G'day Everyone, this was my first Premier so thanks for going easy on me in the chat area ;) Ocean2earth Fish Compost: Enter the discount code SSME5 at checkout on their Website here ocean2earth.com.au/ and get a 5% discount on the 1.5L and 3L bags plus free shipping Australia wide! Cheers :)
Mark, We have a bunch of IBL (?) containers cut in half to make raised beds. The former owner of our home added wood ash to everything, in bucket loads. I'm not sure if that's why the medium in them is so hydrophobic, but they're a mess. We've been adding worm castings and worms, with compost materials in the middle in pots half buried and bottoms removed. I have tried using soap to try to help them absorb water, but , that hasn't worked. I emptied 2 of them, added in brown matter and some logs, replaced the dirt (it's not soil yet LOL) and added worm poo. We've also worked in heaps of coco coir... still hydrophobic. Other than manure, is there anything I've missed? Have you made a video on how to fix hydrophobic soil? We have a nice clay in some of the yard. Cheers! ` > Tom's wife Pam
@@HS-hr5wp Thanks for the tip. I'll keep an eye on it. Coco does dry out faster than soil would, it's really more of a hydroponic medium. we're not mixing it in but rather using it as a mulch. >> Tom's wife Pam
My Husband and I have watched for just about a year now. Love your channel. Odd question..... my husband always asks why can't I find shorts like yours. I always endup returning them because they are to long. So I'm embarrassingly asking what brand of shorts you get? , Perhaps I can find some for fathers day. Thanks sorry for being Weird.
I LOVE that he cracked the days of our lives joke 😂 it is exactly what I thought when he said ‘like sands through the hourglass..’ and then he cracked it. What a boss! 👏👏😂😂
Mark, you ARE the reason we got our Birdies beds. Of course, we had to wait a few years just because of availability here in the USA, and then we bought some property so we had to wait a little longer, but we're two beds in so far and I expect to get two more in the fall. We're part of your Florida followers. Moved from the beach because things were getting kinda funny in the world (I've also heard your call for preparation) and bought a couple of acres to begin homesteading. Keep doing what your doing, it's propelled us to get this far. And thank you.
I just started growing fruits and vegetables in containers. Looking for inexpensive way to purchase or make raised beds. What part of Florida do you live in? I live in Palm Beach Gardens.
@@LadyEllenMLowe , we bought a little land in Homosassa. We are still using our containers for gardening. All of our tomatoes are in containers as well as our carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant (although these will be getting their own small bed) ...we even have some of our citrus in containers so we can move them inside when there's a freeze.
Birdies beds are just chinese rubbish, despite what anyone else tells you, and you're paying an incredibly huge margin for it. You can get locally made bluescope made beds at half the price that bridies try and charge for their sub-standard steels.
Great way to recover the worn out bed. Here in the U.S. midwest we are having a very difficult time finding cow manure that is not contaminated with the Grazon herbicide.
Yeah, I'm in the northwest and I have chickens and bunnies, so I am using that. I try to keep all of their foods as organic as possible, but with fields surrounding me and the spraying taking place it can sometimes be a struggle.
Check out the Video by 'David the Good' where he talks about his experience with using Manure that had been contaminated by Grazon...but have a handkerchief ready when you do. The damage was astronomical.
Here's what I do: each fall collect as many of the bagged leaves that people have conveniently placed on their curb. Each spring and summer, collect their grass clippings. Compost the whole lot year round.
@@teebob21 DO NOT USE GRASS CLIPPINGS!! They can be contaminated just as much or more so than the manure. My town's has a composting program and had to completely ban grass clipping pick up for this reason. It's very bad. Grass is one of the worst "crops" over watered, over use of pesticide, herbicides and fertilizers contaminating the water supply and causing health problems to neighboring children and pets. Our state requires signs warning people to the chemical hazards applied to the lawn, but only professionals bother to put up signs. The neighborhood old man or Karen is just pouring on poison willy nilly and not even reading the labels of whatever they bought at the local Wally World.
@@teebob21 How do you know what they sprayed on their lawn though? Unless you personally know the person and how they take care of their lawn, taking clippings is really iffy.
In the USA, we have a similar fish fertilizer available at many garden centers called "Alaska Fish" and it generally comes either liquid or pelletized. Got a bit of smell, but VERY effective.
Yeah, in the US pre-COVID Alaska Fish fertilizer sold for $7.99 a gallon. Today (about 3 years later), it sells for $29.99 - $34.99 a gallon. Not saying it's not effective, just saying what the hell?!? Alaska's fertilizer is not a fish-based compost as featured on this video, which I would LOVE to see here in the US.
@@tmontero8492 I think the closest thing would be using something like coast of Maine quoddy blend or master nursery bumper crop soil builder. Those have crab and lobster shell compost in them
I do enjoy your posts. I learn quite a bit from your posts. I wish I had access to your resources such as fish by products. I used to get mine from my fishing husband but unfortunately he's fishing in heaven today. Thanks.
Last year I took my fishing scraps and placed them about 4 inches below my tomatoes when I planted them. They grew amazingly! When I tilled through them this year there were only a few scales and bones left. Will be doing this again this season.
Every time my guys go fishing, they hand me a bucket of scraps that get buried in any available space. Some people say it doesn't work, but I don't believe it.
I sincerely hope that more people subscribe to your channel. Even if they don't, I hope they watch at the very least... 5 of your videos end-to-end. Your information in every video is well presented, unabashedly to the point & entertaining enough to not be distracting from what you are presenting. I had to pause at 7:33 to comment before the video ended later to avoid forgetting to comment. Keep it up, friend! You are actively helping save the planet one mind & one raised bed at a time. Thumbs up & making someone else watch too 😋
I just wanted to say I love watching your videos. I stumbled on you a few weeks ago and have gone back and watched so many. You are such a joy. You and Nina are a treasure. I am very much a beginner but am well on my way to transforming my yard.
I went to Birdie's website for here in the US and as I was reading through the website I couldn't stop hearing your voice, accent, and cadence narrating it. 😄 Thanks for the scoop on the poop! I recently made a friend who has horses and is as thrilled to have me take their poop as I am to get it! Amazing stuff!
Hi Mark. You're kind of a goofball sometimes but you always have good content, and it never hurts to have a little chuckle while learning. Keep up the good work!
I live in Canada so for most of the year I can’t grow anything or even really run a compost. So during the spring and summer I collect all my food scraps, paper and garden waste in a big barrel wear it breaks down before burying it all into my beds during the fall. By spring it’s turned into beautiful soil filled with worms.
When harvesting, and pulling the dandelions, I shred the leaves off the stalks and bury them about a foot under the earth. The garden bed in my apartment complex is very clay heavy, as in I'm digging out large clumps of near pure clay, so have been trying to put organic materials back into the earth in preparation for next growing season. Have considered water-extracting the clay for rustic pottery
I have birdies raised beds (400mm high) for nearly 10 years now..., "BEST" thing I ever did for my veggie garden. I have 10 beds of different sizes and grow enough for my entire family, chickens and friends. Dead simple to improve the soil. I bury all of my fish waste from fishing and chicken carcasses from processing them into my empty garden beds buried about 300mm deep and in only a few months the worms and microbes had broken it down. I compost all of my chicken poo with my dry gum leaves and lawn clippings and dig this into the gardens about 2 or 3 weeks before planting them out...., I have had fantastic results.
I always bury food scraps, chop n drop all green waste, bring in diversity of mulch, bring in compost, seaweed from ocean, buy special amendments and add as needed like rock dust for minerals. That’s for no till but in containers is different. I like how you save weeds too! Nothing is trash if organic matter.
Thanks for posting a video that no other gardeners seem to be addressing. Ive been wondering how to get more guts into my soil and now I know how to do it. Look out veggies, here I come!
I don't use fish compost exactly but fish meal has been one of my favorite amendments for big green plants. Massive cabbages, massive strawberries, towering corn stalks. Good stuff.
Thanks for your vids. I'm not a natural green thumb gardener at all, so I'm learning heaps from your vids! We're hopeful that our new veggie beds will supplement the veggies we buy & eventually be more self sustaining! Blessings from South Australia💕🐨
if you happen to run across a used cement mixer, like I did, they work amazingly well to premix this stuff and save time. then you can top dress or dig up some native soil to mix with everything else. So worth the 100$ for me. I use it for everything BUT cement now. haha.
A beacon of healthy (mental) programing. I love the vibe of your videos. Tired of all the crap politics and hate on youtube and T.V. Been watching a couple years now and this year I am really getting ready for grow season like never before. Unfortunately I live in Colorado and we really can't put any plants out until mothers day but my seeds are getting a jump start in my house and all my planters and pots have been prepped. Tomorrow I'm going to prep the garden soil. Thanks for the inspiration, knowledge and entertainment. Seriously.
mulching weeds will depend on which weeds you've got - I have a few weeds in my yard that re-root easily from their leaves (particularly vines and ivies), so those have to be fully removed
Thanks Mark for the info re composting and the fish compost additive. All of my Birdie beds are full and covered with mulch and to my surprise I started planting my seedlings and found worms already there!! I have added the worm eggs from Bunnings as well (2 days ago) into all the beds (2 packs) recovered with the sugar cane mulch and watered all of the stuff in. Now all I need to do is my herb bed and yes I am planting marigolds, roses, Lavender, rosemary and a 'money tree' for the bees and other good insects!! The garden beds around the veggie beds will be redone and further flowering plants will resume growing and helping Thank you so much to helping me get the gardening bug again.
As aways Mark, GREAT INFORMATION about revitalizing a planting bed!! I grew up on a hobby farm and all the suburban non farming relatives came by to pick up the rotted cow poo for their gardens!! THANK YOU and God Bless!!!
Here in the USA we have to be very careful using animal manure in the garden, a lot of hay farmers use grazon or some other residual broadleaf herbicides on their fields. I know several people that have ruined their garden for years by getting contaminated manure. I have goats, chickens and rabbits and know where their feed comes from.
@@alicias9928 I usually add it fresh in the fall and by spring it good to go. In the spring when I do a clean out I throw it in a compost pile with wood chips and such and then use it in small amounts by about July.
yes we use rabbit manure now from our own rabbits and grew our own hay for that reason-- we killed half our garden w grazon that lasts 18-24plus in your soil....... ugh
Love the timing! I just perked-up some of my planter beds' soil. Heading toward my back garden next. Those beds have been fallow for a couple of years, but I let my chickens free-range in them for several weeks. Hopefully no grubs - and I know they added fertilizer! 👍
Thanks for the great tips Mark. I live on the coast in Northern NSW where the soil is naturally very sandy . With all this wind and rain my gardens are all but ruined . 3 trees fell down, fruit all on the ground, tomato stakes snapped off, pots blown over and even my beloved passionfruit vine and trellis wound up on my neigbours driveway.
Awesome! I’m in Merimbula just up the road from where they make the fish compost and was wondering what it’s like 👍🏻 so glad to hear it’s a great product - the more organic inputs the better the soil and the taste of the food. Thanks for sharing Mark 😘
Love your down to earth Aussie content. Just a quick question, how do you get/gather your motivation to get out in the garden especially on cold winter rainy days? My brain just wants to hibernate & my body agrees too much.
I live in the Florida panhandle, wish my soil looked like your depleted bed…lol. Adding organic matter and running the chickens over the yard. And have a Hügel mound going. This year it’s a bucket and kiddie pool garden…😉
I accidentally fixed some sandy soil, I basically stole some from our succulent pot out back and it wasn't great but I needed it to put some earthworms in for a quick lesson at school. The worms I got came with a little bit of good soil/castings already, so I tossed it in there and 3 weeks later it's so great in there that there are little sprouts lol. And now I've searched making worm farms which has lead me down a gardening rabbit hole even though I'm not too keen on gardening
Thank you for this video. I live in NC and my soil is very sandy and loose. I add the manure from my quail into the soil and let if sit for a while before using the bed. I’ve also told people to leave the weeds, but just dig them under and they always have seemed confused as to why lol.
Thank you for this information. Your videos have been an excellent source of information. I live in New Jersey, at the Jersey Shore, at sea level and my soil is super sandy. My fig trees grow beautifully but not much else. Your videos have inspired me to experiment and try new things.
Planting out my 4 raised veggie beds this weekend. So satisfying to see the whole process. Love your videos as it gave me a guidance to make a netting cover to protect the plants!
@Self Sufficient Me - I have watched for years now, love the vids. We just set up our raised beds and are planning to get quail soon. The one thing I haven't seen you have videos on is using composting worms to break down food/garden scraps. I've been doing this for a while and with just a few totes get gallons of worm tea and just used 15 gallons of worm castings on the new raised beds. Would love to see your take and you do some videos on this. They are simple, just get a tote, make a worm farm, bury veggies in the worm farm soil so you have no smell or other bugs, worms eat it and give you castings. Either way, good luck & will be watching!
Great video as always, thanks for sharing and all you do! To help save money my family and I have started a small backyard garden. We're learning how to homecan, seed save, make compost, and preserve what we grow. Less than 2 years in our new home and we've completely transformed the backyard. We are beginner gardeners, growing and learning along the way. Recently I started a gardening channel to help encourage others to begin growing as well. No time better than now to learn self sufficiency. Thanks again for all you do, your channel definitely helps me stay motivated for my family. God bless! 💚🌱
Good timing for me as my sweet potato bed is depleted and was wondering if I should dig it all up and add a bag of cow manure before planting the slips back in. Or should I just add the cow manure to the topsoil and leave it be (young potatos are long but thin at this stage). Next weekend job 😅
This helps me out a ton with my soil it needed to be helped out I grow in containers so can use all the help I can get 🙏 love your videos have a great day ❤
Awesome Garden! Was looking at some older videos this week, do you still have the Quail? I’d love an updated video on them as to how to maintain the aviary…after awhile isn’t it just all poop on the dirt? Do you add to it? Maintain it somehow? I want to build an aviary this summer but I’m concerned as to how to keep it from being a big poop box lol 😂 Love from 🇨🇦!
I'm up N.Q and I go to the beaches once or twice a year to collect a heap of washed up kelp and see grass. I'll run the sprinkler on it probs 18hrs a day after giving it an initial washdown then throm a tarp o er it then wash it down on e of twice a week for 3months then it's into the compost.
thank you for this. I know the principles... but it ia easy and a pleasure to watch you execute the bed. I'm visually oriented at lessons imprint for me like this. I am clearing and establishing a 2 acre ranch farm orchard. and I am in texas with what is called "sugar sand" so I must add in 50% organic matter. im torn with just bringing in fresh composted "soil" in raised beds. because we have such vicious grasses with burs with hooks around the seeds. pets and us suffer from the pain of those things. im older and just want to cut to the chase as effectively as I can. we also have industrial strength brambles. I call them "Gods barbed wire."
Great video Mark! I’ll be sure to check out the fish mob, thanks for the link. I don’t have access to cow manure, but I have a local harness club not too far from me. $10 for a huge cage trailer load! I let it rot down and weed seeds die off, it’s great. Manure adds so much life to garden soil. Such a good way to make use of what would otherwise be a waste product.
I'm the exact opposite. I can go three miles down the road to buy manure at the garden box stores,but it would be neat to live far out in the country enough to get 'the real deal'. The smell wouldn't bother me either-reminds me of my childhood. I had a friend that lived on a farm.
@@lelleithmurray235 yep, this horse manure I get, I have to shovel it myself, but hey, for $10 for a huge load, it’s worth it! Maybe check your area for any horse agisting properties or racing parks? Marketplace can be a good place to hunt for local manure. Good luck!
@@littlesuzie6672 yes,there are a couple of horse friendly towns not too far from me. Unfortunately we're losing them to development which is a shame. I used to live in south Dade county, and it was common once upon a time to see riders on the roads. It would have been easy to get a few buckets of manure,but with my little car,I'd have to be oh so careful transporting it!
Thanks for hte head's up with the Ocean2Earth product. I appreciated this video, as I've been working on augmenting the soil that I have inherited in our yard. It was really sandy when we moved here, but is slowly getting better. I've been getting cow manure at Bunnings, but I wouldn't mind knowing where you get yours (I believe I live around 25 mins from your place), as I'd prefer to know what goes in it (bagged, you have no idea). I'd also love it Mark, if you'd do another seed starting video with what you are currently starting - much like Epic Gardening does, (Wrong hemisphere for me - but I love the channel). Happy GrowinG!!!
add in some coffee (after brewing ofc.) works wonders and the worms like it very much...I got buckets of soil that are years old and still produce nice plants...OR build a wormfarm...wormwater is one of the best fertilizers I know
I'm using Bat guano, Fish compost, Horse manure mixed in with my composted organic material. However this year is becoming a bit of a test for me growing Veg.
I have a similar issue with one of my in ground beds, but it's clay, not sand. Bed wasn't doing too hot. The last round of plants I planted, I noticed that the soil under the mulch was pretty much dirt and that the organic matter that was there has broken down and been used (I didn't mix in much organic matter in the first place). Here in Hawaii, I don't have easy access to the good manures and I don't have much budget to buy compost. I put what compost I did create on top of the mulch (leaf & grass mulch). I also got a bunch of used coffee grounds and put it on top also. My mountain apple tree is going bonkers right now so I have a ton of rotting mountain apples on the ground, so I got a few buckets of those, crushed the mountain apples somewhat and put it into the bed also. I then dug them into the bed and mixed it into the soil. Hopefully the tropical weather and abundant soil life will break that down in the next couple months and leave my bed with much more organic matter. I may invest in compost and coco coir to mix in also.
Thanks Mr Oz! Here in S France there is little that isn't a bit dodgy to use on the beds and i have very light soil - i have been using our own compost and horse (and my own chicken) manure - i don't seem to be able to get cows. Is horse just as good? I use lots of straw but have only had the land for a year. Everything has gone wrong for me to learn - onion sets and garlic didn't bulb up, before they seeded; overwinter beet didn't grow, nor did broccoli (turnip did!) - chinese leaf got eaten by slugs; lettuce didn't heart up; carrots didn't come up; bok choy full of flea beetle. Lots of nightshades, pumpkin, corn and beans coming now though and too many caugettes and cucumber! I have to time things right and use cover netting! It's tricky as well as broody hens!
I hooked a cousin up with your channel -today 😄😄It was actually during the premier, which I missed, because I was with a cousin hooking them up with your channel.. Forgiven? 😂 Hi to Ms. Nina!
G'day Everyone, this was my first Premier so thanks for going easy on me in the chat area ;) Ocean2earth Fish Compost: Enter the discount code SSME5 at checkout on their Website here ocean2earth.com.au/ and get a 5% discount on the 1.5L and 3L bags plus free shipping Australia wide! Cheers :)
Mark, We have a bunch of IBL (?) containers cut in half to make raised beds. The former owner of our home added wood ash to everything, in bucket loads. I'm not sure if that's why the medium in them is so hydrophobic, but they're a mess. We've been adding worm castings and worms, with compost materials in the middle in pots half buried and bottoms removed.
I have tried using soap to try to help them absorb water, but , that hasn't worked.
I emptied 2 of them, added in brown matter and some logs, replaced the dirt (it's not soil yet LOL) and added worm poo.
We've also worked in heaps of coco coir... still hydrophobic. Other than manure, is there anything I've missed? Have you made a video on how to fix hydrophobic soil? We have a nice clay in some of the yard. Cheers!
` > Tom's wife Pam
@@HS-hr5wp Thanks for the tip. I'll keep an eye on it. Coco does dry out faster than soil would, it's really more of a hydroponic medium. we're not mixing it in but rather using it as a mulch.
>> Tom's wife Pam
Excellent video like always! 😊❤️🌏🌻🌼
My Husband and I have watched for just about a year now. Love your channel. Odd question..... my husband always asks why can't I find shorts like yours. I always endup returning them because they are to long. So I'm embarrassingly asking what brand of shorts you get? , Perhaps I can find some for fathers day. Thanks sorry for being Weird.
Thank you for quick soil fix! Cow manure is rare here in Singapore, I will juz add own made compost n fish guts discards to amend the soil.
I LOVE that he cracked the days of our lives joke 😂 it is exactly what I thought when he said ‘like sands through the hourglass..’ and then he cracked it. What a boss! 👏👏😂😂
He loves the DOOL jokes don't he 😊
I don't even garden. I just watch these because his voice is so calming.
Mate been following you for ages but this one seems like an add for the fish product. Stay humble
Mark, you ARE the reason we got our Birdies beds. Of course, we had to wait a few years just because of availability here in the USA, and then we bought some property so we had to wait a little longer, but we're two beds in so far and I expect to get two more in the fall. We're part of your Florida followers. Moved from the beach because things were getting kinda funny in the world (I've also heard your call for preparation) and bought a couple of acres to begin homesteading. Keep doing what your doing, it's propelled us to get this far. And thank you.
I just started growing fruits and vegetables in containers. Looking for inexpensive way to purchase or make raised beds.
What part of Florida do you live in? I live in Palm Beach Gardens.
@@LadyEllenMLowe , we bought a little land in Homosassa. We are still using our containers for gardening. All of our tomatoes are in containers as well as our carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant (although these will be getting their own small bed) ...we even have some of our citrus in containers so we can move them inside when there's a freeze.
Birdies beds are just chinese rubbish, despite what anyone else tells you, and you're paying an incredibly huge margin for it. You can get locally made bluescope made beds at half the price that bridies try and charge for their sub-standard steels.
@@d3vnull86 , I don't think I can since I'm in the states. It's either Birdies or Vego, and those are more expensive than birdies.
@@d3vnull86 Birdies Beds are made in Australia. NOT Chinese.
Great way to recover the worn out bed. Here in the U.S. midwest we are having a very difficult time finding cow manure that is not contaminated with the Grazon herbicide.
Yeah, I'm in the northwest and I have chickens and bunnies, so I am using that. I try to keep all of their foods as organic as possible, but with fields surrounding me and the spraying taking place it can sometimes be a struggle.
Check out the Video by 'David the Good' where he talks about his experience with using Manure that had been contaminated by Grazon...but have a handkerchief ready when you do.
The damage was astronomical.
Here's what I do: each fall collect as many of the bagged leaves that people have conveniently placed on their curb. Each spring and summer, collect their grass clippings. Compost the whole lot year round.
@@teebob21 DO NOT USE GRASS CLIPPINGS!! They can be contaminated just as much or more so than the manure. My town's has a composting program and had to completely ban grass clipping pick up for this reason. It's very bad. Grass is one of the worst "crops" over watered, over use of pesticide, herbicides and fertilizers contaminating the water supply and causing health problems to neighboring children and pets. Our state requires signs warning people to the chemical hazards applied to the lawn, but only professionals bother to put up signs. The neighborhood old man or Karen is just pouring on poison willy nilly and not even reading the labels of whatever they bought at the local Wally World.
@@teebob21 How do you know what they sprayed on their lawn though? Unless you personally know the person and how they take care of their lawn, taking clippings is really iffy.
In the USA, we have a similar fish fertilizer available at many garden centers called "Alaska Fish" and it generally comes either liquid or pelletized. Got a bit of smell, but VERY effective.
Yeah, in the US pre-COVID Alaska Fish fertilizer sold for $7.99 a gallon. Today (about 3 years later), it sells for $29.99 - $34.99 a gallon. Not saying it's not effective, just saying what the hell?!? Alaska's fertilizer is not a fish-based compost as featured on this video, which I would LOVE to see here in the US.
@@tmontero8492 I think the closest thing would be using something like coast of Maine quoddy blend or master nursery bumper crop soil builder. Those have crab and lobster shell compost in them
Hi.... Mark nice to see you, thank you for showing your video homestead 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 🏡🎥👍👍👍
I do enjoy your posts. I learn quite a bit from your posts. I wish I had access to your resources such as fish by products. I used to get mine from my fishing husband but unfortunately he's fishing in heaven today. Thanks.
Your videos make my soul happy. Thank you, Mark!
This is literally what my soil is and I am refilling new beds as we speak, what perfect timing
Last year I took my fishing scraps and placed them about 4 inches below my tomatoes when I planted them. They grew amazingly! When I tilled through them this year there were only a few scales and bones left. Will be doing this again this season.
I've done the same in the past. Good call.
Every time my guys go fishing, they hand me a bucket of scraps that get buried in any available space. Some people say it doesn't work, but I don't believe it.
That's a very old technique to use fish parts as fertilizer.
I sincerely hope that more people subscribe to your channel. Even if they don't, I hope they watch at the very least... 5 of your videos end-to-end. Your information in every video is well presented, unabashedly to the point & entertaining enough to not be distracting from what you are presenting. I had to pause at 7:33 to comment before the video ended later to avoid forgetting to comment. Keep it up, friend! You are actively helping save the planet one mind & one raised bed at a time. Thumbs up & making someone else watch too 😋
I just wanted to say I love watching your videos. I stumbled on you a few weeks ago and have gone back and watched so many. You are such a joy. You and Nina are a treasure. I am very much a beginner but am well on my way to transforming my yard.
Another great video Mark. Always love watching your videos and learning a few new tricks. It’s a big fat thumbs up from me 👍
I went to Birdie's website for here in the US and as I was reading through the website I couldn't stop hearing your voice, accent, and cadence narrating it. 😄
Thanks for the scoop on the poop! I recently made a friend who has horses and is as thrilled to have me take their poop as I am to get it! Amazing stuff!
Good afternoon! Here’s to a bountiful growing season.
Great job, Mark! Don't beat yourself up over letting the garden grow up a bit. You have done a great job fixing it all up.
Hi Mark. You're kind of a goofball sometimes but you always have good content, and it never hurts to have a little chuckle while learning. Keep up the good work!
I live in Canada so for most of the year I can’t grow anything or even really run a compost. So during the spring and summer I collect all my food scraps, paper and garden waste in a big barrel wear it breaks down before burying it all into my beds during the fall. By spring it’s turned into beautiful soil filled with worms.
Your happiness is infectious, well done.
Thanks for the video :) Going to try this out in my garden this week.
Im a back yard farmer my self so i will learn alot
Moving to an area with light sandy soil in a couple weeks. Perfect timing on the videos as always!
Same here!
Same again
When harvesting, and pulling the dandelions, I shred the leaves off the stalks and bury them about a foot under the earth.
The garden bed in my apartment complex is very clay heavy, as in I'm digging out large clumps of near pure clay, so have been trying to put organic materials back into the earth in preparation for next growing season.
Have considered water-extracting the clay for rustic pottery
I have birdies raised beds (400mm high) for nearly 10 years now..., "BEST" thing I ever did for my veggie garden. I have 10 beds of different sizes and grow enough for my entire family, chickens and friends. Dead simple to improve the soil. I bury all of my fish waste from fishing and chicken carcasses from processing them into my empty garden beds buried about 300mm deep and in only a few months the worms and microbes had broken it down. I compost all of my chicken poo with my dry gum leaves and lawn clippings and dig this into the gardens about 2 or 3 weeks before planting them out...., I have had fantastic results.
I always bury food scraps, chop n drop all green waste, bring in diversity of mulch, bring in compost, seaweed from ocean, buy special amendments and add as needed like rock dust for minerals. That’s for no till but in containers is different. I like how you save weeds too! Nothing is trash if organic matter.
Thanks for posting a video that no other gardeners seem to be addressing. Ive been wondering how to get more guts into my soil and now I know how to do it. Look out veggies, here I come!
I don't use fish compost exactly but fish meal has been one of my favorite amendments for big green plants. Massive cabbages, massive strawberries, towering corn stalks. Good stuff.
Thanks for your vids. I'm not a natural green thumb gardener at all, so I'm learning heaps from your vids! We're hopeful that our new veggie beds will supplement the veggies we buy & eventually be more self sustaining! Blessings from South Australia💕🐨
if you happen to run across a used cement mixer, like I did, they work amazingly well to premix this stuff and save time. then you can top dress or dig up some native soil to mix with everything else. So worth the 100$ for me. I use it for everything BUT cement now. haha.
This will be handy to deal with the terrible sandy soil I got from my local supplier
Thanks master 👍 thanks for the "Organic Matter"that always reiterates year by year!!✌️
Would love to see you transplant those strawberry runners into a new bed.
Your lawn around your beds is beautiful! It looks like that outdoor carpet that's supposed to look like grass. It looks that perfect!
Thanks again for your sharing of knowledge! My garden is really starting to thrive and it's just so exciting! -from BC canada
A beacon of healthy (mental) programing. I love the vibe of your videos. Tired of all the crap politics and hate on youtube and T.V.
Been watching a couple years now and this year I am really getting ready for grow season like never before. Unfortunately I live in Colorado and we really can't put any plants out until mothers day but my seeds are getting a jump start in my house and all my planters and pots have been prepped. Tomorrow I'm going to prep the garden soil.
Thanks for the inspiration, knowledge and entertainment. Seriously.
A big thumbs up from Sijsele, Flanders - Belgium. I enjoy your videos so much. Spreading the word on the other side of the globe.
Thank you
mulching weeds will depend on which weeds you've got - I have a few weeds in my yard that re-root easily from their leaves (particularly vines and ivies), so those have to be fully removed
it looks even better than i imagined, wow
Thanks Mark for the info re composting and the fish compost additive. All of my Birdie beds are full and covered with mulch and to my surprise I started planting my seedlings and found worms already there!!
I have added the worm eggs from Bunnings as well (2 days ago) into all the beds (2 packs) recovered with the sugar cane mulch and watered all of the stuff in.
Now all I need to do is my herb bed and yes I am planting marigolds, roses, Lavender, rosemary and a 'money tree' for the bees and other good insects!!
The garden beds around the veggie beds will be redone and further flowering plants will resume growing and helping
Thank you so much to helping me get the gardening bug again.
As aways Mark, GREAT INFORMATION about revitalizing a planting bed!! I grew up on a hobby farm and all the suburban non farming relatives came by to pick up the rotted cow poo for their gardens!! THANK YOU and God Bless!!!
Good to see an ET put to good use Mark, great channel.
Touching in. Wouldn't miss any of your classes. Good show. Good work.
Here in the USA we have to be very careful using animal manure in the garden, a lot of hay farmers use grazon or some other residual broadleaf herbicides on their fields. I know several people that have ruined their garden for years by getting contaminated manure. I have goats, chickens and rabbits and know where their feed comes from.
How long do you compost chicken manure before using it? I have access to chicken manure, but it is so hot.
@@alicias9928 I usually add it fresh in the fall and by spring it good to go. In the spring when I do a clean out I throw it in a compost pile with wood chips and such and then use it in small amounts by about July.
yes we use rabbit manure now from our own rabbits and grew our own hay for that reason-- we killed half our garden w grazon that lasts 18-24plus in your soil....... ugh
iirc david the good lost like $100 worth of blackberries that way
@@nostalgia_junkie yeah, it's pretty bad. I'm very careful but still worry and I guess straw is bad too?
Have been loving watching your videos.
Love the timing! I just perked-up some of my planter beds' soil. Heading toward my back garden next. Those beds have been fallow for a couple of years, but I let my chickens free-range in them for several weeks. Hopefully no grubs - and I know they added fertilizer! 👍
Thanks for the great tips Mark. I live on the coast in Northern NSW where the soil is naturally very sandy . With all this wind and rain my gardens are all but ruined . 3 trees fell down, fruit all on the ground, tomato stakes snapped off, pots blown over and even my beloved passionfruit vine and trellis wound up on my neigbours driveway.
Where is Northern NSW?
@@LadyEllenMLowe Nothern Rivers, I guess...cheers from CH
Awesome advice! Getting 2 of my first raised garden beds soon, your videos have helped me greatly when it comes to know how. 🙏
Great post my friend. Stay free, happy and healthy ✨️
Awesome! I’m in Merimbula just up the road from where they make the fish compost and was wondering what it’s like 👍🏻 so glad to hear it’s a great product - the more organic inputs the better the soil and the taste of the food. Thanks for sharing Mark 😘
Love your down to earth Aussie content. Just a quick question, how do you get/gather your motivation to get out in the garden especially on cold winter rainy days? My brain just wants to hibernate & my body agrees too much.
Enjoying the info and gardening humour 😀
Thank you Mark, your garden looks great
Like a manure cake lol. When you had that cow manure in your hand it did look like you were going to have a bite. 😆 your a legend mate!
It makes my day every time Mark uploads a video!!! 😍😍😍
I live in the Florida panhandle, wish my soil looked like your depleted bed…lol. Adding organic matter and running the chickens over the yard. And have a Hügel mound going. This year it’s a bucket and kiddie pool garden…😉
Your videos always make my day! Thank you and happy planting
This was great information. Thanks Mark😊
I accidentally fixed some sandy soil, I basically stole some from our succulent pot out back and it wasn't great but I needed it to put some earthworms in for a quick lesson at school. The worms I got came with a little bit of good soil/castings already, so I tossed it in there and 3 weeks later it's so great in there that there are little sprouts lol. And now I've searched making worm farms which has lead me down a gardening rabbit hole even though I'm not too keen on gardening
Thank you for this video. I live in NC and my soil is very sandy and loose. I add the manure from my quail into the soil and let if sit for a while before using the bed. I’ve also told people to leave the weeds, but just dig them under and they always have seemed confused as to why lol.
Thank you for this information. Your videos have been an excellent source of information. I live in New Jersey, at the Jersey Shore, at sea level and my soil is super sandy. My fig trees grow beautifully but not much else. Your videos have inspired me to experiment and try new things.
Ocean to earth..thankyou.I will check it out..gotta love free postage!
I love that theyre composting waste fish, friggin great idea :)
Great video Mark. Raining here too.
Planting out my 4 raised veggie beds this weekend. So satisfying to see the whole process. Love your videos as it gave me a guidance to make a netting cover to protect the plants!
hey Mark, great videos, great content, could you make a vid on how to fix clayey soil.
@Self Sufficient Me - I have watched for years now, love the vids. We just set up our raised beds and are planning to get quail soon. The one thing I haven't seen you have videos on is using composting worms to break down food/garden scraps. I've been doing this for a while and with just a few totes get gallons of worm tea and just used 15 gallons of worm castings on the new raised beds. Would love to see your take and you do some videos on this. They are simple, just get a tote, make a worm farm, bury veggies in the worm farm soil so you have no smell or other bugs, worms eat it and give you castings. Either way, good luck & will be watching!
Denver Colorado USA here. Saying good morning. It is now 8;30 a.m.
Super video fish fertiliser compost looks good.
Great video as always, thanks for sharing and all you do! To help save money my family and I have started a small backyard garden. We're learning how to homecan, seed save, make compost, and preserve what we grow. Less than 2 years in our new home and we've completely transformed the backyard. We are beginner gardeners, growing and learning along the way. Recently I started a gardening channel to help encourage others to begin growing as well. No time better than now to learn self sufficiency. Thanks again for all you do, your channel definitely helps me stay motivated for my family. God bless! 💚🌱
Been wondering how you are since the flood. Didnt see any alerts . Good to see you r ok.
Good timing for me as my sweet potato bed is depleted and was wondering if I should dig it all up and add a bag of cow manure before planting the slips back in. Or should I just add the cow manure to the topsoil and leave it be (young potatos are long but thin at this stage). Next weekend job 😅
Hi Mark.
Andy and I say Hi From France
This helps me out a ton with my soil it needed to be helped out I grow in containers so can use all the help I can get 🙏 love your videos have a great day ❤
Awesome Garden! Was looking at some older videos this week, do you still have the Quail? I’d love an updated video on them as to how to maintain the aviary…after awhile isn’t it just all poop on the dirt? Do you add to it? Maintain it somehow? I want to build an aviary this summer but I’m concerned as to how to keep it from being a big poop box lol 😂 Love from 🇨🇦!
I'm seeing more use of organic worm castings here in the midwest of the USA. Kind of like your fish compost.
Darn it, I missed the live. I'll watch the replay. It's a beautiful 75 F , I was out tilling and planting beans and peppers.
Thanks! I really needed this. My soil in my pots has turned a little light and sandy.
I'm up N.Q and I go to the beaches once or twice a year to collect a heap of washed up kelp and see grass.
I'll run the sprinkler on it probs 18hrs a day after giving it an initial washdown then throm a tarp o er it then wash it down on e of twice a week for 3months then it's into the compost.
thank you for this.
I know the principles... but it ia easy and a pleasure to watch you execute the bed. I'm visually oriented at lessons imprint for me like this.
I am clearing and establishing a 2 acre ranch farm orchard. and I am in texas with what is called "sugar sand" so I must add in 50% organic matter. im torn with just bringing in fresh composted "soil" in raised beds. because we have such vicious grasses with burs with hooks around the seeds. pets and us suffer from the pain of those things. im older and just want to cut to the chase as effectively as I can. we also have industrial strength brambles. I call them "Gods barbed wire."
I knew you were going to handle the dung. You'd already explained it and shown it up close but you are just too hands on, I knew you couldn't resist 😂
Awesome idea to use fish carcasses as nutrient enhancement.
Live on a Barrier Island .. going to watch this for sure
Mathew, I used to live on a barrier island off long island, ny. From 1960 til 1973.
Great video Mark! I’ll be sure to check out the fish mob, thanks for the link.
I don’t have access to cow manure, but I have a local harness club not too far from me. $10 for a huge cage trailer load! I let it rot down and weed seeds die off, it’s great. Manure adds so much life to garden soil. Such a good way to make use of what would otherwise be a waste product.
I'm the exact opposite. I can go three miles down the road to buy manure at the garden box stores,but it would be neat to live far out in the country enough to get 'the real deal'. The smell wouldn't bother me either-reminds me of my childhood. I had a friend that lived on a farm.
@@lelleithmurray235 yep, this horse manure I get, I have to shovel it myself, but hey, for $10 for a huge load, it’s worth it! Maybe check your area for any horse agisting properties or racing parks? Marketplace can be a good place to hunt for local manure. Good luck!
@@littlesuzie6672 yes,there are a couple of horse friendly towns not too far from me. Unfortunately we're losing them to development which is a shame. I used to live in south Dade county, and it was common once upon a time to see riders on the roads. It would have been easy to get a few buckets of manure,but with my little car,I'd have to be oh so careful transporting it!
@@lelleithmurray235 fair enough 😊
I wish you best of luck for your garden, with what ever manure gold you can get your hands on
yea mate.. aged cow cake is very awesome.. been using it since 2017..
this year i was thinking of adding goat,sheep to the mix
Thanks for hte head's up with the Ocean2Earth product. I appreciated this video, as I've been working on augmenting the soil that I have inherited in our yard. It was really sandy when we moved here, but is slowly getting better. I've been getting cow manure at Bunnings, but I wouldn't mind knowing where you get yours (I believe I live around 25 mins from your place), as I'd prefer to know what goes in it (bagged, you have no idea). I'd also love it Mark, if you'd do another seed starting video with what you are currently starting - much like Epic Gardening does, (Wrong hemisphere for me - but I love the channel).
Happy GrowinG!!!
Ok got some fish food next I’m getting birdie raised beds I’m loving your videos I’m hooked 😃🐨❤️🦘
Greetings from Bisbee, Arizona, USA.🌵
add in some coffee (after brewing ofc.) works wonders and the worms like it very much...I got buckets of soil that are years old and still produce nice plants...OR build a wormfarm...wormwater is one of the best fertilizers I know
I'm using Bat guano, Fish compost, Horse manure mixed in with my composted organic material. However this year is becoming a bit of a test for me growing Veg.
I have a similar issue with one of my in ground beds, but it's clay, not sand. Bed wasn't doing too hot. The last round of plants I planted, I noticed that the soil under the mulch was pretty much dirt and that the organic matter that was there has broken down and been used (I didn't mix in much organic matter in the first place). Here in Hawaii, I don't have easy access to the good manures and I don't have much budget to buy compost. I put what compost I did create on top of the mulch (leaf & grass mulch). I also got a bunch of used coffee grounds and put it on top also. My mountain apple tree is going bonkers right now so I have a ton of rotting mountain apples on the ground, so I got a few buckets of those, crushed the mountain apples somewhat and put it into the bed also. I then dug them into the bed and mixed it into the soil. Hopefully the tropical weather and abundant soil life will break that down in the next couple months and leave my bed with much more organic matter. I may invest in compost and coco coir to mix in also.
Love you Mike, great video as always
@Charles Haas. I have miniature watering spike ones for my indoor plants. I just top them up regularly . That way the soil never dries out.
Thanks Mr Oz! Here in S France there is little that isn't a bit dodgy to use on the beds and i have very light soil - i have been using our own compost and horse (and my own chicken) manure - i don't seem to be able to get cows. Is horse just as good? I use lots of straw but have only had the land for a year. Everything has gone wrong for me to learn - onion sets and garlic didn't bulb up, before they seeded; overwinter beet didn't grow, nor did broccoli (turnip did!) - chinese leaf got eaten by slugs; lettuce didn't heart up; carrots didn't come up; bok choy full of flea beetle. Lots of nightshades, pumpkin, corn and beans coming now though and too many caugettes and cucumber! I have to time things right and use cover netting! It's tricky as well as broody hens!
Please do another clay soil, i know you have done one but i would love the update!
I hooked a cousin up with your channel -today 😄😄It was actually during the premier, which I missed, because I was with a cousin hooking them up with your channel.. Forgiven? 😂 Hi to Ms. Nina!
I live in Phoenix Arizona and the soil here is basically clay so I'm excited to see what I can do to improve the quality of the soil
He has one on clay soil already I believe. Others have made good videos about heavy clay soil.
Tilling the soil is not how nature infuses the soil.
I’m in north central. What (general) area are you?
Me too !!!
@@melissajarvis4829 I'm on bell road along 43 ave
Can you please do a video on what plants I can grow while living in an apartment?
Hey Mark, any chance you could do an update on your bush food garden???