3 Free Ways to Make Your Own Soil for Growing Organic Food - Regenerative Gardening & Permaculture

[@trumpetingangel]

Good video! I love to see people using wood chips; I have used them for mulch, a bottom layer in a raised bed, and for compost. I would add a few tips, though. Mixing the wood chips with nitrogen-rich material is a great start for compost, but it will work faster if you turn the pile, and cover it to keep the moisture in. You can certainly just leave the pile alone, but it will take much longer to compost. Similarly, shredding leaves helps quite a bit. Without it, the leaves can tend to flatten into mats, and it slows the decomposition. Finally, if you are getting horse manure (or any other manure), it's essential to find out if the horses have been fed hay that was sprayed to kill broadleaf "weeds." Some of those herbicides persist in the hay, in the manure of animals fed that hay, and in the compost made from that manure. Compost containing those herbicides will kill the plants in your garden, and will persist in the soil, sometimes for years. If the people don't know how their hay was grown, don't use it.

[@foreverfoodforest]

Thank you! These are great tips. I'm pinning your comment so others can learn too!

[@buzzwerd8093]

Perhaps like a flow-through worm bin with mesh "floor" could work for compost? Or on a small scale, compost inside of used animal feed bags, jute instead of plastic?

[@ancesthntr]

A great, and free, source of nitrogen-rich material is your local coffee shop. To them it is just garbage, but used coffee grounds are extremely rich in nitrogen. Last year I got a couple hundred pounds over the course of a week from ONE local shop (there are at least 10 within 3 miles of my house), and that was more than what I needed. Some of it ended up just getting spread on my grass. I know that last part will take a while to incorporate into the soil, but it is a very good complement to the carbon in wood chips.

[@jimjustjim976]

I guess same goes for the wood chips. Most people have a pest/ herbicide on their lawn year after year and that soaks up into the tree that is then cut down. And chipped. Hopefully in 3 years it's safe

[@ronb6182]

I don't trust any industry for fertilizer even the coffee grounds can contain the bad guys. I have acreage and it's probably the best source of natural compost along with earthworms. Worm casings are good for growing stuff. All my land is raw fallowed land just have to stay away from under power lines some utility companies spray to keep weeds down. My pineapple plant grew good in my GA soil. It's just too heavy to move the pot into a warm area in the winter. 73

[@LisaSmith-uh9rg]

God bless you and thank you this is the kind of farming America needs desperately

[@brucewales5965]

“Good soil at the root of your garden” love it!

[@rustyscrapper]

Good news to home owners: your useless lawn isnt useless. grass builds soil over several decades just from cutting the lawn, if you dont bag the clippings. Lawns from old houses that have 40 year old grass have excellent soil under the grass. It builds up over time. Thats why old house lawns end up 6 inches higher then the sidewalk. It built 6 inches of new soil. The stuff is just black gold and people pay to remove it to re level their lawn. Its a gift if you save the soil.

[@Itll_do_food_forest]

Yeah, however 99% of people bag their grass, and leaves

[@joanschutter5863]

This is good advice! I only have access to leaves (because my husband vetoed a mountain of wood chips!!) which are working really well. I like to shred them with a leaf mulcher because I've found that whole leaves create a mat that is harder to work with when planting my garden. I put my extra leaves in bags and poke air holes in the bag so the leaves decompose, not rot. It's so nice not to have to till my garden! (I'm an old lady!) I just pitchfork it a little to aerate. With healthier soil I have more songbirds and less pests. I have seen a 2 foot garter snake in my little garden. I just grit my teeth and leave it alone. I need the free bug-eating pest control!

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Hello from Windermere, Florida zone 9b. Excellent videos ❤👩‍🌾👍 I'm in a development near Disney. But I've been Gardening since I was 21 in 1971. I'm a Vermiculturalist since 2009. We all need to grow organic! Garden What You've Got is my life motto-Use What You Have 👍 Nice to meet you ❤Peggy❤😊

[@KeepOnGrowin]

I am here for this! Exactly what I need right now. I have been doing hydroponics for 10 years and now I am trying to regenerate my soil and start a mini food forest. Thank you.

[@foreverfoodforest]

Love to hear it!

[@Happy2Run4Me]

I am making my soil better by combining it (my soil is literally 100% white beach sand) with homemade compost and coco coir for my raised beds, grow pots and containers. My field gets a generous layer of compost covered with my native pine straw (because I also live in the piney woods). I make my own liquid fertilizer from wild grasses and leaf mold from under our forest oak trees. All of these things are free to me except I do occasionally buy some Bokashi bran for my compost as I don’t make enough of that to produce it myself though I know how to do that also. The coco coir is also purchased. I’m occasionally amending with bone meal and blood meal until I can transition to also making those myself as well. I will be making my own fish emulsion and fish meal soon as well. It’s all very low cost and my plants are so much more productive and healthy than last year when I was first starting my garden!

[@foreverfoodforest]

What you're doing is awesome! It's only gonna get better over time as you keep amending it and cultivating the microorganisms!

[@Akira-ed3wd]

I live near the Grand Canyon, Az, have been building or rather growing the soil years now, with decent results, ( my black corn strain says so )... Buried a discarded smaller elk carcass for burial n the southwest corner of my corn field to sit a year and recover and purpose the soil therein... Just an idea

[@JK-ox2kp]

You are going to have amazing soil!

[@driver3899]

Don't forget about growing green manure cover crops like oats, beans, vetch, clover and cowpea. You can grown them from seed so they are cheap, they will develop good soil structure and a healthy eco system with the roots then chop and drop them and cover them with mulch or compost to trap heaps of nitrogen and other goodies into the soil. When the plants die the path the old roots made can let air in, hold rain water in the soil for a long time by letting it penetrate nice and deep, plus new plants can use the old root paths to rapidly grow their own. If you are able to collect seaweed (I guess its nearby since you have beach sand) it can be great to burry in to sand and also as a mulch or use in making compost tea as well. Just some suggestions, hope they help!

[@rudekperezacupuncturist]

Love the idea of letting leaves decomposed in the bag. I had good experience with Chip Drop. I needed a lot of wood chips and it would have cost a lot, plus I shared with 2 others neighbors, I had about 8 deliveries (free gym membership). I made a sign to let driver know where to drop it. A note on animal manure is to be careful, if you are trying to be organic, about pesticides in their feed plus drugs given to them.

[@foreverfoodforest]

It is like a free gym membership! Lol!

[@lifeisgood070]

I've literally used chip drop 11 times. I've put close to 250 yards of mulch on earth 1/3 acre property in 2 1/2 years. It's been fantastic

[@wpchastain]

Me too about 15 loads over several years, but I have five acres and six sons.

[@GLORYWIELDERS]

Probably works if you have that much space, but if you don't, that could be very problematic! I get her point in the comment... 😘🙏

[@jamesrichard5290]

I'm still waiting on a drop. I'm out in the sticks in NE Pennsylvania though. Kinda out of the way.

[@hosoiarchives4858]

@@jamesrichard5290it’s rough

[@daviddreher8588]

I'm in the Dallas suburbs and got a Chip Drop once. it was massive, but they did it in my back driveway, so it was out of sight. I waited several months for it to stop cooking before using it. The pile shrunk a little bit, but was still huge. It took me about a year to get rid of the pile, but I used it around all of the trees, in the front beds around and under the bushes, on the floor of the cattle panel hoop house, and of course on top of and around the garden. I also shared it with the next door neighbor who hauled 20 5 gallon buckets away. But yeah, if you don't already a have space you can use about 60+ large bags of mulch, Chip Drop probably isn't for you.

[@michaelbessette8685]

I contacted the city road department. They brought trucks of wood chips for free. I did buy them a big case of Gatoraid.

[@robstevens6112]

Full Garden Tour! It's great seeing how others utilize their unique spaces.

[@foreverfoodforest]

Coming soon!

[@louisemarendoli8001]

I live on the most nutrient deficient coastal plain soil IN THE WORLD. It has taken 4 years to build up the soil enough to grow non native plants/fruit veg etc so this is great info thanks as it’s a never ending expensive task. It is just part and parcel of living in some areas of Australia but I am constantly jealous when I see people digging into their amazing quality soil on KZbin 😂

[@foreverfoodforest]

And I thought we had it bad here in Florida. Our "soil" is sand and any nutrients we add get washed away by the monsoon every year. I feel your struggle but it is possible!

[@frightfullycozy]

I appreciate your humor and you explaining where to find everything (as a lay person/gardener this is very helpful!)!

[@phoxpharms]

A little effort, every 2-3 days of turning your piles will turn your compost wait from 6 months down to a couple of weeks. Sure you have time, until you don't. If you take 1 year to prepare your soil, that is 1 year your not producing food, when you could have been producing food after a couple of weeks. When I moved onto my property, I had been previously hired to kill this property. So I had mowed the yard down very short, I had sprayed weed&feed and 40% glyphosphate the summer before I moved in under the owners orders. Then I got the opportunity to rent the property and I converted the area I had killed, which was nothing but a dead patch of dirt, into my garden and greenhouse area. That next summer we ate out of the garden, not the greatest harvests accross the board, but plenty tomatoes, zuccini, and lettuces. Only used compost I had made in spring to feed the garden. I coated the garden in 8" of leaves, ran my mower over them, and let winter settle in. End of winter I let my chickens turn over the garden for 2 weeks, weeding, fertilizing, tilling, and eating bugs. This year my garden is twice as dense and bountiful it was last year versus if I had waited a year to just build soil, I would have had my first food run this year and would have learned last years lessons this year, and not have been productice and bountiful for another year. So that is 2-3 years to acheive your goals instead of 1-3. Pro tip on soil building, buy chickens. They compost faster then any method, plus free eggs.

[@foreverfoodforest]

Thank you for the information! Chickens are on my list of livestock to get eventually. Unfortunately, our county requires a permit for chickens and all available permits have been given out. Turning my pile more often just isn't an option as right now our temperatures are in triple digits with 90% humidity, and 100% mosquitoes, but come fall I'll be sure to turn it up!

[@phoxpharms]

@@foreverfoodforest How unfortunate. Chickens are such wonderful creatures. If 1/3 of humanity had a few chickens we could eliminate all the food wastes from landfills. Best of luck.

[@janetlovesu]

There's always rabbits as an alternative pet. Their poop can go on the beds right away!

[@adamtheownerofyourpassiona3879]

i have been blending my banana peels and other food waste rather than waiting for it to compost- my plants are very happy with it!

[@theroyalcrane]

I do the same, every Saturday.

[@danarzechula3769]

Definitely going to try this. I have been doing Bokashi.

[@sherylduden335]

Great ideas! However, I don't recommend using others leaves or lawn clippings unless you know they do not spray.

[@debbiey9452]

Hubby & I go get wood mulch from our yard waste processing plant a few miles away. We’ve brought home about 15 truckloads and pitch fork it right out of the truck wherever we need it in the garden. Great resource.

[@nnekababy]

ChipDrop is TOP TIER!!! The drop isn’t big enough if you ask me. I have a lot of land to cover. I don’t care what my neighbors think about the 2 piles on my front lawn. It breaks down quick enough…a month. 😂 Just move the pile to the back of your house. Horse manure is not always the best idea. If you don’t know where the hay that they eat comes from, you are probably introducing chemicals to your gardens via the new compost.

[@onfungi8815]

Horses prefer grass so I think the product is called clear view? and its a pesticide that kills off broadleafs which leaves (sorry) the path clear for grass. I put compost with horse manure in a garden and it didn't work out so well. How I found out.

[@abysstopia]

I've watched this video twice now, and it's inspired me greatly to take over soil production on our suburban land. We're in Brisbane, Australia, which is about the same distance from the equator as Orlando, Florida...so hopefully whatever works for you will work for us as well! We let our garden get away from us over the past few years and now we're taking great joy in getting it back into a proper working order, including a lot of tree/shrub trimming and then shredding everything we can that we've cut down. I'd already appointed myself the Compost King of our place (my wife handles the finer stuff, and I do the brute force stuff!), but now I'm gonna be the Soil Baron as well!

[@quincyberman5629]

I love the intro about poor farmer and good farmer. I had a hard time establishing some trees and decided to stop reacting to each issue and focus on the soil. I decided to use chickens as my composters. I use rice straw, some chopped up saplings, sugarcane, bamboo, rush... All the chicken feed and food scraps go into the compost then the chickens break it down. I use It when it it mulchy more than a compost. I have a pretty big chicken run, a little less than 1000 m², which I plant gardens and fruit trees for the chickens. Chickens can be very destructive but the trees and gardens can be protected until strong enough or ready to be foraged. However the fertility they add is incredibly valuable, my chicken run is turning into its own little food forest. I am going to expand the chicken run to include the orchard so the trees will have a solid foundation.

[@elielmo08]

Christina we need more videos!! You are awesome!

[@karlhalvorson]

Nice video, but I actually love Chip Drop. Yes, it was a lot of wood chips, took several days to disperse, and did steam and stink a little, but I have a large yard that I am turning into many planting boarders, so it was worth it to me. In fact, I still have more areas that need wood chips and the areas where I did put them could use some more. I’m doing the no-dig method of laying down cardboard and putting several inches of chips over top. It is incredible how it has transformed my yard.

[@Acts-1322]

Absolutely my thoughts and gameplan, did the same thing and will def do again

[@Practicingpreparedness]

Just signed up for a drop … thanks for the tip, I had no idea that was a thing

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

I've used Chip Drop for the past 3 years, and even though I have a relatively small homestead, I find I need more than one drop to cover everything. If you grow mushrooms in the woodchips, like winecaps, they will break down the woodchips in less than a year and greatly benefit the plants.

[@SchoolforHackers]

Confirm the cardboard and wood chips! We had bindweed for years, eliminated it in one fell swoop.

[@joshuaalistair3193]

Chip Drop never worked for me, guess it only works for city folk.

[@nineteenfortyeight]

Staring with joyful determination into the middle distance at the victory of the people ❤

[@cindyprickett7185]

So glad I found your channel! Please keep putting out new videos!!

[@hakdov6496]

I love chipdrop. Done it twice now. Yeah, its a lot of work but it saved me hundreds of dollars on buying mulch.

[@coachdaltonyeatman536]

I’ve been using the Berkeley 18 day compost method and it’s been amazing bc you don’t lose much compost volume like you do with cold compost

[@ancesthntr]

Thanks, that’s quite interesting and saves a LOT of time.

[@MK-ti2oo]

I use it too just because of the fast turn around and the huge amounts of compost I go through.

[@mybootscamewithoutstraps]

Just as a small counter to the "Don't use chipdrop"....I have taken a few loads from them and it's been great. Sometimes the drivers aren't as careful as I wish they'd be, but it's a free load of chips for me. I mulched my entire front yard (0.2 acre), and I store the rest in my backyard to use as it breaks down and as areas need it. Yes, it's a lot of chips, but if you are making a food forest, mulching out all the grass can be a helpful step in building better soil, especially if you're on heavily compacted clay like I am.

[@thomas_saved_by_yeshua]

Yes I would Love a Mount Everest of wood chips, over ten years I found a tree cutter twice, asked if they could dump the chips on my nearby property, they said they'll do it but they didn't have enough trees to be a full load. Later I found a big pile; 30 miles round trip so I filled my pickup many, many times and even my husband helped me twice; it barely makes a covering on what i need since they start breaking down before a tree cutter event happens again! But what a blessing they are! The ground (clay) doesn't crack where the covering is.

[@NapoleonGARDENINGTV]

I love maintaining a Food Forest! More, if it is a Forever Food Forest.

[@R-1.]

I bought a gasoline powered wood chipper, although I don't recommend it for everyone as they can be dangerous it was definitely a worthwhile investment for my small homestead

[@joselitodelvena6472]

Great share! Very informative! I'm learning a lot! Thank you!

[@edgarmiranda4917]

You are great as a gardening teacher. I love how much you know about plants, but with all respect let me tell you is very difficult to follow up because you have such a beautiful eyes which call my attention. You are the best.

[@jaumegirbentfernandez1920]

Hi Cristina, congratulations for your good gardening & permaculture practices. I also make my own soil from every kind of weed, branch & food scraps that I collect. I crush all weeds in a bioscredder and then I dispose a layer as mulch. Over time it becomes new substrate.

[@gwenkilby]

Great video! One caution I would submit however with regards to manure, and that is the use of Grazon persistent herbicide used to keep weeds out of feed hay/straw. This stuff is horrific on the garden despite seeming to harmlessly pass through animal digestive tracts. Sadly it's near impossible to know whether or not the manure/hay/straw you procure has been treated with it. It can destroy a garden and is persistent, taking years to finally breakdown. There have been some remediation steps identified, but it's time consuming and heartbreaking to have to deal with this poison. So be warned, and be careful out there gardeners.

[@MK-ti2oo]

When I am gifted manure, hay or straw I always soak a bag of it in a couple gallons of water then water some sacrificial bean plants with that water for a few weeks before I use the material in my compost. (beans and tomatoes react to grazon really quickly and you'll know in a couple weeks if its clean). I had a slight issue when I first started gardening using some gifted hay as mulch on my tomato beds and it took 4 years of heavily amending that area with great compost, leaf mold worm castings until that soil tested good again.

[@cherylcook1942]

And, if the horse has been wormed, the manure will kill worms in your soil.

[@shellperry4840]

​@@cherylcook1942Really? Oh my goodness- well, ALL stables will have wormed their horses, surely?

[@louisepeterson6626]

I used some horse manure once (years ago). It didn’t harm the crops but, oh the grassy weeds!! It took years to get rid of them. 😢😊

[@maddierosemusic]

@@louisepeterson6626 Me too - there's gotta be a way to kill the seeds - I stopped using horse poop because of the weeds.

[@OraC6666]

I love chipdrop. They warn you that you are getting a whole truck load on their page. They place it where you tell them to. Used them several times. If you are putting a good layer down, it doesn't go as far as you think.

[@MK-ti2oo]

I Had a great experience with chip drop. The problem is, they don't have many participants in my area (I'm on 50 acres at 5k elevation, 2 hours from the nearest city big enough for a box store) so I applied and got one drop by chance then nothing for over a year. The one drop was no where near what I needed, I had no problems using it. These are arborists etc, so it's going to be fresh mulch, meaning yes, it's going to be hot and will steam. If you live in a city in a tight space, a huge dump truck doesn't have many options for dumping them because they will sink in your yard, damage gas, water, power lines etc and may have to dump best the road at the front of your property. I encourage you to think it through logically before you ask for a chip drop, they are very up front about what to expect if you read the information they give. I highly recommend it. I've since just flagged down the guys I've seen locally doing tree work and have gotten 17 truck loads this summer so I also recommend that option!

[@7munkee]

When I stated my soil, I primarily used cardboard and weeds/grass clippings. I switched to straw, leaves, and grass clippings which every homeowner gets loads of each year. I also added raw vegetables scraps as I got them. Now each year all I it gets better textire and richer in nutrients.

[@obgardening]

I am very happy with what you are doing, making your own compost with raw materials that are readily available in nature. it will keep the balance of nature sustainable, ❤️😍😍😍😍

[@Youtuberkit7]

this is very helpful also for big land like acres livestock can be use to fertilize the land that what we called holistic management That’s what we are doing now in Philippines for our cows farming.

[@jennakarpinsky-goldberg1229]

i like her! i relate to her & enjoy a quick astute lesson, easily worded, & without to much extra commentary.

[@foreverfoodforest]

Wow, thank you!

[@MyBacktrail]

I'm subscribing because you seem real, not fake, sponsored or chasing clicks. You're starting at the beginning without a lot of nice looking gardens.

[@foreverfoodforest]

Thank you for the kind words and subscribing, I'm looking forward to sharing more videos! My goal with this channel is to help and inspire others to grow their own food naturally without spending a lot of money.

[@MyBacktrail]

@@foreverfoodforest I started my food forest last fall and so far have 14 fruit trees planted and a lot of fruit bushes, but I also planted clover, black locust, siberian pea shrub, seaberry, comfrey (all those are N-fixers) and flowers. I'm adding to my wood chip mulch areas as I can. So I'm not doing it exactly like you are but I def see the value in "growing soil" and I'm trying to do that. I also built the house I live in, using mostly logs from the property sawn on my sawmill, and reused lumber and doors and windows bought from a recycling place. Also off grid, on solar power. I think you'll find that many people who give you advice in the comments have never grown or built a damn thing in their lives, lol. They live vicariously through people like us, and at some point they become experts.

[@johnkm77]

You should definitely use Chip Drop if you have the need for lots of chips. For me, I live in a rural area and I waited a very, very long time for Chip Drop to deliver, and when they did, all I got was one truck load. I ended up speaking to every arborist in my area, and so far I got about 6 truck loads, and I need a lot more. Also, be careful with using plastic bags outside. If they are exposed to light and rain, they will break down into tiny pieces of plastic that you will never get out of your soil, and they're toxic. Lastly, if you're going to get straw or manure, be sure you know if that straw is sprayed with herbicides or pesticides, and if the animal that produced the manure ate sprayed feed, because those chemicals will survive the composting process and they would kill your plants for as long as 7 years.

[@NoGardeningFriends]

I got a mountain of chips from chip drop and it was the most beautiful mulch I’ve ever seen. I highly recommend it if you have the space to use it.

[@gilbertlugtu6189]

Thank you Cristina for important info for soil

[@mightythor1339]

I use wood chip and grass mixed together for compost , I’ve started putting 50% wood chip and 50% compost for my planter

[@donHooligan]

Thank You so much! edit: excess (fresh) grass clippings are *GREAT* for heating up a pile, too! no clumps, water, and layer!!

[@cthomasct61]

Thts wht I always based the thought of compost on...The Forrest through the trees 🌳....The Forrest through the trees...great vid...I learned something....1 PEOPLE...1 MIND....1 LOVE ❤️....1 NATION...1

[@rmcnally3645]

I LOVE the snake moment 😅 its SO true!! I did the same thing and lo! There were snakes hiding under my bags as well!! 🐍

[@twistedbuilder]

Mulch is possible with good sense of humus!

[@dogrudiyosun]

You have a good sense of humous

[@teachoc9482]

Love how you start out with an interesting quote. Got my attention!

[@CaliKim29]

Great content here!! I enjoyed this!! CaliKim

[@BornFreeFilms]

I have several acres. I put in an order for chips several years ago and they haven't sent any yet. lol I could take 1000 truckloads. I did catch the county cutting trees back from highlines and they delivered about 20 10ft truckloads. The guy in charge tried to charge me $20 per load, but, I said, it was just a thought to save him from having to pay at the dump to get rid of them, so he thought about it and started delivering to me while in area. I had a lot of steaming piles. I was afraid they were going to catch on fire.

[@naturalyawd7814]

I have a small garden and i use a lot of kitchen scraps (Greens, Banana peels, beets, melon). I just dig a hole put them in and water.

[@janw491]

Dumping leaves in a chicken run is fun for the chickens, keeps mud down in the the run and in spring you get leaf mold with chicken poo. Collect into bags or start a compost pile and use the next fall.

[@YolBasDa]

Use rain water tanks to collect rain water and have rain water whenever you want.

[@Jaysky569]

I love chip drop! I also have a full acre garden though, and a full orchard as well.

[@YouthfulHahaha]

I ordered a chip drop once.. O M G. Thank you for the great video!

[@cristinalattuada5322]

Hi, here in Australia we have termites in some areas, where I live. Would this wood chips attract termites? I also have a lot of huge palm fronds, not sure if I could use them?

[@foreverfoodforest]

I was afraid it would attract them too. They swarm us every year, but so far we haven't had any in the wood chip piles.

[@louski5844]

This video is just what I need! I spent $200.00 fazool To fill my containers & raised bed. Bless you!🌱

[@gigglesmcgee2052]

Hugelkulture is a great way to fill raised beds

[@louski5844]

@@gigglesmcgee2052 I never heard of Hugekulture did a Google search Great information 🍻 cheers

[@joebacarella2829]

Great ideas, my soil needs help, I have my garden beds covered with the poly propelene 3 mil mesh, in which I have 6 inch holes to plant my peppers and tomatos, but you can`t mix organics into the soil without removing the mesh, which is a real pain, so I use liquid fertilizer to feed the plants. I have made up my mind, I am going to remove the mesh and use wood chips to keep down the weeds, and I can use the fall leaves and till that into my soil for winter months. The poly works excellent for keeping out weeds, but you can`t regenerate your soil without removing it. I used a 400 foot roll, and it`s a pain in the butt, so it`s gone at the end of this season.

[@trishrestante3865]

Hello Christina, thanks for your videos. I've watched a few of them. It's good to see a real garden. Love how you have an Aussie tree fern. Will keep watching. Trish from Wollongong Australia. 😊

[@matthewj4145]

Enjoying your channel. Keep doing videos, this channel will grow like a garden. I've been using my own wood chips and cow manure mixture for a few years. I place mine in a sunny spot and cover with black plastic. Turn it a couple times throughout the process over a few months and it works great.

[@jimfulkerson2679]

Why do you cover? I just drop my leaves and compost in the garden spread it let sit until spring

[@matthewj4145]

The cover holds moisture and amplifies deterioration of the wood chips. And the black eliminates light which kills weeds. You definitely don't have to cover by no means. I just do. @@jimfulkerson2679

[@randydurston4777]

I just came across your video. I live in AZ. My property has a lot rock (landscaping). I’m in the progress of removing all the rock and replacing it with my own soil. With the help of other things that you described in this video. Thank you for sharing. You have a new follower. Bless up.❤

[@foreverfoodforest]

Thank you for the follow! My best friend lives in AZ!

[@cherrywilliams5739]

I love chip drop. It took a year or two to get some but they were great. Yes, I have a mountain but 5hey asked me how much I wanted. I have a huge yard and I have been sharing with lots of neighbors.

[@rymburg]

This is one the best vids I've seen yet with the best info ..thank you

[@PartTimePermies]

I had 5 drops from woodchips. Don't mind, I use them, I'm out in a rural area and have a trailer to transport them in (with my lawn tractor) and have a neighbor with a tractor. Have a pile for the chickens to play in. Working on moving chips into my annual garden paths, have a bunch of perrenials to surround by woodchips, I also use them on other paths and along fencelines (so we don't have to string trim). It usually takes us a year to work through the piles and move them where we want and by that time they are partiall broken down and can be used closer to annuals). I also leave them in piles to hot compost. I love chip drop, but they are hit or miss. (Best time to request a drop is when you are expecting a big snow, ice, or wind storm! When you have a lot of tree trimming needs to clean up after the storm.)

[@TheComputerCowboy]

ChipDrop looks awesome! I'ma order a few loads to build Hugelultur mounds. Now I just need to find a similar service each for long logs, grass clippings, and compost/manure.

[@foreverfoodforest]

Chip drop has an option for adding logs to your order. Check out Craigslist and FB marketplace for compost manure.

[@TheComputerCowboy]

@@foreverfoodforest epic!!! Thank you!!!

[@Floresefrutiferas]

Muito bom a compostagem 🌿🌸🌿🌸🌿🌸

[@goodgroundserves]

OMG..... i am literally experiencing the wood chip drop "issue" lol. Neighbors arent saying much... but i know they talking...lol. HOA contact me twice. Its been in my 2 parking spaces for about 2 weeks now.... im almost done...lol

[@foreverfoodforest]

Sending you strength! You got this!

[@alancross2826]

Paul Gautschi and his BACK TO EDEN method has certainly come in handy. Regards.

[@Christine-s7f]

Also have a look at using Coffee Grounds with the wood chip.

[@mohamedzoubir3996]

Hello, organic lady, God bless you, right doing❤

[@banes4848]

Love from India ❤❤❤

[@chrisleyton38]

I all my carbon, greens, and kitchen scraps into my chicken yard for them to help nature. It's almost a copy of Back to Eden method and I love it.

[@organicgardenmamavictoriab2768]

Thank you very much. I'm going to start growing my own soil

[@vaim5982]

In Italy it’s hard to find wood chip. I’m gonna build a composter but good idea adding all the wood I can find and leaf

[@maurolimaok]

Thanks for the video. Very nice.

[@cynthiabotsko2449]

Where I am at, I have used Chip Drop - shared with neighbors but also had plenty of property to mulch over. Luckily, no complaints or fines. And was happy those dropping locally kept in touch for delivery & placement, etc. Love this video! Thanks for sharing! ❤️♾️❤️

[@MyFocusVaries]

Likely because you were sharing with your neighbours, none of them reported you to bylaw enforcement. That's probably a good strategy for folks to keep in mind!

[@philip-mansurabdur-rahman2642]

Glad I found your channel! I am new to gardening but really do not have the budget to keep buying big box store soils. I found a couple of arborists who are willing to bring me chips and I have got a ton of leaves come fall. I look forward to seeing your videos!

[@AaronHoltsmider]

I can completely sympathise with you western australia has some of the worst soils in the world dry hydophobic ancient sandunes takes a lot of hard work to make good soil😭 this is a great way to fix that problem.😊

[@MBEspinosa]

Good video! Good example of a lady working in the garden. In Buenos Aires it is almost impossible for me to dismantle the idea that men must be the ones who work in the garden...it is thought that it is something of muscular people...for me it is very interesting and gratifying except for the prejudices that surround me. Greetings!

[@charlesgarel644]

❤ sharing is everything

[@rhinothumping]

I had 30 cubic yards of wood chips dropped off in my yard last spring. The city wasn’t as concerned with the wood chips as they were with the length of the lawn.

[@beverlypetty4181]

Nice vid 🙂 I could be wrong but I think you forgot to mention that fresh wood chips will leach nitrogen out of the soil if you just dump them on the ground as mulch.

[@az55544]

No, they won’t. It’s an old timer myth. That’s why it’s no longer mentioned. Along the lines of pine needles causing acid soils. They don’t.

[@markbloyd9852]

Looks like this is a newer channel and off to a great start. I loved the video, subscribed, and am looking forward to more.

[@ThatBritishHomestead]

The growing of soils is what I focus on man, you have to grow soil!

[@אושראברהם-ע7מ]

היי אני וחבריי מישראל מגדלים בגינות שלנו ירקות ואנחנו אוהבים לצפות בערוץ שלך וללמוד ממך המון על הקומפוסט ובריאות האדמה בגינה. אך לא כולנו מבינים אנגלית נשמח מאוד אם תוכלי להוסיף תרגום בעברית. בתודה מראש הגננים מישראל 😊😊❤מ

[@juliegogola4647]

In some places people can get free wood chips and even fall leaves. In my area there are 2 places. One place I only know as the "Township shed". The other is where our water treatment facility is. There's a place where people either citizens, or companies that do yard work come to dump plant debris at. And, the guys use a giant shredder called "The beast" to grind everything up. I try to beat the guys to the bagged leaves before they shred them up and put them amongst the shredded wood. I have a car that is kinda like an SUV, a Kia Soul, so, I have to put things in bags or totes. So, I can't really haul alot at 1 time, but, it's good enough usually. There is another place like those 2, but, out of town. I try to get the already bagged up leaves because I have arthritis that makes it hard to move very well, BUT, I will force myself to gather up a few bags if I can't find already bagged leaves. I have many trees, but I leave their leaves for them to keep. I use a compost tumbler, I mix leaves with food scraps, but, I see that direct spreading of organic matter is great for in ground gardening. I have limited mobility, so, I garden in containers. I use my compost to add to potting soil in containers and raised beds. But, containers don't give the yields that in ground gardening gives you. I have to up my game somehow. Better potting soil maybe? Deeper planters? Anyway, I love your garden, I see many lovely plants. You must be at least a zone 7b or 8. I can only have palm trees by putting them in my greenhouse in winter and early spring.

[@ruckboger]

You have a beautiful backyard, especially the enormous tree.

[@Queen-ev5we]

I love your videos, they are so helpful with my beginning stages of my garden 💖💖💖

[@foreverfoodforest]

I'm so glad!

[@doinacampean9132]

I had a good experience with chip drop. Of course they called and told me when they're coming, and that mountain of wood chips, layered 1 foot high next to the fences, melted down to almost nothing in less than 3 months.

[@EstherCervantes-hk4pz]

What an ambitious, motivated, smart, and beautiful young lady you are! You have such a great future in gardening and growing ahead of you! Now next time you go to the shed, don't forget to wear your snake gaiters lol

[@foreverfoodforest]

Young?! Thank you! Definitely will need to get some snake gaiters soon!

[@siamthangahrangkhawl1457]

I really appreciate to you for your good instructions for farmers, I am a farmer I have small garden in my locality I need your support and advice for me . Regards From. Sam

[@williamrbuchanan4153]

Take care for poop content may be from its food which has been treated with a herbicide. This , I found stops growing any food other than grass. Good looker grass , but has serious consequences for animals and humans. Local gov. Said don’t eat anything grown on your ground for 4 years. They changed its name in various countries, but it’s a well known huge conglomerate. Love your video, it just a mass af good tips. Thank you.

[@timprice1742]

Great video. I just came across your channel, and after watching a couple of your videos, I have to say that along with excellent content I enjoy your use of humor. I am also in Florida Zone 9b, but am limited to container gardening at this point. Keep up the good work!

[@foreverfoodforest]

Thank you and welcome! My first garden was a container garden until I learned how to work with Florida "soil".

[@ShanaAlversonFitness]

👋 I’m another Florida zone 9b gardener !!

[@philipmcmanigal4896]

The black racer snake is an excellent snake to have around. They love to kill and devour poisonous snakes.☺

[@beholder4465]

Topography,soil, then plants✌🏼👌🏼

[@chrisdiavolitsis6875]

I really like this video because it is fun, informative and easy to implement in smaller spaces. Thank you for the great content!!!

[@foreverfoodforest]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

[@meekmild8964]

Ps love your work. Carry on, i am learning a lot..... and who wants to stop learning?