’t wait! :)).
Believe it or not, I did know about the truffle sniffing dogs! When I first heard of it I thought, there’s no way. The. I saw what they cost and I was like, yep…makes sense! What I DIDNT know was about ginseng in NC! I never would have thought! One of the things I’ve refocused on starting late last year was just what you spoke about. The things that might be very valuable to our health! It’s crazy how much I used to know and do and how it just kind of faded away until now. I think I’ve never heard anyone say it better though, never be scared to grow something ever! So good, thank you again!
This is exactly the same soil I have and why I had to change to a container garden and tons of composting. Composting is a year round activity from the shavings from my chicken beds to breaking down plain cardboard to grass clippings.
I’ve actually shifted most of my gardening to raised beds now as well. I have to say, though I do in the end I still prefer gardening on the ground. This really transformed my soil quickly and by the next spring season it was fully ready to plant and very healthy! And you’re right about composting, it is a year-round activity, and it spreads multiple years as well sometimes! It sounds like you’re doing all the right things!
My city provides free compost and wood chips. I personally have a huge 8’x4’ 3’ deep bin I’m currently composting from stuff I collected from my own garden. Thank you so much for making this so simple and easy. There are waaaay too many gardeners on here that make it seem like you have to buy all of these things just to grow 1 plant. Luckily our native soil of really good. I’m currently in the process of making my own liquid fertilizer as well with bananas peels. My fingers are crossed in hopes that My plants bare fruit. This is my first year gardening!
That’s awesome! Yeah I don’t have a ton of time or money to spend in the garden so I do my best to keep things simple. It doesn’t always work but I try! I’m excited about making my own liquid fertilizers as well! This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while so I’m really excited to give it a try myself!
Hi, based on your mention of Nature's way, I'll bet you live awfully close to my old home off 45 and 242. I recently moved into my very own pine forest and it started like yours, pure sugar sand. After last year's poor crops (no amendments, was learning as I went), and a run in with aminopyralid in the cow manure off my parents property, I finally learned how to amend our local soil and man, its like I'm not even in the same garden soil any more. Its possible to turn sugar sand into fertile earth, my garden is living proof!
You would be correct on all accounts! Is your new place in the same area? Absolutely, my fall garden grew like crazy!!! Unfortunately a lot of my spring garden drowned with all the rain over the last few weeks (14” in 14 days). So awesome to meet someone that has had success that’s near by!
Oh wow! That’s a LOT of labor! I’m currently expanding my garden into a new area. The trees have grown so much around my current garden that there just isn’t enough light any more. I’m building raised beds there as well. But although I’m jealous mine aren’t 200’ I’m thankful I don’t have to build them either! So are you working on a small production farm or something specialized or certain varieties? Very cool stuff!
It definitely has a lot of work! I will say this, though, is well worth it! I planted in that soil a couple weeks later, and everything grew pretty well through the winter and in the spring. By the time I got the spring plantings, the soil was absolutely amazing! I’m glad to help you out, and if you have any questions at all, doesn’t just have to be about soil, but anything Gordon related I’d love to help!
Thanks! We got some pretty terrible soil last year here for our raised beds so have been trying to figure out how to fix it when I ran across your video. I like how you are aware of the budget constraints of most gardeners. Our soil was sold as a compost but was actually topsoil mixed with bits of plastic (that we removed most of) and unrotted cow manure that just clumps up when dry. Lost several plants which simply died immediately after transplanting into this nasty mix. Am trying to fix it this year with your method. Let's see how it goes!
Oh wow! It confounds me to think of what people sell as soil.I know I was pretty disappointed myself! The manure that is fresh is the hardest part in my opinion. Try to turn it in deep so that it will compost better. I think your biggest challenge is going to be (other than the plastic...and btw REALLY...PLASTIC! come one guys that’s horrible!) keeping those plant roots from getting burned by the manure. Maybe try digging in deep when you plant. Maybe pulling some soil that doesn’t have the cow manure in it into the hole. For the next season try using a really good organic fertilizer and by late year that cow manure should pay itself back to you with really good fertilizer. So sorry to hear that this happened to you. Keep me updated as to how it’s going and how it works out. What are you growing this season?
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks so much for the tips! I'll be sure to make sure that the new soil goes well on top effectively burying the manure. This year I'm trying to grow onions, brussel sprouts, the usual tomatoes and peppers and a lot of different sorts of flowers in the raised beds. I do note that last year the only things that grew in the soil were tomatoes, marigold, sunflowers (and they did really well!) and corn. Most greens died quickly, and I lost a beautiful star jasmine.
Well don’t give up! You’ll find a balance, and once you get the soil dialed in you’ll be harvesting more than you can eat! Best wishes to you and I look forward to updates!
Great prsentation, really enjoyed it tnx. We actually applied a very similar remedy, but not to clay-ish soil but garden soil that was lifeless, sandy, with no body or texture, as well as oily, and therfore forever bone dry (typically 1cm down from surface even after a nice downpour). The change has been magical & very rewarding; All best on the road ahead!
That's fantastic! A lot of people have asked me different ways to fix different soils, some have even commented here and gotten a bit....hmmm testy about the fact that this is 'only' for clay soils/ So great to hear of your success and thank you so much for your kind words! The best to you as well!
Thank you for the informative videos. I appreciate the time and effort. I was spoiled during our time living in the coastal region of WA state. I could plant anything and it would grow like magic. When hubby retired from the military we moved back to our home state of TX. I became so discouraged when it came to gardening (black clay dirt) that I gave up. I'm going to start a small test section using your techniques.
Good old black gumbo clay! Seems to stick to everything but the ground! Yeah that stuff is tough! I would say this method is going to definitely help and get you started. By the next spring after making that video the soil was perfect! It might take you another season after doing the method here. Just depends on how bad that clay is. But. In the spring time you can add another 4-6 inches of compost to the top and plant straight into it. With a little mulch on top you should have done good results in spring. If you have any questions along the way let me know. I’d love to help more if I can!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video! I learned so much and this is the first time seeing it. I wish you good health and look forward to learning more about gardening.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the video! Dealing with garden soil can be frustrating at times, but it doesn’t always have to be complicated. The good news is, is it within I have a growing season. My cells improved tremendously! Thank you so much for your kind comment!
Edwin it’s true! It is both a blessing and a curse at times. Shade has been my true enemy for a while now. But it’s manageable at the moment. Thank you!
Ryan, thank you for the kind words! How many ads did you have to watch? I don’t tell RUclips where or how many ads to run, but if they are becoming really intrusive I may start doing that. At least I think you can still do that….hmm I need to look into that. Id love to hear how many they were and if the were skipable, or non-shipable, banners etc. I know how truly annoying that can be and frustrating! Thanks for any information and for taking the time to not only sit through the ads but comment as well, you’re awesome!
@@TexasGardenDoc hey, Doc! Thanks for the reply. I know you don't control the ads, but thank you for the clarification. I am very familiar with how RUclips works since I'm a regular user. I believe there was around 4-5 ads during the video. It didn't seem way out of control but definitely more then normal. Most of them had the 5 second skip option. Also, how's the soil building going? Have you tried asking arborists for their wood chips? Happy growing!
@@CriticalThinker27 That is a lot! At least you could skip them though. Another life ago when I first started on RUclips you could tell it what kind of ad and where to play it, I'm going to have to look into that again if it's still available. The Soil was absolutely amazing last spring! I did nothing more this last fall than top it up with some compost and it's growing like gang-busters! Many years ago we used to be able to get wood chips from the county highline clearing people for free and some other sources as well. Soemone figured out you could build a business off of that and now ALL woodchips are spoken for! lol Buuut you can buy them from this new business start up! So goes life! I'm expanding my garden this year slowly. I will have to buy woodchips as I want to use them for my paths at a minimum. Thanks so much for giving more info on the ads as well. I know ads are just a thing on RUclips but I'm a consumer of youtube too and I know sometimes it's just too much, so I want to control that if I can! Thanks again!
If you can get wood chips use them for the paths in your garden, we dug our paths down to 2 - 3 feet (lots of woodchips) add grass clippings to the chips. After a year or so we rake up the chips to get to the area where they have broken down and mound them on the garden beds. If you can get the chips, use your bedding from the chickens to breakdown the carbons quicker due to high urea levels.
I do like that ideas is well. The whole Back to Eden method was something I used about 12 years ago on a much bigger plot. Woodchips are amazing! I really like the idea of using the paths as in ground composter! Even better the material is where you’ll be using it
Your vid is heaven sent. We have the same type of soil plus a lot of large rocks. I'm preparing to transfer my calamansi seedlings there. I don't have a pitchfork so I used a pick axe and a shovel. I've only done a square meter and I was dead tired. Anyway, with what I've done so far, I dug about a foot deep and plan to do it the rest of the way tomorrow. Yes, I don't have money to buy compost, so I plan to bury all my kitchen scraps, dead leaves, egg shells, coffee grounds then put the soil back then afterwards transfer my seedlings onto that bed. What do you think? Just last week, it had tomato plants but I've since uprooted them so I can prepare the soil. The tomato didn't bear any fruit and kept dieing maybe because of the bare clay soil. No nutrients whatsoever that I added.
It may be that the tomatoes didn’t due well because they suffocated. In heavy clay, even if it is watered enough, the clay packs in so tightly that the roots get no oxygen at all. I know it sounds strange but it’s true! It sounds like you have some really hard clay by how hard you had to work! I would suggest doing just what you’ve done, work an area that you need for this season by working in organic matter deep down (dry leaves would be best for this, try to shreds them up some, but don’t put any kitchen scraps in that area for this season) Next I would use anything you can find to mulch the area that you can’t work the soil. Leaves, hay or straw (just make sure there wasn’t any herbicide sprayed on it!), even layers of cardboard will work. Keep it damp in those areas.that will start breaking down the top layer and make it a bit easier to work in about 4 to 6 months. Burying kitchen scraps is a great way to amend the soil! One caution though, depending on what you are burying I wouldn’t bury it directly under where you will be planting soon. It needs time to break down some and you don’t want your plant roots in it until it does. There are some exceptions to that, but for the most part it holds true. Instead dig a trench alongside where your plants are in ground that’s not being used. Then next season plant where you were burying the scraps deep and then put scraps in the soil where your plants were last season. I have a few things I’m working in that can really help improve soil quality that is more accessible than buying or even making compost. I’m hoping to be done experimenting and have some videos up soon. I love that you are experimenting with things! Be sure to report back how things improve! Best of luck!
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks for putting the time and effort to reply substantially to my case. Those are great tips. Another back breaking day tomorrow. Just so damn hard with those rocks. The lot where my house stands used to be a vacant lot. Neighbors kept piling all their construction materials, large stones, cement, plastics and now they're all buried. It's really hard because when I strike the soil, often there are large rocks that I just have to stop and dig it out before continuing to breakdown the soil again.
That is insane! I can see why now it’s so back breaking! I know that money is always a factor, but hilling up soil or even a 12” raised bed could really help! If you can’t do it, then just take your time and work small areas. You don’t have to get it all perfect now, but I can tell you your work will pay off and you will have an amazing garden you can be proud of! I wonder if you could use the rock you are pulling out of the ground to start lining areas for raised beds later. Just a thought!
Thanks you really inspired me. I will not allow failure this time. I will do it correctly. I failed with the tomatoes because I just tilled the soil but made no effort to amend it.
Find me on Twitter @TexasGardenDoc and shoot me an update if you like. I love to see how people are doing things because we can all learn from each other!
Thank you so much! Make sure and come back with anything you learned that worked for you too, it helps me learn more, and we’ll all of us! Thanks for taking the time for those kind words and the very best of luck to you!
I love hearing that! The Conroe area is very well known for either having sandy soil, or lots of clay. There doesn’t seem to be much in between! I’m glad to hear you’re getting going, and if you have any questions about anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask. It doesn’t even have to be about soil’s, if I can help, I’d love to!
Thank you, that is very kind of you! It’s strange, but I’ve always loved just talking to people. For some reason when I’m in front of the camera I feel the same way. Thank you so much, it means the world to me!
Thanks so much! Those 4 things really have helped through lots of things in my life. South Texas soil is definitely tough! This worked really well for me though. That fall I planted in the upper layer of composted and mixed soil and by spring the soil was already much better. By the next fall it was excellent! Let me know how it works out for you and if you have any questions let me know!
Hi Doc, I've fitted a long handle to the garden fork and it is far easier on the back as well as giving you more leverage. The local council here has been widening a road for a solar farm project and as a result there has been a mountain of eucalyptus chips which I am using for mulch in the gardens. The leaves break down first so they feed the soil. Next the bark breaks down and finally the wood chip takes years which is great. So far my wife and I have gathered 30 7'X4' box trailer loads. I had better mention that I rang and asked permission to get the wood chip. I slash grass in the paddock and use it as bedding and nesting material for the chickens and by the way we Aussies call them chooks lol. The used bedding and nesting along with the chook poop gets composted and used as fertilizer. Soils are one of my great loves, healthy soils give healthy plants and that means healthy animals. We had a small farm, just 200 acres and used these principles to improve what was pure sand. Now we are on just 17 acres, loamy sand on top of rock hard clay and it's a battle but paying us back for all our efforts. I really enjoy your shows, thank you for sharing your experiences with us.
That’s excellent! And howdy from Texas as well! That’s funny you mentioned that you asked for permission. As I was reading it, I was thinking, “oh no, you have to be careful with that!”, And then I read the next line and chuckled lol! That is fantastic and very resourceful. I like the idea of extending the handle, it would definitely be easier on the lower back. It sounds like, I might be able to learn a few things from you! Thank you so much for your comment and your experience as well. I always love hearing what other people go through in message they use, it helps me learn new things as well!
@@TexasGardenDoc I did a 2 year horticulture certificate course where I fell in love with soils and managed 100% on my soils exams. Then I decided I needed a bit more of a challenge and did an online university course on environmental biology but the best education I have ever had was watching my grand father and my father grow food in our back yard. It's great that we can learn from each other.
I completely agree! My grandmother tried to teach me quite a bit, of course I was young, and didn’t listen like I should have, but so is youth. But I did absorb quite a bit, and it’s strange how even now all these years later, I’ll do something and and think, “why do I do that! Where did I learn that?“ And then I’ll get a memory from the past of watching my grandmother do it! Universities and formal education can definitely teaches the basics on how to learn and the role material we need to learn to build upon. But I will say that those that do it and have done it for years are the ones that can really teach us something. One of the things I envisioned for this channel when I got started, was it one day I wanted to have a place where everybody could gather and ask questions, show off their successes, show off their failures. Just generally a safe place for everyone to share, and to learn! The whole idea is to help people just keep growing. And I think there’s no better way to do that then leveraging everyone’s knowledge. I certainly don’t know everything, and I have had a lot of failures over the years, and still do. I don’t know it was just something I was thinking one day I’d like to do!
@@TexasGardenDoc A friend once said of her husband "Jerry always wanted to be a vet and he studied and worked in factories until he passed his exams and became a vet. What did you always want to do?". It took me by surprise and for the first time in my life I looked back and realised that all I ever wanted to do was live in peace, at one with nature and as close to nature as I could be. I did that, sadly I am not able to keep up with the hard and heavy work but now I am still going and thanks to people like you I am still learning, sharing and enjoying a great life. Good on you mate and I'll raise a glass to you🍺
I have to admit, that is pretty profound! I suppose it was her husband that inspired that and her, but I wonder what inspired that in him? I always wonder how people suddenly come to the path they choose, what the catalyst was. I think maybe some of it has to do with age. As we get a bit older, we start to see the world a little more clearly. I know I feel that way. I feel the same about you, it’s great to learn something from someone who has experience in such things. I’m just grateful to be able to share, and spend what time I can in my garden. Is the place where I truly feel at peace! Cheers to you mate!
The way I did it was pitch fork the soil for aeration without disturbing it to much, added leaf compost and mushroom soil then bagged topsoil. Mixed the top layers up only. Did this in the fall. Covered it with landscape material and planted in the spring. The worms and microbes did the rest. In 7 months the bottom hard soil turned to rich soil about 3 to 4 in deep.
Awesome! I love how you tried to keep the lower soil structure intact and I disturbed as much as possible too! Works are amazing! I’ve never done it before but I’m thinking of buying some worm eggs to spread around too!
Truth! I’ve seen a few already from the mulch last season. I was thinking for a new space I’m planning that has just as much clay. Maybe on the clay the compost and aeration technique a few worm eggs and mulch. Kind of a double punch! I know here they end up drowning when we get heavy rains due to the clay.
Gerri thank you so much for the kind words! I hope it helps you get things moving in the right direction for your garden. I know this method has always helped me! Let me know how it turns out and what you did different. I love learning how other people overcome these type things!
I will. I'm originally from Kentucky but I live in a small town in Saudi Arabia. I'm determined to grow everything I can here. It's our growing season now as the summers are way too hot. Anyway I spend my summers in Kentucky and I grow a garden there.
Now THAT is a challenge! It’s one thing to change zones but to move across the world….that is BIG change! The good news is gardening is gardening no matter where you are. Best of luck to you and I would love to hear all about your struggles and successes. I’ll bet you find your rhythm in no time and get a beautiful productive garden going!
I'm in Florida and I have sugar sand. I had to bring in top soil them garden soil on top. I'm planting cover crops this summer hoping to build my soil up in the next few years.
Oh wow! I’ve heard that’s some of the hardest things to deal with! I hear the sand just eats organic material. There’s a guy on RUclips he wrote a book called something like Florida food forest. He has some really great content. Man I can’t think of his name right now. I’d love to hear how your garden does and what you have to do to maintain it.best of luck and I hope you have your best garden ever!
Thank you so much. l live in the San Antonio area, and the soil in my backyard isn't that great. I love working outdoors, so this will be a great project to do. I also love how you give alternatives to expensive items. Thank you again for this video. You have a new subscriber.
Thank you, you are very kind, and I appreciate the subscription too! I find that gardening, although it should be fairly inexpensive can at times be just the opposite, so I like to give alternatives where I can. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, and if you have any questions along the way, let me know. I’d love to help!
I just built 2 raised beds using (used) cement blocks I sourced for free! Then went to order compost to fill the top 1/2 of each and we can only get topsoil! Your mentioning this problem too made your video very important to me. For bed one, I laid cardboard in the bottom, then a layer of leaves upon which I laid a pretty good layer of big sticks followed by little sticks. After that, any/all organic materials from my yard and the neighbors yards - more leaves, then, I put in a good layer of the topsoil. I saved room at the top for what I hoped would be some compost. It is a rare source and very expensive when it can be found, so I discoverd several piles of rotting leaves and wood chips at my sister's that she said I could have so I am now trying to decide whether or not spreading this on top will be okay to plant in. That is my question. I may be able to find a bit of compost and thought maybe I could put some in each planting hole. I am in need of guidance before I proceed, and I want to put my plants in by June one. Thank you for this video and also thanks in advance for any advice.
Elizabeth, it sounds to me like you are on the right track! Here is how I think I would proceed. Those rotting leaves and chips you got from your sister, I would mix them in with that top soil. I guess I should ask; this top soil is it reddish and when you wet it holds a lot of water? If it dries out is really hard? If so mix those chips and leaves into it. If you can find much compost or potting soil, I think over digging the planting hole and adding that would be a good idea. After that, make sure and put a good layer of mulch on top, maybe 4 inches or so. That will keep the upper layers from drying out really badly and getting hard. Then in the fall add a good layer of compost, no need to mix it in except maybe the top inch of the soil and the bottom inch of compost, and mulch again. Use straw, grass clippings leaves, whatever you have, just shreds the leaves well if you can. I’d start thinking about the compost now. If you can’t or don’t think you can get any later this year, start composting yourself to make what you can. Kitchen scraps, green waste from the garden, cardboard leaves, grass clippings whatever you have. Keep it damp but not wet, and turn it regularly. Then you will have something to add in the fall if you can’t find any. You have a great base setup, the only real concern is if that topsoil has a lot of clay, it may hold too much water right now, so those larger holes with compost should help. It’s gonna be a challenge but just watch your plants closely. Remember that yellowing leaves isn’t always a sign of not enough water, it can be a sign of too much water as well, so watch things as they grow. I think you might not have the best yield this season, but next season you are setup pretty good! Thanks so much and best of luck! If you have any other questions let me know!
@@TexasGardenDoc Thank you for the quick reply, Doc! The top soil is not red, it is black-ish. There are some clumps but I can break them up pretty easily. I will proceed as you suggested with my final layers in the beds, and although I already do some composting myself, I will up my game, especially now knowing it may get even more difficult to find. I'll also start planning for further improvements and hopefully over time, I will reap the rewards. I'm off to pick up a rain barrel today to add to my developing system, and while I'm out, I'll see what I can find for mulch. I've subscribed to your channel now that I've found you and have a lot of catching up to do. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
You are most welcome! If it’s a dark color that isn’t red, that soil is probably just fine so you may be in luck! I’d still add a little compost to the planting holes but I think you are good to go! Like I said just keep an eye on the drainage in that top layer and you should be golden!
Wow. I also did something similar. There was my old dry clay soil with a few weeds in it. Water wouldn't pass through. It would flow off. I mixed old cow manure with earthworms in it. I mixed some leaves and dry weeds amd matter to it with a few green matter mixed up. On top i put as many green weeds i had and covered it with dried neem leaves then i gave a good watering. It will be left for 2-3 months with regular watering. Just it 2 days ago
That sounds like it will do the trick! Mine was nice and soft with good drainage about 2 months or so after. Still really good now! Hope it works for you! It’s a lot of work but so worth it!
Hey Doc. Oklahoman and new subscriber here. Great video and advice sir. I know this video is about 3 years old now. I was wondering if you knew the trick to help get rid of the majority of the wheat seeds from the straw? There's another channel, Millennial Gardener who shows a pretty good method for doing that. Takes time and definitely have to plan ahead but I too was disappointed by the amount of wheat sprouts I had to pull out after the first time using straw as mulch last year. I found his method and have two bales ready to use this spring. Thought I would share. Anyway, may you and your family be blessed.
Howdy! Actually, that next spring I started using hay that had been grown locally. Luckily, I was able to confirm that at the time that he had not been sprayed with any kind of herbicides or insecticides. Fast forward about a year, and the hay supplier changed. They said that it was fine , but it definitely was not fine. I had bought two bales of hay at the time one sat in my wagon off the ground in my garden well the other I put on one of my new raised beds. Nothing grew well at all in that bed it was stunted. Luckily, I had not used the other bail yet and did some deeper research to find out that they had used a non-long-term herbicide on the hay. I did not use that other bale of hay until about a year later, and during that timeframe, I bought two more bales. I did the same with the other two bales, keeping them in the sun, and for the most part protecting them too much rain. That serve me pretty well over the next year and a half or so, but it was definitely a pain! I didn’t really have anywhere to store them, and it made it kind of difficult to continually do. So beginning this last fall, I bought a bail of certified organic non-or side straw from my local feed store. It says right there on the bag. It’s safe for gardens, but there will be some sprouted seed that shows up. I thought no big deal. I’ll just deal with it. It won’t be that bad. it looked like I had actually planted grain in my garden! Lol. Given the trade-off, I still have hay waiting to go, but I don’t really mind having to pull the wheat anymore. Usually when I do apply straw, I apply it pretty thick and it’s pretty easy to grab and pull out. In areas where it’s pretty thick, I just use my shears and cut the greens off and they pretty well die since they’re not deeply rooted in anything but the straw. So I guess that’s a really long way of saying, no I have not found a good way to avoid that in straw, and it doesn’t seem to be a problem, but it’s really hard to verify sometimes so be careful when you do it even waiting a year or more depending on the herbicide, it can last up to 3 to 5 years in the hay. I know who millennial Gardner is I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that video, but I’ll have to go check it out to see what he does! I hope that helps at least a little bit, and I’d love to hear what method you’re using. I really do appreciate the subscription as well, and I wish you and your family all the same blessings!
Lol. You won’t regret it! Your clay may be a bit worse than mine, but I did that in the fall and planted directly in the compost. Fall garden was amazing, and by spring the rest of the garden soil was perfect!
@@TexasGardenDoc Yes, I have plenty of home made mulch from grass clippings and pruned trees. (It’s sat in a big soggy pile.) I am confused about sand, to use or not to use that is the question,,,, (there seem to be many differing views) Of course all of this is probably procrastinating so I don’t have to start getting my back into it. 😉☺️
🤣😂🤣 oh it will get your back that is a fact! So here is my take on sand. Sandy loam soil is considered to be very good soil. However, when you have heavy heavy clay, it’s very difficult to mix sand in and have it work. If you have some clay in your soil maybe…but the only real way to mix it would be to either turn it over and over like a crazy person, or dig it all up dry it all out and pulverize it and mix the right proportions of materials. Non of those seam practical too me. Breaking up the clay and mixing in the organic matter s best you can down deep, then mixing composted into the top 3 or so inches (if you want to add a little sand here you can, but you don’t really need too, and then adding another 3-4” layer on top of compost, you will basically be resetting your soil into a no-till style slightly raised bed. The lowest organic stuff you mixed in will break down and bring worms and microbes into the clay to help break it up some more, all the while you have good soil to plant on top. Since most fall vegetables don’t need to go deep you are good to go. By the time spring rolls around you can plant things like dakon radish, purple hull or royal peas (beans) things like that which can help change your soil deeper down. Then next fall top with a few inches of compost and re mulch. Rinse wash repeat!
@@TexasGardenDoc Great, yes,,, I have been watching more vids and it seems the sand can cause more problems in the long run. (I love RUclips)! I thank you again for your extremely kind advice. ☺️👍😉I will follow your method which seems to get great results. Here goes,,,, 🤞😅
To,, welcome! Florida is an amazing state! The only thing I’ve ever heard that’s different is some areas have such sandy soil that it just swallows up anything you out in it to amend it, which is crazy! I believe your area doesn’t have that as a widespread problem though which is great! Thanks for taking the time to comment, and best wishes yo you!
@@TexasGardenDoc We live on the Fl/Georgia border known as the Red Hills. Yes - we have real hills because we are the ‘toenails’ of the Appalachians. We have a great deal of red clay & we are in zone 8b. Lots of trees, too.
Man that red clay out there is TOUGH! the good news is it’s very fixable. That’s the one thing we don’t have much of where I am, hills. What we call a hill is about a three foot high bump to most people! 😂
Heeeeeyyyyyyyy! SE Texas here too! And oh boy I’ve got a mess of clay soil here except dirt cheap mulch Sold it to me. Yes, I paid for a mostly clay soil mix they called garden mix and I filled 4-30” raised beds FULL of it. (Well with some hugel at the bottom with a lot of small limbs). At this rate I won’t need to water my gardens until August! lol 🤦♀️🤦♀️ I did an emergency amendment on two of them and it’s still not good enough but better. So glad I found your channel! I’ll be following you like white on rice 😆😂🤓
HAHA! Good to hear from another SE Texan! Yeah, I can't really believe what they sold me last year, I was actually just looking to even the ground and instead I got that clay mess! Raised beds makes it harder! You can mix some gypsum in there and that will help a lot too. I can tell you that as of today, my soil is lighter, richer and isn't a sticky mess any more! You're right though, with this rain we've had HEAVY for 45 minutes, yeah you may never have to turn on the spigot!
@@TexasGardenDoc Thanks! Good to see another SE Texan on here! Exactly with the rain. I have grass seed down and don’t mind it for that but holy crap not the gardens. I wish I could install some of those big beach umbrellas to shield the gardens. lol I will definitely look into some gypsum. Thanks! As soon as these plants are done I’ll be out there with a shovel and amendments 👌😅 I was thinking about doing some lasagna layers with lava rocks (for more bacterial life and drainage) and then adding in more chips/compost to the soil. What do you think?
You’d have the beachiest garden every with those umbrellas! I don’t have any experience using lava rocks mixed in. I have read that if you get the really small stuff say 1/8” or so that’s been known to help some with the soil. So something like that could work I would think but again I’ve never tried it. I would also look into vermiculite as you can get it pretty cheaply (relatively) in bulk. In fact the seed starting soil video is pretty close to the right mix for raised beds (but I’d recommend 2 parts compost 2 parts peat moss to 1 part vermiculite). Since you already have your soil in you could just work the vermiculite compost and peat moss in as deep as you can for this season and that would help a lot! As for wood chips if you use them as mulch they will certainly improve the soil quality over time. For this video I didn’t want to wait so that’s why I worked so much in. I’m jealous btw...I sooooo want raised beds! But time and location just won’t let me do it right now! I’d love to see and hear how it all turns out! Find me on Twitter (@TexasGardenDoc) and give me an update if you like!
@@TexasGardenDoc LoL beachy and weird. Guess I don’t want to be that neighbor with beach umbrellas in her gardens. Haha 😆 You know the next lil storm we get they’d be in the trees or someone else’s backyard. 😂😬 Thanks SO much! I’m still a toddler in regards to gardening so thank you for the tips. I will go with your suggestion for sure. Sounds easier than dealing with lava rock. I did take out my lettuce, put it in a planter with vermiculite (first time ever used it) and thank tha Lord they are taking off and we will get to start to enjoy that this weekend. I’ll have to find some in bulk. 👍🏻👍🏻. I’ll let you know how it goes! I don’t have twitter and ditched Facebook. They like to sell personal information and too deep into politics for me but I’ll watch for you here! 👌🤓 So happy to see an experienced se Texas gardener on here. Hopefully you’ll stick around. You definitely have the experience, voice and energy for this! Thanks again and have a great weekend!
One good thing though. If you need underground tunnels, rooms etc. You could make something like the Cu Chi tunnels. Clay is good stuff for creating improvised pots etc. Good material for bricks, pizza ovens etc... Yep. For growing stuff - it is tough though.
I had a patch of ground(not soil) worse than that. It wouldn't grow anything and was solid clay. It took three years(our growing season was only 4 months) to turn it into fluffy nutrient rich soil. This was in Saskatchewan Canada.
I believe that! It’s hard work, but the fact that you stayed with it and now you have something that you can use that is good, fertile and loose soil is a testament to your hard work!
I have black gumbo clay on the Texas coast 20 miles inland it doesn't resemble your soil in any way except for holding water , the soil gets 3" cracks in it during the summer without rain , that's the only time that it drains well , then the storms move in off of the Gulf and the soil tightens back up !
Ah yes the dreaded black gumbo! I'm very familiar with that! Where I grew up is right in the zone you talked about. That stuff gets slippery and sticky and then dry with giant cracks! My father made small raised beds on top of them back in the day. After those, we did the same type of amending that I show in this video, but it definitely takes more than one or two seasons to get it just right. Thanks so much for commenting! In Texas your within distance to say, 'Hi neighbor!" 😃
Hey love the Teal Color themed but also consider building a treehouse over just a house that tears down the forest. Trees should be building blocks no tearing blocks. It can be funky and swirlyio just needs a bit of adjusting imagination and blueprinting and there we go and inventive you might get more followers because your not just helping humanity but your helping the World. We are not only making channels grow but It inspire others to experiment and RUclips Channels will grow when we choose to help the world 2 ways in one stone. Building a tree house and putting gardens in it. It can maybe make new species
Thank you! Brown leaves work great! You can also use dried grass clippings (but not green, better if they are brown and dried and I tend to go kind of light on the grass) Dried leaves are also great for mulch!
Thank you for the kind words! He method I used here was kind of a one-off method to speed up soil quality. Yes you absolutely can plant in it right away! I planted in it the next week and everything grew really well. Now every year when it’s time to amend the garden, I simply put a layer of pure compost on top (2-3 inches) and plant directly in that as well! No mixing in! Thanks for stopping by and best of luck in your gardening adventures!
My goal is to enrich my clay soil so any future big rain can be absorbed into the ground rather than create a flooded backyard. Our yard was a muddy mess from the recent storms, where you would sink a couple inches every step you take. The last couple of weeks i got busy and attempted what you showed in the video. First I aired the soil clay with garden fork then worked in a thin layer of dead pine leaves and unfinished compost (it was all I had). The last thing to do is to mulch the whole area. My question is whether I need to water this area repeatedly even if nothing is to be planted there? We are in a drought and we get penalized if too much water is used.
@@alicenakajima6014 Alice it sounds like you are on the right track to me! Even using a little will go a long way to making it better each season. As for watering, not you really don't need to especially if you aren't planting. Don't get me wrong, it definitely needs some water to help break things down but for the most part, that organic partially broken down material down there will absorb some water itself. If you are using a mulch that blows away like straw or hay, I would recommend wetting it down really well one time just to help it stay in place and get some water into the soil a bit. If you are using whole leaves from deciduous trees you can try the same thing, but it's probably not worth getting fined for using the water as it won't do a lot for those leaves if it's only small quantities of water. If the leaves are shredded then a little water will help keep it there. Not much, just something to keep it in place. I'm so excited to hear how it turns out for you and what other things you come up with. Using what you have is key! Thank you Alice!
I live in SWLA, so we are neighbors kinda . I have a heavy clay soil . I amended my raised beds with paper products like household cardboard and shredded paper (such as junk mail,which I have plenty of LOL ) I also have been using biochar for a few years now because the GOOD LORD has provided our area with not 1 but 2 hurricanes in the past year and a half or so . I am making lemonade with all the lemons (haha)Hope you get the humor .All these things have helped it’s a work in progress. GOD made dirt , dirt can’t hurt Enjoyed the videos DOC See y’all soon TD
Howdy neighbor! Love that attitude! Yeah we always get worried about hurricanes, those things start moving east and we are thankful but y’all take the full hit! Now that I have a daughter in Baton Rouge I’m even more aware of that fact! Bio char is so so good for the little soil beasts too! So are you doing a kind of Hugelkultur set up as well? I unfortunately have to relocate my garden and was thinking along your same lines rotting logs and cardboard and some bio char which I’ve not really used before. God made it all you hit the nail on the head. Thanks for stopping by Todd, let me know how things are going this spring and NO MORE HURRICANES! We can all hope right!
@@TexasGardenDoc I guess I am doing a Cajun Redneck Kinda huglkultur (spelling ?) Prior to the storms we had a bad water leak in our house,so the paper goods that were unsalvagable I stacked up along side the other raised beds I have and started a new bed . Basically a lasagna type bed , let it compost down in place for a year or so then started a new bed . Good stuff in Good stuff out . Just a side not : I always say a prayer after I plant seeds or plants like this- God help me plant the seeds and water them and HE make the increase God bless TD
Oh man! That water leak from the snow-pocalypse laste year? You really do know how to make lemonade out of lemons! Great stuff! It’s funny. Everything around us is Him. I don’t think most people see it that way anymore. Starting my new garden location I asked for guidance and wisdom. It’s up to Him now I’m just doing the work.
It was my pleasure to share! Thank you as well for taking the time to say so here, that means the world to me. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask!
I have a acre im using to raise veggies to sell at the farmers market. I’m totally heavy clay there. Actually its concrete right now do to the drought. I ended putting too hundred foot rows of raised beds. Three so far with three to six more this fall winter
Ken that is awesome! Well, not the clay part…. So have you decided what your growing this fall? I’ve always been fascinated with this concept, but it’s hard for me think about HWAT to plant to do such a thing. Very cool, I’d love to hear more about your endeavor!
so chickens love to eat aphids and while it's harder for them to eat whyflies, they would love those collards and the whitefly eggs. Whiteflies are so ubiquitous, that whether u bag them or not, you're pretty much always going to have them every year in your garden.
I usually do feed everything to the chickens that I can. The white flies were pretty bad that season, so I want to do everything I could to make sure they didn’t run back out and lay more eggs! Not the chickens the white flies. Lol I’ve only had the marginally a few times since and usually only on my citrus, which I’m able to take care of pretty easily. But it is true that what you have most of the pests, you’re always gonna have most of the pests! Another great, thank you so much!
My front yard slopes down to one side so I dropped a dead tree where it runs down. I run my leaves over with my riding mower in the fall and leave them. After some good hard rain, it pushes all my leaf debris downhill into the timber and drains excess water. Come springtime, I have pure black leaf mold for the garden ( at least 3 truck loads). So if you have any uneven land, take advantage of it!
Babe that’s brilliant! It’s not always easy to see a simple and elegant solution to a complex problem like slope! Great advice! Thank you so much for commenting and letting everyone know that challenges sometimes can be an advantage!
Have you tried rice hull for mulch? If so how did it work? I don't have soil just dirt. I live in AZ. I am using food scraps to help the dirt become soil. I tried growing in the dirt and everything grew, just was not eatable.
I’ve never actually tried rice hulls before. From what I do know about them they decompose pretty completely and are readily available. Best I can tell based on the pricing though it would be much cheaper to get a large bag of raised bed mix from your local big box store than to buy rice hulls, plus you can plant directly into the raised bed mix this season. That would definitely give you a jump start! Thanks for commenting and if you do give the rice hulls a try I’d love to hear how it went!
I get issues with gnats I suppose laying eggs in my soil in nc.. I’ve tried everything & nothing rids of them.. so, I’ve lost a LOT due to them.. so annoying. Still gonna work on trying other things though, not gonna give up :)
Never give up! You sound like quite the savvy person willing to push the limits! Have you tried a lacto bacillus ground soak? Essentially it’s the process of creating and encourage if really good bacteria to grow in solution and then doing a ground soak. It has been known to control lots of soil issues, even those you’re having!
Kevin I am jealous! We used to be able to get them for free from county high line tree trimmers. But I guess this area has grown so much that someone saw an opportunity to start a business. Now they get all the free wood chips and sell them! I’m expanding my garden area this year, and I will have to bite the bullet and buy wood chips for the pathways. Thanks for commenting! I’m still jealous though, 😉
Frances. You can do it the same way I’ve done in this video. You need to work some organic material down deep (think old green stuff like plants or even grass clippings will work) then add some compost on top maybe an inch or so thick and lightly mix it into the top. Then top with a few more inches of compost and your ready to go! First season won’t be spectacular but next year too with more compost (maybe an inch or 2) and your ready to go. Alternatively, you can just top with a well rotted compost maybe 4-6 inches and plant straight in that. The. The following year add another inch or two. Within a few seasons it will start changing. Most importantly, add some kind of mulch on top! Even the compost will dry out quickly when it’s really hot. Mulch will help that. I hope that helps you out!
I'll never use ez straw as mulch again... last year I had a lot of plans die after using it... and a lot of weeds.... us a chipper with old half rotten branches or leaves!
Brandon I’ve come to much of the same conclusion. All the times I used it before I had very few weeds but this fall and into spring it’s HORRIBLE! Luckily I didn’t have any plants die. I had a wood chipper that died a few years ago...I think I need to replace it. Feel bad I’m not the only one now that’s had that problem. I’ve looked into another product but haven’t tried it yet.
I got the base plans from somewhere online a long while back and then just modified it slightly to fit our needs. I’ll see if I can’t find where I picked up the originals for you and post it here!
This is the original plan set I used. Main differences are I made it longer changed the ends around and made more windows and made my own windows instead of buying them. Hope this helps! www.etsy.com/listing/238472115/chicken-coop-plans-pdf-file-instant?ref=shop_home_active_1&crt=1
Hi there! I actually planted my fall crops in those beds about 3 weeks later. Basically your planting in pure compost, but the roots reach down to the mixed layer and by the time the start reaching the deeper layers the plants I worked in had begun to break down already. By spring planting, the soil was perfect, and I’ve only top blessed with compost in the fall, no other hard work! I hope that helps!
No no no, all you need to do is add compost on top of that aerated soil then add newspaper, like roughly 10 sheets, then add a good 4-5 inches of straw on top of that. This is the horticultural/permaculture way. In order to plant you seedlings, you would then just move the straw out of the way by making a nest like indentation, pierce through the newspaper, add a handful of compost and place your seedling in there. Then return the mulch around your plant. This will work miracles. Visit Moraga Gamble's organic permaculture videos to learn more. Also adding a worm tower will benefit your soil.
Thanks for the advice. This too worked miracles! Soil was perfection by next spring. That fall garden grew like crazy, and oh man the works working the soil, so many of them!
Grass clippings or tremendous aren’t they! They’re usually freely available, and because it came from your lawn usually you know exactly what’s been put on it, too, which is a major bonus! I had someone tell me that they had major problems with grass clippings that it attracted, slugs and snails. I don’t have much problem with slugs and snails around here, so I use grass clippings quite often myself. If I on the offer occasion do see a slug trail, I just lay a board slightly propped up in the garden face down and go out in the morning and remove all those hiding out underneath! Great idea, and glad to hear you had some real success with that thank you for sharing!
Find the Understanding Ag channel for more details. Have you looked into cover crops and soil armour? There isn't science that supports "aeriating soil". Its just a "traditional practice" that doesn't serve us well.
I have seen the channel, it’s a good one! Cover crops work quite well if you have long periods of time where beds lay fallow. Unfortunately, I didn’t have he luxury of this. Aerating the soil in he instance of an established well-nourished and healthy soil structure is definitely jot recommended. As I mentioned in the video, this soil had little to know structure in it. Breaking up the large runs of clay to allow other organic matter to intersperse and allow that structure to grow more quickly is something that works quite well as there is no existing structure to destroy! Large scale tilling and aeration of land particularly large commercial lands contributes greatly to other environmental problems beyond just bad soil for sure. However they aren’t really attempting to create good soil though are they, they would rather use chemical fertilizers to expedite their process. To directly answer your comment more succinctly; cover crops are great if you have the time of unused ground or crops that will grow along side them. In general aeration is bad but breaking up bad soil with no structure whatsoever is not an issue and served me quite well as six months later I know have soil that is alive and thriving! Thankfully I won’t need to do any breaking up of the soil again as it’s now growing in a healthy way. ‘Aerating’ in established healthy soil is definitely not recommended and will not advance the soil healthy In anyway that I am aware of. Thank you for commenting!
Hi there! I actually have tried in the past, but I find the humidity here kind of makes it a mess, and I end up with a lot of move growth. However, I do use a modified version of it with things like potatoes and of course, my bananas in the winter months. I do have to remove the bulk of the straw or hay prior to the wet and humid spring in early summer. But hay bale growing is a great method that I’ve seen many people use very successfully!
Those things are RIDICULOUS! Definitely would be easier on the back than the garden fork. Cardboard is great for virgin ground as well especially if it has grass and weeds. Good advice thank you!
Sandy soil, especially where you are can be REALLY tough! You can add organic material and it literally disappears! Not all hope is lost though. You can grow in raised beds which will 100% solve the issue but it can be expensive. Pots or containers is another great option! If none of those are something you can do, I would recommend checking out David The Good here on RUclips. I don’t believe he has videos out specially about your area but he eludes to how he grew a food forest in just what you have. I believe he has a book or pamphlet he calls it, about the subject. He’s a really great source for what I call gorilla gardening. He seems to be able to intuit what needs to be done to make things work and muscle his way through it! Hopefully that helps in some way. Let me know if I can help in any other way!
The fact Gulf Coast but I use to go to NR in Conroe a lot. Can’t get out much anymore my husband has stage 7 dementia. If you are a Master gardener u can get a discount At N R. At least it was before pandemic. Haven’t been since before that. Glad I found you. I watch Scott Head a lot. Also D t Good. There is a lady on the Gulf coast but she is in Ala.
You are correct! I try to be strategic about it and mostly that works pretty well. I plant things that benefit from a little less intense sun on the mostly shaded side. This season though I have to admit I’m a little worried. We’ve had soooo much rain that the trees are really branching out and it might really affect things. Right now I think it’s ok, the 12 inches of rain in the last week has been worse than the shading, but it is definitely something I’m watching. Great observation!
@@TexasGardenDoc Is it possible to reduce or remove trees? Or - gulp - move your garden to full sun? I also have to chase the sun, as my entire garden is on a 8' x 12' balcony of my condo that faces east, so I know the struggle! I also have palm trees and giant birds of paradise that throw shade, but they are protected as part of the common space of the HOA, so I can't remove them. Sun is one of the essential inputs that our gardens need, but alas, sometimes we have to work with less than ideal circumstances.
@@elizabethblane201 I removed three trees last year when I decided to move the chicken coop near the garden. That helped a lot but the one remaining tree nearest the garden has now really spread out. Removing more is a bit scary since they are leaning in really non opportune ways. However, I did start clearing out a side area a bit away from the house which is about 4 or 5 times bigger. I’m trying to take as few trees as possible but it’s a long term plan so I’m taking it slow. HOA’s are good fun aren’t they! I don’t envy having to deal with that but like you said, we chase the sun and adapt best we can! What are you growing this year? Anything your really excited about or really proud of? I’d love to hear about it!
@@TexasGardenDoc This year I am growing everything in SIPs (sub-irrigated planters). I use 5-gallon GrowBuckets and EarthBoxes. Everything grows really well with these systems and you use 80% less water. I don't have any ground (I'm on the second floor) so I have to use containers. I am growing tomatoes, chard, cukes, Chinese yard-long beans, zucchini, poblano peppers, and Physalis peruviana (Golden Berry). It's a hard decision to remove trees. I like that you're taking your plan slowly.
Am not a fan of top soil ,the last time I use it and I water the plants, all the water was running off the soil ,I ended up have to scrape the whole thing out of the garden, and use garden soil instead
I agree. I’ve found a place locally that has lawn and garden base which turns out is what you and I would call top soil. It’s not cheap though! But I’d say it’s cheaper than garden soil. I’m getting ready to expand this garden quite a bit so I’ll have to let you know how this new soil base is.
Unaired welcome to the channel! Sandy soil can be a challenge. It can take several seasons to bring it around. The key is the same as a lot of soil problems and that’s organic matter. It will take a LOT of organic material to bring it around but be patient. If you have access to compost layer it on top and then mix it in deep. If you have enough layer a bit on top as well. A good mulch on top that can break down over time will help. The easiest test to see how sandy it really is would be to dampen the soil and roll it into a cylinder. If it crumbles apart it’s very very sandy. Try adding the organic material and try growing lots of root vegetables they do best in sandy soil. You’ll need to fertilize a bit more through the season but a lot of that will just run away. Keep adding organic material each spring and fall and it will eventually become a great sandy loam! Just be patient and grow what you can for now while you improve it. It will take a while but it will be well worth the effort!
I believe I mentioned directly that I TYPICALLY follow no dog standards but since there was no soil structure whatsoever that digging in organic material was acceptable to me since there was no real structure to begin with. Thanks for commenting!
Tiller and plow have a long standing history in farming in general. I don’t think their is a person out there that could say that if you were to plow or use a tiller to breakup really bad soil and work in organic material that you wouldn’t have usable soil, and even good soil depending on what you are working with. I watched my grandmother till her farm garden for most of the younger part of my life. The idea of no-till or no-dig style gardening appeals to home Gardner’s be a use of its accessibility and sustainability. Like I said in the video, I have always tried not to till my gardens. This garden was not well established and I believe a tiller would have done the soil structure no harm and it certainly would have made quick work of it. If the soil was already established as was healthy I would not have even used a garden fork, but in this case, tilling would go much quicker.
That's a great idea too! I actually tried it a while back and couldn't find anyone nearby. I even asked the electrical line guys that were cutting trees last year and they said they'd leave them for me...but they didn't. Wood chips are a great resource and sometimes they are even free, great point!
Well now that is a valid point! For the most part it’s the worst I have to deal with! What kind of soil are you dealing with maybe I might have a few tricks!
@@TexasGardenDoc look them up. I think they have the blow up version and you get compost. Or scraps like the ones you don't want go in a " no rules to rot whenever pile"???? Anything but the plastic bag
I have read that plastic can be repurposed for fuel (sort of like propane) pretty easily. I’ve never tried it, but it might be nice to use that fuel that way. However, I really don’t have a need for a biodigester as they are expensive and I can actually compost that stuff on my own. It takes quite a bit longer to do, but that isn’t an issue for me. Honestly I don’t I don’t have much waste that can’t be composted traditionally. I’ve seen a few commercials for them and they are really cool though. The only reason that plant went in a bag was because at the time I had not found a home made organic and natural pesticide I could use to get rid of them and I didn’t want them spreading. I could easily have fed them to the chickens, but again the bugs would have spread. However, I do have a home made ‘pesticide” made out of stuff I have here which works perfectly! So I won’t have a need for that. I love that you are knowledgeable on this subject, so I’d like to ask a question. Do you know of any way to get rid of things like non-recyclable plastic, other than using them for fuel as I mentioned, that can be done at home? I haven’t done much research on it but it’s something I’m very interested in.other than just repurposing or up-cycling. It’s hard info to find! Thank you for your comment and suggestions!
It was covered in bugs? Bugs that would pass to other plants. Barely touching the plant sends them flying off to other plants in the garden. Putting them in the bag from the top down then cutting them off mitigates the spread because they fly up and into the bag. Then remove the plant and the bugs from the garden. Very effective solution to insects that are difficult to get rid of, spread easily or have infested a particular plant
Maaan! I thought I had it fixed! Thank you so much for letting me know. Audio is one of the most important things to me! Thank you so much for the kind words and I hope you are having a great year so far!
Hi there! I think you’re talking about the collards? The colors we harvest pretty much from spring all the way up to fall. Truth be told where I am the college would probably last well into December or even part of January as long as we don’t have an unusually cold winter. But I wanted to make sure I conditioned the heavy soil really well, so I just went ahead and pulled everything out that I could. I agree with you about the neem oil! It works very well on white flies, and I’ve had some pretty good success with it for aphids as well! Thank you so much for your comment. I really appreciate it!
Didn’t know that! I grew up gardening in the Midwest, from the teachings of Southern parents. And my mom never harvested or used her greens for food until first frost. It could very well be a Southern thing or something that mom believes is true so she taught it to us! They are supposed to be bitter to the taste until after first frost. You’re welcome about responding. I love gardening! Thanks for the tips on growing ginger 🫚! I can’t wait for mine to sprout so that I can try my hand at growing my own ginger! I only just watched your video about ginger!
Now that is very true! Many of the greens do you take on a sweeter taste, or I should say less bitter, once the cold begins! With limited space in the garden I generally harvest all throughout the year. Once the heat of Sommer’s pass though most of the greens will re-grow quickly and I would definitely say they have a much better taste! That’s very exciting. I can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you!
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If this is your first time amending your garden soil, what is your favorite method to do it? If you are a seasoned veteran to gardening what is your routine to keep your soil healthy?
i just put together a bunch of permaculture raised beds with rotting logs, bark, leaf fall, branches, and leaf compost from behind a 30 year old wood pile. Still can't wait to get compost in there. My first garden project back home in the states after covid disolcation and everything in walking distance. Loved your outro, keeping it simple, keeping it real! 1 2 3 4
Thanks for the kind words! Sounds like you are going to have one very healthy soil filled garden! Raised beds is something I’ve really always wanted to do again. Something talker than what I used in the past say 24-30” tall. How tall are your née beds going to be?
@@TexasGardenDoc nees beds are pretty short to start because im making a lot of them so it's a lot of fill. but also they are kind of on a slope so one side is deep. Because I'm already popping some things from inside im mulching parts that are about 16-20" on the high side counting all layers- bark, leaves and sticks, ashey/leafy compost soil, and then a bit more forest soil/clay mix very top, then straw mulch. I cant wait to start chop and drop stuff in too when the foilage really gets going here.
Fantastic! My first beds were only about 12”. I really like the idea of the taller ones, the only down side is everything would be really high up when it’s time to harvest. Sounds like your gonna kind of have the best of both worlds!
Get a cheap garden shredder / chipper. collect hedge clippings from the local area chip them and use as path ways after a year scrape the top off and dig in the rotted remains put the un rotted stuff back on top.Collect grass cuttings for the same purpose. When you find that your pathways have become better soil than your beds move them to improve other strips. Once you have completed the whole garden you will continue to mulch pathways and move them because you know it works.
I've been building up my extreme clay soil. It used to rot the roots and compact down to cement and was a total night mare. There are a few other things I did that really helped the soil structure. All fall and winter I buried all the kitchen scraps using a trench method. Another thing I did was introduced more worms to the soil. It's best to use native worms because they're already used to your soil structure. I housed the worms in ideal conditions in 3 gallon stackable buckets in the laundry room for the winter which allowed them to reproduce at a fast rate. When the spring temps were ideal I released the worms including the soil they were in at night time to give them valuable time to find safe spaces to hide out before morning. Those worms have done a lot of work for me and my soil structure and fertility are becoming something to be proud of. Oh and a side note if you love horseradish you don't have to change the soil structure to plant them. They'll break up the worst of clay soils and grow to 3 feet deep. I had a 20 ft row for 5 years and it changed the soil structure drastically even with all the rocks compacted into the clay soil. Just amazing to see.
Awesome! It sounds like you should be very proud! You took the time and made it work and it will definitely reward you! I did not introduce worms into my soil although I wanted too however I can proudly report that in early spring I found a lot of them in there! I too am very happy and proud! Thank you for sharing your methods as well! There are a few others on here that wanted to try adding scraps directly into the garden and I think your success shows how useful and resourceful that can be when done the way you have! Thank you so much for sharing!
Release the worms !!!!
Attack!!!
:)
I watch a lot of gardening stuff on youtube, and your videos are much better than most. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. I’m trying really hard to make the best quality and best content videos I can! Thank you so much and thanks for taking the time to say this!
I'm right there with you, boss. We're expanding this year in OH on a heavy clay compacted lawn area. It looked like what you have there: just this side of concrete. But Instead of turning it over, I just laid some cardboard over it last fall, topped it with finished compost, a huge pile of shredded leaves, lawn clippings, kitchen waste, and some crop residue. I tarped it all winter, and when I uncovered it in late March, the soil was beautiful. Worms galore. It's growing leeks, cabbage, and cauliflower right now. A lot of work, but worth it.
100%!!! Yep that no dig bed startup works a treat if you’ve got a little time! Congrats! I’d love to you send some updates in spring too! Thanks for adding your method it helps us all!
I'm a new gardener so please forgive my ignorance. How does the soil beneath the cardboard appear? Does it look and feel healthier? Thank you for your time.
Dory hopefully also will reply but in the meantime I can tell you what I know about it. I used this method many years ago to remove grass and weeds for a new bed. The cardboard will deteriorate over time, and it does get the soil to soften up somewhat, however in my experience it is just the first step. When I did this, I put down cardboard and then covered it with about 4-6” of wood chips the season before (it was spring time for me) I kept it moist throughout the season. Then the next season I started planting in it. It wasn’t the best for me that year. I think if I had put a layer of good compost on it, then wood chips or straw it would have been much better. The second year it was really good though. There are many ways to do it and if you want to learn more lookup Charles Dowding here on you tube. He has a great video on starting no dig beds and he starts with cardboard. Charles is kind of the ‘father’ of no dig he is quite good to watch as well! Hopefully Leo replies too!
@@dl3553 The soil is always there: the grass is living on it. However, the cardboard smothers the lawn, and soil bacteria and fungi compost it. The worms feed on the cardboard and composting grass, congregating there since it's moist and they like moisture the cardboard retains, Eventually cardboard breaks down and the worms feed on the composting material above, dragging to below the surface.
The result is crumbly soil for the top foot or so. This approach works, but it will take several years (maybe even a decade) to break through any deeper hard-pan. So if you end up with serious drainage problems, my no-till/ low-labor approach will need to be supplemented with some digging.
Thank you for jumping in Leo! Great information! Now...if I could figure out how to supply information as concise and succinctly as you I’ll be a happy man, I’m sooo wordy! 😂
Redo. This guy has a great RUclips Channel. I get value from his videos. He’s helped me improve my vegetable garden output.
I’m sorry to hear that… I actually don’t control the commercials. RUclips does. All I can do is turn ads off.
Sorry to see you go, and if I can never help with anything, just let me know!
@@TexasGardenDoc there were two commercials with the first 5 minutes. And you hadn’t said much at that point. My wife and I have a large vegetable garden and many fruit trees and grape vines and berries. Your videos have great information and are entertaining. However. The entertainment portion isn’t worth the commercials. Most that don’t have the skip feature. It’s just my opinion. You should do will. You do have good videos. Take care.
@@godog4744 I absolutely appreciate the feed back! I can have the non-skippable ads turned off as well. I had this happen to someone else a long while ago on the video and I turned the non skippables off. He saw almost 10 ads, which is crazy too! I'm looking through the settings to see if something got reset.
I wish you all the best, and again, I appreciate you letting me know. If no one says anything I have no idea so I truly appreciate you!
Best wishes!
@@TexasGardenDoc I’ve looked up the RUclips commercial policy. Your channel is great. I re-subscribing.
Welcome back! I’m very glad to hear that. I was able to turn off the non-skippable ads, they must’ve been turned back on automatically with one of the lighter updates from RUclips. Hopefully you’ll have a much better viewing experience now!
Glad to see someone from Houston area online to share successes and boo-boos. My Ukrainian gramma grew up on a farm, and in Chicago she used to build small compost piles on corner of her garden. Throwing egg shells, coffee grounds, veggie, plant scraps and other organic material, mixing and crushing it with her bare feet. The compost pile was never big and she kept incorporating into her garden. She was a tremendous gardener. I have a small worm farm and make my own compost tea. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Your gramma sounds like an amazing and resourceful woman!
I’ve wanted to start a worm farm for a long while now, but have never gotten around to it. They are so amazing and helpful in he garden! Thank you for your wonderful comment!
Very informative with bad soil. I live in Phx our soil is so had as well I think worst than yours. Super hard and yes when I watered it it dried and gets hard right away. I love gardening my passion. Long story short I started of planted my Blue Corbra hot Chile my very first crop it did so well I never fertilized, pruned, compost nothing I just watered 2x daily with very bad soil. It thrived I picked it daily I more I picked the more it flowered daily no kidding. Until it got so bushey and tall I started to cut of the branches that when it started to died on me until there was nothing left. I pulled out the roots and thought that was the mend if my peppers. Surprised I threw in a Basil and my Blue Corbra started to grow lol from seeds dropped when I pulled it out. I had 20-30 Blue Corbra, I only kept 7-8 of them it was too packed in my mine garden I pulled them out. Fast forward it's July 2nd they are thriving yes in 112 degrees Phx heat. I learned so much with gardening, since I have a baby garden I learned to provide my plants with better soil no more bad soil. I pretty did what you did, however it's hard for me to find starws here I use woodchips and leaves from our ugly tree lol it falls daily. I threw it in a bucket with throw away scraps like fruits peel coffee ground etc. I also learned how to use proper fertilizers. Thanks to videos like yours helps me a lot to be a better gardener 🙂. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words, I truly appreciate that!
I’ve never actually heard of the blue cobra hot chilies, it sounds very interesting! Is it a super hot, or what kind of chili is it?
I know that my peppers really prefer a lot of heat, and in the summertime here we have days that feel like 110 even as high as 115, with very high humidity. I do have to watch out for sun scald on the plants, particularly the leaves in the fruits.
I think this is super cool! The best part about this is that you are now normalizing your plant specifically for your micro climate and area. Each year you grow seeds from the same plant it is more custom to your area, and particularly whatever fruit you saved the seed from from can help you further narrow your plans down to exactly what you want.
It sounds like you’re really winning here and that’s fantastic!
The whole reason I started my channel was to help people learn things that seems kind of difficult on the surface, but really are quite simple. I like to experiment a lot, just like what you’ve done with your peppers. It’s the best way I know how to learn, and it sounds like you’ve learned a lot from your own hard work as well. RUclips is a great source for learning things and seeing other ways to do something that we might not have thought of in the past.
That’s very cool thank you so much for sharing and I wish you all the best with all your peppers as well!
I saw this video and you did a good job shooting the video you remind me of myself when I first started out gardening so much to learn keep up the good work
Thank you for the kind words! I really appreciate it!
My old hometown Orange County NC is one of Emeril Legassi’s largest supplier of Ginseng. Orange County is ALL red clay.. I was very shocked at just how much stuff grows so great in clay-like soils.. if you have that kind of soil, I would consider trying it. We’re zone 6 & are very successful w/nearly everything here- even citrus trees :). Also, I began learning about truffles- basically things that are good for you & have value if the need arises to have to barter or possibly sell- truffles are also well known all around NC. They grow off the fungus of trees, mainly in the winter (my understanding). Some even train dogs to locate it for harvest, esp if they sell it. Truffle is so expensive, as well as the ginseng. I wish I was in a warmer climate, & may love to one, as I would grow a lot more. NC has 4 seasons & gardening window is big- we even have many winter specific plants that grow nicely here. I encourage everyone: never be scared to try to grow something. I’m in an apartment & I use water indoors to grow many things year round, or just to begin some things in water to have ready for the growing season.. I have a patio & I’ll be making a vertical growth & make ways for runners to hang from the patio ceiling when growing so they’re not on the ground. Can’t wait! :)).
Believe it or not, I did know about the truffle sniffing dogs! When I first heard of it I thought, there’s no way. The. I saw what they cost and I was like, yep…makes sense! What I DIDNT know was about ginseng in NC! I never would have thought!
One of the things I’ve refocused on starting late last year was just what you spoke about. The things that might be very valuable to our health! It’s crazy how much I used to know and do and how it just kind of faded away until now.
I think I’ve never heard anyone say it better though, never be scared to grow something ever! So good, thank you again!
This is exactly the same soil I have and why I had to change to a container garden and tons of composting. Composting is a year round activity from the shavings from my chicken beds to breaking down plain cardboard to grass clippings.
I’ve actually shifted most of my gardening to raised beds now as well. I have to say, though I do in the end I still prefer gardening on the ground. This really transformed my soil quickly and by the next spring season it was fully ready to plant and very healthy!
And you’re right about composting, it is a year-round activity, and it spreads multiple years as well sometimes! It sounds like you’re doing all the right things!
My city provides free compost and wood chips. I personally have a huge 8’x4’ 3’ deep bin I’m currently composting from stuff I collected from my own garden. Thank you so much for making this so simple and easy. There are waaaay too many gardeners on here that make it seem like you have to buy all of these things just to grow 1 plant. Luckily our native soil of really good. I’m currently in the process of making my own liquid fertilizer as well with bananas peels. My fingers are crossed in hopes that My plants bare fruit. This is my first year gardening!
That’s awesome! Yeah I don’t have a ton of time or money to spend in the garden so I do my best to keep things simple. It doesn’t always work but I try! I’m excited about making my own liquid fertilizers as well! This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while so I’m really excited to give it a try myself!
Hi, based on your mention of Nature's way, I'll bet you live awfully close to my old home off 45 and 242. I recently moved into my very own pine forest and it started like yours, pure sugar sand. After last year's poor crops (no amendments, was learning as I went), and a run in with aminopyralid in the cow manure off my parents property, I finally learned how to amend our local soil and man, its like I'm not even in the same garden soil any more. Its possible to turn sugar sand into fertile earth, my garden is living proof!
You would be correct on all accounts! Is your new place in the same area?
Absolutely, my fall garden grew like crazy!!! Unfortunately a lot of my spring garden drowned with all the rain over the last few weeks (14” in 14 days). So awesome to meet someone that has had success that’s near by!
On my farm I’m using raised beds. 2’ wide by 200’ long. Labor to build, but better for watering and working the beds
Oh wow! That’s a LOT of labor!
I’m currently expanding my garden into a new area. The trees have grown so much around my current garden that there just isn’t enough light any more.
I’m building raised beds there as well. But although I’m jealous mine aren’t 200’ I’m thankful I don’t have to build them either!
So are you working on a small production farm or something specialized or certain varieties? Very cool stuff!
You worked hard! I learned a lot!
It definitely has a lot of work! I will say this, though, is well worth it! I planted in that soil a couple weeks later, and everything grew pretty well through the winter and in the spring. By the time I got the spring plantings, the soil was absolutely amazing!
I’m glad to help you out, and if you have any questions at all, doesn’t just have to be about soil, but anything Gordon related I’d love to help!
Thanks! We got some pretty terrible soil last year here for our raised beds so have been trying to figure out how to fix it when I ran across your video. I like how you are aware of the budget constraints of most gardeners. Our soil was sold as a compost but was actually topsoil mixed with bits of plastic (that we removed most of) and unrotted cow manure that just clumps up when dry. Lost several plants which simply died immediately after transplanting into this nasty mix. Am trying to fix it this year with your method. Let's see how it goes!
Oh wow! It confounds me to think of what people sell as soil.I know I was pretty disappointed myself! The manure that is fresh is the hardest part in my opinion. Try to turn it in deep so that it will compost better. I think your biggest challenge is going to be (other than the plastic...and btw REALLY...PLASTIC! come one guys that’s horrible!) keeping those plant roots from getting burned by the manure. Maybe try digging in deep when you plant. Maybe pulling some soil that doesn’t have the cow manure in it into the hole. For the next season try using a really good organic fertilizer and by late year that cow manure should pay itself back to you with really good fertilizer. So sorry to hear that this happened to you. Keep me updated as to how it’s going and how it works out. What are you growing this season?
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks so much for the tips! I'll be sure to make sure that the new soil goes well on top effectively burying the manure. This year I'm trying to grow onions, brussel sprouts, the usual tomatoes and peppers and a lot of different sorts of flowers in the raised beds. I do note that last year the only things that grew in the soil were tomatoes, marigold, sunflowers (and they did really well!) and corn. Most greens died quickly, and I lost a beautiful star jasmine.
Well don’t give up! You’ll find a balance, and once you get the soil dialed in you’ll be harvesting more than you can eat! Best wishes to you and I look forward to updates!
It's amazing to see how dedicated you are!
Angie thank you so much for the kind words! I really appreciate that!
Great prsentation, really enjoyed it tnx. We actually applied a very similar remedy, but not to clay-ish soil but garden soil that was lifeless, sandy, with no body or texture, as well as oily, and therfore forever bone dry (typically 1cm down from surface even after a nice downpour). The change has been magical & very rewarding; All best on the road ahead!
That's fantastic! A lot of people have asked me different ways to fix different soils, some have even commented here and gotten a bit....hmmm testy about the fact that this is 'only' for clay soils/ So great to hear of your success and thank you so much for your kind words! The best to you as well!
Please keep up the videos, I love your channel and I hope it grows
Thank you so much snazzy! We’ve had several crazy weeks now but I hope to have a new video up in a few days!
That was great information and a lot of work! Wow! Looks amazing!
Thank you! It was but it will be worth it!
Its always a lot of work to do it right... but you won't have to do that much again in the future.
Truth! In fact that soil is almost perfect now! Now it’s just upkeep!
Thank you for the informative videos. I appreciate the time and effort. I was spoiled during our time living in the coastal region of WA state. I could plant anything and it would grow like magic. When hubby retired from the military we moved back to our home state of TX. I became so discouraged when it came to gardening (black clay dirt) that I gave up. I'm going to start a small test section using your techniques.
Good old black gumbo clay! Seems to stick to everything but the ground!
Yeah that stuff is tough! I would say this method is going to definitely help and get you started. By the next spring after making that video the soil was perfect! It might take you another season after doing the method here. Just depends on how bad that clay is. But. In the spring time you can add another 4-6 inches of compost to the top and plant straight into it. With a little mulch on top you should have done good results in spring.
If you have any questions along the way let me know. I’d love to help more if I can!
good to see you still doing thing sir loved the video
Tio! Thanks man, I appreciate that! With my weird hours at work I can still make content this way and it’s something I was already doing!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video! I learned so much and this is the first time seeing it. I wish you good health and look forward to learning more about gardening.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the video! Dealing with garden soil can be frustrating at times, but it doesn’t always have to be complicated. The good news is, is it within I have a growing season. My cells improved tremendously! Thank you so much for your kind comment!
I love the tree cover in your property, so much shade and so much organic matter all around.
Edwin it’s true! It is both a blessing and a curse at times. Shade has been my true enemy for a while now. But it’s manageable at the moment. Thank you!
I had my eyes on all the leaves! Ha-ha. As commented above it is beautiful.
Thank you Dory! I do have a BUNCH of leaf piles making compost year round as well which is just amazing because it’s free!
I've never been hit with so many advertisements in one video. Great video!
Ryan, thank you for the kind words!
How many ads did you have to watch? I don’t tell RUclips where or how many ads to run, but if they are becoming really intrusive I may start doing that. At least I think you can still do that….hmm I need to look into that.
Id love to hear how many they were and if the were skipable, or non-shipable, banners etc. I know how truly annoying that can be and frustrating!
Thanks for any information and for taking the time to not only sit through the ads but comment as well, you’re awesome!
@@TexasGardenDoc hey, Doc! Thanks for the reply. I know you don't control the ads, but thank you for the clarification. I am very familiar with how RUclips works since I'm a regular user. I believe there was around 4-5 ads during the video. It didn't seem way out of control but definitely more then normal. Most of them had the 5 second skip option. Also, how's the soil building going? Have you tried asking arborists for their wood chips? Happy growing!
@@CriticalThinker27 That is a lot! At least you could skip them though. Another life ago when I first started on RUclips you could tell it what kind of ad and where to play it, I'm going to have to look into that again if it's still available.
The Soil was absolutely amazing last spring! I did nothing more this last fall than top it up with some compost and it's growing like gang-busters!
Many years ago we used to be able to get wood chips from the county highline clearing people for free and some other sources as well. Soemone figured out you could build a business off of that and now ALL woodchips are spoken for! lol Buuut you can buy them from this new business start up! So goes life!
I'm expanding my garden this year slowly. I will have to buy woodchips as I want to use them for my paths at a minimum.
Thanks so much for giving more info on the ads as well. I know ads are just a thing on RUclips but I'm a consumer of youtube too and I know sometimes it's just too much, so I want to control that if I can!
Thanks again!
This is VERY helpful !
I’m glad you liked it!
Like I said in my email, this is very similar to what you have going on, so those principles would work very well for you!
If you can get wood chips use them for the paths in your garden, we dug our paths down to 2 - 3 feet (lots of woodchips) add grass clippings to the chips. After a year or so we rake up the chips to get to the area where they have broken down and mound them on the garden beds.
If you can get the chips, use your bedding from the chickens to breakdown the carbons quicker due to high urea levels.
I do like that ideas is well. The whole Back to Eden method was something I used about 12 years ago on a much bigger plot. Woodchips are amazing! I really like the idea of using the paths as in ground composter! Even better the material is where you’ll be using it
Your vid is heaven sent. We have the same type of soil plus a lot of large rocks. I'm preparing to transfer my calamansi seedlings there. I don't have a pitchfork so I used a pick axe and a shovel. I've only done a square meter and I was dead tired. Anyway, with what I've done so far, I dug about a foot deep and plan to do it the rest of the way tomorrow. Yes, I don't have money to buy compost, so I plan to bury all my kitchen scraps, dead leaves, egg shells, coffee grounds then put the soil back then afterwards transfer my seedlings onto that bed. What do you think? Just last week, it had tomato plants but I've since uprooted them so I can prepare the soil. The tomato didn't bear any fruit and kept dieing maybe because of the bare clay soil. No nutrients whatsoever that I added.
It may be that the tomatoes didn’t due well because they suffocated. In heavy clay, even if it is watered enough, the clay packs in so tightly that the roots get no oxygen at all. I know it sounds strange but it’s true! It sounds like you have some really hard clay by how hard you had to work!
I would suggest doing just what you’ve done, work an area that you need for this season by working in organic matter deep down (dry leaves would be best for this, try to shreds them up some, but don’t put any kitchen scraps in that area for this season)
Next I would use anything you can find to mulch the area that you can’t work the soil. Leaves, hay or straw (just make sure there wasn’t any herbicide sprayed on it!), even layers of cardboard will work. Keep it damp in those areas.that will start breaking down the top layer and make it a bit easier to work in about 4 to 6 months.
Burying kitchen scraps is a great way to amend the soil! One caution though, depending on what you are burying I wouldn’t bury it directly under where you will be planting soon. It needs time to break down some and you don’t want your plant roots in it until it does. There are some exceptions to that, but for the most part it holds true. Instead dig a trench alongside where your plants are in ground that’s not being used. Then next season plant where you were burying the scraps deep and then put scraps in the soil where your plants were last season. I have a few things I’m working in that can really help improve soil quality that is more accessible than buying or even making compost. I’m hoping to be done experimenting and have some videos up soon.
I love that you are experimenting with things! Be sure to report back how things improve! Best of luck!
@@TexasGardenDoc thanks for putting the time and effort to reply substantially to my case. Those are great tips. Another back breaking day tomorrow. Just so damn hard with those rocks. The lot where my house stands used to be a vacant lot. Neighbors kept piling all their construction materials, large stones, cement, plastics and now they're all buried. It's really hard because when I strike the soil, often there are large rocks that I just have to stop and dig it out before continuing to breakdown the soil again.
That is insane! I can see why now it’s so back breaking! I know that money is always a factor, but hilling up soil or even a 12” raised bed could really help! If you can’t do it, then just take your time and work small areas. You don’t have to get it all perfect now, but I can tell you your work will pay off and you will have an amazing garden you can be proud of! I wonder if you could use the rock you are pulling out of the ground to start lining areas for raised beds later. Just a thought!
Thanks you really inspired me. I will not allow failure this time. I will do it correctly. I failed with the tomatoes because I just tilled the soil but made no effort to amend it.
Find me on Twitter @TexasGardenDoc and shoot me an update if you like. I love to see how people are doing things because we can all learn from each other!
Great info! We have the exact same issue. Loved the ending tips!
Thank you so much! Make sure and come back with anything you learned that worked for you too, it helps me learn more, and we’ll all of us!
Thanks for taking the time for those kind words and the very best of luck to you!
Thank you! This has really helped this new Conroe gardener!
I love hearing that! The Conroe area is very well known for either having sandy soil, or lots of clay. There doesn’t seem to be much in between!
I’m glad to hear you’re getting going, and if you have any questions about anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask. It doesn’t even have to be about soil’s, if I can help, I’d love to!
you are very good with videos, talking. naturally entertaining. i liked the time lapse clean up. good luck ~ thanks
Thank you, that is very kind of you! It’s strange, but I’ve always loved just talking to people. For some reason when I’m in front of the camera I feel the same way. Thank you so much, it means the world to me!
Thanks for the information, appreciated the video.
Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate that!
South TX here, terrible soil. Been growing in containers, but I'm going to try this. Thank you. PS. Love the way you end your video's. New sub.
Thanks so much! Those 4 things really have helped through lots of things in my life.
South Texas soil is definitely tough! This worked really well for me though. That fall I planted in the upper layer of composted and mixed soil and by spring the soil was already much better. By the next fall it was excellent!
Let me know how it works out for you and if you have any questions let me know!
Hi Doc, I've fitted a long handle to the garden fork and it is far easier on the back as well as giving you more leverage.
The local council here has been widening a road for a solar farm project and as a result there has been a mountain of eucalyptus chips which I am using for mulch in the gardens. The leaves break down first so they feed the soil. Next the bark breaks down and finally the wood chip takes years which is great. So far my wife and I have gathered 30 7'X4' box trailer loads. I had better mention that I rang and asked permission to get the wood chip.
I slash grass in the paddock and use it as bedding and nesting material for the chickens and by the way we Aussies call them chooks lol. The used bedding and nesting along with the chook poop gets composted and used as fertilizer.
Soils are one of my great loves, healthy soils give healthy plants and that means healthy animals. We had a small farm, just 200 acres and used these principles to improve what was pure sand. Now we are on just 17 acres, loamy sand on top of rock hard clay and it's a battle but paying us back for all our efforts.
I really enjoy your shows, thank you for sharing your experiences with us.
That’s excellent! And howdy from Texas as well!
That’s funny you mentioned that you asked for permission. As I was reading it, I was thinking, “oh no, you have to be careful with that!”, And then I read the next line and chuckled lol!
That is fantastic and very resourceful. I like the idea of extending the handle, it would definitely be easier on the lower back.
It sounds like, I might be able to learn a few things from you!
Thank you so much for your comment and your experience as well. I always love hearing what other people go through in message they use, it helps me learn new things as well!
@@TexasGardenDoc I did a 2 year horticulture certificate course where I fell in love with soils and managed 100% on my soils exams. Then I decided I needed a bit more of a challenge and did an online university course on environmental biology but the best education I have ever had was watching my grand father and my father grow food in our back yard. It's great that we can learn from each other.
I completely agree!
My grandmother tried to teach me quite a bit, of course I was young, and didn’t listen like I should have, but so is youth. But I did absorb quite a bit, and it’s strange how even now all these years later, I’ll do something and and think, “why do I do that! Where did I learn that?“ And then I’ll get a memory from the past of watching my grandmother do it!
Universities and formal education can definitely teaches the basics on how to learn and the role material we need to learn to build upon. But I will say that those that do it and have done it for years are the ones that can really teach us something.
One of the things I envisioned for this channel when I got started, was it one day I wanted to have a place where everybody could gather and ask questions, show off their successes, show off their failures. Just generally a safe place for everyone to share, and to learn!
The whole idea is to help people just keep growing. And I think there’s no better way to do that then leveraging everyone’s knowledge. I certainly don’t know everything, and I have had a lot of failures over the years, and still do. I don’t know it was just something I was thinking one day I’d like to do!
@@TexasGardenDoc A friend once said of her husband "Jerry always wanted to be a vet and he studied and worked in factories until he passed his exams and became a vet. What did you always want to do?". It took me by surprise and for the first time in my life I looked back and realised that all I ever wanted to do was live in peace, at one with nature and as close to nature as I could be. I did that, sadly I am not able to keep up with the hard and heavy work but now I am still going and thanks to people like you I am still learning, sharing and enjoying a great life. Good on you mate and I'll raise a glass to you🍺
I have to admit, that is pretty profound!
I suppose it was her husband that inspired that and her, but I wonder what inspired that in him? I always wonder how people suddenly come to the path they choose, what the catalyst was.
I think maybe some of it has to do with age. As we get a bit older, we start to see the world a little more clearly. I know I feel that way.
I feel the same about you, it’s great to learn something from someone who has experience in such things. I’m just grateful to be able to share, and spend what time I can in my garden. Is the place where I truly feel at peace!
Cheers to you mate!
The way I did it was pitch fork the soil for aeration without disturbing it to much, added leaf compost and mushroom soil then bagged topsoil. Mixed the top layers up only. Did this in the fall. Covered it with landscape material and planted in the spring. The worms and microbes did the rest. In 7 months the bottom hard soil turned to rich soil about 3 to 4 in deep.
Awesome! I love how you tried to keep the lower soil structure intact and I disturbed as much as possible too! Works are amazing! I’ve never done it before but I’m thinking of buying some worm eggs to spread around too!
@@TexasGardenDoc worms will come. They have to eat too.
Truth! I’ve seen a few already from the mulch last season. I was thinking for a new space I’m planning that has just as much clay. Maybe on the clay the compost and aeration technique a few worm eggs and mulch. Kind of a double punch! I know here they end up drowning when we get heavy rains due to the clay.
Just discovered your videos. Thank you so much. With my soil I believe this video is just what I've been looking for
Gerri thank you so much for the kind words! I hope it helps you get things moving in the right direction for your garden. I know this method has always helped me! Let me know how it turns out and what you did different. I love learning how other people overcome these type things!
I will. I'm originally from Kentucky but I live in a small town in Saudi Arabia. I'm determined to grow everything I can here. It's our growing season now as the summers are way too hot. Anyway I spend my summers in Kentucky and I grow a garden there.
Now THAT is a challenge! It’s one thing to change zones but to move across the world….that is BIG change! The good news is gardening is gardening no matter where you are. Best of luck to you and I would love to hear all about your struggles and successes. I’ll bet you find your rhythm in no time and get a beautiful productive garden going!
I'm in Florida and I have sugar sand. I had to bring in top soil them garden soil on top. I'm planting cover crops this summer hoping to build my soil up in the next few years.
Oh wow! I’ve heard that’s some of the hardest things to deal with! I hear the sand just eats organic material. There’s a guy on RUclips he wrote a book called something like Florida food forest. He has some really great content. Man I can’t think of his name right now. I’d love to hear how your garden does and what you have to do to maintain it.best of luck and I hope you have your best garden ever!
I believe it’s David the Good that wrote that book and made those videos! Just popped in my head!
Thank you so much. l live in the San Antonio area, and the soil in my backyard isn't that great. I love working outdoors, so this will be a great project to do. I also love how you give alternatives to expensive items. Thank you again for this video. You have a new subscriber.
Thank you, you are very kind, and I appreciate the subscription too! I find that gardening, although it should be fairly inexpensive can at times be just the opposite, so I like to give alternatives where I can.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, and if you have any questions along the way, let me know. I’d love to help!
@@TexasGardenDoc - thank you so much for replying back!
I try hard to reply to everyone especially people who are so kind like you!
So helpful and inspiring!!!
I’m so glad to hear that, and thank you for your kind words! If you’re working on your soil and have any questions I’d love to help!
Great info, thanks Doc
I’m glad you liked it! If you have any questions, let me know I’d love to help!
I love your chicken house! So cute. 😄
Thank you!
I just built 2 raised beds using (used) cement blocks I sourced for free! Then went to order compost to fill the top 1/2 of each and we can only get topsoil! Your mentioning this problem too made your video very important to me. For bed one, I laid cardboard in the bottom, then a layer of leaves upon which I laid a pretty good layer of big sticks followed by little sticks. After that, any/all organic materials from my yard and the neighbors yards - more leaves, then, I put in a good layer of the topsoil. I saved room at the top for what I hoped would be some compost. It is a rare source and very expensive when it can be found, so I discoverd several piles of rotting leaves and wood chips at my sister's that she said I could have so I am now trying to decide whether or not spreading this on top will be okay to plant in. That is my question. I may be able to find a bit of compost and thought maybe I could put some in each planting hole. I am in need of guidance before I proceed, and I want to put my plants in by June one. Thank you for this video and also thanks in advance for any advice.
Elizabeth, it sounds to me like you are on the right track! Here is how I think I would proceed.
Those rotting leaves and chips you got from your sister, I would mix them in with that top soil. I guess I should ask; this top soil is it reddish and when you wet it holds a lot of water? If it dries out is really hard? If so mix those chips and leaves into it. If you can find much compost or potting soil, I think over digging the planting hole and adding that would be a good idea. After that, make sure and put a good layer of mulch on top, maybe 4 inches or so. That will keep the upper layers from drying out really badly and getting hard. Then in the fall add a good layer of compost, no need to mix it in except maybe the top inch of the soil and the bottom inch of compost, and mulch again. Use straw, grass clippings leaves, whatever you have, just shreds the leaves well if you can.
I’d start thinking about the compost now. If you can’t or don’t think you can get any later this year, start composting yourself to make what you can. Kitchen scraps, green waste from the garden, cardboard leaves, grass clippings whatever you have. Keep it damp but not wet, and turn it regularly. Then you will have something to add in the fall if you can’t find any.
You have a great base setup, the only real concern is if that topsoil has a lot of clay, it may hold too much water right now, so those larger holes with compost should help.
It’s gonna be a challenge but just watch your plants closely. Remember that yellowing leaves isn’t always a sign of not enough water, it can be a sign of too much water as well, so watch things as they grow.
I think you might not have the best yield this season, but next season you are setup pretty good!
Thanks so much and best of luck! If you have any other questions let me know!
@@TexasGardenDoc Thank you for the quick reply, Doc! The top soil is not red, it is black-ish. There are some clumps but I can break them up pretty easily. I will proceed as you suggested with my final layers in the beds, and although I already do some composting myself, I will up my game, especially now knowing it may get even more difficult to find. I'll also start planning for further improvements and hopefully over time, I will reap the rewards. I'm off to pick up a rain barrel today to add to my developing system, and while I'm out, I'll see what I can find for mulch. I've subscribed to your channel now that I've found you and have a lot of catching up to do. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
You are most welcome! If it’s a dark color that isn’t red, that soil is probably just fine so you may be in luck! I’d still add a little compost to the planting holes but I think you are good to go!
Like I said just keep an eye on the drainage in that top layer and you should be golden!
Wow.
I also did something similar.
There was my old dry clay soil with a few weeds in it.
Water wouldn't pass through. It would flow off. I mixed old cow manure with earthworms in it. I mixed some leaves and dry weeds amd matter to it with a few green matter mixed up. On top i put as many green weeds i had and covered it with dried neem leaves then i gave a good watering. It will be left for 2-3 months with regular watering. Just it 2 days ago
That sounds like it will do the trick! Mine was nice and soft with good drainage about 2 months or so after. Still really good now! Hope it works for you! It’s a lot of work but so worth it!
That intro got me! Southern Mississippi red clay!
It’s a fact! If anybody knows clay it’s you guys!
I was on our track hoe earlier today digging it in. It's absolutely terrible 😂😂
Hey Doc. Oklahoman and new subscriber here. Great video and advice sir. I know this video is about 3 years old now. I was wondering if you knew the trick to help get rid of the majority of the wheat seeds from the straw? There's another channel, Millennial Gardener who shows a pretty good method for doing that. Takes time and definitely have to plan ahead but I too was disappointed by the amount of wheat sprouts I had to pull out after the first time using straw as mulch last year. I found his method and have two bales ready to use this spring. Thought I would share. Anyway, may you and your family be blessed.
Howdy!
Actually, that next spring I started using hay that had been grown locally. Luckily, I was able to confirm that at the time that he had not been sprayed with any kind of herbicides or insecticides. Fast forward about a year, and the hay supplier changed. They said that it was fine , but it definitely was not fine. I had bought two bales of hay at the time one sat in my wagon off the ground in my garden well the other I put on one of my new raised beds. Nothing grew well at all in that bed it was stunted. Luckily, I had not used the other bail yet and did some deeper research to find out that they had used a non-long-term herbicide on the hay.
I did not use that other bale of hay until about a year later, and during that timeframe, I bought two more bales. I did the same with the other two bales, keeping them in the sun, and for the most part protecting them too much rain. That serve me pretty well over the next year and a half or so, but it was definitely a pain! I didn’t really have anywhere to store them, and it made it kind of difficult to continually do.
So beginning this last fall, I bought a bail of certified organic non-or side straw from my local feed store. It says right there on the bag. It’s safe for gardens, but there will be some sprouted seed that shows up. I thought no big deal. I’ll just deal with it. It won’t be that bad. it looked like I had actually planted grain in my garden! Lol.
Given the trade-off, I still have hay waiting to go, but I don’t really mind having to pull the wheat anymore. Usually when I do apply straw, I apply it pretty thick and it’s pretty easy to grab and pull out. In areas where it’s pretty thick, I just use my shears and cut the greens off and they pretty well die since they’re not deeply rooted in anything but the straw.
So I guess that’s a really long way of saying, no I have not found a good way to avoid that in straw, and it doesn’t seem to be a problem, but it’s really hard to verify sometimes so be careful when you do it even waiting a year or more depending on the herbicide, it can last up to 3 to 5 years in the hay.
I know who millennial Gardner is I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that video, but I’ll have to go check it out to see what he does!
I hope that helps at least a little bit, and I’d love to hear what method you’re using. I really do appreciate the subscription as well, and I wish you and your family all the same blessings!
Great information 👍 My first time watching.Great video
Thank you so much Gwen! I hope the information helped you and thanks so much for taking the time to comment, it means a lot!
Great video, so helpful. I just have to get digging now! 😁👍🌿
Lol. You won’t regret it! Your clay may be a bit worse than mine, but I did that in the fall and planted directly in the compost. Fall garden was amazing, and by spring the rest of the garden soil was perfect!
@@TexasGardenDoc Yes, I have plenty of home made mulch from grass clippings and pruned trees. (It’s sat in a big soggy pile.) I am confused about sand, to use or not to use that is the question,,,, (there seem to be many differing views)
Of course all of this is probably procrastinating so I don’t have to start getting my back into it. 😉☺️
🤣😂🤣 oh it will get your back that is a fact!
So here is my take on sand. Sandy loam soil is considered to be very good soil. However, when you have heavy heavy clay, it’s very difficult to mix sand in and have it work. If you have some clay in your soil maybe…but the only real way to mix it would be to either turn it over and over like a crazy person, or dig it all up dry it all out and pulverize it and mix the right proportions of materials. Non of those seam practical too me. Breaking up the clay and mixing in the organic matter s best you can down deep, then mixing composted into the top 3 or so inches (if you want to add a little sand here you can, but you don’t really need too, and then adding another 3-4” layer on top of compost, you will basically be resetting your soil into a no-till style slightly raised bed. The lowest organic stuff you mixed in will break down and bring worms and microbes into the clay to help break it up some more, all the while you have good soil to plant on top. Since most fall vegetables don’t need to go deep you are good to go. By the time spring rolls around you can plant things like dakon radish, purple hull or royal peas (beans) things like that which can help change your soil deeper down.
Then next fall top with a few inches of compost and re mulch. Rinse wash repeat!
@@TexasGardenDoc Great, yes,,, I have been watching more vids and it seems the sand can cause more problems in the long run. (I love RUclips)!
I thank you again for your extremely kind advice.
☺️👍😉I will follow your method which seems to get great results.
Here goes,,,, 🤞😅
Best wishes to you and your back!
Hi Doc - I just started watching you because I live in Tallahassee and our soil and climate are very similar.
To,, welcome! Florida is an amazing state! The only thing I’ve ever heard that’s different is some areas have such sandy soil that it just swallows up anything you out in it to amend it, which is crazy! I believe your area doesn’t have that as a widespread problem though which is great!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and best wishes yo you!
@@TexasGardenDoc We live on the Fl/Georgia border known as the Red Hills. Yes - we have real hills because we are the ‘toenails’ of the Appalachians. We have a great deal of red clay & we are in zone 8b. Lots of trees, too.
Man that red clay out there is TOUGH! the good news is it’s very fixable. That’s the one thing we don’t have much of where I am, hills. What we call a hill is about a three foot high bump to most people! 😂
Very good information you are putting out there it helps a lot thank you and keep up the good work!! 🙏🙏
Thank you for the kind words! I hope it helps some and if you have issues just send me a message here. Thanks for commenting!
Thank you for the good info.
Thank you for watching!
Heeeeeyyyyyyyy! SE Texas here too! And oh boy I’ve got a mess of clay soil here except dirt cheap mulch Sold it to me. Yes, I paid for a mostly clay soil mix they called garden mix and I filled 4-30” raised beds FULL of it. (Well with some hugel at the bottom with a lot of small limbs). At this rate I won’t need to water my gardens until August! lol 🤦♀️🤦♀️
I did an emergency amendment on two of them and it’s still not good enough but better.
So glad I found your channel! I’ll be following you like white on rice 😆😂🤓
HAHA! Good to hear from another SE Texan! Yeah, I can't really believe what they sold me last year, I was actually just looking to even the ground and instead I got that clay mess! Raised beds makes it harder! You can mix some gypsum in there and that will help a lot too. I can tell you that as of today, my soil is lighter, richer and isn't a sticky mess any more! You're right though, with this rain we've had HEAVY for 45 minutes, yeah you may never have to turn on the spigot!
@@TexasGardenDoc Thanks! Good to see another SE Texan on here! Exactly with the rain. I have grass seed down and don’t mind it for that but holy crap not the gardens. I wish I could install some of those big beach umbrellas to shield the gardens. lol I will definitely look into some gypsum. Thanks! As soon as these plants are done I’ll be out there with a shovel and amendments 👌😅 I was thinking about doing some lasagna layers with lava rocks (for more bacterial life and drainage) and then adding in more chips/compost to the soil. What do you think?
You’d have the beachiest garden every with those umbrellas! I don’t have any experience using lava rocks mixed in. I have read that if you get the really small stuff say 1/8” or so that’s been known to help some with the soil. So something like that could work I would think but again I’ve never tried it. I would also look into vermiculite as you can get it pretty cheaply (relatively) in bulk. In fact the seed starting soil video is pretty close to the right mix for raised beds (but I’d recommend 2 parts compost 2 parts peat moss to 1 part vermiculite). Since you already have your soil in you could just work the vermiculite compost and peat moss in as deep as you can for this season and that would help a lot! As for wood chips if you use them as mulch they will certainly improve the soil quality over time. For this video I didn’t want to wait so that’s why I worked so much in.
I’m jealous btw...I sooooo want raised beds! But time and location just won’t let me do it right now! I’d love to see and hear how it all turns out! Find me on Twitter (@TexasGardenDoc) and give me an update if you like!
@@TexasGardenDoc LoL beachy and weird. Guess I don’t want to be that neighbor with beach umbrellas in her gardens. Haha 😆 You know the next lil storm we get they’d be in the trees or someone else’s backyard. 😂😬
Thanks SO much! I’m still a toddler in regards to gardening so thank you for the tips. I will go with your suggestion for sure. Sounds easier than dealing with lava rock. I did take out my lettuce, put it in a planter with vermiculite (first time ever used it) and thank tha Lord they are taking off and we will get to start to enjoy that this weekend. I’ll have to find some in bulk. 👍🏻👍🏻. I’ll let you know how it goes! I don’t have twitter and ditched Facebook. They like to sell personal information and too deep into politics for me but I’ll watch for you here! 👌🤓
So happy to see an experienced se Texas gardener on here. Hopefully you’ll stick around. You definitely have the experience, voice and energy for this! Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Or the next county!
One good thing though. If you need underground tunnels, rooms etc. You could make something like the Cu Chi tunnels. Clay is good stuff for creating improvised pots etc. Good material for bricks, pizza ovens etc...
Yep. For growing stuff - it is tough though.
Lol. You aren’t wrong! Clay has absolutely hundreds of good practical uses! The garden is definitely not one. Great comment, thank you!
I had a patch of ground(not soil) worse than that. It wouldn't grow anything and was solid clay. It took three years(our growing season was only 4 months) to turn it into fluffy nutrient rich soil. This was in Saskatchewan Canada.
I believe that! It’s hard work, but the fact that you stayed with it and now you have something that you can use that is good, fertile and loose soil is a testament to your hard work!
I’m in Georgia, your native soil looks great!
Haha! Yep that Georgia clay doesn’t play games! You got serious clay over there!
@@TexasGardenDoc you can’t even dig with a shovel, you need a pick first.
@@strokerace4765 I believe it, that stuff ain’t no joke!
Btw love your username! Haven’t heard that name in a long while!
I have black gumbo clay on the Texas coast 20 miles inland it doesn't resemble your soil in any way except for holding water , the soil gets 3" cracks in it during the summer without rain , that's the only time that it drains well , then the storms move in off of the Gulf and the soil tightens back up !
Ah yes the dreaded black gumbo! I'm very familiar with that! Where I grew up is right in the zone you talked about. That stuff gets slippery and sticky and then dry with giant cracks! My father made small raised beds on top of them back in the day. After those, we did the same type of amending that I show in this video, but it definitely takes more than one or two seasons to get it just right.
Thanks so much for commenting! In Texas your within distance to say, 'Hi neighbor!" 😃
Hey love the Teal Color themed but also consider building a treehouse over just a house that tears down the forest. Trees should be building blocks no tearing blocks. It can be funky and swirlyio just needs a bit of adjusting imagination and blueprinting and there we go and inventive you might get more followers because your not just helping humanity but your helping the World. We are not only making channels grow but It inspire others to experiment and RUclips Channels will grow when we choose to help the world 2 ways in one stone. Building a tree house and putting gardens in it. It can maybe make new species
Very interesting idea! I studied rooftop gardens and unground housing with living roofs quite a bit. Always loved that concept!
Very meaningful content.. For a huge area.. Any alternative process. I can collect lots of brown dried leaves..
Thank you! Brown leaves work great! You can also use dried grass clippings (but not green, better if they are brown and dried and I tend to go kind of light on the grass) Dried leaves are also great for mulch!
Great video with lots of useful information. Can you plant seedlings in this plot now or do you need to wait, and if so how long?
Thank you for the kind words!
He method I used here was kind of a one-off method to speed up soil quality. Yes you absolutely can plant in it right away! I planted in it the next week and everything grew really well.
Now every year when it’s time to amend the garden, I simply put a layer of pure compost on top (2-3 inches) and plant directly in that as well! No mixing in!
Thanks for stopping by and best of luck in your gardening adventures!
My goal is to enrich my clay soil so any future big rain can be absorbed into the ground rather than create a flooded backyard. Our yard was a muddy mess from the recent storms, where you would sink a couple inches every step you take. The last couple of weeks i got busy and attempted what you showed in the video. First I aired the soil clay with garden fork then worked in a thin layer of dead pine leaves and unfinished compost (it was all I had). The last thing to do is to mulch the whole area. My question is whether I need to water this area repeatedly even if nothing is to be planted there? We are in a drought and we get penalized if too much water is used.
@@alicenakajima6014 Alice it sounds like you are on the right track to me! Even using a little will go a long way to making it better each season. As for watering, not you really don't need to especially if you aren't planting. Don't get me wrong, it definitely needs some water to help break things down but for the most part, that organic partially broken down material down there will absorb some water itself. If you are using a mulch that blows away like straw or hay, I would recommend wetting it down really well one time just to help it stay in place and get some water into the soil a bit. If you are using whole leaves from deciduous trees you can try the same thing, but it's probably not worth getting fined for using the water as it won't do a lot for those leaves if it's only small quantities of water. If the leaves are shredded then a little water will help keep it there. Not much, just something to keep it in place.
I'm so excited to hear how it turns out for you and what other things you come up with. Using what you have is key! Thank you Alice!
@@TexasGardenDoc thank you very much for sharing your method and for the advices. Have a great weekend doc!
You as well!
I live in SWLA, so we are neighbors kinda . I have a heavy clay soil . I amended my raised beds with paper products like household cardboard and shredded paper (such as junk mail,which I have plenty of LOL ) I also have been using biochar for a few years now because the GOOD LORD has provided our area with not 1 but 2 hurricanes in the past year and a half or so . I am making lemonade with all the lemons (haha)Hope you get the humor .All these things have helped it’s a work in progress.
GOD made dirt , dirt can’t hurt
Enjoyed the videos DOC
See y’all soon TD
Howdy neighbor! Love that attitude! Yeah we always get worried about hurricanes, those things start moving east and we are thankful but y’all take the full hit! Now that I have a daughter in Baton Rouge I’m even more aware of that fact!
Bio char is so so good for the little soil beasts too! So are you doing a kind of Hugelkultur set up as well? I unfortunately have to relocate my garden and was thinking along your same lines rotting logs and cardboard and some bio char which I’ve not really used before.
God made it all you hit the nail on the head.
Thanks for stopping by Todd, let me know how things are going this spring and NO MORE HURRICANES! We can all hope right!
@@TexasGardenDoc I guess I am doing a Cajun Redneck Kinda huglkultur (spelling ?)
Prior to the storms we had a bad water leak in our house,so the paper goods that were unsalvagable I stacked up along side the other raised beds I have and started a new bed . Basically a lasagna type bed , let it compost down in place for a year or so then started a new bed . Good stuff in Good stuff out .
Just a side not : I always say a prayer after I plant seeds or plants like this- God help me plant the seeds and water them and HE make the increase
God bless TD
Oh man! That water leak from the snow-pocalypse laste year?
You really do know how to make lemonade out of lemons! Great stuff!
It’s funny. Everything around us is Him. I don’t think most people see it that way anymore. Starting my new garden location I asked for guidance and wisdom. It’s up to Him now I’m just doing the work.
Thank you
It was my pleasure to share! Thank you as well for taking the time to say so here, that means the world to me.
If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask!
I have a acre im using to raise veggies to sell at the farmers market. I’m totally heavy clay there. Actually its concrete right now do to the drought. I ended putting too hundred foot rows of raised beds. Three so far with three to six more this fall winter
Ken that is awesome! Well, not the clay part….
So have you decided what your growing this fall? I’ve always been fascinated with this concept, but it’s hard for me think about HWAT to plant to do such a thing. Very cool, I’d love to hear more about your endeavor!
so chickens love to eat aphids and while it's harder for them to eat whyflies, they would love those collards and the whitefly eggs. Whiteflies are so ubiquitous, that whether u bag them or not, you're pretty much always going to have them every year in your garden.
I usually do feed everything to the chickens that I can. The white flies were pretty bad that season, so I want to do everything I could to make sure they didn’t run back out and lay more eggs! Not the chickens the white flies. Lol
I’ve only had the marginally a few times since and usually only on my citrus, which I’m able to take care of pretty easily. But it is true that what you have most of the pests, you’re always gonna have most of the pests!
Another great, thank you so much!
My front yard slopes down to one side so I dropped a dead tree where it runs down. I run my leaves over with my riding mower in the fall and leave them. After some good hard rain, it pushes all my leaf debris downhill into the timber and drains excess water. Come springtime, I have pure black leaf mold for the garden ( at least 3 truck loads). So if you have any uneven land, take advantage of it!
Babe that’s brilliant! It’s not always easy to see a simple and elegant solution to a complex problem like slope! Great advice! Thank you so much for commenting and letting everyone know that challenges sometimes can be an advantage!
Great content. Just subscribed.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that! I have more videos I have filmed but have not had time to get them out! Welcome to the community!
Have you tried rice hull for mulch? If so how did it work?
I don't have soil just dirt. I live in AZ. I am using food scraps to help the dirt become soil. I tried growing in the dirt and everything grew, just was not eatable.
I’ve never actually tried rice hulls before. From what I do know about them they decompose pretty completely and are readily available. Best I can tell based on the pricing though it would be much cheaper to get a large bag of raised bed mix from your local big box store than to buy rice hulls, plus you can plant directly into the raised bed mix this season. That would definitely give you a jump start! Thanks for commenting and if you do give the rice hulls a try I’d love to hear how it went!
I get issues with gnats I suppose laying eggs in my soil in nc.. I’ve tried everything & nothing rids of them.. so, I’ve lost a LOT due to them.. so annoying. Still gonna work on trying other things though, not gonna give up :)
Never give up! You sound like quite the savvy person willing to push the limits! Have you tried a lacto bacillus ground soak? Essentially it’s the process of creating and encourage if really good bacteria to grow in solution and then doing a ground soak. It has been known to control lots of soil issues, even those you’re having!
I did the same thing you did but my neighbor has a tree trimming service and I get all his wood chips.
Kevin I am jealous! We used to be able to get them for free from county high line tree trimmers. But I guess this area has grown so much that someone saw an opportunity to start a business. Now they get all the free wood chips and sell them!
I’m expanding my garden area this year, and I will have to bite the bullet and buy wood chips for the pathways.
Thanks for commenting! I’m still jealous though, 😉
Will you please tell me how I can make good soil, my garden won't hold any water.
Frances. You can do it the same way I’ve done in this video. You need to work some organic material down deep (think old green stuff like plants or even grass clippings will work) then add some compost on top maybe an inch or so thick and lightly mix it into the top. Then top with a few more inches of compost and your ready to go! First season won’t be spectacular but next year too with more compost (maybe an inch or 2) and your ready to go.
Alternatively, you can just top with a well rotted compost maybe 4-6 inches and plant straight in that. The. The following year add another inch or two. Within a few seasons it will start changing.
Most importantly, add some kind of mulch on top! Even the compost will dry out quickly when it’s really hot. Mulch will help that.
I hope that helps you out!
I'll never use ez straw as mulch again... last year I had a lot of plans die after using it... and a lot of weeds.... us a chipper with old half rotten branches or leaves!
Brandon I’ve come to much of the same conclusion. All the times I used it before I had very few weeds but this fall and into spring it’s HORRIBLE! Luckily I didn’t have any plants die. I had a wood chipper that died a few years ago...I think I need to replace it. Feel bad I’m not the only one now that’s had that problem. I’ve looked into another product but haven’t tried it yet.
I'd love to see your plans for the chicken coop
I got the base plans from somewhere online a long while back and then just modified it slightly to fit our needs. I’ll see if I can’t find where I picked up the originals for you and post it here!
@@TexasGardenDoc Thanks!
This is the original plan set I used. Main differences are I made it longer changed the ends around and made more windows and made my own windows instead of buying them. Hope this helps!
www.etsy.com/listing/238472115/chicken-coop-plans-pdf-file-instant?ref=shop_home_active_1&crt=1
How long until you can plant once you fix it ?
Hi there! I actually planted my fall crops in those beds about 3 weeks later. Basically your planting in pure compost, but the roots reach down to the mixed layer and by the time the start reaching the deeper layers the plants I worked in had begun to break down already. By spring planting, the soil was perfect, and I’ve only top blessed with compost in the fall, no other hard work! I hope that helps!
Thanky ser
Thank you!
No no no, all you need to do is add compost on top of that aerated soil then add newspaper, like roughly 10 sheets, then add a good 4-5 inches of straw on top of that. This is the horticultural/permaculture way. In order to plant you seedlings, you would then just move the straw out of the way by making a nest like indentation, pierce through the newspaper, add a handful of compost and place your seedling in there. Then return the mulch around your plant. This will work miracles. Visit Moraga Gamble's organic permaculture videos to learn more. Also adding a worm tower will benefit your soil.
Thanks for the advice. This too worked miracles! Soil was perfection by next spring. That fall garden grew like crazy, and oh man the works working the soil, so many of them!
My rabbit as he picks the carrot 😱
Lol
My garden, after adding the grass clippings in, has turned my soil into gold and full of worms.
Grass clippings or tremendous aren’t they! They’re usually freely available, and because it came from your lawn usually you know exactly what’s been put on it, too, which is a major bonus! I had someone tell me that they had major problems with grass clippings that it attracted, slugs and snails. I don’t have much problem with slugs and snails around here, so I use grass clippings quite often myself. If I on the offer occasion do see a slug trail, I just lay a board slightly propped up in the garden face down and go out in the morning and remove all those hiding out underneath!
Great idea, and glad to hear you had some real success with that thank you for sharing!
Find the Understanding Ag channel for more details. Have you looked into cover crops and soil armour? There isn't science that supports "aeriating soil". Its just a "traditional practice" that doesn't serve us well.
I have seen the channel, it’s a good one! Cover crops work quite well if you have long periods of time where beds lay fallow. Unfortunately, I didn’t have he luxury of this. Aerating the soil in he instance of an established well-nourished and healthy soil structure is definitely jot recommended. As I mentioned in the video, this soil had little to know structure in it. Breaking up the large runs of clay to allow other organic matter to intersperse and allow that structure to grow more quickly is something that works quite well as there is no existing structure to destroy!
Large scale tilling and aeration of land particularly large commercial lands contributes greatly to other environmental problems beyond just bad soil for sure. However they aren’t really attempting to create good soil though are they, they would rather use chemical fertilizers to expedite their process.
To directly answer your comment more succinctly; cover crops are great if you have the time of unused ground or crops that will grow along side them. In general aeration is bad but breaking up bad soil with no structure whatsoever is not an issue and served me quite well as six months later I know have soil that is alive and thriving! Thankfully I won’t need to do any breaking up of the soil again as it’s now growing in a healthy way. ‘Aerating’ in established healthy soil is definitely not recommended and will not advance the soil healthy In anyway that I am aware of.
Thank you for commenting!
Why don’t you try Haybale gardening that will help with building up your soil
Hi there!
I actually have tried in the past, but I find the humidity here kind of makes it a mess, and I end up with a lot of move growth. However, I do use a modified version of it with things like potatoes and of course, my bananas in the winter months. I do have to remove the bulk of the straw or hay prior to the wet and humid spring in early summer. But hay bale growing is a great method that I’ve seen many people use very successfully!
check out: grelinette If you want to open the ground its a great way. after that cardboard and compost...
Those things are RIDICULOUS! Definitely would be easier on the back than the garden fork. Cardboard is great for virgin ground as well especially if it has grass and weeds. Good advice thank you!
Do you know anyone that can fix Sandy Soil? I live in St Pete Florida
Sandy soil, especially where you are can be REALLY tough! You can add organic material and it literally disappears! Not all hope is lost though. You can grow in raised beds which will 100% solve the issue but it can be expensive. Pots or containers is another great option! If none of those are something you can do, I would recommend checking out David The Good here on RUclips. I don’t believe he has videos out specially about your area but he eludes to how he grew a food forest in just what you have. I believe he has a book or pamphlet he calls it, about the subject.
He’s a really great source for what I call gorilla gardening. He seems to be able to intuit what needs to be done to make things work and muscle his way through it!
Hopefully that helps in some way. Let me know if I can help in any other way!
Come do that to my garden please.
Cathy I would love too! I’m fighting he pay shade and bugs like crazy this year so it would be a welcome visit!
Are you near Houston?
I am, just North of houston! What gave it away?
The fact Gulf Coast but I use to go to NR in Conroe a lot. Can’t get out much anymore my husband has stage 7 dementia. If you are a Master gardener u can get a discount At N R. At least it was before pandemic. Haven’t been since before that. Glad I found you. I watch Scott Head a lot. Also D t Good. There is a lady on the Gulf coast but she is in Ala.
Been to Conroe a lot! Sorry to hear about your husband that’s really tough. I love all those RUclipsrs very good to watch!
I noticed that you have a lot of shade; doesn't that weaken your plant growth?
You are correct! I try to be strategic about it and mostly that works pretty well. I plant things that benefit from a little less intense sun on the mostly shaded side. This season though I have to admit I’m a little worried. We’ve had soooo much rain that the trees are really branching out and it might really affect things. Right now I think it’s ok, the 12 inches of rain in the last week has been worse than the shading, but it is definitely something I’m watching. Great observation!
@@TexasGardenDoc Is it possible to reduce or remove trees? Or - gulp - move your garden to full sun? I also have to chase the sun, as my entire garden is on a 8' x 12' balcony of my condo that faces east, so I know the struggle! I also have palm trees and giant birds of paradise that throw shade, but they are protected as part of the common space of the HOA, so I can't remove them. Sun is one of the essential inputs that our gardens need, but alas, sometimes we have to work with less than ideal circumstances.
@@elizabethblane201 I removed three trees last year when I decided to move the chicken coop near the garden. That helped a lot but the one remaining tree nearest the garden has now really spread out. Removing more is a bit scary since they are leaning in really non opportune ways. However, I did start clearing out a side area a bit away from the house which is about 4 or 5 times bigger. I’m trying to take as few trees as possible but it’s a long term plan so I’m taking it slow.
HOA’s are good fun aren’t they! I don’t envy having to deal with that but like you said, we chase the sun and adapt best we can!
What are you growing this year? Anything your really excited about or really proud of? I’d love to hear about it!
@@TexasGardenDoc This year I am growing everything in SIPs (sub-irrigated planters). I use 5-gallon GrowBuckets and EarthBoxes. Everything grows really well with these systems and you use 80% less water. I don't have any ground (I'm on the second floor) so I have to use containers. I am growing tomatoes, chard, cukes, Chinese yard-long beans, zucchini, poblano peppers, and Physalis peruviana (Golden Berry). It's a hard decision to remove trees. I like that you're taking your plan slowly.
@@elizabethblane201 sub-irrigated is something I haven’t done much if. How do you like it? Sounds like your growing quite a bit as well!
Am not a fan of top soil ,the last time I use it and I water the plants, all the water was running off the soil ,I ended up have to scrape the whole thing out of the garden, and use garden soil instead
I agree. I’ve found a place locally that has lawn and garden base which turns out is what you and I would call top soil. It’s not cheap though! But I’d say it’s cheaper than garden soil. I’m getting ready to expand this garden quite a bit so I’ll have to let you know how this new soil base is.
AZ. Can't stick a fork in calichi. Need dynamite.
Quite true! I recommend dynamite then refill the whole! 😉
Raised beds work well on top of the native soil.
I have really sandy soil nothing grows well in it
Unaired welcome to the channel! Sandy soil can be a challenge. It can take several seasons to bring it around. The key is the same as a lot of soil problems and that’s organic matter. It will take a LOT of organic material to bring it around but be patient. If you have access to compost layer it on top and then mix it in deep. If you have enough layer a bit on top as well. A good mulch on top that can break down over time will help. The easiest test to see how sandy it really is would be to dampen the soil and roll it into a cylinder. If it crumbles apart it’s very very sandy. Try adding the organic material and try growing lots of root vegetables they do best in sandy soil. You’ll need to fertilize a bit more through the season but a lot of that will just run away. Keep adding organic material each spring and fall and it will eventually become a great sandy loam! Just be patient and grow what you can for now while you improve it. It will take a while but it will be well worth the effort!
Umair I meant...autocorrect is horrible
That was the diggiest no dig garden i ever saw
I believe I mentioned directly that I TYPICALLY follow no dog standards but since there was no soil structure whatsoever that digging in organic material was acceptable to me since there was no real structure to begin with. Thanks for commenting!
Better to use tiller
Tiller and plow have a long standing history in farming in general. I don’t think their is a person out there that could say that if you were to plow or use a tiller to breakup really bad soil and work in organic material that you wouldn’t have usable soil, and even good soil depending on what you are working with. I watched my grandmother till her farm garden for most of the younger part of my life. The idea of no-till or no-dig style gardening appeals to home Gardner’s be a use of its accessibility and sustainability. Like I said in the video, I have always tried not to till my gardens. This garden was not well established and I believe a tiller would have done the soil structure no harm and it certainly would have made quick work of it. If the soil was already established as was healthy I would not have even used a garden fork, but in this case, tilling would go much quicker.
Chickens would eat the collards AND the white flies.
That is very true! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.
Thank you!
🇨🇱🇺🇸✝️🙏❤️👍
Check chipdrop to see if you can get free arborist wood chips delivered to your home
That's a great idea too! I actually tried it a while back and couldn't find anyone nearby. I even asked the electrical line guys that were cutting trees last year and they said they'd leave them for me...but they didn't. Wood chips are a great resource and sometimes they are even free, great point!
"How to fix bad soil" - only talks about clay soils, ffs...
Well now that is a valid point! For the most part it’s the worst I have to deal with! What kind of soil are you dealing with maybe I might have a few tricks!
No offense but putting greens in a trash bag is creating toxic co2 gas we breath.
Get a biodigester.
Love to have one!
@@TexasGardenDoc look them up. I think they have the blow up version and you get compost. Or scraps like the ones you don't want go in a " no rules to rot whenever pile"???? Anything but the plastic bag
I have read that plastic can be repurposed for fuel (sort of like propane) pretty easily. I’ve never tried it, but it might be nice to use that fuel that way. However, I really don’t have a need for a biodigester as they are expensive and I can actually compost that stuff on my own. It takes quite a bit longer to do, but that isn’t an issue for me. Honestly I don’t I don’t have much waste that can’t be composted traditionally. I’ve seen a few commercials for them and they are really cool though.
The only reason that plant went in a bag was because at the time I had not found a home made organic and natural pesticide I could use to get rid of them and I didn’t want them spreading. I could easily have fed them to the chickens, but again the bugs would have spread. However, I do have a home made ‘pesticide” made out of stuff I have here which works perfectly! So I won’t have a need for that.
I love that you are knowledgeable on this subject, so I’d like to ask a question. Do you know of any way to get rid of things like non-recyclable plastic, other than using them for fuel as I mentioned, that can be done at home? I haven’t done much research on it but it’s something I’m very interested in.other than just repurposing or up-cycling. It’s hard info to find!
Thank you for your comment and suggestions!
@@TexasGardenDoc well, why are younputting garden waste in plastic bags . That was the question.
It was covered in bugs? Bugs that would pass to other plants. Barely touching the plant sends them flying off to other plants in the garden. Putting them in the bag from the top down then cutting them off mitigates the spread because they fly up and into the bag. Then remove the plant and the bugs from the garden. Very effective solution to insects that are difficult to get rid of, spread easily or have infested a particular plant
Your audio is out of synch.
Oh no!!! I had an issue when making that video can you tell me about what the time stamp is? Thank you for letting me know!
@@TexasGardenDoc Just the first three minutes, up to about 3:27 are of synch; the rest is OK! Good luck; it's great content!
Maaan! I thought I had it fixed! Thank you so much for letting me know. Audio is one of the most important things to me! Thank you so much for the kind words and I hope you are having a great year so far!
I thought greens 🥬 needed you to wait for the first frost before you pick and eat them? Neem oil is good for white fly .
Hi there!
I think you’re talking about the collards?
The colors we harvest pretty much from spring all the way up to fall. Truth be told where I am the college would probably last well into December or even part of January as long as we don’t have an unusually cold winter. But I wanted to make sure I conditioned the heavy soil really well, so I just went ahead and pulled everything out that I could.
I agree with you about the neem oil! It works very well on white flies, and I’ve had some pretty good success with it for aphids as well!
Thank you so much for your comment. I really appreciate it!
Didn’t know that! I grew up gardening in the Midwest, from the teachings of Southern parents. And my mom never harvested or used her greens for food until first frost. It could very well be a Southern thing or something that mom believes is true so she taught it to us! They are supposed to be bitter to the taste until after first frost.
You’re welcome about responding. I love gardening! Thanks for the tips on growing ginger 🫚! I can’t wait for mine to sprout so that I can try my hand at growing my own ginger! I only just watched your video about ginger!
Now that is very true!
Many of the greens do you take on a sweeter taste, or I should say less bitter, once the cold begins! With limited space in the garden I generally harvest all throughout the year. Once the heat of Sommer’s pass though most of the greens will re-grow quickly and I would definitely say they have a much better taste!
That’s very exciting. I can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you!
How long to do u need to wait before u can start planting?
I plant the same or next day without any problems at all.
Thanks for stopping by!
@@TexasGardenDoc Great 👍. Thank you
You’re most welcome. Let me know how it goes!