Back to Eden Organic Gardening 101 Method with Wood Chips VS Leaves Composting Garden Series #5

[@Subterraorganics]

Looks great Mark! Love the diversity of growing/mulch mediums. The speed of breakdown is really impressive for the leaf mold while the wood chips provide a more steady and longer term benefit. Your techniques are solid and appreciate your efforts!

[@iamorganicgardening]

+SubTerra Organics THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Looking forward how it will look in a month or two. Thanks

[@mikalrobinson8678]

As I wrote in part #4, make a drag harrow and compactor to pull behind instead of the rototiller. Cut the black plastic corrugated pipe as wide as you need and a 1/2-inch water pipe 2-inches wider. Cut a cardboard cap for one side and push the water pipe into the center, tape well. Stand the black pipe on end fill with concrete-- keep pipe in center. Smooth off top and allow to cure. For this long device, run a piece of rebar down the center pipe and allow to stick out both ends. 4 inches or so. Slide on a big washer and then two long (6 feet each side) lengths of chain as needed to attach to the tractor/4-wheeler. Slide on two more washers and you can weld them down, or use electric fence wire and tightly secure the washer in. Coat the wire with a glue or caulking to hold in place. Cut a length of welded fencing or chain link to secure each side as wide as the compactor. Attach it to both side of the chain in front of the compactor so as you pull, the fence roughs up the mulch and then the seeds are compacted down. Attach the chains to your tractor so it drags behind and does not bounce up or skip.

[@torea26]

Really enjoy seeing and hearing your Back to Eden organic gardening method. You do a nice job of explaining. Love the meat thermometer idea too. :)

[@iamorganicgardening]

+torea26 THANK YOU, I wonder if they would ever sell a 5 gallon bucket of used coffee grounds for $ 9 bucks...too,,lol

[@lindakiefer9865]

Great series. I have a much better understanding of how it works now. You are a great teacher.

[@iamorganicgardening]

+Linda Kiefer THANK YOU, for you kind words, I am trying my best.

[@tomhill1713]

Great video. Thank you for taking the time to explain why BTE works, and how you even go one better with the living cover crop. Two thumbs up.

[@iamorganicgardening]

THANK YOU very much for watching and glad you like it..enjoy.

[@traviskahre4726]

I learn so much from your videos. Thanks for answering my question and for the great info.

[@iamorganicgardening]

THANK YOU...Here to Help..

[@DrODWest]

thumbs up for educational content - interesting presentation

[@iamorganicgardening]

THAT is Very Kind of you.. Happy New Year Gardening.

[@SpectreTheHorseman]

REally looking forward to seeing how this turns out this year. I'll keep you upated on my potato experiment. Cheers

[@iamorganicgardening]

+SpectreTheHorseman THANK YOU in advance...

[@sanuragunatilake3551]

Your series is so informative, thanks so much

[@iamorganicgardening]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR WRITING and Watching...

[@SpectreTheHorseman]

love your videos Mark, thanks. ABout to plant some potatoes. I'm gonna try the back to eden method, I have 2 10 ft beds of wood chips put down last year. I'm also going to try a no dig method on top of a layer of cardboard and compost covered with straw. It will be interesting to see which does better

[@iamorganicgardening]

+SpectreTheHorseman THANK YOU, If you have the time in the future...PLEASE let me know how it went. Thanks

[@FrugalHomesteading]

Very nice video thank you for sharing thumbs up👍😊

[@iamorganicgardening]

+Frugal Homesteading And THANK YOU for watching and your kind words...ENJOY

[@FrugalHomesteading]

+I AM NJ ORGANIC:farm:garden your welcome have a blessed weekend 👍

[@ichiroyoe]

Hi Mark! Thanks for the lessons! I have some questions. (I just started gardening for a month now xD) The native soil in my place is quite hydrophobic, so what I did was I tilled and mixed biochar-green manure and some compost in the soil. Then I mulched with the fresh wood chips. (from this point on, no more tilling permanently) I learned from your videos that living roots play the most vital role in the making of environment for micorhyzzal fungi. There's really no tree roots below our yard. Sorry for the lengthy story. My question is, should I plant cover crops or leave it unplanted for 1 year like you did? Thanks in advance

[@iamorganicgardening]

As show it was not good to leave it not planted. If you do not have a vegetable growing you should have a cover crop of some type growing..

[@blewtoes]

Hi there. What do you do with eg. tomato plants that have finished growing. Do you pull them out or just snip off the tops and leave the roots in the ground?

[@iamorganicgardening]

+blewtoes HELLO. You are correct on your second part. JUST CUT THE TOP OF AND LEAVE THE ROOT IN GROUND. And the same applies to every plant. Thanks for writing.

[@tompatterson9333]

Good info

[@iamorganicgardening]

Glad it was helpful! THANK YOU.

[@slyplaymike1]

what crops in your knowledge can survive frost so that I may keep a living root in the ground over winter....it's about 32°F night time temperature for three months in Johannesburg south Africa.... regards....thanks for your awesome channel

[@iamorganicgardening]

It does not have to be a crop per say...It can be a perennial grass of some type or plant. Fine out what stays green in you cool/ winter months.. That is a good start...THANK YOU. Look for something in the legume family,,,

[@REFIGUY69]

i dump whole leaves on mine in fall and then take lawnmover with mulching blade and shred very fine and then overwinter. in spring i lightly rake the top and whatever not composted i revisit with lawnmower and mulch to fine . then spring clean up in my yard gets all dumped into my beds and mulched. and i let my chickens process beds to even finer grain as i add chicken hay and waste.

[@iamorganicgardening]

+REFIGUY69 SOUNDS GREAT, THANK YOU for sharing..

[@traviskahre4726]

Do you cut the vegetable plant to the ground leaving the roots in the ground when it's season is over or do you pull out the whole veg. plant (ex. tomatoes ) at the end of the season?

[@iamorganicgardening]

Hello, it is always best to cut ALL vegetable plant to the ground - leaving the roots in...THANK YOU.

[@dennissullivan4746]

Hi, Your tractor (seems pretty heavy) doesn't seem to be having much of an impact on the soil, ground. I'd think it would sink more in the leaf mold, perhaps more so than the wood chips, and compact the soil. Again, though, that doesn't seem to be the case. Can I ask for your thoughts, comments on this? Cheers, Den

[@iamorganicgardening]

I really never see a problem with soil compaction from it.. keep in mine that it may just go in the field one or two times a year...THANKS

[@TheologyQA]

Thank you for all the helpful info!! Question, we have a new garden plot that has had about 6 inches of wood mulch on top for the past 6 months or so then lots of weeds we just cut short. We know we need to layer LOTS more before spring planting. My question is, do we deep mulch it right away then stop layering to plant a cover crop like winter rye or just keep layering and layering all winter. We have no tress at all in this area and awful soil. We appreciate your wisdom! The plot is not too large maybe about 20 ft by 20 ft.

[@SpectreTheHorseman]

when you put the leaves down, how did you keep it from blowing away

[@iamorganicgardening]

+SpectreTheHorseman As long as they stay wet they stick to each other very well...

[@aacsteveo]

wonder how layers of wood chips and leaf mold combined would do?

[@iamorganicgardening]

+aacsteveo JUST FANTASTIC... like in the woods. Wood chip by themselves just do not grow a lot of weeds. That is why I plant a cover cover in the leaves so I choose what it grows, not weeds. THANKS YOU FOR WRITING.

[@thickasabrick52]

+aacsteveo Not sure where you are, but I'm in the high desert of NM. I use wood chips to cover the ground and try to develop soil.....base is sand with a layer of clay a few feet down. Leaves that I manage to get here do not decompose very fast unless they have access to water. Average about 8-10 inches here and most is in large doses very fast (Thunderstorms). The wood chips over the leaves keeps enough moisture to get the leaf mold going. Last fall just used whole leaves, and one source was finely shredded.....the shredded leaves, as you would have guessed, decomposed much faster. For me, at this time, both wood chips and leaves are a great combination.

[@iamorganicgardening]

That is a great point... That it a depends on the amount of rain/snow fall every year and soil conditions. Thanks for writing..

[@stevederheim2114]

I started sunflowers this year and none of them are coming up last year they did in in zone 8b, same as Paul Gautschi maybe my seed is bad?

[@iamorganicgardening]

TRY replanting again. Then you know if it is the seeds. Thanks.

[@mrstn123]

Did you abandon the sunflower planting?

[@iamorganicgardening]

The sunflower seeds are planted in the leaves.. You will see now large they get in the later part of this series.. THANK YOU.

[@loanauditscal]

Do the wood chips warm the plants and soil?

[@iamorganicgardening]

No, hey are there to get a steady low temp. This way the soil food web which is living in your soil a good supply of moisture to keep them alive. It is more of a barrier to the sun so the soil does not get to hot. Best soil temps are 65 - 75 degrees. THANKS.

[@hideo32167]

Relocate the gophers into your stomach. Taste as good as rabbits, and equally tender.

[@iamorganicgardening]

We have something called Coywolf. A mixer of coyote and wolf that will get them. THANKS.

[@johnjude2685]

Chinese makes most of the batteries for the world and they sale battery operated exports ( sounds like a plan in working).